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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/7441-0.txt b/7441-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8825c70 --- /dev/null +++ b/7441-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7787 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Writings of John Burroughs, by John Burroughs +(#8 in our series by John Burroughs) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Writings of John Burroughs + +Author: John Burroughs + +Release Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7441] +[This file was first posted on April 30, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE WRITINGS OF JOHN BURROUGHS *** + + + + +This etext was produced by Jack Eden; wakerobin.org + + + +THE WRITINGS OF JOHN BURROUGHS +WITH PORTRAITS AND MANY ILLUSTRATIONS + + +VOLUME V + +PEPACTON + + +PREFACE + +I HAVE all the more pleasure in calling my book after the title of +the first chapter, "Pepacton," because this is the Indian name of +my native stream. In its watershed I was born and passed my youth, +and here on its banks my kindred sleep. Here, also, I have gathered +much of the harvest, poor though it be, that I have put in this and +in previous volumes of my writings. + +The term "Pepacton" is said to mean "marriage of the waters;" and +with this significance it suits my purpose well, as this book is +also a union of many currents. + +The Pepacton rises in a deep cleft or gorge in the mountains, the +scenery of which is of the wildest and ruggedest character. For a +mile or more there is barely room for the road and the creek at the +bottom of the chasm. On either hand the mountains, interrupted by +shelving, overhanging precipices, rise abruptly to a great height. +About half a century ago a pious Scotch family, just arrived in +this country, came through this gorge. One of the little boys, +gazing upon the terrible desolation of the scene, so unlike in its +savage and inhuman aspects anything he had ever seen at home, +nestled close to his mother, and asked with bated breath, "Mither, +is there a God here?" + +Yet the Pepacton is a placid current, especially in its upper +portions, where my youth fell; but all its tributaries are swift +mountain brooks fed by springs the best in the world. It drains a +high pastoral country lifted into long, round-backed hills and +rugged, wooded ranges by the subsiding impulse of the Catskill +range of mountains, and famous for its superior dairy and other +farm products. It is many long years since, with the restlessness +of youth, I broke away from the old ties amid those hills; but my +heart has always been there, and why should I not come back and +name one of my books for the old stream? + + +CONTENTS + + I. PEPACTON: A SUMMER VOYAGE + II. SPRINGS + III. AN IDYL OF THE HONEY-BEE + IV. NATURE AND THE POETS. + V. NOTES BY THE WAY + VI. FOOTPATHS.... + VII. A BUNCH OF HERBS + VIII. WINTER PICTURES + INDEX + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + FRINGED GENTIAN + From a photograph by + Herbert W. Gleason + THE ASA GRAY SPRING. + From a photograph by + Herbert W. Gleason + KINGBIRD + From a drawing by L. A. + Fuertes + RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD + From a photograph by + Herbert W. Gleason + IN THE ORCHARD + From a drawing by Charles + H. Woodbury + A MUSKRAT'S NEST + From a photograph by + Herbert W. Gleason + A FIELD PATH + From a photograph by + Clifton Johnson + + + + + +PEPACTON + +I + +A SUMMER VOYAGE + +WHEN one summer day I bethought me of a voyage down the east or +Pepacton branch of the Delaware, I seemed to want some excuse for +the start, some send-off, some preparation, to give the enterprise +genesis and head. This I found in building my own boat. It was a +happy thought. How else should I have got under way, how else +should I have raised the breeze? The boat-building warmed the +blood; it made the germ take; it whetted my appetite for the +voyage. There is nothing like serving an apprenticeship to fortune, +like earning the right to your tools. In most enterprises the +temptation is always to begin too far along; we want to start where +somebody else leaves off. Go back to the stump, and see what an +impetus you get. Those fishermen who wind their own flies before +they go a-fishing,--how they bring in the trout; and those hunters +who run their own bullets or make their own cartridges,-- the game +is already mortgaged to them. + +When my boat was finished--and it was a very simple affair--I was +as eager as a boy to be off; I feared the river would all run by +before I could wet her bottom in it. This enthusiasm begat great +expectations of the trip. I should surely surprise Nature and win +some new secrets from her. I should glide down noiselessly upon her +and see what all those willow screens and baffling curves +concealed. As a fisherman and pedestrian I had been able to come at +the stream only at certain points: now the most private and +secluded retreats of the nymph would be opened to me; every bend +and eddy, every cove hedged in by swamps or passage walled in by +high alders, would be at the beck of my paddle. + +Whom shall one take with him when he goes a-courting Nature? This +is always a vital question. There are persons who will stand +between you and that which you seek: they obtrude themselves; they +monopolize your attention; they blunt your sense of the shy, half- +revealed intelligences about you. I want for companion a dog or a +boy, or a person who has the virtues of dogs and boys,-- +transparency, good-nature, curiosity, open sense, and a nameless +quality that is akin to trees and growths and the inarticulate +forces of nature. With him you are alone, and yet have company; you +are free; you feel no disturbing element; the influences of nature +stream through him and around him; he is a good conductor of the +subtle fluid. The quality or qualification I refer to belongs to +most persons who spend their lives in the open air,--to soldiers, +hunters, fishers, laborers, and to artists and poets of the right +sort. How full of it, to choose an illustrious example, was such a +man as Walter Scott! + +But no such person came in answer to my prayer, so I set out alone. + +It was fit that I put my boat into the water at Arkville, but it +may seem a little incongruous that I should launch her into Dry +Brook; yet Dry Brook is here a fine large trout stream, and I soon +found its waters were wet enough for all practical purposes. The +Delaware is only one mile distant, and I chose this as the easiest +road from the station to it. A young farmer helped me carry the +boat to the water, but did not stay to see me off; only some calves +feeding alongshore witnessed my embarkation. It would have been a +godsend to boys, but there were no boys about. I stuck on a rift +before I had gone ten yards, and saw with misgiving the paint +transferred from the bottom of my little scow to the tops of the +stones thus early in the journey. But I was soon making fair +headway, and taking trout for my dinner as I floated along. My +first mishap was when I broke the second joint of my rod on a bass, +and the first serious impediment to my progress was when I +encountered the trunk of a prostrate elm bridging the stream within +a few inches of the surface. My rod mended and the elm cleared, I +anticipated better sailing when I should reach the Delaware itself; +but I found on this day and on subsequent days that the Delaware +has a way of dividing up that is very embarrassing to the +navigator. It is a stream of many minds: its waters cannot long +agree to go all in the same channel, and whichever branch I took I +was pretty sure to wish I had taken one of the others. I was +constantly sticking on rifts, where I would have to dismount, or +running full tilt into willow banks, where I would lose my hat or +endanger my fishing-tackle. On the whole, the result of my first +day's voyaging was not encouraging. I made barely eight miles, and +my ardor was a good deal dampened, to say nothing about my +clothing. In mid-afternoon I went to a well-to-do-looking +farmhouse and got some milk, which I am certain the thrifty +housewife skimmed, for its blueness infected my spirits, and I went +into camp that night more than half persuaded to abandon the +enterprise in the morning. The loneliness of the river, too, unlike +that of the fields and woods, to which I was more accustomed, +oppressed me. In the woods, things are close to you, and you +touch them and seem to interchange something with them; but upon +the river, even though it be a narrow and shallow one like this, +you are more isolated, farther removed from the soil and its +attractions, and an easier prey to the unsocial demons. The long, +unpeopled vistas ahead; the still, dark eddies; the endless +monotone and soliloquy of the stream; the unheeding rocks basking +like monsters along the shore, half out of the water, half in; a +solitary heron starting up here and there, as you rounded some +point, and flapping disconsolately ahead till lost to view, or +standing like a gaunt spectre on the umbrageous side of the +mountain, his motionless form revealed against the dark green as +you passed; the trees and willows and alders that hemmed you in on +either side, and hid the fields and the farmhouses and the road +that ran near by,--these things and others aided the skimmed milk +to cast a gloom over my spirits that argued ill for the success of +my undertaking. Those rubber boots, too, that parboiled my feet and +were clogs of lead about them,--whose spirits are elastic enough to +endure them? A malediction upon the head of him who invented them! +Take your old shoes, that will let the water in and let it out +again, rather than stand knee-deep all day in these extinguishers. + +I escaped from the river, that first night, and took to the woods, +and profited by the change. In the woods I was at home again, and +the bed of hemlock boughs salved my spirits. A cold spring run came +down off the mountain, and beside it, underneath birches and +hemlocks, I improvised my hearthstone. In sleeping on the ground it +is a great advantage to have a back-log; it braces and supports +you, and it is a bedfellow that will not grumble when, in the +middle of the night, you crowd sharply up against it. It serves to +keep in the warmth, also. A heavy stone or other point DE +RÉSISTANCE at your feet is also a help. Or, better still, scoop out +a little place in the earth, a few inches deep, so as to admit your +body from your hips to your shoulders; you thus get an equal +bearing the whole length of you. I am told the Western hunters and +guides do this. On the same principle, the sand makes a good bed, +and the snow. You make a mould in which you fit nicely. My berth +that night was between two logs that the bark-peelers had stripped +ten or more years before. As they had left the bark there, and as +hemlock bark makes excellent fuel, I had more reasons than one to +be grateful to them. + +In the morning I felt much refreshed, and as if the night had tided +me over the bar that threatened to stay my progress. If I can steer +clear of skimmed milk, I said, I shall now finish the voyage of +fifty miles to Hancock with increasing pleasure. + +When one breaks camp in the morning, he turns back again and again +to see what he has left. Surely, he feels, he has forgotten +something; what is it? But it is only his own sad thoughts and +musings he has left, the fragment of his life he has lived there. +Where he hung his coat on the tree, where he slept on the boughs, +where he made his coffee or broiled his trout over the coals, where +he drank again and again at the little brown pool in the spring +run, where he looked long and long up into the whispering branches +overhead, he has left what he cannot bring away with him,--the +flame and the ashes of himself. + +Of certain game-birds it is thought that at times they have the +power of withholding their scent; no hint or particle of themselves +goes out upon the air. I think there are persons whose spiritual +pores are always sealed up, and I presume they have the best time +of it. Their hearts never radiate into the void; they do not yearn +and sympathize without return; they do not leave themselves by the +wayside as the sheep leaves her wool upon the brambles and thorns. + +This branch of the Delaware, so far as I could learn, had never +before been descended by a white man in a boat. Rafts of pine and +hemlock timber are run down on the spring and fall freshets, but of +pleasure-seekers in boats I appeared to be the first. Hence my +advent was a surprise to most creatures in the water and out. I +surprised the cattle in the field, and those ruminating leg-deep in +the water turned their heads at my approach, swallowed their +unfinished cuds, and scampered off as if they had seen a spectre. I +surprised the fish on their spawning-beds and feeding-grounds; they +scattered, as my shadow glided down upon them, like chickens when a +hawk appears. I surprised an ancient fisherman seated on a spit of +gravelly beach, with his back upstream, and leisurely angling in +a deep, still eddy, and mumbling to himself. As I slid into the +circle of his vision his grip on the pole relaxed, his jaw dropped, +and he was too bewildered to reply to my salutation for some +moments. As I turned a bend in the river I looked back, and saw +him hastening away with great precipitation. I presume he had +angled there for forty years without having his privacy thus +intruded upon. I surprised hawks and herons and kingfishers. I +came suddenly upon muskrats, and raced with them down the rifts, +they having no time to take to their holes. At one point, as I +rounded an elbow in the stream, a black eagle sprang from the top +of a dead tree, and flapped hurriedly away. A kingbird gave +chase, and disappeared for some moments in the gulf between the +great wings of the eagle, and I imagined him seated upon his back +delivering his puny blows upon the royal bird. I interrupted two +or three minks fishing and hunting alongshore. They would dart +under the bank when they saw me, then presently thrust out their +sharp, weasel-like noses, to see if the danger was imminent. At +one point, in a little cove behind the willows, I surprised some +schoolgirls, with skirts amazingly abbreviated, wading and playing +in the water. And as much surprised as any, I am sure, was that +hard-worked-looking housewife, when I came up from under the bank +in front of her house, and with pail in hand appeared at her door +and asked for milk, taking the precaution to intimate that I had no +objection to the yellow scum that is supposed to rise on a fresh +article of that kind. + +"What kind of milk do you want?" + +"The best you have. Give me two quarts of it," I replied. + +"What do you want to do with it?" with an anxious tone, as if I +might want to blow up something or burn her barns with it. + +"Oh, drink it," I answered, as if I frequently put milk to that +use. + +"Well, I suppose I can get you some;" and she presently reappeared +with swimming pail, with those little yellow flakes floating about +upon it that one likes to see. + +I passed several low dams the second day, but had no trouble. I +dismounted and stood upon the apron, and the boat, with plenty of +line, came over as lightly as a chip, and swung around in the eddy +below like a steed that knows its master. In the afternoon, while +slowly drifting down a long eddy, the moist southwest wind brought +me the welcome odor of strawberries, and running ashore by a +meadow, a short distance below, I was soon parting the daisies and +filling my cup with the dead-ripe fruit. Berries, be they red, +blue, or black, seem like a special providence to the camper-out; +they are luxuries he has not counted on, and I prized these +accordingly. Later in the day it threatened rain, and I drew up to +shore under the shelter of some thick overhanging hemlocks, and +proceeded to eat my berries and milk, glad of an excuse not to +delay my lunch longer. While tarrying here I heard young voices +upstream, and looking in that direction saw two boys coming down +the rapids on rude floats. They were racing along at a lively pace, +each with a pole in his hand, dexterously avoiding the rocks and +the breakers, and schooling themselves thus early in the duties and +perils of the raftsmen. As they saw me one observed to the other, -- + + +"There is the man we saw go by when we were building our floats. If +we had known he was coming so far, maybe we could have got him to +give us a ride." + +They drew near, guided their crafts to shore beside me, and tied +up, their poles answering for hawsers. They proved to be Johnny and +Denny Dwire, aged ten and twelve. They were friendly boys, and +though not a bit bashful were not a bit impertinent. And Johnny, +who did the most of the talking, had such a sweet, musical voice; +it was like a bird's. It seems Denny had run away, a day or two +before, to his uncle's, five miles above, and Johnny had been after +him, and was bringing his prisoner home on a float; and it was hard +to tell which was enjoying the fun most, the captor or the +captured. + +"Why did you run away?" said I to Denny. + +"Oh, 'cause," replied he, with an air which said plainly, "The +reasons are too numerous to mention." + +"Boys, you know, will do so, sometimes," said Johnny, and he smiled +upon his brother in a way that made me think they had a very good +understanding upon the subject. + +They could both swim, yet their floats looked very perilous,--three +pieces of old plank or slabs, with two cross-pieces and a fragment +of a board for a rider, and made without nails or withes. + +"In some places," said Johnny, "one plank was here and another off +there, but we managed, somehow, to keep atop of them." + +"Let's leave our floats here, and ride with him the rest of the +way," said one to the other. + +"All right; may we, mister? " + +I assented, and we were soon afloat again. How they enjoyed the +passage; how smooth it was; how the boat glided along; how quickly +she felt the paddle! They admired her much; they praised my +steersmanship; they praised my fish-pole and all my fixings down to +my hateful rubber boots. When we stuck on the rifts, as we did +several times, they leaped out quickly, with their bare feet and +legs, and pushed us off. + +"I think," said Johnny, "if you keep her straight and let her have +her own way, she will find the deepest water. Don't you, Denny?" + +"I think she will," replied Denny; and I found the boys were pretty +nearly right. + +I tried them on a point of natural history. I had observed, coming +along, a great many dead eels lying on the bottom of the river, +that I supposed had died from spear wounds. "No," said Johnny, +"they are lamper eels. They die as soon as they have built their +nests and laid their eggs." + +"Are you sure?" + +"That's what they all say, and I know they are lampers." + +So I fished one up out of the deep water with my paddle-blade and +examined it; and sure enough it was a lamprey. There was the row of +holes along its head, and its ugly suction mouth. I had noticed +their nests, too, all along, where the water in the pools shallowed +to a few feet and began to hurry toward the rifts: they were low +mounds of small stones, as if a bushel or more of large pebbles had +been dumped upon the river bottom; occasionally they were so near +the surface as to make a big ripple. The eel attaches itself to the +stones by its mouth, and thus moves them at will. An old fisherman +told me that a strong man could not pull a large lamprey loose from +a rock to which it had attached itself. It fastens to its prey in +this way, and sucks the life out. A friend of mine says he once saw +in the St. Lawrence a pike as long as his arm with a lamprey eel +attached to him. The fish was nearly dead and was quite white, the +eel had so sucked out his blood and substance. The fish, when +seized, darts against rocks and stones, and tries in vain to rub +the eel off, then succumbs to the sucker. + +"The lampers do not all die," said Denny, "because they do not all +spawn;" and I observed that the dead ones were all of one size and +doubtless of the same age. + +The lamprey is the octopus, the devil-fish, of these waters, and +there is, perhaps, no tragedy enacted here that equals that of one +of these vampires slowly sucking the life out of a bass or a trout. + +My boys went to school part of the time. Did they have a good +teacher? + +"Good enough for me," said Johnny. + +"Good enough for me," echoed Denny. + +Just below Bark-a-boom--the name is worth keeping--they left me. I +was loath to part with them; their musical voices and their +thorough good-fellowship had been very acceptable. With a little +persuasion, I think they would have left their home and humble +fortunes, and gone a-roving with me. + +About four o'clock the warm, vapor-laden southwest wind brought +forth the expected thunder-shower. I saw the storm rapidly +developing behind the mountains in my front. Presently I came in +sight of a long covered wooden bridge that spanned the river about +a mile ahead, and I put my paddle into the water with all my force +to reach this cover before the storm. It was neck and neck most of +the way. The storm had the wind, and I had it--in my teeth. The +bridge was at Shavertown, and it was by a close shave that I got +under it before the rain was upon me. How it poured and rattled and +whipped in around the abutment of the bridge to reach me! I looked +out well satisfied upon the foaming water, upon the wet, unpainted +houses and barns of the Shavertowners, and upon the trees, + + "Caught and cuffed by the gale." + +Another traveler--the spotted-winged nighthawk--was also roughly +used by the storm. He faced it bravely, and beat and beat, but was +unable to stem it, or even hold his own; gradually he drifted back, +till he was lost to sight in the wet obscurity. The water in the +river rose an inch while I waited, about three quarters of an hour. +Only one man, I reckon, saw me in Shavertown, and he came and +gossiped with me from the bank above when the storm had abated. + +The second night I stopped at the sign of the elm-tree. The woods +were too wet, and I concluded to make my boat my bed. A superb elm, +on a smooth grassy plain a few feet from the water's edge, looked +hospitable in the twilight, and I drew my boat up beneath it. I +hung my clothes on the jagged edges of its rough bark, and went to +bed with the moon, "in her third quarter," peeping under the +branches upon me. I had been reading Stevenson's amusing "Travels +with a Donkey," and the lines he pretends to quote from an old play +kept running in my head:-- + + 'The bed was made, the room was fit, + By punctual eve the stars were lit; + The air was sweet, the water ran; + No need was there for maid or man, + When we put up, my ass and I, + At God's green caravanserai." + +But the stately elm played me a trick: it slyly and at long +intervals let great drops of water down upon me, now with a sharp +smack upon my rubber coat; then with a heavy thud upon the seat in +the bow or stern of my boat; then plump into my upturned ear, or +upon my uncovered arm, or with a ring into my tin cup, or with a +splash into my coffee-pail that stood at my side full of water from +a spring I had just passed. After two hours' trial I found dropping +off to sleep, under such circumstances, was out of the question; so +I sprang up, in no very amiable mood toward my host, and drew my +boat clean from under the elm. I had refreshing slumber +thenceforth, and the birds were astir in the morning long before I +was. + +There is one way, at least, in which the denuding the country of +its forests has lessened the rainfall: in certain conditions of the +atmosphere every tree is a great condenser of moisture, as I had +just observed in the case of the old elm; little showers are +generated in their branches, and in the aggregate the amount of +water precipitated in this way is considerable. Of a foggy summer +morning one may see little puddles of water standing on the stones +beneath maple-trees, along the street; and in winter, when there is +a sudden change from cold to warm, with fog, the water fairly runs +down the trunks of the trees, and streams from their naked +branches. The temperature of the tree is so much below that of the +atmosphere in such cases that the condensation is very rapid. In +lieu of these arboreal rains we have the dew upon the grass, but it +is doubtful if the grass ever drips as does a tree. + +The birds, I say, were astir in the morning before I was, and some +of them were more wakeful through the night, unless they sing in +their dreams. At this season one may hear at intervals numerous +bird voices during the night. The whip-poor-will was piping when I +lay down, and I still heard one when I woke up after midnight. I +heard the song sparrow and the kingbird also, like watchers calling +the hour, and several times I heard the cuckoo. Indeed, I am +convinced that our cuckoo is to a considerable extent a night bird, +and that he moves about freely from tree to tree. His peculiar +guttural note, now here, now there, may be heard almost any summer +night, in any part of the country, and occasionally his better +known cuckoo call. He is a great recluse by day, but seems to +wander abroad freely by night. + +The birds do indeed begin with the day. The farmer who is in the +field at work while he can yet see stars catches their first matin +hymns. In the longest June days the robin strikes up about half- +past three o'clock, and is quickly followed by the song sparrow, +the oriole, the catbird, the wren, the wood thrush, and all the +rest of the tuneful choir. Along the Potomac I have heard the +Virginia cardinal whistle so loudly and persistently in the tree- +tops above, that sleeping after four o'clock was out of the +question. Just before the sun is up, there is a marked lull, during +which, I imagine, the birds are at breakfast. While building their +nest, it is very early in the morning that they put in their big +strokes; the back of their day's work is broken before you have +begun yours. + +A lady once asked me if there was any individuality among the +birds, or if those of the same kind were as near alike as two peas. +I was obliged to answer that to the eye those of the same species +were as near alike as two peas, but that in their songs there were +often marks of originality. Caged or domesticated birds develop +notes and traits of their own, and among the more familiar orchard +and garden birds one may notice the same tendency. I observe a +great variety of songs, and even qualities of voice, among the +orioles and among the song sparrows. On this trip my ear was +especially attracted to some striking and original sparrow songs. +At one point I was half afraid I had let pass an opportunity to +identify a new warbler, but finally concluded it was a song +sparrow. On another occasion I used to hear day after day a sparrow +that appeared to have some organic defect in its voice: part of its +song was scarcely above a whisper, as if the bird was suffering +from a very bad cold. I have heard a bobolink and a hermit thrush +with similar defects of voice. I have heard a robin with a part of +the whistle of the quail in his song. It was out of time and out of +tune, but the robin seemed insensible of the incongruity, and sang +as loudly and as joyously as any of his mates. A catbird will +sometimes show a special genius for mimicry, and I have known one +to suggest very plainly some notes of the bobolink. + +There are numerous long covered bridges spanning the Delaware, and +under some of these I saw the cliff swallow at home, the nests +being fastened to the under sides of the timbers,--as it were, +suspended from the ceiling instead of being planted upon the +shelving or perpendicular side, as is usual with them. To have laid +the foundation, indeed, to have sprung the vault downward and +finished it successfully, must have required special engineering +skill. I had never before seen or heard of these nests being so +placed. But birds are quick to adjust their needs to the exigencies +of any case. Not long before, I had seen in a deserted house, on +the head of the Rondout, the chimney swallows entering the chamber +through a stove-pipe hole in the roof, and gluing their nests to +the sides of the rafters, like the barn swallows. + +I was now, on the third day, well down in the wilds of Colchester, +with a current that made between two and three miles an hour,--just +a summer idler's pace. The atmosphere of the river had improved +much since the first day,--was, indeed, without taint,--and the +water was sweet and good. There were farmhouses at intervals of a +mile or so; but the amount of tillable land in the river valley or +on the adjacent mountains was very small. Occasionally there would +be forty or fifty acres of flat, usually in grass or corn, with a +thrifty-looking farmhouse. One could see how surely the land made +the house and its surrounding; good land bearing good buildings, +and poor land poor + +In mid-forenoon I reached the long placid eddy at Downsville, and +here again fell in with two boys. They were out paddling about in a +boat when I drew near, and they evidently regarded me in the light +of a rare prize which fortune had wafted them. + +"Ain't you glad we come, Benny?" I heard one of them observe to the +other, as they were conducting me to the best place to land. They +were bright, good boys, off the same piece as my acquaintances of +the day before, and about the same ages,-- differing only in being +village boys. With what curiosity they looked me over! Where had I +come from; where was I going; how long had I been on the way; who +built my boat; was I a carpenter, to build such a neat craft, etc.? +They never had seen such a traveler before. Had I had no mishaps? +And then they bethought them of the dangerous passes that awaited +me, and in good faith began to warn and advise me. They had heard +the tales of raftsmen, and had conceived a vivid idea of the perils +of the river below, gauging their notions of it from the spring and +fall freshets tossing about the heavy and cumbrous rafts. There was +a whirlpool, a rock eddy, and a binocle within a mile. I might be +caught in the binocle, or engulfed in the whirlpool, or smashed up +in the eddy. But I felt much reassured when they told me I had +already passed several whirlpools and rock eddies; but that +terrible binocle,--what was that? I had never heard of such a +monster. Oh, it was a still, miry place at the head of a big eddy. +The current might carry me up there, but I could easily get out +again; the rafts did. But there was another place I must beware of, +where two eddies faced each other; raftsmen were sometimes swept +off there by the oars and drowned. And when I came to rock eddy, +which I would know, because the river divided there (a part of the +water being afraid to risk the eddy, I suppose), I must go ashore +and survey the pass; but in any case it would be prudent to keep to +the left. I might stick on the rift, but that was nothing to being +wrecked upon those rocks. The boys were quite in earnest, and I +told them I would walk up to the village and post some letters to +my friends before I braved all these dangers. So they marched me up +the street, pointing out to their chums what they had found. + +"Going way to Phil-- What place is that near where the river goes +into the sea?" + +"Philadelphia?" + +"Yes; thinks he may go way there. Won't he have fun?" + +The boys escorted me about the town, then back to the river, and +got in their boat and came down to the bend, where they could see +me go through the whirlpool and pass the binocle (I am not sure +about the orthography of the word, but I suppose it means a double, +or a sort of mock eddy). I looked back as I shot over the rough +current beside a gentle vortex, and saw them watching me with great +interest. Rock eddy, also, was quite harmless, and I passed it +without any preliminary survey. + +I nooned at Sodom, and found good milk in a humble cottage. In the +afternoon I was amused by a great blue heron that kept flying up in +advance of me. Every mile or so, as I rounded some point, I would +come unexpectedly upon him, till finally he grew disgusted with my +silent pursuit, and took a long turn to the left up along the side +of the mountain, and passed back up the river, uttering a hoarse, +low note. + +The wind still boded rain, and about four o'clock, announced by +deep-toned thunder and portentous clouds, it began to charge down +the mountain-side in front of me. I ran ashore, covered my traps, +and took my way up through an orchard to a quaint little farmhouse. +But there was not a soul about, outside or in, that I could find, +though the door was unfastened; so I went into an open shed with +the hens, and lounged upon some straw, while the unloosed floods +came down. It was better than boating or fishing. Indeed, there +are few summer pleasures to be placed before that of reclining at +ease directly under a sloping roof, after toil or travel in the +hot sun, and looking out into the rain-drenched air and fields. +It is such a vital yet soothing spectacle. We sympathize with the +earth. We know how good a bath is, and the unspeakable +deliciousness of water to a parched tongue. The office of the +sunshine is slow, subtle, occult, unsuspected; but when the +clouds do their work, the benefaction is so palpable and copious, +so direct and wholesale, that all creatures take note of it, and +for the most part rejoice in it. It is a completion, a +consummation, a paying of a debt with a royal hand; the measure is +heaped and overflowing. It was the simple vapor of water that the +clouds borrowed of the earth; now they pay back more than water: +the drops are charged with electricity and with the gases of the +air, and have new solvent powers. Then, how the slate is sponged +off, and left all clean and new again! + +In the shed where I was sheltered were many relics and odds and +ends of the farm. In juxtaposition with two of the most stalwart +wagon or truck wheels I ever looked upon was a cradle of ancient +and peculiar make,--an aristocratic cradle, with high-turned posts +and an elaborately carved and moulded body, that was suspended upon +rods and swung from the top. How I should have liked to hear its +history and the story of the lives it had rocked, as the rain sang +and the boughs tossed without! Above it was the cradle of a phbe- +bird saddled upon a stick that ran behind the rafter; its occupants +had not flown, and its story was easy to read. + +Soon after the first shock of the storm was over, and before I +could see breaking sky, the birds tuned up with new ardor,--the +robin, the indigo-bird, the purple finch, the song sparrow, and in +the meadow below the bobolink. The cockerel near me followed suit, +and repeated his refrain till my meditations were so disturbed that +I was compelled to eject him from the cover, albeit he had the best +right there. But he crowed his defiance with drooping tail from the +yard in front. I, too, had mentally crowed over the good fortune +of the shower; but before I closed my eyes that night my crest was +a good deal fallen, and I could have wished the friendly elements +had not squared their accounts quite so readily and uproariously. + +The one shower did not exhaust the supply a bit; Nature's hand was +full of trumps yet,--yea, and her sleeve too. I stopped at a +trout brook, which came down out of the mountains on the right, and +took a few trout for my supper; but its current was too roily from +the shower for fly-fishing. Another farmhouse attracted me, but +there was no one at home; so I picked a quart of strawberries in +the meadow in front, not minding the wet grass, and about six +o'clock, thinking another storm that had been threatening on my +right had miscarried, I pushed off, and went floating down into the +deepening gloom of the river valley. The mountains, densely +wooded from base to summit, shut in the view on every hand. They +cut in from the right and from the left, one ahead of the other, +matching like the teeth of an enormous trap; the river was caught +and bent, but not long detained, by them. Presently I saw the rain +creeping slowly over them in my rear, for the wind had changed; but +I apprehended nothing but a moderate sundown drizzle, such as we +often get from the tail end of a shower, and drew up in the eddy of +a big rock under an overhanging tree till it should have passed. +But it did not pass; it thickened and deepened, and reached a +steady pour by the time I had calculated the sun would be gilding +the mountain-tops. I had wrapped my rubber coat about my blankets +and groceries, and bared my back to the storm. In sullen silence I +saw the night settling down and the rain increasing; my roof-tree +gave way, and every leaf poured its accumulated drops upon me. +There were streams and splashes where before there had been little +more than a mist. I was getting well soaked and uncomplimentary in +my remarks on the weather. A saucy catbird, near by, flirted and +squealed very plainly, "There! there! What did I tell you! what +did I tell you! Pretty pickle! pretty pickle! pretty pickle to be +in!" But I had been in worse pickles, though if the water had been +salt, my pickling had been pretty thorough. Seeing the wind was in +the northeast, and that the weather had fairly stolen a march on +me, I let go my hold of the tree, and paddled rapidly to the +opposite shore, which was low and pebbly, drew my boat up on a +little peninsula, turned her over upon a spot which I cleared of +its coarser stone, propped up one end with the seat, and crept +beneath. I would now test the virtues of my craft as a roof, and I +found she was without flaw, though she was pretty narrow. The +tension of her timber was such that the rain upon her bottom made a +low, musical hum. + +Crouched on my blankets and boughs,--for I had gathered a good +supply of the latter before the rain overtook me,--and dry only +about my middle, I placidly took life as it came. A great blue +heron flew by, and let off something like ironical horse laughter. +Before it became dark I proceeded to eat my supper,--my berries, +but not my trout. What a fuss we make about the "hulls" upon +strawberries! We are hypercritical; we may yet be glad to dine off +the hulls alone. Some people see something to pick and carp at +in every good that comes to them; I was thankful that I had the +berries, and resolutely ignored their little scalloped ruffles, +which I found pleased the eye and did not disturb the palate. + +When bedtime arrived, I found undressing a little awkward, my berth +was so low; there was plenty of room in the aisle, and the other +passengers were nowhere to be seen, but I did not venture out. It +rained nearly all night, but the train made good speed, and reached +the land of daybreak nearly on time. The water in the river had +crept up during the night to within a few inches of my boat, but I +rolled over and took another nap, all the same. Then I arose, had a +delicious bath in the sweet, swift-running current, and turned my +thoughts toward breakfast. The making of the coffee was the only +serious problem. With everything soaked and a fine rain still +falling, how shall one build a fire? I made my way to a little +island above in quest of driftwood. Before I had found the wood I +chanced upon another patch of delicious wild strawberries, and took +an appetizer of them out of hand. Presently I picked up a yellow +birch stick the size of my arm. The wood was decayed, but the bark +was perfect. I broke it in two, punched out the rotten wood, and +had the bark intact. The fatty or resinous substance in this bark +preserves it, and makes it excellent kindling. With some seasoned +twigs and a scrap of paper I soon had a fire going that answered my +every purpose. More berries were picked while the coffee was +brewing, and the breakfast was a success. + +The camper-out often finds himself in what seems a distressing +predicament to people seated in their snug, well-ordered houses; +but there is often a real satisfaction when things come to their +worst,--a satisfaction in seeing what a small matter it is, after +all; that one is really neither sugar nor salt, to be afraid of the +wet; and that life is just as well worth living beneath a scow or a +dug-out as beneath the highest and broadest roof in Christendom. + +By ten o'clock it became necessary to move, on account of the rise +of the water, and as the rain had abated, I picked up and continued +my journey. Before long, however, the rain increased again, and I +took refuge in a barn. The snug, tree-embowered farmhouse looked +very inviting, just across the road from the barn; but as no one +was about, and no faces appeared at the window that I might judge +of the inmates, I contented myself with the hospitality the barn +offered, filling my pockets with some dry birch shavings I found +there where the farmer had made an ox-yoke, against the needs of +the next kindling. + +After an hour's detention I was off again. I stopped at Baxter's +Brook, which flows hard by the classic hamlet of Harvard, and tried +for trout, but with poor success, as I did not think it worth while +to go far upstream. + +At several points I saw rafts of hemlock lumber tied to the shore, +ready to take advantage of the first freshet. Rafting is an +important industry for a hundred miles or more along the Delaware. +The lumbermen sometimes take their families or friends, and have a +jollification all the way to Trenton or to Philadelphia. In some +places the speed is very great, almost equaling that of an express +train. The passage of such places as Cochecton Falls and "Foul +Rift" is attended with no little danger. The raft is guided by two +immense oars, one before and one behind. I frequently saw these +huge implements in the driftwood alongshore, suggesting some +colossal race of men. The raftsmen have names of their own. From +the upper Delaware, where I had set in, small rafts are run down +which they call "colts." They come frisking down at a lively pace. +At Hancock they usually couple two rafts together, when I suppose +they have a span of colts; or do two colts make one horse? Some +parts of the framework of the raft they call "grubs;" much depends +upon these grubs. The lumbermen were and are a hardy, virile race. +The Hon. Charles Knapp, of Deposit, now eighty-three years of age, +but with the look and step of a man of sixty, told me he had stood +nearly all one December day in the water to his waist, +reconstructing his raft, which had gone to pieces on the head of an +island. Mr. Knapp had passed the first half of his life in +Colchester and Hancock, and, although no sportsman, had once taken +part in a great bear hunt there. The bear was an enormous one, and +was hard pressed by a gang of men and dogs. Their muskets and +assaults upon the beast with clubs had made no impression. Mr. +Knapp saw where the bear was coming, and he thought he would show +them how easy it was to dispatch a bear with a club, if you only +knew where to strike. He had seen how quickly the largest hog +would wilt beneath a slight blow across the "small of the back." +So, armed with an immense handspike, he took up a position by a +large rock that the bear must pass. On she came, panting and nearly +exhausted, and at the right moment down came the club with great +force upon the small of her back. "If a fly had alighted upon her," +said Mr. Knapp, "I think she would have paid just as much attention +to it as she did to me." + +Early in the afternoon I encountered another boy, Henry Ingersoll, +who was so surprised by my sudden and unwonted appearance that he +did not know east from west. "Which way is west?" I inquired, to +see if my own head was straight on the subject. + +"That way," he said, indicating east within a few degrees. + +"You are wrong," I replied. "Where does the sun rise?" + +"There," he said, pointing almost in the direction he had pointed +before. + +"But does not the sun rise in the east here as well as elsewhere?" +I rejoined. + +"Well, they call that west, anyhow." + +But Henry's needle was subjected to a disturbing influence just +then. His house was near the river, and he was its sole guardian +and keeper for the time; his father had gone up to the next +neighbor's (it was Sunday), and his sister had gone with the +schoolmistress down the road to get black birch. He came out in the +road, with wide eyes, to view me as I passed, when I drew rein, and +demanded the points of the compass, as above. Then I shook my sooty +pail at him and asked for milk. Yes, I could have some milk, but I +would have to wait till his sister came back; after he had +recovered a little, he concluded he could get it. He came for my +pail, and then his boyish curiosity appeared. My story interested +him immensely. He had seen twelve summers, but he had been +only four miles from home up and down the river : he had been down +to the East Branch, and he had been up to Trout Brook. He took a +pecuniary interest in me. What did my pole cost? What my rubber +coat, and what my revolver? The latter he must take in his hand; +he had never seen such a thing to shoot with before in HIS life, +etc. He thought I might make the trip cheaper and easier by stage +and by the cars. He went to school: there were six scholars in +summer, one or two more in winter. The population is not crowded +in the town of Hancock, certainly, and never will be. The people +live close to the bone, as Thoreau would say, or rather close to +the stump. Many years ago the young men there resolved upon having +a ball. They concluded not to go to a hotel, on account of the +expense, and so chose a private house. There was a man in the +neighborhood who could play the fife; he offered to furnish the +music for seventy-five cents. But this was deemed too much, so one +of the party agreed to whistle. History does not tell how many +beaux there were bent upon this reckless enterprise, but there were +three girls. For refreshments they bought a couple of gallons of +whiskey and a few pounds of sugar. When the spree was over, and the +expenses were reckoned up, there was a shilling--a York shilling-- +apiece to pay. Some of the revelers were dissatisfied with this +charge, and intimated that the managers had not counted themselves +in, but taxed the whole expense upon the rest of the party. + +As I moved on, I saw Henry's sister and the schoolmistress picking +their way along the muddy road near the river's bank. One of them +saw me, and, dropping her skirts, said to the other (I could read +the motions), "See that man!" The other lowered her flounces, and +looked up and down the road, then glanced over into the field, and +lastly out upon the river. They paused and had a good look at me, +though I could see that their impulse to run away, like that of a +frightened deer, was strong. + +At the East Branch the Big Beaver Kill joins the Delaware, almost +doubling its volume. Here I struck the railroad, the forlorn +Midland, and here another set of men and manners cropped out,--what +may be called the railroad conglomerate overlying this mountain +freestone. + +"Where did you steal that boat?" and "What you running away for?" +greeted me from a handcar that went by. + +I paused for some time and watched the fish hawks, or ospreys, of +which there were nearly a dozen sailing about above the junction of +the two streams, squealing and diving, and occasionally striking a +fish on the rifts. I am convinced that the fish hawk sometimes +feeds on the wing. I saw him do it on this and on another +occasion. He raises himself by a peculiar motion, and brings his +head and his talons together, and apparently takes a bite of a +fish. While doing this his flight presents a sharply undulating +line; at the crest of each rise the morsel is taken. + +In a long, deep eddy under the west shore I came upon a brood of +wild ducks, the hooded merganser. The young were about half grown, +but of course entirely destitute of plumage. They started off at +great speed, kicking the water into foam behind them, the mother +duck keeping upon their flank and rear. Near the outlet of the +pool I saw them go ashore, and I expected they would conceal +themselves in the woods; but as I drew near the place they came +out, and I saw by their motions they were going to make a rush by +me upstream. At a signal from the old one, on they came, and +passed within a few feet of me. It was almost incredible, the +speed they made. Their pink feet were like swiftly revolving +wheels placed a little to the rear; their breasts just skimmed the +surface, and the water was beaten into spray behind them. They had +no need of wings; even the mother bird did not use hers; a +steamboat could hardly have kept up with them. I dropped my paddle +and cheered. They kept the race up for a long distance, and I saw +them making a fresh spirt as I entered upon the rift and dropped +quickly out of sight. I next disturbed an eagle in his meditations +upon a dead treetop, and a cat sprang out of some weeds near the +foot of the tree. Was he watching for puss, while she was watching +for some smaller prey? + +I passed Partridge Island--which is or used to be the name of a +post-office--unwittingly, and encamped for the night on an island +near Hawk's Point. I slept in my boat on the beach, and in the +morning my locks were literally wet with the dews of the night, and +my blankets too; so I waited for the sun to dry them. As I was +gathering driftwood for a fire, a voice came over from the shadows +of the east shore: "Seems to me you lay abed pretty late!" + +"I call this early," I rejoined, glancing at the sun. + +"Wall, it may be airly in the forenoon, but it ain't very airly in +the mornin';" a distinction I was forced to admit. Before I had +reëmbarked some cows came down to the shore, and I watched them +ford the river to the island. They did it with great ease and +precision. I was told they will sometimes, during high water, swim +over to the islands, striking in well upstream, and swimming +diagonally across. At one point some cattle had crossed the river, +and evidently got into mischief, for a large dog rushed them down +the bank into the current, and worried them all the way over, part +of the time swimming and part of the time leaping very high, as a +dog will in deep snow, coming down with a great splash. The cattle +were shrouded with spray as they ran, and altogether it was a novel +picture. + +My voyage ended that forenoon at Hancock, and was crowned by a few +idyllic days with some friends in their cottage in the woods by +Lake Oquaga, a body of crystal water on the hills near Deposit, and +a haven as peaceful and perfect as voyager ever came to port in. + + + +II + +SPRINGS + + "I'll show thee the best springs." + --TEMPEST. + +A MAN who came back to the place of his birth in the East, after an +absence of a quarter of a century in the West, said the one thing +he most desired to see about the old homestead was the spring. +This, at least, he would find unchanged. Here his lost youth would +come back to him. The faces of his father and mother he might not +look upon; but the face of the spring, that had mirrored theirs and +his own so oft, he fondly imagined would beam on him as of old. I +can well believe that, in that all but springless country in which +he had cast his lot, the vision, the remembrance, of the fountain +that flowed by his father's doorway, so prodigal of its precious +gifts, had awakened in him the keenest longings and regrets. + +Did he not remember the path, also? for next to the spring itself +is the path that leads to it. Indeed, of all foot-paths, the +spring-path is the most suggestive. + +This is a path with something at the end of it, and the best of +good fortune awaits him who walks therein. It is a well-worn path, +and, though generally up or down a hill, it is the easiest of all +paths to travel: we forget our fatigue when going to the spring, +and we have lost it when we turn to come away. See with what +alacrity the laborer hastens along it, all sweaty from the fields; +see the boy or girl running with pitcher or pail; see the welcome +shade of the spreading tree that presides over its marvelous birth! + +In the woods or on the mountain-side, follow the path and you are +pretty sure to find a spring; all creatures are going that way +night and day, and they make a path. + +A spring is always a vital point in the landscape; it is indeed the +eye of the fields, and how often, too, it has a noble eyebrow in +the shape of an overhanging bank or ledge! Or else its site is +marked by some tree which the pioneer has wisely left standing, and +which sheds a coolness and freshness that make the water more +sweet. In the shade of this tree the harvesters sit and eat their +lunch, and look out upon the quivering air of the fields. Here the +Sunday saunterer stops and lounges with his book, and bathes his +hands and face in the cool fountain. Hither the strawberry-girl +comes with her basket and pauses a moment in the green shade. The +plowman leaves his plow, and in long strides approaches the life- +renewing spot, while his team, that cannot follow, look wistfully +after him. Here the cattle love to pass the heat of the day, and +hither come the birds to wash themselves and make their toilets. + +Indeed, a spring is always an oasis in the desert of the fields. +It is a creative and generative centre. It attracts all things to +itself,--the grasses, the mosses, the flowers, the wild plants, the +great trees. The walker finds it out, the camping party seek it, +the pioneer builds his hut or his house near it. When the settler +or squatter has found a good spring, he has found a good place to +begin life; he has found the fountain-head of much that he is +seeking in this world. The chances are that he has found a +southern and eastern exposure, for it is a fact that water does not +readily flow north; the valleys mostly open the other way; and it +is quite certain he has found a measure of salubrity, for where +water flows fever abideth not. The spring, too, keeps him to the +right belt, out of the low valley, and off the top of the hill. + +When John Winthrop decided upon the site where now stands the city +of Boston, as a proper place for a settlement, he was chiefly +attracted by a large and excellent spring of water that flowed +there. The infant city was born of this fountain. + +There seems a kind of perpetual springtime about the place where +water issues from the ground,--a freshness and a greenness that are +ever renewed. The grass never fades, the ground is never parched +or frozen. There is warmth there in winter and coolness in summer. +The temperature is equalized. In March or April the spring runs +are a bright emerald while the surrounding fields are yet brown and +sere, and in fall they are yet green when the first snow covers +them. Thus every fountain by the roadside is a fountain of youth +and of life. This is what the old fables finally mean. + +An intermittent spring is shallow; it has no deep root, and is like +an inconstant friend. But a perennial spring, one whose ways are +appointed, whose foundation is established, what a profound and +beautiful symbol! In fact, there is no more large and universal +symbol in nature than the spring, if there is any other capable of +such wide and various applications. + +What preparation seems to have been made for it in the conformation +of the ground, even in the deep underlying geological strata! Vast +rocks and ledges are piled for it, or cleft asunder that it may +find a way. Sometimes it is a trickling thread of silver down the +sides of a seamed and scarred precipice. Then again the stratified +rock is like a just-lifted lid, from beneath which the water +issues. Or it slips noiselessly out of a deep dimple in the +fields. Occasionally it bubbles up in the valley, as if forced up +by the surrounding hills. Many springs, no doubt, find an outlet +in the beds of the large rivers and lakes, and are unknown to all +but the fishes. They probably find them out and make much of them. +The trout certainly do. Find a place in the creek where a spring +issues, or where it flows into it from a near bank, and you have +found a most likely place for trout. They deposit their spawn +there in the fall, warm their noses there in winter, and cool +themselves there in summer. I have seen the patriarchs of the +tribe of an old and much-fished stream, seven or eight enormous +fellows, congregated in such a place. The boys found it out, and +went with a bag and bagged them all. In another place a trio of +large trout, that knew and despised all the arts of the fishermen, +took up their abode in a deep, dark hole in the edge of the wood, +that had a spring flowing into a shallow part of it. In midsummer +they were wont to come out from their safe retreat and bask in the +spring, their immense bodies but a few inches under water. A +youth, who had many times vainly sounded their dark hiding-place +with his hook, happening to come along with his rifle one day, shot +the three, one after another, killing them by the concussion of the +bullet on the water immediately over them. + +The ocean itself is known to possess springs, copious ones, in many +places the fresh water rising up through the heavier salt as +through a rock, and affording supplies to vessels at the surface. +Off the coast of Florida many of these submarine springs have been +discovered, the outlet, probably, of the streams and rivers that +disappear in the "sinks" of that State. + +It is a pleasant conception, that of the unscientific folk, that +the springs are fed directly by the sea, or that the earth is full +of veins or arteries that connect with the great reservoir of +waters. But when science turns the conception over and makes the +connection in the air,--disclosing the great water-main in the +clouds, and that the mighty engine of the hydraulic system of +nature is the sun,--the fact becomes even more poetical, does it +not? This is one of the many cases where science, instead of +curtailing the imagination, makes new and large demands upon it. + +The hills are great sponges that do not and cannot hold the water +that is precipitated upon them, but let it filter through at the +bottom. This is the way the sea has robbed the earth of its various +salts, its potash, its lime, its magnesia, and many other mineral +elements. It is found that the oldest upheavals, those sections of +the country that have been longest exposed to the leeching and +washing of the rains, are poorest in those substances that go to +the making of the osseous framework of man and of the animals. +Wheat does not grow well there, and the men born and reared there +are apt to have brittle bones. An important part of those men went +downstream ages before they were born. The water of such sections +is now soft and free from mineral substances, but not more +wholesome on that account. + +The gigantic springs of the country that have not been caught in +any of the great natural basins are mostly confined to the +limestone region of the Middle and Southern States,--the valley of +Virginia and its continuation and deflections into Kentucky, +Tennessee, northern Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Through this +belt are found the great caves and the subterranean rivers. The +waters have here worked like enormous moles, and have honeycombed +the foundations of the earth. They have great highways beneath +the hills. Water charged with carbonic acid gas has a very sharp +tooth and a powerful digestion, and no limestone rock can long +resist it. Sherman's soldiers tell of a monster spring in +northern Alabama,--a river leaping full-grown from the bosom of the +earth; and of another at the bottom of a large, deep pit in the +rocks, that continues its way under ground. + +There are many springs in Florida of this character, large +underground streams that have breathing-holes, as it were, here +and there. In some places the water rises and fills the bottoms +of deep bowl-shaped depressions; in other localities it is reached +through round natural well-holes; a bucket is let down by a rope, +and if it becomes detached is quickly swept away by the current. +Some of the Florida springs are perhaps the largest in the world, +affording room and depth enough for steamboats to move and turn in +them. Green Cove Spring is said to be like a waterfall reversed; a +cataract rushing upward through a transparent liquid instead of +leaping downward through the air. There are one or two of these +enormous springs also in northern Mississippi,--springs so large +that it seems as if the whole continent must nurse them. + +The Valley of the Shenandoah is remarkable for its large springs. +The town of Winchester, a town of several thousand inhabitants, is +abundantly supplied with water from a single spring that issues on +higher ground near by. Several other springs in the vicinity +afford rare mill-power. At Harrisonburg, a county town farther +up the valley, I was attracted by a low ornamental dome resting +upon a circle of columns, on the edge of the square that contained +the court-house, and was surprised to find that it gave shelter to +an immense spring. This spring was also capable of watering the +town or several towns; stone steps led down to it at the bottom +of a large stone basin. There was a pretty constant string of +pails to and from it. Aristotle called certain springs of his +country "cements of society," because the young people so +frequently met there and sang and conversed; and I have little +doubt this spring is of like social importance. There is a famous +spring at San Antonio, Texas, which is described by that excellent +traveler, Frederick Law Olmsted. "The whole river," he says, +"gushes up in one sparkling burst from the earth, with all the +accessories of smaller springs,--moss, pebbles, foliage, seclusion, +etc. Its effect is overpowering. It is beyond your possible +conception of a spring." + +Of like copiousness and splendor is the Caledonia spring, or +springs, in western New York. They give birth to a white-pebbled, +transparent stream, several rods wide and two or three feet deep, +that flows eighty barrels of water per second, and is alive with +trout. The trout are fat and gamy even in winter. + +The largest spring in England, called the Well of St. Winifred, at +Holywell, flows less than three barrels per second. I recently +went many miles out of my way to see the famous trout spring in +Warren County, New Jersey. This spring flows about one thousand +gallons of water per minute, which has a uniform temperature of +fifty degrees winter and summer. It is near the Musconetcong +Creek, which looks as if it were made up of similar springs. On +the parched and sultry summer day upon which my visit fell, it was +well worth walking many miles just to see such a volume of water +issue from the ground. I felt with the boy Petrarch, when he first +beheld a famous spring, that "were I master of such a fountain I +would prefer it to the finest of cities." A large oak leans down +over the spring and affords an abundance of shade. The water does +not bubble up, but comes straight out with great speed, like a +courier with important news, and as if its course underground had +been a direct and an easy one for a long distance. Springs that +issue in this way have a sort of vertebra, a ridgy and spine-like +centre that suggests the gripe and push there is in this element. + +What would one not give for such a spring in his back yard, or +front yard, or anywhere near his house, or in any of his fields? +One would be tempted to move his house to it, if the spring could +not be brought to the house. Its mere poetic value and suggestion +would be worth all the art and ornament to be had. It would +irrigate one's heart and character as well as his acres. Then one +might have a Naiad Queen to do his churning and to saw his wood; +then one might "see his chore done by the gods themselves," as +Emerson says, or by the nymphs, which is just as well. + +I know a homestead, situated on one of the picturesque branch +valleys of the Housatonic, that has such a spring flowing by the +foundation walls of the house, and not a little of the strong +overmastering local attachment that holds the owner there is born +of that, his native spring. He could not, if he would, break from +it. He says that when he looks down into it he has a feeling that +he is an amphibious animal that has somehow got stranded. A long, +gentle flight of stone steps leads from the back porch down to it +under the branches of a lofty elm. It wells up through the white +sand and gravel as through a sieve, and fills the broad space that +has been arranged for it so gently and imperceptibly that one does +not suspect its copiousness until he has seen the overflow. It +turns no wheel, yet it lends a pliant hand to many of the affairs +of that household. It is a refrigerator in summer and a frost-proof +envelope in winter, and a fountain of delights the year round. +Trout come up from the Weebutook River and dwell there and become +domesticated, and take lumps of butter from your hand, or rake the +ends of your fingers if you tempt them. It is a kind of sparkling +and ever-washed larder. Where are the berries? where is the +butter, the milk, the steak, the melon? In the spring. It +preserves, it ventilates, it cleanses. It is a board of health and +a general purveyor. It is equally for use and for pleasure. +Nothing degrades it, and nothing can enhance its beauty. It is +picture and parable, and an instrument of music. It is servant and +divinity in one. The milk of forty cows is cooled in it, and never +a drop gets into the cans, though they are plunged to the brim. It +is as insensible to drought and rain as to heat and cold. It is +planted upon the sand, and yet it abideth like a house upon a rock. +It evidently has some relation to a little brook that flows down +through a deep notch in the hills half a mile distant, because on +one occasion, when the brook was being ditched or dammed, the +spring showed great perturbation. Every nymph in it was filled +with sudden alarm and kicked up a commotion. + +In some sections of the country, when there is no spring near the +house, the farmer, with much labor and pains, brings one from some +uplying field or wood. Pine and poplar logs are bored and laid in +a trench, and the spring practically moved to the desired spot. The +ancient Persians had a law that whoever thus conveyed the water of +a spring to a spot not watered before should enjoy many immunities +under the state, not granted to others. + +Hilly and mountainous countries do not always abound in good +springs. When the stratum is vertical, or has too great a dip, the +water is not collected in large veins, but is rather held as it +falls, and oozes out slowly at the surface over the top of the +rock. On this account one of the most famous grass and dairy +sections of New York is poorly supplied with springs. Every creek +starts in a bog or marsh, and good water can be had only by +excavating. + +What a charm lurks about those springs that are found near the tops +of mountains, so small that they get lost amid the rocks and debris +and never reach the valley, and so cold that they make the throat +ache! Every hunter and mountain-climber can tell you of such, +usually on the last rise before the summit is cleared. It is +eminently the hunter's spring. I do not know whether or not the +foxes and other wild creatures lap at it, but their pursuers are +quite apt to pause there to take breath or to eat their lunch. The +mountain-climbers in summer hail it with a shout. It is always a +surprise, and raises the spirits of the dullest. Then it seems to +be born of wildness and remoteness, and to savor of some special +benefit or good fortune. A spring in the valley is an idyl, but a +spring on the mountain is a genuine lyrical touch. It imparts a +mild thrill; and if one were to call any springs "miracles," as the +natives of Cashmere are said to regard their fountains, it would be +such as these. + +What secret attraction draws one in his summer walk to touch at all +the springs on his route, and to pause a moment at each, as if what +he was in quest of would be likely to turn up there? I can seldom +pass a spring without doing homage to it. It is the shrine at +which I oftenest worship. If I find one fouled with leaves or +trodden full by cattle, I take as much pleasure in cleaning it out +as a devotee in setting up the broken image of his saint. Though I +chance not to want to drink there, I like to behold a clear +fountain, and I may want to drink next time I pass, or some +traveler, or heifer, or milch cow may. Leaves have a strange +fatality for the spring. They come from afar to get into it. In a +grove or in the woods they drift into it and cover it up like snow. +Late in November, in clearing one out, I brought forth a frog from +his hibernacle in the leaves at the bottom. He was very black, and +he rushed about in a bewildered manner like one suddenly aroused +from his sleep. + +There is no place more suitable for statuary than about a spring or +fountain, especially in parks or improved fields. Here one seems +to expect to see figures and bending forms. "Where a spring rises +or a river flows," says Seneca, "there should we build altars and +offer sacrifices." + +I have spoken of the hunter's spring. The traveler's spring is a +little cup or saucer shaped fountain set in the bank by the +roadside. The harvester's spring is beneath a widespreading tree +in the fields. The lover's spring is down a lane under a hill. +There is a good screen of rocks and bushes. The hermit's spring is +on the margin of a lake in the woods. The fisherman's spring is by +the river. The miner finds his spring in the bowels of the +mountain. The soldier's spring is wherever he can fill his +canteen. The spring where schoolboys go to fill the pail is a long +way up or down a hill, and has just been roiled by a frog or +muskrat, and the boys have to wait till it settles. There is yet +the milkman's spring that never dries, the water of which is milky +and opaque. Sometimes it flows out of a chalk cliff. This last is +a hard spring: all the others are soft. + +There is another side to this subject,-- the marvelous, not to say +the miraculous; and if I were to advert to all the curious or +infernal springs that are described by travelers or others,--the +sulphur springs, the mud springs, the sour springs, the soap +springs, the soda springs, the blowing springs, the spouting +springs, the boiling springs not one mile from Tophet, the springs +that rise and fall with the tide; the spring spoken of by +Vitruvius, that gave unwonted loudness to the voice; the spring +that Plutarch tells about, that had something of the flavor of +wine, because it was supposed that Bacchus had been washed in it +immediately after his birth; the spring that Herodotus describes,-- +wise man and credulous boy that he was,--called the "Fountain of +the Sun," which was warm at dawn, cold at noon, and hot at +midnight; the springs at San Filippo, Italy, that have built up a +calcareous wall over a mile long and several hundred feet thick; +the renowned springs of Cashmere, that are believed by the people +to be the source of the comeliness of their women,--if I were to +follow up my subject in this direction, I say, it would lead me +into deeper and more troubled waters than I am in quest of at +present. + +Pliny, in a letter to one of his friends, gives the following +account of a spring that flowed near his Laurentine villa:-- + +"There is a spring which rises in a neighboring mountain, and +running among the rocks is received into a little banqueting-room, +artificially formed for that purpose, from whence, after being +detained a short time, it falls into the Larian Lake. The nature +of this spring is extremely curious: it ebbs and flows regularly +three times a day. The increase and decrease are plainly visible, +and exceedingly interesting to observe. You sit down by the side +of the fountain, and while you are taking a repast and drinking its +water, which is exceedingly cool, you see it gradually rise and +fall. If you place a ring or anything else at the bottom when it +is dry, the water creeps gradually up, first gently washing, +finally covering it entirely, and then, little by little, subsides +again. If you wait long enough, you may see it thus alternately +advance and recede three successive times." + +Pliny suggests four or five explanations of this phenomenon, but is +probably wide of the mark in all but the fourth one:-- + +"Or is there rather a certain reservoir that contains these waters +in the bowels of the earth, and, while it is recruiting its +discharges, the stream in consequence flows more slowly and in less +quantity, but, when it has collected its due measure, runs on again +in its usual strength and fullness." + +There are several of these intermitting springs in different parts +of the world, and they are perhaps all to be explained on the +principle of the siphon. + +In the Idyls of Theocritus there are frequent allusions to springs. +It was at a spring--and a mountain spring at that--that Castor and +Pollux encountered the plug-ugly Amycus:-- + +"And spying on a mountain a wild wood of vast size, they found +under a smooth cliff an ever-flowing spring, filled with pure +water, and the pebbles beneath seemed like crystal or silver from +the depths; and near there had grown tall pines, and poplars, and +plane-trees, and cypresses with leafy tops, and fragrant flowers, +pleasant work for hairy bees," etc. + +Or the story of Hylas, the auburn-haired boy, who went to the +spring to fetch water for supper for Hercules and stanch Telamon, +and was seized by the enamored nymphs and drawn in. The spring was +evidently a marsh or meadow spring: it was in a "low-lying spot, +and around it grew many rushes, and the pale blue swallow-wort, and +green maidenhair, and blooming parsley, and couch grass stretching +through the marshes." As Hercules was tramping through the bog, +club in hand, and shouting "Hylas!" to the full depth of his +throat, he heard a thin voice come from the water,--it was Hylas +responding, and Hylas, in the shape of the little frog, has been +calling from our marsh springs ever since. + +The characteristic flavor and suggestion of these Idyls is like +pure spring-water. This is, perhaps, why the modern reader is apt +to be disappointed in them when he takes them up for the first +time. They appear minor and literal and tasteless, as does most +ancient poetry; but it is mainly because we have got to the +fountain-head; and have come in contact with a mind that has been +but little shaped by artificial indoor influences. The stream of +literature is now much fuller and broader than it was in ancient +times, with currents and counter-currents, and diverse and curious +phases; but the primitive sources seem far behind us, and for the +refreshment of simple spring-water in art we must still go back to +Greek poetry. + + + +III + +AN IDYL OF THE HONEY-BEE + +THERE is no creature with which man has surrounded himself that +seems so much like a product of civilization, so much like the +result of development on special lines and in special fields, as +the honey-bee. Indeed, a colony of bees, with their neatness and +love of order, their division of labor, their public-spiritedness, +their thrift, their complex economies, and their inordinate love of +gain, seems as far removed from a condition of rude nature as does +a walled city or a cathedral town. Our native bee, on the other +hand, the "burly, dozing bumblebee," affects one more like the +rude, untutored savage. He has learned nothing from experience. He +lives from hand to mouth. He luxuriates in time of plenty, and he +starves in time of scarcity. He lives in a rude nest, or in a hole +in the ground, and in small communities; he builds a few deep cells +or sacks in which he stores a little honey and bee-bread for his +young, but as a worker in wax he is of the most primitive and +awkward. The Indian regarded the honey-bee as an ill omen. She was +the white man's fly. In fact, she was the epitome of the white man +himself. She has the white man's craftiness, his industry, his +architectural skill, his neatness and love of system, his +foresight; and, above all, his eager, miserly habits. The honey- +bee's great ambition is to be rich, to lay up great stores, to +possess the sweet of every flower that blooms. She is more than +provident. Enough will not satisfy her; she must have all she can +get by hook or by crook. She comes from the oldest country, Asia, +and thrives best in the most fertile and long-settled lands. + +Yet the fact remains that the honey-bee is essentially a wild +creature, and never has been and cannot be thoroughly domesticated. +Its proper home is the woods, and thither every new swarm counts on +going; and thither many do go in spite of the care and watchfulness +of the bee-keeper. If the woods in any given locality are +deficient in trees with suitable cavities, the bees resort to all +sorts of makeshifts; they go into chimneys, into barns and +outhouses, under stones, into rocks, etc. Several chimneys in my +locality with disused flues are taken possession of by colonies of +bees nearly every season. One day, while bee-hunting, I developed a +line that went toward a farmhouse where I had reason to believe no +bees were kept. I followed it up and questioned the farmer about +his bees. He said he kept no bees, but that a swarm had taken +possession of his chimney, and another had gone under the +clapboards in the gable end of his house. He had taken a large lot +of honey out of both places the year before. Another farmer told +me that one day his family had seen a number of bees examining a +knothole in the side of his house; the next day, as they were +sitting down to dinner, their attention was attracted by a loud +humming noise, when they discovered a swarm of bees settling upon +the side of the house and pouring into the knothole. In subsequent +years other swarms came to the same place. + +Apparently, every swarm of bees, before it leaves the parent hive, +sends out exploring parties to look up the future home. The woods +and groves are searched through and through, and no doubt the +privacy of many a squirrel and many a wood-mouse is intruded upon. +What cozy nooks and retreats they do spy out, so much more +attractive than the painted hive in the garden, so much cooler in +summer and so much warmer in winter! + +The bee is in the main an honest citizen: she prefers legitimate to +illegitimate business; she is never an outlaw until her proper +sources of supply fail; she will not touch honey as long as honey- +yielding flowers can be found; she always prefers to go to the +fountain-head, and dislikes to take her sweets at second hand. But +in the fall, after the flowers have failed, she can be tempted. +The bee-hunter takes advantage of this fact; he betrays her with a +little honey. He wants to steal her stores, and he first +encourages her to steal his, then follows the thief home with her +booty. This is the whole trick of the bee-hunter. The bees never +suspect his game, else by taking a circuitous route they could +easily baffle him. But the honey-bee has absolutely no wit or +cunning outside of her special gifts as a gatherer and storer of +honey. She is a simple-minded creature, and can be imposed upon by +any novice. Yet it is not every novice that can find a bee-tree. +The sportsman may track his game to its retreat by the aid of his +dog, but in hunting the honey-bee one must be his own dog, and +track his game through an element in which it leaves no trail. It +is a task for a sharp, quick eye, and may test the resources of the +best woodcraft. One autumn, when I devoted much time to this +pursuit, as the best means of getting at nature and the open-air +exhilaration, my eye became so trained that bees were nearly as +easy to it as birds. I saw and heard bees wherever I went. One +day, standing on a street corner in a great city, I saw above the +trucks and the traffic a line of bees carrying off sweets from some +grocery or confectionery shop. + +One looks upon the woods with a new interest when he suspects they +hold a colony of bees. What a pleasing secret it is,--a tree with a +heart of comb honey, a decayed oak or maple with a bit of Sicily or +Mount Hymettus stowed away in its trunk or branches; secret +chambers where lies hidden the wealth of ten thousand little +freebooters, great nuggets and wedges of precious ore gathered with +risk and labor from every field and wood about! + +But if you would know the delights of bee-hunting, and how many +sweets such a trip yields besides honey, come with me some bright, +warm, late September or early October day. It is the golden season +of the year, and any errand or pursuit that takes us abroad upon +the hills or by the painted woods and along the amber-colored +streams at such a time is enough. So, with haversacks filled with +grapes and peaches and apples and a bottle of milk,--for we shall +not be home to dinner,--and armed with a compass, a hatchet, a +pail, and a box with a piece of comb honey neatly fitted into it,-- +any box the size of your hand with a lid will do nearly as well as +the elaborate and ingenious contrivance of the regular bee-hunter,-- +we sally forth. Our course at first lies along the highway under +great chestnut-trees whose nuts are just dropping, then through an +orchard and across a little creek, thence gently rising through a +long series of cultivated fields toward some high uplying land +behind which rises a rugged wooded ridge or mountain, the most +sightly point in all this section. Behind this ridge for several +miles the country is wild, wooded, and rocky, and is no doubt the +home of many swarms of wild bees. What a gleeful uproar the robins, +cedar-birds, high-holes, and cow blackbirds make amid the black +cherry-trees as we pass along! The raccoons, too, have been here +after black cherries, and we see their marks at various points. +Several crows are walking about a newly sowed wheat-field we pass +through, and we pause to note their graceful movements and glossy +coats. I have seen no bird walk the ground with just the same air +the crow does. It is not exactly pride; there is no strut or +swagger in it, though perhaps just a little condescension; it is +the contented, complaisant, and self-possessed gait of a lord over +his domains. All these acres are mine, he says, and all these +crops; men plow and sow for me, and I stay here or go there, and +find life sweet and good wherever I am. The hawk looks awkward and +out of place on the ground; the game-birds hurry and skulk; but the +crow is at home, and treads the earth as if there were none to +molest or make him afraid. + +The crows we have always with us, but it is not every day or every +season that one sees an eagle. Hence I must preserve the memory of +one I saw the last day I went bee-hunting. As I was laboring up +the side of a mountain at the head of a valley, the noble bird +sprang from the top of a dry tree above me and came sailing +directly over my head. I saw him bend his eye down upon me, and I +could hear the low hum of his plumage as if the web of every quill +in his great wings vibrated in his strong, level flight. I watched +him as long as my eye could hold him. When he was fairly clear of +the mountain, he began that sweeping spiral movement in which he +climbs the sky. Up and up he went, without once breaking his +majestic poise, till he appeared to sight some far-off alien +geography, when he bent his course thitherward and gradually +vanished in the blue depths. The eagle is a bird of large ideas; he +embraces long distances; the continent is his home. I never look +upon one without emotion; I follow him with my eye as long as I +can. I think of Canada, of the Great Lakes, of the Rocky Mountains, +of the wild and sounding seacoast. The waters are his, and the +woods and the inaccessible cliffs. He pierces behind the veil of +the storm, and his joy is height and depth and vast spaces. + +We go out of our way to touch at a spring run in the edge of the +woods, and are lucky to find a single scarlet lobelia lingering +there. It seems almost to light up the gloom with its intense bit +of color. Beside a ditch in a field beyond, we find the great blue +lobelia, and near it, amid the weeds and wild grasses and purple +asters, the most beautiful of our fall flowers, the fringed +gentian. What a rare and delicate, almost aristocratic look the +gentian has amid its coarse, unkempt surroundings!