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WA - 
IDYLLS OF BIRD LIFE 
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devour his victim. With his powerful beak he ripped the head 
ody. Another rip and he laid bare the brains, which 
\ he gulped down with evident relish. 
“Old Head Hunter,” unlike the rest of his tribe, was not 
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content with devouring his victims, but only delighted in eating 
their brains, so that he always kept up a relentless attack on 
the quail, grouse, snipe, rats, squirrels, mice, chickens, turkeys, 
in short, about evervthing he could kill. His nightly toll was 
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between ten and twenty victims, and the neighboring villages, 
unwilling to tamely submit to his maraudings upon their 
poultry' coops, offered rewards for his body. But “Old Head 
/'f 
Hunter” was too wary for all of them, and invariably eluded 
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their most cunnihg schemes to capture or to kill him. 
In another part of the forest all was serene and calm. A 
break among the stately trees permitted a flood of light to 
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silver the ground .' In this spot a mother rabbit was giving her 
half-grown children their, evening exercise. . Running about, 
gamboling over the rich carpet of fallen leaves, the young cotton 
tails were having, oblivious to all impending danger, a delight¬ 
ful time. Suddenly a great, ominous shadow poised over them. 
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The mother rabbit squeaked her call of alarm, but too late! A 
short scuffle, a clapping of huge wings, and one of the little 
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[ 120 ] 
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