90 
BIRDS 
even, in that the effort put forth is so 
uniform and delicate as to escape obser¬ 
vation, giving to the movement an air 
of buoyancy and perpetuity, the efflu¬ 
ence of power rather than the conscious 
application of it. 
The calmness and dignity of this 
Hawk, when attacked by Crows or the 
King-Bird, are well worthy of him. He 
seldom deigns to notice his noisy and 
furious antagonists, but deliberately 
wheels about in that aerial spiral, and 
mounts and mounts till his pursuers 
grow dizzy and return to earth again. 
It is quite original, this, mode of get¬ 
ting rid of an unworthy opponent, rising 
to heights where the braggart is dazed 
and bewildered and loses his reckoning! 
1 am not sure but it is worthy of imi¬ 
tation. 
But summer wanes, and autumn ap¬ 
proaches. The songsters of the seed-time 
are silent at the reaping of the harvest. 
Other minstrels take up the strain. It 
is the heyday of insect life. The day is 
canopied with musical sound. All the 
songs of the spring and summer appear 