- It does not +lure the bee, but it lures and holds every passing human eye. If +we strike through the corner of yonder woods, where the ground is +moistened by hidden springs, and where there is a little opening +amid the trees, we shall find the closed gentian, a rare flower in +this locality. I had walked this way many times before I chanced +upon its retreat, and then I was following a line of bees. I lost +the bees, but I got the gentians. How curious this flower looks +with its deep blue petals folded together so tightly,--a bud and +yet a blossom! It is the nun among our wild flowers,--a form +closely veiled and cloaked. The buccaneer bumblebee sometimes +tries to rifle it of its sweets. I have seen the blossom with the +bee entombed in it. He had forced his way into the virgin corolla +as if determined to know its secret, but he had never returned with +the knowledge he had gained. + +After a refreshing walk of a couple of miles we reach a point where +we will make our first trial,--a high stone wall that runs parallel +with the wooded ridge referred to, and separated from it by a broad +field. There are bees at work there on that golden-rod, and it +requires but little manuvring to sweep one into our box. Almost +any other creature rudely and suddenly arrested in its career, and +clapped into a cage in this way, would show great confusion and +alarm. The bee is alarmed for a moment, but the bee has a passion +stronger than its love of life or fear of death, namely, desire for +honey, not simply to eat, but to carry home as booty. "Such rage +of honey in their bosom beats," says Virgil. It is quick to catch +the scent of honey in the box, and as quick to fall to filling +itself. We now set the box down upon the wall and gently remove +the cover. The bee is head and shoulders in one of the half-filled +cells, and is oblivious to everything else about it. Come rack, +come ruin, it will die at work. We step back a few paces, and sit +down upon the ground so as to bring the box against the blue sky as +a background. In two or three minutes the bee is seen rising +slowly and heavily from the box. It seems loath to leave so much +honey behind, and it marks the place well. It mounts aloft in a +rapidly increasing spiral, surveying the near and minute objects +first, then the larger and more distant, till, having circled above +the spot five or six times and taken all its bearings, it darts +away for home. It is a good eye that holds fast to the bee till it +is fairly off. Sometimes one's head will swim following it, and +often one's eyes are put out by the sun. This bee gradually drifts +down the hill, then strikes off toward a farmhouse half a mile away +where I know bees are kept. Then we try another and another, and +the third bee, much to our satisfaction, goes straight toward the +woods. We can see the brown speck against the darker background +for many yards. The regular bee-hunter professes to be able to +tell a wild bee from a tame one by the color, the former, he says, +being lighter. But there is no difference; they are alike in +color and in manner. Young bees are lighter than old, and that is +all there is of it. If a bee lived many years in the woods, it +would doubtless come to have some distinguishing marks, but the +life of a bee is only a few months at the farthest, and no change +is wrought in this brief time. + +Our bees are all soon back, and more with them, for we have touched +the box here and there with the cork of a bottle of anise oil, and +this fragrant and pungent oil will attract bees half a mile or +more. When no flowers can be found, this is the quickest way to +obtain a bee. + +It is a singular fact that when the bee first finds the hunter's +box, its first feeling is one of anger; it is as mad as a hornet; +its tone changes, it sounds its shrill war trumpet and darts to and +fro, and gives vent to its rage and indignation in no uncertain +manner. It seems to scent foul play at once. It says, "Here is +robbery; here is the spoil of some hive, maybe my own," and its +blood is up. But its ruling passion soon comes to the surface, its +avarice gets the better of its indignation, and it seems to say, +"Well, I had better take possession of this and carry it home." So +after many feints and approaches and dartings off with a loud angry +hum as if it would none of it, the bee settles down and fills +itself. + +It does not entirely cool off and get soberly to work till it has +made two or three trips home with its booty. When other bees come, +even if all from the same swarm, they quarrel and dispute over the +box, and clip and dart at each other like bantam cocks. Apparently +the ill feeling which the sight of the honey awakens is not one of +jealousy or rivalry, but wrath. + +A bee will usually make three or four trips from the hunter's box +before it brings back a companion. I suspect the bee does not tell +its fellows what it has found, but that they smell out the secret; +it doubtless bears some evidence with it upon its feet or proboscis +that it has been upon honeycomb and not upon flowers, and its +companions take the hint and follow, arriving always many seconds +behind. Then the quantity and quality of the booty would also +betray it. No doubt, also, there are plenty of gossips about a +hive that note and tell everything. "Oh, did you see that? Peggy +Mel came in a few moments ago in great haste, and one of the +upstairs packers says she was loaded till she groaned with apple- +blossom honey, which she deposited, and then rushed off again like +mad. Apple-blossom honey in October! Fee, fi, fo, fum! I smell +something! Let's after." + +In about half an hour we have three well-defined lines of bees +established,--two to farmhouses and one to the woods, and our box +is being rapidly depleted of its honey. About every fourth bee +goes to the woods, and now that they have learned the way +thoroughly, they do not make the long preliminary whirl above the +box, but start directly from it. The woods are rough and dense and +the hill steep, and we do not like to follow the line of bees until +we have tried at least to settle the problem as to the distance +they go into the woods,--whether the tree is on this side of the +ridge or into the depth of the forest on the other side. So we +shut up the box when it is full of bees and carry it about three +hundred yards along the wall from which we are operating. When +liberated, the bees, as they always will in such cases, go off in +the same directions they have been going; they do not seem to know +that they have been moved. But other bees have followed our scent, +and it is not many minutes before a second line to the woods is +established. This is called cross-lining the bees. The new line +makes a sharp angle with the other line, and we know at once that +the tree is only a few rods in the woods. The two lines we have +established form two sides of a triangle, of which the wall is the +base; at the apex of the triangle, or where the two lines meet in +the woods, we are sure to find the tree. We quickly follow up +these lines, and where they cross each other on the side of the +hill we scan every tree closely. I pause at the foot of an oak and +examine a hole near the root; now the bees are in this tree and +their entrance is on the upper side near the ground not two feet +from the hole I peer into, and yet so quiet and secret is their +going and coming that I fail to discover them and pass on up the +hill. Failing in this direction, I return to the oak again, and +then perceive the bees going but in a small crack in the tree. The +bees do not know they are found out and that the game is in our +hands, and are as oblivious of our presence as if we were ants or +crickets. The indications are that the swarm is a small one, and +the store of honey trifling. In "taking up" a bee-tree it is usual +first to kill or stupefy the bees with the fumes of burning sulphur +or with tobacco smoke. But this course is impracticable on the +present occasion, so we boldly and ruthlessly assault the tree with +an axe we have procured. At the first blow the bees set up a loud +buzzing, but we have no mercy, and the side of the cavity is soon +cut away and the interior with its white-yellow mass of comb honey +is exposed, and not a bee strikes a blow in defense of its all. +This may seem singular, but it has nearly always been my +experience. When a swarm of bees are thus rudely assaulted with an +axe, they evidently think the end of the world has come, and, like +true misers as they are, each one seizes as much of the treasure as +it can hold; in other words, they all fall to and gorge themselves +with honey, and calmly await the issue. While in this condition +they make no defense, and will not sting unless taken hold of. In +fact, they are as harmless as flies. Bees are always to be managed +with boldness and decision. Any halfway measures, any timid poking +about, any feeble attempts to reach their honey, are sure to be +quickly resented. The popular notion that bees have a special +antipathy toward certain persons and a liking for certain others +has only this fact at the bottom of it: they will sting a person +who is afraid of them and goes skulking and dodging about, and they +will not sting a person who faces them boldly and has no dread of +them. They are like dogs. The way to disarm a vicious dog is to +show him you do not fear him; it is his turn to be afraid then. I +never had any dread of bees, and am seldom stung by them. I have +climbed up into a large chestnut that contained a swarm in one of +its cavities and chopped them out with an axe, being obliged at +times to pause and brush the bewildered bees from my hands and +face, and not been stung once. I have chopped a swarm out of an +apple-tree in June, and taken out the cards of honey and arranged +them in a hive, and then dipped out the bees with a dipper, and +taken the whole home with me in pretty good condition, with +scarcely any opposition on the part of the bees. In reaching your +hand into the cavity to detach and remove the comb you are pretty +sure to get stung, for when you touch the "business end" of a bee, +it will sting even though its head be off. But the bee carries the +antidote to its own poison. The best remedy for bee sting is +honey, and when your hands are besmeared with honey, as they are +sure to be on such occasions, the wound is scarcely more painful +than the prick of a pin. Assault your bee-tree, then, boldly with +your axe, and you will find that when the honey is exposed every +bee has surrendered, and the whole swarm is cowering in helpless +bewilderment and terror. Our tree yields only a few pounds of +honey, not enough to have lasted the swarm till January, but no +matter: we have the less burden to carry. + +In the afternoon we go nearly half a mile farther along the ridge +to a corn-field that lies immediately in front of the highest point +of the mountain. The view is superb; the ripe autumn landscape +rolls away to the east, cut through by the great placid river; in +the extreme north the wall of the Catskills stands out clear and +strong, while in the south the mountains of the Highlands bound the +view. The day is warm, and the bees are very busy there in that +neglected corner of the field, rich in asters, fleabane, and +goldenrod. The corn has been cut, and upon a stout but a few rods +from the woods, which here drop quickly down from the precipitous +heights, we set up our bee-box, touched again with the pungent oil. +In a few moments a bee has found it; she comes up to leeward, +following the scent. On leaving the box, she goes straight toward +the woods. More bees quickly come, and it is not long before the +line is well established. Now we have recourse to the same tactics +we employed before, and move along the ridge to another field to +get our cross-line. But the bees still go in almost the same +direction they did from the corn stout. The tree is then either on +the top of the mountain or on the other or west side of it. We +hesitate to make the plunge into the woods and seek to scale those +precipices, for the eye can plainly see what is before us. As the +afternoon sun gets lower, the bees are seen with wonderful +distinctness. They fly toward and under the sun, and are in a +strong light, while the near woods which form the background are in +deep shadow. They look like large luminous motes. Their swiftly +vibrating, transparent wings surround their bodies with a shining +nimbus that makes them visible for a long distance. They seem +magnified many times. We see them bridge the little gulf between us +and the woods, then rise up over the treetops with their burdens, +swerving neither to the right hand nor to the left. It is almost +pathetic to see them labor so, climbing the mountain and +unwittingly guiding us to their treasures. When the sun gets down +so that his direction corresponds exactly with the course of the +bees, we make the plunge. It proves even harder climbing than we +had anticipated; the mountain is faced by a broken and irregular +wall of rock, up which we pull ourselves slowly and cautiously by +main strength. In half an hour, the perspiration streaming from +every pore, we reach the summit. The trees here are all small, a +second growth, and we are soon convinced the bees are not here. +Then down we go on the other side, clambering down the rocky +stairways till we reach quite a broad plateau that forms something +like the shoulder of the mountain. On the brink of this there are +many large hemlocks, and we scan them closely and rap upon them +with our axe. But not a bee is seen or heard; we do not seem as +near the tree as we were in the fields below; yet, if some divinity +would only whisper the fact to us, we are within a few rods of the +coveted prize, which is not in one of the large hemlocks or oaks +that absorb our attention, but in an old stub or stump not six feet +high, and which we have seen and passed several times without +giving it a thought. We go farther down the mountain and beat +about to the right and left, and get entangled in brush and +arrested by precipices, and finally, as the day is nearly spent, +give up the search and leave the woods quite baffled, but resolved +to return on the morrow. The next day we come back and commence +operations in an opening in the woods well down on the side of the +mountain where we gave up the search. Our box is soon swarming +with the eager bees, and they go back toward the summit we have +passed. We follow back and establish a new line, where the ground +will permit; then another and still another, and yet the riddle is +not solved. One time we are south of them, then north, then the +bees get up through the trees and we cannot tell where they go. +But after much searching, and after the mystery seems rather to +deepen than to clear up, we chance to pause beside the old stump. +A bee comes out of a small opening like that made by ants in +decayed wood, rubs its eyes and examines its antennæ, as bees +always do before leaving their hive, then takes flight. At the +same instant several bees come by us loaded with our honey and +settle home with that peculiar low, complacent buzz of the well- +filled insect. Here then, is our idyl, our bit of Virgil and +Theocritus, in a decayed stump of a hemlock-tree. We could tear it +open with our hands, and a bear would find it an easy prize, and a +rich one, too, for we take from it fifty pounds of excellent honey. +The bees have been here many years, and have of course sent out +swarm after swarm into the wilds. they have protected themselves +against the weather and strengthened their shaky habitation by a +copious use of wax. + +When a bee-tree is thus "taken up" in the middle of the day, of +course a good many bees are away from home and have not heard the +news. When they return and find the ground flowing with honey, and +plies of bleeding combs lying about, they apparently do not +recognize the place, and their first instinct is to fall to and +fill themselves; this done, their next thought is to carry it home, +so they rise up slowly through the branches of the trees till they +have attained an altitude that enables them to survey the scene, +when they seem to say, "Why, THIS is home," and down they come +again; beholding the wreck and ruins once more, they still thinking +there is some mistake, and get up a second or a third time and then +drop back pitifully as before. It is the most pathetic sight of +all, the surviving and bewildered bees struggling to save a few +drops of their wasted treasures. + +Presently, if there is another swarm in the woods, robber bees +appear. You may know them by their saucy, chiding, devil-may-care +hum. It is an ill wind that blows nobody good, and they make the +most of the misfortune of their neighbors, and thereby pave the way +for their own ruin. The hunter marks their course, and the next +day looks them up. On this occasion the day was hot and the honey +very fragrant, and a line of bees was soon established south- +southwest. Though there was much refuse honey in the old stub, and +though little golden rills trickled down the hill from it, and the +near branches and saplings were besmeared with it where we wiped +our murderous hands, yet not a drop was wasted. It was a feast to +which not only honey bees came, but bumblebees, wasps, hornets, +flies, ants. The bumblebees, which at this season are hungry +vagrants with no fixed place of abode, would gorge themselves, then +creep beneath the bits of empty comb or fragments of bark and pass +the night, and renew the feast next day. The bumble-bee is an +insect of which the bee-hunter sees much. There are all sorts and +sizes of them. They are dull and clumsy compared with the honeybee. +Attracted in the fields by the bee-hunter's box, they will come up +the wind on the scent and blunder into it in the most stupid, +lubberly fashion. + +The honey-bees that licked up our leavings on the old stub belonged +to a swarm, as it proved, about half a mile farther down the ridge, +and a few days afterward fate overtook them, and their stores in +turn became the prey of another swarm in the vicinity, which also +tempted Providence and were overwhelmed. The first-mentioned swarm +I had lined from several points, and was following up the clew over +rocks and through gullies, when I came to where a large hemlock had +been felled a few years before, and a swarm taken from a cavity +near the top of it; fragments of the old comb were yet to be seen. +A few yards away stood another short, squatty hemlock, and I said +my bees ought to be there. As I paused near it, I noticed where +the tree had been wounded with an axe a couple of feet from the +ground many years before. The wound had partially grown over, but +there was an opening there that I did not see at the first glance. +I was about to pass on when a bee passed me making that peculiar +shrill, discordant hum that a bee makes when besmeared with honey. +I saw it alight in the partially closed wound and crawl home; then +came others and others, little bands and squads of them, heavily +freighted with honey from the box. The tree was about twenty +inches through and hollow at the butt, or from the axe-mark down. +This space the bees had completely filled with honey. With an axe +we cut away the outer ring of live wood and exposed the treasure. +Despite the utmost care, we wounded the comb so that little rills +of the golden liquid issued from the root of the tree and trickled +down the hill. + +The other bee-tree in the vicinity to which I have referred we +found one warm November day in less than half an hour after +entering the woods. It also was a hemlock, that stood in a niche +in a wall of hoary, moss-covered rocks thirty feet high. The tree +hardly reached to the top of the precipice. The bees entered a +small hole at the root, which was seven or eight feet from the +ground. The position was a striking one. Never did apiary have a +finer outlook or more rugged surroundings.. A black, wood-embraced +lake lay at our feet; the long panorama of the Catskills filled the +far distance, and the more broken outlines of the Shawangunk range +filled the rear. On every hand were precipices and a wild +confusion of rocks and trees. + +The cavity occupied by the bees was about three feet and a half +long and eight or ten inches in diameter. With an axe we cut away +one side of the tree, and laid bare its curiously wrought heart of +honey. It was a most pleasing sight. What winding and devious +ways the bees had through their palace! What great masses and +blocks of snow-white comb there were! Where it was sealed up, +presenting that slightly dented, uneven surface, it looked like +some precious ore. When we carried a large pailful of it out of +the woods, it seemed still more like ore. + +Your native bee-hunter predicates the distance of the tree by the +time the bee occupies in making its first trip. But this is no +certain guide. You are always safe in calculating that the tree is +inside of a mile, and you need not as a rule look for your bee's +return under ten minutes. One day I picked up a bee in an opening +in the woods and gave it honey, and it made three trips to my box +with an interval of about twelve minutes between them; it returned +alone each time; the tree, which I afterward found, was about half +a mile distant. + +In lining bees through the woods, the tactics of the hunter are to +pause every twenty or thirty rods, lop away the branches or cut +down the trees, and set the bees to work again. If they still go +forward, he goes forward also, and repeats his observations till +the tree is found, or till the bees turn and come back upon the +trail. Then he knows he has passed the tree, and he retraces his +steps to a convenient distance and tries again, and thus quickly +reduces the space to be looked over till the swarm is traced home. +On one occasion, in a wild rocky wood, where the surface alternated +between deep gulfs and chasms filled with thick, heavy growths of +timber, and sharp, precipitous, rocky ridges like a tempest-tossed +sea, I carried my bees directly under their tree, and set them to +work from a high, exposed ledge of rocks not thirty feet distant. +One would have expected them under such circumstances to have gone +straight home, as there were but few branches intervening, but they +did not; they labored up through the trees and attained an altitude +above the woods as if they had miles to travel, and thus baffled me +for hours. Bees will always do this. They are acquainted with the +woods only from the top side, and from the air above; they +recognize home only by landmarks here, and in every instance they +rise aloft to take their bearings. Think how familiar to them the +topography of the forest summits must be,--an umbrageous sea or +plain where every mark and point is known. + +Another curious fact is that generally you will get track of a bee- +tree sooner when you are half a mile from it than when you are only +a few yards. Bees, like us human insects, have little faith in the +near at hand; they expect to make their fortune in a distant field, +they are lured by the remote and the difficult, and hence overlook +the flower and the sweet at their very door. On several occasions +I have unwittingly set my box within a few paces of a bee-tree and +waited long for bees without getting them, when, on removing to a +distant field or opening in the woods, I have got a clew at once. + +I have a theory that when bees leave the hive, unless there is some +special attraction in some other direction, they generally go +against the wind. They would thus have the wind with them when they +returned home heavily laden, and with these little navigators the +difference is an important one. With a full cargo, a stiff head- +wind is a great hindrance, but fresh and empty-handed, they can +face it with more ease. Virgil says bees bear gravel-stones as +ballast, but their only ballast is their honey-bag. Hence, when I +go bee-hunting, I prefer to get to windward of the woods in which +the swarm is supposed to have refuge. + +Bees, like the milkman, like to be near a spring. They do water +their honey, especially in a dry time. The liquid is then of course +thicker and sweeter, and will bear diluting. Hence old bee-hunters +look for bee-trees along creeks and near spring runs in the woods. +I once found a tree a long distance from any water, and the honey +had a peculiar bitter flavor, imparted to it, I was convinced, by +rainwater sucked from the decayed and spongy hemlock-tree in which +the swarm was found. In cutting into the tree, the north side of +it was found to be saturated with water like a spring, which ran +out in big drops, and had a bitter flavor. The bees had thus found +a spring or a cistern in their own house. + +Bees are exposed to many hardships and many dangers. Winds and +storms prove as disastrous to them as to other navigators. Black +spiders lie in wait for them as do brigands for travelers. One +day, as I was looking for a bee amid some golden-rod, I spied one +partly concealed under a leaf. Its baskets were full of pollen, +and it did not move. On lifting up the leaf I discovered that a +hairy spider was ambushed there and had the bee by the throat. The +vampire was evidently afraid of the bee's sting, and was holding it +by the throat till quite sure of its death. Virgil speaks of the +painted lizard, perhaps a species of salamander, as an enemy of the +honey-bee. We have no lizard that destroys the bee; but our tree- +toad, ambushed among the apple and cherry blossoms, snaps them up +wholesale. Quick as lightning that subtle but clammy tongue darts +forth, and the unsuspecting bee is gone. Virgil also accuses the +titmouse and the woodpecker of preying upon the bees, and our +kingbird has been charged with the like crime, but the latter +devours only the drones. The workers are either too small and +quick for it or else it dreads their sting. + +Virgil, by the way, had little more than a child's knowledge of the +honey-bee. There is little fact and much fable in his fourth +Georgic. If he had ever kept bees himself, or even visited an +apiary, it is hard to see how he could have believed that the bee +in its flight abroad carried a gravel-stone for ballast: + + "And as when empty barks on billows + float, + With sandy ballast sailors trim the + boat; + So bees bear gravel-stones, whose + poising weight + Steers through the whistling winds + their steady flight;" + +or that, when two colonies made war upon each other, they issued +forth from their hives led by their kings and fought in the air, +strewing the ground with the dead and dying:-- + + "Hard hailstones lie not thicker on the + plain, + Nor shaken oaks such show'rs of + acorns rain." + +It is quite certain he had never been bee-hunting. If he had, we +should have had a fifth Georgic. Yet he seems to have known that +bees sometimes escaped to the woods:-- + + "Nor bees are lodged in hives alone, + but found + In chambers of their own beneath the + ground: + Their vaulted roofs are hung in + pumices, + And in the rotten trunks of hollow + trees." + +Wild honey is as near like tame as wild bees are like their +brothers in the hive. The only difference is, that wild honey is +flavored with your adventure, which makes it a little more +delectable than the domestic article. + + + +IV + +NATURE AND THE POETS + +I HAVE said on a former occasion that "the true poet knows more +about Nature than the naturalist, because he carries her open +secrets in his heart. Eckermann could instruct Goethe in +ornithology, but could not Goethe instruct Eckermann in the meaning +and mystery of the bird?" But the poets sometimes rely too +confidently upon their supposed intuitive knowledge of nature, and +grow careless about the accuracy of the details of their pictures. +I am not aware that this was ever the case with Goethe; I think it +was not, for as a rule, the greater the poet, the more correct and +truthful will be his specifications. It is the lesser poets who +trip most over their facts. Thus a New England poet speaks of +"plucking the apple from the pine," as if the pineapple grew upon +the pine-tree. A Western poet sings of the bluebird in a strain in +which every feature and characteristic of the bird is lost; not one +trait of the bird is faithfully set down. When the robin and the +swallow come, he says, the bluebird hies him to some mossy old +wood, where, amid the deep seclusion, he pours out his song. + +In a poem by a well-known author in one of the popular journals, a +hummingbird's nest is shown the reader, and it has BLUE eggs in it. +A more cautious poet would have turned to Audubon or Wilson before +venturing upon such a statement. But then it was necessary to have +a word to rhyme with "view," and what could be easier than to make +a white egg "blue"? Again, one of our later poets has evidently +confounded the hummingbird with that curious parody upon it, the +hawk or sphinx moth, as in his poem upon the subject he has hit off +exactly the habits of the moth, or, rather, his creature seems a +cross between the moth and the bird, as it has the habits of the +one and the plumage of the other. The time to see the hummingbird, +he says, is after sunset in the summer gloaming; then it steals +forth and hovers over the flowers. Now, the hummingbird is +eminently a creature of the sun and of the broad open day, and I +have never seen it after sundown, while the moth is rarely seen +except at twilight. It is much smaller and less brilliant than the +hummingbird; but its flight and motions are so nearly the same that +a poet, with his eye in a fine frenzy rolling, might easily mistake +one for the other. It is but a small slip in such a poet as poor +George Arnold, when he makes the sweet-scented honeysuckle bloom +for the bee, for surely the name suggests the bee, though in fact +she does not work upon it; but what shall we say of the Kansas +poet, who, in his published volume, claims both the yew and the +nightingale for his native State? Or of a Massachusetts poet, who +finds the snowdrop and the early primrose blooming along his native +streams, with the orchis and the yellow violet, and makes the +blackbird conspicuous among New England songsters? Our ordinary +yew is not a tree at all, but a low spreading evergreen shrub that +one may step over; and as for the nightingale, if they have the +mockingbird in Kansas, they can very well do without him. We have +several varieties of blackbirds, it is true; but when an American +poet speaks in a general way of the blackbird piping or singing in +a tree, as he would speak of a robin or a sparrow, the suggestion +or reminiscence awakened is always that of the blackbird of English +poetry. + + "In days when daisies deck the ground, + And blackbirds whistle clear, + With honest joy our hearts will bound + To see the coming year"-- + +sings Burns. I suspect that the English reader of even some of +Emerson's and Lowell's poems would infer that our blackbird was +identical with the British species. I refer to these lines of +Emerson:-- + + "Where arches green the livelong day + Echo the blackbirds' roundelay;" + +and to these lines from Lowell's "Rosaline:"-- + + "A blackbird whistling overhead + Thrilled through my brain;" + +and again these from "The Fountain of Youth:"-- + + " 'T is a woodland enchanted; + By no sadder spirit + Than blackbirds and thrushes + That whistle to cheer it, + All day in the bushes." + +The blackbird of the English poets is like our robin in everything +except color. He is familiar, hardy, abundant, thievish, and his +habits, manners, and song recall our bird to the life. Our own +native blackbirds, the crow blackbird, the rusty grackle, the +cowbird, and the red-shouldered starling, are not songsters, even +in the latitude allowable to poets; neither are they whistlers, +unless we credit them with a "split-whistle," as Thoreau does. The +two first named have a sort of musical cackle and gurgle in spring +(as at times both our crow and jay have), which is very pleasing, +and to which Emerson aptly refers in these lines from "May-Day:"-- + + "The blackbirds make the maples ring + With social cheer and jubilee"-- + +but it is not a song. The note of the starling in the trees and +alders along the creeks and marshes is better calculated to arrest +the attention of the casual observer; but it is far from being a +song or a whistle like that of the European blackbird, or our +robin. Its most familiar call is like the word "BAZIQUE," +"BAZIQUE," but it has a wild musical note which Emerson has +embalmed in this line:-- + + "The redwing flutes his O-KA-LEE." + +Here Emerson discriminates; there is no mistaking his blackbird +this time for the European species, though it is true there is +nothing fluty or flute-like in the redwing's voice. The flute is +mellow, while the "O-KA-LEE" of the starling is strong and sharply +accented. The voice of the thrushes (and our robin and the European +blackbird are thrushes) is flute-like. Hence the aptness of this +line of Tennyson:-- + + "The mellow ouzel fluted in the elm,"-- + +the blackbird being the ouzel, or ouzel-cock, as Shakespeare calls +him. + +In the line which precedes this, Tennyson has stamped the cuckoo:-- + + "To left and right, + The cuckoo told his name to all the + hills." + +The cuckoo is a bird that figures largely in English poetry, but he +always has an equivocal look in American verse, unless sharply +discriminated. We have a cuckoo, but he is a great recluse; and I +am sure the poets do not know when he comes or goes, while to make +him sing familiarly like the British species, as I have known at +least one of our poets to do, is to come very wide of the mark. +Our bird is as solitary and joyless as the most veritable +anchorite. He contributes nothing to the melody or the gayety of +the season. He is, indeed, known in some sections as the rain- +crow," but I presume that not one person in ten of those who spend +their lives in the country has ever seen or heard him. He is like +the showy orchis, or the lady's-slipper, or the shooting star among +plants,-- a stranger to all but the few; and when an American poet +says cuckoo, he must say it with such specifications as to leave no +doubt what cuckoo he means, as Lowell does in his "Nightingale in +the Study:"-- + + "And, hark, the cuckoo, weatherwise, + Still hiding farther onward, wooes + you." + +In like manner the primrose is an exotic in American poetry, to say +nothing of the snowdrop and the daisy. Its prominence in English +poetry can be understood when we remember that the plant is so +abundant in England as to be almost a weed, and that it comes early +and is very pretty. Cowslip and oxlip are familiar names of +varieties of the same plant, and they bear so close a resemblance +that it is hard to tell them apart. Hence Tennyson, in "The +Talking Oak:"-- + + "As cowslip unto oxlip is, + So seems she to the boy." + +Our familiar primrose is the evening primrose,--a rank, tall weed +that blooms with the mullein in late summer. Its small, yellow, +slightly fragrant blossoms open only at night, but remain open +during the next day. By cowslip, our poets and writers generally +mean the yellow marsh marigold, which belongs to a different family +of plants, but which, as a spring token and a pretty flower, is a +very good substitute for the cowslip. Our real cowslip, the +shooting star, is very rare, and is one of the most beautiful of +native flowers. I believe it is not found north of Pennsylvania. +I have found it in a single locality in the District of Columbia, +and the day is memorable upon which I first saw its cluster of pink +flowers, with their recurved petals cleaving the air. I do not +know that it has ever been mentioned in poetry. + +Another flower, which I suspect our poets see largely through the +medium of English literature and invest with borrowed charms, is +the violet. The violet is a much more winsome and poetic flower in +England than it is in this country, for the reason that it comes +very early and is sweet-scented; our common violet is not among the +earliest flowers, and it is odorless. It affects sunny slopes, +like the English flower; yet Shakespeare never could have made the +allusion to it which he makes to his own species in these lines:-- + + "That strain again! it had a dying fall: + Oh! it came o'er my ear like the sweet south + That breathes upon a bank of violets, + Stealing and giving odor," + +or lauded it as + + "Sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, + Or Cytherea's breath." + +Our best known sweet-scented violet is a small, white, lilac-veined +species (not yellow, as Bryant has it in his poem), that is common +in wet, out-of-the-way places. Our common blue violet--the only +species that is found abundantly everywhere in the North--blooms in +May, and makes bright many a grassy meadow slope and sunny nook. +Yet, for all that, it does not awaken the emotion in one that the +earlier and more delicate spring flowers do,--the hepatica, say, +with its shy wood habits, its pure, infantile expression, and at +times its delicate perfume; or the houstonia,--"innocence,"-- +flecking or streaking the cold spring earth with a milky way of +minute stars; or the trailing arbutus, sweeter scented than the +English violet, and outvying in tints Cytherea's or any other +blooming goddess's cheek. Yet these flowers have no classical +associations, and are consequently far less often upon the lips of +our poets than the violet. + +To return to birds, another dangerous one for the American poet is +the lark, and our singers generally are very shy of him. The term +has been applied very loosely in this country to both the meadow- +lark and the bobolink, yet it is pretty generally understood now +that we have no genuine skylark east of the Mississippi. Hence I +am curious to know what bird Bayard Taylor refers to when he speaks +in his "Spring Pastoral" of + + "Larks responding aloft to the mellow flute of the +bluebird." + +Our so-called meadowlark is no lark at all, but a starling, and the +titlark and shore lark breed and pass the summer far to the north, +and are never heard in song in the United States. [Footnote: The +shore lark has changed its habits in this respect of late years. +It now breeds regularly on my native hills in Delaware County, New +York, and may be heard in full song there from April to June or +later.] + +The poets are entitled to a pretty free range, but they must be +accurate when they particularize. We expect them to see the fact +through their imagination, but it must still remain a fact; the +medium must not distort it into a lie. When they name a flower or +a tree or a bird, whatever halo of the ideal they throw around it, +it must not be made to belie the botany or the natural history. I +doubt if you can catch Shakespeare transgressing the law in this +respect, except where he followed the superstition and the +imperfect knowledge of his time, as in his treatment of the honey- +bee. His allusions to nature are always incidental to his main +purpose, but they reveal a careful and loving observer. For +instance, how are fact and poetry wedded in this passage, put into +the mouth of Banquo!-- + + "This guest of summer, + The temple-haunting martlet, does + approve, + By his loved masonry that the + heaven's breath + Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze. + Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but + this bird + Hath made his pendent bed and + procreant cradle: + Where they most breed and haunt, + I have observed, + The air is delicate." + +Nature is of course universal, but in the same sense is she local +and particular,--cuts every suit to fit the wearer, gives every +land an earth and sky of its own, and a flora and fauna to match. +The poets and their readers delight in local touches. We have both +the hare and the rabbit in America, but this line from Thomson's +description of a summer morning,-- + + "And from the bladed field the fearful + hare limps awkward,"-- + +or this from Beattie,-- + + "Through rustling corn the hare + astonished sprang"-- + +would not apply with the same force in New England, because our +hare is never found in the fields, but in dense, remote woods. In +England both hares and rabbits abound to such an extent that in +places the fields and meadows swarm with them, and the ground is +undermined by their burrows, till they become a serious pest to the +farmer, and are trapped in vast numbers. The same remark applies +to this from Tennyson:-- + + "From the woods + Came voices of the well-contented + doves." + +Doves and wood-pigeons are almost as abundant in England as hares +and rabbits, and are also a serious annoyance to the farmer; while +in this country the dove and pigeon are much less marked and +permanent features in our rural scenery,--less permanent, except in +the case of the mourning dove, which is found here and there the +season through; and less marked, except when the hordes of the +passenger pigeon once in a decade or two invade the land, rarely +tarrying longer than the bands of a foraging army. I hardly know +what Trowbridge means by the "wood-pigeon" in his midsummer poem, +for, strictly speaking, the wood-pigeon is a European bird, and a +very common one in England. But let me say here, however, that +Trowbridge, as a rule, keeps very close to the natural history of +his own country when he has occasion to draw material from this +source, and to American nature generally. You will find in his +poems the wood pewee, the bluebird, the oriole, the robin, the +grouse, the kingfisher, the chipmunk, the mink, the bobolink, the +wood thrush, all in their proper places. There are few bird-poems +that combine so much good poetry and good natural history as his +"Pewee." Here we have a glimpse of the catbird:-- + + "In the alders, dank with noonday + dews, + The restless catbird darts and mews;" + +here, of the cliff swallow: - + + "In the autumn, when the hollows + All are filled with flying leaves + And the colonies of swallows + Quit the quaintly stuccoed eaves." + +Only the dates are not quite right. The swallows leave their nests +in July, which is nearly three months before the leaves fall. The +poet is also a little unfaithful to the lore of his boyhood when he +says + + "The partridge beats his throbbing drum" + +in midsummer. As a rule, the partridge does not drum later than +June, except fitfully during the Indian summer, while April and May +are his favorite months. And let me say here, for the benefit of +the poets who do not go to the woods, that the partridge does not +always drum upon a log; he frequently drums upon a rock or a stone +wall, if a suitable log be not handy, and no ear can detect the +difference. His drum is really his own proud breast, and beneath +his small hollow wings gives forth the same low, mellow thunder +from a rock as from a log. Bryant has recognized this fact in one +of his poems. + +Our poets are quite apt to get ahead or behind the season with +their flowers and birds. It is not often that we catch such a poet +as Emerson napping. He knows nature, and he knows the New England +fields and woods, as few poets do. One may study our flora and +fauna in his pages. He puts in the moose and the "surly bear," and +makes the latter rhyme with "woodpecker:"-- + + "He saw beneath dim aisles, in odorous + beds, +The slight Linnæa hang its twin-born + heads. + . . . . . . . . +. +He heard, when in the grove, at + intervals, +With sudden roar the aged pine-tree + falls,-- +One crash, the death-hymn of the + perfect tree, +Declares the close of its green + century." + +"They led me through the thicket + damp, + Through brake and fern, the beavers' + camp." + + "He saw the partridge drum in the + woods; + He heard the woodcock's evening + hymn; + He found the tawny thrushes' broods; + And the shy hawk did wait for him." + +His "Titmouse" is studied in our winter woods, and his "Humble-Bee" +in our summer fields. He has seen farther into the pine-tree than +any other poet; his "May-Day" is full of our spring sounds and +tokens; he knows the "punctual birds," and the "herbs and simples +of the wood:"-- + + "Rue, cinque-foil, gill, vervain, and + agrimony, + Blue-vetch, and trillium, hawk-weed, + sassafras, + Milk-weeds and murky brakes, quaint + pipes and sun-dew." + +Here is a characteristic touch:-- + + "A woodland walk + A quest of river-grapes, a mocking + thrush, + A wild rose, or rock-loving columbine, + Salve my worst wounds." + +That "rock-loving columbine" is better than Bryant's "columbines, +in purple dressed," as our flower is not purple, but yellow and +scarlet. Yet Bryant set the example to the poets that have +succeeded him of closely studying Nature as she appears under our +own skies. + +I yield to none in my admiration of the sweetness and simplicity of +his poems of nature, and in general of their correctness of +observation. They are tender and heartfelt, and they touch chords +that no other poet since Wordsworth has touched with so firm a +hand. Yet he was not always an infallible observer; he sometimes +tripped up on his facts, and at other times he deliberately moulded +them, adding to, or cutting off, to suit the purposes of his verse. +I will cite here two instances in which his natural history is at +fault. In his poem on the bobolink he makes the parent birds feed +their young with "seeds," whereas, in fact, the young are fed +exclusively upon insects and worms. The bobolink is an +insectivorous bird in the North, or until its brood has flown, and +a granivorous bird in the South. In his "Evening Revery" occur +these lines:-- + + "The mother bird hath broken for her + brood + Their prison shells, or shoved them + from the nest, + Plumed for their earliest flight." + +It is not a fact that the mother bird aids her offspring in +escaping from the shell. The young of all birds are armed with a +small temporary horn or protuberance upon the upper mandible, and +they are so placed in the shell that this point is in immediate +contact with its inner surface; as soon as they are fully developed +and begin to struggle to free themselves, the horny growth "pips" +the shell. Their efforts then continue till their prison walls are +completely sundered and the bird is free. This process is rendered +the more easy by the fact that toward the last the shell becomes +very rotten; the acids that are generated by the growing chick eat +it and make it brittle, so that one can hardly touch a fully +incubated bird's egg without breaking it. To help the young bird +forth would insure its speedy death. It is not true, either, that +the parent shoves its young from the nest when they are fully +fledged, except possibly in the case of some of the swallows and of +the eagle. The young of all our more common birds leave the nest +of their own motion, stimulated probably by the calls of the +parents, and in some cases by the withholding of food for a longer +period than usual. + +As an instance where Bryant warps the facts to suit his purpose, +take his poems of the "Yellow Violet" and "The Fringed Gentian." Of +this last flower he says:-- + + "Thou waitest late and com'st alone, + When woods are bare and birds are + flown, + And frosts and shortening days + portend + The aged year is near his end." + +The fringed gentian belongs to September, and, when the severer +frosts keep away, it runs over into October. But it does not come +alone, and the woods are not bare. The closed gentian comes at the +same time, and the blue and purple asters are in all their glory. +Goldenrod, turtle-head, and other fall flowers also abound. When +the woods are bare, which does not occur in New England till in or +near November, the fringed gentian has long been dead. It is in +fact killed by the first considerable frost. No, if one were to go +botanizing, and take Bryant's poem for a guide, he would not bring +home any fringed gentians with him. The only flower he would find +would be the witch-hazel. Yet I never see this gentian without +thinking of Bryant's poem, and feeling that he has brought it +immensely nearer to us. + +Bryant's poem of the "Yellow Violet" has all his accustomed +simplicity and pensiveness, but his love for the flower carries him +a little beyond the facts; he makes it sweet-scented,-- + + "Thy faint perfume + Alone is in the virgin air;" + +and he makes it the first flower of spring. I have never been able +to detect any perfume in the yellow species (VIOLA ROTUNDIFOLIA). +This honor belongs alone to our two white violets, VIOLA BLANDA and +VIOLA CANADENSIS. + +Neither is it quite true that + + "Of all her train, the hands of Spring + First plant thee in the watery mould." + +Now it is an interesting point which really is our first spring +flower. Which comes second or third is of less consequence, but +which everywhere and in all seasons comes first; and in such a case +the poet must not place the honor where it does not belong. I have +no hesitation in saying that, throughout the Middle and New England +States, the hepatica is the first spring flower. [Footnote: +excepting, of course, the skunk-cabbage.] It is some days ahead +of all others. The yellow violet belongs only to the more northern +sections,--to high, cold, beechen woods, where the poet rightly +places it; but in these localities, if you go to the spring woods +every day, you will gather the hepatica first. I have also found +the claytonia and the coltsfoot first. In a poem called "The +Twenty-Seventh of March," Bryant places both the hepatica and the +arbutus before it:-- + + "Within the woods + Tufts of ground-laurel, creeping + underneath + The leaves of the last summer, send + their sweets + Upon the chilly air, and by the oak, + The squirrel cups, a graceful + company, + Hide in their bells, a soft aerial + blue,"-- + +ground-laurel being a local name for trailing arbutus, called also +mayflower, and squirrel-cups for hepatica, or liver-leaf. But the +yellow violet may rightly dispute for the second place. + +In "The Song of the Sower" our poet covers up part of the truth +with the grain. The point and moral of the song he puts in the +statement, that the wheat sown in the fall lies in the ground till +spring before it germinates; when, in fact, it sprouts and grows +and covers the ground with "emerald blades" in the fall:-- + + "Fling wide the generous grain; we fling + O'er the dark mould the green of + spring. + For thick the emerald blades shall + grow, + When first the March winds melt the + snow, + And to the sleeping flowers, below, + The early bluebirds sing. + . . . . . . . . +. + Brethren, the sower's task is done. + The seed is in its winter bed. + Now let the dark-brown mould be + spread, + To hide it from the sun, + And leave it to the kindly care + Of the still earth and brooding air, + As when the mother, from her + breast, + Lays the hushed babe apart to rest, + And shades its eyes and waits to see + How sweet its waking smile will be. + The tempest now may smite, the + sleet + All night on the drowned furrow beat, + And winds that, from the cloudy hold + Of winter, breathe the bitter cold, + Stiffen to stone the mellow mould, + Yet safe shall lie the wheat; + Till, out of heaven's unmeasured + blue, + Shall walk again the genial year, + To wake with warmth and nurse with + dew + The germs we lay to slumber here." + +Of course the poet was not writing an agricultural essay, yet one +does not like to feel that he was obliged to ignore or sacrifice +any part of the truth to build up his verse. One likes to see him +keep within the fact without being conscious of it or hampered by +it, as he does in "The Planting of the Apple-Tree," or in the +"Lines to a Water-Fowl." + +But there are glimpses of American scenery and climate in Bryant +that are unmistakable, as in these lines from "Midsummer:"-- + + "Look forth upon the earth--her + thousand plants + Are smitten; even the dark, + sun-loving maize + Faints in the field beneath the torrid + blaze; + The herd beside the shaded fountain + pants; + For life is driven from all the + landscape brown; + The bird has sought his tree, the + snake his den, + The trout floats dead in the hot + stream, and men + Drop by the sunstroke in the + populous town." + +Here is a touch of our "heated term" when the dogstar is abroad and +the weather runs mad. I regret the "trout floating dead in the hot +stream," because, if such a thing ever has occurred, it is entirely +exceptional. The trout in such weather seek the deep water and the +spring holes, and hide beneath rocks and willow banks. The +following lines would be impossible in an English poem:-- + + "The snowbird twittered on the + beechen bough, + And 'neath the hemlock, whose thick + branches bent + Beneath its bright, cold burden, and + kept dry + A circle, on the earth, of withered + leaves, + The partridge found a shelter." + +Both Bryant and Longfellow put their spring bluebird in the elm, +which is a much better place for the oriole,--the elm-loving +oriole. The bluebird prefers a humbler perch. Lowell puts him +upon a post in the fence, which is a characteristic attitude:-- + + "The bluebird, shifting his light load of + song, + From post to post along the cheerless + fence." + +Emerson calls him "April's bird," and makes him "fly before from +tree to tree," which is also good. But the bluebird is not +strictly a songster in the sense in which the song sparrow or the +indigo-bird, or the English robin redbreast, is; nor do Bryant's +lines hit the mark:-- + + "The bluebird chants, from the elm's + long branches, + A hymn to welcome the budding + year." + +Lowell, again, is nearer the truth when he speaks of his "whiff of +song." All his notes are call-notes, and are addressed directly to +his mate. The songbirds take up a position and lift up their +voices and sing. It is a deliberate musical performance, as much +so as that of Nilsson or Patti. The bluebird, however, never +strikes an attitude and sings for the mere song's sake. But the +poets are perhaps to be allowed this latitude, only their pages +lose rather than gain by it. Nothing is so welcome in this field +as characteristic touches, a word or a phrase that fits this case +and no other. If the bluebird chants a hymn, what does the wood +thrush do? Yet the bluebird's note is more pleasing than most bird- +songs; if it could be reproduced in color, it would be the hue of +the purest sky. + +Longfellow makes the swallow sing:-- + + "The darting swallows soar and sing;"-- + +which would leave him no room to describe the lark, if the lark had +been about. Bryant comes nearer the mark this time:-- + + "There are notes of joy from the + hang-bird and wren, + And the gossip of swallows through all + the sky;" + +so does Tennyson when he makes his swallow + + "Cheep and twitter twenty million + loves;" + +also Lowell again in this line:-- + + "The thin-winged swallow skating on + the air;" + +and Virgil:-- + + "Swallows twitter on the chimney + tops." + +Longfellow is perhaps less close and exact in his dealings with +nature than any of his compeers, although he has written some fine +naturalistic poems, as his "Rain in Summer," and others. When his +fancy is taken, he does not always stop to ask, Is this so? Is this +true? as when he applies the Spanish proverb, "There are no birds +in last year's nests," to the nests beneath the eaves; for these +are just the last year's nests that do contain birds in May. The +cliff swallow and the barn swallow always reoccupy their old nests, +when they are found intact; so do some other birds. Again, the +hawthorn, or whitethorn, field-fares, belong to English poetry more +than to American. The ash in autumn is not deep crimsoned, but a +purplish brown. "The ash her purple drops forgivingly," says Lowell +in his "Indian-Summer Reverie." Flax is not golden, lilacs are +purple or white and not flame-colored, and it is against the law to +go trouting in November. The pelican is not a wader any more than a +goose or a duck is, and the golden robin or oriole is not a bird of +autumn. This stanza from "The Skeleton in Armor" is a striking +one:-- + + "As with his wings aslant, + Sails the fierce cormorant, + Seeking some rocky haunt, + With his prey laden, + So toward the open main, + Beating to sea again, + Through the wild hurricane, + Bore I the maiden." + +But unfortunately the cormorant never does anything of the kind; it +is not a bird of prey: it is web-footed, a rapid swimmer and diver, +and lives upon fish, which it usually swallows as it catches them. +Virgil is nearer to fact when he says:-- + + "When crying cormorants forsake the + sea + And, stretching to the covert, wing + their way." + +But cormorant with Longfellow may stand for any of the large +rapacious birds, as the eagle or the condor. True, and yet the +picture is a purely fanciful one, as no bird of prey SAILS with his +burden; on the contrary, he flaps heavily and laboriously, because +he is always obliged to mount. The stress of the rhyme and metre +are of course in this case very great, and it is they, doubtless, +that drove the poet into this false picture of a bird of prey laden +with his quarry. It is an ungracious task, however, to cross- +question the gentle Muse of Longfellow in this manner. He is a true +poet if there ever was one, and the slips I point out are only like +an obscure feather or two in the dove carelessly preened. The +burnished plumage and the bright hues hide them unless we look +sharply. + +Whittier gets closer to the bone of the New England nature. He +comes from the farm, and his memory is stored with boyhood's wild +and curious lore, with + + "Knowledge never learned of schools, + Of the wild bee's morning chase, + Of the wild flower's time and place, + Flight of fowl and habitude + Of the tenants of the wood; + How the tortoise bears his shell, + How the woodchuck digs his cell, + And the ground-mole sinks his well; + How the robin feeds her young; + How the oriole's nest is hung; + Where the whitest lilies blow, + Where the freshest berries grow, + Where the ground-nut trails its vine, + Where the wood-grape's clusters + shine; + Of the black wasp's cunning way, + Mason of his walls of clay, + And the architectural plans + Of gray hornet artisans!" + +The poet is not as exact as usual when he applies the epithet +"painted" to the autumn beeches, as the foliage of the beech is the +least painty of all our trees; nor when he speaks of + + "Wind-flower and violet, amber and + white," + +as neither of the flowers named is amber-colored. From "A Dream of +Summer" the reader might infer that the fox shut up house in the +winter like the muskrat:-- + + "The fox his hillside cell forsakes, + The muskrat leaves his nook, + The bluebird in the meadow brakes + Is singing with the brook." + +The only one of these incidents that is characteristic of a January +thaw in the latitude of New England is the appearance of the +muskrat. The fox is never in his cell in winter, except he is +driven there by the hound, or by soft or wet weather, and the +bluebird does not sing in the brakes at any time of the year. A +severe stress of weather will drive the foxes off the mountains +into the low, sheltered woods and fields, and a thaw will send them +back again. In the winter the fox sleeps during the day upon a rock +or stone wall, or upon a snowbank, where he can command all the +approaches, or else prowls stealthily through the woods. + +But there is seldom a false note in any of Whittier's descriptions +of rural sights and sounds. What a characteristic touch is that in +one of his "Mountain Pictures:"-- + + "The pasture bars that clattered as + they fell." + +It is the only strictly native, original, and typical sound he +reports on that occasion. The bleating of sheep, the barking of +dogs, the lowing of cattle, the splash of the bucket in the well, +"the pastoral curfew of the cowbell," etc., are sounds we have +heard before in poetry, but that clatter of the pasture bars is +American; one can almost see the waiting, ruminating cows slowly +stir at the signal, and start for home in anticipation of the +summons. Every summer day, as the sun is shading the hills, the +clatter of those pasture bars is heard throughout the length and +breadth of the land. + +"Snow-Bound" is the most faithful picture of our Northern winter +that has yet been put into poetry. What an exact description is +this of the morning after the storm:-- + + "We looked upon a world unknown, + On nothing we could call our own. + Around the glistening wonder bent + The blue walls of the firmament, + No cloud above, no earth below,-- + A universe of sky and snow!" + +In his little poem on the mayflower, Mr. Stedman catches and puts +in a single line a feature of our landscape in spring that I have +never before seen alluded to in poetry. I refer to the second line +of this stanza:-- + + "Fresh blows the breeze through + hemlock-trees, + The fields are edged with green + below, + And naught but youth, and hope, and + love + We know or care to know!" + +It is characteristic of our Northern and New England fields that +they are "edged with green" in spring long before the emerald tint +has entirely overspread them. Along the fences, especially along +the stone walls, the grass starts early; the land is fatter there +from the deeper snows and from other causes, the fence absorbs the +heat, and shelters the ground from the winds, and the sward quickly +responds to the touch of the spring sun. + +Stedman's poem is worthy of his theme, and is the only one I recall +by any of our well-known poets upon the much-loved mayflower or +arbutus. There is a little poem upon this subject by an unknown +author that also has the right flavor. I recall but one stanza:-- + + "Oft have I walked these woodland + ways, + Without the blest foreknowing, + That underneath the withered leaves + The fairest flowers were blowing." + +Nature's strong and striking effects are best rendered by closest +fidelity to her. Listen and look intently, and catch the exact +effect as nearly as you can. It seems as if Lowell had done this +more than most of his brother poets. In reading his poems, one +wishes for a little more of the poetic unction (I refer, of course, +to his serious poems; his humorous ones are just what they should +be), yet the student of nature will find many close-fitting phrases +and keen observations in his pages, and lines that are exactly, and +at the same time poetically, descriptive. He is the only writer I +know of who has noticed the fact that the roots of trees do not +look supple and muscular like their boughs, but have a stiffened, +congealed look, as of a liquid hardened. + + "Their roots, like molten metal cooled + in flowing, + Stiffened in coils and runnels down + the bank." + +This is exactly the appearance the roots of most trees, when +uncovered, present; they flow out from the trunk like diminishing +streams of liquid metal, taking the form of whatever they come in +contact with, parting around a stone and uniting again beyond it, +and pushing their way along with many a pause and devious turn. One +principal office of the roots of a tree is to gripe, to hold fast +the earth: hence they feel for and lay hold of every inequality of +surface; they will fit themselves to the top of a comparatively +smooth rock, so as to adhere amazingly, and flow into the seams and +crevices like metal into a mould. + +Lowell is singularly true to the natural history of his own +country. In his "Indian-Summer Reverie" we catch a glimpse of the +hen-hawk, silently sailing overhead + + "With watchful, measuring eye," + +the robin feeding on cedar berries, and the squirrel, + + "On the shingly shagbark's bough." + +I do not remember to have met the "shagbark" in poetry before, or +that gray lichen-covered stone wall which occurs farther along in +the same poem, and which is so characteristic of the older farms of +New York and New England. I hardly know what the poet means by + + "The wide-ranked mowers wading to + the knee," + +as the mowers do not wade in the grass they are cutting, though +they might appear to do so when viewed athwart the standing grass; +perhaps this is the explanation of the line. + +But this is just what the bobolink does when the care of his young +begins to weigh upon him:-- + + "Meanwhile that devil-may-care, + the bobolink, + Remembering duty, in mid-quaver + stops + Just ere he sweeps o'er rapture's + tremulous brink, + And 'twixt the winrows most + demurely drops." + +I do not vouch for that dropping between the windrows, as in my +part of the country the bobolinks flee before the hay-makers, but +that sudden stopping on the brink of rapture, as if thoughts of his +helpless young had extinguished his joy, is characteristic. + +Another carefully studied description of Lowell's is this:-- + + "The robin sings as of old from the + limb! + The catbird croons in the lilac-bush! + Through the dim arbor, himself more + dun, + Silently hops the hermit thrush." + +Among trees Lowell has celebrated the oak, the pine, the birch; and +among flowers; the violet and the dandelion. The last, I think, is +the most pleasing of these poems:-- + + "Dear common flower, that grow'st + beside the way, + Fringing the dusty road with harmless + gold, + First pledge of blithesome May." + +The dandelion is indeed, in our latitude, the pledge of May. It +comes when the grass is short, and the fresh turf sets off its +"ring of gold" with admirable effect; hence we know the poet is a +month or more out of the season when, in "Al Fresco," he makes it +bloom with the buttercup and the clover:-- + + "The dandelions and buttercups + Gild all the lawn; the drowsy bee + Stumbles among the clover-tops, + And summer sweetens all but me." + +Of course the dandelion blooms occasionally throughout the whole +summer, especially where the grass is kept short, but its proper +season, when it "gilds all the lawn," is, in every part of the +country, some weeks earlier than the tall buttercup and the clover. +These bloom in June in New England and New York, and are +contemporaries of the daisy. In the meadows and lawns, the +dandelion drops its flower and holds aloft its sphere of down, +touching the green surface as with a light frost, long before the +clover and the buttercup have formed their buds. In "Al Fresco" our +poet is literally in clover, he is reveling in the height of the +season, the full tide of summer is sweeping around him, and he has +riches enough without robbing May of her dandelions. Let him say,-- + + "The daisies and the buttercups + Gild all the lawn." + +I smile as I note that the woodpecker proves a refractory bird to +Lowell, as well as to Emerson:-- + + Emerson rhymes it with bear, + Lowell rhymes it with hear, + One makes it woodpeckair, + The other, woodpeckear. + +But its hammer is a musical one, and the poets do well to note it. +Our most pleasing drummer upon dry limbs among the woodpeckers is +the yellow-bellied. His measured, deliberate tap, heard in the +stillness of the primitive woods, produces an effect that no bird- +song is capable of. + +Tennyson is said to have very poor eyes, but there seems to be no +defect in the vision with which he sees nature, while he often hits +the nail on the head in a way that would indicate the surest sight. +True, he makes the swallow hunt the bee, which, for aught I know, +the swallow may do in England. Our purple martin has been accused +of catching the honey-bee, but I doubt his guilt. But those of our +swallows that correspond to the British species, the barn swallow, +the cliff swallow, and the bank swallow, subsist upon very small +insects. But what a clear-cut picture is that in the same poem +("The Poet's Song"):-- + + "The wild hawk stood, with the down on + his beak, + And stared, with his foot on the + prey." + +It takes a sure eye, too, to see + + "The landscape winking thro' the + heat"-- + +or to gather this image:-- + + "He has a solid base of temperament; + But as the water-lily starts and slides + Upon the level in little puffs of wind, + Though anchor'd to the bottom, such + is he;" + +or this:-- + + "Arms on which the standing muscle + sloped, + As slopes a wild brook o'er a little + stone, + Running too vehemently to break + upon it,"-- + +and many other gems that abound in his poems. He does not cut and +cover in a single line, so far as I have observed. Great caution +and exact knowledge underlie his most rapid and daring flights. A +lady told me that she was once walking with him in the fields, when +they came to a spring that bubbled up through shifting sands in a +very pretty manner, and Tennyson, in order to see exactly how the +spring behaved, got down on his hands and knees and peered a long +time into the water. The incident is worth repeating as showing how +intently a great poet studies nature. + +Walt Whitman says he has been trying for years to find a word that +would express or suggest that evening call of the robin. How +absorbingly this poet must have studied the moonlight to hit upon +this descriptive phrase:-- + + "The vitreous pour of the full moon + just tinged with blue;" + +how long have looked upon the carpenter at his bench to have made +this poem:-- + + "The tongue of his fore-plane whistles + its wild ascending lisp;" + +or how lovingly listened to the nocturne of the mockingbird to have +turned it into words in "A Word out of the Sea "! Indeed, no poet +has studied American nature more closely than Whitman has, or is +more cautious in his uses of it. How easy are his descriptions!