THE MENACE FROM ABOVE 



EVERY mouse in the fields and meadows, 

 every rabbit that crouches under the thick- 

 et, every grouse and pheasant, even fish and 

 frogs and muskrats in the waters and the squirrels 

 and song-birds of the forest, live under a menace from 

 above, no less terrible to them than the Zeppelin to 

 London, and far less effectively combated. They live 

 under the menace of the raptores, or birds of prey, 

 the eagles, hawks, falcons, and owls, certain species 

 of which are still far commoner than the ordinary 

 person supposes, even in the settled sections of our 

 northeastern states. The terror comes to them out 

 of the air, it drops with the speed of lightning, and 

 kills with extraordinary strength and ferocity. Mere 

 size is little protection, for a goshawk will easily kill 

 a rooster and even carry him off. That menacing 

 shadow over the hen-yard which causes such a com- 



