H FOLLOWING 
THE DEER 
crow hovered and rose and fell, in 
his intense absorption seeing nothing 
but the creature below. Suddenly he 
swooped like a hawk into a thicket, 
and out of the cover sprang a young 
hare, only to crouch shivering in 
the open space under a hemlock's 
drooping branches. There the crow 
headed him, struck once, 
twice, three times, straight 
hard blows with his power- 
ful beak; and when I ran to the 
spot the leveret lay quite dead 
with his skull split, while the crow 
went flapping wildly to the tree tops, 
giving the danger cry to the flock 
that were gossiping in the sunshine 
on the ridge across the valley. 