-- + + "Behold the daybreak! + The little light fades the immense + and diaphanous shadows!" + + "The comet that came unannounced + Out of the north, flaring in + heaven." + + "The fan-shaped explosion." + + "The slender and jagged threads of + lightning, as sudden and fast amid + the din they chased each other + across the sky." + + "Where the heifers browse--where + geese nip their food with short + jerks; + Where sundown shadows lengthen + over the limitless and lonesome + prairie; + Where herds of buffalo make a + crawling spread of the square miles + far and near; + Where the hummingbird shimmers-- + where the neck of the long-lived + swan is curving and winding; + Where the laughing-gull scoots by the + shore when she laughs her near + human laugh; + Where band-neck'd partridges roost + in a ring on the ground with their + heads out." + +Whitman is less local than the New England poets, and faces more to +the West. But he makes himself at home everywhere, and puts in +characteristic scenes and incidents, generally compressed into a +single line, from all trades and doings and occupations, North, +East, South, West, and identifies himself with man in all straits +and conditions on the continent. Like the old poets, he does not +dwell upon nature, except occasionally through the vistas opened up +by the great sciences, as astronomy and geology, but upon life and +movement and personality, and puts in a shred of natural history +here and there,--the "twittering redstart," the spotted hawk +swooping by, the oscillating sea-gulls, the yellow-crowned heron, +the razor-billed auk, the lone wood duck, the migrating geese, +the sharp-hoofed moose, the mockingbird "the thrush, the hermit," +etc.,--to help locate and define his position. Everywhere in +nature Whitman finds human relations, human responsions. In entire +consistence with botany, geology, science, or what not, he endues +his very seas and woods with passion, more than the old hamadryads +or tritons. His fields, his rocks, his trees, are not dead +material, but living companions. This is doubtless one reason why +Addington Symonds, the young Hellenic scholar of England, finds him +more thoroughly Greek than any other man of modern times. + +Our natural history, and indeed all phases of life in this country, +is rich in materials for the poet that have yet hardly been +touched. Many of our most familiar birds, which are inseparably +associated with one's walks and recreations in the open air, and +with the changes of the seasons, are yet awaiting their poet,--as +the high-hole, with his golden-shafted quills and loud continued +spring call; the meadowlark, with her crescent-marked breast and +long-drawn, piercing, yet tender April and May summons forming, +with that of the high-hole, one of the three or four most +characteristic field sounds of our spring; the happy goldfinch, +circling round and round in midsummer with that peculiar undulating +flight and calling PER-CHICK'-O-PEE, PER-CHICK'-O-PEE, at each +opening and shutting of the wings, or later leading her plaintive +brood among the thistle-heads by the roadside; the little indigo- +bird, facing the torrid sun of August and singing through all the +livelong summer day; the contented musical soliloquy of the vireo, +like the whistle of a boy at his work, heard through all our woods +from May to September:-- + + "Pretty green worm, where are you? + Dusky-winged moth, how fare you, + When wind and rain are in the tree? + Cheeryo, cheerebly, chee, + Shadow and sun one are to me. + Mosquito and gnat, beware you, + Saucy chipmunk, how dare you + Climb to my nest in the maple-tree, + And dig up the corn + At noon and at morn? + Cheeryo, cheerebly, chee." + +Or the phbe-bird, with her sweet April call and mossy nest under +the bridge or woodshed, or under the shelving rocks; or the brown +thrasher--mocking thrush--calling half furtively, half archly from +the treetop back in the bushy pastures: "Croquet, croquet, hit it, +hit it, come to me, come to me, tight it, tight it, you're out, +you're out," with many musical interludes; or the chewink, rustling +the leaves and peering under the bushes at you; or the pretty +little oven-bird, walking round and round you in the woods, or +suddenly soaring above the treetops, and uttering its wild lyrical +strain; or, farther south, the whistling redbird, with his crest +and military bearing,--these and many others should be full of +suggestion and inspiration to our poets. It is only lately that the +robin's song has been put into poetry. Nothing could be happier +than this rendering of it by a nameless singer in "A Masque of +Poets:"-- + + "When the willows gleam along the + brooks, + And the grass grows green in sunny + nooks, + In the sunshine and the rain + I hear the robin in the lane + Singing, 'Cheerily, + Cheer up, cheer up; + Cheerily, cheerily, + Cheer up.' + + "But the snow is still + Along the walls and on the hill. + The days are cold, the nights forlorn, + For one is here and one is gone. + 'Tut, tut. Cheerily, + Cheer up, cheer up; + Cheerily, cheerily, + Cheer up.' + + "When spring hopes seem to wane, + I hear the joyful strain-- + A song at night, a song at morn, + A lesson deep to me is borne, + Hearing, 'Cheerily, + Cheer up, cheer up; + Cheerily, cheerily, + Cheer up.' " + +The poetic interpretation of nature, which has come to be a +convenient phrase, and about which the Oxford professor of poetry +has written a book, is, of course, a myth, or is to be read the +other way. It is the soul the poet interprets, not nature. There is +nothing in nature but what the beholder supplies. Does the sculptor +interpret the marble or his own ideal? Is the music in the +instrument, or in the soul of the performer? Nature is a dead clod +until you have breathed upon it with your genius. You commune with +your own soul, not with woods or waters; they furnish the +conditions, and are what you make them. Did Shelley interpret the +song of the skylark, or Keats that of the nightingale? They +interpreted their own wild, yearning hearts. The trick of the poet +is always to idealize nature,--to see it subjectively. You cannot +find what the poets find in the woods until you take the poet's +heart to the woods. He sees nature through a colored glass, sees it +truthfully, but with an indescribable charm added, the aureole of +the spirit. A tree, a cloud, a bird, a sunset, have no hidden +meaning that the art of the poet is to unlock for us. Every poet +shall interpret them differently, and interpret them rightly, +because the soul is infinite. Milton's nightingale is not +Coleridge's; Burns's daisy is not Wordsworth's; Emerson's bumblebee +is not Lowell's; nor does Turner see in nature what Tintoretto +does, nor Veronese what Correggio does. Nature is all things to all +men. "We carry within us," says Sir Thomas Browne, "the wonders we +find without." The same idea is daintily expressed in these +tripping verses of Bryant's:-- + + "Yet these sweet sounds of the early + season + And these fair sights of its early + days, + Are only sweet when we fondly listen, + And only fair when we fondly gaze. + +"There is no glory in star or blossom, + Till looked upon by a loving eye; + There is no fragrance in April breezes, + Till breathed with joy as they + wander by;" + +and in these lines of Lowell:-- + + "What we call Nature, all outside + ourselves, + Is but our own conceit of what we see, + Our own reaction upon what we feel." + + "I find my own complexion + everywhere." + +Before either, Coleridge had said:-- + + "We receive but what we give, + And in our life alone doth Nature live; + Ours is the wedding-garment, ours + the shroud;" + +and Wordsworth had spoken of + + "The light that never was on sea or + land, + The consecration and the poet's + dream." + +That light that never was on sea or land is what the poet gives us, +and is what we mean by the poetic interpretation of nature. The +Oxford professor struggles against this view. "It is not true," he +says, "that nature is a blank, or an unintelligible scroll with no +meaning of its own but that which we put into it from the light of +our own transient feelings." Not a blank, certainly, to the +scientist, but full of definite meanings and laws, and a storehouse +of powers and economies; but to the poet the meaning is what he +pleases to make it, what it provokes in his own soul. To the man of +science it is thus and so, and not otherwise; but the poet touches +and goes, and uses nature as a garment which he puts off and on. +Hence the scientific reading or interpretation of nature is the +only real one. Says the SOOTHSAYER in "Antony and Cleopatra:"-- + + 'In Nature's infinite book of secrecy a + little do I read." + +This is science bowed and reverent, and speaking through a great +poet. The poet himself does not so much read in nature's book-- +though he does this, too--as write his own thoughts there. Nature +reads him, she is the page and he the type, and she takes the +impression he gives. Of course the poet uses the truths of nature +also, and he establishes his right to them by bringing them home to +us with a new and peculiar force,--a quickening or kindling force. +What science gives is melted in the fervent heat of the poet's +passion, and comes back to us supplemented by his quality and +genius. He gives more than he takes, always. + + + +V + +NOTES BY THE WAY + + + A NEW NOTE IN THE WOODS + +THERE is always a new page to be turned in natural history, if one +is sufficiently on the alert. I did not know that the eagle +celebrated his nuptials in the air till one early spring day I saw +a pair of them fall from the sky with talons hooked together. They +dropped a hundred feet or more, in a wild embrace, their great +wings fanning the air, then separated and mounted aloft, tracing +their great circles against the clouds. "Watch and wait" is the +naturalist's sign. For years I have been trying to ascertain for a +certainty the author of that fine plaintive piping to be heard more +or less frequently, according to the weather, in our summer and +autumn woods. It is a note that much resembles that of our small +marsh frog in spring,--the hyla; it is not quite so clear and +assured, but otherwise much the same. Of a very warm October day I +have heard the wood vocal with it; it seemed to proceed from every +stump and tree about one. Ordinarily it is heard only at +intervals throughout the woods. Approach never so cautiously the +spot from which the sound proceeds, and it instantly ceases, and +you may watch for an hour without again hearing it. Is it a frog, +I said, the small tree-frog, the piper of the marshes, repeating +his spring note, but little changed, amid the trees? Doubtless it +is, yet I must see him in the very act. So I watched and waited, +but to no purpose, till one day, while bee-hunting in the woods, I +heard the sound proceed from beneath the leaves at my feet. +Keeping entirely quiet, the little musician presently emerged, +and, lifting himself up on a small stick, his throat palpitated and +the plaintive note again came forth. "The queerest frog ever I +saw," said a youth who accompanied me, and whom I had enlisted to +help solve the mystery. No; it was no frog or toad at all, but +the small red salamander, commonly called lizard. The color is +not strictly red, but a dull orange, variegated with minute specks +or spots. This was the mysterious piper, then, heard from May till +November through all our woods, sometimes on trees, but usually on +or near the ground. It makes more music in the woods in autumn +than any bird. It is a pretty, inoffensive creature, walks as +awkwardly as a baby, and may often be found beneath stones and old +logs in the woods, where, buried in the mould, it passes the +winter. (I suspect there is a species of little frog--Pickering's +hyla [footnote: A frequent piper in the woods throughout the +summer and early fall.]--that also pipes occasionally in the +woods.) I have discovered, also, that we have a musical spider. +One sunny April day, while seated on the borders of the woods, my +attention was attracted by a soft, uncertain, purring sound that +proceeded from the dry leaves at my feet. On investigating the +matter, I found that it was made by a busy little spider. Several +of them were traveling about over the leaves, as if in quest of +some lost cue or secret. Every moment or two they would pause, and +by some invisible means make the low, purring sound referred to. +Dr. J. A. Alien says the common turtle, or land tortoise, also has +a note,--a loud, shrill, piping sound. It may yet be discovered +that there is no silent creature in nature. + + + THE SAND HORNET + +I turned another (to me) new page in natural history, when, during +the past season, I made the acquaintance of the sand wasp or +hornet. From boyhood I had known the black hornet, with his large +paper nest, and the spiteful yellow-jacket, with his lesser +domicile, and had cherished proper contempt for the various +indolent wasps. But the sand hornet was a new bird,--in fact, the +harpy eagle among insects,--and he made an impression. While +walking along the road about midsummer, I noticed working in the +towpath, where the ground was rather inclined to be dry and sandy, +a large yellow hornet-like insect. It made a hole the size of one's +little finger in the hard, gravelly path beside the roadbed. When +disturbed, it alighted on the dirt and sand in the middle of the +road. I had noticed in my walks some small bullet-like holes in +the field that had piqued my curiosity, and I determined to keep an +eye on these insects of the roadside. I explored their holes, and +found them quite shallow, and no mystery at the bottom of them. One +morning in the latter part of July, walking that way, I was quickly +attracted by the sight of a row of little mounds of fine, freshly +dug earth resting upon the grass beside the road, a foot or more +beneath the path. "What is this?" I said. "Mice, or squirrels, or +snakes," said my neighbor. But I connected it at once with the +strange insect I had seen. Neither mice nor squirrels work like +that, and snakes do not dig. Above each mound of earth was a hole +the size of one's largest finger, leading into the bank. While +speculating about the phenomenon, I saw one of the large yellow +hornets I had observed quickly enter one of the holes. That +settled the query. While spade and hoe were being brought to dig +him out, another hornet appeared, heavy-laden with some prey, and +flew humming up and down and around the place where I was standing. +I withdrew a little, when he quickly alighted upon one of the +mounds of earth, and I saw him carrying into his den no less an +insect than the cicada or harvest-fly. Then another came, and after +coursing up and down a few times, disturbed by my presence, +alighted upon a tree, with his quarry, to rest. The black hornet +will capture a fly, or a small butterfly, and, after breaking and +dismembering it, will take it to his nest; but here was this hornet +carrying an insect much larger than himself, and flying with ease +and swiftness. It was as if a hawk should carry a hen, or an eagle +a turkey. I at once proceeded to dig for one of the hornets, and, +after following his hole about three feet under the footpath and to +the edge of the roadbed, succeeded in capturing him and recovering +the cicada. The hornet weighed fifteen grains, and the cicada +nineteen; but in bulk the cicada exceeded the hornet by more than +half. In color, the wings and thorax, or waist, of the hornet were +a rich bronze; the abdomen was black, with three irregular yellow +bands; the legs were large and powerful, especially the third or +hindmost pair, which were much larger than the others, and armed +with many spurs and hooks. In digging its hole the hornet has been +seen at work very early in the morning. It backed out with the +loosened material, like any other animal under the same +circumstances, holding and scraping back the dirt with its legs. +The preliminary prospecting upon the footpath, which I had +observed, seems to have been the work of the males, as it was +certainly of the smaller hornets, and the object was doubtless to +examine the ground, and ascertain if the place was suitable for +nesting. By digging two or three inches through the hard, gravelly +surface of the road, a fine sandy loam was discovered, which seemed +to suit exactly, for in a few days the main shafts were all started +in the greensward, evidently upon the strength of the favorable +report which the surveyors had made. These were dug by the larger +hornets or females. There was but one inhabitant in each hole, and +the holes were two or three feet apart. One that we examined had +nine chambers or galleries at the end of it, in each of which were +two locusts, or eighteen in all. The locusts of the locality had +suffered great slaughter. Some of them in the hole or den had been +eaten to a mere shell by the larvæ of the hornet. Under the wing +of each insect an egg is attached; the egg soon hatches, and the +grub at once proceeds to devour the food its thoughtful parent has +provided. As it grows, it weaves itself a sort of shell or cocoon, +in which, after a time, it undergoes its metamorphosis, and comes +out, I think, a perfect insect toward the end of summer. + +I understood now the meaning of that sudden cry of alarm I had so +often heard proceed from the locust or cicada, followed by some +object falling and rustling amid the leaves; the poor insect was +doubtless in the clutches of this arch enemy. A number of locusts +usually passed the night on the under side of a large limb of a +mulberry-tree near by: early one morning a hornet was seen to +pounce suddenly upon one and drag it over on the top of the limb; a +struggle ensued, but the locust was soon quieted and carried off. +It is said that the hornet does not sting the insect in a vital +part,--for in that case it would not keep fresh for its young,--but +introduces its poison into certain nervous ganglia, the injury to +which has the effect of paralyzing the victim and making it +incapable of motion, though life remains for some time. + +My friend Van, who watched the hornets in my absence, saw a fierce +battle one day over the right of possession of one of the dens. An +angry, humming sound was heard to proceed from one of the holes; +gradually it approached the surface, until the hornets emerged +locked in each other's embrace, and rolled down the little +embankment, where the combat was continued. Finally, one released +his hold and took up his position in the mouth of his den (of +course I should say SHE and HER, as these were the queen hornets), +where she seemed to challenge her antagonist to come on. The other +one manuvred about awhile, but could not draw her enemy out of her +stronghold; then she clambered up the bank and began to bite and +tear off bits of grass, and to loosen gravel-stones and earth, and +roll them down into the mouth of the disputed passage. This caused +the besieged hornet to withdraw farther into her hole, when the +other came down and thrust in her head, but hesitated to enter. +After more manuvering, the aggressor withdrew, and began to bore a +hole about a foot from the one she had tried to possess herself of +by force. + +Besides the cicada, the sand hornet captures grasshoppers and other +large insects. I have never met with it before the present summer +(1879), but this year I have heard of its appearance at several +points along the Hudson. + + + THE SOLITARY BEE + +If you "leave no stone unturned" in your walks through the fields, +you may perchance discover the abode of one of our solitary bees. +Indeed, I have often thought what a chapter of natural history +might be written on "Life under a Stone," so many of our smaller +creatures take refuge there,--ants, crickets, spiders, wasps, +bumblebees, the solitary bee, mice, toads, snakes, and newts. What +do these things do in a country where there are no stones? A stone +makes a good roof, a good shield; it is water-proof and fire-proof, +and, until the season becomes too rigorous, frost-proof too. The +field mouse wants no better place to nest than beneath a large, +flat stone, and the bumblebee is entirely satisfied if she can get +possession of his old or abandoned quarters. I have even heard of +a swarm of hive bees going under a stone that was elevated a little +from the ground. After that, I did not marvel at Samson's bees +going into the carcass or skeleton of the lion. + +In the woods one day (it was November) I turned over a stone that +had a very strange-looking creature under it,--a species of +salamander I had never before seen, the banded salamander. It was +five or six inches long, and was black and white in alternate +bands. It looked like a creature of the night,--darkness dappled +with moonlight,--and so it proved. I wrapped it up in some leaves +and took it home in my pocket. By day it would barely move, and +could not be stimulated or frightened into any activity; but an +night it was alert and wide awake. Of its habits I know little, +but it is a pretty and harmless creature. Under another stone was +still another species, the violet-colored salamander, larger, of a +dark plum-color, with two rows of bright yellow spots down its +back. It evinced more activity than its fellow of the moon- +bespattered garb. I have also found the little musical red newt +under stones, and several small dark species. + +But to return to the solitary bee. When you go a-hunting of the +honey-bee, and are in quest of a specimen among the asters or +goldenrod in some remote field to start a line with, you shall see +how much this little native bee resembles her cousin of the social +hive. There appear to be several varieties, but the one I have in +mind is just the size of the honey-bee, and of the same general +form and color, and its manner among the flowers is nearly the +same. On close inspection, its color proves to be lighter, while +the under side of its abdomen is of a rich bronze. The body is +also flatter and less tapering, and the curve inclines upward, +rather than downward. You perceive it would be the easiest thing +in the world for the bee to sting an enemy perched upon its back. +One variety, with a bright buff abdomen, is called "sweat-bee" by +the laborers in the field, because it alights upon their hands and +bare arms when they are sweaty,--doubtless in quest of salt. It +builds its nest in little cavities in rails and posts. But the one +with the bronze or copper bottom builds under a stone. I +discovered its nest one day in this wise: I was lying on the ground +in a field, watching a line of honey-bees to the woods, when my +attention was arrested by one of these native bees flying about me +in a curious, inquiring way. When it returned the third time, I +said, "That bee wants something of me," which proved to be the +case, for I was lying upon the entrance to its nest. On my +getting up, it alighted and crawled quickly home. I turned over +the stone, which was less than a foot across, when the nest was +partially exposed. It consisted of four cells, built in succession +in a little tunnel that had been excavated in the ground. The +cells, which were about three quarters of an inch long and half as +far through, were made of sections cut from the leaf of the maple,-- +cut with the mandibles of the bee, which work precisely like +shears. I have seen the bee at work cutting out these pieces. She +moves through the leaf like the hand of the tailor through a piece +of cloth. When the pattern is detached, she rolls it up, and, +embracing it with her legs, flies home with it, often appearing to +have a bundle disproportionately large. Each cell is made up of a +dozen or more pieces: the larger ones, those that form its walls, +like the walls of a paper bag, are oblong, and are turned down at +one end, so as to form the bottom; not one thickness of leaf +merely, but three or four thicknesses, each fragment of leaf +lapping over another. When the cell is completed, it is filled +about two thirds full of bee-bread,--the color of that in the comb +in the hive, but not so dry, and having a sourish smell. Upon this +the egg is laid, and upon this the young feed when hatched. Is the +paper bag now tied up? No, it is headed up; circular bits of +leaves are nicely fitted into it to the number of six or seven. +They are cut without pattern or compass, and yet they are all +alike, and all exactly fit. Indeed, the construction of this cell +or receptacle shows great ingenuity and skill. The bee is, of +course, unable to manage a single section of a leaf large enough, +when rolled up, to form it, and so is obliged to construct it of +smaller pieces, such as she can carry, lapping them one over +another. + +A few days later I saw a smaller species carrying fragments of a +yellow autumn leaf under a stone in a cornfield. On examining the +place about sundown to see if the bee lodged there, I found her +snugly ensconced in a little rude cell that adhered to the under +side of the stone. There was no pollen in it, and I half suspected +it was merely a berth in which to pass the night. + +These bees do not live even in pairs, but absolutely alone. They +have large baskets on their legs in which to carry pollen, an +article they are very industrious in collecting. + +Why the larger species above described should have waited till +October to build its nest is a mystery to me. Perhaps this was the +second brood of the season, or can it be that the young were not to +hatch till the following spring? + + + THE WEATHERWISE MUSKRAT + +I am more than half persuaded that the muskrat is a wise little +animal, and that on the subject of the weather, especially, he +possesses some secret that I should be glad to know. In the fall +of 1878 I noticed that he built unusually high and massive nests. +I noticed them in several different localities. In a shallow, +sluggish pond by the roadside, which I used to pass daily in my +walk, two nests were in process of construction throughout the +month of November. The builders worked only at night, and I could +see each day that the work had visibly advanced. When there was a +slight skim of ice over the pond, this was broken up about the +nests, with trails through it in different directions where the +material had been brought. The houses were placed a little to one +side of the main channel, and were constructed entirely of a +species of coarse wild grass that grew all about. So far as I +could see, from first to last they were solid masses of grass, as +if the interior cavity or nest was to be excavated afterward, as +doubtless it was. As they emerged from the pond they gradually +assumed the shape of a miniature mountain, very bold and steep on +the south side, and running down a long, gentle grade to the +surface of the water on the north. One could see that the little +architect hauled all his material up this easy slope, and thrust it +out boldly around the other side. Every mouthful was distinctly +defined. After they were two feet or more above the water, I +expected each day to see that the finishing stroke had been given +and the work brought to a close. But higher yet, said the builder. +December drew near, the cold became threatening, and I was +apprehensive that winter would suddenly shut down upon those +unfinished nests. But the wise rats knew better than I did; they +had received private advices from headquarters, that I knew not of. +Finally, about the 6th of December, the nests assumed completion; +the northern incline was absorbed or carried up, and each structure +became a strong, massive cone, three or four feet high, the largest +nest of the kind I had ever seen. Does it mean a severe winter? I +inquired. An old farmer said it meant "high water," and he was +right once, at least, for in a few days afterward we had the +heaviest rainfall known in this section for half a century. The +creeks rose to an almost unprecedented height. The sluggish pond +became a seething, turbulent water-course; gradually the angry +element crept up the sides of these lake dwellings, till, when the +rain ceased, about four o'clock, they showed above the flood no +larger than a man's hat. During the night the channel shifted till +the main current swept over them, and next day not a vestige of the +nests was to be seen; they had gone downstream, as had many other +dwellings of a less temporary character. The rats had built wisely, +and would have been perfectly secure against any ordinary high +water, but who can foresee a flood? The oldest traditions of their +race did not run back to the time of such a visitation. + +Nearly a week afterward another dwelling was begun, well away from +the treacherous channel, but the architects did not work at it with +much heart: the material was very scarce, the ice hindered; and +before the basement story was fairly finished, Winter had the pond +under his lock and key. + +In other localities I noticed that, where the nests were placed on +the banks of streams, they were made secure against the floods by +being built amid a small clump of bushes. When the fall of 1879 +came, the muskrats were very tardy about beginning their house, +laying the corner-stone--or the corner-sod--about December 1, and +continuing the work slowly and indifferently. On the 15th of the +month the nest was not yet finished. This, I said, indicates a +mild winter; and, sure enough, the season was one of the mildest +known for many years. The rats had little use for their house. + +Again, in the fall of 1880, while the weather-wise were wagging +their heads, some forecasting a mild, some a severe winter, I +watched with interest for a sign from my muskrats. About November +1, a month earlier than the previous year, they began their nest, +and worked at it with a will. They appeared to have just got +tidings of what was coming. If I had taken the hint so palpably +given, my celery would not have been frozen up in the ground, and +my apples caught in unprotected places. When the cold wave struck +us, about November 20, my four-legged "I-told-you-so's" had nearly +completed their dwelling; it lacked only the ridge-board, so to +speak; it needed a little "topping out," to give it a finished +look. But this it never got. The winter had come to stay, and it +waxed more and more severe, till the unprecedented cold of the last +days of December must have astonished even the wise muskrats in +their snug retreat. I approached their nest at this time, a white +mound upon the white, deeply frozen surface of the pond, and +wondered if there was any life in that apparent sepulchre. I +thrust my walking-stick sharply into it, when there was a rustle +and a splash into the water, as the occupant made his escape. What +a damp basement that house has, I thought, and what a pity to rout +a peaceful neighbor out of his bed in this weather, and into such a +state of things as this! But water does not wet the muskrat; his +fur is charmed, and not a drop penetrates it. + +Where the ground is favorable, the muskrats do not build these +mound-like nests, but burrow into the bank a long distance, and +establish their winter-quarters there. + +Shall we not say, then, in view of the above facts, that this +little creature is weatherwise? The hitting of the mark twice might +be mere good luck; but three bull's-eyes in succession is not a +mere coincidence; it is a proof of skill. The muskrat is not found +in the Old World, which is a little singular, as other rats so +abound there, and as those slow-going English streams especially, +with their grassy banks, are so well suited to him. The water-rat +of Europe is smaller, but of similar nature and habits. The +muskrat does not hibernate like some rodents, but is pretty active +all winter. In December I noticed in my walk where they had made +excursions of a few yards to an orchard for frozen apples. One +day, along a little stream, I saw a mink track amid those of the +muskrat; following it up, I presently came to blood and other marks +of strife upon the snow beside a stone wall. Looking in between +the stones, I found the carcass of the luckless rat, with its head +and neck eaten away. The mink had made a meal of him. + + + CHEATING THE SQUIRRELS + +For the largest and finest chestnuts I had last fall I was indebted +to the gray squirrels. Walking through the early October woods one +day, I came upon a place where the ground was thickly strewn with +very large unopened chestnut burrs. On examination, I found that +every burr had been cut square off with about an inch of the stem +adhering, and not one had been left on the tree. It was not +accident, then, but design. Whose design? The squirrels'. The +fruit was the finest I had ever seen in the woods, and some wise +squirrel had marked it for his own. The burrs were ripe, and had +just begun to divide, not "threefold," but fourfold, "to show the +fruit within." The squirrel that had taken all this pains had +evidently reasoned with himself thus: "Now, these are extremely +fine chestnuts, and I want them; if I wait till the burrs open on +the tree, the crows and jays will be sure to carry off a great many +of the nuts before they fall; then, after the wind has rattled out +what remain, there are the mice, the chipmunks, the red squirrels, +the raccoons, the grouse, to say nothing of the boys and the pigs, +to come in for their share; so I will forestall events a little: I +will cut off the burrs when they have matured, and a few days of +this dry October weather will cause every one of them to open on +the ground; I shall be on hand in the nick of time to gather up my +nuts." The squirrel, of course, had to take the chances of a +prowler like myself coming along, but he had fairly stolen a march +on his neighbors. As I proceeded to collect and open the burrs, I +was half prepared to hear an audible protest from the trees about, +for I constantly fancied myself watched by shy but jealous eyes. +It is an interesting inquiry how the squirrel knew the burrs would +open if left to lie on the ground a few days. Perhaps he did not +know, but thought the experiment worth trying. + +The gray squirrel is peculiarly an American product, and might +serve very well as a national emblem. The Old World can beat us on +rats and mice, but we are far ahead on squirrels, having five or +six species to Europe's one. + + + THE SKYLARK ON THE HUDSON + +My note-book of the past season is enriched with the unusual +incident of an English skylark in full song above an Esopus meadow. +I was poking about a marshy place in a low field one morning in +early May, when, through the maze of bird-voices,--laughter of +robins, call of meadowlarks, song of bobolinks, ditty of sparrows, +whistle of orioles, twitter of swallows,--with which the air was +filled, my ear suddenly caught an unfamiliar strain. I paused to +listen: can it be possible, I thought, that I hear a lark, or am I +dreaming? The song came from the air, above a wide, low meadow many +hundred yards away. Withdrawing a few paces to a more elevated +position, I bent my eye and ear eagerly in that direction. Yes, +that unstinted, jubilant, skyward, multitudinous song can be none +other than the lark's! Any of our native songsters would have +ceased while I was listening. Presently I was fortunate enough to +catch sight of the bird. He had reached his climax in the sky, and +was hanging with quivering wings beneath a small white cloud, +against which his form was clearly revealed. I had seen and heard +the lark in England, else I should still have been in doubt about +the identity of this singer. While I was climbing a fence I was +obliged to take my eye from the bird, and when I looked again the +song had ceased and the lark had gone. I was soon in the meadow +above which I had heard him, and the first bird I flushed was the +lark. + +How strange he looked to my eye (I use the masculine gender because +it was a male bird, but an Irishman laboring in the field, to whom +I related my discovery, spoke touchingly of the bird as "she," and +I notice that the old poets do the same); his long, sharp wings, +and something in his manner of flight suggested a shore-bird. I +followed him about the meadow and got several snatches of song out +of him, but not again the soaring, skyward flight and copious +musical shower. By appearing to pass by, I several times got +within a few yards of him; as I drew near he would squat in the +stubble, and then suddenly start up, and, when fairly launched, +sing briefly till he alighted again fifteen or twenty rods away. I +came twice the next day and twice the next, and each time found +the lark in the meadow or heard his song from the air or the sky. +What was especially interesting was that the lark had "singled out +with affection" one of our native birds, and the one that most +resembled its kind, namely, the vesper sparrow, or grass finch. To +this bird I saw him paying his addresses with the greatest +assiduity. He would follow it about and hover above it, and by +many gentle indirections seek to approach it. But the sparrow was +shy, and evidently did not know what to make of her distinguished +foreign lover. It would sometimes take refuge in a bush, when the +lark, not being a percher, would alight upon the ground beneath it. +This sparrow looks enough like the lark to be a near relation. Its +color is precisely the same, and it has the distinguishing mark of +the two lateral white quills in its tail. It has the same habit of +skulking in the stubble or the grass as you approach; it is +exclusively a field-bird, and certain of its notes might have been +copied from the lark's song. In size it is about a third smaller, +and this is the most marked difference between them. With the +nobler bipeds, this would not have been any obstacle to the union, +and in this case the lark was evidently quite ready to ignore the +difference, but the sparrow persisted in saying him nay. It was +doubtless this obstinacy on her part that drove the lark away, for, +on the fifth day, I could not find him, and have never seen nor +heard him since. I hope he found a mate somewhere, but it is +quite improbable. The bird had, most likely, escaped from a cage, +or, maybe, it was a survivor of a number liberated some years ago +on Long Island. There is no reason why I the lark should not +thrive in this country as well as in Europe, and, if a few hundred +were liberated in any of our fields in April or May, I have little +doubt they would soon become established. And what an acquisition +it would be! As a songster, the lark is deserving of all the +praise that has been bestowed upon him. He would not add so much +to the harmony or melody of our bird-choir as he would add to its +blithesomeness, joyousness, and power. His voice is the jocund and +inspiring voice of a spring morning. It is like a ceaseless and +hilarious clapping of hands. I was much interested in an account a +friend gave me of the first skylark he heard while abroad. He had +been so full of the sights and wonders of the Old World that he had +quite forgotten the larks, when one day, as he was walking +somewhere near the sea, a brown bird started up in front of him, +and mounting upward began to sing. It drew his attention, and as +the bird went skyward, pouring out his rapid and jubilant notes, +like bees from a hive in swarming-time, the truth suddenly flashed +upon the observer. + +"Good heavens!" he exclaimed, "that is a skylark; there is no +mistaking that bird." + +It is this unique and unmistakable character of the lark's song, +and its fountain-like sparkle and copiousness, that are the main +sources of its charm. + + + NOCTURNAL INSECTS + +How the nocturnal insects, the tree-crickets and katydids, fail as +the heat fails! They are musicians that play fast or slow, strong +or feeble, just as the heat of the season waxes or wanes; and they +play as long as life lasts: when their music ceases, they are dead. +The katydids begin in August, and cry with great vigor and spirit, +"Katy-did," "Katydid," or "Katy-did n't." Toward the last of +September they have taken in sail a good deal, and cry simply, +"Katy," "Katy," with frequent pauses and resting-spells. In +October they languidly gasp or rasp, "Kate," "Kate," "Kate," and +before the end of the month they become entirely inaudible, though +I suspect that if one's ear were sharp enough he might still hear a +dying whisper, "Kate," "Kate." Those cousins of Katy, the little +green purring tree-crickets, fail in the same way and at the same +time. When their chorus is fullest, the warm autumn night fairly +throbs with the soft lulling undertone. I notice that the sound is +in waves or has a kind of rhythmic beat. What a gentle, unobtrusive +background it forms for the sharp, reedy notes of the katydids! As +the season advances, their life ebbs and ebbs: you hear one here +and one there, but the air is no longer filled with that regular +pulse-beat of sound. One by one the musicians cease, till, perhaps +on some mild night late in October, you hear--just hear and that is +all--the last feeble note of the last of these little harpers. + + + LOVE AND WAR AMONG THE BIRDS + +In the spring movements of the fishes up the stream, toward their +spawning-beds, the females are the pioneers, appearing some days in +advance of the males. With the birds the reverse is the case, the +males coming a week or ten days before the females. The female +fish is usually the larger and stronger, and perhaps better able to +take the lead; among most reptiles the same fact holds, and +throughout the insect world there is to my knowledge no exception +to the rule. Among the birds, the only exception I am aware of is +in the case of the birds of prey. Here the female is the larger +and stronger. If you see an exceptionally large and powerful +eagle, rest assured the sex is feminine. But higher in the scale +the male comes to the front and leads in size and strength. + +But the first familiar spring birds are cocks; hence the songs and +tilts and rivalries. Hence also the fact that they are slightly in +excess of the other sex, to make up for this greater exposure; +apparently no courting is done in the South, and no matches are +prearranged. The males leave irregularly without any hint, I +suspect, to the females as to when and where they will meet them. +In the case of the passenger pigeon, however, the two sexes travel +together, as they do among the migrating water-fowls. + +With the song-birds, love-making begins as soon as the hens are +here. So far as I have observed, the robin and the bluebird win +their mates by gentle and fond approaches; but certain of the +sparrows, notably the little social sparrow or "chippie," appear to +carry the case by storm. The same proceeding may be observed among +the English sparrows, now fairly established on our soil. Two or +three males beset a female, and a regular scuffle ensues. The poor +bird is pulled and jostled and cajoled amid what appears to be the +greatest mirth and hilarity of her audacious suitors. Her plumage +is plucked and ruffled; the rivals roll over each other and over +her; she extricates herself as best she can, and seems to say or +scream "no," "no," to every one of them with great emphasis. What +finally determines her choice would be hard to say. Our own +sparrows are far less noisy and obstreperous, but the same little +comedy in a milder form is often enacted among them. When two +males have a tilt, they rise several feet in the air, beak to beak, +and seek to deal each other blows as they mount. I have seen two +male chewinks facing each other and wrathfully impelled upward in +the same manner, while the female that was the bone of contention +between them regarded them unconcernedly from the near bushes. + +The bobolink is also a precipitate and impetuous wooer. It is a +trial of speed, as if the female were to say, "Catch me and I am +yours," and she scurries away with all her might and main, often +with three or four dusky knights in hot pursuit. When she takes to +cover in the grass, there is generally a squabble "down among the +tickle-tops," or under the buttercups, and "Winterseeble" or +"Conquedle" is the winner. + +In marked contrast to this violent love-making are the social and +festive reunions of the goldfinches about mating time. All the +birds of a neighborhood gather in a treetop, and the trial +apparently becomes one of voice and song. The contest is a most +friendly and happy one; all is harmony and gayety. The females +chirrup and twitter, and utter their confiding "PAISLEY" +"PAISLEY," while the more gayly dressed males squeak and warble in +the most delightful strain. The matches are apparently all made +and published during these gatherings; everybody is in a happy +frame of mind; there is no jealousy, and no rivalry but to see who +shall be gayest. + +It often happens among the birds that the male has a rival after +the nuptials have been celebrated and the work of housekeeping +fairly begun. Every season a pair of phbe-birds have built their +nest on an elbow in the spouting beneath the eaves of my house. +The past spring a belated male made desperate efforts to supplant +the lawful mate and gain possession of the unfinished nest. There +was a battle fought about the premises every hour in the day for at +least a week. The antagonists would frequently grapple and fall to +the ground, and keep their hold like two dogs. On one such +occasion I came near covering them with my hat. I believe the +intruder was finally worsted and withdrew from the place. One +noticeable feature of the affair was the apparent utter +indifference of the female, who went on with her nest-building as +if all was peace and harmony. There can be little doubt that she +would have applauded and accepted the other bird had he finally +been the victor. + +One of the most graceful of warriors is the robin. I know few +prettier sights than two males challenging and curveting about each +other upon the grass in early spring. Their attentions to each +other are so courteous and restrained. In alternate curves and +graceful sallies, they pursue and circumvent each other. First one +hops a few feet, then the other, each one standing erect in true +military style while his fellow passes him and describes the +segment of an ellipse about him, both uttering the while a fine +complacent warble in a high but suppressed key. Are they lovers or +enemies? the beholder wonders, until they make a spring and are +beak to beak in the twinkling of an eye, and perhaps mount a few +feet into the air, but rarely actually delivering blows upon each +other. Every thrust is parried, every movement met. They follow +each other with dignified composure about the fields or lawn, into +trees and upon the ground, with plumage slightly spread, breasts +glowing, their lisping, shrill war-song just audible. It forms on +the whole the most civil and high-bred tilt to be witnessed during +the season. + +When the cock-robin makes love he is the same considerate, +deferential, but insinuating gallant. The warble he makes use of +on that occasion is the same, so far as my ear can tell, as the one +he pipes when facing his rival. + + + FOX AND HOUND + +I stood on a high hill or ridge one autumn day and saw a hound run +a fox through the fields far beneath me. What odors that fox must +have shaken out of himself, I thought, to be traced thus easily, +and how great their specific gravity not to have been blown away +like smoke by the breeze! The fox ran a long distance down the +hill, keeping within a few feet of a stone wall; then turned a +right angle and led off for the mountain, across a plowed field and +a succession of pasture lands. In about fifteen minutes the hound +came in full blast with her nose in the air, and never once did she +put it to the ground while in my sight. When she came to the stone +wall, she took the other side from that taken by the fox, and kept +about the same distance from it, being thus separated several yards +from his track, with the fence between her and it. At the point +where the fox turned sharply to the left, the hound overshot a few +yards, then wheeled, and, feeling the air a moment with her nose, +took up the scent again and was off on his trail as unerringly as +Fate. It seemed as if the fox must have sowed himself broadcast as +he went along, and that his scent was so rank and heavy that it +settled in the hollows and clung tenaciously to the bushes and +crevices in the fence. I thought I ought to have caught a remnant +of it as I passed that way some minutes later, but I did not. But +I suppose it was not that the light-footed fox so impressed himself +upon the ground he ran over, but that the sense of the hound was so +keen. To her sensitive nose these tracks steamed like hot cakes, +and they would not have cooled off so as to be undistinguishable +for several hours. For the time being, she had but one sense: her +whole soul was concentrated in her nose. + +It is amusing, when the hunter starts out of a winter morning, to +see his hound probe the old tracks to determine how recent they +are. He sinks his nose down deep in the snow so as to exclude the +air from above, then draws a long full breath, giving sometimes an +audible snort. If there remains the least effluvium of the fox, +the hound will detect it. If it be very slight, it only sets his +tail wagging; if it be strong, it unloosens his tongue. + +Such things remind one of the waste, the friction, that is going on +all about us, even when the wheels of life run the most smoothly. +A fox cannot trip along the top of 'a stone wall so lightly but +that he will leave enough of himself to betray his course to the +hound for hours afterward. When the boys play "hare and hounds," +the hare scatters bits of paper to give a clew to the pursuers, but +he scatters himself much more freely if only our sight and scent +were sharp enough to detect the fragments. Even the fish leave a +trail in the water, and it is said the otter will pursue them by +it. The birds make a track in the air, only their enemies hunt by +sight rather than by scent. The fox baffles the hound most upon a +hard crust of frozen snow; the scent will not hold to the smooth, +bead-like granules. + +Judged by the eye alone, the fox is the lightest and most buoyant +creature that runs. His soft wrapping of fur conceals the muscular +play and effort that is so obvious in the hound that pursues him, +and he comes bounding along precisely as if blown by a gentle wind. +His massive tail is carried as if it floated upon the air by its +own lightness. + +The hound is not remarkable for his fleetness, but how he will +hang!--often running late into the night, and sometimes till +morning, from ridge to ridge, from peak to peak; now on the +mountain, now crossing the valley, now playing about a large slope +of uplying pasture fields. At times the fox has a pretty well- +defined orbit, and the hunter knows where to intercept him. Again, +he leads off like a comet, quite beyond the system of hills and +ridges upon which he was started, and his return is entirely a +matter of conjecture; but if the day be not more than half spent, +the chances are that the fox will be back before night, though the +sportsman's patience seldom holds out that long. + +The hound is a most interesting dog. How solemn and long-visaged +he is,--how peaceful and well-disposed! He is the Quaker among +dogs. All the viciousness and currishness seem to have been weeded +out of him; he seldom quarrels, or fights, or plays, like other +dogs. Two strange hounds, meeting for the first time, behave as +civilly toward each other as two men. I know a hound that has an +ancient, wrinkled, human, far-away look that reminds one of the +bust of Homer among the Elgin marbles. He looks like the mountains +toward which his heart yearns so much. + +The hound is a great puzzle to the farm dog; the latter, attracted +by his baying, comes barking and snarling up through the fields, +bent on picking a quarrel; he intercepts the hound, snubs and +insults and annoys him in every way possible, but the hound heeds +him not: if the dog attacks him, he gets away as best he can, and +goes on with the trail; the cur bristles and barks and struts about +for a while, then goes back to the house, evidently thinking the +hound a lunatic, which he is for the time being,--a monomaniac, the +slave and victim of one idea. I saw the master of a hound one day +arrest him in full course, to give one of the hunters time to get +to a certain runway; the dog cried and struggled to free himself, +and would listen to neither threats nor caresses. Knowing he must +be hungry, I offered him my lunch, but he would not touch it. I +put it in his mouth, but he threw it contemptuously from him. We +coaxed and petted and reassured him, but he was under a spell; he +was bereft of all thought or desire but the one passion to pursue +that trail. + + + THE TREE-TOAD + +We can boast a greater assortment of toads and frogs in this +country than can any other land. What a chorus goes up from our +ponds and marshes in spring! The like of it cannot be heard +anywhere else under the sun. In Europe it would certainly have +made an impression upon the literature. An attentive ear will +detect first one variety, then another, each occupying the stage +from three or four days to a week. The latter part of April, when +the little peeping frogs are in full chorus, one comes upon places, +in his drives or walks late in the day, where the air fairly +palpitates with sound; from every little marshy hollow and spring +run there rises an impenetrable maze or cloud of shrill musical +voices. After the peepers, the next frog to appear is the clucking +frog, a rather small, dark-brown frog, with a harsh, clucking note, +which later in the season becomes the well-known brown wood-frog. +Their chorus is heard for a few days only, while their spawn is +being deposited. In less than a week it ceases, and I never hear +them again till the next April. As the weather gets warmer, the +toads take to the water, and set up that long-drawn musical tr-r-r- +r-r-r-r-ing note. The voice of the bullfrog, who calls, according +to the boys, "jug o' rum," "jug o' rum," "pull the plug," "pull +the plug," is not heard much before June. The peepers, the +clucking frog, and the bullfrog are the only ones that call in +chorus. The most interesting and the most shy and withdrawn of all +our frogs and toads is the tree-toad,--the creature that, from the +old apple or cherry tree, or red cedar, announces the approach of +rain, and baffles your every effort to see or discover it. It has +not (as some people imagine) exactly the power of the chameleon to +render itself invisible by assuming the color of the object it +perches upon, but it sits very close and still, and its mottled +back, of different shades of ashen gray, blends it perfectly with +the bark of nearly every tree. The only change in its color I have +ever noticed is that it is lighter on a light-colored tree, like +the beech or soft maple, and darker on the apple, or cedar, or +pine. Then it is usually hidden in some cavity or hollow of the +tree, when its voice appears to come from the outside. + +Most of my observations upon the habits of this creature run +counter to the authorities I have been able to consult on the +subject. + +In the first place, the tree-toad is nocturnal in its habits, like +the common toad. By day it remains motionless and concealed; by +night it is as alert and active as an owl, feeding and moving about +from tree to tree. I have never known one to change its position +by day, and never knew one to fail to do so by night. Last summer +one was discovered sitting against a window upon a climbing +rosebush. The house had not been occupied for some days, and when +the curtain was drawn the toad was discovered and closely observed. +His light gray color harmonized perfectly with the unpainted +woodwork of the house. During the day he never moved a muscle, +but next morning he was gone. A friend of mine caught one, and +placed it under a tumbler on his table at night, leaving the edge +of the glass raised about the eighth of an inch to admit the air. +During the night he was awakened by a strange sound in his room. +Pat, pat, pat went some object, now here, now there, among the +furniture, or upon the walls and doors. On investigating the +matter, he found that by some means his tree-toad had escaped from +under the glass, and was leaping in a very lively manner about the +room, producing the sound he had heard when it alighted upon the +door, or wall, or other perpendicular surface. + +The home of the tree-toad, I am convinced, is usually a hollow limb +or other cavity in the tree; here he makes his headquarters, and +passes most of the day. For two years a pair of them frequented an +old apple-tree near my house, occasionally sitting at the mouth of +a cavity that led into a large branch, but usually their voices +were heard from within the cavity itself. On one occasion, while +walking in the woods in early May, I heard the voice of a tree-toad +but a few yards from me. Cautiously following up the sound, I +decided, after some delay, that it proceeded from the trunk of a +small soft maple; the tree was hollow, the entrance to the interior +being a few feet from the ground. I could not discover the toad, +but was so convinced that it was concealed in the tree, that I +stopped up the hole, determined to return with an axe, when I had +time, and cut the trunk open. A week elapsed before I again went +to the woods, when, on cutting into the cavity of the tree, I found +a pair of tree-toads, male and female, and a large, shelless snail. +Whether the presence of the snail was accidental, or whether these +creatures associated together for some purpose, I do not know. The +male toad was easily distinguished from the female by its large +head, and more thin, slender, and angular body. The female was +much the more beautiful, both in form and color. The cavity, which +was long and irregular, was evidently their home; it had been +nicely cleaned out, and was a snug, safe apartment. + +The finding of the two sexes together, under such circumstances and +at that time of the year, suggests the inquiry whether they do not +breed away from the water, as others of our toads are known at +times to do, and thus skip the tadpole state. I have several times +seen the ground, after a June shower, swarming with minute toads, +out to wet their jackets. Some of them were no larger than +crickets. They were a long distance from the water, and had +evidently been hatched on the land, and had never been polliwogs. +Whether the tree-toad breeds in trees or on the land, yet remains +to be determined. [FOOTNOTE: It now (1895) seems well established +that both common toads and tree-toads pass the first period of +their lives in water as tadpoles, and that both undergo their +metamorphosis when very small. As soon as the change is effected, +the little toads leave the water and scatter themselves over the +country with remarkable rapidity, traveling chiefly by night, but +showing themselves in the daytime after showers.] + +Another fact in the natural history of this creature, not set down +in the books, is that they pass the winter in a torpid state in the +ground, or in stumps and hollow trees, instead of in the mud of +ponds and marshes, like true frogs, as we have been taught. The +pair in the old apple-tree above referred to, I heard on a warm, +moist day late in November, and again early in April. On the +latter occasion, I reached my hand down into the cavity of the tree +and took out one of the toads. It was the first I had heard, and I +am convinced it had passed the winter in the moist, mud-like mass +of rotten wood that partially filled the cavity. It had a fresh, +delicate tint, as if it had not before seen the light that spring. +The president of a Western college writes in "Science News" that +two of his students found one in the winter in an old stump which +they demolished; and a person whose veracity I have no reason to +doubt sends me a specimen that he dug out of the ground in December +while hunting for Indian relics. The place was on the top of a +hill, under a pine-tree. The ground was frozen on the surface, and +the toad was, of course, torpid. + +During the present season, I obtained additional proof of the fact +that the tree-toad hibernates on dry land. The 12th of November was +a warm, spring-like day; wind southwest, with slight rain in the +afternoon,--just the day to bring things out of their winter +retreats. As I was about to enter my door at dusk, my eye fell +upon what proved to be the large tree-toad in question, sitting on +some low stone-work at the foot of a terrace a few feet from the +house. I paused to observe his movements. Presently he started on +his travels across the yard toward the lawn in front. He leaped +about three feet at a time, with long pauses between each leap. +For fear of losing him as it grew darker, I captured him, and kept +him under the coal sieve till morning. He was very active at night +trying to escape. In the morning, I amused myself with him for +some time in the kitchen. I found he could adhere to a window- +pane, but could not ascend it; gradually his hold yielded, till he +sprang off on the casing. I observed that, in sitting upon the +floor or upon the ground, he avoided bringing his toes in contact +with the surface, as if they were too tender or delicate for such +coarse uses, but sat upon the hind part of his feet. Said toes had +a very bungling, awkward appearance at such times; they looked like +hands encased in gray woolen gloves much too large for them. Their +round, flattened ends, especially when not in use, had a comically +helpless look. + +After a while I let my prisoner escape into the open air. The +weather had grown much colder, and there was a hint of coming +frost. The toad took the hint at once, and, after hopping a few +yards from the door to the edge of a grassy bank, began to prepare +for winter. It was a curious proceeding. He went into the ground +backward, elbowing himself through the turf with the sharp joints +of his hind legs, and going down in a spiral manner. His progress +was very slow: at night I could still see him by lifting the grass; +and as the weather changed again to warm, with southerly winds +before morning, he stopped digging entirely. The next day I took +him out, and put him into a bottomless tub sunk into the ground and +filled with soft earth, leaves, and leaf mould, where he passed the +winter safely, and came out fresh and bright in the spring. + +The little peeping frogs lead a sort of arboreal life, too, a part +of the season, but they are quite different from the true tree- +toads above described. They appear to leave the marshes in May, +and to take to the woods or bushes. I have never seen them on +trees, but upon low shrubs. They do not seem to be climbers, but +perchers. I caught one in May, in some low bushes a few rods from +the swamp. It perched upon the small twigs like a bird, and would +leap about among them, sure of its hold every time. I was first +attracted by its piping. I brought it home, and it piped for one +twilight in a bush in my yard and then was gone. I do not think +they pipe much after leaving the water. I have found them early in +April upon the ground in the woods, and again late in the fall. + +In November, 1879, the warm, moist weather brought them out in +numbers. They were hopping about everywhere upon the fallen leaves. +Within a small space I captured six. Some of them were the hue of +the tan-colored leaves, probably Pickering's hyla, and some were +darker, according to the locality. Of course they do not go to the +marshes to winter, else they would not wait so late in the season. +I examined the ponds and marshes, and found bullfrogs buried in the +mud, but no peepers. + + + THE SPRING BIRDS + +We never know the precise time the birds leave us in the fall: they +do not go suddenly; their departure is like that of an army of +occupation in no hurry to be off; they keep going and going, and we +hardly know when the last straggler is gone. Not so their return +in the spring: then it is like an army of invasion, and we know the +very day when the first scouts appear. It is a memorable event. +Indeed, it is always a surprise to me, and one of the compensations +of our abrupt and changeable climate, this suddenness with which +the birds come in spring,--in fact, with which spring itself comes, +alighting, maybe, to tarry only a day or two, but real and genuine, +for all that. When March arrives, we do not know what a day may +bring forth. It is like turning over a leaf, a new chapter of +startling incidents lying just on the other side. + +A few days ago, Winter had not perceptibly relaxed his hold; then +suddenly he began to soften a little, and a warm haze to creep up +from the south, but not a solitary bird, save the winter residents, +was to be seen or heard. Next day the sun seemed to have drawn +immensely nearer; his beams were full of power; and we said, +"Behold the first spring morning! And, as if to make the prophecy +complete, there is the note of a bluebird, and it is not yet nine +o'clock." Then others, and still others, were heard. How did they +know it was going to be a suitable day for them to put in an +appearance? It seemed as if they must have been waiting somewhere +close by for the first warm day, like actors behind the scenes,-- +the moment the curtain was lifted, they were ready and rushed upon +the stage. The third warm day, and, behold, all the principal +performers come rushing in,--song sparrows, cow blackbirds, +grackles, the meadowlark, cedar-birds, the phbe-bird, and, hark! +what bird laughter was that? the robins, hurrah! the robins! Not +two or three, but a score or two of them; they are following the +river valley north, and they stop in the trees from time to time, +and give vent to their gladness. It is like a summer picnic of +school-children suddenly let loose in a wood; they sing, shout, +whistle, squeal, call, in the most blithesome strains. The warm +wave has brought the birds upon its crest; or some barrier has +given way, the levee of winter has broken, and spring comes like an +inundation. No doubt, the snow and the frost will stop the +crevasse again, but only for a brief season. + +Between the 10th and the 15th of March, in the Middle and Eastern +States, we are pretty sure to have one or more of these spring +days. Bright days, clear days, may have been plenty all winter; +but the air was a desert, the sky transparent ice; now the sky is +full of radiant warmth, and the air of a half-articulate murmur and +awakening. How still the morning is! It is at such times that we +discover what music there is in the souls of the little slate- +colored snowbirds. How they squeal, and chatter, and chirp, and +trill, always in scattered troops of fifty or a hundred, filling +the air with a fine sibilant chorus! That joyous and childlike +"chew," "chew," "chew" is very expressive. Through this medley +of finer songs and calls, there is shot, from time to time, the +clear, strong note of the meadowlark. It comes from some field or +tree farther away, and cleaves the air like an arrow. The reason +why the birds always appear first in the morning, and not in the +afternoon, is that in migrating they travel by night, and stop and +feed and disport themselves by day. They come by the owl train, +and are here before we are up in the morning. + + + A LONE QUEEN + +Once, while walking in the woods, I saw quite a large nest in the +top of a pine-tree. On climbing up to it, I found that it had +originally been a crow's nest. Then a red squirrel had appropriated +it; he had filled up the cavity with the fine inner bark of the red +cedar, and made himself a dome-shaped nest upon the crow's +foundation of coarse twigs. It is probable that the flying +squirrel, or the white-footed mouse, had been the next tenants, for +the finish of the interior suggested their dainty taste. But when +I found it, its sole occupant was a bumblebee,--the mother or queen +bee, just planting her colony. She buzzed very loud and +complainingly, and stuck up her legs in protest against my rude +inquisitiveness, but refused to vacate the premises. She had only +one sack or cell constructed, in which she had deposited her first +egg, and, beside that, a large loaf of bread, probably to feed the +young brood with, as they should be hatched. It looked like Boston +brown bread, but I examined it and found it to be a mass of dark +brown pollen, quite soft and pasty. In fact, it was unleavened +bread, and had not been got at the baker's. A few weeks later, if +no accident befell her, she had a good working colony of a dozen or +more bees. + +This was not an unusual incident. Our bumblebee, so far as I have +observed, invariably appropriates a mouse-nest for the site of its +colony, never excavating a place in the ground, nor conveying +materials for a nest, to be lined with wax, like the European +species. Many other of our wild creatures take up with the +leavings of their betters or strongers. Neither the skunk nor the +rabbit digs his own hole, but takes up with that of a wood-chuck, +or else hunts out a natural den among the rocks. In England the +rabbit burrows in the ground to such an extent that in places the +earth is honeycombed by them, and the walker steps through the +surface into their galleries. Our white-footed mouse has been +known to take up his abode in a hornet's nest, furnishing the +interior to suit his taste. A few of our birds also avail +themselves of the work of others, as the titmouse, the brown +creeper, the bluebird, and the house wren. But in every case they +refurnish the tenement: the wren carries feathers into the cavity +excavated by the woodpeckers, the bluebird carries in fine straws, +and the chickadee lays down a fine wool mat upon the floors. When +the high-hole occupies the same cavity another year, he deepens and +enlarges it; the phbe-bird, in taking up her old nest, puts in a +new lining; so does the robin; but cases of reoccupancy of an old +nest by the last-named birds are rare. + + + A BOLD LEAPER + +One reason, doubtless, why squirrels are so bold and reckless in +leaping through the trees is, that, if they miss their hold and +fall, they sustain no injury. Every species of tree squirrel seems +to be capable of a sort of rudimentary flying,--at least of making +itself into a parachute, so as to ease or break a fall or a leap +from a great height. The so-called flying squirrel does this the +most perfectly. It opens its furry vestments, leaps into the air, +and sails down the steep incline from the top of one tree to the +foot of the next as lightly as a bird. But other squirrels know +the same trick, only their coat-skirts are not so broad. One day +my dog treed a red squirrel in a tall hickory that stood in a +meadow on the side of a steep hill. To see what the squirrel would +do when closely pressed, I climbed the tree. As I drew near, he +took refuge in the topmost branch, and then, as I came on, he +boldly leaped into the air, spread himself out upon it, and, with a +quick, tremulous motion of his tail and legs, descended quite +slowly and landed upon the ground thirty feet below me, apparently +none the worse for the leap, for he ran with great speed and +escaped the dog in another tree. + +A recent American traveler in Mexico gives a still more striking +instance of this power of squirrels partially to neutralize the +force of gravity when leaping or falling through the air. Some +boys had caught a Mexican black squirrel, nearly as large as a cat. +It had escaped from them once, and, when pursued, had taken a leap +of sixty feet, from the top of a pine-tree down upon the roof of a +house, without injury. This feat had led the grandmother of one of +the boys to declare that the squirrel was bewitched, and the boys +proposed to put the matter to further test by throwing the squirrel +down a precipice six hundred feet high. Our traveler interfered, +to see that the squirrel had fair play. The prisoner was conveyed +in a pillow-slip to the edge of the cliff, and the slip opened, so +that he might have his choice, whether to remain a captive or to +take the leap. He looked down the awful abyss, and then back and +sidewise,--his eyes glistening, his form crouching. Seeing no +escape in any other direction, "he took a flying leap into space, +and fluttered rather than fell into the abyss below. His legs +began to work like those of a swimming poodle-dog, but quicker and +quicker, while his tail, slightly elevated, spread out like a +feather fan. A rabbit of the same weight would have made the trip +in about twelve seconds; the squirrel protracted it for more than +half a minute," and "landed on a ledge of limestone, where we could +see him plainly squat on his hind legs and smooth his ruffled fur, +after which he made for the creek with a flourish of his tail, took +a good drink, and scampered away into the willow thicket." + +The story at first blush seems incredible, but I have no doubt our +red squirrel would have made the leap safely; then why not the +great black squirrel, since its parachute would be proportionately +large? + +The tails of the squirrels are broad and long and flat, not short +and small like those of gophers, chipmunks, woodchucks, and other +ground rodents, and when they leap or fall through the air the tail +is arched and rapidly vibrates. A squirrel's tail, therefore, is +something more than ornament, something more than a flag; it not +only aids him in flying, but it serves as a cloak, which he wraps +about him when he sleeps. Thus, some animals put their tails to +various uses, while others seem to have no use for them whatever. +What use for a tail has a wood-chuck, or a weasel, or a mouse? Has +not the mouse yet learned that it could get in its hole sooner if +it had no tail? The mole and the meadow mouse have very short +tails. Rats, no doubt, put their tails to various uses. The +rabbit has no use for a tail,--it would be in its way; while its +manner of sleeping is such that it does not need a tail to tuck +itself up with, as do the coon and the fox. The dog talks with his +tail; the tail of the possum is prehensile; the porcupine uses his +tail in climbing and for defense; the beaver as a tool or trowel; +while the tail of the skunk serves as a screen behind which it +masks its terrible battery. + + + THE WOODCHUCK + +Writers upon rural England and her familiar natural history make no +mention of the marmot or woodchuck. In Europe this animal seems to +be confined to the high mountainous districts, as on our Pacific +slope, burrowing near the snow-line. It is more social or +gregarious than the American species, living in large families like +our prairie dog. In the Middle and Eastern States our woodchuck +takes the place, in some respects, of the English rabbit, burrowing +in every hillside and under every stone wall and jutting ledge and +large boulder, from whence it makes raids upon the grass and clover +and sometimes upon the garden vegetables. It is quite solitary in +its habits, seldom more than one inhabiting the same den, unless it +be a mother and her young. It is not now so much a WOODchuck as a +FIELDchuck. Occasionally, however, one seems to prefer the woods, +and is not seduced by the sunny slopes and the succulent grass, but +feeds, as did his fathers before him, upon roots and twigs, the +bark of young trees, and upon various wood plants. + +One summer day, as I was swimming across a broad, deep pool in the +creek in a secluded place in the woods, I saw one of these sylvan +chucks amid the rocks but a few feet from the edge of the water +where I proposed to touch. He saw my approach, but doubtless took +me for some water-fowl, or for some cousin of his of the muskrat +tribe; for he went on with his feeding, and regarded me not till I +paused within ten feet of him and lifted myself up. Then he did not +know me, having, perhaps, never seen Adam in his simplicity, but he +twisted his nose around to catch my scent; and the moment he had +done so he sprang like a jumping-jack and rushed into his den with +the utmost precipitation. + +The woodchuck is the true serf among our animals; he belongs to the +soil, and savors of it. He is of the earth, earthy. There is +generally a decided odor about his dens and lurking-places, but it +is not at all disagreeable in the clover-scented air; and his +shrill whistle, as he takes to his hole or defies the farm dog from +the interior of the stone wall, is a pleasant summer sound. In form +and movement the woodchuck is not captivating. His body is heavy +and flabby. Indeed, such a flaccid, fluid, pouchy carcass I have +never before seen. It has absolutely no muscular tension or +rigidity, but is as baggy and shaky as a skin filled with water. +Let the rifleman shoot one while it lies basking on a sideling +rock, and its body slumps off, and rolls and spills down the hill, +as if it were a mass of bowels only. The legs of the woodchuck are +short and stout, and made for digging rather than running. The +latter operation he performs by short leaps, his belly scarcely +clearing the ground. For a short distance he can make very good +time, but he seldom trusts himself far from his hole, and, when +surprised in that predicament, makes little effort to escape, but, +grating his teeth, looks the danger squarely in the face. + +I knew a farmer in New York who had a very large bob-tailed churn- +dog by the name of Cuff. The farmer kept a large dairy and made a +great deal of butter, and it was the business of Cuff to spend +nearly the half of each summer day treading the endless round of +the churning-machine. During the remainder of the day he had +plenty of time to sleep and rest, and sit on his hips and survey +the landscape. One day, sitting thus, he discovered a woodchuck +about forty rods from the house, on a steep sidehill, feeding about +near his hole, which was beneath a large rock. The old dog, +forgetting his stiffness, and remembering the fun he had had with +woodchucks in his earlier days, started off at his highest speed, +vainly hoping to catch this one before he could get to his hole. +But the wood-chuck seeing the dog come laboring up the hill, sprang +to the mouth of his den, and, when his pursuer was only a few rods +off, whistled tauntingly and went in. This occurred several times, +the old dog marching up the hill, and then marching down again, +having had his labor for his pains. I suspect that he revolved the +subject in his mind while he revolved the great wheel of the +churning-machine, and that some turn or other brought him a happy +thought, for next time he showed himself a strategist. Instead of +giving chase to the wood-chuck, when first discovered, he crouched +down to the ground, and, resting his head on his paws, watched him. +The woodchuck kept working away from his hole, lured by the tender +clover, but, not unmindful of his safety, lifted himself up on his +haunches every few moments and surveyed the approaches. Presently, +after the woodchuck had let himself down from one of these +attitudes of observation and resumed his feeding, Cuff started +swiftly but stealthily up the hill, precisely in the attitude of a +cat when she is stalking a bird. When the woodchuck rose up again, +Cuff was perfectly motionless and half hid by the grass. When he +again resumed his clover, Cuff sped up the hill as before, this +time crossing a fence, but in a low place, and so nimbly that he +was not discovered. Again the woodchuck was on the outlook, again +Cuff was motionless and hugging the ground. As the dog neared his +victim he was partially hidden by a swell in the earth, but still +the woodchuck from his outlook reported "All right," when Cuff, +having not twice as far to run as the chuck, threw all stealthiness +aside and rushed directly for the hole. At that moment the +woodchuck discovered his danger, and, seeing that it was a race for +life, leaped as I never saw marmot leap before. But he was two +seconds too late, his retreat was cut off, and the powerful jaws of +the old dog closed upon him. + +The next season Cuff tried the same tactics again with like +success, but when the third woodchuck had taken up his abode at the +fatal hole, the old churner's wits and strength had begun to fail +him, and he was baffled in each attempt to capture the animal. + +The woodchuck always burrows on a sidehill. This enables him to +guard against being drowned out, by making the termination of the +hole higher than the entrance. He digs in slantingly for about two +or three feet, then makes a sharp upward turn and keeps nearly +parallel with the surface of the ground for a distance of eight or +ten feet farther, according to the grade. Here he makes his nest +and passes the winter, holing up in October or November and coming +out again in April. This is a long sleep, and is rendered possible +only by the amount of fat with which the system has become stored +during the summer. The fire of life still burns, but very faintly +and slowly, as with the draughts all closed and the ashes heaped +up. Respiration is continued, but at longer intervals, and all the +vital processes are nearly at a standstill. Dig one out during +hibernation (Audubon did so), and you find it a mere inanimate +ball, that suffers itself to be moved and rolled about without +showing signs of awakening. But bring it in by the fire, and it +presently unrolls and opens its eyes, and crawls feebly about, and +if left to itself will seek some dark hole or corner, roll itself +up again, and resume its former condition. + + + A