A LONELY LAKE. 
37 
More than once I have seen them on branches 
above the water, or floating on noiseless wing 
from shore to shore. The fondness of this owl 
for frogs and fish is remarkable, particularly 
for hornpout, which abound in this lake. I have 
known my captive owls to strike a fish with their 
talons when it was several inches below the sur¬ 
face of the water in a tank. 
Many a time as I have been hidden by shel¬ 
tering boughs, scanning the lake and its shores 
for signs of life, I have seen a dark shadow 
glide across the water, and then a broad-winged 
bird alight noiselessly on a dead limb from 
which the whole surface of the lake could 
be seen. Its face would express cruelty and 
hunger, apprehension and something akin to 
remorse. The eyes of a hawk are full of mean¬ 
ing; they tell the story of guilt and of the eter¬ 
nal misery of spirit which follows guilt. The 
hawks which come to my pond are of several 
species, including the slow buteos , which one 
sees circling by the hour in the high skies; the 
dangerous accipiters , so ruthless in their raids 
upon poultry and small birds; and the low- 
flying, graceful, mouse-hunting marsh hawk, 
readily to be known by its white rump. At 
evening the whippoorwills and their cousins the 
night-hawks frequent the lake. Just at twilight 
I have heard six whippoorwills at once singing 
