160 Bird Comrades 



and darted off up the opposite slope. He had failed to 

 secure his prize, but it was wonderful how so large a bird 

 could slip through the network of branches and extricate 

 himself without striking a quill against a twig. 



The extreme watchfulness of the small birds cannot fail 

 to excite wonder in the mind of the observer. In the case 

 just referred to not one of the birds was taken unaware, 

 although some of them were singing gaily, and others'were 

 busy feeding. Never for a moment do the birds becom? 

 so absorbed in their eating or work or play as to forget 

 that a foe may be lurking near. One cannot help won- 

 dering how they can be happy. Suppose we were com- 

 pelled to be incessantly on the lookout for danger, should 

 we ever have a moment of peace or joy? 



A red -breasted woodpecker was chiseling out a nur- 

 sery in a tall sycamore at the border of a woodland. At 

 some distance, far enough away not to alarm her, I 

 watched the dame at her work. This was her method of 

 procedure,, hour by hour: She would plunge head first 

 into the hole, only her barred tail being visible, give three 

 or four vigorous dabs with her bill, then emerge and look 

 around in every direction for danger ; seeing none, into the 

 cavity her crimson-crowned head would again disappear, 

 only to emerge again a second later. Not for a moment 

 did she dare to relax her vigilance. Had she done so, 

 in that fatal moment a hawk might have swooped upon 

 her and crushed her in his merciless talons. 



Yet some birds will take not a little risk, depending on 

 their quickness of eye and nimbleness of wing to escape 



