File:St. Nicholas (serial) (1873) (14592584319).jpg

Identifier: stnicholasserial271dodg (find matches)
Title: St. Nicholas (serial)
Year: 1873 (1870s)
Authors: Dodge, Mary Mapes, 1830-1905
Subjects: Children's literature
Publisher: (New York : Scribner & Co.)
Contributing Library: Information and Library Science Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Digitizing Sponsor: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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uld sit upon abranch in full view and utter her ear-dividingprotest. There were never any signs about thenest that birds or poultry formed any part ofthe food of the young. It is said that thishawk subsists upon insects and frogs. Whenthe young — two of them — were about twothirds grown they perched upon the edge ofthe nest, and upon one of the branches thatheld it in place. One day I took a couple of bird loversthere to hear the cry of the mother hawk.We lingered about for nearly an hour, andnot a sound was heard or a parent hawkseen. Then I tried to stir up the young, butwithout effect. They looked at us sharply, butmade no move and uttered no cry. A smallertree grew alongside the pine that held the nest.Up this I climbed till within probably twenty-five feet of the suspicious young; then Ireached out my foot and planted it upon alimb of the larger tree. Instantly, as if the treewere a living part of themselves, the younghawks took the alarm and launched into the A BIRD TALK. 41
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SPARROW-HAWK EATING A GRASSHOPPER. air. But the wings of one of them could notlong sustain him, and he came to the groundwithin twenty yards of the foot of the tree. Aswe approached him his position of defense wasstriking — wings half spread, beak open, onetalon raised, and a look of defiance in his eye.But we soon comforted him, and presently lefthim perched upon a branch in a much morecomposed state of mind. The parent hawks didnot appear upon the scene during our stay. I do not share the alarm expressed in somequarters over the seeming decrease in the num-bers of our birds. People are always moreor less gloomy in regard to the present timeand present things. As we grow older thenumber of beautiful things in the world seemsto be fewer. The Indian summer is not whatit used to be; the winters are not so bracing;Vol. XXVII.—6. the spring is more uncertain; and honest menare fewer. But there is not much change, afterall. The change is mainly in us. I see nodecrease in the great body

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