GOOD SEASON FOR THE BIRDS + +The season of 1880 seems to have been exceptionally favorable to +the birds. The warm, early spring, the absence of April snows and +of long, cold rains in May and June,--indeed, the exceptional heat +and dryness of these months, and the freedom from violent storms +and tempests throughout the summer,--all worked together for the +good of the birds. Their nests were not broken up or torn from the +trees, nor their young chilled and destroyed by the wet and the +cold. The drenching, protracted rains that make the farmer's seed +rot or lie dormant in the ground in May or June, and the summer +tempests that uproot the trees or cause them to lash and bruise +their foliage, always bring disaster to the birds. As a result of +our immunity from these things the past season, the small birds in +the fall were perhaps never more abundant. Indeed, I never +remember to have seen so many of certain kinds, notably the social +and the bush sparrows. The latter literally swarmed in the fields +and vineyards; and as it happened that for the first time a large +number of grapes were destroyed by birds, the little sparrow, in +some localities, was accused of being the depredator. But he is +innocent. He never touches fruit of any kind, but lives upon seeds +and insects. What attracted this sparrow to the vineyards in such +numbers was mainly the covert they afforded from small hawks, and +probably also the seeds of various weeds that had been allowed to +ripen there. The grape-destroyer was a bird of another color, +namely, the Baltimore oriole. One fruit-grower on the Hudson told +me he lost at least a ton of grapes by the birds, and in the +western part of New York and in Ohio and in Canada, I hear the +vineyards suffered severely from the depredations of the oriole. +The oriole has a sharp, dagger-like bill, and he seems to be +learning rapidly how easily he can puncture fruit with it. He has +come to be about the worst cherry bird we have. He takes the worm +first, and then he takes the cherry the worm was after, or rather +he bleeds it; as with the grapes, he carries none away with him, +but wounds them all. He is welcome to all the fruit he can eat, +but why should he murder every cherry on the tree, or every grape +in the cluster? He is as wanton as a sheep-killing dog, that will +not stop with enough, but slaughters every ewe in the flock. The +oriole is peculiarly exempt from the dangers that beset most of our +birds: its nest is all but impervious to the rain, and the +squirrel, or the jay, or the crow cannot rob it without great +difficulty. It is a pocket which it would not be prudent for +either jay or squirrel to attempt to explore when the owner, with +his dagger-like beak, is about; and the crow cannot alight upon the +slender, swaying branch from which it is usually pendent. Hence +the orioles are doubtless greatly on the increase. + +There has been an unusual number of shrikes the past fall and +winter; like the hawks, they follow in the wake of the little birds +and prey upon them. Some seasons pass and I never see a shrike. +This year I have seen at least a dozen while passing along the +road. One day I saw one carrying its prey in its feet,--a +performance which I supposed it incapable of, as it is not equipped +for this business like a rapacious bird, but has feet like a robin. +One wintry evening, near sunset, I saw one alight on the top of a +tree by the roadside, with some small object in its beak. I +paused to observe it. Presently it flew down into a scrubby old +apple-tree, and attempted to impale the object upon a thorn or +twig. It was occupied in this way some moments, no twig or knob +proving quite satisfactory. A little screech owl was evidently +watching the proceedings from his doorway in the trunk of a decayed +apple-tree ten or a dozen rods distant. Twilight was just falling, +and the owl had come up from his snug retreat in the hollow trunk, +and was waiting for the darkness to deepen before venturing forth. +I was first advised of his presence by seeing him approaching +swiftly on silent, level wing. The shrike did not see him till the +owl was almost within the branches. He then dropped his game, +which proved to be a part of a shrew-mouse, and darted back into +the thick cover uttering a loud, discordant squawk, as one would +say, "Scat! scat! scat!" The owl alighted, and was, perhaps, +looking about him for the shrike's impaled game, when I drew near. +On seeing me, he reversed his movement precipitately, flew straight +back to the old tree, and alighted in the entrance to the cavity. +As I approached, he did not so much seem to move as to diminish in +size, like an object dwindling in the distance; he depressed his +plumage, and, with his eye fixed upon me, began slowly to back and +sidle into his retreat till he faded from my sight. The shrike +wiped his beak upon the branches, cast an eye down at me and at his +lost mouse, and then flew away. He was a remarkably fine +specimen,--his breast and under parts as white as snow, and his +coat of black and ashen gray appearing very bright and fresh. A +few nights afterward, as I passed that way, I saw the little owl +again sitting in his doorway, waiting for the twilight to deepen, +and undisturbed by the passers-by; but when I paused to observe +him, he saw that he was discovered, and he slunk back into his den +as on the former occasion. + + + SHAKESPEARE'S NATURAL HISTORY + +It is surprising that so profuse and prodigal a poet as +Shakespeare, and one so bold in his dealings with human nature, +should seldom or never make a mistake in his dealings with physical +nature, or take an unwarranted liberty with her. True it is that +his allusions to nature are always incidental,--never his main +purpose or theme, as with many later poets; yet his accuracy and +closeness to fact, and his wide and various knowledge of unbookish +things, are seen in his light "touch and go" phrases and +comparisons as clearly as in his more deliberate and central work. + +In "Much Ado about Nothing," BENEDICK says to MARGARET:-- + +"Thy wit is as quick as the greyhound's mouth--it catches." + +One marked difference between the greyhound and all other hounds +and dogs is, that it can pick up its game while running at full +speed, a feat that no other dog can do. The foxhound, or farm dog, +will run over a fox or a rabbit many tunes without being able to +seize it. + +In "Twelfth Night" the clown tells VIOLA that + +"Fools are as like husbands as pilchards are to herrings--the +husband's the bigger." + +The pilchard closely resembles the herring, but is thicker and +heavier, with larger scales. + +In the same play, MARIA, seeing MALVOLIO coming, says:-- + +"Here comes the trout that must be caught with tickling." + +Shakespeare, then, knew that fact so well known to poachers, and +known also to many an American schoolboy, namely, that a trout +likes to be tickled, or behaves as if he did, and that by gently +tickling his sides and belly you can so mesmerize him, as it were, +that he will allow you to get your hands in position to clasp him +firmly. The British poacher takes the jack by the same tactics: he +tickles the jack on the belly; the fish slowly rises in the water +till it comes near the surface, when, the poacher having insinuated +both hands under him, he is suddenly scooped out and thrown upon +the land. + +Indeed, Shakespeare seems to have known intimately the ways and +habits of most of the wild creatures of Britain. He had the kind of +knowledge of them that only the countryman has. In "As You Like +It," JAQUES tells AMIENS:-- + +"I can suck melancholy out of a song as a weasel sucks eggs." + +Every gamekeeper, and every farmer for that matter, knows how +destructive the weasel and its kind are to birds' eggs, and to the +eggs of game-birds and of domestic fowls. + +In "Love's Labor's Lost," BIRON says of BOYET:-- + +"This fellow picks up wit as pigeons peas." + +Pigeons dp not pick up peas in this country, but they do in +England, and are often very damaging to the farmer on that account. +Shakespeare knew also the peculiar manner in which they feed their +young,--a manner that has perhaps given rise to the expression +"sucking dove." In "As You Like It" is this passage:-- + +"CELIA. Here comes Monsieur Le Beau. + +"ROSALIND. With his mouth full of news. + +"CELIA. Which he will put on us as pigeons feed their young. + +"ROSALIND. Then shall we be news-crammed." + +When the mother pigeon feeds her young she brings the food, not in +her beak like other birds, but in her crop; she places her beak +between the open mandibles of her young, and fairly crams the food, +which is delivered by a peculiar pumping movement, down its throat. +She furnishes a capital illustration of the eager, persistent +newsmonger. + +"Out of their burrows like rabbits after rain" is a comparison that +occurs in "Coriolanus." In our Northern or New England States we +should have to substitute woodchucks for rabbits, as our rabbits do +not burrow, but sit all day in their forms under a bush or amid the +weeds, and as they are not seen moving about after a rain, or at +all by day; but in England Shakespeare's line is exactly +descriptive. + +Says BOTTOM to the fairy COBWEB in "Midsummer Night's Dream:"-- + +"Mounsieur Cobweb; good mounsieur, get you your weapons in your +hand, and kill me a red-hipp'd humble-bee on the top of a thistle, +and, good mounsieur, bring me the honey-bag." + +This command might be executed in this country, + +for we have the "red-hipp'd humble-bee;" and we have the thistle, +and there is no more likely place to look for the humblebee in +midsummer than on a thistle-blossom. + +But the following picture of a "wet spell" is more English than +American:-- + + "The ox hath therefore stretch'd his + yoke in vain, + The plowman lost his sweat; and + the green corn + Hath rotted ere his youth attain'd a + beard; + The fold stands empty in the + drowned field, + And crows are fatted with the + murrain flock." + +Shakespeare knew the birds and wild fowl, and knew them perhaps as +a hunter, as well as a poet. At least this passage would indicate +as much:-- + + "As wild geese that the creeping + fowler eye, + Or russet-pated choughs, many in + sort, + Rising and cawing at the gun's + report, + Sever themselves and madly sweep + the sky." + +In calling the choughs "russet-pated" he makes the bill tinge the +whole head, or perhaps gives the effect of the birds' markings when +seen at a distance; the bill is red, the head is black. The chough +is a species of crow. + +A poet must know the birds well to make one of his characters say, +when he had underestimated a man, "I took this lark for a bunting," +as LAFEU says of PAROLLES in "All's Well that Ends Well." The +English bunting is a field-bird like the lark, and much resembles +the latter in form and color, but is far inferior as a songster. +Indeed, Shakespeare shows his familiarity with nearly all the +British birds. + + "The ousel-cock, so black of hue, + With orange-tawny bill, + The throstle with his note so true, + The wren with little quill. + + "The finch, the sparrow, and the lark, + The plain-song cuckoo gray, + Whose note full many a man doth + mark. + And dares not answer nay." + +In "Much Ado about Nothing" we get a glimpse of the lapwing:-- + + "For look where Beatrice, like a + lapwing, runs + Close by the ground, to hear our + conference." + +The lapwing is a kind of plover, and is very swift of foot. When +trying to avoid being seen they run rapidly with depressed heads, +or "close by the ground," as the poet puts it. In the same scene, +HERO says of URSULA:-- + + "I know her spirits are as coy and wild + As haggards of the rock." + +The haggard falcon is a species of hawk found in North Wales and in +Scotland. It breeds on high shelving cliffs and precipitous rocks. +Had Shakespeare been an "amateur poacher" in his youth? He had a +poacher's knowledge of the wild creatures. He knew how fresh the +snake appears after it has cast its skin; how the hedgehog makes +himself up into a ball and leaves his "prickles" in whatever +touches him; how the butterfly comes from the grub; how the fox +carries the goose; where the squirrel hides his store; where the +martlet builds its nest, etc. + + "Now is the woodcock near the gin," + +says FABIAN, in "Twelfth Night," and + + "Stalk on, stalk on; the fowl sits," + +says CLAUDIO to LEONATO, in "Much Ado." + + "Instruct thee how + To snare the nimble marmozet," + +says CALIBAN, in The Tempest." Sings the fool in "Lear:"-- + + "The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo + so long + That it had it head bit off by it + young." + +The hedge-sparrow is one of the favorite birds upon which the +European cuckoo imposes the rearing of its young. If Shakespeare +had made the house sparrow, or the blackbird, or the bunting, or +any of the granivorous, hard-billed birds, the foster-parent of the +cuckoo, his natural history would have been at fault. + +Shakespeare knew the flowers, too, and knew their times and +seasons:-- + + "When daisies pied, and violets blue, + And lady smocks all silver-white, + And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue, + Do paint the meadows with delight." + +They have, in England, the cuckoo-flower, which comes in April and +is lilac in color, and the cuckoo-pint, which is much like our +"Jack in the pulpit;" but the poet does not refer to either of +these (if he did, we would catch him tripping), but to buttercups, +which are called by rural folk in Britain "cuckoo-buds." + +In England the daffodil blooms in February and March; the swallow +comes in April usually; hence the truth of Shakespeare's lines:-- + + "Daffodils, + That come before the swallow + dares, and take + The winds of March with beauty." + +The only flaw I notice in Shakespeare's natural history is in his +treatment of the honey-bee, but this was a flaw in the knowledge of +the times as well. The history of this insect was not rightly read +till long after Shakespeare wrote. He pictures a colony of bees as +a kingdom, with + + "A king and officers of sorts" + +(see "Henry V."), whereas a colony of bees is an absolute +democracy; the rulers and governors and "officers of sorts" are the +workers, the masses, the common people. A strict regard to fact +also would spoil those fairy tapers in "Midsummer Night's Dream,"-- + + "The honey-bags steal from the + humble-bees, + And, for night-tapers, crop their + waxen thighs, + And light them at the fiery + glow-worm's eyes,"-- + +since it is not wax that bees bear upon their thighs, but pollen, +the dust of the flowers, with which bees make their bread. Wax is +made from honey. + +The science or the meaning is also a little obscure in this phrase, +which occurs in one of the plays:-- + + "One heat another heat expels,"-- + +as one nail drives out another, or as one love cures another. + +In a passage in "The Tempest" he speaks of the ivy as if it were +parasitical, like the mistletoe:-- + + "Now, he was + The ivy which had hid my princely + trunk, + And sucked my verdure out on't." + +I believe it is not a fact that the ivy sucks the juice out of the +trees it climbs upon, though it may much interfere with their +growth. Its aerial rootlets are for support alone, as is the case +with all climbers that are not twiners. But this may perhaps be +regarded as only a poetic license on the part of Shakespeare; the +human ivy he was picturing no doubt fed upon the tree that +supported it, whether the real ivy does or not. + +It is also probably untrue that + + "The poor beetle that we tread + upon, + In corporal sufferance finds a pang + as great + As when a giant dies," + +though it has suited the purpose of other poets besides Shakespeare +to say so. The higher and more complex the organization, the more +acute the pleasure and the pain. A toad has been known to live for +days with the upper part of its head cut away by a scythe, and a +beetle will survive for hours upon the fisherman's hook. It +perhaps causes a grasshopper less pain to detach one of its legs +than it does a man to remove a single hair from his beard. Nerves +alone feel pain, and the nervous system of a beetle is a very +rudimentary affair. + +In "Coriolanus" there is a comparison which implies that a man can +tread upon his own shadow,--a difficult feat in northern countries +at all times except midday; Shakespeare is particular to mention +the time of day:-- + + "Such a nature, + Tickled with good success, disdains + the shadow + Which he treads on at noon." + + + +VI + +FOOTPATHS + +AN intelligent English woman, spending a few years in this country +with her family, says that one of her serious disappointments is +that she finds it utterly impossible to enjoy nature here as she +can at home--so much nature as we have and yet no way of getting at +it; no paths, or byways, or stiles, or foot-bridges, no provision +for the pedestrian outside of the public road. One would think the +people had no feet and legs in this country, or else did not know +how to use them. Last summer she spent the season near a small +rural village in the valley of the Connecticut, but it seemed as if +she had not been in the country: she could not come at the +landscape; she could not reach a wood or a hill or a pretty nook +anywhere without being a trespasser, or getting entangled in swamps +or in fields of grass and grain, or having her course blocked by a +high and difficult fence; no private ways, no grassy lanes; nobody +walking in the fields or woods, nobody walking anywhere for +pleasure, but everybody in carriages or wagons. + +She was staying a mile from the village, and every day used to walk +down to the post-office for her mail; but instead of a short and +pleasant cut across the fields, as there would have been in +England, she was obliged to take the highway and face the dust and +the mud and the staring people in their carriages. + +She complained, also, of the absence of bird voices,--so silent the +fields and groves and orchards were, compared with what she had +been used to at home. The most noticeable midsummer sound +everywhere was the shrill, brassy crescendo of the locust. + +All this is unquestionably true. There is far less bird music here +than in England, except possibly in May and June, though, if the +first impressions of the Duke of Argyle are to be trusted, there is +much less even then. The duke says: "Although I was in the woods +and fields of Canada and of the States in the richest moments of +the spring, I heard little of that burst of song which in England +comes from the blackcap, and the garden warbler, and the +whitethroat, and the reed warbler, and the common wren, and +(locally) from the nightingale." Our birds are more withdrawn +than the English, and their notes more plaintive and intermittent. +Yet there are a few days here early in May, when the house wren, +the oriole, the orchard starling, the kingbird, the bobolink, and +the wood thrush first arrive, that are so full of music, especially +in the morning, that one is loath to believe there is anything +fuller or finer even in England. As walkers, and lovers of rural +scenes and pastimes, we do not approach our British cousins. It is +a seven days' wonder to see anybody walking in this country except +on a wager or in a public hall or skating-rink, as an exhibition +and trial of endurance. + +Countrymen do not walk except from necessity, and country women +walk far less than their city sisters. When city people come to +the country they do not walk, because that would be conceding too +much to the country; beside, they would soil their shoes, and would +lose the awe and respect which their imposing turn-outs inspire. +Then they find the country dull; it is like water or milk after +champagne; they miss the accustomed stimulus, both mind and body +relax, and walking is too great an effort. + +There are several obvious reasons why the English should be better +or more habitual walkers than we are. Taken the year round, their +climate is much more favorable to exercise in the open air. Their +roads are better, harder, and smoother, and there is a place for +the man and a place for the horse. Their country houses and +churches and villages are not strung upon the highway as ours are, +but are nestled here and there with reference to other things than +convenience in "getting out." Hence the grassy lanes and paths +through the fields. + +Distances are not so great in that country; the population occupies +less space. Again, the land has been, longer occupied and is more +thoroughly subdued; it is easier to get about the fields; life has +flowed in the same channels for centuries. The English landscape is +like a park, and is so thoroughly rural and mellow and bosky that +the temptation to walk amid its scenes is ever present to one. In +comparison, nature here is rude, raw, and forbidding; has not that +maternal and beneficent look, is less mindful of man, runs to +briers and weeds or to naked sterility. + +Then as a people the English are a private, domestic, homely folk: +they dislike publicity, dislike the highway, dislike noise, and +love to feel the grass under their feet. They have a genius for +lanes and footpaths; one might almost say they invented them. The +charm of them is in their books; their rural poetry is modeled upon +them. How much of Wordsworth's poetry is the poetry of +pedestrianism! A footpath is sacred in England; the king himself +cannot close one; the courts recognize them as something quite as +important and inviolable as the highway. + +A footpath is of slow growth, and it is a wild, shy thing that is +easily scared away. The plow must respect it, and the fence or +hedge make way for it. It requires a settled state of things, +unchanging habits among the people, and long tenure of the land; +the rill of life that finds its way there must have a perennial +source, and flow there tomorrow and the next day and the next +century. + +When I was a youth and went to school with my brothers, we had a +footpath a mile long. On going from home after leaving the highway +there was a descent through a meadow, then through a large maple +and beech wood, then through a long stretch of rather barren +pasture land which brought us to the creek in the valley, which we +crossed on a slab or a couple of rails from the near fence; then +more meadow land with a neglected orchard, and then the little gray +schoolhouse itself toeing the highway. In winter our course was a +hard, beaten path in the snow visible from afar, and in summer a +well-defined trail. In the woods it wore the roots of the trees. +It steered for the gaps or low places in the fences, and avoided +the bogs and swamps in the meadow. I can recall yet the very look, +the very physiognomy of a large birch-tree that stood beside it in +the midst of the woods; it sometimes tripped me up with a large +root it sent out like a foot. Neither do I forget the little +spring run near by, where we frequently paused to drink, and to +gather "crinkle-root" (DENTARIA) in the early summer; nor the +dilapidated log fence that was the highway of the squirrels; nor +the ledges to one side, whence in early spring the skunk and coon +sallied forth and crossed our path; nor the gray, scabby rocks in +the pasture; nor the solitary tree, nor the old weather-worn stump; +no, nor the creek in which I plunged one winter morning in +attempting to leap its swollen current. But the path served only +one generation of school-children; it faded out more than thirty +years ago, and the feet that made it are widely scattered, while +some of them have found the path that leads through the Valley of +the Shadow. Almost the last words of one of these schoolboys, then +a man grown, seemed as if he might have had this very path in mind, +and thought himself again returning to his father's house: "I must +hurry," he said; "I have a long way to go up a hill and through a +dark wood, and it will soon be night." + +We are a famous people to go " 'cross lots," but we do not make a +path, or, if we do, it does not last; the scene changes, the +currents set in other directions, or cease entirely, and the path +vanishes. In the South one would find plenty of bridle-paths, for +there everybody goes horseback, and there are few passable roads; +and the hunters and lumbermen of the North have their trails +through the forest following a line of blazed trees; but in all my +acquaintance with the country,-- the rural and agricultural +sections,--I do not know a pleasant, inviting path leading from +house to house, or from settlement to settlement, by which the +pedestrian could shorten or enliven a journey, or add the charm of +the seclusion of the fields to his walk. + +What a contrast England presents in this respect, according to Mr. +Jennings's pleasant book, "Field Paths and Green Lanes"! The +pedestrian may go about quite independent of the highway. Here is +a glimpse from his pages: "A path across the field, seen from the +station, leads into a road close by the lodge gate of Mr. Cubett's +house. A little beyond this gate is another and smaller one, from +which a narrow path ascends straight to the top of the hill and +comes out just opposite the post-office on Ranmore Common. The +Common at another point may be reached by a shorter cut. After +entering a path close by the lodge, open the first gate you come to +on the right hand. Cross the road, go through the gate opposite, +and either follow the road right out upon Ranmore Common, past the +beautiful deep dell or ravine, or take a path which you will see on +your left, a few yards from the gate. This winds through a very +pretty wood, with glimpses of the valley here and there on the way, +and eventually brings you out upon the carriage-drive to the house. +Turn to the right and you will soon find yourself upon the Common. +A road or path opens out in front of the upper lodge gate. Follow +that and it will take you to a small piece of water from whence a +green path strikes off to the right, and this will lead you all +across the Common in a northerly direction." Thus we may see how +the country is threaded with paths. A later writer, the author of +"The Gamekeeper at Home" and other books, says: "Those only know a +country who are acquainted with its footpaths. By the roads, +indeed, the outside may be seen; but the footpaths go through the +heart of the land. There are routes by which mile after mile may +be traveled without leaving the sward. So you may pass from +village to village; now crossing green meadows, now cornfields, +over brooks, past woods, through farmyard and rick 'barken.' " + +The conditions of life in this country have not.been favorable to +the development of byways. We do not take to lanes and to the +seclusion of the fields. We love to be upon the road, and to plant +our houses there, and to appear there mounted upon a horse or +seated in a wagon. It is to be distinctly stated, however, that +our public highways, with their breadth and amplitude, their +wide grassy margins, their picturesque stone or rail fences, their +outlooks, and their general free and easy character, are far more +inviting to the pedestrian than the narrow lanes and trenches that +English highways for the most part are. The road in England is +always well kept, the roadbed is often like a rock, but the +traveler's view is shut in by high hedges, and very frequently he +seems to be passing along a deep, nicely graded ditch. The open, +broad landscape character of our highways is quite unknown in that +country. + +The absence of the paths and lanes is not so great a matter, but +the decay of the simplicity of manners, and of the habits of +pedestrianism which this absence implies, is what I lament. The +devil is in the horse to make men proud and fast and ill-mannered; +only when you go afoot do you grow in the grace of gentleness and +humility. But no good can come out of this walking mania that is +now sweeping over the country, simply because it is a mania and not +a natural and wholesome impulse. It is a prostitution of the noble +pastime. + +It is not the walking merely, it is keeping yourself in tune for a +walk, in the spiritual and bodily condition in which you can find +entertainment and exhilaration in so simple and natural a pastime. +You are eligible to any good fortune when you are in the condition +to enjoy a walk. When the air and the water taste sweet to you, +how much else will taste sweet! When the exercise of your limbs +affords you pleasure, and the play of your senses upon the various +objects and shows of nature quickens and stimulates your spirit, +your relation to the world and to yourself is what it should be,-- +simple and direct and wholesome. The mood in which you set out on +a spring or autumn ramble or a sturdy winter walk, and your greedy +feet have to be restrained from devouring the distances too fast, +is the mood in which your best thoughts and impulses come to you, +or in which you might embark upon any noble and heroic enterprise. +Life is sweet in such moods, the universe is complete, and there is +no failure or imperfection anywhere. + + + +VII + +A BUNCH OF HERBS + + + FRAGRANT WILD FLOWERS + +The charge that was long ago made against our wild flowers by +English travelers in this country, namely, that they are odorless, +doubtless had its origin in the fact that, whereas in England the +sweet-scented flowers are among the most common and conspicuous, in +this country they are rather shy and withdrawn, and consequently +not such as travelers would be likely to encounter. Moreover, the +British traveler, remembering the deliciously fragrant blue violets +he left at home, covering every grassy slope and meadow bank in +spring, and the wild clematis, or traveler's joy, overrunning +hedges and old walls with its white, sweet-scented blossoms, and +finding the corresponding species here equally abundant but +entirely scentless, very naturally infers that our wild flowers are +all deficient in this respect. He would be confirmed in this +opinion when, on turning to some of our most beautiful and striking +native flowers, like the laurel, the rhododendron, the columbine, +the inimitable fringed gentian, the burning cardinal-flower, or our +asters and goldenrod, dashing the roadsides with tints of purple +and gold, he found them scentless also. "Where are your fragrant +flowers?" he might well say; "I can find none." Let him look +closer and penetrate our forests, and visit our ponds and lakes. +Let him compare our matchless, rosy-lipped, honey-hearted trailing +arbutus with his own ugly ground-ivy; let him compare our +sumptuous, fragrant pond-lily with his own odorless NYMPHÆ ALBA. +In our Northern woods he will find the floors carpeted with the +delicate linnæa, its twin rose-colored, nodding flowers filling the +air with fragrance. (I am aware that the linnæa is found in some +parts of Northern Europe.) The fact is, we perhaps have as many +sweet-scented wild flowers as Europe has, only they are not quite +so prominent in our flora, nor so well known to our people or to +our poets. + +Think of Wordsworth's "Golden Daffodils:"-- + + "I wandered lonely as a cloud + That floats on high o'er vales and + hills, + When, all at once, I saw a crowd, + A host of golden daffodils, + Beside the lake, beneath the trees, + Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. + + "Continuous as the stars that shine + And twinkle on the milky way, + They stretched in never-ending line + Along the margin of a bay. + Ten thousand saw I at a glance, + Tossing their heads in sprightly + dance." + +No such sight could greet the poet's eye here. He might see ten +thousand marsh marigolds, or ten times ten thousand houstonias, but +they would not toss in the breeze, and they would not be sweet- +scented like the daffodils. + +It is to be remembered, too, that in the moister atmosphere of +England the same amount of fragrance would be much more noticeable +than with us. Think how our sweet bay, or our pink azalea, or our +white alder, to which they have nothing that corresponds, would +perfume that heavy, vapor-laden air! + +In the woods and groves in England, the wild hyacinth grows very +abundantly in spring, and in places the air is loaded with its +fragrance. In our woods a species of dicentra, commonly called +squirrel corn, has nearly the same perfume, and its racemes of +nodding whitish flowers, tinged with pink, are quite as pleasing to +the eye, but it is a shyer, less abundant plant. When our children +go to the fields in April and May, they can bring home no wild +flowers as pleasing as the sweet English violet, and cowslip, and +yellow daffodil, and wallflower; and when British children go to +the woods at the same season, they can load their hands and baskets +with nothing that compares with our trailing arbutus, or, later in +the season, with our azaleas; and, when their boys go fishing or +boating in summer, they can wreathe themselves with nothing that +approaches our pond-lily. + +There are upward of thirty species of fragrant native wild flowers +and flowering shrubs and trees in New England and New York, and, no +doubt, many more in the South and West. My list is as follows:-- + +White violet (VIOLA BLANDA). +Canada violet (VIOLA CANADENSIS). +Hepatica (occasionally fragrant). +Trailing arbutus (EPIGÆA REPENS). +Mandrake (PODOPHYLLUM + PELTATUM). +Yellow lady's-slipper (CYPRIPEDIUM + PARVIFLORUM). +Purple lady's-slipper (CYPRIPEDIUM + ACAULE). +Squirrel corn (DICENTRA CANADENSIS). +Showy orchis (ORCHIS SPECTABILIS). +Purple fringed-orchis (HABENARIA + PSYCODES). +Arethusa (ARETHUSA BULBOSA). +Calopogon (CALOPOGON + PULCHELLUS). +Lady's-tresses (SPIRANTHES CERNUA). +Pond-lily (NYMPHÆA ODORATA). +Wild rose (ROSA NITIDA). +Twin-flower (LINNÆA BOREALIS). +Sugar maple (ACER SACCHARINUM) +Linden (TILIA AMERICANA). +Locust-tree (ROBINIA PSEUDACACIA). +White alder (CLETHRA ALNIFOLIA). +Smooth azalea (RHODODENDRON + ARBORESCENS). +White azalea (RHODODENDRON + VISCOSUM). +Pinxter-flower (RHODODENDRON + NUDIFLORUM). +Yellow azalea (RHODODENDRON + CALENDULACEUM), +Sweet bay (MAGNOLIA GLAUCA). +Mitchella vine (MITCHELLA REPENS). +Sweet coltsfoot (PETASITES PALMATA). +Pasture thistle (CNICUS PUMILUS). +False wintergreen (PYROLA + ROTUNDIFOLIA). +Spotted wintergreen (CHIMAPHILIA + MACULATA). +Prince's pine (CHIMAPHILIA + UMBELLATA). +Evening primrose (NOTHERA + BIENNIS). +Hairy loosestrife (STEIRONEMA + CILIATUM). +Dogbane (APOCYNUM). +Ground-nut (APIOS TUBEROSA). +Adder's-tongue pogonia (POGONIA + OPHIOGLOSSOIDES). +Wild grape (VITIS CORDOFOLIA). +Horned bladderwort (UTRICULARIA + CORNUTA). + +The last-named, horned bladderwort, is perhaps the most fragrant +flower we have. In a warm, moist atmosphere, its odor is almost +too strong. It is a plant with a slender, leafless stalk or scape +less than a foot high, with two or more large yellow hood or helmet +shaped flowers. It is not common, and belongs pretty well north, +growing in sandy swamps and along the marshy margins of lakes and +ponds. Its perfume is sweet and spicy in an eminent degree. I +have placed in the above list several flowers that are +intermittently fragrant, like the hepatica, or liver-leaf. This +flower is the earliest, as it is certainly one of the most +beautiful, to be found in our woods, and occasionally it is +fragrant. Group after group may be inspected, ranging through +all shades of purple and blue, with some perfectly white, and no +odor be detected, when presently you will happen upon a little +brood of them that have a most delicate and delicious fragrance. +The same is true of a species of loosestrife growing along streams +and on other wet places, with tall bushy stalks, dark green leaves, +and pale axillary yellow flowers (probably European). A handful of +these flowers will sometimes exhale a sweet fragrance; at other +times, or from another locality, they are scentless. Our evening +primrose is thought to be uniformly sweet-scented, but the past +season I examined many specimens, and failed to find one that was +so. Some seasons the sugar maple yields much sweeter sap than in +others; and even individual trees, owing to the soil, moisture, and +other conditions where they stand, show a great difference in this +respect. The same is doubtless true of the sweet-scented +flowers. I had always supposed that our Canada violet--the tall, +leafy-stemmed white violet of our Northern woods--was odorless, +till a correspondent called my attention to the contrary fact. On +examination I found that, while the first ones that bloomed about +May 25 had very sweet-scented foliage, especially when crushed in +the hand, the flowers were practically without fragrance. But as +the season advanced the fragrance developed, till a single flower +had a well-marked perfume, and a handful of them was sweet indeed. +A single specimen, plucked about August 1, was quite as fragrant as +the English violet, though the perfume is not what is known as +violet, but, like that of the hepatica, comes nearer to the odor of +certain fruit trees. + +It is only for a brief period that the blossoms of our sugar maple +are sweet-scented; the perfume seems to become stale after a few +days: but pass under this tree just at the right moment, say at +nightfall on the first or second day of its perfect inflorescence, +and the air is laden with its sweetness; its perfumed breath falls +upon you as its cool shadow does a few weeks later. + +After the linnæa and the arbutus, the prettiest sweet-scented +flowering vine our woods hold is the common mitchella vine, called +squaw-berry and partridge-berry. It blooms in June, and its twin +flowers, light cream-color, velvety, tubular, exhale a most +agreeable fragrance. + +Our flora is much more rich in orchids than the European, and many +of ours are fragrant. The first to bloom in the spring is the +showy orchis, though it is far less showy than several others. I +find it in May, not on hills, where Gray says it grows, but in low, +damp places in the woods. It has two oblong shining leaves, with +a scape four or five inches high strung with sweet-scented, pink- +purple flowers. I usually find it and the fringed polygala in +bloom at the same time; the lady's-slipper is a little later. The +purple fringed-orchis, one of the most showy and striking of all +our orchids, blooms in midsummer in swampy meadows and in marshy, +grassy openings in the woods, shooting up a tapering column or +cylinder of pink-purple fringed flowers, that one may see at quite +a distance, and the perfume of which is too rank for a close room. +This flower is, perhaps, like the English fragrant orchis, found in +pastures. + +Few fragrant flowers in the shape of weeds have come to us from the +Old World, and this leads me to remark that plants with sweet- +scented flowers are, for the most part, more intensely local, more +fastidious and idiosyncratic, than those without perfume. Our +native thistle--the pasture thistle--has a marked fragrance, and it +is much more shy and limited in its range than the common Old World +thistle that grows everywhere. Our little, sweet white violet +grows only in wet places, and the Canada violet only in high, cool +woods, while the common blue violet is much more general in its +distribution. How fastidious and exclusive is the cypripedium! +You will find it in one locality in the woods, usually on high, dry +ground, and will look in vain for it elsewhere. It does not go in +herds like the commoner plants, but affects privacy and solitude. +When I come upon it in my walks, I seem to be intruding upon some +very private and exclusive company. The large yellow cypripedium +has a peculiar, heavy, oily odor. + +In like manner one learns where to look for arbutus, for +pipsissewa, for the early orchis; they have their particular +haunts, and their surroundings are nearly always the same. The +yellow pond-lily is found in every sluggish stream and pond, but +NYMPHÆA ODORATA requires a nicer adjustment of conditions, and +consequently is more restricted in its range. If the mullein were +fragrant, or toadflax, or the daisy, or blue-weed, or goldenrod, +they would doubtless be far less troublesome to the agriculturist. +There are, of course, exceptions to the rule I have here indicated, +but it holds in most cases. Genius is a specialty: it does not +grow in every soil; it skips the many and touches the few; and the +gift of perfume to a flower is a special grace like genius or like +beauty, and never becomes common or cheap. + +"Do honey and fragrance always go together in the flowers? "Not +uniformly. Of the list of fragrant wild flowers I have given, the +only ones that the bees procure nectar from, so far as I have +observed, are arbutus, dicentra, sugar maple, locust, and linden. +Non-fragrant flowers that yield honey are those of the raspberry, +clematis, sumac, white oak, bugloss, ailanthus, goldenrod, aster, +fleabane. A large number of odorless plants yield pollen to the +bee. There is nectar in the columbine, and the bumblebee sometimes +gets it by piercing the spur from the outside as she does with +dicentra. There ought to be honey in the honeysuckle, but I have +never seen the hive-bee make any attempt to get it. + + + WEEDS + +One is tempted to say that the most human plants, after all, are +the weeds. How they cling to man and follow him around the world, +and spring up wherever he sets his foot! How they crowd around his +barns and dwellings, and throng his garden and jostle and override +each other in their strife to be near him! Some of them are so +domestic and familiar, and so harmless withal, that one comes to +regard them with positive affection. Motherwort, catnip, plantain, +tansy, wild mustard,--what a homely human look they have! they are +an integral part of every old homestead. Your smart new place will +wait long before they draw near it. Or knot-grass, that carpets +every old dooryard, and fringes every walk, and softens every path +that knows the feet of children, or that leads to the spring, or to +the garden, or to the barn, how kindly one comes to look upon it! +Examine it with a pocket glass and see how wonderfully beautiful +and exquisite are its tiny blossoms. It loves the human foot, and +when the path or the place is long disused, other plants usurp the +ground. + +The gardener and the farmer are ostensibly the greatest enemies of +the weeds, but they are in reality their best friends. Weeds, like +rats and mice, increase and spread enormously in a cultivated +country. They have better food, more sunshine, and more aids in +getting themselves disseminated. They are sent from one end of the +land to the other in seed grain of various kinds, and they take +their share, and more too, if they can get it, of the phosphates +and stable manures. How sure, also, they are to survive any war of +extermination that is waged against them! In yonder field are ten +thousand and one Canada thistles. The farmer goes resolutely to +work and destroys ten thousand and thinks the work is finished, but +he has done nothing till he has destroyed the ten thousand and one. +This one will keep up the stock and again cover his field with +thistles. + +Weeds are Nature's makeshift. She rejoices in the grass and the +grain, but when these fail to cover her nakedness she resorts to +weeds. It is in her plan or a part of her economy to keep the +ground constantly covered with vegetation of some sort, and she has +layer upon layer of seeds in the soil for this purpose, and the +wonder is that each kind lies dormant until it is wanted. If I +uncover the earth in any of my fields, ragweed and pigweed spring +up; if these are destroyed, harvest grass, or quack grass, or +purslane, appears. The spade or the plow that turns these under is +sure to turn up some other variety, as chickweed, sheep-sorrel, or +goose-foot. The soil is a storehouse of seeds. + +The old farmers say that wood-ashes will bring in the white clover, +and they will; the germs are in the soil wrapped in a profound +slumber, but this stimulus tickles them until they awake. +Stramonium has been known to start up on the site of an old farm +building, when it had not been seen in that locality for thirty +years. I have been told that a farmer, somewhere in New England, +in digging a well came at a great depth upon sand like that of the +seashore; it was thrown out, and in due time there sprang from it a +marine plant. I have never seen earth taken from so great a depth +that it would not before the end of the season be clothed with a +crop of weeds. Weeds are so full of expedients, and the one +engrossing purpose with them is to multiply. The wild onion +multiplies at both ends,--at the top by seed, and at the bottom by +offshoots. Toad-flax travels under ground and above ground. Never +allow a seed to ripen, and yet it will cover your field. Cut off +the head of the wild carrot, and in a week or two there are five +heads in place of this one; cut off these, and by fall there are +ten looking defiance at, you from the same root. Plant corn in +August, and it will go forward with its preparations as if it had +the whole season before it. Not so with the weeds; they have +learned better. If amaranth, or abutilon, or burdock gets a late +start, it makes great haste to develop its seed; it foregoes its +tall stalk and wide flaunting growth, and turns all its energies +into keeping up the succession of the species. Certain fields +under the plow are always infested with "blind nettles," others +with wild buckwheat, black bindweed, or cockle. The seed lies +dormant under the sward, the warmth and the moisture affect it not +until other conditions are fulfilled. + +The way in which one plant thus keeps another down is a great +mystery. Germs lie there in the soil and resist the stimulating +effect of the sun and the rains for years, and show no sign. +Presently something whispers to them, "Arise, your chance has come; +the coast is clear;" and they are up and doing in a twinkling. + +Weeds are great travelers; they are, indeed, the tramps of the +vegetable world. They are going east, west, north, south; they +walk; they fly; they swim; they steal a ride; they travel by rail, +by flood, by wind; they go under ground, and they go above, across +lots, and by the highway. But, like other tramps, they find it +safest by the highway: in the fields they are intercepted and cut +off; but on the public road, every boy, every passing herd of sheep +or cows, gives them a lift. Hence the incursion of a new weed is +generally first noticed along the highway or the railroad. In +Orange County I saw from the car window a field overrun with what I +took to be the branching white mullein. Gray says it is found in +Pennsylvania and at the head of Oneida Lake. Doubtless it had come +by rail from one place or the other. Our botanist says of the +bladder campion, a species of pink, that it has been naturalized +around Boston; but it is now much farther west, and I know fields +along the Hudson overrun with it. Streams and water-courses are +the natural highway of the weeds. Some years ago, and by some +means or other, the viper's bugloss, or blue-weed, which is said to +be a troublesome weed in Virginia, effected a lodgment near the +head of the Esopus Creek, a tributary of the Hudson. From this +point it has made its way down the stream, overrunning its banks +and invading meadows and cultivated fields, and proving a serious +obstacle to the farmer. All the gravelly, sandy margins and +islands of the Esopus, sometimes acres in extent, are in June and +July blue with it, and rye and oats and grass in the near fields +find it a serious competitor for possession of the soil. It has +gone down the Hudson, and is appearing in the fields along its +shores. The tides carry it up the mouths of the streams where it +takes root; the winds, or the birds, or other agencies, in time +give it another lift, so that it is slowly but surely making its +way inland. The bugloss belongs to what may be called beautiful +weeds, despite its rough and bristly stalk. Its flowers are deep +violet-blue, the stamens exserted, as the botanists say, that is, +projected beyond the mouth of the corolla, with showy red anthers. +This bit of red, mingling with the blue of the corolla, gives a +very rich, warm purple hue to the flower, that is especially +pleasing at a little distance. The best thing I know about this +weed besides its good looks is that it yields honey or pollen to +the bee. + +Another foreign plant that the Esopus Creek has distributed along +its shores and carried to the Hudson is saponaria, known as +"Bouncing Bet." It is a common and in places troublesome weed in +this valley. Bouncing Bet is, perhaps, its English name, as the +pink-white complexion of its flowers with their perfume and the +coarse, robust character of the plant really give it a kind of +English feminine comeliness and bounce. It looks like a Yorkshire +housemaid. Still another plant in my section, which I notice has +been widely distributed by the agency of water, is the spiked +loosestrife. It first appeared many years ago along the Wallkill; +now it may be seen upon many of its tributaries and all along its +banks; and in many of the marshy bays and coves along the Hudson, +its great masses of purple-red bloom in middle and late summer +affording a welcome relief to the traveler's eye. It also belongs +to the class of beautiful weeds. It grows rank and tall, in dense +communities, and always presents to the eye a generous mass of +color. In places, the marshes and creek banks are all aglow with +it, its wand-like spikes of flowers shooting up and uniting in +volumes or pyramids of still flame. Its petals, when examined +closely, present a curious wrinkled or crumpled appearance, like +newly washed linen; but when massed, the effect is eminently +pleasing. It also came from abroad, probably first brought to this +country as a garden or ornamental plant. + +As a curious illustration of how weeds are carried from one end of +the earth to the other, Sir Joseph Hooker relates this +circumstance: "On one occasion," he says, "landing on a small +uninhabited island nearly at the Antipodes, the first evidence I +met with of its having been previously visited by man was the +English chickweed; and this I traced to a mound that marked the +grave of a British sailor, and that was covered with the plant, +doubtless the offspring of seed that had adhered to the spade or +mattock with which the grave had been dug." + +Ours is a weedy country because it is a roomy country. Weeds love +a wide margin, and they find it here. You shall see more weeds in +one day's-travel in this country than in a week's journey in +Europe. Our culture of the soil is not so close and thorough, our +occupancy not so entire and exclusive. The weeds take up with the +farmers' leavings, and find good fare. One may see a large slice +taken from a field by elecampane, or by teasel or milkweed; whole +acres given up to whiteweed, golden-rod, wild carrots, or the ox- +eye daisy; meadows overrun with bear-weed, and sheep pastures +nearly ruined by St. John's-wort or the Canada thistle. Our farms +are so large and our husbandry so loose that we do not mind these +things. By and by we shall clean them out. When Sir Joseph Hooker +landed in New England a few years ago, he was surprised to find how +the European plants flourished there. He found the wild chicory +growing far more luxuriantly than he had ever seen it elsewhere, +"forming a tangled mass of stems and branches, studded with +turquoise-blue blossoms, and covering acres of ground." This is +one of the many weeds that Emerson binds into a bouquet in his +"Humble-Bee:"-- + + "Succory to match the sky, + Columbine with horn of honey, + Scented fern and agrimony, + Clover, catchfly, adder's-tongue, + And brier-roses, dwelt among." + +A less accurate poet than Emerson would probably have let his +reader infer that the bumblebee gathered honey from all these +plants, but Emerson is careful to say only that she dwelt among +them. Succory is one of Virgil's weeds also,-- + + "And spreading succ'ry chokes the + rising field." + +Is there not something in our soil and climate exceptionally +favorable to weeds,--something harsh, ungenial, sharp-toothed, that +is akin to them? How woody and rank and fibrous many varieties +become, lasting the whole season, and standing up stark and stiff +through the deep winter snows,--desiccated, preserved by our dry +air! Do nettles and thistles bite so sharply in any other country? +Let the farmer tell you how they bite of a dry midsummer day when +he encounters them in his wheat or oat harvest. + +Yet it is a fact that all our more pernicious weeds, like our +vermin, are of Old World origin. They hold up their heads and +assert themselves here, and take their fill of riot and license; +they are avenged for their long years of repression by the stern +hand of European agriculture. We have hardly a weed we can call +our own. I recall but three that are at all noxious or +troublesome, namely, milkweed, ragweed, and goldenrod; but who +would miss the last from our fields and highways? + + "Along the roadside, like the flowers + of gold + That tawny Incas for their gardens + wrought, + Heavy with sunshine droops the + goldenrod," + +sings Whittier. In Europe our goldenrod is cultivated in the flower +gardens, as well it may be. The native species is found mainly in +woods, and is much less showy than ours. + +Our milkweed is tenacious of life; its roots lie deep, as if to get +away from the plow, but it seldom infests cultivated crops. Then +its stalk is so full of milk and its pod so full of silk that one +cannot but ascribe good intentions to it, if it does sometimes +overrun the meadow. + + "In dusty pods the milkweed + Its hidden silk has spun," + +sings "H. H." in her "September." + +Of our ragweed not much can be set down that is complimentary, +except that its name in the botany is AMBROSIA, food of the gods. +It must be the food of the gods if anything, for, so far as I have +observed, nothing terrestrial eats it, not even billy-goats. (Yet +a correspondent writes me that in Kentucky the cattle eat it when +hard-pressed, and that a certain old farmer there, one season when +the hay crop failed, cut and harvested tons of it for his stock in +winter. It is said that the milk and butter made from such hay are +not at all suggestive of the traditional Ambrosia!) It is the bane +of asthmatic patients, but the gardener makes short work of it. It +is about the only one of our weeds that follows the plow and the +harrow, and, except that it is easily destroyed, I should suspect +it to be an immigrant from the Old World. Our fleabane is a +troublesome weed at times, but good husbandry has little to dread +from it. + +But all the other outlaws of the farm and garden come to us from +over seas; and what a long list it is:-- + +Common thistle, +Canada thistle, +Burdock, +Yellow dock, +Wild carrot, +Ox-eye daisy, +Chamomile, +Mullein, +Dead-nettle (LAMIUM), +Hemp nettle (GALEOPSIS), +Elecampane, +Plantain, +Motherwort, +Stramonium, +Catnip, +Blue-weed, +Stick-seed, +Hound 's-tongue, +Henbane, +Pigweed, +Quitch grass, +Gill, +Nightshade, +Buttercup, +Dandelion, +Wild mustard, +Shepherd's purse, +St. John's-wort +Chickweed, +Purslane, +Mallow, +Darnel, +Poison hemlock, +Hop-clover, +Yarrow, +Wild radish, +Wild parsnip, +Chicory, +Live-forever, +Toad-flax, +Sheep-sorrel, +Mayweed, + +and others less noxious. To offset this list we have given Europe +the vilest of all weeds, a parasite that sucks up human blood, +tobacco. Now if they catch the Colorado beetle of us, it will go +far toward paying them off for the rats and the mice, and for other +pests in our houses. + +The more attractive and pretty of the British weeds--as the common +daisy, of which the poets have made so much, the larkspur, which is +a pretty cornfield weed, and the scarlet field-poppy, which flowers +all summer, and is so taking amid the ripening grain--have not +immigrated to our shores. Like a certain sweet rusticity and charm +of European rural life, they do not thrive readily under our skies. +Our fleabane has become a common roadside weed in England, and a +few other of our native less known plants have gained a foothold in +the Old World. Our beautiful jewel-weed has recently appeared +along certain of the English rivers. + +Pokeweed is a native American, and what a lusty, royal plant it is! +It never invades cultivated fields, but hovers about the borders +and looks over the fences like a painted Indian sachem. Thoreau +coveted its strong purple stalk for a cane, and the robins eat its +dark crimson-juiced berries. + +It is commonly believed that the mullein is indigenous to this +country, for have we not heard that it is cultivated in European +gardens, and christened the American velvet plant? Yet it, too, +seems to have come over with the Pilgrims, and is most abundant in +the older parts of the country. It abounds throughout Europe and +Asia, and had its economic uses with the ancients. The Greeks made +lamp-wicks of its dried leaves, and the Romans dipped its dried +stalk in tallow for funeral torches. It affects dry uplands in +this country, and, as it takes two years to mature, it is not a +troublesome weed in cultivated crops. The first year it sits low +upon the ground in its coarse flannel leaves, and makes ready; if +the plow comes along now, its career is ended. The second season +it starts upward its tall stalk, which in late summer is thickly +set with small yellow flowers, and in fall is charged with myriads +of fine black seeds. "As full as a dry mullein stalk of seeds" is +almost equivalent to saying, "as numerous as the sands upon the +seashore." + +Perhaps the most notable thing about the weeds that have come to us +from the Old World, when compared with our native species, is their +persistence, not to say pugnacity. They fight for the soil; they +plant colonies here and there, and will not be rooted out. Our +native weeds are for the most part shy and harmless, and retreat +before cultivation, but the European outlaws follow man like +vermin; they hang to his coat-skirts, his sheep transport them in +their wool, his cow and horse in tail and mane. As I have before +said, it is as with the rats and mice. The American rat is in the +woods and is rarely seen even by woodmen, and the native mouse +barely hovers upon the outskirts of civilization; while the Old +World species defy our traps and our poison, and have usurped the +land. So with the weeds. Take the thistle for instance: the +common and abundant one everywhere, in fields and along highways, +is the European species; while the native thistles, swamp thistle, +pasture thistle, etc., are much more shy, and are not at all +troublesome. The Canada thistle, too, which came to us by way of +Canada,--what a pest, what a usurper, what a defier of the plow and +the harrow! I know of but one effectual way to treat it,--put on a +pair of buckskin gloves, and pull up every plant that shows itself; +this will effect a radical cure in two summers. Of course the plow +or the scythe, if not allowed to rest more than a month at a time, +will finally conquer it. + +Or take the common St. John's-wort,--how it has established itself +in our fields and become a most pernicious weed, very difficult to +extirpate; while the native species are quite rare, and seldom or +never invade cultivated fields, being found mostly in wet and rocky +waste places. Of Old World origin, too, is the curled-leaf dock +that is so annoying about one's garden and home meadows, its long +tapering root clinging to the soil with such tenacity that I have +pulled upon it till I could see stars without budging it; it has +more lives than a cat, making a shift to live when pulled up and +laid on top of the ground in the burning summer sun. Our native +docks are mostly found in swamps, or near them, and are harmless. + +Purslane--commonly called "pusley," and which has given rise to the +saying, "as mean as pusley"--of course is not American. A good +sample of our native purslane is the claytonia, or spring beauty, a +shy, delicate plant that opens its rose-colored flowers in the +moist, sunny places in the woods or along their borders so early in +the season. + +There are few more obnoxious weeds in cultivated ground than sheep- +sorrel, also an Old World plant; while our native wood-sorrel, with +its white, delicately veined flowers, or the variety with yellow +flowers, is quite harmless. The same is true of the mallow, the +vetch, the tare, and other plants. We have no native plant so +indestructible as garden orpine, or live-forever, which our +grandmothers nursed, and for which they are cursed by many a +farmer. The fat, tender, succulent dooryard stripling turned out +to be a monster that would devour the earth. I have seen acres of +meadow land destroyed by it. The way to drown an amphibious animal +is never to allow it to come to the surface to breathe, and this is +the way to kill live-forever. It lives by its stalk and leaf, more +than by its root, and, if cropped or bruised as soon as it comes to +the surface, it will in time perish. It laughs the plow, the hoe, +the cultivator to scorn, but grazing herds will eventually scotch +it. Our two species of native orpine, SEDUM TERNATUM and S. +TELEPHIOIDES, are never troublesome as weeds. + +The European weeds are sophisticated, domesticated, civilized; they +have been to school to man for many hundred years, and they have +learned to thrive upon him: their struggle for existence has been +sharp and protracted; it has made them hardy and prolific; they +will thrive in a lean soil, or they will wax strong in a rich one; +in all cases they follow man and profit by him. Our native weeds, +on the other hand, are furtive and retiring; they flee before the +plow and the scythe, and hide in corners and remote waste places. +Will they, too, in time, change their habits in this respect? + +"Idle weeds are fast in growth," says Shakespeare, but that depends +upon whether the competition is sharp and close. If the weed finds +itself distanced, or pitted against great odds, it grows more +slowly and is of diminished stature, but let it once get the upper +hand, and what strides it makes! Red-root will grow four or five +feet high if it has a chance, or it will content itself with a few +inches and mature its seed almost upon the ground. + +Many of our worst weeds are plants that have-escaped from +cultivation, as the wild radish, which is troublesome in parts of +New England; the wild carrot, which infests the fields in eastern +New York; and the live-forever, which thrives and multiplies under +the plow and harrow. In my section an annoying weed is abutilon, +or velvet-leaf, also called "old maid," which has fallen from the +grace of the garden and followed the plow afield. It will manage +to mature its seeds if not allowed to start till midsummer. + +Of beautiful weeds quite a long list might be made without +including any of the so-called wild flowers. A favorite of mine is +the little moth mullein that blooms along the highway, and about +the fields, and maybe upon the edge of the lawn, from midsummer +till frost comes. In winter its slender stalk rises above the +snow, bearing its round seed-pods on its pin-like stems, and is +pleasing even then. Its flowers are yellow or white, large, +wheel-shaped, and are borne vertically with filaments loaded with +little tufts of violet wool. The plant has none of the coarse, +hairy character of the common mullein. Our cone-flower, which one +of our poets has called the "brown-eyed daisy," has a pleasing +effect when in vast numbers they invade a meadow (if it is not your +meadow), their dark brown centres or disks and their golden rays +showing conspicuously. + +Bidens, two-teeth, or "pitchforks," as the boys call them, are +welcomed by the eye when in late summer they make the swamps and +wet, waste places yellow with their blossoms. + +Vervain is a beautiful weed, especially the blue or purple variety. +Its drooping knotted threads also make a pretty etching upon the +winter snow. + +Iron-weed, which looks like an overgrown aster, has the same +intense purple-blue color, and a royal profusion of flowers. There +are giants among the weeds, as well as dwarfs and pigmies. One of +the giants is purple eupatorium, which sometimes carries its +corymbs of flesh-colored flowers ten and twelve feet high. A +pretty and curious little weed, sometimes found growing in the edge +of the garden, is the clasping specularia, a relative of the +harebell and of the European Venus's looking-glass. Its leaves are +shell-shaped, and clasp the stalk so as to form little shallow +cups. In the bottom of each cup three buds appear that never +expand into flowers; but when the top of the stalk is reached, one +and sometimes two buds open a large, delicate purple-blue corolla. +All the first-born of this plant are still-born, as it were; only +the latest, which spring from its summit, attain to perfect bloom. +A weed which one ruthlessly demolishes when he finds it hiding from +the plow amid the strawberries, or under the currant-bushes and +grapevines, is the dandelion; yet who would banish it from the +meadows or the lawns, where it copies in gold upon the green +expanse the stars of the midnight sky? After its first blooming +comes its second and finer and more spiritual inflorescence, when +its stalk, dropping its more earthly and carnal flower, shoots +upward, and is presently crowned by a globe of the most delicate +and aerial texture. It is like the poet's dream, which succeeds +his rank and golden youth. This globe is a fleet of a hundred +fairy balloons, each one of which bears a seed which it is destined +to drop far from the parent source. + +Most weeds have their uses; they are not wholly malevolent. +Emerson says a weed is a plant whose virtues we have not yet +discovered; but the wild creatures discover their virtues if we do +not. The bumblebee has discovered that the hateful toadflax, which +nothing will eat, and which in some soils will run out the grass, +has honey at its heart. Narrow-leaved plantain is readily eaten by +cattle, and the honey-bee gathers much pollen from it. The ox-eye +daisy makes a fair quality of hay if cut before it gets ripe. The +cows will eat the leaves of the burdock and the stinging nettles of +the woods. But what cannot a cow's tongue stand? She will crop the +poison ivy with impunity, and I think would eat thistles if she +found them growing in the garden. Leeks and garlics are readily +eaten by cattle in the spring, and are said to be medicinal to +them. Weeds that yield neither pasturage for bee nor herd yet +afford seeds to the fall and winter birds. This is true of most of +the obnoxious weeds of the garden, and of thistles. The wild +lettuce yields down for the hummingbird's nest, and the flowers of +whiteweed are used by the kingbird and cedar-bird. + +Yet it is pleasant to remember that, in our climate, there are no +weeds so persistent and lasting and universal as grass. Grass is +the natural covering of the fields. There are but four weeds that +I know of--milkweed, live-forever, Canada thistle, and toad-flax-- +that it will not run out in a good soil. We crop it and mow it +year after year; and yet, if the season favors, it is sure to come +again. Fields that have never known the plow, and never been +seeded by man, are yet covered with grass. And in human nature, +too, weeds are by no means in the ascendant, troublesome as they +are. The good green grass of love and truthfulness and common +sense is more universal, and crowds the idle weeds to the wall. + +But weeds have this virtue; they are not easily discouraged; they +never lose heart entirely; they die game. If they cannot have the +best, they will take up with the poorest; if fortune is unkind to +them to-day, they hope for better luck to-morrow; if they cannot +lord it over a corn-hill, they will sit humbly at its foot and +accept what comes; in all cases they make the most of their +opportunities. + + + +VIII + +WINTER PICTURES + + + A WHITE DAY AND A RED FOX + +The day was indeed white, as white as three feet of snow and a +cloudless St. Valentine's sun could make it. The eye could not +look forth without blinking, or veiling itself with tears. The +patch of plowed ground on the top of the hill, where the wind had +blown the snow away, was as welcome to it as water to a parched +tongue. It was the one refreshing oasis in this desert of dazzling +light. I sat down upon it to let the eye bathe and revel in it. +It took away the smart like a poultice. For so gentle and on the +whole so beneficent an element, the snow asserts itself very +proudly. It takes the world quickly and entirely to itself. It +makes no concessions or compromises, but rules despotically. It +baffles and bewilders the eye, and it returns the sun glare for +glare. Its coming in our winter climate is the hand of mercy to +the earth and to everything in its bosom, but it is a barrier and +an embargo to everything that moves above. + +We toiled up the long steep hill, where only an occasional mullein- +stalk or other tall weed stood above the snow. Near the top the +hill was girded with a bank of snow that blotted out the stone wall +and every vestige of the earth beneath. These hills wear this belt +till May, and sometimes the plow pauses beside them. From the top +of the ridge an immense landscape in immaculate white stretches +before us. Miles upon miles of farms, smoothed and padded by the +stainless element, hang upon the sides of the mountains, or repose +across the long sloping hills. The fences or stone walls show +like half-obliterated black lines. I turn my back to the sun, or +shade my eyes with my hand. Every object or movement in the +landscape is sharply revealed; one could see a fox half a league. +The farmer foddering his cattle, or drawing manure afield, or +leading his horse to water; the pedestrian crossing the hill below; +the children wending their way toward the distant schoolhouse,-- +the eye cannot help but note them: they are black specks upon +square miles of luminous white. What a multitude of sins this +unstinted charity of the snow covers! How it flatters the ground!