THE DRAMA OF LIFE 13 



getting among birds — the blackbird gobbling the belated 

 worm in the early morning, the thrush making a ' kitchen- 

 midden ' of snail shells, the humming-bird sipping nectar 

 from the flowers, the oyster-catcher jerking the limpets 

 off the sea-shore rocks, the woodcock probing for earth- 



FiG. 3. — ^A Scorpion, Eusoorpius, holding a fly in one of its claws, or 

 pedipalps, and piercing it with its sting. (After Lankester.) 



worms among the mould, the stately heron fishing by the 

 side of the stream, the eagle in low flight searching the 

 mountain-side for grouse, the secretary-bird striking the 

 snakes in the South African karoo, the cross-bill deftly 

 tearing up the cones on the fir trees. 



It seems certain that vultures and the like discover their 

 prey by sight and not by smell. Sometimes they seem to 

 keep definite ' preserves ' in the sky, and when one sees the 

 carcass and descends upon it, his neighbour in the next 

 ' preserve ' follows suit, and another and another as the 

 news passes through the heavens. A fine picture of this is 

 given in Hiawatha — 



' Never stoops the soaring vulture 

 On his quarry in the desert 

 On the sick or wounded bison, 



