Fang and Feather

Even if one stepped out into the night, there would be little to indicate the struggles for food taking place perhaps only a few feet away. Lacking the eyes and ears of the cat or owl, it seems impossible for most would-be observers to witness these dramatic episodes. Yet there are ways of finding out who these shy neighbors are, and even of ascertaining their activities. For example, it can be discerned that during the night a great-horned owl captured a weasel that had just eaten a field mouse caught while nibbling grass roots in the pasture. There are ways of learning something about the hundreds of other similar chain dinners devoured every night, with each participant in turn a prey for another, each fitting inside the one next larger, like a nest of children's blocks.