- +Yonder sterile field might be a garden, and you would never suspect +that that gentle slope with its pretty dimples and curves was not +the smoothest of meadows, yet it is paved with rocks and stone. + +But what is that black speck creeping across that cleared field +near the top of the mountain at the head of the valley, three +quarters of a mile away? It is like a fly moving across an +illuminated surface. A distant mellow bay floats to us, and we +know it is the hound. He picked up the trail of the fox half an +hour since, where he had crossed the ridge early in the morning, +and now he has routed him and Reynard is steering for the Big +Mountain. We press on and attain the shoulder of the range, where +we strike a trail two or three days old of some former hunters, +which leads us into the woods along the side of the mountain. We +are on the first plateau before the summit; the snow partly +supports us, but when it gives way and we sound it with our legs, +we find it up to our hips. Here we enter a white world indeed. +It is like some conjurer's trick. The very trees have turned to +snow. The smallest branch is like a cluster of great white +antlers. The eye is bewildered by the soft fleecy labyrinth before +it. On the lower ranges the forests were entirely bare, but now we +perceive the summit of every mountain about us runs up into a kind +of arctic region where the trees are loaded with snow. The +beginning of this colder zone is sharply marked all around the +horizon; the line runs as level as the shore line of a lake or sea; +indeed, a warmer aerial sea fills all the valleys, submerging the +lower peaks, and making white islands of all the higher ones. The +branches bend with the rime. The winds have not shaken it down. +It adheres to them like a growth. On examination I find the +branches coated with ice, from which shoot slender spikes and +needles that penetrate and hold the cord of snow. It is a new kind +of foliage wrought by the frost and the clouds, and it obscures the +sky, and fills the vistas of the woods nearly as much as the myriad +leaves of summer. The sun blazes, the sky is without a cloud or a +film, yet we walk in a soft white shade. A gentle breeze was +blowing on the open crest of the mountain, but one could carry a +lighted candle through these snow-curtained and snow-canopied +chambers. How shall we see the fox if the hound drives him through +this white obscurity? But we listen in vain for the voice of the +dog and press on. Hares' tracks were numerous. Their great soft +pads had left their imprint everywhere, sometimes showing a clear +leap of ten feet. They had regular circuits which we crossed at +intervals. The woods were well suited to them, low and dense, and, +as we saw, liable at times to wear a livery whiter than their own. + +The mice, too, how thick their tracks were, that of the white- +footed mouse being most abundant; but occasionally there was a much +finer track, with strides or leaps scarcely more than an inch +apart. This is perhaps the little shrew-mouse of the woods, the +body not more than an inch and a half long, the smallest mole or +mouse kind known to me. Once, while encamping in the woods, one of +these tiny shrews got into an empty pail standing in camp, and died +before morning, either from the cold, or in despair of ever getting +out of the pail. + +At one point, around a small sugar maple, the mice-tracks are +unusually thick. It is doubtless their granary; they have beech- +nuts stored there, I'll warrant. There are two entrances to the +cavity of the tree,--one at the base, and one seven or eight feet +up. At the upper one, which is only just the size of a mouse, a +squirrel has been trying to break in. He has cut and chiseled the +solid wood to the depth of nearly an inch, and his chips strew the +snow all about. He knows what is in there, and the mice know that +he knows; hence their apparent consternation. They have rushed +wildly about over the snow, and, I doubt not, have given the +piratical red squirrel a piece of their minds. A few yards away +the mice have a hole down into the snow, which perhaps leads to +some snug den under the ground. Hither they may have been slyly +removing their stores while the squirrel was at work with his back +turned. One more night and he will effect an entrance: what a good +joke upon him if he finds the cavity empty! These native mice are +very provident, and, I imagine, have to take many precautions to +prevent their winter stores being plundered by the squirrels, who +live, as it were, from hand to mouth. + +We see several fresh fox-tracks, and wish for the hound, but there +are no tidings of him. After half an hour's floundering and +cautiously picking our way through the woods, we emerge into a +cleared field that stretches up from the valley below, and just +laps over the back of the mountain. It is a broad belt of white +that drops down and down till it joins other fields that sweep +along the base of the mountain, a mile away. To the east, through +a deep defile in the mountains, a landscape in an adjoining county +lifts itself up, like a bank of white and gray clouds. + +When the experienced fox-hunter comes out upon such an eminence as +this, he always scrutinizes the fields closely that lie beneath +him, and it many times happens that his sharp eye detects Reynard +asleep upon a rock or a stone wall, in which case, if he be armed +with a rifle and his dog be not near, the poor creature never +wakens from his slumber. The fox nearly always takes his nap in +the open fields, along the sides of the ridges, or under the +mountain, where he can look down upon the busy farms beneath and +hear their many sounds, the barking of dogs, the lowing of cattle, +the cackling of hens, the voices of men and boys, or the sound of +travel upon the highway. It is on that side, too, that he keeps +the sharpest lookout, and the appearance of the hunter above and +behind him is always a surprise. We pause here, and, with +alert ears turned toward the Big Mountain in front of us, listen +for the dog. But not a sound is heard. A flock of snow buntings +pass high above us, uttering their contented twitter, and their +white forms seen against the intense blue give the impression of +large snowflakes drifting across the sky. I hear a purple finch, +too, and the feeble lisp of the redpoll. A shrike (the first I +have seen this season) finds occasion to come this way also. He +alights on the tip of a dry limb, and from his perch can see into +the valley on both sides of the mountain. He is prowling about for +chickadees, no doubt, a troop of which I saw coming through the +wood. When pursued by the shrike, the chickadee has been seen to +take refuge in a squirrel-hole in a tree. Hark! Is that the +hound, or doth expectation mock the eager ear? With open mouths +and bated breaths we listen. Yes, it is old "Singer;" he is +bringing the fox over the top of the range toward Butt End, the +ULTIMA THULE of the hunters' tramps in this section. In a moment +or two the dog is lost to hearing again. We wait for his second +turn; then for his third. + +"He is playing about the summit," says my companion. + +"Let us go there," say I, and we are off. + +More dense snow-hung woods beyond the clearing where we begin our +ascent of the Big Mountain,--a chief that carries the range up +several hundred feet higher than the part we have thus far +traversed. We are occasionally to our hips in the snow, but for +the most part the older stratum, a foot or so down, bears us; up +and up we go into the dim, muffled solitudes, our hats and coats +powdered like millers'. A half-hour's heavy tramping brings us to +the broad, level summit, and to where the fox and hound have +crossed and recrossed many times. As we are walking along +discussing the matter, we suddenly hear the dog coming straight on +to us. The woods are so choked with snow that we do not hear him +till he breaks up from under the mountain within a hundred yards of +us. + +"We have turned the fox!" we both exclaim, much put out. + +Sure enough, we have. The dog appears in sight, is puzzled a +moment, then turns sharply to the left, and is lost to eye and to +ear as quickly as if he had plunged into a cave. The woods are, +indeed, a kind of cave,--a cave of alabaster, with the sun shining +upon it. We take up positions and wait. These old hunters know +exactly where to stand. + +"If the fox comes back," said my companion, "he will cross up there +or down here," indicating two points not twenty rods asunder. + +We stood so that each commanded one of the runways indicated. How +light it was, though the sun was hidden! Every branch and twig +beamed in the sun like a lamp. A downy woodpecker below me kept up +a great fuss and clatter,--all for my benefit, I suspected. All +about me were great, soft mounds, where the rocks lay buried. It +was a cemetery of drift boulders. There! that is the hound. Does +his voice come across the valley from the spur off against us, or +is it on our side down under the mountain? After an interval, just +as I am thinking the dog is going away from us along the opposite +range, his voice comes up astonishingly near. A mass of snow falls +from a branch, and makes one start; but it is not the fox. Then +through the white vista below me I catch a glimpse of something red +or yellow, yellowish red or reddish yellow; it emerges from the +lower ground, and, with an easy, jaunty air, draws near. I am +ready and just in the mood to make a good shot. The fox stops just +out of range and listens for the hound. He looks as bright as an +autumn leaf upon the spotless surface. Then he starts on, but he +is not coming to me, he is going to the other man. Oh, foolish +fox, you are going straight into the jaws of death! My comrade +stands just there beside that tree. I would gladly have given +Reynard the wink, or signaled to him, if I could. It did seem a +pity to shoot him, now he was out of my reach. I cringe for him, +when crack goes the gun! The fox squalls, picks himself up, and +plunges over the brink of the mountain. The hunter has not missed +his aim, but the oil in his gun, he says, has weakened the strength +of his powder. The hound, hearing the report, comes like a +whirlwind and is off in hot pursuit. Both fox and dog now bleed,-- +the dog at his heels, the fox from his wounds. + +In a few minutes there came up from under the mountain that long, +peculiar bark which the hound always makes when he has run the fox +in, or when something new and extraordinary has happened. In this +instance he said plainly enough, "The race is up, the coward has +taken to his hole, ho-o-o-le." Plunging down in the direction of +the sound, the snow literally to our waists, we were soon at the +spot, a great ledge thatched over with three or four feet of snow. +The dog was alternately licking his heels and whining and berating +the fox. The opening into which the latter had fled was partially +closed, and, as I scraped out and cleared away the snow, I thought +of the familiar saying, that so far as the sun shines in, the snow +will blow in. The fox, I suspect, has always his house of refuge, +or knows at once where to flee to if hard pressed. This place +proved to be a large vertical seam in the rock, into which the dog, +on a little encouragement from his master, made his way. I thrust +my head into the ledge's mouth, and in the dim light watched the +dog. He progressed slowly and cautiously till only his bleeding +heels were visible. Here some obstacle impeded him a few moments, +when he entirely disappeared and was presently face to face with +the fox and engaged in mortal combat with him. It is a fierce +encounter there beneath the rocks, the fox silent, the dog very +vociferous. But after a time the superior weight and strength of +the latter prevails and the fox is brought to light nearly dead. +Reynard winks and eyes me suspiciously, as I stroke his head and +praise his heroic defense; but the hunter quickly and mercifully +puts an end to his fast-ebbing life. His canine teeth seem +unusually large and formidable, and the dog bears the marks of them +in many deep gashes upon his face and nose. His pelt is quickly +stripped off, revealing his lean, sinewy form. + +The fox was not as poor in flesh as I expected to see him, though +I'll warrant he had tasted very little food for days, perhaps for +weeks. How his great activity and endurance can be kept up, on the +spare diet he must of necessity be confined to, is a mystery. +Snow, snow everywhere, for weeks and for months, and intense cold, +and no henroost accessible, and no carcass of sheep or pig in the +neighborhood! The hunter, tramping miles and leagues through his +haunts, rarely sees any sign of his having caught anything. +Rarely, though, in the course of many winters, he may have seen +evidence of his having surprised a rabbit or a partridge in the +woods. He no doubt at this season lives largely upon the memory +(or the fat) of the many good dinners he had in the plentiful +summer and fall. + +As we crossed the mountain on our return, we saw at one point +blood-stains upon the snow, and, as the fox-tracks were very thick +on and about it, we concluded that a couple of males had had an +encounter there, and a pretty sharp one. Reynard goes a-wooing in +February, and it is to be presumed that, like other dogs, he is a +jealous lover. A crow had alighted and examined the blood-stains, +and now, if he will look a little farther along, upon a flat rock +he will find the flesh he was looking for. Our hound's nose was so +blunted now, speaking without metaphor, that he would not look at +another trail, but hurried home to rest upon his laurels. + + +A POTOMAC SKETCH + +While on a visit to Washington in January, 1878, I went on an +expedition down the Potomac with a couple of friends to shoot +ducks. We left on the morning boat that makes daily trips to and +from Mount Vernon. The weather was chilly and the sky threatening. +The clouds had a singular appearance; they were boat-shaped, with +well-defined keels. I have seldom known such clouds to bring rain; +they are simply the fleet of Æolus, and so it proved on this +occasion, for they gradually dispersed or faded out and before noon +the sun was shining. + +We saw numerous flocks of ducks on the passage down, and saw a gun +(the man was concealed) shoot some from a "blind" near Fort +Washington. Opposite Mount Vernon, on the flats, there was a large +"bed" of ducks. I thought the word a good one to describe a long +strip of water thickly planted with them. One of my friends was a +member of the Washington and Mount Vernon Ducking Club, which has +its camp and fixtures just below the Mount Vernon landing; he was +an old ducker. For my part, I had never killed a duck,--except +with an axe,--nor have I yet. + +We made our way along the beach from the landing, over piles of +driftwood, and soon reached the quarters, a substantial building, +fitted up with a stove, bunks, chairs, a table, culinary utensils, +crockery, etc., with one corner piled full of decoys. There were +boats to row in and boxes to shoot from, and I felt sure we should +have a pleasant time, whether we got any ducks or not. The weather +improved hourly, till in the afternoon a well-defined installment +of the Indian summer, that had been delayed somewhere, settled down +upon the scene; this lasted during our stay of two days. The river +was placid, even glassy, the air richly and deeply toned with haze, +and the sun that of the mellowest October. "The fairer the +weather, the fewer the ducks," said one of my companions. "But +this is better than ducks," I thought, and prayed that it might +last. + +Then there was something pleasing to the fancy in being so near to +Mount Vernon. It formed a-sort of rich, historic background to our +flitting and trivial experiences. Just where the eye of the great +Captain would perhaps first strike the water as he came out in the +morning to take a turn up and down his long piazza, the Club had +formerly had a "blind," but the ice of a few weeks before our visit +had carried it away. A little lower down, and in full view from his +bedroom window, was the place where the shooting from the boxes was +usually done. + +The duck is an early bird, and not much given to wandering about in +the afternoon; hence it was thought not worth while to put out the +decoys till the next morning. We would spend the afternoon roaming +inland in quest of quail, or rabbits, or turkeys (for a brood of +the last were known to lurk about the woods back there). It was a +delightful afternoon's tramp through oak woods, pine barrens, and +half-wild fields. We flushed several quail that the dog should +have pointed, and put a rabbit to rout by a well-directed +broadside, but brought no game to camp. We kicked about an old +bushy clearing, where my friends had shot a wild turkey +Thanksgiving Day, but the turkey could not be started again. One +shooting had sufficed for it. We crossed or penetrated extensive +pine woods that had once (perhaps in Washington's time) been +cultivated fields; the mark of the plow was still clearly visible. +The land had been thrown into ridges, after the manner of English +fields, eight or ten feet wide, with a deep dead furrow between +them for purposes of drainage. The pines were scrubby,--what are +known as the loblolly pines,--and from ten to twelve inches through +at the butt. In a low bottom, among some red cedars, I saw robins +and several hermit thrushes, besides the yellow-rumped warbler. + +That night, as the sun went down on the one hand, the full moon +rose up on the other, like the opposite side of an enormous scale. +The river, too, was presently brimming with the flood tide. It +was so still one could have carried a lighted candle from shore to +shore. In a little skiff, we floated and paddled up under the +shadow of Mount Vernon and into the mouth of a large creek that +flanks it on the left. In the profound hush of things, every sound +on either shore was distinctly heard. A large bed of ducks were +feeding over on the Maryland side, a mile or more away, and the +multitudinous sputtering and shuffling of their bills in the water +sounded deceptively near. Silently we paddled in that direction. +When about half a mile from them, all sound of feeding suddenly +ceased; then, after a time, as we kept on, there was a great clamor +of wings, and the whole bed appeared to take flight. We paused and +listened, and presently heard them take to the water again, far +below and beyond us. We loaded a boat with the decoys that night, +and in the morning, on the first sign of day, towed a box out in +position, and anchored it, and disposed the decoys about it. Two +hundred painted wooden ducks, each anchored by a small weight that +was attached by a cord to the breast, bowed and sidled and rode the +water, and did everything but feed, in a bed many yards long. The +shooting-box is a kind of coffin, in which the gunner is interred +amid the decoys,--buried below the surface of the water, and +invisible, except from a point above him. The box has broad canvas +wings, that unfold and spread out upon the surface of the water, +four or five feet each way. These steady it, and keep the ripples +from running in when there is a breeze. Iron decoys sit upon these +wings and upon the edge of the box, and sink it to the required +level, so that, when everything is completed and the gunner is in +position, from a distance or from the shore one sees only a large +bed of ducks, with the line a little more pronounced in the centre, +where the sportsman lies entombed, to be quickly resurrected when +the game appears. He lies there stark and stiff upon his back, +like a marble effigy upon a tomb, his gun by his side, with barely +room to straighten himself in, and nothing to look at but the sky +above him. His companions on shore keep a lookout, and, when ducks +are seen on the wing, cry out, "Mark, coming up," or "Mark, coming +down," or, "Mark, coming in," as the case may be. If they decoy, +the gunner presently hears the whistle of their wings, or maybe he +catches a glimpse of them over the rim of the box as they circle +about. Just as they let down their feet to alight, he is expected +to spring up and pour his broadside into them. A boat from shore +comes and picks up the game, if there is any to pick up. + +The club-man, by common consent, was the first in the box that +morning; but only a few ducks were moving, and he had lain there +an hour before we marked a solitary bird approaching, and, after +circling over the decoys, alighting a little beyond them. The +sportsman sprang up as from the bed of the river, and the duck +sprang up at the same time, and got away under fire. After a while +my other companion went out; but the ducks passed by on the other +side, and he had no shots. In the afternoon, remembering the +robins, and that robins are game when one's larder is low, I set +out alone for the pine bottoms, a mile or more distant. When one +is loaded for robins, he may expect to see turkeys, and VICE VERSA. +As I was walking carelessly on the borders of an old brambly field +that stretched a long distance beside the pine woods, I heard a +noise in front of me, and, on looking in that direction, saw a +veritable turkey, with a spread tail, leaping along at a rapid +rate. She was so completely the image of the barnyard fowl that I +was slow to realize that here was the most notable game of that +part of Virginia, for the sight of which sportsmen's eyes do water. +As she was fairly on the wing, I sent my robin-shot after her; but +they made no impression, and I stood and watched with great +interest her long, level flight. As she neared the end of the +clearing, she set her wings and sailed straight into the corner of +the woods. I found no robins, but went back satisfied with having +seen the turkey, and having had an experience that I knew would +stir up the envy and the disgust of my companions. They listened +with ill-concealed impatience, stamped the ground a few times, +uttered a vehement protest against the caprice of fortune that +always puts the game in the wrong place or the gun in the wrong +hands, and rushed off in quest of that turkey. She was not where +they looked, of course; and, on their return about sundown, when +they had ceased to think about their game, she flew out of the top +of a pine-tree not thirty rods from camp, and in full view of them, +but too far off for a shot. + +In my wanderings that afternoon, I came upon two negro shanties in +a small triangular clearing in the woods; no road but only a +footpath led to them. Three or four children, the eldest a girl of +twelve, were about the door of one of them. I approached and asked +for a drink of water. The girl got a glass and showed me to the +spring near by. + +"We's grandmover's daughter's chilern," she said, in reply to +my inquiry. Their mother worked in Washington for "eighteen cents +a month," and their grandmother took care of them. + +Then I thought I would pump her about the natural history of the +place. + +"What was there in these woods,--what kind of animals,--any? " + +"Oh, yes, sah, when we first come here to live in dese bottoms de +possums and foxes and things were so thick you could hardly go out- +o'-doors." A fox had come along one day right where her mother was +washing, and they used to catch the chickens "dreadful." + +"Were there any snakes?" + +"Yes, sah; black snakes, moccasins, and doctors." + +The doctor, she said, was a powerful ugly customer; it would get +right hold of your leg as you were passing along, and whip and +sting you to death. I hoped I should not meet any "doctors." + +I asked her if they caught any rabbits. + +"Oh, yes, we catches dem in 'gums.' " + +"What are gums?" I asked. + +"See dat down dare? Dat's a 'gum.' " + +I saw a rude box-trap made of rough boards. It seems these traps, +and many other things, such as beehives, and tubs, etc., are +frequently made in the South from a hollow gum-tree; hence the name +gum has come to have a wide application. + +The ducks flew quite briskly that night; I could hear the whistle +of their wings as I stood upon the shore indulging myself in +listening. The ear loves a good field as well as the eye, and the +night is the best time to listen, to put your ear to Nature's +keyhole and see what the whisperings and the preparations mean. + + "Dark night, that from the eye his + function takes, + The ear more quick of apprehension + makes," + +says Shakespeare. I overheard some muskrats engaged in a very +gentle and affectionate jabber beneath a rude pier of brush and +earth upon which I was standing. The old, old story was evidently +being rehearsed under there, but the occasional splashing of the +ice-cold water made it seem like very chilling business; still we +all know it is not. Our decoys had not been brought in, and I +distinctly heard some ducks splash in among them. The sound of +oar-locks in the distance next caught my ears. They were so far +away that it took some time to decide whether or not they were +approaching. But they finally grew more distinct,--the steady, +measured beat of an oar in a wooden lock, a very pleasing sound +coming over still, moonlit waters. It was an hour before the boat +emerged into view and passed my post. A white, misty obscurity +began to gather over the waters, and in the morning this had grown +to be a dense fog. By early dawn one of my friends was again in +the box, and presently his gun went bang! bang! then bang! came +again from the second gun he had taken with him, and we imagined +the water strewn with ducks. But he reported only one. It floated +to him and was picked up, so we need not go out. In the dimness +and silence we rowed up and down the shore in hopes of starting up +a stray duck that might possibly decoy. We saw many objects that +simulated ducks pretty well through the obscurity, but they failed +to take wing on our approach. The most pleasing thing we saw was a +large, rude boat, propelled by four colored oarsmen. It looked as +if it might have come out of some old picture. Two oarsmen were +seated in the bows, pulling, and two stood up in the stern, facing +their companions, each working a long oar, bending and recovering +and uttering a low, wild chant. The spectacle emerged from the fog +on the one hand and plunged into it on the other. + +Later in the morning, we were attracted by another craft. We heard +it coming down upon us long before it emerged into view. It made a +sound as of some unwieldy creature slowly pawing the water, and +when it became visible through the fog the sight did not belie the +ear. We beheld an awkward black hulk that looked as if it might +have been made out of the bones of the first steamboat, or was it +some Virginia colored man's study of that craft? Its wheels +consisted each of two timbers crossing each other at right angles. +As the shaft slowly turned, these timbers pawed and pawed the +water. It hove to on the flats near our quarters, and a colored +man came off in a boat. To our inquiry, he said with a grin that +his craft was a "floating saw-mill." + +After a while I took my turn in the box, and, with a life-preserver +for a pillow, lay there on my back, pressed down between the narrow +sides, the muzzle of my gun resting upon my toe and its stock upon +my stomach, waiting for the silly ducks to come. I was rather in +hopes they would not come, for I felt pretty certain that I could +not get up promptly in such narrow quarters and deliver my shot +with any precision. As nothing could be seen, and as it was very +still, it was a good time to listen again. I was virtually under +water, and in a good medium for the transmission of sounds. The +barking of dogs on the Maryland shore was quite audible, and I +heard with great distinctness a Maryland lass call some one to +breakfast. They were astir up at Mount Vernon, too, though the fog +hid them from view. I heard the mocking or Carolina wren +alongshore calling quite plainly the words a Georgetown poet has +put in his mouth,--"Sweetheart, sweetheart, sweet!" Presently I +heard the whistle of approaching wings, and a solitary duck +alighted back of me over my right shoulder,--just the most awkward +position for me she could have assumed. I raised my head a little, +and skimmed the water with my eye. The duck was swimming about +just beyond the decoys, apparently apprehensive that she was +intruding upon the society of her betters. She would approach a +little, and then, as the stiff, aristocratic decoys made no sign of +welcome or recognition, she would sidle off again. "Who are they, +that they should hold themselves so loftily and never condescend to +notice a forlorn duck?" I imagined her saying. Should I spring up +and show my hand and demand her surrender? It was clearly my duty +to do so. I wondered if the boys were looking from shore, for the +fog had lifted a little. But I must act, or the duck would be off. +I began to turn slowly in my sepulchre and to gather up my benumbed +limbs; I then made a rush and got up, and had a fairly good shot as +the duck flew across my bows, but I failed to stop her. A man in +the woods in the line of my shot cried out angrily, "Stop shooting +this way!" + +I lay down again and faced the sun, that had now burned its way +through the fog, till I was nearly blind, but no more ducks +decoyed, and I called out to be relieved. + +With our one duck, but with many pleasant remembrances, we returned +to Washington that afternoon. + + + +INDEX + +ABUTILON, or velvet-leaf. + +Ailanthus. + +Alder, white. + +Amaranth, 215. + +Arbutus, trailing, or mayflower. + +Arethusa. + +Arkville. + +Arnold, George. + +Ash. + +Asters. + +Azalea, pink, or pinxter-flower. + +Azalea, smooth. + +Azalea, white. + +Azalea, yellow. + +Ball, an inexpensive. + +Bark-a-boom. + +Baxter's Brook. + +Bay, sweet. + +Bear, black, attacked with a club. + +Bear-weed. + +Beattie, James, quotation from. + +Beaver, 173. + +Bee. See Bumblebee, Honey-bee, and Sweat-bee. + +Bee, solitary. + +Beech. + +Berries. + +Bidens, or two-teeth, or pitchforks. + +Big Beaver Kill. + +Big Mountain. + +Bindweed, black. + +Birch, yellow. + +Birds, singing at night; morning awakening of; individuality in the +songs of; in poetry; process of hatching; leaving the nest; arrival +in spring; love-making among; war among; their departure in the +fall; a good season for; songs of, in America and in England. + +Birds of prey, their flight when laden. + +Blackbird, cow, or cowbird (MOLOTHRUS ATER). + +Blackbird, crow, or purple grackle (QUISCALUS QUISCULA). + +Blackbird, European, in poetry; his resemblance to the American +robin; notes of. + +Blackbird, red-winged. See Starling, red-shouldered. + +Blackbird, rusty. See Grackle, rusty. + +Bladderwort, horned. + +Bluebird (SIALIA SIALIS), in poetry; notes of; nest of. + +Blue-weed, or viper's bugloss; travels of; description of. + +Boat, a picturesque. + +Bobolink (DOLICHONYX ORYZIVORUS; as a wooer; notes of. + +Bob-white. See Quail. + +Bouncing Bet, or saponaria. + +Boys. + +Bryant, William Cullen; as a poet of nature; quotations from. + +Buckwheat, wild. + +Bugloss. + +Bugloss, viper's. See Blue-weed. + +Bullfrog. + +Bumblebee; nest of. + +Bunting, English. + +Bunting, indigo. See Indigo-bird. + +Bunting, snow, or snowflake (PASSERINA NIVALIS). + +Burdock. + +Burns, Robert, quotation from. + +Butt End. + +Buttercup. + +Caledonia springs. + +Calopogon. + +Camping; in the rain. + +Campion, bladder. + +Cardinal (CARDINALIS CARDINALIS); notes of. + +Cardinal flower. See Lobelia, scarlet. + +Carrot, wild. + +Catbird (GALEOSCOPTES CAROLINENSIS), in poetry; notes of. + +Catnip. + +Catskill Mountains. + +Cattle, crossing a river; as eaters of weeds. + +Cedar-bird, or cedar waxwing (AMPELIS CEDRORUM. + +Chamomile. + +Chewink, or towhee (PIPILO ERYTHROPHTHALMUS). + +Chickadee (PARUS ATRICAPILLUS); nest of. + +Chickweed; at the antipodes. + +Chicory, or succory; in poetry. + +Chipmunk. + +Chippie. See Sparrow. + +Chough. + +Cicada, or harvest-fly. + +Claytonia, or spring beauty. + +Clematis, wild. + +Clouds, boat-shaped. + +Clover. + +Clover, white. + +Cochecton Falls. + +Cockle. + +Colchester. + +Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, quotation from. + +Coltsfoot. + +Coltsfoot, sweet. + +Columbine. + +Companions, outdoor. + +Cone-flower. + +Coon. See Raccoon. + +Cormorant. + +Corn, Indian. + +Cowbird. See Blackbird, cow. + +Cows. See Cattle. + +Cowslip. See Marigold, marsh. + +Cowslip, English. + +Creeper, brown (CERTHIA FAMILIARIS AMERICANA), nest of. + +Crickets. See Tree-crickets. + +Crow American (CORVUS BRACHYRHYNCHOS), gait of; notes of. + +Cuckoo (COCCYZUS sp.), heard at night; habits of; in poetry; notes +of. + +Cuckoo, European. + +Cuckoo-buds. + +Cuckoo-flower. + +Cuckoo-pint. + +Cypripedium. See Lady's-slipper. + +Daffodil. + +Daisy, English. + +Daisy, ox-eye. + +Dandelion. + +Darnel. + +Day, a white. + +Dead-nettle. + +Delaware River, Pepacton branch of. See Pepacton River. + +Dentaria. + +Deposit. + +Dicentra, or squirrel corn. + +Dock, curled-leaf. + +Dock, yellow. + +Doctor, the (a snake). + +Dog, Cuff and the woodchucks. See Greyhound and Hound. + +Dog, farm, hound and. + +Dogbane. + +Dove, mourning (ZENAIDURA MACROURA). + +Doves. + +Downsville. + +Dry Brook. + +Ducks, feeding. + +Duck-shooting on the Potomac. + +Eagle, chased by a kingbird; flight of an. + +East Branch. + +Elecampane. + +Emerson, Ralph Waldo, quotations from; his knowledge of nature. + +England, bird-songs in; pedestrianism in; the footpaths of; the +highways of. + +Esopus. + +Eupatorium, purple. + +Falcon, haggard. + +Finch, purple (CARPODACUS PURPUREUS; notes of. + +Fisherman, an ancient. + +Fishes, spring movements of. + +Fleabane, or whiteweed. + +Flicker. See High-hole. + +Flowers, wild, in poetry; fragrant. + +Footpaths, lack of, in America; English; a schoolboy's footpath. + +Forenoon, as distinguished from morning. + +Fort Washington. + +Fox, red, and hound,; hunting a; favorite sleeping places of; hard +fare in winter; an encounter between rivals. + +Fringed-orchis, purple. + +Frog. See Bullfrog. + +Frog, clucking. See Wood-frog. + +Frog, peeping. See Hyla, Pickering's. + +Garlic. + +Gentian, closed. + +Gentian, fringed, 63; Bryant's poem on. + +Gill. + +Girls. + +Goethe. + +Goldenrod. + +Goldfinch, American (ASTRAGALINUS TRISTIS; pairing habits of; notes +of. + +Goose-foot. + +Grackle, purple. See Blackbird, crow. + +Grackle, rusty, or rusty blackbird (EUPHAGUS CAROLINUS), notes of. + +Grass, the natural covering of the fields. + +Grass, harvest. + +Grass, quack. + +Grass, quitch. + +Green Cove Spring. + +Greyhound. + +Ground-nut. + +Grouse, ruffed, or partridge (BONASA UMBELLUS), in poetry; drumming +of. + +"Gums,". + +Gum-tree. + +Haggard. + +Hancock. + +Hare, northern. + +Hares. + +Harrisonburg, Va. + +Harvard. + +Harvest-fly. See Cicada. + +Hawk, in poetry, 116. See Hen-hawk. + +Hawkfish. See Osprey, American. + +Hawk's Point. + +Hedgehog. + +Hedge-sparrow. + +Hemlock, poison. + +Henbane. + +Hen-hawk. + +Hepatica, or liver-leaf; the first spring flower; an intermittently +fragrant flower. + +Hercules. + +Heron. + +Heron, great blue (ARDEA HERODIAS; notes of, 24, 28. + +High-hole, or golden-winged woodpecker, or flicker (COLAPTES +AURATUS LUTEUS; notes of; nest of. + +Highlands of the Hudson, the. + +Holywell. + +Honey, flowers which yield. + +Honey-bee, a product of civilization; wandering habits of; hunting +wild bees; method of handling; as robbers; enemies of; Virgil on. + +Honeysuckle. + +Hooker, Sir Joseph. + +Hop-clover. + +Hornet, black. + +Hornet, sand. + +Hound, fox and. + +Hound's-tongue. + +Housatonic River. + +Houstonia, or innocence. + +Humble-bee. See Bumblebee. + +Humming-bird, ruby-throated (TROCHILUS COLUBRIS), in poetry; nest +of. + +Hunt, Helen, quotation from. + +Hyacinth, wild. + +Hyla, Pickering's, or peeping frog; arboreal life of. + +Hylas, the story of. + +Indigo-bird or indigo bunting (CYANOSPIZA CYANEA; notes of. + +Innocence. See Houstonia. + +Insects, nocturnal. + +Iron-weed. + +Ivy. + +Ivy, poison. + +Jack, catching. + +Jay, blue (CYANOCITTA CRISTATA; notes of. + +Jewel-weed. + +Junco, slate-colored. See Snowbird. + +Katydids. + +Kingbird (TYRANNUS TYRANNUS), chasing an eagle; as a bee-eater; +notes of. + +Kingfisher, belted (CERYLE ALCYON. + +Knapp, Hon. Charles. + +Knot-grass. + +Lady's-slipper, large yellow. + +Lady's-slipper, purple. + +Lady's-slipper, small yellow. + +Lady's tresses. + +Lake Oquaga. + +Lamprey. + +Lapwing. + +Lark. See Skylark. + +Lark, shore or horned (OTOCORIS ALPESTRIS and O. A. PRATICOLA) and +note. + +Larkspur. + +Laurel, mountain. + +Leeks. + +Lettuce, wild, 230, inden. + +Linnæa. + +Live-forever. + +Liver-leaf. See Hepatica. + +Lobelia, great blue. + +Lobelia, scarlet, or cardinal flower. + +Locust-tree. + +Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, his inaccuracy in dealing with +nature; quotations from. + +Loosestrife. + +Loosestrife, hairy. + +Loosestrife, spiked, travels of; description of. + +Lowell, James Russell, quotations from; his fidelity to nature. + +Mallow. + +Mandrake. + +Maple, sugar; fragrance of its blossoms. + +Marigold, marsh. + +Martin, purple (PROGNE SUBIS). + +Masque of the Poets, A, quotation from. + +Mayflower. See Arbutus, trailing. + +Mayweed. + +Meadowlark (STURNELLA MAGNA); notes of. + +Merganser, hooded (LOPHODYTES CUCULLATUS), with a brood of young. + +Mice. + +Milkweed. + +Mink. + +Mitchella vine, or squaw-berry, or partridge-berry. + +Moccasin. + +Mockingbird (MIMUS POLYGLOTTOS), in poetry. + +Morning and forenoon, distinction between. + +Motherwort. + +Mount Vernon. + +Mouse, field. + +Mouse, white-footed, 169; tracks of. + +Mullein; habits of. + +Mullein, moth. + +Mullein, white. + +Musconetcong Creek. + +Muskrat; a weatherwise animal; active in winter; nests of. + +Mustard, wild. + +Nature, the poets' intuitive knowledge of; Emerson's knowledge of; +Bryant's knowledge of; Longfellow's inaccuracy in dealing with; +Whittier's treatment of; Lowell's fidelity to Tennyson's accurate +observations of; Walt Whitman a close student of; the poetic +interpretation of; the scientific interpretation of. + +Negro girl, a conversation with a. + +Nettle. + +Nettle, blind. + +Nettle, hemp. + +Nighthawk (CHORDEILES VIRGINIANUS. + +Nightshade. + +Note in the woods, a new. + +Oak, white. + +Onion, wild. + +Opossum. + +Orchids, American flora rich in. + +Orchis, fringed. See Fringed-orchis. + +Orchis, showy. + +Oriole, Baltimore (ICTERUS GALBULA); as a fruit-destroyer; notes +of; nest of. + +Orpine, garden. See Live-forever. + +Orpines, native. + +Osprey, American, or fish hawk (PANDION HALIAËTUS CAROLINENSIS), +feeding on the wing. + +Otter. + +Oven-bird (SEIURUS AUROCAPILLUS); song of. + +Owl, screech (MEGASCOPS ASIO), and shrike. + +Oxlip. + +Pain, in relation to the nervous system. + +Parsnip, wild. + +Partridge. See Grouse, ruffed. + +Partridge-berry. See Mitchella vine. + +Partridge Island. + +Pepacton River; a voyage down. + +Pewee, wood (CONTOPUS VIRENS), Trowbridge's poem on. + +Phbe-bird (SAYORNIS PHBE); notes of; nest of. + +Pigeon, passenger (ECTOPISTES MIGRATORIUS). + +Pigeons. + +Pigweed. + +Pine, loblolly, 247. + +Pinxter-flower. See Azalea, pink. + +Pipit, American. See Titlark. + +Pitchforks. See Biclens. + +Plantain. + +Plantain, narrow-leaved. + +Pliny, his account of an intermittent spring. + +Poets, their intuitive knowledge of nature; inaccuracies and +felicities in matters of natural history; their interpretation of +nature. + +Pogonia, adder's-tongue. + +Pokeweed. + +Polygala, fringed. + +Pond-lily, or sweet-scented water lily. + +Pond-lily, yellow. + +Poppy, scarlet field. + +Porcupine, Canadian. + +Potomac River, duck-shooting on. + +Primrose, in poetry. + +Primrose, evening. + +Prince's pine. + +Purslane. + +Pyrola. See Wintergreen, false. + +Quail, or bob-white (COLINUS VIRGINIANUS. + +Rabbit, gray. + +Rabbits. + +Raccoon, or coon. + +Radish, wild. + +Rafting on the Delaware. + +Ragweed; a troublesome weed. + +Rain, arboreal; summer. + +Raspberry. + +Rat, wood. + +Redbird. See Cardinal. + +Redpoll (ACANTHIS LINARIA), notes; of. + +Red-root. + +Rhododendron. + +River, a voyage down a; loneliness of the. + +Roads, in England and America. + +Robin, American (MERULA MIGRATORIA); in poetry; in love and war; +notes of; nest of. + +Rondout Creek. + +Roots, like molten metal. + +St. John's-wort. + +Salamander, banded. + +Salamander, red. + +Salamander, violet-colored or spotted. + +San Antonio, Texas. + +Saponaria. See Bouncing Bet. + +Sapsucker, yellow-bellied. See-Woodpecker, yellow-bellied. + +Sawmill, a floating. + +Scott, Sir Walter. + +SEDUM TELEPHIOIDES. + +SEDUM TERNATUM. + +Shagbark. + +Shairp, John Campbell, his POETIC INTERPRETATION OF NATURE. + +Shakespeare, quotations from; his accuracy in observation. + +Shavertown. + +Shawangunk Mountains. + +Shepherd's purse. + +Shrew. + +Shrike. + +Skunk. + +Skunk-cabbage. + +Skylark; on the Hudson; song of. + +Snail. + +Snake. + +Snake, black. + +Snow, a landscape of; in the woods. + +Snowbird, slate-colored, or slate-colored junco (JUNCO HYEMALIS), +in poetry; notes of. + +Snowflake. See Bunting, snow. + +Sodom. + +Sorrel, sheep. + +Sparrow, bush or Held (SPIZELLA PUSILLA. + +Sparrow, English (PASSER DOMESTICUS), manner of courtship. + +Sparrow, social or chipping, or "chippie" (SPIZELLA SOCIALIS). + +Sparrow, song (MELOSPIZA CINEREA MELODIA); notes of. + +Sparrow, vesper (POCETES GRAMINEUS), rejecting the attentions of a +skylark. + +Specularia, clasping. + +Spider, killing a bee; a musical. + +Spring, sudden coming of, 160-168. + +Spring beauty. See Claytonia. + +Springs, paths leading to; their universal attractiveness; centres +of greenness; symbolism of; locations of; fondness of trout for; +physiology of; their mineral elements; large; as refrigerators; +countries poor in; on mountains; places of worship; various kinds +of; marvelous; intermittent; in the Idyls of Theocritus. + +Squaw-berry. See Mitchella vine. + +Squirrel, flying. + +Squirrel, gray. + +Squirrel, Mexican black. + +Squirrel, red. + +Squirrel corn. See Dicentra. + +Squirrels, as parachutes. + +Star, shooting. + +Starling, red-shouldered, or red winged blackbird, notes of. + +Stedman, Edmund Clarence, his SEEKING THE MAYFLOWER. + +Stevenson, Robert Louis, his TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY. + +Stick-seed. + +Stones, life under. + +Stramonium. + +Strawberries, wild. + +Succory. See Chicory. + +Sumac. + +Swallow, bank (RIPARIA RIPARIA). + +Swallow, barn (HIRUNDO ERYTHROGASTRA); nest of. + +Swallow, chimney, or chimney swift (CHÆTURA PELAGICA), nest of. + +Swallow, cliff (PETROCHELIDON LUNIFRONS), in poetry; nest of. + +Swallow, European. + +Swallows, in poetry. + +Sweat-bee. + +Tails, uses of. + +Tansy. + +Tare. See Vetch. + +Teasle. + +Tennyson, Alfred, quotations from; a good observer. + +Theocritus, quotation from. + +Thistle, Canada. + +Thistle, common. + +Thistle, pasture. + +Thistle, swamp. + +Thomson, James, quotation from. + +Thrasher, brown (TOXOSTOMA RUFUM), song of. + +Thrush, hermit (HYLOCICHLA GUTTATA PALLASII), in poetry; notes of. + +Thrush, wood (HYLOCICHLA MUSTELINA), notes of. + +Titlark, or American pipit (ANTHUS PENSILVANICUS). + +Toad. See Tree-toad. + +Toad-flax. + +Tobacco. + +Tortoise. + +Towhee. See Chewink. + +Tree-crickets. + +Tree-toad. + +Trout, brook, their fondness for springs; caught with tickling. + +Trout-fishing. + +Trowbridge, John T., his natural history; quotations from. + +Turkey, wild (MELEAGRIS GALLOPAVO SILVESTRIS). + +Turtle. + +Turtle-head. + +Twin-flower. See Linnæa. + +Two-teeth. See Bidens. + +Velvet-leaf. See Abutilon. + +Venus's looking-glass. + +Vervain. + +Vetch, or tare. + +Violet, in poetry. + +Violet, Canada; its fragrance. + +Violet, common blue. + +Violet, English. + +Violet, white. + +Violet, yellow. + +Vireo, in poetry. + +Virgil, on honey-bees; quotations from. + +Walking, in England; a simple and natural pastime. + +Warbler, yellow-rumped, or myrtle (DENDROICA CORONATA). + +Wasp, sand. See Hornet, sand. + +Water-lily. See Pond-lily. + +Waxwing, cedar. See Cedar-bird. + +Weasel. + +Weebutook River. + +Weeds; their devotion to man; the gardener and the farmer the best +friends of; Nature's makeshift; great travelers; their abundance in +America; native and foreign; the growth of; escaped from +cultivation; beautiful; uses of various; less persistent and +universal than grass; virtues of. + +Well of St. Winifred. + +Wheat, winter. + +Whip-poor-will (ANTROSTOMUS VOCIFERUS), song of. + +Whiteweed. See Fleabane. + +Whitman, Walt, a close student of American nature; quotations from. + +Whittier, John Greenleaf, as a poet of nature; quotations from. + +Winchester, Va. + +Wintergreen, false, or pyrola. + +Wintergreen, spotted. + +Witch-hazel, 101. + +Woodchuck. + +Wood-frog. + +Woodpecker, in poetry. + +Woodpecker, downy (DRYOBATES PUBESCENS MEDIANUS). + +Woodpecker, golden-winged. See High-hole. + +Woodpecker, yellow-bellied, or yellow-bellied sapsucker +(SPHYRAPICIUS VARIUS), drumming of. + +Wood-pigeons. + +Wood-sorrel, common. + +Wood-sorrel, yellow. + +Wordsworth, William, quotations from. + +Wren, Carolina (THRYOTHORUS LUDOVICIANUS), notes of. + +Wren, house (TROGLODYTES AËDON), notes of; nest of. + +Yarrow. + +Yellow-jacket. + +Yew, American. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE WRITINGS OF JOHN BURROUGHS *** + +This file should be named 7441.txt or 7441.zip + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + diff --git a/7441-0.zip b/7441-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..004da18 --- /dev/null +++ b/7441-0.zip diff --git a/7441-h.zip b/7441-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9d68c95 --- /dev/null +++ b/7441-h.zip diff --git a/7441-h/7441-h.htm b/7441-h/7441-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..26cad72 --- /dev/null +++ b/7441-h/7441-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10716 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta content="pg2html (binary v0.17)" name="linkgenerator" /> + <title> + Pepacton, by John Burroughs + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .75em; margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; text-align: justify; font-size: 80%; font-style: italic;} + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + .xx-small {font-size: 60%;} + .x-small {font-size: 75%;} + .small {font-size: 85%;} + .large {font-size: 115%;} + .x-large {font-size: 130%;} + .indent5 { margin-left: 5%;} + .indent10 { margin-left: 10%;} + .indent15 { margin-left: 15%;} + .indent20 { margin-left: 20%;} + .indent25 { margin-left: 25%;} + .indent30 { margin-left: 30%;} + .indent35 { margin-left: 35%;} + .indent40 { margin-left: 40%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; right: 1%; font-size: 0.6em; + font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; + text-align: right; background-color: #FFFACD; + border: 1px solid; padding: 0.3em;text-indent: 0em;} + .side { float: left; font-size: 75%; width: 15%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + .head { float: left; font-size: 90%; width: 98%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + p.pfirst, p.noindent {text-indent: 0} + span.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.1em 0 0; line-height: 0.8 } + pre { font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: italic; font-size: 100%; margin-left: 10%;} +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Writings of John Burroughs, by John Burroughs +(#8 in our series by John Burroughs) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Writings of John Burroughs + +Author: John Burroughs + +Release Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7441] +[This file was first posted on April 30, 2003] +Last Updated: February 4, 2019 + + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE WRITINGS OF JOHN BURROUGHS *** + + + + +Etext produced by Jack Eden + +HTML file produced by David Widger + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + PEPACTON + </h1> + <h3> + THE WRITINGS OF JOHN BURROUGHS + </h3> + <h3> + VOL. V + </h3> + <h2> + By John Burroughs + </h2> + <hr /> + <p> + <b>CONTENTS</b> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> <b>PEPACTON</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> I. — A SUMMER VOYAGE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> II. — SPRINGS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> III. — AN IDYL OF THE HONEY-BEE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> IV. — NATURE AND THE POETS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> V. — NOTES BY THE WAY </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> VI. — FOOTPATHS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> VII. — A BUNCH OF HERBS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> VIII. — WINTER PICTURES </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> INDEX </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PREFACE + </h2> + <p> + I HAVE all the more pleasure in calling my book after the title of the + first chapter, "Pepacton," because this is the Indian name of my native + stream. In its watershed I was born and passed my youth, and here on its + banks my kindred sleep. Here, also, I have gathered much of the harvest, + poor though it be, that I have put in this and in previous volumes of my + writings. + </p> + <p> + The term "Pepacton" is said to mean "marriage of the waters;" and with + this significance it suits my purpose well, as this book is also a union + of many currents. + </p> + <p> + The Pepacton rises in a deep cleft or gorge in the mountains, the scenery + of which is of the wildest and ruggedest character. For a mile or more + there is barely room for the road and the creek at the bottom of the + chasm. On either hand the mountains, interrupted by shelving, overhanging + precipices, rise abruptly to a great height. About half a century ago a + pious Scotch family, just arrived in this country, came through this + gorge. One of the little boys, gazing upon the terrible desolation of the + scene, so unlike in its savage and inhuman aspects anything he had ever + seen at home, nestled close to his mother, and asked with bated breath, + "Mither, is there a God here?" + </p> + <p> + Yet the Pepacton is a placid current, especially in its upper portions, + where my youth fell; but all its tributaries are swift mountain brooks fed + by springs the best in the world. It drains a high pastoral country lifted + into long, round-backed hills and rugged, wooded ranges by the subsiding + impulse of the Catskill range of mountains, and famous for its superior + dairy and other farm products. It is many long years since, with the + restlessness of youth, I broke away from the old ties amid those hills; + but my heart has always been there, and why should I not come back and + name one of my books for the old stream? + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <p> + </p> + <h2> + PEPACTON + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <p> + </p> + <h2> + I. — A SUMMER VOYAGE + </h2> + <p> + </p> + <p> + WHEN one summer day I bethought me of a voyage down the east or Pepacton + branch of the Delaware, I seemed to want some excuse for the start, some + send-off, some preparation, to give the enterprise genesis and head. This + I found in building my own boat. It was a happy thought. How else should I + have got under way, how else should I have raised the breeze? The + boat-building warmed the blood; it made the germ take; it whetted my + appetite for the voyage. There is nothing like serving an apprenticeship + to fortune, like earning the right to your tools. In most enterprises the + temptation is always to begin too far along; we want to start where + somebody else leaves off. Go back to the stump, and see what an impetus + you get. Those fishermen who wind their own flies before they go + a-fishing,—how they bring in the trout; and those hunters who run + their own bullets or make their own cartridges,— the game is already + mortgaged to them. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + When my boat was finished—and it was a very simple affair—I + was as eager as a boy to be off; I feared the river would all run by + before I could wet her bottom in it. This enthusiasm begat great + expectations of the trip. I should surely surprise Nature and win some new + secrets from her. I should glide down noiselessly upon her and see what + all those willow screens and baffling curves concealed. As a fisherman and + pedestrian I had been able to come at the stream only at certain points: + now the most private and secluded retreats of the nymph would be opened to + me; every bend and eddy, every cove hedged in by swamps or passage walled + in by high alders, would be at the beck of my paddle. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Whom shall one take with him when he goes a-courting Nature? This is + always a vital question. There are persons who will stand between you and + that which you seek: they obtrude themselves; they monopolize your + attention; they blunt your sense of the shy, half- revealed intelligences + about you. I want for companion a dog or a boy, or a person who has the + virtues of dogs and boys,— transparency, good-nature, curiosity, + open sense, and a nameless quality that is akin to trees and growths and + the inarticulate forces of nature. With him you are alone, and yet have + company; you are free; you feel no disturbing element; the influences of + nature stream through him and around him; he is a good conductor of the + subtle fluid. The quality or qualification I refer to belongs to most + persons who spend their lives in the open air,—to soldiers, hunters, + fishers, laborers, and to artists and poets of the right sort. How full of + it, to choose an illustrious example, was such a man as Walter Scott! + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + But no such person came in answer to my prayer, so I set out alone. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + It was fit that I put my boat into the water at Arkville, but it may seem + a little incongruous that I should launch her into Dry Brook; yet Dry + Brook is here a fine large trout stream, and I soon found its waters were + wet enough for all practical purposes. The Delaware is only one mile + distant, and I chose this as the easiest road from the station to it. A + young farmer helped me carry the boat to the water, but did not stay to + see me off; only some calves feeding alongshore witnessed my embarkation. + It would have been a godsend to boys, but there were no boys about. I + stuck on a rift before I had gone ten yards, and saw with misgiving the + paint transferred from the bottom of my little scow to the tops of the + stones thus early in the journey. But I was soon making fair headway, and + taking trout for my dinner as I floated along. My first mishap was when I + broke the second joint of my rod on a bass, and the first serious + impediment to my progress was when I encountered the trunk of a prostrate + elm bridging the stream within a few inches of the surface. My rod mended + and the elm cleared, I anticipated better sailing when I should reach the + Delaware itself; but I found on this day and on subsequent days that the + Delaware has a way of dividing up that is very embarrassing to the + navigator. It is a stream of many minds: its waters cannot long agree to + go all in the same channel, and whichever branch I took I was pretty sure + to wish I had taken one of the others. I was constantly sticking on rifts, + where I would have to dismount, or running full tilt into willow banks, + where I would lose my hat or endanger my fishing-tackle. On the whole, the + result of my first day's voyaging was not encouraging. I made barely eight + miles, and my ardor was a good deal dampened, to say nothing about my + clothing. In mid-afternoon I went to a well-to-do-looking farmhouse and + got some milk, which I am certain the thrifty housewife skimmed, for its + blueness infected my spirits, and I went into camp that night more than + half persuaded to abandon the enterprise in the morning. The loneliness of + the river, too, unlike that of the fields and woods, to which I was more + accustomed, oppressed me. In the woods, things are close to you, and you + touch them and seem to interchange something with them; but upon the + river, even though it be a narrow and shallow one like this, you are more + isolated, farther removed from the soil and its attractions, and an easier + prey to the unsocial demons. The long, unpeopled vistas ahead; the still, + dark eddies; the endless monotone and soliloquy of the stream; the + unheeding rocks basking like monsters along the shore, half out of the + water, half in; a solitary heron starting up here and there, as you + rounded some point, and flapping disconsolately ahead till lost to view, + or standing like a gaunt spectre on the umbrageous side of the mountain, + his motionless form revealed against the dark green as you passed; the + trees and willows and alders that hemmed you in on either side, and hid + the fields and the farmhouses and the road that ran near by,—these + things and others aided the skimmed milk to cast a gloom over my spirits + that argued ill for the success of my undertaking. Those rubber boots, + too, that parboiled my feet and were clogs of lead about them,—whose + spirits are elastic enough to endure them? A malediction upon the head of + him who invented them! Take your old shoes, that will let the water in and + let it out again, rather than stand knee-deep all day in these + extinguishers. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I escaped from the river, that first night, and took to the woods, and + profited by the change. In the woods I was at home again, and the bed of + hemlock boughs salved my spirits. A cold spring run came down off the + mountain, and beside it, underneath birches and hemlocks, I improvised my + hearthstone. In sleeping on the ground it is a great advantage to have a + back-log; it braces and supports you, and it is a bedfellow that will not + grumble when, in the middle of the night, you crowd sharply up against it. + It serves to keep in the warmth, also. A heavy stone or other point DE + RÉSISTANCE at your feet is also a help. Or, better still, scoop out a + little place in the earth, a few inches deep, so as to admit your body + from your hips to your shoulders; you thus get an equal bearing the whole + length of you. I am told the Western hunters and guides do this. On the + same principle, the sand makes a good bed, and the snow. You make a mould + in which you fit nicely. My berth that night was between two logs that the + bark-peelers had stripped ten or more years before. As they had left the + bark there, and as hemlock bark makes excellent fuel, I had more reasons + than one to be grateful to them. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In the morning I felt much refreshed, and as if the night had tided me + over the bar that threatened to stay my progress. If I can steer clear of + skimmed milk, I said, I shall now finish the voyage of fifty miles to + Hancock with increasing pleasure. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + When one breaks camp in the morning, he turns back again and again to see + what he has left. Surely, he feels, he has forgotten something; what is + it? But it is only his own sad thoughts and musings he has left, the + fragment of his life he has lived there. Where he hung his coat on the + tree, where he slept on the boughs, where he made his coffee or broiled + his trout over the coals, where he drank again and again at the little + brown pool in the spring run, where he looked long and long up into the + whispering branches overhead, he has left what he cannot bring away with + him,—the flame and the ashes of himself. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Of certain game-birds it is thought that at times they have the power of + withholding their scent; no hint or particle of themselves goes out upon + the air. I think there are persons whose spiritual pores are always sealed + up, and I presume they have the best time of it. Their hearts never + radiate into the void; they do not yearn and sympathize without return; + they do not leave themselves by the wayside as the sheep leaves her wool + upon the brambles and thorns. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + This branch of the Delaware, so far as I could learn, had never before + been descended by a white man in a boat. Rafts of pine and hemlock timber + are run down on the spring and fall freshets, but of pleasure-seekers in + boats I appeared to be the first. Hence my advent was a surprise to most + creatures in the water and out. I surprised the cattle in the field, and + those ruminating leg-deep in the water turned their heads at my approach, + swallowed their unfinished cuds, and scampered off as if they had seen a + spectre. I surprised the fish on their spawning-beds and feeding-grounds; + they scattered, as my shadow glided down upon them, like chickens when a + hawk appears. I surprised an ancient fisherman seated on a spit of + gravelly beach, with his back upstream, and leisurely angling in a deep, + still eddy, and mumbling to himself. As I slid into the circle of his + vision his grip on the pole relaxed, his jaw dropped, and he was too + bewildered to reply to my salutation for some moments. As I turned a bend + in the river I looked back, and saw him hastening away with great + precipitation. I presume he had angled there for forty years without + having his privacy thus intruded upon. I surprised hawks and herons and + kingfishers. I came suddenly upon muskrats, and raced with them down the + rifts, they having no time to take to their holes. At one point, as I + rounded an elbow in the stream, a black eagle sprang from the top of a + dead tree, and flapped hurriedly away. A kingbird gave chase, and + disappeared for some moments in the gulf between the great wings of the + eagle, and I imagined him seated upon his back delivering his puny blows + upon the royal bird. I interrupted two or three minks fishing and hunting + alongshore. They would dart under the bank when they saw me, then + presently thrust out their sharp, weasel-like noses, to see if the danger + was imminent. At one point, in a little cove behind the willows, I + surprised some schoolgirls, with skirts amazingly abbreviated, wading and + playing in the water. And as much surprised as any, I am sure, was that + hard-worked-looking housewife, when I came up from under the bank in front + of her house, and with pail in hand appeared at her door and asked for + milk, taking the precaution to intimate that I had no objection to the + yellow scum that is supposed to rise on a fresh article of that kind. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "What kind of milk do you want?" + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "The best you have. Give me two quarts of it," I replied. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "What do you want to do with it?" with an anxious tone, as if I might want + to blow up something or burn her barns with it. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Oh, drink it," I answered, as if I frequently put milk to that use. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Well, I suppose I can get you some;" and she presently reappeared with + swimming pail, with those little yellow flakes floating about upon it that + one likes to see. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I passed several low dams the second day, but had no trouble. I dismounted + and stood upon the apron, and the boat, with plenty of line, came over as + lightly as a chip, and swung around in the eddy below like a steed that + knows its master. In the afternoon, while slowly drifting down a long + eddy, the moist southwest wind brought me the welcome odor of + strawberries, and running ashore by a meadow, a short distance below, I + was soon parting the daisies and filling my cup with the dead-ripe fruit. + Berries, be they red, blue, or black, seem like a special providence to + the camper-out; they are luxuries he has not counted on, and I prized + these accordingly. Later in the day it threatened rain, and I drew up to + shore under the shelter of some thick overhanging hemlocks, and proceeded + to eat my berries and milk, glad of an excuse not to delay my lunch + longer. While tarrying here I heard young voices upstream, and looking in + that direction saw two boys coming down the rapids on rude floats. They + were racing along at a lively pace, each with a pole in his hand, + dexterously avoiding the rocks and the breakers, and schooling themselves + thus early in the duties and perils of the raftsmen. As they saw me one + observed to the other, — + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "There is the man we saw go by when we were building our floats. If we had + known he was coming so far, maybe we could have got him to give us a + ride." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + They drew near, guided their crafts to shore beside me, and tied up, their + poles answering for hawsers. They proved to be Johnny and Denny Dwire, + aged ten and twelve. They were friendly boys, and though not a bit bashful + were not a bit impertinent. And Johnny, who did the most of the talking, + had such a sweet, musical voice; it was like a bird's. It seems Denny had + run away, a day or two before, to his uncle's, five miles above, and + Johnny had been after him, and was bringing his prisoner home on a float; + and it was hard to tell which was enjoying the fun most, the captor or the + captured. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Why did you run away?" said I to Denny. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Oh, 'cause," replied he, with an air which said plainly, "The reasons are + too numerous to mention." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Boys, you know, will do so, sometimes," said Johnny, and he smiled upon + his brother in a way that made me think they had a very good understanding + upon the subject. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + They could both swim, yet their floats looked very perilous,—three + pieces of old plank or slabs, with two cross-pieces and a fragment of a + board for a rider, and made without nails or withes. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "In some places," said Johnny, "one plank was here and another off there, + but we managed, somehow, to keep atop of them." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Let's leave our floats here, and ride with him the rest of the way," said + one to the other. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "All right; may we, mister? " + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I assented, and we were soon afloat again. How they enjoyed the passage; + how smooth it was; how the boat glided along; how quickly she felt the + paddle! They admired her much; they praised my steersmanship; they praised + my fish-pole and all my fixings down to my hateful rubber boots. When we + stuck on the rifts, as we did several times, they leaped out quickly, with + their bare feet and legs, and pushed us off. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "I think," said Johnny, "if you keep her straight and let her have her own + way, she will find the deepest water. Don't you, Denny?" + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "I think she will," replied Denny; and I found the boys were pretty nearly + right. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I tried them on a point of natural history. I had observed, coming along, + a great many dead eels lying on the bottom of the river, that I supposed + had died from spear wounds. "No," said Johnny, "they are lamper eels. They + die as soon as they have built their nests and laid their eggs." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Are you sure?" + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "That's what they all say, and I know they are lampers." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + So I fished one up out of the deep water with my paddle-blade and examined + it; and sure enough it was a lamprey. There was the row of holes along its + head, and its ugly suction mouth. I had noticed their nests, too, all + along, where the water in the pools shallowed to a few feet and began to + hurry toward the rifts: they were low mounds of small stones, as if a + bushel or more of large pebbles had been dumped upon the river bottom; + occasionally they were so near the surface as to make a big ripple. The + eel attaches itself to the stones by its mouth, and thus moves them at + will. An old fisherman told me that a strong man could not pull a large + lamprey loose from a rock to which it had attached itself. It fastens to + its prey in this way, and sucks the life out. A friend of mine says he + once saw in the St. Lawrence a pike as long as his arm with a lamprey eel + attached to him. The fish was nearly dead and was quite white, the eel had + so sucked out his blood and substance. The fish, when seized, darts + against rocks and stones, and tries in vain to rub the eel off, then + succumbs to the sucker. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "The lampers do not all die," said Denny, "because they do not all spawn;" + and I observed that the dead ones were all of one size and doubtless of + the same age. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The lamprey is the octopus, the devil-fish, of these waters, and there is, + perhaps, no tragedy enacted here that equals that of one of these vampires + slowly sucking the life out of a bass or a trout. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + My boys went to school part of the time. Did they have a good teacher? + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Good enough for me," said Johnny. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Good enough for me," echoed Denny. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Just below Bark-a-boom—the name is worth keeping—they left me. + I was loath to part with them; their musical voices and their thorough + good-fellowship had been very acceptable. With a little persuasion, I + think they would have left their home and humble fortunes, and gone + a-roving with me. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + About four o'clock the warm, vapor-laden southwest wind brought forth the + expected thunder-shower. I saw the storm rapidly developing behind the + mountains in my front. Presently I came in sight of a long covered wooden + bridge that spanned the river about a mile ahead, and I put my paddle into + the water with all my force to reach this cover before the storm. It was + neck and neck most of the way. The storm had the wind, and I had it—in + my teeth. The bridge was at Shavertown, and it was by a close shave that I + got under it before the rain was upon me. How it poured and rattled and + whipped in around the abutment of the bridge to reach me! I looked out + well satisfied upon the foaming water, upon the wet, unpainted houses and + barns of the Shavertowners, and upon the trees, + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Caught and cuffed by the gale." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Another traveler—the spotted-winged nighthawk—was also roughly + used by the storm. He faced it bravely, and beat and beat, but was unable + to stem it, or even hold his own; gradually he drifted back, till he was + lost to sight in the wet obscurity. The water in the river rose an inch + while I waited, about three quarters of an hour. Only one man, I reckon, + saw me in Shavertown, and he came and gossiped with me from the bank above + when the storm had abated. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The second night I stopped at the sign of the elm-tree. The woods were too + wet, and I concluded to make my boat my bed. A superb elm, on a smooth + grassy plain a few feet from the water's edge, looked hospitable in the + twilight, and I drew my boat up beneath it. I hung my clothes on the + jagged edges of its rough bark, and went to bed with the moon, "in her + third quarter," peeping under the branches upon me. I had been reading + Stevenson's amusing "Travels with a Donkey," and the lines he pretends to + quote from an old play kept running in my head:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'The bed was made, the room was fit, + By punctual eve the stars were lit; + The air was sweet, the water ran; + No need was there for maid or man, + When we put up, my ass and I, + At God's green caravanserai." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + But the stately elm played me a trick: it slyly and at long intervals let + great drops of water down upon me, now with a sharp smack upon my rubber + coat; then with a heavy thud upon the seat in the bow or stern of my boat; + then plump into my upturned ear, or upon my uncovered arm, or with a ring + into my tin cup, or with a splash into my coffee-pail that stood at my + side full of water from a spring I had just passed. After two hours' trial + I found dropping off to sleep, under such circumstances, was out of the + question; so I sprang up, in no very amiable mood toward my host, and drew + my boat clean from under the elm. I had refreshing slumber thenceforth, + and the birds were astir in the morning long before I was. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + There is one way, at least, in which the denuding the country of its + forests has lessened the rainfall: in certain conditions of the atmosphere + every tree is a great condenser of moisture, as I had just observed in the + case of the old elm; little showers are generated in their branches, and + in the aggregate the amount of water precipitated in this way is + considerable. Of a foggy summer morning one may see little puddles of + water standing on the stones beneath maple-trees, along the street; and in + winter, when there is a sudden change from cold to warm, with fog, the + water fairly runs down the trunks of the trees, and streams from their + naked branches. The temperature of the tree is so much below that of the + atmosphere in such cases that the condensation is very rapid. In lieu of + these arboreal rains we have the dew upon the grass, but it is doubtful if + the grass ever drips as does a tree. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The birds, I say, were astir in the morning before I was, and some of them + were more wakeful through the night, unless they sing in their dreams. At + this season one may hear at intervals numerous bird voices during the + night. The whip-poor-will was piping when I lay down, and I still heard + one when I woke up after midnight. I heard the song sparrow and the + kingbird also, like watchers calling the hour, and several times I heard + the cuckoo. Indeed, I am convinced that our cuckoo is to a considerable + extent a night bird, and that he moves about freely from tree to tree. His + peculiar guttural note, now here, now there, may be heard almost any + summer night, in any part of the country, and occasionally his better + known cuckoo call. He is a great recluse by day, but seems to wander + abroad freely by night. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The birds do indeed begin with the day. The farmer who is in the field at + work while he can yet see stars catches their first matin hymns. In the + longest June days the robin strikes up about half- past three o'clock, and + is quickly followed by the song sparrow, the oriole, the catbird, the + wren, the wood thrush, and all the rest of the tuneful choir. Along the + Potomac I have heard the Virginia cardinal whistle so loudly and + persistently in the tree- tops above, that sleeping after four o'clock was + out of the question. Just before the sun is up, there is a marked lull, + during which, I imagine, the birds are at breakfast. While building their + nest, it is very early in the morning that they put in their big strokes; + the back of their day's work is broken before you have begun yours. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + A lady once asked me if there was any individuality among the birds, or if + those of the same kind were as near alike as two peas. I was obliged to + answer that to the eye those of the same species were as near alike as two + peas, but that in their songs there were often marks of originality. Caged + or domesticated birds develop notes and traits of their own, and among the + more familiar orchard and garden birds one may notice the same tendency. I + observe a great variety of songs, and even qualities of voice, among the + orioles and among the song sparrows. On this trip my ear was especially + attracted to some striking and original sparrow songs. At one point I was + half afraid I had let pass an opportunity to identify a new warbler, but + finally concluded it was a song sparrow. On another occasion I used to + hear day after day a sparrow that appeared to have some organic defect in + its voice: part of its song was scarcely above a whisper, as if the bird + was suffering from a very bad cold. I have heard a bobolink and a hermit + thrush with similar defects of voice. I have heard a robin with a part of + the whistle of the quail in his song. It was out of time and out of tune, + but the robin seemed insensible of the incongruity, and sang as loudly and + as joyously as any of his mates. A catbird will sometimes show a special + genius for mimicry, and I have known one to suggest very plainly some + notes of the bobolink. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + There are numerous long covered bridges spanning the Delaware, and under + some of these I saw the cliff swallow at home, the nests being fastened to + the under sides of the timbers,—as it were, suspended from the + ceiling instead of being planted upon the shelving or perpendicular side, + as is usual with them. To have laid the foundation, indeed, to have sprung + the vault downward and finished it successfully, must have required + special engineering skill. I had never before seen or heard of these nests + being so placed. But birds are quick to adjust their needs to the + exigencies of any case. Not long before, I had seen in a deserted house, + on the head of the Rondout, the chimney swallows entering the chamber + through a stove-pipe hole in the roof, and gluing their nests to the sides + of the rafters, like the barn swallows. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I was now, on the third day, well down in the wilds of Colchester, with a + current that made between two and three miles an hour,—just a summer + idler's pace. The atmosphere of the river had improved much since the + first day,—was, indeed, without taint,—and the water was sweet + and good. There were farmhouses at intervals of a mile or so; but the + amount of tillable land in the river valley or on the adjacent mountains + was very small. Occasionally there would be forty or fifty acres of flat, + usually in grass or corn, with a thrifty-looking farmhouse. One could see + how surely the land made the house and its surrounding; good land bearing + good buildings, and poor land poor + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In mid-forenoon I reached the long placid eddy at Downsville, and here + again fell in with two boys. They were out paddling about in a boat when I + drew near, and they evidently regarded me in the light of a rare prize + which fortune had wafted them. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Ain't you glad we come, Benny?" I heard one of them observe to the other, + as they were conducting me to the best place to land. They were bright, + good boys, off the same piece as my acquaintances of the day before, and + about the same ages,— differing only in being village boys. With + what curiosity they looked me over! Where had I come from; where was I + going; how long had I been on the way; who built my boat; was I a + carpenter, to build such a neat craft, etc.? They never had seen such a + traveler before. Had I had no mishaps? And then they bethought them of the + dangerous passes that awaited me, and in good faith began to warn and + advise me. They had heard the tales of raftsmen, and had conceived a vivid + idea of the perils of the river below, gauging their notions of it from + the spring and fall freshets tossing about the heavy and cumbrous rafts. + There was a whirlpool, a rock eddy, and a binocle within a mile. I might + be caught in the binocle, or engulfed in the whirlpool, or smashed up in + the eddy. But I felt much reassured when they told me I had already passed + several whirlpools and rock eddies; but that terrible binocle,—what + was that? I had never heard of such a monster. Oh, it was a still, miry + place at the head of a big eddy. The current might carry me up there, but + I could easily get out again; the rafts did. But there was another place I + must beware of, where two eddies faced each other; raftsmen were sometimes + swept off there by the oars and drowned. And when I came to rock eddy, + which I would know, because the river divided there (a part of the water + being afraid to risk the eddy, I suppose), I must go ashore and survey the + pass; but in any case it would be prudent to keep to the left. I might + stick on the rift, but that was nothing to being wrecked upon those rocks. + The boys were quite in earnest, and I told them I would walk up to the + village and post some letters to my friends before I braved all these + dangers. So they marched me up the street, pointing out to their chums + what they had found. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Going way to Phil— What place is that near where the river goes + into the sea?" + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Philadelphia?" + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Yes; thinks he may go way there. Won't he have fun?" + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The boys escorted me about the town, then back to the river, and got in + their boat and came down to the bend, where they could see me go through + the whirlpool and pass the binocle (I am not sure about the orthography of + the word, but I suppose it means a double, or a sort of mock eddy). I + looked back as I shot over the rough current beside a gentle vortex, and + saw them watching me with great interest. Rock eddy, also, was quite + harmless, and I passed it without any preliminary survey. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I nooned at Sodom, and found good milk in a humble cottage. In the + afternoon I was amused by a great blue heron that kept flying up in + advance of me. Every mile or so, as I rounded some point, I would come + unexpectedly upon him, till finally he grew disgusted with my silent + pursuit, and took a long turn to the left up along the side of the + mountain, and passed back up the river, uttering a hoarse, low note. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The wind still boded rain, and about four o'clock, announced by deep-toned + thunder and portentous clouds, it began to charge down the mountain-side + in front of me. I ran ashore, covered my traps, and took my way up through + an orchard to a quaint little farmhouse. But there was not a soul about, + outside or in, that I could find, though the door was unfastened; so I + went into an open shed with the hens, and lounged upon some straw, while + the unloosed floods came down. It was better than boating or fishing. + Indeed, there are few summer pleasures to be placed before that of + reclining at ease directly under a sloping roof, after toil or travel in + the hot sun, and looking out into the rain-drenched air and fields. It is + such a vital yet soothing spectacle. We sympathize with the earth. We know + how good a bath is, and the unspeakable deliciousness of water to a + parched tongue. The office of the sunshine is slow, subtle, occult, + unsuspected; but when the clouds do their work, the benefaction is so + palpable and copious, so direct and wholesale, that all creatures take + note of it, and for the most part rejoice in it. It is a completion, a + consummation, a paying of a debt with a royal hand; the measure is heaped + and overflowing. It was the simple vapor of water that the clouds borrowed + of the earth; now they pay back more than water: the drops are charged + with electricity and with the gases of the air, and have new solvent + powers. Then, how the slate is sponged off, and left all clean and new + again! + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In the shed where I was sheltered were many relics and odds and ends of + the farm. In juxtaposition with two of the most stalwart wagon or truck + wheels I ever looked upon was a cradle of ancient and peculiar make,—an + aristocratic cradle, with high-turned posts and an elaborately carved and + moulded body, that was suspended upon rods and swung from the top. How I + should have liked to hear its history and the story of the lives it had + rocked, as the rain sang and the boughs tossed without! Above it was the + cradle of a phÂœbe- bird saddled upon a stick that ran behind the rafter; + its occupants had not flown, and its story was easy to read. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Soon after the first shock of the storm was over, and before I could see + breaking sky, the birds tuned up with new ardor,—the robin, the + indigo-bird, the purple finch, the song sparrow, and in the meadow below + the bobolink. The cockerel near me followed suit, and repeated his refrain + till my meditations were so disturbed that I was compelled to eject him + from the cover, albeit he had the best right there. But he crowed his + defiance with drooping tail from the yard in front. I, too, had mentally + crowed over the good fortune of the shower; but before I closed my eyes + that night my crest was a good deal fallen, and I could have wished the + friendly elements had not squared their accounts quite so readily and + uproariously. