OUR WINTER BIRDS. 67 



house among the feeding birds beneath my window, 

 and taking one of these beautiful creatures in his claws, 

 proceeds to the nearest post and crushes its life out. 

 It is a mercy to my little favorite to let the owl alone 

 after he. has secured his prey, for he kills it much more 

 quickly than when disturbed. 



At sight of this apparent cruelty in nature comes the 

 impulse to shoot these raptorial birds. But when we 

 think of that other biped whom it is not lawful to shoot, 

 who often hunts and kills the beautiful denizens of our 

 fields and woodlands from mere wantonness and sport 

 of the chase, the hawk or owl, which takes a bird only 

 to appease his hunger, towers above him in moral recti- 

 tude. So our gun leans idly against the wall. 



