228 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 
observed of all observers. Through the years 
it must have seen ten thousand tragedies, 
comedies, courtships, plays, and games of these 
happy little people of the plains. 
No dog hole was within fifty feet of the old 
cottonwood tree. The tree probably offered 
the wily coyote concealment behind which he 
sometimes approached to raid; and from its 
top hawks often dived for young dogs, for mice, 
and also for grasshoppers. I suppose owls often 
used it for a philosophizing stand, and also for 
a point of vantage from which to hoot derision 
on the low-down, numerous populace. 
But the old tree was not wholly allied with 
evil, and was a nesting site for orioles, wrens, 
and bluebirds. From its summit through the 
summer days the meadow lark with breast of 
black and gold would send his silvery notes 
sweetly ringing across the wide, wide prairie. 
