The Chorus of the Forest 



nity" and "defiance" to portray my conception of 

 a hawk's facial expression, and that is not very 

 clear. Perhaps what I am striving to convey is 

 the idea that some things might be too cruel for 

 the hawk; the eagle appears inexorable. If he has 

 any mercy it is never indicated in his face. The 

 hawk suggests to the mind that he might at least 

 consider mercy. Then in poise of flight that car- 

 ries him across the heavens by the hour without per- 

 ceptible wing motion he is the equal of the eagle 

 and vulture, and in keenness of vision he slightly 

 outclasses them. Perhaps if we had been com- 

 pelled to strain our eyes for generations, from his 

 heights, in order to find our food, we would de- 

 velop sight as far-reaching as his. 



Serenely sailing the skies, the hawk suddenly 

 comes darting earthward like a down-aimed arrow, 

 in a marvelous exhibition of flight, and arises with Hawk 

 a snake, rabbit, or bird in its claws, proving a range Protection 

 of vision far beyond ours. In his wonderful pow- 

 ers of flight and sight, in his grace and royal bear- 

 ing, in the dignity of his silence, and the strength 

 of his cry, he is one of the finest birds that live, 

 and the most beneficial to us. For while he occa- 

 sionally takes a young chicken that we intended to 

 eat, his steady diet is snakes, moles, field mice, and 

 grasshoppers, all of which constantly menace the 

 land owner. 



But in the evolution of nature, that seems to 

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