144 WINGED ROBBERS AND NEST-BUILDERS, 

 other insects, he loves to vary his diet occasionally 



4- 



with a small chicken pie in payment for his ser- 

 vices, or to rob the fields of a cheerful song by 

 dealing a death-blow to some unsuspecting sparrow 

 that is winging its way across the meadows. 



No other bird causes such commotion in the 

 poultry-yard or in the household as he. Every 

 one knows his skulking propensities ; how with 

 noiseless wings he lurks here and there among out- 

 buildings and orchard trees, ready to pounce on 

 some industrious brood. His coming like a thief 

 is the event of the day on the quiet farm. He is 

 such an airy sprite that no one has seen him but 

 the cowardly hens that suddenly leave their 

 scratching and with outstretched heads run for the 

 nearest covert, while the lordly rooster follows 

 more slowly, sounds his alarm note, and assumes 

 an heroic air, as though he was not afraid of all the 

 hawks in the world. Meanwhile the poor, bust- 

 ling mother-hen, with her downy responsibilities, 

 spreads out her wings, ruffles all the feathers on 

 her body, and tries to look as large and as ferocious 

 as possible. But it is a vain show ! What can she 

 do with that brisk, lithe, clean-cut plunderer above 

 her ? Before she has, in her agitation, half-turned 

 round, those long, narrow wings have carried down 



