The Red-tailed Hawk 63 



from the hawk's body. He reached a height of several 

 hundred feet when he began to descend rapidly and soon 

 dropped to the ground. The hawk had pounced upon a 

 weasel and had clutched it through the hips, but had not 

 killed the little animal. Both the bird and his prey were 

 dead when found. The weasel, in its death-struggle, had 

 literally disemboweled the big bird. 



Our young chieftains in the tall cottonwood, for so 

 we called them, were now almost full grown. They were 

 as large as their parents, but their heads were still cov- 

 ered with downy feathers. Instead of crouching timidly 

 in the nest they stood up and walked about or perched in 

 the crotch over the aerie. Their home, which was once 

 nest-shaped, was worn down about the edges until it was 

 a mere platform of sticks. While at first they assumed 

 a fighting attitude when we reached the nest, in all our 

 visits they never once tried to tear our hands with their 

 sharp beaks. How they watched us with those large eyes 

 of gray, such sharp, serious eyes ! No movement of ours 

 escaped their gaze. After several visits to the aerie we 

 learned to regard the hawklets with a sort of love. A 

 glimpse of those wild creatures in their home well repaid 

 us for the long trip, the ascent of the tree, difficult and 

 dangerous as it was. We longed to take them with us so 

 as to study their habits, for in a few days they would be 

 forever beyond our reach. But what satisfaction could 

 we have had in watching these birds behind prison bars? 

 I should much rather have had their dried bones. Any- 

 thing but a hawk or an eagle in a cage ! 



Conditions had changed somewhat in the vicinity of 

 the hawk's nest by the first of June when we made our 



