THE ROBBERS OF THE FALLS 



like a hawk's tail. Was it really that? It is easy to 

 see what one wants to see, and sometimes an old stick 

 will prove deceptive. I do not like the feeling of the 

 collapse of one's hopes, but I do enjoy exciting anticipa- 

 tion. My powerful Zeiss glasses showed me that it 

 was surely a hawk and so I stood there awhile enjoying 

 the sight. Now I cautiously advanced and came nearly 

 to the tree before the hawk heard my steps above the 

 din of the waters. She stood iip in the nest, and away 

 she went, with a shrill, high-pitched scream — "whe-e-e," 

 and alighted upon a tall tree a hundred feet away, 

 where she continued to squeal her displeasure. 



"Broad-wing! Fine!" I ejaculated. Not our com- 

 monest hawk by any means! And an obliging Broad- 

 wing! I had no climbing irons with me, but as I 

 examined the situation, it seemed as though the bird 

 had had my convenience in mind in selecting the site 

 for her nest. About fifteen feet away was a rather 

 large hemlock, with step-ladder branches beginning 

 about fifteen feet up, and close beside it a young hem- 

 lock, making another step-ladder up to the first branch 

 of the big tree. To run upstairs was the simplest thing 

 in the world, if one did not mind elevation, and very 

 soon I was overlooking the nest with its two sizable 

 dirty white eggs blotched with brown, lying on a bed 

 of bark, dry leaves and twigs, with a few green hemlock 

 sprays on the side for ornament. It was too nice up 

 there to hurry down. The tree was on the edge of 

 quite a steep declivity, and far below I could see the 



35 



