Music of the Wild 



their young tenderly, and fearlessly attack any- 

 thing threatening danger to them. So long as they 

 A Bat- are unmolested and happy they are silent : a strange 

 tie Cry reversa j o f the law of music in birdland. Almost 

 without exception other birds sing in bubbling ec- 

 stasy when they are happy, and mope in silence, 

 broken only by a few pathetic notes of wailing, 

 when in trouble. 



The hawk gives warning when angry by a stri- 

 dent hiss, much like a vulture or eagle. When he 

 really makes an attack, for the purpose of van- 

 quishing an enemy, comes his one musical effort. 

 His battle-hymn is a hair-raising scream: shrill, 

 loud, and the wildest note of the forest. Small 

 birds flee from it in utter consternation, and no 

 doubt great ones quail, even if they remain to 

 fight. Never a hawk-scream shivers through the 

 treetops but a bedlam of crow-calls answer, for 

 they are sworn enemies. Of course the hawk by 

 reason of greater strength and size must win in 

 every battle it wages, but there is nothing to pre- 

 vent crows from seeing how closely they can skim 

 danger and raising all the excitement possible. 



No bird of field or forest has the force of ex- 

 pression to be found on the face of a big hawk. 

 There is character, dignity, defiance, and savagery 

 combined. The eagle has a wicked, fierce appear- 

 ance, and I never have seen its face express any- 

 thing else. I can find no better terms than "dig- 

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