28 OUR BACKDOOR NEIGHBORS 



when Tommy Jones, who lived across the 

 road, happened to catch sight of them also. 



There was no unnecessary sentiment in 

 Tommy's make-up, and the dinner was quickly 

 interrupted by his arrival with a gun. For- 

 tunately, Mr. Red-tail saw him coming and 

 departed with his spouse before Tommy could 

 get near enough to injure them. Tommy, who 

 regarded the Naturalist with contempt, was 

 glad of the opportunity to prove a crime 

 against Mr. Red-tail and his wife. The Na- 

 turalist, however, knew that the hen had lain 

 in the field a month before the arrival of the 

 birds, and was little impressed with Tommy's 

 tirade against the "chicken hawks," as Mr. and 

 Mrs. Red-tail are called by the farmers in the 

 neighborhood in which they lived. 



Tommy was very handy with his gun, and 

 many a luckless hawk, crow, or owl fell before 

 it. The Naturalist protested to no purpose 

 that no crimes had been proved against them. 

 Tommy was the kind to hang suspected crimi- 

 nals on suspicion. 



There is little woodland in this particular 

 part of Iowa, and big birds like the Red-tails 

 find it difficult, indeed, to rear their families 

 unmolested. The Naturalist lives in a bit of 



