The Chorus of the Forest 



nity" and "detiaiice" to portray my conception of 

 a hawk's facial expression, and that is not very 

 clear. Perhaps A\]iat I am striving to convey is 

 the idea that some things might he too cruel for 

 the luiAvk; the eagle ai)pears inexorahle. If he has 

 any mercy it is never indicated in his face. The 

 hawk suggests to the mind that he might at least 

 consider mercy. Then in poise of flight that car- 

 ries him across the heavens hy the hour without per- 

 ceptihle wing motion he is the etpial of the eagle 

 and vulture, and in keenness of vision he slightly 

 outclasses them. Pei-haps if ^\e had heen com- 

 pelled to strain our eyes for generations, from his 

 heights, in order to find our I'ood, A\e would de- 

 velop sight as far-reaching as his. 



Serenely sailing the skies, the hawk suddenly 

 comes darting earthward like a (lo\\ii-aimed arrow, 

 in a marvelous exliihition of flight, and arises with Hawk 

 a snake, rahhit, or hird in its claws, proving a range Protection 

 of vision far beyond oiu's. In his wonderful ])ow- 

 ers of flight and sight, in his grace and royal bear- 

 ing, in the dignitj'' of his silence, and the strength 

 of his cry, he is one of the finest birds that live, 

 and the most beneficial to us. For Avhile he occa- 

 sionally takes a young chicken that we intended to 

 eat, his stead}^ diet is snakes, moles, field mice, and 

 grassho])pers, all of which constantly nienace the 

 land owner. 



But in the evolution of nature, that seems to 



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