SEPTEMBER SUNSHINE. 259 



A look that I shall never forget, an angry cry of disgust 

 or astonishment, and up the bird rose, with but one 

 movement of the wings, until he was beyond the tree- 

 tops. It was a rare opportunity, and I was thoughtful 

 enough to take advantage of it ; and if my eyesight was 

 not defective at the time, the eagle certainly made use 

 of its wings by a quivering motion of the feathers, which 

 seemed to open and shut, and not by a uniform motion 

 of the wings as a whole. Are there muscles in the 

 wings that will enable an eagle to do as I thought this 

 one did? 



The rabbit knew when to leave its hiding-place, but 

 was so chilled and stiff, from tarrying even for a minute 

 in its wet quarters, that now an eagle without wings 

 could have overtaken it. I tried to do so, and was 

 moderately successful. Just as I put forth my hand to 

 seize the creature, it gave a frantic leap into the briers 

 near by, and my efforts were repaid by a thorn-stuck 

 thumb. So one rabbit, at least, that I have seen, showed 

 some common-sense, in an effectual endeavor to avoid 

 being captured. Not very much, to be sure, but still a 

 little. 



Seeing a fish-hawk fly over, with a monstrous chub in 

 its talons, I wondered if these birds find fish sleeping, 

 or are always quick enough to catch them when wide- 

 awake. 



In the article "Ichthyology," by Dr. Gunther, in 

 the " Encyclopedia Britannica," 9th edition, that author 

 quotes Aristotle to the effect that fishes " sleep like other 

 animals." If so, could not a fish-hawk find such slum- 



