8 Hunger Is Frightful’s Teacher

"Another peregrine falcon!" he said. "What's going on?" "Creeee." Frightful answered Duchess from inside her box. IN WHICH Hunger Is Frightful's Teacher The first visit was a middle school in Roxbury, not far from the Woods's home. Jon and Susan arrived quite early. Jon brought the van to the shipping entrance and carried the hooded falcons and hawks into the auditorium. He put the owls in hollowed-out tree stumps on the stage. Round- eyed, they peered silently out of round holes. When all the birds of prey were in place, Susan let some of the students hug Mr. Freeze. The owl chuttered in pleasure, and the kids oohed. Then the learning show began. Jon held up Sammy, the bald eagle. He spread his seven-foot wings. The kids gasped. Sammy was breathtaking.

Jon named all the birds and flew the prairie falcon from one end of the auditorium to the other. Holding her high, he talked about the important role of birds of prey in nature. Finally Susan took Frightful out of her carrying case. "This is Destiny," she said. "She is a peregrine falcon, a duck hawk, as these wonderful birds were once called. "She was late in migrating south this year and came over White Man Mountain on a chilly day. She alighted on a utility pole that held a transformer. She lost her balance, spread her wings, and completed the circuit between two wires. She was shocked with electricity. "She couldn't move. The electricity froze her to the wires." Susan went on to say that Jon had flipped her off the wires with a branch and carried her home in his pocket, thinking her dead. "Suddenly," she said to her wide-eyed audience, "Destiny moved in Jon's pocket. She was alive. We could not believe it. The jolt had not killed her, just burned her wing tips. Jon took her in his

hands, smoothed her feathers, and jessed her. Then, with all the grace of the peregrine falcon, she flipped herself up on his fist and looked at us." Susan held her high. "She is a survivor and she is alive. She wears burns that tell about the dangers of utility poles for our wild birds." The children stared at Frightful, and some said they could smell the acrid scent of her scorched feathers clear at the back of the auditorium. Jon then told the story of how one of his falcons was electrocuted on the wires of the transformer in his field. "Ahhh," murmured the kids. "Once a month I write to the utility company and ask them to lower one wire—that's all—just lower one wire one foot. That would do it. Then the birds couldn't touch the two wires and complete the circuit. Thousands of eagles, hawks, and beautiful owls like these could be saved. "Not getting any reply," he went on, "I telephoned the management. I got the old runaround. 'Push one to speak to Miss Jones; push two for billing; push three to talk to customer service'—and on and on."

A small girl with dark hair and blue eyes raised her hand and stood up. "Mr. Wood," she asked, "can we write to the utilities president and ask him to fix the poles?" "Me, too," said the boy next to her. "I write good letters." There was a clamor of voices. A teacher put up her hand. "Do you have a name and the address we could write?" she asked. "This would make a wonderful project for us." "Creee, creee, creee," Frightful called. "Destiny wants us to write," piped another little girl, and took out her notebook and pencil. "Creee, creee, creee." Jon picked up a sheet of poster paper and wrote: Mr. Lon Herbert, President New York Electric Company Albany, New York He propped the poster against Frightful's perch. The students bent over their notebooks. Dear Mr. Lon Herbert,

How would you like it if you were walking a wire, slipped, touched another wire, and was zapped— fried so your mother wouldn't even recognize you? Well, the birds don't like it either. Here is a drawing of how to change the wires on a transformer so eagles, owls, hawks, vultures, even blue jays don't get zapped. Sincerely, James

Dear Mr. Lon Herbert, Birds have rights, too. People cut down the trees and put up electric poles that z.ap them. I think