A FEW FEATHERED FIENDS. 



223 



cended, the hawks would return, the circles growing 

 wider and wider until I could see each bird dis- 

 tinctly and hear their wild laughter as they dallied 

 with a passing cloud. Then other birds would often 

 pass by. At any moment the sky might be streaked 

 with crooked lines of 

 ducks ; migrating birds 

 would pass at times, 

 mere moving dots that 

 could scarcely be dis- 

 tinguished ; and when 

 some of the restless 

 songsters of the bushes 

 flew leisurely by, even 

 stopping a second to 

 look at me, I gained an 

 insight into the bird- 

 world as novel as it was 

 entertaining. I have 

 had song-sparrows and 

 chickadees come so 

 close to my grassy re- 

 treat that I could lit- 

 erally look them in the 

 eyes, and not until I Red-tailed Hawk, 



waved my arms about 



did they realize what I really was. I have ventured 

 here even as late as December, foolhardy as it was, 

 and revelled in winter sunshine, one of the chief 

 glories of our changing seasons. But what of the 

 red-tails ? They are not forever in the sky. 



\ 