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The one shower did not exhaust the supply a bit; Nature's hand was full of + trumps yet,—yea, and her sleeve too. I stopped at a trout brook, + which came down out of the mountains on the right, and took a few trout + for my supper; but its current was too roily from the shower for + fly-fishing. Another farmhouse attracted me, but there was no one at home; + so I picked a quart of strawberries in the meadow in front, not minding + the wet grass, and about six o'clock, thinking another storm that had been + threatening on my right had miscarried, I pushed off, and went floating + down into the deepening gloom of the river valley. The mountains, densely + wooded from base to summit, shut in the view on every hand. They cut in + from the right and from the left, one ahead of the other, matching like + the teeth of an enormous trap; the river was caught and bent, but not long + detained, by them. Presently I saw the rain creeping slowly over them in + my rear, for the wind had changed; but I apprehended nothing but a + moderate sundown drizzle, such as we often get from the tail end of a + shower, and drew up in the eddy of a big rock under an overhanging tree + till it should have passed. But it did not pass; it thickened and + deepened, and reached a steady pour by the time I had calculated the sun + would be gilding the mountain-tops. I had wrapped my rubber coat about my + blankets and groceries, and bared my back to the storm. In sullen silence + I saw the night settling down and the rain increasing; my roof-tree gave + way, and every leaf poured its accumulated drops upon me. There were + streams and splashes where before there had been little more than a mist. + I was getting well soaked and uncomplimentary in my remarks on the + weather. A saucy catbird, near by, flirted and squealed very plainly, + "There! there! What did I tell you! what did I tell you! Pretty pickle! + pretty pickle! pretty pickle to be in!" But I had been in worse pickles, + though if the water had been salt, my pickling had been pretty thorough. + Seeing the wind was in the northeast, and that the weather had fairly + stolen a march on me, I let go my hold of the tree, and paddled rapidly to + the opposite shore, which was low and pebbly, drew my boat up on a little + peninsula, turned her over upon a spot which I cleared of its coarser + stone, propped up one end with the seat, and crept beneath. I would now + test the virtues of my craft as a roof, and I found she was without flaw, + though she was pretty narrow. The tension of her timber was such that the + rain upon her bottom made a low, musical hum. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Crouched on my blankets and boughs,—for I had gathered a good supply + of the latter before the rain overtook me,—and dry only about my + middle, I placidly took life as it came. A great blue heron flew by, and + let off something like ironical horse laughter. Before it became dark I + proceeded to eat my supper,—my berries, but not my trout. What a + fuss we make about the "hulls" upon strawberries! We are hypercritical; we + may yet be glad to dine off the hulls alone. Some people see something to + pick and carp at in every good that comes to them; I was thankful that I + had the berries, and resolutely ignored their little scalloped ruffles, + which I found pleased the eye and did not disturb the palate. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + When bedtime arrived, I found undressing a little awkward, my berth was so + low; there was plenty of room in the aisle, and the other passengers were + nowhere to be seen, but I did not venture out. It rained nearly all night, + but the train made good speed, and reached the land of daybreak nearly on + time. The water in the river had crept up during the night to within a few + inches of my boat, but I rolled over and took another nap, all the same. + Then I arose, had a delicious bath in the sweet, swift-running current, + and turned my thoughts toward breakfast. The making of the coffee was the + only serious problem. With everything soaked and a fine rain still + falling, how shall one build a fire? I made my way to a little island + above in quest of driftwood. Before I had found the wood I chanced upon + another patch of delicious wild strawberries, and took an appetizer of + them out of hand. Presently I picked up a yellow birch stick the size of + my arm. The wood was decayed, but the bark was perfect. I broke it in two, + punched out the rotten wood, and had the bark intact. The fatty or + resinous substance in this bark preserves it, and makes it excellent + kindling. With some seasoned twigs and a scrap of paper I soon had a fire + going that answered my every purpose. More berries were picked while the + coffee was brewing, and the breakfast was a success. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The camper-out often finds himself in what seems a distressing predicament + to people seated in their snug, well-ordered houses; but there is often a + real satisfaction when things come to their worst,—a satisfaction in + seeing what a small matter it is, after all; that one is really neither + sugar nor salt, to be afraid of the wet; and that life is just as well + worth living beneath a scow or a dug-out as beneath the highest and + broadest roof in Christendom. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + By ten o'clock it became necessary to move, on account of the rise of the + water, and as the rain had abated, I picked up and continued my journey. + Before long, however, the rain increased again, and I took refuge in a + barn. The snug, tree-embowered farmhouse looked very inviting, just across + the road from the barn; but as no one was about, and no faces appeared at + the window that I might judge of the inmates, I contented myself with the + hospitality the barn offered, filling my pockets with some dry birch + shavings I found there where the farmer had made an ox-yoke, against the + needs of the next kindling. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + After an hour's detention I was off again. I stopped at Baxter's Brook, + which flows hard by the classic hamlet of Harvard, and tried for trout, + but with poor success, as I did not think it worth while to go far + upstream. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + At several points I saw rafts of hemlock lumber tied to the shore, ready + to take advantage of the first freshet. Rafting is an important industry + for a hundred miles or more along the Delaware. The lumbermen sometimes + take their families or friends, and have a jollification all the way to + Trenton or to Philadelphia. In some places the speed is very great, almost + equaling that of an express train. The passage of such places as Cochecton + Falls and "Foul Rift" is attended with no little danger. The raft is + guided by two immense oars, one before and one behind. I frequently saw + these huge implements in the driftwood alongshore, suggesting some + colossal race of men. The raftsmen have names of their own. From the upper + Delaware, where I had set in, small rafts are run down which they call + "colts." They come frisking down at a lively pace. At Hancock they usually + couple two rafts together, when I suppose they have a span of colts; or do + two colts make one horse? Some parts of the framework of the raft they + call "grubs;" much depends upon these grubs. The lumbermen were and are a + hardy, virile race. The Hon. Charles Knapp, of Deposit, now eighty-three + years of age, but with the look and step of a man of sixty, told me he had + stood nearly all one December day in the water to his waist, + reconstructing his raft, which had gone to pieces on the head of an + island. Mr. Knapp had passed the first half of his life in Colchester and + Hancock, and, although no sportsman, had once taken part in a great bear + hunt there. The bear was an enormous one, and was hard pressed by a gang + of men and dogs. Their muskets and assaults upon the beast with clubs had + made no impression. Mr. Knapp saw where the bear was coming, and he + thought he would show them how easy it was to dispatch a bear with a club, + if you only knew where to strike. He had seen how quickly the largest hog + would wilt beneath a slight blow across the "small of the back." So, armed + with an immense handspike, he took up a position by a large rock that the + bear must pass. On she came, panting and nearly exhausted, and at the + right moment down came the club with great force upon the small of her + back. "If a fly had alighted upon her," said Mr. Knapp, "I think she would + have paid just as much attention to it as she did to me." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Early in the afternoon I encountered another boy, Henry Ingersoll, who was + so surprised by my sudden and unwonted appearance that he did not know + east from west. "Which way is west?" I inquired, to see if my own head was + straight on the subject. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "That way," he said, indicating east within a few degrees. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "You are wrong," I replied. "Where does the sun rise?" + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "There," he said, pointing almost in the direction he had pointed before. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "But does not the sun rise in the east here as well as elsewhere?" I + rejoined. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Well, they call that west, anyhow." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + But Henry's needle was subjected to a disturbing influence just then. His + house was near the river, and he was its sole guardian and keeper for the + time; his father had gone up to the next neighbor's (it was Sunday), and + his sister had gone with the schoolmistress down the road to get black + birch. He came out in the road, with wide eyes, to view me as I passed, + when I drew rein, and demanded the points of the compass, as above. Then I + shook my sooty pail at him and asked for milk. Yes, I could have some + milk, but I would have to wait till his sister came back; after he had + recovered a little, he concluded he could get it. He came for my pail, and + then his boyish curiosity appeared. My story interested him immensely. He + had seen twelve summers, but he had been only four miles from home up and + down the river : he had been down to the East Branch, and he had been up + to Trout Brook. He took a pecuniary interest in me. What did my pole cost? + What my rubber coat, and what my revolver? The latter he must take in his + hand; he had never seen such a thing to shoot with before in HIS life, + etc. He thought I might make the trip cheaper and easier by stage and by + the cars. He went to school: there were six scholars in summer, one or two + more in winter. The population is not crowded in the town of Hancock, + certainly, and never will be. The people live close to the bone, as + Thoreau would say, or rather close to the stump. Many years ago the young + men there resolved upon having a ball. They concluded not to go to a + hotel, on account of the expense, and so chose a private house. There was + a man in the neighborhood who could play the fife; he offered to furnish + the music for seventy-five cents. But this was deemed too much, so one of + the party agreed to whistle. History does not tell how many beaux there + were bent upon this reckless enterprise, but there were three girls. For + refreshments they bought a couple of gallons of whiskey and a few pounds + of sugar. When the spree was over, and the expenses were reckoned up, + there was a shilling—a York shilling— apiece to pay. Some of + the revelers were dissatisfied with this charge, and intimated that the + managers had not counted themselves in, but taxed the whole expense upon + the rest of the party. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + As I moved on, I saw Henry's sister and the schoolmistress picking their + way along the muddy road near the river's bank. One of them saw me, and, + dropping her skirts, said to the other (I could read the motions), "See + that man!" The other lowered her flounces, and looked up and down the + road, then glanced over into the field, and lastly out upon the river. + They paused and had a good look at me, though I could see that their + impulse to run away, like that of a frightened deer, was strong. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + At the East Branch the Big Beaver Kill joins the Delaware, almost doubling + its volume. Here I struck the railroad, the forlorn Midland, and here + another set of men and manners cropped out,—what may be called the + railroad conglomerate overlying this mountain freestone. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Where did you steal that boat?" and "What you running away for?" greeted + me from a handcar that went by. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I paused for some time and watched the fish hawks, or ospreys, of which + there were nearly a dozen sailing about above the junction of the two + streams, squealing and diving, and occasionally striking a fish on the + rifts. I am convinced that the fish hawk sometimes feeds on the wing. I + saw him do it on this and on another occasion. He raises himself by a + peculiar motion, and brings his head and his talons together, and + apparently takes a bite of a fish. While doing this his flight presents a + sharply undulating line; at the crest of each rise the morsel is taken. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In a long, deep eddy under the west shore I came upon a brood of wild + ducks, the hooded merganser. The young were about half grown, but of + course entirely destitute of plumage. They started off at great speed, + kicking the water into foam behind them, the mother duck keeping upon + their flank and rear. Near the outlet of the pool I saw them go ashore, + and I expected they would conceal themselves in the woods; but as I drew + near the place they came out, and I saw by their motions they were going + to make a rush by me upstream. At a signal from the old one, on they came, + and passed within a few feet of me. It was almost incredible, the speed + they made. Their pink feet were like swiftly revolving wheels placed a + little to the rear; their breasts just skimmed the surface, and the water + was beaten into spray behind them. They had no need of wings; even the + mother bird did not use hers; a steamboat could hardly have kept up with + them. I dropped my paddle and cheered. They kept the race up for a long + distance, and I saw them making a fresh spirt as I entered upon the rift + and dropped quickly out of sight. I next disturbed an eagle in his + meditations upon a dead treetop, and a cat sprang out of some weeds near + the foot of the tree. Was he watching for puss, while she was watching for + some smaller prey? + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I passed Partridge Island—which is or used to be the name of a + post-office—unwittingly, and encamped for the night on an island + near Hawk's Point. I slept in my boat on the beach, and in the morning my + locks were literally wet with the dews of the night, and my blankets too; + so I waited for the sun to dry them. As I was gathering driftwood for a + fire, a voice came over from the shadows of the east shore: "Seems to me + you lay abed pretty late!" + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "I call this early," I rejoined, glancing at the sun. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Wall, it may be airly in the forenoon, but it ain't very airly in the + mornin';" a distinction I was forced to admit. Before I had reëmbarked + some cows came down to the shore, and I watched them ford the river to the + island. They did it with great ease and precision. I was told they will + sometimes, during high water, swim over to the islands, striking in well + upstream, and swimming diagonally across. At one point some cattle had + crossed the river, and evidently got into mischief, for a large dog rushed + them down the bank into the current, and worried them all the way over, + part of the time swimming and part of the time leaping very high, as a dog + will in deep snow, coming down with a great splash. The cattle were + shrouded with spray as they ran, and altogether it was a novel picture. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + My voyage ended that forenoon at Hancock, and was crowned by a few idyllic + days with some friends in their cottage in the woods by Lake Oquaga, a + body of crystal water on the hills near Deposit, and a haven as peaceful + and perfect as voyager ever came to port in. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <p> + </p> + <h2> + II. — SPRINGS + </h2> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "I'll show thee the best springs." + —TEMPEST. +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + A MAN who came back to the place of his birth in the East, after an + absence of a quarter of a century in the West, said the one thing he most + desired to see about the old homestead was the spring. This, at least, he + would find unchanged. Here his lost youth would come back to him. The + faces of his father and mother he might not look upon; but the face of the + spring, that had mirrored theirs and his own so oft, he fondly imagined + would beam on him as of old. I can well believe that, in that all but + springless country in which he had cast his lot, the vision, the + remembrance, of the fountain that flowed by his father's doorway, so + prodigal of its precious gifts, had awakened in him the keenest longings + and regrets. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Did he not remember the path, also? for next to the spring itself is the + path that leads to it. Indeed, of all foot-paths, the spring-path is the + most suggestive. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + This is a path with something at the end of it, and the best of good + fortune awaits him who walks therein. It is a well-worn path, and, though + generally up or down a hill, it is the easiest of all paths to travel: we + forget our fatigue when going to the spring, and we have lost it when we + turn to come away. See with what alacrity the laborer hastens along it, + all sweaty from the fields; see the boy or girl running with pitcher or + pail; see the welcome shade of the spreading tree that presides over its + marvelous birth! + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In the woods or on the mountain-side, follow the path and you are pretty + sure to find a spring; all creatures are going that way night and day, and + they make a path. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + A spring is always a vital point in the landscape; it is indeed the eye of + the fields, and how often, too, it has a noble eyebrow in the shape of an + overhanging bank or ledge! Or else its site is marked by some tree which + the pioneer has wisely left standing, and which sheds a coolness and + freshness that make the water more sweet. In the shade of this tree the + harvesters sit and eat their lunch, and look out upon the quivering air of + the fields. Here the Sunday saunterer stops and lounges with his book, and + bathes his hands and face in the cool fountain. Hither the strawberry-girl + comes with her basket and pauses a moment in the green shade. The plowman + leaves his plow, and in long strides approaches the life- renewing spot, + while his team, that cannot follow, look wistfully after him. Here the + cattle love to pass the heat of the day, and hither come the birds to wash + themselves and make their toilets. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Indeed, a spring is always an oasis in the desert of the fields. It is a + creative and generative centre. It attracts all things to itself,—the + grasses, the mosses, the flowers, the wild plants, the great trees. The + walker finds it out, the camping party seek it, the pioneer builds his hut + or his house near it. When the settler or squatter has found a good + spring, he has found a good place to begin life; he has found the + fountain-head of much that he is seeking in this world. The chances are + that he has found a southern and eastern exposure, for it is a fact that + water does not readily flow north; the valleys mostly open the other way; + and it is quite certain he has found a measure of salubrity, for where + water flows fever abideth not. The spring, too, keeps him to the right + belt, out of the low valley, and off the top of the hill. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + When John Winthrop decided upon the site where now stands the city of + Boston, as a proper place for a settlement, he was chiefly attracted by a + large and excellent spring of water that flowed there. The infant city was + born of this fountain. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + There seems a kind of perpetual springtime about the place where water + issues from the ground,—a freshness and a greenness that are ever + renewed. The grass never fades, the ground is never parched or frozen. + There is warmth there in winter and coolness in summer. The temperature is + equalized. In March or April the spring runs are a bright emerald while + the surrounding fields are yet brown and sere, and in fall they are yet + green when the first snow covers them. Thus every fountain by the roadside + is a fountain of youth and of life. This is what the old fables finally + mean. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + An intermittent spring is shallow; it has no deep root, and is like an + inconstant friend. But a perennial spring, one whose ways are appointed, + whose foundation is established, what a profound and beautiful symbol! In + fact, there is no more large and universal symbol in nature than the + spring, if there is any other capable of such wide and various + applications. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + What preparation seems to have been made for it in the conformation of the + ground, even in the deep underlying geological strata! Vast rocks and + ledges are piled for it, or cleft asunder that it may find a way. + Sometimes it is a trickling thread of silver down the sides of a seamed + and scarred precipice. Then again the stratified rock is like a + just-lifted lid, from beneath which the water issues. Or it slips + noiselessly out of a deep dimple in the fields. Occasionally it bubbles up + in the valley, as if forced up by the surrounding hills. Many springs, no + doubt, find an outlet in the beds of the large rivers and lakes, and are + unknown to all but the fishes. They probably find them out and make much + of them. The trout certainly do. Find a place in the creek where a spring + issues, or where it flows into it from a near bank, and you have found a + most likely place for trout. They deposit their spawn there in the fall, + warm their noses there in winter, and cool themselves there in summer. I + have seen the patriarchs of the tribe of an old and much-fished stream, + seven or eight enormous fellows, congregated in such a place. The boys + found it out, and went with a bag and bagged them all. In another place a + trio of large trout, that knew and despised all the arts of the fishermen, + took up their abode in a deep, dark hole in the edge of the wood, that had + a spring flowing into a shallow part of it. In midsummer they were wont to + come out from their safe retreat and bask in the spring, their immense + bodies but a few inches under water. A youth, who had many times vainly + sounded their dark hiding-place with his hook, happening to come along + with his rifle one day, shot the three, one after another, killing them by + the concussion of the bullet on the water immediately over them. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The ocean itself is known to possess springs, copious ones, in many places + the fresh water rising up through the heavier salt as through a rock, and + affording supplies to vessels at the surface. Off the coast of Florida + many of these submarine springs have been discovered, the outlet, + probably, of the streams and rivers that disappear in the "sinks" of that + State. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + It is a pleasant conception, that of the unscientific folk, that the + springs are fed directly by the sea, or that the earth is full of veins or + arteries that connect with the great reservoir of waters. But when science + turns the conception over and makes the connection in the air,—disclosing + the great water-main in the clouds, and that the mighty engine of the + hydraulic system of nature is the sun,—the fact becomes even more + poetical, does it not? This is one of the many cases where science, + instead of curtailing the imagination, makes new and large demands upon + it. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The hills are great sponges that do not and cannot hold the water that is + precipitated upon them, but let it filter through at the bottom. This is + the way the sea has robbed the earth of its various salts, its potash, its + lime, its magnesia, and many other mineral elements. It is found that the + oldest upheavals, those sections of the country that have been longest + exposed to the leeching and washing of the rains, are poorest in those + substances that go to the making of the osseous framework of man and of + the animals. Wheat does not grow well there, and the men born and reared + there are apt to have brittle bones. An important part of those men went + downstream ages before they were born. The water of such sections is now + soft and free from mineral substances, but not more wholesome on that + account. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The gigantic springs of the country that have not been caught in any of + the great natural basins are mostly confined to the limestone region of + the Middle and Southern States,—the valley of Virginia and its + continuation and deflections into Kentucky, Tennessee, northern Alabama, + Georgia, and Florida. Through this belt are found the great caves and the + subterranean rivers. The waters have here worked like enormous moles, and + have honeycombed the foundations of the earth. They have great highways + beneath the hills. Water charged with carbonic acid gas has a very sharp + tooth and a powerful digestion, and no limestone rock can long resist it. + Sherman's soldiers tell of a monster spring in northern Alabama,—a + river leaping full-grown from the bosom of the earth; and of another at + the bottom of a large, deep pit in the rocks, that continues its way under + ground. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + There are many springs in Florida of this character, large underground + streams that have breathing-holes, as it were, here and there. In some + places the water rises and fills the bottoms of deep bowl-shaped + depressions; in other localities it is reached through round natural + well-holes; a bucket is let down by a rope, and if it becomes detached is + quickly swept away by the current. Some of the Florida springs are perhaps + the largest in the world, affording room and depth enough for steamboats + to move and turn in them. Green Cove Spring is said to be like a waterfall + reversed; a cataract rushing upward through a transparent liquid instead + of leaping downward through the air. There are one or two of these + enormous springs also in northern Mississippi,—springs so large that + it seems as if the whole continent must nurse them. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The Valley of the Shenandoah is remarkable for its large springs. The town + of Winchester, a town of several thousand inhabitants, is abundantly + supplied with water from a single spring that issues on higher ground near + by. Several other springs in the vicinity afford rare mill-power. At + Harrisonburg, a county town farther up the valley, I was attracted by a + low ornamental dome resting upon a circle of columns, on the edge of the + square that contained the court-house, and was surprised to find that it + gave shelter to an immense spring. This spring was also capable of + watering the town or several towns; stone steps led down to it at the + bottom of a large stone basin. There was a pretty constant string of pails + to and from it. Aristotle called certain springs of his country "cements + of society," because the young people so frequently met there and sang and + conversed; and I have little doubt this spring is of like social + importance. There is a famous spring at San Antonio, Texas, which is + described by that excellent traveler, Frederick Law Olmsted. "The whole + river," he says, "gushes up in one sparkling burst from the earth, with + all the accessories of smaller springs,—moss, pebbles, foliage, + seclusion, etc. Its effect is overpowering. It is beyond your possible + conception of a spring." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Of like copiousness and splendor is the Caledonia spring, or springs, in + western New York. They give birth to a white-pebbled, transparent stream, + several rods wide and two or three feet deep, that flows eighty barrels of + water per second, and is alive with trout. The trout are fat and gamy even + in winter. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The largest spring in England, called the Well of St. Winifred, at + Holywell, flows less than three barrels per second. I recently went many + miles out of my way to see the famous trout spring in Warren County, New + Jersey. This spring flows about one thousand gallons of water per minute, + which has a uniform temperature of fifty degrees winter and summer. It is + near the Musconetcong Creek, which looks as if it were made up of similar + springs. On the parched and sultry summer day upon which my visit fell, it + was well worth walking many miles just to see such a volume of water issue + from the ground. I felt with the boy Petrarch, when he first beheld a + famous spring, that "were I master of such a fountain I would prefer it to + the finest of cities." A large oak leans down over the spring and affords + an abundance of shade. The water does not bubble up, but comes straight + out with great speed, like a courier with important news, and as if its + course underground had been a direct and an easy one for a long distance. + Springs that issue in this way have a sort of vertebra, a ridgy and + spine-like centre that suggests the gripe and push there is in this + element. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + What would one not give for such a spring in his back yard, or front yard, + or anywhere near his house, or in any of his fields? One would be tempted + to move his house to it, if the spring could not be brought to the house. + Its mere poetic value and suggestion would be worth all the art and + ornament to be had. It would irrigate one's heart and character as well as + his acres. Then one might have a Naiad Queen to do his churning and to saw + his wood; then one might "see his chore done by the gods themselves," as + Emerson says, or by the nymphs, which is just as well. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I know a homestead, situated on one of the picturesque branch valleys of + the Housatonic, that has such a spring flowing by the foundation walls of + the house, and not a little of the strong overmastering local attachment + that holds the owner there is born of that, his native spring. He could + not, if he would, break from it. He says that when he looks down into it + he has a feeling that he is an amphibious animal that has somehow got + stranded. A long, gentle flight of stone steps leads from the back porch + down to it under the branches of a lofty elm. It wells up through the + white sand and gravel as through a sieve, and fills the broad space that + has been arranged for it so gently and imperceptibly that one does not + suspect its copiousness until he has seen the overflow. It turns no wheel, + yet it lends a pliant hand to many of the affairs of that household. It is + a refrigerator in summer and a frost-proof envelope in winter, and a + fountain of delights the year round. Trout come up from the Weebutook + River and dwell there and become domesticated, and take lumps of butter + from your hand, or rake the ends of your fingers if you tempt them. It is + a kind of sparkling and ever-washed larder. Where are the berries? where + is the butter, the milk, the steak, the melon? In the spring. It + preserves, it ventilates, it cleanses. It is a board of health and a + general purveyor. It is equally for use and for pleasure. Nothing degrades + it, and nothing can enhance its beauty. It is picture and parable, and an + instrument of music. It is servant and divinity in one. The milk of forty + cows is cooled in it, and never a drop gets into the cans, though they are + plunged to the brim. It is as insensible to drought and rain as to heat + and cold. It is planted upon the sand, and yet it abideth like a house + upon a rock. It evidently has some relation to a little brook that flows + down through a deep notch in the hills half a mile distant, because on one + occasion, when the brook was being ditched or dammed, the spring showed + great perturbation. Every nymph in it was filled with sudden alarm and + kicked up a commotion. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In some sections of the country, when there is no spring near the house, + the farmer, with much labor and pains, brings one from some uplying field + or wood. Pine and poplar logs are bored and laid in a trench, and the + spring practically moved to the desired spot. The ancient Persians had a + law that whoever thus conveyed the water of a spring to a spot not watered + before should enjoy many immunities under the state, not granted to + others. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hilly and mountainous countries do not always abound in good springs. When + the stratum is vertical, or has too great a dip, the water is not + collected in large veins, but is rather held as it falls, and oozes out + slowly at the surface over the top of the rock. On this account one of the + most famous grass and dairy sections of New York is poorly supplied with + springs. Every creek starts in a bog or marsh, and good water can be had + only by excavating. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + What a charm lurks about those springs that are found near the tops of + mountains, so small that they get lost amid the rocks and debris and never + reach the valley, and so cold that they make the throat ache! Every hunter + and mountain-climber can tell you of such, usually on the last rise before + the summit is cleared. It is eminently the hunter's spring. I do not know + whether or not the foxes and other wild creatures lap at it, but their + pursuers are quite apt to pause there to take breath or to eat their + lunch. The mountain-climbers in summer hail it with a shout. It is always + a surprise, and raises the spirits of the dullest. Then it seems to be + born of wildness and remoteness, and to savor of some special benefit or + good fortune. A spring in the valley is an idyl, but a spring on the + mountain is a genuine lyrical touch. It imparts a mild thrill; and if one + were to call any springs "miracles," as the natives of Cashmere are said + to regard their fountains, it would be such as these. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + What secret attraction draws one in his summer walk to touch at all the + springs on his route, and to pause a moment at each, as if what he was in + quest of would be likely to turn up there? I can seldom pass a spring + without doing homage to it. It is the shrine at which I oftenest worship. + If I find one fouled with leaves or trodden full by cattle, I take as much + pleasure in cleaning it out as a devotee in setting up the broken image of + his saint. Though I chance not to want to drink there, I like to behold a + clear fountain, and I may want to drink next time I pass, or some + traveler, or heifer, or milch cow may. Leaves have a strange fatality for + the spring. They come from afar to get into it. In a grove or in the woods + they drift into it and cover it up like snow. Late in November, in + clearing one out, I brought forth a frog from his hibernacle in the leaves + at the bottom. He was very black, and he rushed about in a bewildered + manner like one suddenly aroused from his sleep. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + There is no place more suitable for statuary than about a spring or + fountain, especially in parks or improved fields. Here one seems to expect + to see figures and bending forms. "Where a spring rises or a river flows," + says Seneca, "there should we build altars and offer sacrifices." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I have spoken of the hunter's spring. The traveler's spring is a little + cup or saucer shaped fountain set in the bank by the roadside. The + harvester's spring is beneath a widespreading tree in the fields. The + lover's spring is down a lane under a hill. There is a good screen of + rocks and bushes. The hermit's spring is on the margin of a lake in the + woods. The fisherman's spring is by the river. The miner finds his spring + in the bowels of the mountain. The soldier's spring is wherever he can + fill his canteen. The spring where schoolboys go to fill the pail is a + long way up or down a hill, and has just been roiled by a frog or muskrat, + and the boys have to wait till it settles. There is yet the milkman's + spring that never dries, the water of which is milky and opaque. Sometimes + it flows out of a chalk cliff. This last is a hard spring: all the others + are soft. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + There is another side to this subject,— the marvelous, not to say + the miraculous; and if I were to advert to all the curious or infernal + springs that are described by travelers or others,—the sulphur + springs, the mud springs, the sour springs, the soap springs, the soda + springs, the blowing springs, the spouting springs, the boiling springs + not one mile from Tophet, the springs that rise and fall with the tide; + the spring spoken of by Vitruvius, that gave unwonted loudness to the + voice; the spring that Plutarch tells about, that had something of the + flavor of wine, because it was supposed that Bacchus had been washed in it + immediately after his birth; the spring that Herodotus describes,— + wise man and credulous boy that he was,—called the "Fountain of the + Sun," which was warm at dawn, cold at noon, and hot at midnight; the + springs at San Filippo, Italy, that have built up a calcareous wall over a + mile long and several hundred feet thick; the renowned springs of + Cashmere, that are believed by the people to be the source of the + comeliness of their women,—if I were to follow up my subject in this + direction, I say, it would lead me into deeper and more troubled waters + than I am in quest of at present. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Pliny, in a letter to one of his friends, gives the following account of a + spring that flowed near his Laurentine villa:— + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "There is a spring which rises in a neighboring mountain, and running + among the rocks is received into a little banqueting-room, artificially + formed for that purpose, from whence, after being detained a short time, + it falls into the Larian Lake. The nature of this spring is extremely + curious: it ebbs and flows regularly three times a day. The increase and + decrease are plainly visible, and exceedingly interesting to observe. You + sit down by the side of the fountain, and while you are taking a repast + and drinking its water, which is exceedingly cool, you see it gradually + rise and fall. If you place a ring or anything else at the bottom when it + is dry, the water creeps gradually up, first gently washing, finally + covering it entirely, and then, little by little, subsides again. If you + wait long enough, you may see it thus alternately advance and recede three + successive times." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Pliny suggests four or five explanations of this phenomenon, but is + probably wide of the mark in all but the fourth one:— + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Or is there rather a certain reservoir that contains these waters in the + bowels of the earth, and, while it is recruiting its discharges, the + stream in consequence flows more slowly and in less quantity, but, when it + has collected its due measure, runs on again in its usual strength and + fullness." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + There are several of these intermitting springs in different parts of the + world, and they are perhaps all to be explained on the principle of the + siphon. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In the Idyls of Theocritus there are frequent allusions to springs. It was + at a spring—and a mountain spring at that—that Castor and + Pollux encountered the plug-ugly Amycus:— + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "And spying on a mountain a wild wood of vast size, they found under a + smooth cliff an ever-flowing spring, filled with pure water, and the + pebbles beneath seemed like crystal or silver from the depths; and near + there had grown tall pines, and poplars, and plane-trees, and cypresses + with leafy tops, and fragrant flowers, pleasant work for hairy bees," etc. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Or the story of Hylas, the auburn-haired boy, who went to the spring to + fetch water for supper for Hercules and stanch Telamon, and was seized by + the enamored nymphs and drawn in. The spring was evidently a marsh or + meadow spring: it was in a "low-lying spot, and around it grew many + rushes, and the pale blue swallow-wort, and green maidenhair, and blooming + parsley, and couch grass stretching through the marshes." As Hercules was + tramping through the bog, club in hand, and shouting "Hylas!" to the full + depth of his throat, he heard a thin voice come from the water,—it + was Hylas responding, and Hylas, in the shape of the little frog, has been + calling from our marsh springs ever since. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The characteristic flavor and suggestion of these Idyls is like pure + spring-water. This is, perhaps, why the modern reader is apt to be + disappointed in them when he takes them up for the first time. They appear + minor and literal and tasteless, as does most ancient poetry; but it is + mainly because we have got to the fountain-head; and have come in contact + with a mind that has been but little shaped by artificial indoor + influences. The stream of literature is now much fuller and broader than + it was in ancient times, with currents and counter-currents, and diverse + and curious phases; but the primitive sources seem far behind us, and for + the refreshment of simple spring-water in art we must still go back to + Greek poetry. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <p> + </p> + <h2> + III. — AN IDYL OF THE HONEY-BEE + </h2> + <p> + </p> + <p> + THERE is no creature with which man has surrounded himself that seems so + much like a product of civilization, so much like the result of + development on special lines and in special fields, as the honey-bee. + Indeed, a colony of bees, with their neatness and love of order, their + division of labor, their public-spiritedness, their thrift, their complex + economies, and their inordinate love of gain, seems as far removed from a + condition of rude nature as does a walled city or a cathedral town. Our + native bee, on the other hand, the "burly, dozing bumblebee," affects one + more like the rude, untutored savage. He has learned nothing from + experience. He lives from hand to mouth. He luxuriates in time of plenty, + and he starves in time of scarcity. He lives in a rude nest, or in a hole + in the ground, and in small communities; he builds a few deep cells or + sacks in which he stores a little honey and bee-bread for his young, but + as a worker in wax he is of the most primitive and awkward. The Indian + regarded the honey-bee as an ill omen. She was the white man's fly. In + fact, she was the epitome of the white man himself. She has the white + man's craftiness, his industry, his architectural skill, his neatness and + love of system, his foresight; and, above all, his eager, miserly habits. + The honey- bee's great ambition is to be rich, to lay up great stores, to + possess the sweet of every flower that blooms. She is more than provident. + Enough will not satisfy her; she must have all she can get by hook or by + crook. She comes from the oldest country, Asia, and thrives best in the + most fertile and long-settled lands. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Yet the fact remains that the honey-bee is essentially a wild creature, + and never has been and cannot be thoroughly domesticated. Its proper home + is the woods, and thither every new swarm counts on going; and thither + many do go in spite of the care and watchfulness of the bee-keeper. If the + woods in any given locality are deficient in trees with suitable cavities, + the bees resort to all sorts of makeshifts; they go into chimneys, into + barns and outhouses, under stones, into rocks, etc. Several chimneys in my + locality with disused flues are taken possession of by colonies of bees + nearly every season. One day, while bee-hunting, I developed a line that + went toward a farmhouse where I had reason to believe no bees were kept. I + followed it up and questioned the farmer about his bees. He said he kept + no bees, but that a swarm had taken possession of his chimney, and another + had gone under the clapboards in the gable end of his house. He had taken + a large lot of honey out of both places the year before. Another farmer + told me that one day his family had seen a number of bees examining a + knothole in the side of his house; the next day, as they were sitting down + to dinner, their attention was attracted by a loud humming noise, when + they discovered a swarm of bees settling upon the side of the house and + pouring into the knothole. In subsequent years other swarms came to the + same place. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Apparently, every swarm of bees, before it leaves the parent hive, sends + out exploring parties to look up the future home. The woods and groves are + searched through and through, and no doubt the privacy of many a squirrel + and many a wood-mouse is intruded upon. What cozy nooks and retreats they + do spy out, so much more attractive than the painted hive in the garden, + so much cooler in summer and so much warmer in winter! + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The bee is in the main an honest citizen: she prefers legitimate to + illegitimate business; she is never an outlaw until her proper sources of + supply fail; she will not touch honey as long as honey- yielding flowers + can be found; she always prefers to go to the fountain-head, and dislikes + to take her sweets at second hand. But in the fall, after the flowers have + failed, she can be tempted. The bee-hunter takes advantage of this fact; + he betrays her with a little honey. He wants to steal her stores, and he + first encourages her to steal his, then follows the thief home with her + booty. This is the whole trick of the bee-hunter. The bees never suspect + his game, else by taking a circuitous route they could easily baffle him. + But the honey-bee has absolutely no wit or cunning outside of her special + gifts as a gatherer and storer of honey. She is a simple-minded creature, + and can be imposed upon by any novice. Yet it is not every novice that can + find a bee-tree. The sportsman may track his game to its retreat by the + aid of his dog, but in hunting the honey-bee one must be his own dog, and + track his game through an element in which it leaves no trail. It is a + task for a sharp, quick eye, and may test the resources of the best + woodcraft. One autumn, when I devoted much time to this pursuit, as the + best means of getting at nature and the open-air exhilaration, my eye + became so trained that bees were nearly as easy to it as birds. I saw and + heard bees wherever I went. One day, standing on a street corner in a + great city, I saw above the trucks and the traffic a line of bees carrying + off sweets from some grocery or confectionery shop. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + One looks upon the woods with a new interest when he suspects they hold a + colony of bees. What a pleasing secret it is,—a tree with a heart of + comb honey, a decayed oak or maple with a bit of Sicily or Mount Hymettus + stowed away in its trunk or branches; secret chambers where lies hidden + the wealth of ten thousand little freebooters, great nuggets and wedges of + precious ore gathered with risk and labor from every field and wood about! + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + But if you would know the delights of bee-hunting, and how many sweets + such a trip yields besides honey, come with me some bright, warm, late + September or early October day. It is the golden season of the year, and + any errand or pursuit that takes us abroad upon the hills or by the + painted woods and along the amber-colored streams at such a time is + enough. So, with haversacks filled with grapes and peaches and apples and + a bottle of milk,—for we shall not be home to dinner,—and + armed with a compass, a hatchet, a pail, and a box with a piece of comb + honey neatly fitted into it,— any box the size of your hand with a + lid will do nearly as well as the elaborate and ingenious contrivance of + the regular bee-hunter,— we sally forth. Our course at first lies + along the highway under great chestnut-trees whose nuts are just dropping, + then through an orchard and across a little creek, thence gently rising + through a long series of cultivated fields toward some high uplying land + behind which rises a rugged wooded ridge or mountain, the most sightly + point in all this section. Behind this ridge for several miles the country + is wild, wooded, and rocky, and is no doubt the home of many swarms of + wild bees. What a gleeful uproar the robins, cedar-birds, high-holes, and + cow blackbirds make amid the black cherry-trees as we pass along! The + raccoons, too, have been here after black cherries, and we see their marks + at various points. Several crows are walking about a newly sowed + wheat-field we pass through, and we pause to note their graceful movements + and glossy coats. I have seen no bird walk the ground with just the same + air the crow does. It is not exactly pride; there is no strut or swagger + in it, though perhaps just a little condescension; it is the contented, + complaisant, and self-possessed gait of a lord over his domains. All these + acres are mine, he says, and all these crops; men plow and sow for me, and + I stay here or go there, and find life sweet and good wherever I am. The + hawk looks awkward and out of place on the ground; the game-birds hurry + and skulk; but the crow is at home, and treads the earth as if there were + none to molest or make him afraid. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The crows we have always with us, but it is not every day or every season + that one sees an eagle. Hence I must preserve the memory of one I saw the + last day I went bee-hunting. As I was laboring up the side of a mountain + at the head of a valley, the noble bird sprang from the top of a dry tree + above me and came sailing directly over my head. I saw him bend his eye + down upon me, and I could hear the low hum of his plumage as if the web of + every quill in his great wings vibrated in his strong, level flight. I + watched him as long as my eye could hold him. When he was fairly clear of + the mountain, he began that sweeping spiral movement in which he climbs + the sky. Up and up he went, without once breaking his majestic poise, till + he appeared to sight some far-off alien geography, when he bent his course + thitherward and gradually vanished in the blue depths. The eagle is a bird + of large ideas; he embraces long distances; the continent is his home. I + never look upon one without emotion; I follow him with my eye as long as I + can. I think of Canada, of the Great Lakes, of the Rocky Mountains, of the + wild and sounding seacoast. The waters are his, and the woods and the + inaccessible cliffs. He pierces behind the veil of the storm, and his joy + is height and depth and vast spaces. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + We go out of our way to touch at a spring run in the edge of the woods, + and are lucky to find a single scarlet lobelia lingering there. It seems + almost to light up the gloom with its intense bit of color. Beside a ditch + in a field beyond, we find the great blue lobelia, and near it, amid the + weeds and wild grasses and purple asters, the most beautiful of our fall + flowers, the fringed gentian. What a rare and delicate, almost + aristocratic look the gentian has amid its coarse, unkempt surroundings!- + It does not lure the bee, but it lures and holds every passing human eye. + If we strike through the corner of yonder woods, where the ground is + moistened by hidden springs, and where there is a little opening amid the + trees, we shall find the closed gentian, a rare flower in this locality. I + had walked this way many times before I chanced upon its retreat, and then + I was following a line of bees. I lost the bees, but I got the gentians. + How curious this flower looks with its deep blue petals folded together so + tightly,—a bud and yet a blossom! It is the nun among our wild + flowers,—a form closely veiled and cloaked. The buccaneer bumblebee + sometimes tries to rifle it of its sweets. I have seen the blossom with + the bee entombed in it. He had forced his way into the virgin corolla as + if determined to know its secret, but he had never returned with the + knowledge he had gained. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + After a refreshing walk of a couple of miles we reach a point where we + will make our first trial,—a high stone wall that runs parallel with + the wooded ridge referred to, and separated from it by a broad field. + There are bees at work there on that golden-rod, and it requires but + little manÂœuvring to sweep one into our box. Almost any other creature + rudely and suddenly arrested in its career, and clapped into a cage in + this way, would show great confusion and alarm. The bee is alarmed for a + moment, but the bee has a passion stronger than its love of life or fear + of death, namely, desire for honey, not simply to eat, but to carry home + as booty. "Such rage of honey in their bosom beats," says Virgil. It is + quick to catch the scent of honey in the box, and as quick to fall to + filling itself. We now set the box down upon the wall and gently remove + the cover. The bee is head and shoulders in one of the half-filled cells, + and is oblivious to everything else about it. Come rack, come ruin, it + will die at work. We step back a few paces, and sit down upon the ground + so as to bring the box against the blue sky as a background. In two or + three minutes the bee is seen rising slowly and heavily from the box. It + seems loath to leave so much honey behind, and it marks the place well. It + mounts aloft in a rapidly increasing spiral, surveying the near and minute + objects first, then the larger and more distant, till, having circled + above the spot five or six times and taken all its bearings, it darts away + for home. It is a good eye that holds fast to the bee till it is fairly + off. Sometimes one's head will swim following it, and often one's eyes are + put out by the sun. This bee gradually drifts down the hill, then strikes + off toward a farmhouse half a mile away where I know bees are kept. Then + we try another and another, and the third bee, much to our satisfaction, + goes straight toward the woods. We can see the brown speck against the + darker background for many yards. The regular bee-hunter professes to be + able to tell a wild bee from a tame one by the color, the former, he says, + being lighter. But there is no difference; they are alike in color and in + manner. Young bees are lighter than old, and that is all there is of it. + If a bee lived many years in the woods, it would doubtless come to have + some distinguishing marks, but the life of a bee is only a few months at + the farthest, and no change is wrought in this brief time. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Our bees are all soon back, and more with them, for we have touched the + box here and there with the cork of a bottle of anise oil, and this + fragrant and pungent oil will attract bees half a mile or more. When no + flowers can be found, this is the quickest way to obtain a bee. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + It is a singular fact that when the bee first finds the hunter's box, its + first feeling is one of anger; it is as mad as a hornet; its tone changes, + it sounds its shrill war trumpet and darts to and fro, and gives vent to + its rage and indignation in no uncertain manner. It seems to scent foul + play at once. It says, "Here is robbery; here is the spoil of some hive, + maybe my own," and its blood is up. But its ruling passion soon comes to + the surface, its avarice gets the better of its indignation, and it seems + to say, "Well, I had better take possession of this and carry it home." So + after many feints and approaches and dartings off with a loud angry hum as + if it would none of it, the bee settles down and fills itself. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + It does not entirely cool off and get soberly to work till it has made two + or three trips home with its booty. When other bees come, even if all from + the same swarm, they quarrel and dispute over the box, and clip and dart + at each other like bantam cocks. Apparently the ill feeling which the + sight of the honey awakens is not one of jealousy or rivalry, but wrath. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + A bee will usually make three or four trips from the hunter's box before + it brings back a companion. I suspect the bee does not tell its fellows + what it has found, but that they smell out the secret; it doubtless bears + some evidence with it upon its feet or proboscis that it has been upon + honeycomb and not upon flowers, and its companions take the hint and + follow, arriving always many seconds behind. Then the quantity and quality + of the booty would also betray it. No doubt, also, there are plenty of + gossips about a hive that note and tell everything. "Oh, did you see that? + Peggy Mel came in a few moments ago in great haste, and one of the + upstairs packers says she was loaded till she groaned with apple- blossom + honey, which she deposited, and then rushed off again like mad. + Apple-blossom honey in October! Fee, fi, fo, fum! I smell something! Let's + after." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In about half an hour we have three well-defined lines of bees + established,—two to farmhouses and one to the woods, and our box is + being rapidly depleted of its honey. About every fourth bee goes to the + woods, and now that they have learned the way thoroughly, they do not make + the long preliminary whirl above the box, but start directly from it. The + woods are rough and dense and the hill steep, and we do not like to follow + the line of bees until we have tried at least to settle the problem as to + the distance they go into the woods,—whether the tree is on this + side of the ridge or into the depth of the forest on the other side. So we + shut up the box when it is full of bees and carry it about three hundred + yards along the wall from which we are operating. When liberated, the + bees, as they always will in such cases, go off in the same directions + they have been going; they do not seem to know that they have been moved. + But other bees have followed our scent, and it is not many minutes before + a second line to the woods is established. This is called cross-lining the + bees. The new line makes a sharp angle with the other line, and we know at + once that the tree is only a few rods in the woods. The two lines we have + established form two sides of a triangle, of which the wall is the base; + at the apex of the triangle, or where the two lines meet in the woods, we + are sure to find the tree. We quickly follow up these lines, and where + they cross each other on the side of the hill we scan every tree closely. + I pause at the foot of an oak and examine a hole near the root; now the + bees are in this tree and their entrance is on the upper side near the + ground not two feet from the hole I peer into, and yet so quiet and secret + is their going and coming that I fail to discover them and pass on up the + hill. Failing in this direction, I return to the oak again, and then + perceive the bees going but in a small crack in the tree. The bees do not + know they are found out and that the game is in our hands, and are as + oblivious of our presence as if we were ants or crickets. The indications + are that the swarm is a small one, and the store of honey trifling. In + "taking up" a bee-tree it is usual first to kill or stupefy the bees with + the fumes of burning sulphur or with tobacco smoke. But this course is + impracticable on the present occasion, so we boldly and ruthlessly assault + the tree with an axe we have procured. At the first blow the bees set up a + loud buzzing, but we have no mercy, and the side of the cavity is soon cut + away and the interior with its white-yellow mass of comb honey is exposed, + and not a bee strikes a blow in defense of its all. This may seem + singular, but it has nearly always been my experience. When a swarm of + bees are thus rudely assaulted with an axe, they evidently think the end + of the world has come, and, like true misers as they are, each one seizes + as much of the treasure as it can hold; in other words, they all fall to + and gorge themselves with honey, and calmly await the issue. While in this + condition they make no defense, and will not sting unless taken hold of. + In fact, they are as harmless as flies. Bees are always to be managed with + boldness and decision. Any halfway measures, any timid poking about, any + feeble attempts to reach their honey, are sure to be quickly resented. The + popular notion that bees have a special antipathy toward certain persons + and a liking for certain others has only this fact at the bottom of it: + they will sting a person who is afraid of them and goes skulking and + dodging about, and they will not sting a person who faces them boldly and + has no dread of them. They are like dogs. The way to disarm a vicious dog + is to show him you do not fear him; it is his turn to be afraid then. I + never had any dread of bees, and am seldom stung by them. I have climbed + up into a large chestnut that contained a swarm in one of its cavities and + chopped them out with an axe, being obliged at times to pause and brush + the bewildered bees from my hands and face, and not been stung once. I + have chopped a swarm out of an apple-tree in June, and taken out the cards + of honey and arranged them in a hive, and then dipped out the bees with a + dipper, and taken the whole home with me in pretty good condition, with + scarcely any opposition on the part of the bees. In reaching your hand + into the cavity to detach and remove the comb you are pretty sure to get + stung, for when you touch the "business end" of a bee, it will sting even + though its head be off. But the bee carries the antidote to its own + poison. The best remedy for bee sting is honey, and when your hands are + besmeared with honey, as they are sure to be on such occasions, the wound + is scarcely more painful than the prick of a pin. Assault your bee-tree, + then, boldly with your axe, and you will find that when the honey is + exposed every bee has surrendered, and the whole swarm is cowering in + helpless bewilderment and terror. Our tree yields only a few pounds of + honey, not enough to have lasted the swarm till January, but no matter: we + have the less burden to carry. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In the afternoon we go nearly half a mile farther along the ridge to a + corn-field that lies immediately in front of the highest point of the + mountain. The view is superb; the ripe autumn landscape rolls away to the + east, cut through by the great placid river; in the extreme north the wall + of the Catskills stands out clear and strong, while in the south the + mountains of the Highlands bound the view. The day is warm, and the bees + are very busy there in that neglected corner of the field, rich in asters, + fleabane, and goldenrod. The corn has been cut, and upon a stout but a few + rods from the woods, which here drop quickly down from the precipitous + heights, we set up our bee-box, touched again with the pungent oil. In a + few moments a bee has found it; she comes up to leeward, following the + scent. On leaving the box, she goes straight toward the woods. More bees + quickly come, and it is not long before the line is well established. Now + we have recourse to the same tactics we employed before, and move along + the ridge to another field to get our cross-line. But the bees still go in + almost the same direction they did from the corn stout. The tree is then + either on the top of the mountain or on the other or west side of it. We + hesitate to make the plunge into the woods and seek to scale those + precipices, for the eye can plainly see what is before us. As the + afternoon sun gets lower, the bees are seen with wonderful distinctness. + They fly toward and under the sun, and are in a strong light, while the + near woods which form the background are in deep shadow. They look like + large luminous motes. Their swiftly vibrating, transparent wings surround + their bodies with a shining nimbus that makes them visible for a long + distance. They seem magnified many times. We see them bridge the little + gulf between us and the woods, then rise up over the treetops with their + burdens, swerving neither to the right hand nor to the left. It is almost + pathetic to see them labor so, climbing the mountain and unwittingly + guiding us to their treasures. When the sun gets down so that his + direction corresponds exactly with the course of the bees, we make the + plunge. It proves even harder climbing than we had anticipated; the + mountain is faced by a broken and irregular wall of rock, up which we pull + ourselves slowly and cautiously by main strength. In half an hour, the + perspiration streaming from every pore, we reach the summit. The trees + here are all small, a second growth, and we are soon convinced the bees + are not here. Then down we go on the other side, clambering down the rocky + stairways till we reach quite a broad plateau that forms something like + the shoulder of the mountain. On the brink of this there are many large + hemlocks, and we scan them closely and rap upon them with our axe. But not + a bee is seen or heard; we do not seem as near the tree as we were in the + fields below; yet, if some divinity would only whisper the fact to us, we + are within a few rods of the coveted prize, which is not in one of the + large hemlocks or oaks that absorb our attention, but in an old stub or + stump not six feet high, and which we have seen and passed several times + without giving it a thought. We go farther down the mountain and beat + about to the right and left, and get entangled in brush and arrested by + precipices, and finally, as the day is nearly spent, give up the search + and leave the woods quite baffled, but resolved to return on the morrow. + The next day we come back and commence operations in an opening in the + woods well down on the side of the mountain where we gave up the search. + Our box is soon swarming with the eager bees, and they go back toward the + summit we have passed. We follow back and establish a new line, where the + ground will permit; then another and still another, and yet the riddle is + not solved. One time we are south of them, then north, then the bees get + up through the trees and we cannot tell where they go. But after much + searching, and after the mystery seems rather to deepen than to clear up, + we chance to pause beside the old stump. A bee comes out of a small + opening like that made by ants in decayed wood, rubs its eyes and examines + its antennæ, as bees always do before leaving their hive, then takes + flight. At the same instant several bees come by us loaded with our honey + and settle home with that peculiar low, complacent buzz of the well- + filled insect. Here then, is our idyl, our bit of Virgil and Theocritus, + in a decayed stump of a hemlock-tree. We could tear it open with our + hands, and a bear would find it an easy prize, and a rich one, too, for we + take from it fifty pounds of excellent honey. The bees have been here many + years, and have of course sent out swarm after swarm into the wilds. they + have protected themselves against the weather and strengthened their shaky + habitation by a copious use of wax. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + When a bee-tree is thus "taken up" in the middle of the day, of course a + good many bees are away from home and have not heard the news. When they + return and find the ground flowing with honey, and plies of bleeding combs + lying about, they apparently do not recognize the place, and their first + instinct is to fall to and fill themselves; this done, their next thought + is to carry it home, so they rise up slowly through the branches of the + trees till they have attained an altitude that enables them to survey the + scene, when they seem to say, "Why, THIS is home," and down they come + again; beholding the wreck and ruins once more, they still thinking there + is some mistake, and get up a second or a third time and then drop back + pitifully as before. It is the most pathetic sight of all, the surviving + and bewildered bees struggling to save a few drops of their wasted + treasures. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Presently, if there is another swarm in the woods, robber bees appear. You + may know them by their saucy, chiding, devil-may-care hum. It is an ill + wind that blows nobody good, and they make the most of the misfortune of + their neighbors, and thereby pave the way for their own ruin. The hunter + marks their course, and the next day looks them up. On this occasion the + day was hot and the honey very fragrant, and a line of bees was soon + established south- southwest. Though there was much refuse honey in the + old stub, and though little golden rills trickled down the hill from it, + and the near branches and saplings were besmeared with it where we wiped + our murderous hands, yet not a drop was wasted. It was a feast to which + not only honey bees came, but bumblebees, wasps, hornets, flies, ants. The + bumblebees, which at this season are hungry vagrants with no fixed place + of abode, would gorge themselves, then creep beneath the bits of empty + comb or fragments of bark and pass the night, and renew the feast next + day. The bumble-bee is an insect of which the bee-hunter sees much. There + are all sorts and sizes of them. They are dull and clumsy compared with + the honeybee. Attracted in the fields by the bee-hunter's box, they will + come up the wind on the scent and blunder into it in the most stupid, + lubberly fashion. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The honey-bees that licked up our leavings on the old stub belonged to a + swarm, as it proved, about half a mile farther down the ridge, and a few + days afterward fate overtook them, and their stores in turn became the + prey of another swarm in the vicinity, which also tempted Providence and + were overwhelmed. The first-mentioned swarm I had lined from several + points, and was following up the clew over rocks and through gullies, when + I came to where a large hemlock had been felled a few years before, and a + swarm taken from a cavity near the top of it; fragments of the old comb + were yet to be seen. A few yards away stood another short, squatty + hemlock, and I said my bees ought to be there. As I paused near it, I + noticed where the tree had been wounded with an axe a couple of feet from + the ground many years before. The wound had partially grown over, but + there was an opening there that I did not see at the first glance. I was + about to pass on when a bee passed me making that peculiar shrill, + discordant hum that a bee makes when besmeared with honey. I saw it alight + in the partially closed wound and crawl home; then came others and others, + little bands and squads of them, heavily freighted with honey from the + box. The tree was about twenty inches through and hollow at the butt, or + from the axe-mark down. This space the bees had completely filled with + honey. With an axe we cut away the outer ring of live wood and exposed the + treasure. Despite the utmost care, we wounded the comb so that little + rills of the golden liquid issued from the root of the tree and trickled + down the hill. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The other bee-tree in the vicinity to which I have referred we found one + warm November day in less than half an hour after entering the woods. It + also was a hemlock, that stood in a niche in a wall of hoary, moss-covered + rocks thirty feet high. The tree hardly reached to the top of the + precipice. The bees entered a small hole at the root, which was seven or + eight feet from the ground. The position was a striking one. Never did + apiary have a finer outlook or more rugged surroundings.. A black, + wood-embraced lake lay at our feet; the long panorama of the Catskills + filled the far distance, and the more broken outlines of the Shawangunk + range filled the rear. On every hand were precipices and a wild confusion + of rocks and trees. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The cavity occupied by the bees was about three feet and a half long and + eight or ten inches in diameter. With an axe we cut away one side of the + tree, and laid bare its curiously wrought heart of honey. It was a most + pleasing sight. What winding and devious ways the bees had through their + palace! What great masses and blocks of snow-white comb there were! Where + it was sealed up, presenting that slightly dented, uneven surface, it + looked like some precious ore. When we carried a large pailful of it out + of the woods, it seemed still more like ore. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Your native bee-hunter predicates the distance of the tree by the time the + bee occupies in making its first trip. But this is no certain guide. You + are always safe in calculating that the tree is inside of a mile, and you + need not as a rule look for your bee's return under ten minutes. One day I + picked up a bee in an opening in the woods and gave it honey, and it made + three trips to my box with an interval of about twelve minutes between + them; it returned alone each time; the tree, which I afterward found, was + about half a mile distant. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In lining bees through the woods, the tactics of the hunter are to pause + every twenty or thirty rods, lop away the branches or cut down the trees, + and set the bees to work again. If they still go forward, he goes forward + also, and repeats his observations till the tree is found, or till the + bees turn and come back upon the trail. Then he knows he has passed the + tree, and he retraces his steps to a convenient distance and tries again, + and thus quickly reduces the space to be looked over till the swarm is + traced home. On one occasion, in a wild rocky wood, where the surface + alternated between deep gulfs and chasms filled with thick, heavy growths + of timber, and sharp, precipitous, rocky ridges like a tempest-tossed sea, + I carried my bees directly under their tree, and set them to work from a + high, exposed ledge of rocks not thirty feet distant. One would have + expected them under such circumstances to have gone straight home, as + there were but few branches intervening, but they did not; they labored up + through the trees and attained an altitude above the woods as if they had + miles to travel, and thus baffled me for hours. Bees will always do this. + They are acquainted with the woods only from the top side, and from the + air above; they recognize home only by landmarks here, and in every + instance they rise aloft to take their bearings. Think how familiar to + them the topography of the forest summits must be,—an umbrageous sea + or plain where every mark and point is known. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Another curious fact is that generally you will get track of a bee- tree + sooner when you are half a mile from it than when you are only a few + yards. Bees, like us human insects, have little faith in the near at hand; + they expect to make their fortune in a distant field, they are lured by + the remote and the difficult, and hence overlook the flower and the sweet + at their very door. On several occasions I have unwittingly set my box + within a few paces of a bee-tree and waited long for bees without getting + them, when, on removing to a distant field or opening in the woods, I have + got a clew at once. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I have a theory that when bees leave the hive, unless there is some + special attraction in some other direction, they generally go against the + wind. They would thus have the wind with them when they returned home + heavily laden, and with these little navigators the difference is an + important one. With a full cargo, a stiff head- wind is a great hindrance, + but fresh and empty-handed, they can face it with more ease. Virgil says + bees bear gravel-stones as ballast, but their only ballast is their + honey-bag. Hence, when I go bee-hunting, I prefer to get to windward of + the woods in which the swarm is supposed to have refuge. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bees, like the milkman, like to be near a spring. They do water their + honey, especially in a dry time. The liquid is then of course thicker and + sweeter, and will bear diluting. Hence old bee-hunters look for bee-trees + along creeks and near spring runs in the woods. I once found a tree a long + distance from any water, and the honey had a peculiar bitter flavor, + imparted to it, I was convinced, by rainwater sucked from the decayed and + spongy hemlock-tree in which the swarm was found. In cutting into the + tree, the north side of it was found to be saturated with water like a + spring, which ran out in big drops, and had a bitter flavor. The bees had + thus found a spring or a cistern in their own house. