SHARP EYES. 23 



and flew away. I had seen something like feathers 

 eddying slowly down as the hawk ate, and on ap- 

 proaching the spot found the feathers of a sparrow 

 here and there clinging to the bushes beneath the 

 tree. The hawk then — - commonly called the chicken 

 hawk — is as provident as a mouse or a squirrel, and 

 lays by a store against a time of need, but I should 

 not have discovered the fact had I not held my eye 

 on him. 



An observer of the birds is attracted by any unusual 

 sound or commotion among them. In May or June, 

 when other birds are most vocal, the jay is a silent 

 bird ; he goes sneaking about the orchards and the 

 groves as silent as a pickpocket ; he is robbing bird's- 

 nests and he is very anxious that nothing should be 

 said about it ; but in the fall none so quick and loud to 

 cry " Thief, thief ! " as he. One December morning a 

 troop of jays discovered a little screech-owl secreted 

 in the hollow trunk of an old apple-tree near my 

 house. How they found the owl out is a mystery, since 

 it never ventures forth in the light of day ; but they 

 did, and proclaimed the fact with great emphasis. I 

 suspect the bluebirds first told them, for these birds are 

 constantly peeping into holes and crannies, both spring 

 and fall. Some unsuspecting bird had probably en- 

 tered the cavity prospecting for a place for next year's 

 nest, or else looking out a likely place to pass a 

 cold night, and then had rushed out with important 

 news. A boy who should unwittingly venture into a 

 bear's den when Bruin was at home could not be more 

 astonished and alarmed than a bluebird would be on 

 finding itself in the cavity of a decayed tree with an 

 owl. At any rate the bluebirds joined the jays in 

 calling the attention of all whom it might concern to 



