BIRDS 
83 
grass,—then a taking to wing again, 
when the search has become too close, and 
the Moth has recovered his wind. So- 
cialis chirps angrily, and is determined 
not to be beaten. Keeping, with the 
slightest effort, upon the heels of the fu¬ 
gitive, he is ever on the point of halting 
to snap him up, but never quite does it, 
—and so, between disappointment and 
expectation, is soon disgusted, and re¬ 
turns to pursue his more legitimate means 
of subsistence. 
In striking contrast to this serio-comic 
strife of the Sparrow and the Moth, i c 
the Pigeon-Hawk’s pursuit of the Spar¬ 
row or the Goldfinch. It is a race of sur¬ 
prising speed and agility. It is a test 
of wing and wind. Every muscle is 
taxed, and every nerve strained. Such 
cries of terror and consternation on the 
part of the bird, tacking to the right and 
left, and making the most desperate ef¬ 
forts to escape, and such silent determin¬ 
ation on the part of the Hawk, pressing 
the bird so closely, flashing and turning 
and timing his movements with those of 
the pursued as accurately and as inexor- 