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bees are exposed to many hardships and many dangers. Winds and storms + prove as disastrous to them as to other navigators. Black spiders lie in + wait for them as do brigands for travelers. One day, as I was looking for + a bee amid some golden-rod, I spied one partly concealed under a leaf. Its + baskets were full of pollen, and it did not move. On lifting up the leaf I + discovered that a hairy spider was ambushed there and had the bee by the + throat. The vampire was evidently afraid of the bee's sting, and was + holding it by the throat till quite sure of its death. Virgil speaks of + the painted lizard, perhaps a species of salamander, as an enemy of the + honey-bee. We have no lizard that destroys the bee; but our tree- toad, + ambushed among the apple and cherry blossoms, snaps them up wholesale. + Quick as lightning that subtle but clammy tongue darts forth, and the + unsuspecting bee is gone. Virgil also accuses the titmouse and the + woodpecker of preying upon the bees, and our kingbird has been charged + with the like crime, but the latter devours only the drones. The workers + are either too small and quick for it or else it dreads their sting. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Virgil, by the way, had little more than a child's knowledge of the + honey-bee. There is little fact and much fable in his fourth Georgic. If + he had ever kept bees himself, or even visited an apiary, it is hard to + see how he could have believed that the bee in its flight abroad carried a + gravel-stone for ballast: + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "And as when empty barks on billows + float, + With sandy ballast sailors trim the + boat; + So bees bear gravel-stones, whose + poising weight + Steers through the whistling winds + their steady flight;" +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + or that, when two colonies made war upon each other, they issued forth + from their hives led by their kings and fought in the air, strewing the + ground with the dead and dying:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Hard hailstones lie not thicker on the + plain, + Nor shaken oaks such show'rs of + acorns rain." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + It is quite certain he had never been bee-hunting. If he had, we should + have had a fifth Georgic. Yet he seems to have known that bees sometimes + escaped to the woods:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Nor bees are lodged in hives alone, + but found + In chambers of their own beneath the + ground: + Their vaulted roofs are hung in + pumices, + And in the rotten trunks of hollow + trees." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Wild honey is as near like tame as wild bees are like their brothers in + the hive. The only difference is, that wild honey is flavored with your + adventure, which makes it a little more delectable than the domestic + article. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <p> + </p> + <h2> + IV. — NATURE AND THE POETS + </h2> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I HAVE said on a former occasion that "the true poet knows more about + Nature than the naturalist, because he carries her open secrets in his + heart. Eckermann could instruct Goethe in ornithology, but could not + Goethe instruct Eckermann in the meaning and mystery of the bird?" But the + poets sometimes rely too confidently upon their supposed intuitive + knowledge of nature, and grow careless about the accuracy of the details + of their pictures. I am not aware that this was ever the case with Goethe; + I think it was not, for as a rule, the greater the poet, the more correct + and truthful will be his specifications. It is the lesser poets who trip + most over their facts. Thus a New England poet speaks of "plucking the + apple from the pine," as if the pineapple grew upon the pine-tree. A + Western poet sings of the bluebird in a strain in which every feature and + characteristic of the bird is lost; not one trait of the bird is + faithfully set down. When the robin and the swallow come, he says, the + bluebird hies him to some mossy old wood, where, amid the deep seclusion, + he pours out his song. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In a poem by a well-known author in one of the popular journals, a + hummingbird's nest is shown the reader, and it has BLUE eggs in it. A more + cautious poet would have turned to Audubon or Wilson before venturing upon + such a statement. But then it was necessary to have a word to rhyme with + "view," and what could be easier than to make a white egg "blue"? Again, + one of our later poets has evidently confounded the hummingbird with that + curious parody upon it, the hawk or sphinx moth, as in his poem upon the + subject he has hit off exactly the habits of the moth, or, rather, his + creature seems a cross between the moth and the bird, as it has the habits + of the one and the plumage of the other. The time to see the hummingbird, + he says, is after sunset in the summer gloaming; then it steals forth and + hovers over the flowers. Now, the hummingbird is eminently a creature of + the sun and of the broad open day, and I have never seen it after sundown, + while the moth is rarely seen except at twilight. It is much smaller and + less brilliant than the hummingbird; but its flight and motions are so + nearly the same that a poet, with his eye in a fine frenzy rolling, might + easily mistake one for the other. It is but a small slip in such a poet as + poor George Arnold, when he makes the sweet-scented honeysuckle bloom for + the bee, for surely the name suggests the bee, though in fact she does not + work upon it; but what shall we say of the Kansas poet, who, in his + published volume, claims both the yew and the nightingale for his native + State? Or of a Massachusetts poet, who finds the snowdrop and the early + primrose blooming along his native streams, with the orchis and the yellow + violet, and makes the blackbird conspicuous among New England songsters? + Our ordinary yew is not a tree at all, but a low spreading evergreen shrub + that one may step over; and as for the nightingale, if they have the + mockingbird in Kansas, they can very well do without him. We have several + varieties of blackbirds, it is true; but when an American poet speaks in a + general way of the blackbird piping or singing in a tree, as he would + speak of a robin or a sparrow, the suggestion or reminiscence awakened is + always that of the blackbird of English poetry. + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "In days when daisies deck the ground, + And blackbirds whistle clear, + With honest joy our hearts will bound + To see the coming year"— </pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + sings Burns. I suspect that the English reader of even some of Emerson's + and Lowell's poems would infer that our blackbird was identical with the + British species. I refer to these lines of Emerson:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Where arches green the livelong day + Echo the blackbirds' roundelay;" +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + and to these lines from Lowell's "Rosaline:"— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "A blackbird whistling overhead + Thrilled through my brain;" +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + and again these from "The Fountain of Youth:"— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + " 'T is a woodland enchanted; + By no sadder spirit + Than blackbirds and thrushes + That whistle to cheer it, + All day in the bushes." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The blackbird of the English poets is like our robin in everything except + color. He is familiar, hardy, abundant, thievish, and his habits, manners, + and song recall our bird to the life. Our own native blackbirds, the crow + blackbird, the rusty grackle, the cowbird, and the red-shouldered + starling, are not songsters, even in the latitude allowable to poets; + neither are they whistlers, unless we credit them with a "split-whistle," + as Thoreau does. The two first named have a sort of musical cackle and + gurgle in spring (as at times both our crow and jay have), which is very + pleasing, and to which Emerson aptly refers in these lines from "May-Day:"— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The blackbirds make the maples ring + With social cheer and jubilee"— </pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + but it is not a song. The note of the starling in the trees and alders + along the creeks and marshes is better calculated to arrest the attention + of the casual observer; but it is far from being a song or a whistle like + that of the European blackbird, or our robin. Its most familiar call is + like the word "BAZIQUE," "BAZIQUE," but it has a wild musical note which + Emerson has embalmed in this line:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The redwing flutes his O-KA-LEE." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Here Emerson discriminates; there is no mistaking his blackbird this time + for the European species, though it is true there is nothing fluty or + flute-like in the redwing's voice. The flute is mellow, while the + "O-KA-LEE" of the starling is strong and sharply accented. The voice of + the thrushes (and our robin and the European blackbird are thrushes) is + flute-like. Hence the aptness of this line of Tennyson:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The mellow ouzel fluted in the elm,"— </pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + the blackbird being the ouzel, or ouzel-cock, as Shakespeare calls him. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In the line which precedes this, Tennyson has stamped the cuckoo:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "To left and right, + The cuckoo told his name to all the + hills." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The cuckoo is a bird that figures largely in English poetry, but he always + has an equivocal look in American verse, unless sharply discriminated. We + have a cuckoo, but he is a great recluse; and I am sure the poets do not + know when he comes or goes, while to make him sing familiarly like the + British species, as I have known at least one of our poets to do, is to + come very wide of the mark. Our bird is as solitary and joyless as the + most veritable anchorite. He contributes nothing to the melody or the + gayety of the season. He is, indeed, known in some sections as the rain- + crow," but I presume that not one person in ten of those who spend their + lives in the country has ever seen or heard him. He is like the showy + orchis, or the lady's-slipper, or the shooting star among plants,— a + stranger to all but the few; and when an American poet says cuckoo, he + must say it with such specifications as to leave no doubt what cuckoo he + means, as Lowell does in his "Nightingale in the Study:"— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "And, hark, the cuckoo, weatherwise, + Still hiding farther onward, wooes + you." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In like manner the primrose is an exotic in American poetry, to say + nothing of the snowdrop and the daisy. Its prominence in English poetry + can be understood when we remember that the plant is so abundant in + England as to be almost a weed, and that it comes early and is very + pretty. Cowslip and oxlip are familiar names of varieties of the same + plant, and they bear so close a resemblance that it is hard to tell them + apart. Hence Tennyson, in "The Talking Oak:"— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "As cowslip unto oxlip is, + So seems she to the boy." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Our familiar primrose is the evening primrose,—a rank, tall weed + that blooms with the mullein in late summer. Its small, yellow, slightly + fragrant blossoms open only at night, but remain open during the next day. + By cowslip, our poets and writers generally mean the yellow marsh + marigold, which belongs to a different family of plants, but which, as a + spring token and a pretty flower, is a very good substitute for the + cowslip. Our real cowslip, the shooting star, is very rare, and is one of + the most beautiful of native flowers. I believe it is not found north of + Pennsylvania. I have found it in a single locality in the District of + Columbia, and the day is memorable upon which I first saw its cluster of + pink flowers, with their recurved petals cleaving the air. I do not know + that it has ever been mentioned in poetry. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Another flower, which I suspect our poets see largely through the medium + of English literature and invest with borrowed charms, is the violet. The + violet is a much more winsome and poetic flower in England than it is in + this country, for the reason that it comes very early and is + sweet-scented; our common violet is not among the earliest flowers, and it + is odorless. It affects sunny slopes, like the English flower; yet + Shakespeare never could have made the allusion to it which he makes to his + own species in these lines:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "That strain again! it had a dying fall: + Oh! it came o'er my ear like the sweet south + That breathes upon a bank of violets, + Stealing and giving odor," +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + or lauded it as + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, + Or Cytherea's breath." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Our best known sweet-scented violet is a small, white, lilac-veined + species (not yellow, as Bryant has it in his poem), that is common in wet, + out-of-the-way places. Our common blue violet—the only species that + is found abundantly everywhere in the North—blooms in May, and makes + bright many a grassy meadow slope and sunny nook. Yet, for all that, it + does not awaken the emotion in one that the earlier and more delicate + spring flowers do,—the hepatica, say, with its shy wood habits, its + pure, infantile expression, and at times its delicate perfume; or the + houstonia,—"innocence,"— flecking or streaking the cold spring + earth with a milky way of minute stars; or the trailing arbutus, sweeter + scented than the English violet, and outvying in tints Cytherea's or any + other blooming goddess's cheek. Yet these flowers have no classical + associations, and are consequently far less often upon the lips of our + poets than the violet. + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +To return to birds, another dangerous one for the American poet is +the lark, and our singers generally are very shy of him. The term +has been applied very loosely in this country to both the meadow- +lark and the bobolink, yet it is pretty generally understood now +that we have no genuine skylark east of the Mississippi. Hence I +am curious to know what bird Bayard Taylor refers to when he speaks +in his "Spring Pastoral" of + + "Larks responding aloft to the mellow flute of the +bluebird." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Our so-called meadowlark is no lark at all, but a starling, and the + titlark and shore lark breed and pass the summer far to the north, and are + never heard in song in the United States. [Footnote: The shore lark has + changed its habits in this respect of late years. It now breeds regularly + on my native hills in Delaware County, New York, and may be heard in full + song there from April to June or later.] + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The poets are entitled to a pretty free range, but they must be accurate + when they particularize. We expect them to see the fact through their + imagination, but it must still remain a fact; the medium must not distort + it into a lie. When they name a flower or a tree or a bird, whatever halo + of the ideal they throw around it, it must not be made to belie the botany + or the natural history. I doubt if you can catch Shakespeare transgressing + the law in this respect, except where he followed the superstition and the + imperfect knowledge of his time, as in his treatment of the honey- bee. + His allusions to nature are always incidental to his main purpose, but + they reveal a careful and loving observer. For instance, how are fact and + poetry wedded in this passage, put into the mouth of Banquo!— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "This guest of summer, + The temple-haunting martlet, does + approve, + By his loved masonry that the + heaven's breath + Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze. + Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but + this bird + Hath made his pendent bed and + procreant cradle: + Where they most breed and haunt, + I have observed, + The air is delicate." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Nature is of course universal, but in the same sense is she local and + particular,—cuts every suit to fit the wearer, gives every land an + earth and sky of its own, and a flora and fauna to match. The poets and + their readers delight in local touches. We have both the hare and the + rabbit in America, but this line from Thomson's description of a summer + morning,— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "And from the bladed field the fearful + hare limps awkward,"— </pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + or this from Beattie,— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Through rustling corn the hare + astonished sprang"— </pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + would not apply with the same force in New England, because our hare is + never found in the fields, but in dense, remote woods. In England both + hares and rabbits abound to such an extent that in places the fields and + meadows swarm with them, and the ground is undermined by their burrows, + till they become a serious pest to the farmer, and are trapped in vast + numbers. The same remark applies to this from Tennyson:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "From the woods + Came voices of the well-contented + doves." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Doves and wood-pigeons are almost as abundant in England as hares and + rabbits, and are also a serious annoyance to the farmer; while in this + country the dove and pigeon are much less marked and permanent features in + our rural scenery,—less permanent, except in the case of the + mourning dove, which is found here and there the season through; and less + marked, except when the hordes of the passenger pigeon once in a decade or + two invade the land, rarely tarrying longer than the bands of a foraging + army. I hardly know what Trowbridge means by the "wood-pigeon" in his + midsummer poem, for, strictly speaking, the wood-pigeon is a European + bird, and a very common one in England. But let me say here, however, that + Trowbridge, as a rule, keeps very close to the natural history of his own + country when he has occasion to draw material from this source, and to + American nature generally. You will find in his poems the wood pewee, the + bluebird, the oriole, the robin, the grouse, the kingfisher, the chipmunk, + the mink, the bobolink, the wood thrush, all in their proper places. There + are few bird-poems that combine so much good poetry and good natural + history as his "Pewee." Here we have a glimpse of the catbird:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "In the alders, dank with noonday + dews, + The restless catbird darts and mews;" +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + here, of the cliff swallow: - + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "In the autumn, when the hollows + All are filled with flying leaves + And the colonies of swallows + Quit the quaintly stuccoed eaves." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Only the dates are not quite right. The swallows leave their nests in + July, which is nearly three months before the leaves fall. The poet is + also a little unfaithful to the lore of his boyhood when he says + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The partridge beats his throbbing drum" +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + in midsummer. As a rule, the partridge does not drum later than June, + except fitfully during the Indian summer, while April and May are his + favorite months. And let me say here, for the benefit of the poets who do + not go to the woods, that the partridge does not always drum upon a log; + he frequently drums upon a rock or a stone wall, if a suitable log be not + handy, and no ear can detect the difference. His drum is really his own + proud breast, and beneath his small hollow wings gives forth the same low, + mellow thunder from a rock as from a log. Bryant has recognized this fact + in one of his poems. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Our poets are quite apt to get ahead or behind the season with their + flowers and birds. It is not often that we catch such a poet as Emerson + napping. He knows nature, and he knows the New England fields and woods, + as few poets do. One may study our flora and fauna in his pages. He puts + in the moose and the "surly bear," and makes the latter rhyme with + "woodpecker:"— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "He saw beneath dim aisles, in odorous + beds, +The slight Linnæa hang its twin-born + heads. + . . . . . . . . +. +He heard, when in the grove, at + intervals, +With sudden roar the aged pine-tree + falls,— +One crash, the death-hymn of the + perfect tree, +Declares the close of its green + century." +</pre> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +"They led me through the thicket + damp, + Through brake and fern, the beavers' + camp." + + "He saw the partridge drum in the + woods; + He heard the woodcock's evening + hymn; + He found the tawny thrushes' broods; + And the shy hawk did wait for him." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + His "Titmouse" is studied in our winter woods, and his "Humble-Bee" in our + summer fields. He has seen farther into the pine-tree than any other poet; + his "May-Day" is full of our spring sounds and tokens; he knows the + "punctual birds," and the "herbs and simples of the wood:"— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Rue, cinque-foil, gill, vervain, and + agrimony, + Blue-vetch, and trillium, hawk-weed, + sassafras, + Milk-weeds and murky brakes, quaint + pipes and sun-dew." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Here is a characteristic touch:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "A woodland walk + A quest of river-grapes, a mocking + thrush, + A wild rose, or rock-loving columbine, + Salve my worst wounds." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + That "rock-loving columbine" is better than Bryant's "columbines, in + purple dressed," as our flower is not purple, but yellow and scarlet. Yet + Bryant set the example to the poets that have succeeded him of closely + studying Nature as she appears under our own skies. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I yield to none in my admiration of the sweetness and simplicity of his + poems of nature, and in general of their correctness of observation. They + are tender and heartfelt, and they touch chords that no other poet since + Wordsworth has touched with so firm a hand. Yet he was not always an + infallible observer; he sometimes tripped up on his facts, and at other + times he deliberately moulded them, adding to, or cutting off, to suit the + purposes of his verse. I will cite here two instances in which his natural + history is at fault. In his poem on the bobolink he makes the parent birds + feed their young with "seeds," whereas, in fact, the young are fed + exclusively upon insects and worms. The bobolink is an insectivorous bird + in the North, or until its brood has flown, and a granivorous bird in the + South. In his "Evening Revery" occur these lines:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The mother bird hath broken for her + brood + Their prison shells, or shoved them + from the nest, + Plumed for their earliest flight." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + It is not a fact that the mother bird aids her offspring in escaping from + the shell. The young of all birds are armed with a small temporary horn or + protuberance upon the upper mandible, and they are so placed in the shell + that this point is in immediate contact with its inner surface; as soon as + they are fully developed and begin to struggle to free themselves, the + horny growth "pips" the shell. Their efforts then continue till their + prison walls are completely sundered and the bird is free. This process is + rendered the more easy by the fact that toward the last the shell becomes + very rotten; the acids that are generated by the growing chick eat it and + make it brittle, so that one can hardly touch a fully incubated bird's egg + without breaking it. To help the young bird forth would insure its speedy + death. It is not true, either, that the parent shoves its young from the + nest when they are fully fledged, except possibly in the case of some of + the swallows and of the eagle. The young of all our more common birds + leave the nest of their own motion, stimulated probably by the calls of + the parents, and in some cases by the withholding of food for a longer + period than usual. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + As an instance where Bryant warps the facts to suit his purpose, take his + poems of the "Yellow Violet" and "The Fringed Gentian." Of this last + flower he says:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Thou waitest late and com'st alone, + When woods are bare and birds are + flown, + And frosts and shortening days + portend + The aged year is near his end." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The fringed gentian belongs to September, and, when the severer frosts + keep away, it runs over into October. But it does not come alone, and the + woods are not bare. The closed gentian comes at the same time, and the + blue and purple asters are in all their glory. Goldenrod, turtle-head, and + other fall flowers also abound. When the woods are bare, which does not + occur in New England till in or near November, the fringed gentian has + long been dead. It is in fact killed by the first considerable frost. No, + if one were to go botanizing, and take Bryant's poem for a guide, he would + not bring home any fringed gentians with him. The only flower he would + find would be the witch-hazel. Yet I never see this gentian without + thinking of Bryant's poem, and feeling that he has brought it immensely + nearer to us. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bryant's poem of the "Yellow Violet" has all his accustomed simplicity and + pensiveness, but his love for the flower carries him a little beyond the + facts; he makes it sweet-scented,— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Thy faint perfume + Alone is in the virgin air;" +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + and he makes it the first flower of spring. I have never been able to + detect any perfume in the yellow species (VIOLA ROTUNDIFOLIA). This honor + belongs alone to our two white violets, VIOLA BLANDA and VIOLA CANADENSIS. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Neither is it quite true that + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Of all her train, the hands of Spring + First plant thee in the watery mould." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Now it is an interesting point which really is our first spring flower. + Which comes second or third is of less consequence, but which everywhere + and in all seasons comes first; and in such a case the poet must not place + the honor where it does not belong. I have no hesitation in saying that, + throughout the Middle and New England States, the hepatica is the first + spring flower. [Footnote: excepting, of course, the skunk-cabbage.] It is + some days ahead of all others. The yellow violet belongs only to the more + northern sections,—to high, cold, beechen woods, where the poet + rightly places it; but in these localities, if you go to the spring woods + every day, you will gather the hepatica first. I have also found the + claytonia and the coltsfoot first. In a poem called "The Twenty-Seventh of + March," Bryant places both the hepatica and the arbutus before it:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Within the woods + Tufts of ground-laurel, creeping + underneath + The leaves of the last summer, send + their sweets + Upon the chilly air, and by the oak, + The squirrel cups, a graceful + company, + Hide in their bells, a soft aerial + blue,"— </pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + ground-laurel being a local name for trailing arbutus, called also + mayflower, and squirrel-cups for hepatica, or liver-leaf. But the yellow + violet may rightly dispute for the second place. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In "The Song of the Sower" our poet covers up part of the truth with the + grain. The point and moral of the song he puts in the statement, that the + wheat sown in the fall lies in the ground till spring before it + germinates; when, in fact, it sprouts and grows and covers the ground with + "emerald blades" in the fall:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Fling wide the generous grain; we fling + O'er the dark mould the green of + spring. + For thick the emerald blades shall + grow, + When first the March winds melt the + snow, + And to the sleeping flowers, below, + The early bluebirds sing. + . . . . + + Brethren, the sower's task is done. + The seed is in its winter bed. + Now let the dark-brown mould be + spread, + To hide it from the sun, + And leave it to the kindly care + Of the still earth and brooding air, + As when the mother, from her + breast, + Lays the hushed babe apart to rest, + And shades its eyes and waits to see + How sweet its waking smile will be. + The tempest now may smite, the + sleet + All night on the drowned furrow beat, + And winds that, from the cloudy hold + Of winter, breathe the bitter cold, + Stiffen to stone the mellow mould, + Yet safe shall lie the wheat; + Till, out of heaven's unmeasured + blue, + Shall walk again the genial year, + To wake with warmth and nurse with + dew + The germs we lay to slumber here." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Of course the poet was not writing an agricultural essay, yet one does not + like to feel that he was obliged to ignore or sacrifice any part of the + truth to build up his verse. One likes to see him keep within the fact + without being conscious of it or hampered by it, as he does in "The + Planting of the Apple-Tree," or in the "Lines to a Water-Fowl." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + But there are glimpses of American scenery and climate in Bryant that are + unmistakable, as in these lines from "Midsummer:"— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Look forth upon the earth—her + thousand plants + Are smitten; even the dark, + sun-loving maize + Faints in the field beneath the torrid + blaze; + The herd beside the shaded fountain + pants; + For life is driven from all the + landscape brown; + The bird has sought his tree, the + snake his den, + The trout floats dead in the hot + stream, and men + Drop by the sunstroke in the + populous town." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Here is a touch of our "heated term" when the dogstar is abroad and the + weather runs mad. I regret the "trout floating dead in the hot stream," + because, if such a thing ever has occurred, it is entirely exceptional. + The trout in such weather seek the deep water and the spring holes, and + hide beneath rocks and willow banks. The following lines would be + impossible in an English poem:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The snowbird twittered on the + beechen bough, + And 'neath the hemlock, whose thick + branches bent + Beneath its bright, cold burden, and + kept dry + A circle, on the earth, of withered + leaves, + The partridge found a shelter." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Both Bryant and Longfellow put their spring bluebird in the elm, which is + a much better place for the oriole,—the elm-loving oriole. The + bluebird prefers a humbler perch. Lowell puts him upon a post in the + fence, which is a characteristic attitude:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The bluebird, shifting his light load of + song, + From post to post along the cheerless + fence." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Emerson calls him "April's bird," and makes him "fly before from tree to + tree," which is also good. But the bluebird is not strictly a songster in + the sense in which the song sparrow or the indigo-bird, or the English + robin redbreast, is; nor do Bryant's lines hit the mark:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The bluebird chants, from the elm's + long branches, + A hymn to welcome the budding + year." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Lowell, again, is nearer the truth when he speaks of his "whiff of song." + All his notes are call-notes, and are addressed directly to his mate. The + songbirds take up a position and lift up their voices and sing. It is a + deliberate musical performance, as much so as that of Nilsson or Patti. + The bluebird, however, never strikes an attitude and sings for the mere + song's sake. But the poets are perhaps to be allowed this latitude, only + their pages lose rather than gain by it. Nothing is so welcome in this + field as characteristic touches, a word or a phrase that fits this case + and no other. If the bluebird chants a hymn, what does the wood thrush do? + Yet the bluebird's note is more pleasing than most bird- songs; if it + could be reproduced in color, it would be the hue of the purest sky. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Longfellow makes the swallow sing:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The darting swallows soar and sing;"— </pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + which would leave him no room to describe the lark, if the lark had been + about. Bryant comes nearer the mark this time:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "There are notes of joy from the + hang-bird and wren, + And the gossip of swallows through all + the sky;" +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + so does Tennyson when he makes his swallow + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Cheep and twitter twenty million + loves;" +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + also Lowell again in this line:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The thin-winged swallow skating on + the air;" +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + and Virgil:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Swallows twitter on the chimney + tops." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Longfellow is perhaps less close and exact in his dealings with nature + than any of his compeers, although he has written some fine naturalistic + poems, as his "Rain in Summer," and others. When his fancy is taken, he + does not always stop to ask, Is this so? Is this true? as when he applies + the Spanish proverb, "There are no birds in last year's nests," to the + nests beneath the eaves; for these are just the last year's nests that do + contain birds in May. The cliff swallow and the barn swallow always + reoccupy their old nests, when they are found intact; so do some other + birds. Again, the hawthorn, or whitethorn, field-fares, belong to English + poetry more than to American. The ash in autumn is not deep crimsoned, but + a purplish brown. "The ash her purple drops forgivingly," says Lowell in + his "Indian-Summer Reverie." Flax is not golden, lilacs are purple or + white and not flame-colored, and it is against the law to go trouting in + November. The pelican is not a wader any more than a goose or a duck is, + and the golden robin or oriole is not a bird of autumn. This stanza from + "The Skeleton in Armor" is a striking one:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "As with his wings aslant, + Sails the fierce cormorant, + Seeking some rocky haunt, + With his prey laden, + So toward the open main, + Beating to sea again, + Through the wild hurricane, + Bore I the maiden." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + But unfortunately the cormorant never does anything of the kind; it is not + a bird of prey: it is web-footed, a rapid swimmer and diver, and lives + upon fish, which it usually swallows as it catches them. Virgil is nearer + to fact when he says:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "When crying cormorants forsake the + sea + And, stretching to the covert, wing + their way." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + But cormorant with Longfellow may stand for any of the large rapacious + birds, as the eagle or the condor. True, and yet the picture is a purely + fanciful one, as no bird of prey SAILS with his burden; on the contrary, + he flaps heavily and laboriously, because he is always obliged to mount. + The stress of the rhyme and metre are of course in this case very great, + and it is they, doubtless, that drove the poet into this false picture of + a bird of prey laden with his quarry. It is an ungracious task, however, + to cross- question the gentle Muse of Longfellow in this manner. He is a + true poet if there ever was one, and the slips I point out are only like + an obscure feather or two in the dove carelessly preened. The burnished + plumage and the bright hues hide them unless we look sharply. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Whittier gets closer to the bone of the New England nature. He comes from + the farm, and his memory is stored with boyhood's wild and curious lore, + with + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Knowledge never learned of schools, + Of the wild bee's morning chase, + Of the wild flower's time and place, + Flight of fowl and habitude + Of the tenants of the wood; + How the tortoise bears his shell, + How the woodchuck digs his cell, + And the ground-mole sinks his well; + How the robin feeds her young; + How the oriole's nest is hung; + Where the whitest lilies blow, + Where the freshest berries grow, + Where the ground-nut trails its vine, + Where the wood-grape's clusters + shine; + Of the black wasp's cunning way, + Mason of his walls of clay, + And the architectural plans + Of gray hornet artisans!" +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The poet is not as exact as usual when he applies the epithet "painted" to + the autumn beeches, as the foliage of the beech is the least painty of all + our trees; nor when he speaks of + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Wind-flower and violet, amber and + white," +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + as neither of the flowers named is amber-colored. From "A Dream of Summer" + the reader might infer that the fox shut up house in the winter like the + muskrat:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The fox his hillside cell forsakes, + The muskrat leaves his nook, + The bluebird in the meadow brakes + Is singing with the brook." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The only one of these incidents that is characteristic of a January thaw + in the latitude of New England is the appearance of the muskrat. The fox + is never in his cell in winter, except he is driven there by the hound, or + by soft or wet weather, and the bluebird does not sing in the brakes at + any time of the year. A severe stress of weather will drive the foxes off + the mountains into the low, sheltered woods and fields, and a thaw will + send them back again. In the winter the fox sleeps during the day upon a + rock or stone wall, or upon a snowbank, where he can command all the + approaches, or else prowls stealthily through the woods. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + But there is seldom a false note in any of Whittier's descriptions of + rural sights and sounds. What a characteristic touch is that in one of his + "Mountain Pictures:"— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The pasture bars that clattered as + they fell." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + It is the only strictly native, original, and typical sound he reports on + that occasion. The bleating of sheep, the barking of dogs, the lowing of + cattle, the splash of the bucket in the well, "the pastoral curfew of the + cowbell," etc., are sounds we have heard before in poetry, but that + clatter of the pasture bars is American; one can almost see the waiting, + ruminating cows slowly stir at the signal, and start for home in + anticipation of the summons. Every summer day, as the sun is shading the + hills, the clatter of those pasture bars is heard throughout the length + and breadth of the land. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Snow-Bound" is the most faithful picture of our Northern winter that has + yet been put into poetry. What an exact description is this of the morning + after the storm:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "We looked upon a world unknown, + On nothing we could call our own. + Around the glistening wonder bent + The blue walls of the firmament, + No cloud above, no earth below,— + A universe of sky and snow!" +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In his little poem on the mayflower, Mr. Stedman catches and puts in a + single line a feature of our landscape in spring that I have never before + seen alluded to in poetry. I refer to the second line of this stanza:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Fresh blows the breeze through + hemlock-trees, + The fields are edged with green + below, + And naught but youth, and hope, and + love + We know or care to know!" +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + It is characteristic of our Northern and New England fields that they are + "edged with green" in spring long before the emerald tint has entirely + overspread them. Along the fences, especially along the stone walls, the + grass starts early; the land is fatter there from the deeper snows and + from other causes, the fence absorbs the heat, and shelters the ground + from the winds, and the sward quickly responds to the touch of the spring + sun. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Stedman's poem is worthy of his theme, and is the only one I recall by any + of our well-known poets upon the much-loved mayflower or arbutus. There is + a little poem upon this subject by an unknown author that also has the + right flavor. I recall but one stanza:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Oft have I walked these woodland + ways, + Without the blest foreknowing, + That underneath the withered leaves + The fairest flowers were blowing." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Nature's strong and striking effects are best rendered by closest fidelity + to her. Listen and look intently, and catch the exact effect as nearly as + you can. It seems as if Lowell had done this more than most of his brother + poets. In reading his poems, one wishes for a little more of the poetic + unction (I refer, of course, to his serious poems; his humorous ones are + just what they should be), yet the student of nature will find many + close-fitting phrases and keen observations in his pages, and lines that + are exactly, and at the same time poetically, descriptive. He is the only + writer I know of who has noticed the fact that the roots of trees do not + look supple and muscular like their boughs, but have a stiffened, + congealed look, as of a liquid hardened. + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Their roots, like molten metal cooled + in flowing, + Stiffened in coils and runnels down + the bank." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + This is exactly the appearance the roots of most trees, when uncovered, + present; they flow out from the trunk like diminishing streams of liquid + metal, taking the form of whatever they come in contact with, parting + around a stone and uniting again beyond it, and pushing their way along + with many a pause and devious turn. One principal office of the roots of a + tree is to gripe, to hold fast the earth: hence they feel for and lay hold + of every inequality of surface; they will fit themselves to the top of a + comparatively smooth rock, so as to adhere amazingly, and flow into the + seams and crevices like metal into a mould. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Lowell is singularly true to the natural history of his own country. In + his "Indian-Summer Reverie" we catch a glimpse of the hen-hawk, silently + sailing overhead + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "With watchful, measuring eye," +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + the robin feeding on cedar berries, and the squirrel, + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "On the shingly shagbark's bough." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I do not remember to have met the "shagbark" in poetry before, or that + gray lichen-covered stone wall which occurs farther along in the same + poem, and which is so characteristic of the older farms of New York and + New England. I hardly know what the poet means by + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The wide-ranked mowers wading to + the knee," +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + as the mowers do not wade in the grass they are cutting, though they might + appear to do so when viewed athwart the standing grass; perhaps this is + the explanation of the line. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + But this is just what the bobolink does when the care of his young begins + to weigh upon him:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Meanwhile that devil-may-care, + the bobolink, + Remembering duty, in mid-quaver + stops + Just ere he sweeps o'er rapture's + tremulous brink, + And 'twixt the winrows most + demurely drops." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I do not vouch for that dropping between the windrows, as in my part of + the country the bobolinks flee before the hay-makers, but that sudden + stopping on the brink of rapture, as if thoughts of his helpless young had + extinguished his joy, is characteristic. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Another carefully studied description of Lowell's is this:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The robin sings as of old from the + limb! + The catbird croons in the lilac-bush! + Through the dim arbor, himself more + dun, + Silently hops the hermit thrush." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Among trees Lowell has celebrated the oak, the pine, the birch; and among + flowers; the violet and the dandelion. The last, I think, is the most + pleasing of these poems:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Dear common flower, that grow'st + beside the way, + Fringing the dusty road with harmless + gold, + First pledge of blithesome May." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The dandelion is indeed, in our latitude, the pledge of May. It comes when + the grass is short, and the fresh turf sets off its "ring of gold" with + admirable effect; hence we know the poet is a month or more out of the + season when, in "Al Fresco," he makes it bloom with the buttercup and the + clover:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The dandelions and buttercups + Gild all the lawn; the drowsy bee + Stumbles among the clover-tops, + And summer sweetens all but me." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Of course the dandelion blooms occasionally throughout the whole summer, + especially where the grass is kept short, but its proper season, when it + "gilds all the lawn," is, in every part of the country, some weeks earlier + than the tall buttercup and the clover. These bloom in June in New England + and New York, and are contemporaries of the daisy. In the meadows and + lawns, the dandelion drops its flower and holds aloft its sphere of down, + touching the green surface as with a light frost, long before the clover + and the buttercup have formed their buds. In "Al Fresco" our poet is + literally in clover, he is reveling in the height of the season, the full + tide of summer is sweeping around him, and he has riches enough without + robbing May of her dandelions. Let him say,— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The daisies and the buttercups + Gild all the lawn." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I smile as I note that the woodpecker proves a refractory bird to Lowell, + as well as to Emerson:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Emerson rhymes it with bear, + Lowell rhymes it with hear, + One makes it woodpeckair, + The other, woodpeckear. +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + But its hammer is a musical one, and the poets do well to note it. Our + most pleasing drummer upon dry limbs among the woodpeckers is the + yellow-bellied. His measured, deliberate tap, heard in the stillness of + the primitive woods, produces an effect that no bird- song is capable of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Tennyson is said to have very poor eyes, but there seems to be no defect + in the vision with which he sees nature, while he often hits the nail on + the head in a way that would indicate the surest sight. True, he makes the + swallow hunt the bee, which, for aught I know, the swallow may do in + England. Our purple martin has been accused of catching the honey-bee, but + I doubt his guilt. But those of our swallows that correspond to the + British species, the barn swallow, the cliff swallow, and the bank + swallow, subsist upon very small insects. But what a clear-cut picture is + that in the same poem ("The Poet's Song"):— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The wild hawk stood, with the down on + his beak, + And stared, with his foot on the + prey." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + It takes a sure eye, too, to see + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The landscape winking thro' the + heat"— </pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + or to gather this image:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "He has a solid base of temperament; + But as the water-lily starts and slides + Upon the level in little puffs of wind, + Though anchor'd to the bottom, such + is he;" +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + or this:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Arms on which the standing muscle + sloped, + As slopes a wild brook o'er a little + stone, + Running too vehemently to break + upon it,"— </pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + and many other gems that abound in his poems. He does not cut and cover in + a single line, so far as I have observed. Great caution and exact + knowledge underlie his most rapid and daring flights. A lady told me that + she was once walking with him in the fields, when they came to a spring + that bubbled up through shifting sands in a very pretty manner, and + Tennyson, in order to see exactly how the spring behaved, got down on his + hands and knees and peered a long time into the water. The incident is + worth repeating as showing how intently a great poet studies nature. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Walt Whitman says he has been trying for years to find a word that would + express or suggest that evening call of the robin. How absorbingly this + poet must have studied the moonlight to hit upon this descriptive phrase:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The vitreous pour of the full moon + just tinged with blue;" +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + how long have looked upon the carpenter at his bench to have made this + poem:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The tongue of his fore-plane whistles + its wild ascending lisp;" +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + or how lovingly listened to the nocturne of the mockingbird to have turned + it into words in "A Word out of the Sea "! Indeed, no poet has studied + American nature more closely than Whitman has, or is more cautious in his + uses of it. How easy are his descriptions!— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Behold the daybreak! + The little light fades the immense + and diaphanous shadows!" + + "The comet that came unannounced + Out of the north, flaring in + heaven." + + "The fan-shaped explosion." + + "The slender and jagged threads of + lightning, as sudden and fast amid + the din they chased each other + across the sky." + + "Where the heifers browse—where + geese nip their food with short + jerks; + Where sundown shadows lengthen + over the limitless and lonesome + prairie; + Where herds of buffalo make a + crawling spread of the square miles + far and near; + Where the hummingbird shimmers— + where the neck of the long-lived + swan is curving and winding; + Where the laughing-gull scoots by the + shore when she laughs her near + human laugh; + Where band-neck'd partridges roost + in a ring on the ground with their + heads out." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Whitman is less local than the New England poets, and faces more to the + West. But he makes himself at home everywhere, and puts in characteristic + scenes and incidents, generally compressed into a single line, from all + trades and doings and occupations, North, East, South, West, and + identifies himself with man in all straits and conditions on the + continent. Like the old poets, he does not dwell upon nature, except + occasionally through the vistas opened up by the great sciences, as + astronomy and geology, but upon life and movement and personality, and + puts in a shred of natural history here and there,—the "twittering + redstart," the spotted hawk swooping by, the oscillating sea-gulls, the + yellow-crowned heron, the razor-billed auk, the lone wood duck, the + migrating geese, the sharp-hoofed moose, the mockingbird "the thrush, the + hermit," etc.,—to help locate and define his position. Everywhere in + nature Whitman finds human relations, human responsions. In entire + consistence with botany, geology, science, or what not, he endues his very + seas and woods with passion, more than the old hamadryads or tritons. His + fields, his rocks, his trees, are not dead material, but living + companions. This is doubtless one reason why Addington Symonds, the young + Hellenic scholar of England, finds him more thoroughly Greek than any + other man of modern times. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Our natural history, and indeed all phases of life in this country, is + rich in materials for the poet that have yet hardly been touched. Many of + our most familiar birds, which are inseparably associated with one's walks + and recreations in the open air, and with the changes of the seasons, are + yet awaiting their poet,—as the high-hole, with his golden-shafted + quills and loud continued spring call; the meadowlark, with her + crescent-marked breast and long-drawn, piercing, yet tender April and May + summons forming, with that of the high-hole, one of the three or four most + characteristic field sounds of our spring; the happy goldfinch, circling + round and round in midsummer with that peculiar undulating flight and + calling PER-CHICK'-O-PEE, PER-CHICK'-O-PEE, at each opening and shutting + of the wings, or later leading her plaintive brood among the thistle-heads + by the roadside; the little indigo- bird, facing the torrid sun of August + and singing through all the livelong summer day; the contented musical + soliloquy of the vireo, like the whistle of a boy at his work, heard + through all our woods from May to September:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Pretty green worm, where are you? + Dusky-winged moth, how fare you, + When wind and rain are in the tree? + Cheeryo, cheerebly, chee, + Shadow and sun one are to me. + Mosquito and gnat, beware you, + Saucy chipmunk, how dare you + Climb to my nest in the maple-tree, + And dig up the corn + At noon and at morn? + Cheeryo, cheerebly, chee." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Or the phÂœbe-bird, with her sweet April call and mossy nest under the + bridge or woodshed, or under the shelving rocks; or the brown thrasher—mocking + thrush—calling half furtively, half archly from the treetop back in + the bushy pastures: "Croquet, croquet, hit it, hit it, come to me, come to + me, tight it, tight it, you're out, you're out," with many musical + interludes; or the chewink, rustling the leaves and peering under the + bushes at you; or the pretty little oven-bird, walking round and round you + in the woods, or suddenly soaring above the treetops, and uttering its + wild lyrical strain; or, farther south, the whistling redbird, with his + crest and military bearing,—these and many others should be full of + suggestion and inspiration to our poets. It is only lately that the + robin's song has been put into poetry. Nothing could be happier than this + rendering of it by a nameless singer in "A Masque of Poets:"— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "When the willows gleam along the + brooks, + And the grass grows green in sunny + nooks, + In the sunshine and the rain + I hear the robin in the lane + Singing, 'Cheerily, + Cheer up, cheer up; + Cheerily, cheerily, + Cheer up.' + + "But the snow is still + Along the walls and on the hill. + The days are cold, the nights forlorn, + For one is here and one is gone. + 'Tut, tut. Cheerily, + Cheer up, cheer up; + Cheerily, cheerily, + Cheer up.' + + "When spring hopes seem to wane, + I hear the joyful strain— + A song at night, a song at morn, + A lesson deep to me is borne, + Hearing, 'Cheerily, + Cheer up, cheer up; + Cheerily, cheerily, + Cheer up.' " +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The poetic interpretation of nature, which has come to be a convenient + phrase, and about which the Oxford professor of poetry has written a book, + is, of course, a myth, or is to be read the other way. It is the soul the + poet interprets, not nature. There is nothing in nature but what the + beholder supplies. Does the sculptor interpret the marble or his own + ideal? Is the music in the instrument, or in the soul of the performer? + Nature is a dead clod until you have breathed upon it with your genius. + You commune with your own soul, not with woods or waters; they furnish the + conditions, and are what you make them. Did Shelley interpret the song of + the skylark, or Keats that of the nightingale? They interpreted their own + wild, yearning hearts. The trick of the poet is always to idealize nature,—to + see it subjectively. You cannot find what the poets find in the woods + until you take the poet's heart to the woods. He sees nature through a + colored glass, sees it truthfully, but with an indescribable charm added, + the aureole of the spirit. A tree, a cloud, a bird, a sunset, have no + hidden meaning that the art of the poet is to unlock for us. Every poet + shall interpret them differently, and interpret them rightly, because the + soul is infinite. Milton's nightingale is not Coleridge's; Burns's daisy + is not Wordsworth's; Emerson's bumblebee is not Lowell's; nor does Turner + see in nature what Tintoretto does, nor Veronese what Correggio does. + Nature is all things to all men. "We carry within us," says Sir Thomas + Browne, "the wonders we find without." The same idea is daintily expressed + in these tripping verses of Bryant's:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Yet these sweet sounds of the early + season + And these fair sights of its early + days, + Are only sweet when we fondly listen, + And only fair when we fondly gaze. +</pre> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +"There is no glory in star or blossom, + Till looked upon by a loving eye; + There is no fragrance in April breezes, + Till breathed with joy as they + wander by;" +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + and in these lines of Lowell:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "What we call Nature, all outside + ourselves, + Is but our own conceit of what we see, + Our own reaction upon what we feel." + + "I find my own complexion + everywhere." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Before either, Coleridge had said:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "We receive but what we give, + And in our life alone doth Nature live; + Ours is the wedding-garment, ours + the shroud;" +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + and Wordsworth had spoken of + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The light that never was on sea or + land, + The consecration and the poet's + dream." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + That light that never was on sea or land is what the poet gives us, and is + what we mean by the poetic interpretation of nature. The Oxford professor + struggles against this view. "It is not true," he says, "that nature is a + blank, or an unintelligible scroll with no meaning of its own but that + which we put into it from the light of our own transient feelings." Not a + blank, certainly, to the scientist, but full of definite meanings and + laws, and a storehouse of powers and economies; but to the poet the + meaning is what he pleases to make it, what it provokes in his own soul. + To the man of science it is thus and so, and not otherwise; but the poet + touches and goes, and uses nature as a garment which he puts off and on. + Hence the scientific reading or interpretation of nature is the only real + one. Says the SOOTHSAYER in "Antony and Cleopatra:"— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'In Nature's infinite book of secrecy a + little do I read." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + This is science bowed and reverent, and speaking through a great poet. The + poet himself does not so much read in nature's book— though he does + this, too—as write his own thoughts there. Nature reads him, she is + the page and he the type, and she takes the impression he gives. Of course + the poet uses the truths of nature also, and he establishes his right to + them by bringing them home to us with a new and peculiar force,—a + quickening or kindling force. What science gives is melted in the fervent + heat of the poet's passion, and comes back to us supplemented by his + quality and genius. He gives more than he takes, always. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <p> + </p> + <h2> + V. — NOTES BY THE WAY + </h2> + <p> + </p> + <h3> + A NEW NOTE IN THE WOODS + </h3> + <p> + </p> + <p> + THERE is always a new page to be turned in natural history, if one is + sufficiently on the alert. I did not know that the eagle celebrated his + nuptials in the air till one early spring day I saw a pair of them fall + from the sky with talons hooked together. They dropped a hundred feet or + more, in a wild embrace, their great wings fanning the air, then separated + and mounted aloft, tracing their great circles against the clouds. "Watch + and wait" is the naturalist's sign. For years I have been trying to + ascertain for a certainty the author of that fine plaintive piping to be + heard more or less frequently, according to the weather, in our summer and + autumn woods. It is a note that much resembles that of our small marsh + frog in spring,—the hyla; it is not quite so clear and assured, but + otherwise much the same. Of a very warm October day I have heard the wood + vocal with it; it seemed to proceed from every stump and tree about one. + Ordinarily it is heard only at intervals throughout the woods. Approach + never so cautiously the spot from which the sound proceeds, and it + instantly ceases, and you may watch for an hour without again hearing it. + Is it a frog, I said, the small tree-frog, the piper of the marshes, + repeating his spring note, but little changed, amid the trees? Doubtless + it is, yet I must see him in the very act. So I watched and waited, but to + no purpose, till one day, while bee-hunting in the woods, I heard the + sound proceed from beneath the leaves at my feet. Keeping entirely quiet, + the little musician presently emerged, and, lifting himself up on a small + stick, his throat palpitated and the plaintive note again came forth. "The + queerest frog ever I saw," said a youth who accompanied me, and whom I had + enlisted to help solve the mystery. No; it was no frog or toad at all, but + the small red salamander, commonly called lizard. The color is not + strictly red, but a dull orange, variegated with minute specks or spots. + This was the mysterious piper, then, heard from May till November through + all our woods, sometimes on trees, but usually on or near the ground. It + makes more music in the woods in autumn than any bird. It is a pretty, + inoffensive creature, walks as awkwardly as a baby, and may often be found + beneath stones and old logs in the woods, where, buried in the mould, it + passes the winter. (I suspect there is a species of little frog—Pickering's + hyla [footnote: A frequent piper in the woods throughout the summer and + early fall.]—that also pipes occasionally in the woods.) I have + discovered, also, that we have a musical spider. One sunny April day, + while seated on the borders of the woods, my attention was attracted by a + soft, uncertain, purring sound that proceeded from the dry leaves at my + feet. On investigating the matter, I found that it was made by a busy + little spider. Several of them were traveling about over the leaves, as if + in quest of some lost cue or secret. Every moment or two they would pause, + and by some invisible means make the low, purring sound referred to. Dr. + J. A. Alien says the common turtle, or land tortoise, also has a note,—a + loud, shrill, piping sound. It may yet be discovered that there is no + silent creature in nature. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <h3> + THE SAND HORNET + </h3> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I turned another (to me) new page in natural history, when, during the + past season, I made the acquaintance of the sand wasp or hornet. From + boyhood I had known the black hornet, with his large paper nest, and the + spiteful yellow-jacket, with his lesser domicile, and had cherished proper + contempt for the various indolent wasps. But the sand hornet was a new + bird,—in fact, the harpy eagle among insects,—and he made an + impression. While walking along the road about midsummer, I noticed + working in the towpath, where the ground was rather inclined to be dry and + sandy, a large yellow hornet-like insect. It made a hole the size of one's + little finger in the hard, gravelly path beside the roadbed. When + disturbed, it alighted on the dirt and sand in the middle of the road. I + had noticed in my walks some small bullet-like holes in the field that had + piqued my curiosity, and I determined to keep an eye on these insects of + the roadside. I explored their holes, and found them quite shallow, and no + mystery at the bottom of them. One morning in the latter part of July, + walking that way, I was quickly attracted by the sight of a row of little + mounds of fine, freshly dug earth resting upon the grass beside the road, + a foot or more beneath the path. "What is this?" I said. "Mice, or + squirrels, or snakes," said my neighbor. But I connected it at once with + the strange insect I had seen. Neither mice nor squirrels work like that, + and snakes do not dig. Above each mound of earth was a hole the size of + one's largest finger, leading into the bank. While speculating about the + phenomenon, I saw one of the large yellow hornets I had observed quickly + enter one of the holes. That settled the query. While spade and hoe were + being brought to dig him out, another hornet appeared, heavy-laden with + some prey, and flew humming up and down and around the place where I was + standing. I withdrew a little, when he quickly alighted upon one of the + mounds of earth, and I saw him carrying into his den no less an insect + than the cicada or harvest-fly. Then another came, and after coursing up + and down a few times, disturbed by my presence, alighted upon a tree, with + his quarry, to rest. The black hornet will capture a fly, or a small + butterfly, and, after breaking and dismembering it, will take it to his + nest; but here was this hornet carrying an insect much larger than + himself, and flying with ease and swiftness. It was as if a hawk should + carry a hen, or an eagle a turkey. I at once proceeded to dig for one of + the hornets, and, after following his hole about three feet under the + footpath and to the edge of the roadbed, succeeded in capturing him and + recovering the cicada. The hornet weighed fifteen grains, and the cicada + nineteen; but in bulk the cicada exceeded the hornet by more than half. In + color, the wings and thorax, or waist, of the hornet were a rich bronze; + the abdomen was black, with three irregular yellow bands; the legs were + large and powerful, especially the third or hindmost pair, which were much + larger than the others, and armed with many spurs and hooks. In digging + its hole the hornet has been seen at work very early in the morning. It + backed out with the loosened material, like any other animal under the + same circumstances, holding and scraping back the dirt with its legs. The + preliminary prospecting upon the footpath, which I had observed, seems to + have been the work of the males, as it was certainly of the smaller + hornets, and the object was doubtless to examine the ground, and ascertain + if the place was suitable for nesting. By digging two or three inches + through the hard, gravelly surface of the road, a fine sandy loam was + discovered, which seemed to suit exactly, for in a few days the main + shafts were all started in the greensward, evidently upon the strength of + the favorable report which the surveyors had made. These were dug by the + larger hornets or females. There was but one inhabitant in each hole, and + the holes were two or three feet apart. One that we examined had nine + chambers or galleries at the end of it, in each of which were two locusts, + or eighteen in all. The locusts of the locality had suffered great + slaughter. Some of them in the hole or den had been eaten to a mere shell + by the larvæ of the hornet. Under the wing of each insect an egg is + attached; the egg soon hatches, and the grub at once proceeds to devour + the food its thoughtful parent has provided. As it grows, it weaves itself + a sort of shell or cocoon, in which, after a time, it undergoes its + metamorphosis, and comes out, I think, a perfect insect toward the end of + summer. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I understood now the meaning of that sudden cry of alarm I had so often + heard proceed from the locust or cicada, followed by some object falling + and rustling amid the leaves; the poor insect was doubtless in the + clutches of this arch enemy. A number of locusts usually passed the night + on the under side of a large limb of a mulberry-tree near by: early one + morning a hornet was seen to pounce suddenly upon one and drag it over on + the top of the limb; a struggle ensued, but the locust was soon quieted + and carried off. It is said that the hornet does not sting the insect in a + vital part,—for in that case it would not keep fresh for its young,—but + introduces its poison into certain nervous ganglia, the injury to which + has the effect of paralyzing the victim and making it incapable of motion, + though life remains for some time. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + My friend Van, who watched the hornets in my absence, saw a fierce battle + one day over the right of possession of one of the dens. An angry, humming + sound was heard to proceed from one of the holes; gradually it approached + the surface, until the hornets emerged locked in each other's embrace, and + rolled down the little embankment, where the combat was continued. + Finally, one released his hold and took up his position in the mouth of + his den (of course I should say SHE and HER, as these were the queen + hornets), where she seemed to challenge her antagonist to come on. The + other one manÂœuvred about awhile, but could not draw her enemy out of her + stronghold; then she clambered up the bank and began to bite and tear off + bits of grass, and to loosen gravel-stones and earth, and roll them down + into the mouth of the disputed passage. This caused the besieged hornet to + withdraw farther into her hole, when the other came down and thrust in her + head, but hesitated to enter. After more manÂœuvering, the aggressor + withdrew, and began to bore a hole about a foot from the one she had tried + to possess herself of by force. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Besides the cicada, the sand hornet captures grasshoppers and other large + insects. I have never met with it before the present summer (1879), but + this year I have heard of its appearance at several points along the + Hudson. + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + THE SOLITARY BEE +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + If you "leave no stone unturned" in your walks through the fields, you may + perchance discover the abode of one of our solitary bees. Indeed, I have + often thought what a chapter of natural history might be written on "Life + under a Stone," so many of our smaller creatures take refuge there,—ants, + crickets, spiders, wasps, bumblebees, the solitary bee, mice, toads, + snakes, and newts. What do these things do in a country where there are no + stones? A stone makes a good roof, a good shield; it is water-proof and + fire-proof, and, until the season becomes too rigorous, frost-proof too. + The field mouse wants no better place to nest than beneath a large, flat + stone, and the bumblebee is entirely satisfied if she can get possession + of his old or abandoned quarters. I have even heard of a swarm of hive + bees going under a stone that was elevated a little from the ground. After + that, I did not marvel at Samson's bees going into the carcass or skeleton + of the lion. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In the woods one day (it was November) I turned over a stone that had a + very strange-looking creature under it,—a species of salamander I + had never before seen, the banded salamander. It was five or six inches + long, and was black and white in alternate bands. It looked like a + creature of the night,—darkness dappled with moonlight,—and so + it proved. I wrapped it up in some leaves and took it home in my pocket. + By day it would barely move, and could not be stimulated or frightened + into any activity; but an night it was alert and wide awake. Of its habits + I know little, but it is a pretty and harmless creature. Under another + stone was still another species, the violet-colored salamander, larger, of + a dark plum-color, with two rows of bright yellow spots down its back. It + evinced more activity than its fellow of the moon- bespattered garb. I + have also found the little musical red newt under stones, and several + small dark species. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + But to return to the solitary bee. When you go a-hunting of the honey-bee, + and are in quest of a specimen among the asters or goldenrod in some + remote field to start a line with, you shall see how much this little + native bee resembles her cousin of the social hive. There appear to be + several varieties, but the one I have in mind is just the size of the + honey-bee, and of the same general form and color, and its manner among + the flowers is nearly the same. On close inspection, its color proves to + be lighter, while the under side of its abdomen is of a rich bronze. The + body is also flatter and less tapering, and the curve inclines upward, + rather than downward. You perceive it would be the easiest thing in the + world for the bee to sting an enemy perched upon its back. One variety, + with a bright buff abdomen, is called "sweat-bee" by the laborers in the + field, because it alights upon their hands and bare arms when they are + sweaty,—doubtless in quest of salt. It builds its nest in little + cavities in rails and posts. But the one with the bronze or copper bottom + builds under a stone. I discovered its nest one day in this wise: I was + lying on the ground in a field, watching a line of honey-bees to the + woods, when my attention was arrested by one of these native bees flying + about me in a curious, inquiring way. When it returned the third time, I + said, "That bee wants something of me," which proved to be the case, for I + was lying upon the entrance to its nest. On my getting up, it alighted and + crawled quickly home. I turned over the stone, which was less than a foot + across, when the nest was partially exposed. It consisted of four cells, + built in succession in a little tunnel that had been excavated in the + ground. The cells, which were about three quarters of an inch long and + half as far through, were made of sections cut from the leaf of the maple,— + cut with the mandibles of the bee, which work precisely like shears. I + have seen the bee at work cutting out these pieces. She moves through the + leaf like the hand of the tailor through a piece of cloth. When the + pattern is detached, she rolls it up, and, embracing it with her legs, + flies home with it, often appearing to have a bundle disproportionately + large. Each cell is made up of a dozen or more pieces: the larger ones, + those that form its walls, like the walls of a paper bag, are oblong, and + are turned down at one end, so as to form the bottom; not one thickness of + leaf merely, but three or four thicknesses, each fragment of leaf lapping + over another. When the cell is completed, it is filled about two thirds + full of bee-bread,—the color of that in the comb in the hive, but + not so dry, and having a sourish smell. Upon this the egg is laid, and + upon this the young feed when hatched. Is the paper bag now tied up? No, + it is headed up; circular bits of leaves are nicely fitted into it to the + number of six or seven. They are cut without pattern or compass, and yet + they are all alike, and all exactly fit. Indeed, the construction of this + cell or receptacle shows great ingenuity and skill. The bee is, of course, + unable to manage a single section of a leaf large enough, when rolled up, + to form it, and so is obliged to construct it of smaller pieces, such as + she can carry, lapping them one over another. