er ten little ones ran wildly for the bug or
worm which their mother had found for them.

Phyllis was just coming into the barnyard with a cup of meal for Mother
Speckle's family, when a strange cry from the old hen startled her.

Phyllis looked and saw every chick running as fast as its little legs
could carry it to the hovering mother wings. Soon every chicken baby
was hidden from sight and the chicken mother was clucking less loudly.

"What can be the matter?" cried Phyllis, and then looking up she saw a
hawk circling in the air above.

She snatched off her hat and waved it wildly at the hawk. At the same
time she shouted as fiercely as she could.

The hawk soared calmly in the air, rising ever higher and higher. The
mother hen, calling softly to her babies, led the little ones to the
protecting shelter of some low bushes. Then Phyllis sprinkled the meal
and soon the chicken hawk was quite forgotten by Mother Speckle and her
brood.

But Phyllis still watched eagerly for the hawk. She feared that he
would return. But she could now see nothing of him.

On the fence post, not far away, sat a big black raven croaking gravely
to himself.

"You are not a lovely bird either," said the little girl, but the raven
did not hear her.

When she had crept up very close to the post on which the raven sat,
Phyllis again saw the hawk sailing in wide circles nearer and nearer.

"Caw! Caw!" cried the raven, rising in the air, high above the barn.
"I, too, can sail about in circles! Caw! Caw! Caw!"

The hawk said nothing, but quietly settled on the fence post. The
raven still circled in the air, but ever nearer.

The hawk looked up. The raven wagged his head solemnly and uttered his
sad, harsh cry. He shook out his black feathers and sat down again on
the post.

"I am called the bird of ill omen," said the raven. "Some people think
that I bring bad luck. Others think I eat too much of their corn. No
one likes me. No one thinks me beautiful.

"Yet if you will look at my black coat you will see how glossy it is.
My back fairly gleams in the sunlight. Sometimes I catch gleams of
purple and green on my wings. See how soft and loose are the feathers
about my throat. They make a fringe about my neck of which I am
somewhat proud.

"I do not harm people, and I surely should not be blamed for my
appetite. To be sure, I do eat corn and grain. I also eat grubs,
worms, field mice, in fact anything which come