IN THE OPEN 



While the robin and the bluebird have come to 

 wear a half domestic look, the woodpecker is the 

 untutored savage still. As an Indian remains an 

 Indian, a woodpecker remains a woodpecker. 

 When he comes to the orchard he is an inter- 

 loper from the forest. He carries the stamp of the 

 wilderness with him. Defiance is in the poise of 

 his head; his attitude is a challenge. 



The life of owls and hawks is completely 

 savage a fierce, carnivorous, terrible existence 

 which no circumstance can affed:. Regarding their 

 young with solemn ferocity, their fierce natures 

 are not to be modified or softened in the least. A 

 little red owl having her nest in the heart of a 

 weeping willow, lived so secluded a life her presence 

 was hardly suspedled till she was discovered by the 

 smaller birds dozing in a cedar. Some days later 

 she appeared at dusk with four young owls, which 

 she fed on large beetles. The owlets remained 

 perched in a line on the fence while the old bird 

 in ghostly silence departed into the night in search 

 of food. It was wonderful to see what excess of 

 dignity and ferocity was expressed in the person- 

 ality of these little birds. As well have expefted 

 an Iroquois brave to ask for quarter. Approach 



34 



