A SUMMER WITH THE RED-TAILS 41 



At last both the birds and their champion 

 were caught. Was not here evidence enough 

 to convict both the Naturalist and the hawks? 

 It was at best a sorry explanation that he was 

 able to make, but he did succeed in getting 

 possession of the young birds and thus saving 

 their necks. He took them home and again 

 posed them for pictures, and the next day re- 

 turned them to the woods. 



The youngsters made the best of the situa- 

 tion, and hid themselves among the leaves of 

 the smaller trees. Their shrill cry of "Here, 

 here, here, here," with a constantly rising in- 

 flection, served to call the watchful parents 

 who brought them food. They changed their 

 location, moving from tree to tree frequently, 

 but the Naturalist still kept watch as before. 

 Now, as before, the parent birds still con- 

 tinued to bring gophers and mice, and occa- 

 sionally a rat. On one occasion a second stray 

 chicken was brought in, but this time there was 

 no one to observe the deflection but the Natu- 

 ralist. However, the mischief was done. A 

 dozen naturalists could not convince Tommy 

 that the birds had not fed from his chicken 

 yard all summer. 



It was but a short time until they could fly, 



