THE CHICKEN THIEF 



GETTING THE EVIDENCE AGAINST MR. COOPER 

 HAWK AND HIS FAMILY 



TOMMY JONES was losing his chick- 

 ens; there was no question about that, 

 and Tommy was very much disturbed by the 

 occurrence. Mrs. Tommy had started the in- 

 cubator very early that spring and had kept it 

 going. She had also utilized every setting 

 hen, with the result that the back yard was 

 fairly overflowing with chickens. Nearly 

 every night there would be one or more miss- 

 ing. Sometimes there would be as many as 

 three less when they shut them up at night than 

 when they were released in the morning. 



When Tommy watched Father Red-tail 

 soaring high overhead in the summer sky, he 

 remembered the day when the Naturalist had 

 been confronted with absolute proof that the 

 Red-tails were chicken thieves, and sput- 

 tered about his neighbor and the chicken 

 hawks. If Father Red-tail happened to be 



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