WILD LIFE ON THE WING 
He did not realize this of course, but in his 
pitiful dumb fashion he knew that all was not 
well with him, and, in accordance with the law 
of the Wild, he crept away from the cold glare 
of the sky into the wet woods. 
There busy blackbirds turned over the dead 
leaves under the oak-trees. Now and again, as 
cat or hawk passed on his beat, one would fly 
up with a low chuckle, and his fellows for 
twenty yards round would take the alarm and, 
rising, pass on the signal. The first time Shacaim 
sprang up with the rest, but immediately 
tumbled back panting on to the moss. " Chink- 
chink ! " shrilled a blackbird higher up the 
wood. The whisker-guarded face of a cat was 
thrust delicately round a fern stub. Under the 
stare of the golden eyes the redwing collapsed, 
gasping. The cat twitched her tail and slid 
forward, but in so doing she stepped upon a 
dry twig. A small happening, but it saved the 
redwing, for the free end was pushed against 
his breast and roused him. He fluttered away, 
but the cat, padding softly after him, struck 
like a boxer, but too late to catch anything but 
the draught of wings and a feather. Shacaim 
fluttered desperately towards the hedge. Once 
twice the spread claws behind almost caught 
him, but, with the cunning of fear, each time 
he interposed a tree trunk between himself and 
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