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + A few days later I saw a smaller species carrying fragments of a yellow + autumn leaf under a stone in a cornfield. On examining the place about + sundown to see if the bee lodged there, I found her snugly ensconced in a + little rude cell that adhered to the under side of the stone. There was no + pollen in it, and I half suspected it was merely a berth in which to pass + the night. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + These bees do not live even in pairs, but absolutely alone. They have + large baskets on their legs in which to carry pollen, an article they are + very industrious in collecting. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Why the larger species above described should have waited till October to + build its nest is a mystery to me. Perhaps this was the second brood of + the season, or can it be that the young were not to hatch till the + following spring? + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + THE WEATHERWISE MUSKRAT +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I am more than half persuaded that the muskrat is a wise little animal, + and that on the subject of the weather, especially, he possesses some + secret that I should be glad to know. In the fall of 1878 I noticed that + he built unusually high and massive nests. I noticed them in several + different localities. In a shallow, sluggish pond by the roadside, which I + used to pass daily in my walk, two nests were in process of construction + throughout the month of November. The builders worked only at night, and I + could see each day that the work had visibly advanced. When there was a + slight skim of ice over the pond, this was broken up about the nests, with + trails through it in different directions where the material had been + brought. The houses were placed a little to one side of the main channel, + and were constructed entirely of a species of coarse wild grass that grew + all about. So far as I could see, from first to last they were solid + masses of grass, as if the interior cavity or nest was to be excavated + afterward, as doubtless it was. As they emerged from the pond they + gradually assumed the shape of a miniature mountain, very bold and steep + on the south side, and running down a long, gentle grade to the surface of + the water on the north. One could see that the little architect hauled all + his material up this easy slope, and thrust it out boldly around the other + side. Every mouthful was distinctly defined. After they were two feet or + more above the water, I expected each day to see that the finishing stroke + had been given and the work brought to a close. But higher yet, said the + builder. December drew near, the cold became threatening, and I was + apprehensive that winter would suddenly shut down upon those unfinished + nests. But the wise rats knew better than I did; they had received private + advices from headquarters, that I knew not of. Finally, about the 6th of + December, the nests assumed completion; the northern incline was absorbed + or carried up, and each structure became a strong, massive cone, three or + four feet high, the largest nest of the kind I had ever seen. Does it mean + a severe winter? I inquired. An old farmer said it meant "high water," and + he was right once, at least, for in a few days afterward we had the + heaviest rainfall known in this section for half a century. The creeks + rose to an almost unprecedented height. The sluggish pond became a + seething, turbulent water-course; gradually the angry element crept up the + sides of these lake dwellings, till, when the rain ceased, about four + o'clock, they showed above the flood no larger than a man's hat. During + the night the channel shifted till the main current swept over them, and + next day not a vestige of the nests was to be seen; they had gone + downstream, as had many other dwellings of a less temporary character. The + rats had built wisely, and would have been perfectly secure against any + ordinary high water, but who can foresee a flood? The oldest traditions of + their race did not run back to the time of such a visitation. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Nearly a week afterward another dwelling was begun, well away from the + treacherous channel, but the architects did not work at it with much + heart: the material was very scarce, the ice hindered; and before the + basement story was fairly finished, Winter had the pond under his lock and + key. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In other localities I noticed that, where the nests were placed on the + banks of streams, they were made secure against the floods by being built + amid a small clump of bushes. When the fall of 1879 came, the muskrats + were very tardy about beginning their house, laying the corner-stone—or + the corner-sod—about December 1, and continuing the work slowly and + indifferently. On the 15th of the month the nest was not yet finished. + This, I said, indicates a mild winter; and, sure enough, the season was + one of the mildest known for many years. The rats had little use for their + house. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Again, in the fall of 1880, while the weather-wise were wagging their + heads, some forecasting a mild, some a severe winter, I watched with + interest for a sign from my muskrats. About November 1, a month earlier + than the previous year, they began their nest, and worked at it with a + will. They appeared to have just got tidings of what was coming. If I had + taken the hint so palpably given, my celery would not have been frozen up + in the ground, and my apples caught in unprotected places. When the cold + wave struck us, about November 20, my four-legged "I-told-you-so's" had + nearly completed their dwelling; it lacked only the ridge-board, so to + speak; it needed a little "topping out," to give it a finished look. But + this it never got. The winter had come to stay, and it waxed more and more + severe, till the unprecedented cold of the last days of December must have + astonished even the wise muskrats in their snug retreat. I approached + their nest at this time, a white mound upon the white, deeply frozen + surface of the pond, and wondered if there was any life in that apparent + sepulchre. I thrust my walking-stick sharply into it, when there was a + rustle and a splash into the water, as the occupant made his escape. What + a damp basement that house has, I thought, and what a pity to rout a + peaceful neighbor out of his bed in this weather, and into such a state of + things as this! But water does not wet the muskrat; his fur is charmed, + and not a drop penetrates it. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Where the ground is favorable, the muskrats do not build these mound-like + nests, but burrow into the bank a long distance, and establish their + winter-quarters there. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Shall we not say, then, in view of the above facts, that this little + creature is weatherwise? The hitting of the mark twice might be mere good + luck; but three bull's-eyes in succession is not a mere coincidence; it is + a proof of skill. The muskrat is not found in the Old World, which is a + little singular, as other rats so abound there, and as those slow-going + English streams especially, with their grassy banks, are so well suited to + him. The water-rat of Europe is smaller, but of similar nature and habits. + The muskrat does not hibernate like some rodents, but is pretty active all + winter. In December I noticed in my walk where they had made excursions of + a few yards to an orchard for frozen apples. One day, along a little + stream, I saw a mink track amid those of the muskrat; following it up, I + presently came to blood and other marks of strife upon the snow beside a + stone wall. Looking in between the stones, I found the carcass of the + luckless rat, with its head and neck eaten away. The mink had made a meal + of him. + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + CHEATING THE SQUIRRELS +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + For the largest and finest chestnuts I had last fall I was indebted to the + gray squirrels. Walking through the early October woods one day, I came + upon a place where the ground was thickly strewn with very large unopened + chestnut burrs. On examination, I found that every burr had been cut + square off with about an inch of the stem adhering, and not one had been + left on the tree. It was not accident, then, but design. Whose design? The + squirrels'. The fruit was the finest I had ever seen in the woods, and + some wise squirrel had marked it for his own. The burrs were ripe, and had + just begun to divide, not "threefold," but fourfold, "to show the fruit + within." The squirrel that had taken all this pains had evidently reasoned + with himself thus: "Now, these are extremely fine chestnuts, and I want + them; if I wait till the burrs open on the tree, the crows and jays will + be sure to carry off a great many of the nuts before they fall; then, + after the wind has rattled out what remain, there are the mice, the + chipmunks, the red squirrels, the raccoons, the grouse, to say nothing of + the boys and the pigs, to come in for their share; so I will forestall + events a little: I will cut off the burrs when they have matured, and a + few days of this dry October weather will cause every one of them to open + on the ground; I shall be on hand in the nick of time to gather up my + nuts." The squirrel, of course, had to take the chances of a prowler like + myself coming along, but he had fairly stolen a march on his neighbors. As + I proceeded to collect and open the burrs, I was half prepared to hear an + audible protest from the trees about, for I constantly fancied myself + watched by shy but jealous eyes. It is an interesting inquiry how the + squirrel knew the burrs would open if left to lie on the ground a few + days. Perhaps he did not know, but thought the experiment worth trying. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The gray squirrel is peculiarly an American product, and might serve very + well as a national emblem. The Old World can beat us on rats and mice, but + we are far ahead on squirrels, having five or six species to Europe's one. + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + THE SKYLARK ON THE HUDSON +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + My note-book of the past season is enriched with the unusual incident of + an English skylark in full song above an Esopus meadow. I was poking about + a marshy place in a low field one morning in early May, when, through the + maze of bird-voices,—laughter of robins, call of meadowlarks, song + of bobolinks, ditty of sparrows, whistle of orioles, twitter of swallows,—with + which the air was filled, my ear suddenly caught an unfamiliar strain. I + paused to listen: can it be possible, I thought, that I hear a lark, or am + I dreaming? The song came from the air, above a wide, low meadow many + hundred yards away. Withdrawing a few paces to a more elevated position, I + bent my eye and ear eagerly in that direction. Yes, that unstinted, + jubilant, skyward, multitudinous song can be none other than the lark's! + Any of our native songsters would have ceased while I was listening. + Presently I was fortunate enough to catch sight of the bird. He had + reached his climax in the sky, and was hanging with quivering wings + beneath a small white cloud, against which his form was clearly revealed. + I had seen and heard the lark in England, else I should still have been in + doubt about the identity of this singer. While I was climbing a fence I + was obliged to take my eye from the bird, and when I looked again the song + had ceased and the lark had gone. I was soon in the meadow above which I + had heard him, and the first bird I flushed was the lark. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + How strange he looked to my eye (I use the masculine gender because it was + a male bird, but an Irishman laboring in the field, to whom I related my + discovery, spoke touchingly of the bird as "she," and I notice that the + old poets do the same); his long, sharp wings, and something in his manner + of flight suggested a shore-bird. I followed him about the meadow and got + several snatches of song out of him, but not again the soaring, skyward + flight and copious musical shower. By appearing to pass by, I several + times got within a few yards of him; as I drew near he would squat in the + stubble, and then suddenly start up, and, when fairly launched, sing + briefly till he alighted again fifteen or twenty rods away. I came twice + the next day and twice the next, and each time found the lark in the + meadow or heard his song from the air or the sky. What was especially + interesting was that the lark had "singled out with affection" one of our + native birds, and the one that most resembled its kind, namely, the vesper + sparrow, or grass finch. To this bird I saw him paying his addresses with + the greatest assiduity. He would follow it about and hover above it, and + by many gentle indirections seek to approach it. But the sparrow was shy, + and evidently did not know what to make of her distinguished foreign + lover. It would sometimes take refuge in a bush, when the lark, not being + a percher, would alight upon the ground beneath it. This sparrow looks + enough like the lark to be a near relation. Its color is precisely the + same, and it has the distinguishing mark of the two lateral white quills + in its tail. It has the same habit of skulking in the stubble or the grass + as you approach; it is exclusively a field-bird, and certain of its notes + might have been copied from the lark's song. In size it is about a third + smaller, and this is the most marked difference between them. With the + nobler bipeds, this would not have been any obstacle to the union, and in + this case the lark was evidently quite ready to ignore the difference, but + the sparrow persisted in saying him nay. It was doubtless this obstinacy + on her part that drove the lark away, for, on the fifth day, I could not + find him, and have never seen nor heard him since. I hope he found a mate + somewhere, but it is quite improbable. The bird had, most likely, escaped + from a cage, or, maybe, it was a survivor of a number liberated some years + ago on Long Island. There is no reason why I the lark should not thrive in + this country as well as in Europe, and, if a few hundred were liberated in + any of our fields in April or May, I have little doubt they would soon + become established. And what an acquisition it would be! As a songster, + the lark is deserving of all the praise that has been bestowed upon him. + He would not add so much to the harmony or melody of our bird-choir as he + would add to its blithesomeness, joyousness, and power. His voice is the + jocund and inspiring voice of a spring morning. It is like a ceaseless and + hilarious clapping of hands. I was much interested in an account a friend + gave me of the first skylark he heard while abroad. He had been so full of + the sights and wonders of the Old World that he had quite forgotten the + larks, when one day, as he was walking somewhere near the sea, a brown + bird started up in front of him, and mounting upward began to sing. It + drew his attention, and as the bird went skyward, pouring out his rapid + and jubilant notes, like bees from a hive in swarming-time, the truth + suddenly flashed upon the observer. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Good heavens!" he exclaimed, "that is a skylark; there is no mistaking + that bird." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + It is this unique and unmistakable character of the lark's song, and its + fountain-like sparkle and copiousness, that are the main sources of its + charm. + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + NOCTURNAL INSECTS +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + How the nocturnal insects, the tree-crickets and katydids, fail as the + heat fails! They are musicians that play fast or slow, strong or feeble, + just as the heat of the season waxes or wanes; and they play as long as + life lasts: when their music ceases, they are dead. The katydids begin in + August, and cry with great vigor and spirit, "Katy-did," "Katydid," or + "Katy-did n't." Toward the last of September they have taken in sail a + good deal, and cry simply, "Katy," "Katy," with frequent pauses and + resting-spells. In October they languidly gasp or rasp, "Kate," "Kate," + "Kate," and before the end of the month they become entirely inaudible, + though I suspect that if one's ear were sharp enough he might still hear a + dying whisper, "Kate," "Kate." Those cousins of Katy, the little green + purring tree-crickets, fail in the same way and at the same time. When + their chorus is fullest, the warm autumn night fairly throbs with the soft + lulling undertone. I notice that the sound is in waves or has a kind of + rhythmic beat. What a gentle, unobtrusive background it forms for the + sharp, reedy notes of the katydids! As the season advances, their life + ebbs and ebbs: you hear one here and one there, but the air is no longer + filled with that regular pulse-beat of sound. One by one the musicians + cease, till, perhaps on some mild night late in October, you hear—just + hear and that is all—the last feeble note of the last of these + little harpers. + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + LOVE AND WAR AMONG THE BIRDS +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In the spring movements of the fishes up the stream, toward their + spawning-beds, the females are the pioneers, appearing some days in + advance of the males. With the birds the reverse is the case, the males + coming a week or ten days before the females. The female fish is usually + the larger and stronger, and perhaps better able to take the lead; among + most reptiles the same fact holds, and throughout the insect world there + is to my knowledge no exception to the rule. Among the birds, the only + exception I am aware of is in the case of the birds of prey. Here the + female is the larger and stronger. If you see an exceptionally large and + powerful eagle, rest assured the sex is feminine. But higher in the scale + the male comes to the front and leads in size and strength. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + But the first familiar spring birds are cocks; hence the songs and tilts + and rivalries. Hence also the fact that they are slightly in excess of the + other sex, to make up for this greater exposure; apparently no courting is + done in the South, and no matches are prearranged. The males leave + irregularly without any hint, I suspect, to the females as to when and + where they will meet them. In the case of the passenger pigeon, however, + the two sexes travel together, as they do among the migrating water-fowls. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + With the song-birds, love-making begins as soon as the hens are here. So + far as I have observed, the robin and the bluebird win their mates by + gentle and fond approaches; but certain of the sparrows, notably the + little social sparrow or "chippie," appear to carry the case by storm. The + same proceeding may be observed among the English sparrows, now fairly + established on our soil. Two or three males beset a female, and a regular + scuffle ensues. The poor bird is pulled and jostled and cajoled amid what + appears to be the greatest mirth and hilarity of her audacious suitors. + Her plumage is plucked and ruffled; the rivals roll over each other and + over her; she extricates herself as best she can, and seems to say or + scream "no," "no," to every one of them with great emphasis. What finally + determines her choice would be hard to say. Our own sparrows are far less + noisy and obstreperous, but the same little comedy in a milder form is + often enacted among them. When two males have a tilt, they rise several + feet in the air, beak to beak, and seek to deal each other blows as they + mount. I have seen two male chewinks facing each other and wrathfully + impelled upward in the same manner, while the female that was the bone of + contention between them regarded them unconcernedly from the near bushes. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The bobolink is also a precipitate and impetuous wooer. It is a trial of + speed, as if the female were to say, "Catch me and I am yours," and she + scurries away with all her might and main, often with three or four dusky + knights in hot pursuit. When she takes to cover in the grass, there is + generally a squabble "down among the tickle-tops," or under the + buttercups, and "Winterseeble" or "Conquedle" is the winner. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In marked contrast to this violent love-making are the social and festive + reunions of the goldfinches about mating time. All the birds of a + neighborhood gather in a treetop, and the trial apparently becomes one of + voice and song. The contest is a most friendly and happy one; all is + harmony and gayety. The females chirrup and twitter, and utter their + confiding "PAISLEY" "PAISLEY," while the more gayly dressed males squeak + and warble in the most delightful strain. The matches are apparently all + made and published during these gatherings; everybody is in a happy frame + of mind; there is no jealousy, and no rivalry but to see who shall be + gayest. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + It often happens among the birds that the male has a rival after the + nuptials have been celebrated and the work of housekeeping fairly begun. + Every season a pair of phÂœbe-birds have built their nest on an elbow in + the spouting beneath the eaves of my house. The past spring a belated male + made desperate efforts to supplant the lawful mate and gain possession of + the unfinished nest. There was a battle fought about the premises every + hour in the day for at least a week. The antagonists would frequently + grapple and fall to the ground, and keep their hold like two dogs. On one + such occasion I came near covering them with my hat. I believe the + intruder was finally worsted and withdrew from the place. One noticeable + feature of the affair was the apparent utter indifference of the female, + who went on with her nest-building as if all was peace and harmony. There + can be little doubt that she would have applauded and accepted the other + bird had he finally been the victor. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + One of the most graceful of warriors is the robin. I know few prettier + sights than two males challenging and curveting about each other upon the + grass in early spring. Their attentions to each other are so courteous and + restrained. In alternate curves and graceful sallies, they pursue and + circumvent each other. First one hops a few feet, then the other, each one + standing erect in true military style while his fellow passes him and + describes the segment of an ellipse about him, both uttering the while a + fine complacent warble in a high but suppressed key. Are they lovers or + enemies? the beholder wonders, until they make a spring and are beak to + beak in the twinkling of an eye, and perhaps mount a few feet into the + air, but rarely actually delivering blows upon each other. Every thrust is + parried, every movement met. They follow each other with dignified + composure about the fields or lawn, into trees and upon the ground, with + plumage slightly spread, breasts glowing, their lisping, shrill war-song + just audible. It forms on the whole the most civil and high-bred tilt to + be witnessed during the season. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + When the cock-robin makes love he is the same considerate, deferential, + but insinuating gallant. The warble he makes use of on that occasion is + the same, so far as my ear can tell, as the one he pipes when facing his + rival. + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + FOX AND HOUND +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I stood on a high hill or ridge one autumn day and saw a hound run a fox + through the fields far beneath me. What odors that fox must have shaken + out of himself, I thought, to be traced thus easily, and how great their + specific gravity not to have been blown away like smoke by the breeze! The + fox ran a long distance down the hill, keeping within a few feet of a + stone wall; then turned a right angle and led off for the mountain, across + a plowed field and a succession of pasture lands. In about fifteen minutes + the hound came in full blast with her nose in the air, and never once did + she put it to the ground while in my sight. When she came to the stone + wall, she took the other side from that taken by the fox, and kept about + the same distance from it, being thus separated several yards from his + track, with the fence between her and it. At the point where the fox + turned sharply to the left, the hound overshot a few yards, then wheeled, + and, feeling the air a moment with her nose, took up the scent again and + was off on his trail as unerringly as Fate. It seemed as if the fox must + have sowed himself broadcast as he went along, and that his scent was so + rank and heavy that it settled in the hollows and clung tenaciously to the + bushes and crevices in the fence. I thought I ought to have caught a + remnant of it as I passed that way some minutes later, but I did not. But + I suppose it was not that the light-footed fox so impressed himself upon + the ground he ran over, but that the sense of the hound was so keen. To + her sensitive nose these tracks steamed like hot cakes, and they would not + have cooled off so as to be undistinguishable for several hours. For the + time being, she had but one sense: her whole soul was concentrated in her + nose. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + It is amusing, when the hunter starts out of a winter morning, to see his + hound probe the old tracks to determine how recent they are. He sinks his + nose down deep in the snow so as to exclude the air from above, then draws + a long full breath, giving sometimes an audible snort. If there remains + the least effluvium of the fox, the hound will detect it. If it be very + slight, it only sets his tail wagging; if it be strong, it unloosens his + tongue. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Such things remind one of the waste, the friction, that is going on all + about us, even when the wheels of life run the most smoothly. A fox cannot + trip along the top of 'a stone wall so lightly but that he will leave + enough of himself to betray his course to the hound for hours afterward. + When the boys play "hare and hounds," the hare scatters bits of paper to + give a clew to the pursuers, but he scatters himself much more freely if + only our sight and scent were sharp enough to detect the fragments. Even + the fish leave a trail in the water, and it is said the otter will pursue + them by it. The birds make a track in the air, only their enemies hunt by + sight rather than by scent. The fox baffles the hound most upon a hard + crust of frozen snow; the scent will not hold to the smooth, bead-like + granules. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Judged by the eye alone, the fox is the lightest and most buoyant creature + that runs. His soft wrapping of fur conceals the muscular play and effort + that is so obvious in the hound that pursues him, and he comes bounding + along precisely as if blown by a gentle wind. His massive tail is carried + as if it floated upon the air by its own lightness. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The hound is not remarkable for his fleetness, but how he will hang!—often + running late into the night, and sometimes till morning, from ridge to + ridge, from peak to peak; now on the mountain, now crossing the valley, + now playing about a large slope of uplying pasture fields. At times the + fox has a pretty well- defined orbit, and the hunter knows where to + intercept him. Again, he leads off like a comet, quite beyond the system + of hills and ridges upon which he was started, and his return is entirely + a matter of conjecture; but if the day be not more than half spent, the + chances are that the fox will be back before night, though the sportsman's + patience seldom holds out that long. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The hound is a most interesting dog. How solemn and long-visaged he is,—how + peaceful and well-disposed! He is the Quaker among dogs. All the + viciousness and currishness seem to have been weeded out of him; he seldom + quarrels, or fights, or plays, like other dogs. Two strange hounds, + meeting for the first time, behave as civilly toward each other as two + men. I know a hound that has an ancient, wrinkled, human, far-away look + that reminds one of the bust of Homer among the Elgin marbles. He looks + like the mountains toward which his heart yearns so much. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The hound is a great puzzle to the farm dog; the latter, attracted by his + baying, comes barking and snarling up through the fields, bent on picking + a quarrel; he intercepts the hound, snubs and insults and annoys him in + every way possible, but the hound heeds him not: if the dog attacks him, + he gets away as best he can, and goes on with the trail; the cur bristles + and barks and struts about for a while, then goes back to the house, + evidently thinking the hound a lunatic, which he is for the time being,—a + monomaniac, the slave and victim of one idea. I saw the master of a hound + one day arrest him in full course, to give one of the hunters time to get + to a certain runway; the dog cried and struggled to free himself, and + would listen to neither threats nor caresses. Knowing he must be hungry, I + offered him my lunch, but he would not touch it. I put it in his mouth, + but he threw it contemptuously from him. We coaxed and petted and + reassured him, but he was under a spell; he was bereft of all thought or + desire but the one passion to pursue that trail. + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + THE TREE-TOAD +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + We can boast a greater assortment of toads and frogs in this country than + can any other land. What a chorus goes up from our ponds and marshes in + spring! The like of it cannot be heard anywhere else under the sun. In + Europe it would certainly have made an impression upon the literature. An + attentive ear will detect first one variety, then another, each occupying + the stage from three or four days to a week. The latter part of April, + when the little peeping frogs are in full chorus, one comes upon places, + in his drives or walks late in the day, where the air fairly palpitates + with sound; from every little marshy hollow and spring run there rises an + impenetrable maze or cloud of shrill musical voices. After the peepers, + the next frog to appear is the clucking frog, a rather small, dark-brown + frog, with a harsh, clucking note, which later in the season becomes the + well-known brown wood-frog. Their chorus is heard for a few days only, + while their spawn is being deposited. In less than a week it ceases, and I + never hear them again till the next April. As the weather gets warmer, the + toads take to the water, and set up that long-drawn musical tr-r-r- + r-r-r-r-ing note. The voice of the bullfrog, who calls, according to the + boys, "jug o' rum," "jug o' rum," "pull the plug," "pull the plug," is not + heard much before June. The peepers, the clucking frog, and the bullfrog + are the only ones that call in chorus. The most interesting and the most + shy and withdrawn of all our frogs and toads is the tree-toad,—the + creature that, from the old apple or cherry tree, or red cedar, announces + the approach of rain, and baffles your every effort to see or discover it. + It has not (as some people imagine) exactly the power of the chameleon to + render itself invisible by assuming the color of the object it perches + upon, but it sits very close and still, and its mottled back, of different + shades of ashen gray, blends it perfectly with the bark of nearly every + tree. The only change in its color I have ever noticed is that it is + lighter on a light-colored tree, like the beech or soft maple, and darker + on the apple, or cedar, or pine. Then it is usually hidden in some cavity + or hollow of the tree, when its voice appears to come from the outside. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Most of my observations upon the habits of this creature run counter to + the authorities I have been able to consult on the subject. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In the first place, the tree-toad is nocturnal in its habits, like the + common toad. By day it remains motionless and concealed; by night it is as + alert and active as an owl, feeding and moving about from tree to tree. I + have never known one to change its position by day, and never knew one to + fail to do so by night. Last summer one was discovered sitting against a + window upon a climbing rosebush. The house had not been occupied for some + days, and when the curtain was drawn the toad was discovered and closely + observed. His light gray color harmonized perfectly with the unpainted + woodwork of the house. During the day he never moved a muscle, but next + morning he was gone. A friend of mine caught one, and placed it under a + tumbler on his table at night, leaving the edge of the glass raised about + the eighth of an inch to admit the air. During the night he was awakened + by a strange sound in his room. Pat, pat, pat went some object, now here, + now there, among the furniture, or upon the walls and doors. On + investigating the matter, he found that by some means his tree-toad had + escaped from under the glass, and was leaping in a very lively manner + about the room, producing the sound he had heard when it alighted upon the + door, or wall, or other perpendicular surface. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The home of the tree-toad, I am convinced, is usually a hollow limb or + other cavity in the tree; here he makes his headquarters, and passes most + of the day. For two years a pair of them frequented an old apple-tree near + my house, occasionally sitting at the mouth of a cavity that led into a + large branch, but usually their voices were heard from within the cavity + itself. On one occasion, while walking in the woods in early May, I heard + the voice of a tree-toad but a few yards from me. Cautiously following up + the sound, I decided, after some delay, that it proceeded from the trunk + of a small soft maple; the tree was hollow, the entrance to the interior + being a few feet from the ground. I could not discover the toad, but was + so convinced that it was concealed in the tree, that I stopped up the + hole, determined to return with an axe, when I had time, and cut the trunk + open. A week elapsed before I again went to the woods, when, on cutting + into the cavity of the tree, I found a pair of tree-toads, male and + female, and a large, shelless snail. Whether the presence of the snail was + accidental, or whether these creatures associated together for some + purpose, I do not know. The male toad was easily distinguished from the + female by its large head, and more thin, slender, and angular body. The + female was much the more beautiful, both in form and color. The cavity, + which was long and irregular, was evidently their home; it had been nicely + cleaned out, and was a snug, safe apartment. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The finding of the two sexes together, under such circumstances and at + that time of the year, suggests the inquiry whether they do not breed away + from the water, as others of our toads are known at times to do, and thus + skip the tadpole state. I have several times seen the ground, after a June + shower, swarming with minute toads, out to wet their jackets. Some of them + were no larger than crickets. They were a long distance from the water, + and had evidently been hatched on the land, and had never been polliwogs. + Whether the tree-toad breeds in trees or on the land, yet remains to be + determined. [FOOTNOTE: It now (1895) seems well established that both + common toads and tree-toads pass the first period of their lives in water + as tadpoles, and that both undergo their metamorphosis when very small. As + soon as the change is effected, the little toads leave the water and + scatter themselves over the country with remarkable rapidity, traveling + chiefly by night, but showing themselves in the daytime after showers.] + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Another fact in the natural history of this creature, not set down in the + books, is that they pass the winter in a torpid state in the ground, or in + stumps and hollow trees, instead of in the mud of ponds and marshes, like + true frogs, as we have been taught. The pair in the old apple-tree above + referred to, I heard on a warm, moist day late in November, and again + early in April. On the latter occasion, I reached my hand down into the + cavity of the tree and took out one of the toads. It was the first I had + heard, and I am convinced it had passed the winter in the moist, mud-like + mass of rotten wood that partially filled the cavity. It had a fresh, + delicate tint, as if it had not before seen the light that spring. The + president of a Western college writes in "Science News" that two of his + students found one in the winter in an old stump which they demolished; + and a person whose veracity I have no reason to doubt sends me a specimen + that he dug out of the ground in December while hunting for Indian relics. + The place was on the top of a hill, under a pine-tree. The ground was + frozen on the surface, and the toad was, of course, torpid. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + During the present season, I obtained additional proof of the fact that + the tree-toad hibernates on dry land. The 12th of November was a warm, + spring-like day; wind southwest, with slight rain in the afternoon,—just + the day to bring things out of their winter retreats. As I was about to + enter my door at dusk, my eye fell upon what proved to be the large + tree-toad in question, sitting on some low stone-work at the foot of a + terrace a few feet from the house. I paused to observe his movements. + Presently he started on his travels across the yard toward the lawn in + front. He leaped about three feet at a time, with long pauses between each + leap. For fear of losing him as it grew darker, I captured him, and kept + him under the coal sieve till morning. He was very active at night trying + to escape. In the morning, I amused myself with him for some time in the + kitchen. I found he could adhere to a window- pane, but could not ascend + it; gradually his hold yielded, till he sprang off on the casing. I + observed that, in sitting upon the floor or upon the ground, he avoided + bringing his toes in contact with the surface, as if they were too tender + or delicate for such coarse uses, but sat upon the hind part of his feet. + Said toes had a very bungling, awkward appearance at such times; they + looked like hands encased in gray woolen gloves much too large for them. + Their round, flattened ends, especially when not in use, had a comically + helpless look. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + After a while I let my prisoner escape into the open air. The weather had + grown much colder, and there was a hint of coming frost. The toad took the + hint at once, and, after hopping a few yards from the door to the edge of + a grassy bank, began to prepare for winter. It was a curious proceeding. + He went into the ground backward, elbowing himself through the turf with + the sharp joints of his hind legs, and going down in a spiral manner. His + progress was very slow: at night I could still see him by lifting the + grass; and as the weather changed again to warm, with southerly winds + before morning, he stopped digging entirely. The next day I took him out, + and put him into a bottomless tub sunk into the ground and filled with + soft earth, leaves, and leaf mould, where he passed the winter safely, and + came out fresh and bright in the spring. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The little peeping frogs lead a sort of arboreal life, too, a part of the + season, but they are quite different from the true tree- toads above + described. They appear to leave the marshes in May, and to take to the + woods or bushes. I have never seen them on trees, but upon low shrubs. + They do not seem to be climbers, but perchers. I caught one in May, in + some low bushes a few rods from the swamp. It perched upon the small twigs + like a bird, and would leap about among them, sure of its hold every time. + I was first attracted by its piping. I brought it home, and it piped for + one twilight in a bush in my yard and then was gone. I do not think they + pipe much after leaving the water. I have found them early in April upon + the ground in the woods, and again late in the fall. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In November, 1879, the warm, moist weather brought them out in numbers. + They were hopping about everywhere upon the fallen leaves. Within a small + space I captured six. Some of them were the hue of the tan-colored leaves, + probably Pickering's hyla, and some were darker, according to the + locality. Of course they do not go to the marshes to winter, else they + would not wait so late in the season. I examined the ponds and marshes, + and found bullfrogs buried in the mud, but no peepers. + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + THE SPRING BIRDS +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + We never know the precise time the birds leave us in the fall: they do not + go suddenly; their departure is like that of an army of occupation in no + hurry to be off; they keep going and going, and we hardly know when the + last straggler is gone. Not so their return in the spring: then it is like + an army of invasion, and we know the very day when the first scouts + appear. It is a memorable event. Indeed, it is always a surprise to me, + and one of the compensations of our abrupt and changeable climate, this + suddenness with which the birds come in spring,—in fact, with which + spring itself comes, alighting, maybe, to tarry only a day or two, but + real and genuine, for all that. When March arrives, we do not know what a + day may bring forth. It is like turning over a leaf, a new chapter of + startling incidents lying just on the other side. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + A few days ago, Winter had not perceptibly relaxed his hold; then suddenly + he began to soften a little, and a warm haze to creep up from the south, + but not a solitary bird, save the winter residents, was to be seen or + heard. Next day the sun seemed to have drawn immensely nearer; his beams + were full of power; and we said, "Behold the first spring morning! And, as + if to make the prophecy complete, there is the note of a bluebird, and it + is not yet nine o'clock." Then others, and still others, were heard. How + did they know it was going to be a suitable day for them to put in an + appearance? It seemed as if they must have been waiting somewhere close by + for the first warm day, like actors behind the scenes,— the moment + the curtain was lifted, they were ready and rushed upon the stage. The + third warm day, and, behold, all the principal performers come rushing in,—song + sparrows, cow blackbirds, grackles, the meadowlark, cedar-birds, the + phÂœbe-bird, and, hark! what bird laughter was that? the robins, hurrah! + the robins! Not two or three, but a score or two of them; they are + following the river valley north, and they stop in the trees from time to + time, and give vent to their gladness. It is like a summer picnic of + school-children suddenly let loose in a wood; they sing, shout, whistle, + squeal, call, in the most blithesome strains. The warm wave has brought + the birds upon its crest; or some barrier has given way, the levee of + winter has broken, and spring comes like an inundation. No doubt, the snow + and the frost will stop the crevasse again, but only for a brief season. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Between the 10th and the 15th of March, in the Middle and Eastern States, + we are pretty sure to have one or more of these spring days. Bright days, + clear days, may have been plenty all winter; but the air was a desert, the + sky transparent ice; now the sky is full of radiant warmth, and the air of + a half-articulate murmur and awakening. How still the morning is! It is at + such times that we discover what music there is in the souls of the little + slate- colored snowbirds. How they squeal, and chatter, and chirp, and + trill, always in scattered troops of fifty or a hundred, filling the air + with a fine sibilant chorus! That joyous and childlike "chew," "chew," + "chew" is very expressive. Through this medley of finer songs and calls, + there is shot, from time to time, the clear, strong note of the + meadowlark. It comes from some field or tree farther away, and cleaves the + air like an arrow. The reason why the birds always appear first in the + morning, and not in the afternoon, is that in migrating they travel by + night, and stop and feed and disport themselves by day. They come by the + owl train, and are here before we are up in the morning. + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + A LONE QUEEN +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Once, while walking in the woods, I saw quite a large nest in the top of a + pine-tree. On climbing up to it, I found that it had originally been a + crow's nest. Then a red squirrel had appropriated it; he had filled up the + cavity with the fine inner bark of the red cedar, and made himself a + dome-shaped nest upon the crow's foundation of coarse twigs. It is + probable that the flying squirrel, or the white-footed mouse, had been the + next tenants, for the finish of the interior suggested their dainty taste. + But when I found it, its sole occupant was a bumblebee,—the mother + or queen bee, just planting her colony. She buzzed very loud and + complainingly, and stuck up her legs in protest against my rude + inquisitiveness, but refused to vacate the premises. She had only one sack + or cell constructed, in which she had deposited her first egg, and, beside + that, a large loaf of bread, probably to feed the young brood with, as + they should be hatched. It looked like Boston brown bread, but I examined + it and found it to be a mass of dark brown pollen, quite soft and pasty. + In fact, it was unleavened bread, and had not been got at the baker's. A + few weeks later, if no accident befell her, she had a good working colony + of a dozen or more bees. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + This was not an unusual incident. Our bumblebee, so far as I have + observed, invariably appropriates a mouse-nest for the site of its colony, + never excavating a place in the ground, nor conveying materials for a + nest, to be lined with wax, like the European species. Many other of our + wild creatures take up with the leavings of their betters or strongers. + Neither the skunk nor the rabbit digs his own hole, but takes up with that + of a wood-chuck, or else hunts out a natural den among the rocks. In + England the rabbit burrows in the ground to such an extent that in places + the earth is honeycombed by them, and the walker steps through the surface + into their galleries. Our white-footed mouse has been known to take up his + abode in a hornet's nest, furnishing the interior to suit his taste. A few + of our birds also avail themselves of the work of others, as the titmouse, + the brown creeper, the bluebird, and the house wren. But in every case + they refurnish the tenement: the wren carries feathers into the cavity + excavated by the woodpeckers, the bluebird carries in fine straws, and the + chickadee lays down a fine wool mat upon the floors. When the high-hole + occupies the same cavity another year, he deepens and enlarges it; the + phÂœbe-bird, in taking up her old nest, puts in a new lining; so does the + robin; but cases of reoccupancy of an old nest by the last-named birds are + rare. + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + A BOLD LEAPER +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + One reason, doubtless, why squirrels are so bold and reckless in leaping + through the trees is, that, if they miss their hold and fall, they sustain + no injury. Every species of tree squirrel seems to be capable of a sort of + rudimentary flying,—at least of making itself into a parachute, so + as to ease or break a fall or a leap from a great height. The so-called + flying squirrel does this the most perfectly. It opens its furry + vestments, leaps into the air, and sails down the steep incline from the + top of one tree to the foot of the next as lightly as a bird. But other + squirrels know the same trick, only their coat-skirts are not so broad. + One day my dog treed a red squirrel in a tall hickory that stood in a + meadow on the side of a steep hill. To see what the squirrel would do when + closely pressed, I climbed the tree. As I drew near, he took refuge in the + topmost branch, and then, as I came on, he boldly leaped into the air, + spread himself out upon it, and, with a quick, tremulous motion of his + tail and legs, descended quite slowly and landed upon the ground thirty + feet below me, apparently none the worse for the leap, for he ran with + great speed and escaped the dog in another tree. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + A recent American traveler in Mexico gives a still more striking instance + of this power of squirrels partially to neutralize the force of gravity + when leaping or falling through the air. Some boys had caught a Mexican + black squirrel, nearly as large as a cat. It had escaped from them once, + and, when pursued, had taken a leap of sixty feet, from the top of a + pine-tree down upon the roof of a house, without injury. This feat had led + the grandmother of one of the boys to declare that the squirrel was + bewitched, and the boys proposed to put the matter to further test by + throwing the squirrel down a precipice six hundred feet high. Our traveler + interfered, to see that the squirrel had fair play. The prisoner was + conveyed in a pillow-slip to the edge of the cliff, and the slip opened, + so that he might have his choice, whether to remain a captive or to take + the leap. He looked down the awful abyss, and then back and sidewise,—his + eyes glistening, his form crouching. Seeing no escape in any other + direction, "he took a flying leap into space, and fluttered rather than + fell into the abyss below. His legs began to work like those of a swimming + poodle-dog, but quicker and quicker, while his tail, slightly elevated, + spread out like a feather fan. A rabbit of the same weight would have made + the trip in about twelve seconds; the squirrel protracted it for more than + half a minute," and "landed on a ledge of limestone, where we could see + him plainly squat on his hind legs and smooth his ruffled fur, after which + he made for the creek with a flourish of his tail, took a good drink, and + scampered away into the willow thicket." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The story at first blush seems incredible, but I have no doubt our red + squirrel would have made the leap safely; then why not the great black + squirrel, since its parachute would be proportionately large? + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The tails of the squirrels are broad and long and flat, not short and + small like those of gophers, chipmunks, woodchucks, and other ground + rodents, and when they leap or fall through the air the tail is arched and + rapidly vibrates. A squirrel's tail, therefore, is something more than + ornament, something more than a flag; it not only aids him in flying, but + it serves as a cloak, which he wraps about him when he sleeps. Thus, some + animals put their tails to various uses, while others seem to have no use + for them whatever. What use for a tail has a wood-chuck, or a weasel, or a + mouse? Has not the mouse yet learned that it could get in its hole sooner + if it had no tail? The mole and the meadow mouse have very short tails. + Rats, no doubt, put their tails to various uses. The rabbit has no use for + a tail,—it would be in its way; while its manner of sleeping is such + that it does not need a tail to tuck itself up with, as do the coon and + the fox. The dog talks with his tail; the tail of the possum is + prehensile; the porcupine uses his tail in climbing and for defense; the + beaver as a tool or trowel; while the tail of the skunk serves as a screen + behind which it masks its terrible battery. + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + THE WOODCHUCK +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Writers upon rural England and her familiar natural history make no + mention of the marmot or woodchuck. In Europe this animal seems to be + confined to the high mountainous districts, as on our Pacific slope, + burrowing near the snow-line. It is more social or gregarious than the + American species, living in large families like our prairie dog. In the + Middle and Eastern States our woodchuck takes the place, in some respects, + of the English rabbit, burrowing in every hillside and under every stone + wall and jutting ledge and large boulder, from whence it makes raids upon + the grass and clover and sometimes upon the garden vegetables. It is quite + solitary in its habits, seldom more than one inhabiting the same den, + unless it be a mother and her young. It is not now so much a WOODchuck as + a FIELDchuck. Occasionally, however, one seems to prefer the woods, and is + not seduced by the sunny slopes and the succulent grass, but feeds, as did + his fathers before him, upon roots and twigs, the bark of young trees, and + upon various wood plants. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + One summer day, as I was swimming across a broad, deep pool in the creek + in a secluded place in the woods, I saw one of these sylvan chucks amid + the rocks but a few feet from the edge of the water where I proposed to + touch. He saw my approach, but doubtless took me for some water-fowl, or + for some cousin of his of the muskrat tribe; for he went on with his + feeding, and regarded me not till I paused within ten feet of him and + lifted myself up. Then he did not know me, having, perhaps, never seen + Adam in his simplicity, but he twisted his nose around to catch my scent; + and the moment he had done so he sprang like a jumping-jack and rushed + into his den with the utmost precipitation. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The woodchuck is the true serf among our animals; he belongs to the soil, + and savors of it. He is of the earth, earthy. There is generally a decided + odor about his dens and lurking-places, but it is not at all disagreeable + in the clover-scented air; and his shrill whistle, as he takes to his hole + or defies the farm dog from the interior of the stone wall, is a pleasant + summer sound. In form and movement the woodchuck is not captivating. His + body is heavy and flabby. Indeed, such a flaccid, fluid, pouchy carcass I + have never before seen. It has absolutely no muscular tension or rigidity, + but is as baggy and shaky as a skin filled with water. Let the rifleman + shoot one while it lies basking on a sideling rock, and its body slumps + off, and rolls and spills down the hill, as if it were a mass of bowels + only. The legs of the woodchuck are short and stout, and made for digging + rather than running. The latter operation he performs by short leaps, his + belly scarcely clearing the ground. For a short distance he can make very + good time, but he seldom trusts himself far from his hole, and, when + surprised in that predicament, makes little effort to escape, but, grating + his teeth, looks the danger squarely in the face. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I knew a farmer in New York who had a very large bob-tailed churn- dog by + the name of Cuff. The farmer kept a large dairy and made a great deal of + butter, and it was the business of Cuff to spend nearly the half of each + summer day treading the endless round of the churning-machine. During the + remainder of the day he had plenty of time to sleep and rest, and sit on + his hips and survey the landscape. One day, sitting thus, he discovered a + woodchuck about forty rods from the house, on a steep sidehill, feeding + about near his hole, which was beneath a large rock. The old dog, + forgetting his stiffness, and remembering the fun he had had with + woodchucks in his earlier days, started off at his highest speed, vainly + hoping to catch this one before he could get to his hole. But the + wood-chuck seeing the dog come laboring up the hill, sprang to the mouth + of his den, and, when his pursuer was only a few rods off, whistled + tauntingly and went in. This occurred several times, the old dog marching + up the hill, and then marching down again, having had his labor for his + pains. I suspect that he revolved the subject in his mind while he + revolved the great wheel of the churning-machine, and that some turn or + other brought him a happy thought, for next time he showed himself a + strategist. Instead of giving chase to the wood-chuck, when first + discovered, he crouched down to the ground, and, resting his head on his + paws, watched him. The woodchuck kept working away from his hole, lured by + the tender clover, but, not unmindful of his safety, lifted himself up on + his haunches every few moments and surveyed the approaches. Presently, + after the woodchuck had let himself down from one of these attitudes of + observation and resumed his feeding, Cuff started swiftly but stealthily + up the hill, precisely in the attitude of a cat when she is stalking a + bird. When the woodchuck rose up again, Cuff was perfectly motionless and + half hid by the grass. When he again resumed his clover, Cuff sped up the + hill as before, this time crossing a fence, but in a low place, and so + nimbly that he was not discovered. Again the woodchuck was on the outlook, + again Cuff was motionless and hugging the ground. As the dog neared his + victim he was partially hidden by a swell in the earth, but still the + woodchuck from his outlook reported "All right," when Cuff, having not + twice as far to run as the chuck, threw all stealthiness aside and rushed + directly for the hole. At that moment the woodchuck discovered his danger, + and, seeing that it was a race for life, leaped as I never saw marmot leap + before. But he was two seconds too late, his retreat was cut off, and the + powerful jaws of the old dog closed upon him. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The next season Cuff tried the same tactics again with like success, but + when the third woodchuck had taken up his abode at the fatal hole, the old + churner's wits and strength had begun to fail him, and he was baffled in + each attempt to capture the animal. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The woodchuck always burrows on a sidehill. This enables him to guard + against being drowned out, by making the termination of the hole higher + than the entrance. He digs in slantingly for about two or three feet, then + makes a sharp upward turn and keeps nearly parallel with the surface of + the ground for a distance of eight or ten feet farther, according to the + grade. Here he makes his nest and passes the winter, holing up in October + or November and coming out again in April. This is a long sleep, and is + rendered possible only by the amount of fat with which the system has + become stored during the summer. The fire of life still burns, but very + faintly and slowly, as with the draughts all closed and the ashes heaped + up. Respiration is continued, but at longer intervals, and all the vital + processes are nearly at a standstill. Dig one out during hibernation + (Audubon did so), and you find it a mere inanimate ball, that suffers + itself to be moved and rolled about without showing signs of awakening. + But bring it in by the fire, and it presently unrolls and opens its eyes, + and crawls feebly about, and if left to itself will seek some dark hole or + corner, roll itself up again, and resume its former condition. + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + A GOOD SEASON FOR THE BIRDS +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The season of 1880 seems to have been exceptionally favorable to the + birds. The warm, early spring, the absence of April snows and of long, + cold rains in May and June,—indeed, the exceptional heat and dryness + of these months, and the freedom from violent storms and tempests + throughout the summer,—all worked together for the good of the + birds. Their nests were not broken up or torn from the trees, nor their + young chilled and destroyed by the wet and the cold. The drenching, + protracted rains that make the farmer's seed rot or lie dormant in the + ground in May or June, and the summer tempests that uproot the trees or + cause them to lash and bruise their foliage, always bring disaster to the + birds. As a result of our immunity from these things the past season, the + small birds in the fall were perhaps never more abundant. Indeed, I never + remember to have seen so many of certain kinds, notably the social and the + bush sparrows. The latter literally swarmed in the fields and vineyards; + and as it happened that for the first time a large number of grapes were + destroyed by birds, the little sparrow, in some localities, was accused of + being the depredator. But he is innocent. He never touches fruit of any + kind, but lives upon seeds and insects. What attracted this sparrow to the + vineyards in such numbers was mainly the covert they afforded from small + hawks, and probably also the seeds of various weeds that had been allowed + to ripen there. The grape-destroyer was a bird of another color, namely, + the Baltimore oriole. One fruit-grower on the Hudson told me he lost at + least a ton of grapes by the birds, and in the western part of New York + and in Ohio and in Canada, I hear the vineyards suffered severely from the + depredations of the oriole. The oriole has a sharp, dagger-like bill, and + he seems to be learning rapidly how easily he can puncture fruit with it. + He has come to be about the worst cherry bird we have. He takes the worm + first, and then he takes the cherry the worm was after, or rather he + bleeds it; as with the grapes, he carries none away with him, but wounds + them all. He is welcome to all the fruit he can eat, but why should he + murder every cherry on the tree, or every grape in the cluster? He is as + wanton as a sheep-killing dog, that will not stop with enough, but + slaughters every ewe in the flock. The oriole is peculiarly exempt from + the dangers that beset most of our birds: its nest is all but impervious + to the rain, and the squirrel, or the jay, or the crow cannot rob it + without great difficulty. It is a pocket which it would not be prudent for + either jay or squirrel to attempt to explore when the owner, with his + dagger-like beak, is about; and the crow cannot alight upon the slender, + swaying branch from which it is usually pendent. Hence the orioles are + doubtless greatly on the increase. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + There has been an unusual number of shrikes the past fall and winter; like + the hawks, they follow in the wake of the little birds and prey upon them. + Some seasons pass and I never see a shrike. This year I have seen at least + a dozen while passing along the road. One day I saw one carrying its prey + in its feet,—a performance which I supposed it incapable of, as it + is not equipped for this business like a rapacious bird, but has feet like + a robin. One wintry evening, near sunset, I saw one alight on the top of a + tree by the roadside, with some small object in its beak. I paused to + observe it. Presently it flew down into a scrubby old apple-tree, and + attempted to impale the object upon a thorn or twig. It was occupied in + this way some moments, no twig or knob proving quite satisfactory. A + little screech owl was evidently watching the proceedings from his doorway + in the trunk of a decayed apple-tree ten or a dozen rods distant. Twilight + was just falling, and the owl had come up from his snug retreat in the + hollow trunk, and was waiting for the darkness to deepen before venturing + forth. I was first advised of his presence by seeing him approaching + swiftly on silent, level wing. The shrike did not see him till the owl was + almost within the branches. He then dropped his game, which proved to be a + part of a shrew-mouse, and darted back into the thick cover uttering a + loud, discordant squawk, as one would say, "Scat! scat! scat!" The owl + alighted, and was, perhaps, looking about him for the shrike's impaled + game, when I drew near. On seeing me, he reversed his movement + precipitately, flew straight back to the old tree, and alighted in the + entrance to the cavity. As I approached, he did not so much seem to move + as to diminish in size, like an object dwindling in the distance; he + depressed his plumage, and, with his eye fixed upon me, began slowly to + back and sidle into his retreat till he faded from my sight. The shrike + wiped his beak upon the branches, cast an eye down at me and at his lost + mouse, and then flew away. He was a remarkably fine specimen,—his + breast and under parts as white as snow, and his coat of black and ashen + gray appearing very bright and fresh. A few nights afterward, as I passed + that way, I saw the little owl again sitting in his doorway, waiting for + the twilight to deepen, and undisturbed by the passers-by; but when I + paused to observe him, he saw that he was discovered, and he slunk back + into his den as on the former occasion. + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + SHAKESPEARE'S NATURAL HISTORY +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + It is surprising that so profuse and prodigal a poet as Shakespeare, and + one so bold in his dealings with human nature, should seldom or never make + a mistake in his dealings with physical nature, or take an unwarranted + liberty with her. True it is that his allusions to nature are always + incidental,—never his main purpose or theme, as with many later + poets; yet his accuracy and closeness to fact, and his wide and various + knowledge of unbookish things, are seen in his light "touch and go" + phrases and comparisons as clearly as in his more deliberate and central + work. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In "Much Ado about Nothing," BENEDICK says to MARGARET:— + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Thy wit is as quick as the greyhound's mouth—it catches." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + One marked difference between the greyhound and all other hounds and dogs + is, that it can pick up its game while running at full speed, a feat that + no other dog can do. The foxhound, or farm dog, will run over a fox or a + rabbit many tunes without being able to seize it. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In "Twelfth Night" the clown tells VIOLA that + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Fools are as like husbands as pilchards are to herrings—the + husband's the bigger." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The pilchard closely resembles the herring, but is thicker and heavier, + with larger scales. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In the same play, MARIA, seeing MALVOLIO coming, says:— + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Here comes the trout that must be caught with tickling." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Shakespeare, then, knew that fact so well known to poachers, and known + also to many an American schoolboy, namely, that a trout likes to be + tickled, or behaves as if he did, and that by gently tickling his sides + and belly you can so mesmerize him, as it were, that he will allow you to + get your hands in position to clasp him firmly. The British poacher takes + the jack by the same tactics: he tickles the jack on the belly; the fish + slowly rises in the water till it comes near the surface, when, the + poacher having insinuated both hands under him, he is suddenly scooped out + and thrown upon the land. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Indeed, Shakespeare seems to have known intimately the ways and habits of + most of the wild creatures of Britain. He had the kind of knowledge of + them that only the countryman has. In "As You Like It," JAQUES tells + AMIENS:— + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "I can suck melancholy out of a song as a weasel sucks eggs." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Every gamekeeper, and every farmer for that matter, knows how destructive + the weasel and its kind are to birds' eggs, and to the eggs of game-birds + and of domestic fowls. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In "Love's Labor's Lost," BIRON says of BOYET:— + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "This fellow picks up wit as pigeons peas." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Pigeons dp not pick up peas in this country, but they do in England, and + are often very damaging to the farmer on that account. Shakespeare knew + also the peculiar manner in which they feed their young,—a manner + that has perhaps given rise to the expression "sucking dove." In "As You + Like It" is this passage:— + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "CELIA. Here comes Monsieur Le Beau. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "ROSALIND. With his mouth full of news. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "CELIA. Which he will put on us as pigeons feed their young. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "ROSALIND. Then shall we be news-crammed." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + When the mother pigeon feeds her young she brings the food, not in her + beak like other birds, but in her crop; she places her beak between the + open mandibles of her young, and fairly crams the food, which is delivered + by a peculiar pumping movement, down its throat. She furnishes a capital + illustration of the eager, persistent newsmonger. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Out of their burrows like rabbits after rain" is a comparison that occurs + in "Coriolanus." In our Northern or New England States we should have to + substitute woodchucks for rabbits, as our rabbits do not burrow, but sit + all day in their forms under a bush or amid the weeds, and as they are not + seen moving about after a rain, or at all by day; but in England + Shakespeare's line is exactly descriptive. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Says BOTTOM to the fairy COBWEB in "Midsummer Night's Dream:"— + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Mounsieur Cobweb; good mounsieur, get you your weapons in your hand, and + kill me a red-hipp'd humble-bee on the top of a thistle, and, good + mounsieur, bring me the honey-bag." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + This command might be executed in this country, + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + for we have the "red-hipp'd humble-bee;" and we have the thistle, and + there is no more likely place to look for the humblebee in midsummer than + on a thistle-blossom. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + But the following picture of a "wet spell" is more English than American:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The ox hath therefore stretch'd his + yoke in vain, + The plowman lost his sweat; and + the green corn + Hath rotted ere his youth attain'd a + beard; + The fold stands empty in the + drowned field, + And crows are fatted with the + murrain flock." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Shakespeare knew the birds and wild fowl, and knew them perhaps as a + hunter, as well as a poet. At least this passage would indicate as much:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "As wild geese that the creeping + fowler eye, + Or russet-pated choughs, many in + sort, + Rising and cawing at the gun's + report, + Sever themselves and madly sweep + the sky." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In calling the choughs "russet-pated" he makes the bill tinge the whole + head, or perhaps gives the effect of the birds' markings when seen at a + distance; the bill is red, the head is black. The chough is a species of + crow. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + A poet must know the birds well to make one of his characters say, when he + had underestimated a man, "I took this lark for a bunting," as LAFEU says + of PAROLLES in "All's Well that Ends Well." The English bunting is a + field-bird like the lark, and much resembles the latter in form and color, + but is far inferior as a songster. Indeed, Shakespeare shows his + familiarity with nearly all the British birds. + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The ousel-cock, so black of hue, + With orange-tawny bill, + The throstle with his note so true, + The wren with little quill. + + "The finch, the sparrow, and the lark, + The plain-song cuckoo gray, + Whose note full many a man doth + mark. + And dares not answer nay." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In "Much Ado about Nothing" we get a glimpse of the lapwing:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "For look where Beatrice, like a + lapwing, runs + Close by the ground, to hear our + conference." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The lapwing is a kind of plover, and is very swift of foot. When trying to + avoid being seen they run rapidly with depressed heads, or "close by the + ground," as the poet puts it. In the same scene, HERO says of URSULA:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "I know her spirits are as coy and wild + As haggards of the rock." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The haggard falcon is a species of hawk found in North Wales and in + Scotland. It breeds on high shelving cliffs and precipitous rocks. Had + Shakespeare been an "amateur poacher" in his youth? He had a poacher's + knowledge of the wild creatures. He knew how fresh the snake appears after + it has cast its skin; how the hedgehog makes himself up into a ball and + leaves his "prickles" in whatever touches him; how the butterfly comes + from the grub; how the fox carries the goose; where the squirrel hides his + store; where the martlet builds its nest, etc. + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Now is the woodcock near the gin," +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + says FABIAN, in "Twelfth Night," and + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Stalk on, stalk on; the fowl sits," +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + says CLAUDIO to LEONATO, in "Much Ado." + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Instruct thee how + To snare the nimble marmozet," +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + says CALIBAN, in The Tempest." Sings the fool in "Lear:"— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo + so long + That it had it head bit off by it + young." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The hedge-sparrow is one of the favorite birds upon which the European + cuckoo imposes the rearing of its young. If Shakespeare had made the house + sparrow, or the blackbird, or the bunting, or any of the granivorous, + hard-billed birds, the foster-parent of the cuckoo, his natural history + would have been at fault. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Shakespeare knew the flowers, too, and knew their times and seasons:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "When daisies pied, and violets blue, + And lady smocks all silver-white, + And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue, + Do paint the meadows with delight." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + They have, in England, the cuckoo-flower, which comes in April and is + lilac in color, and the cuckoo-pint, which is much like our "Jack in the + pulpit;" but the poet does not refer to either of these (if he did, we + would catch him tripping), but to buttercups, which are called by rural + folk in Britain "cuckoo-buds." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In England the daffodil blooms in February and March; the swallow comes in + April usually; hence the truth of Shakespeare's lines:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Daffodils, + That come before the swallow + dares, and take + The winds of March with beauty." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The only flaw I notice in Shakespeare's natural history is in his + treatment of the honey-bee, but this was a flaw in the knowledge of the + times as well. The history of this insect was not rightly read till long + after Shakespeare wrote. He pictures a colony of bees as a kingdom, with + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "A king and officers of sorts" +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + (see "Henry V."), whereas a colony of bees is an absolute democracy; the + rulers and governors and "officers of sorts" are the workers, the masses, + the common people. A strict regard to fact also would spoil those fairy + tapers in "Midsummer Night's Dream,"— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The honey-bags steal from the + humble-bees, + And, for night-tapers, crop their + waxen thighs, + And light them at the fiery + glow-worm's eyes,"— </pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + since it is not wax that bees bear upon their thighs, but pollen, the dust + of the flowers, with which bees make their bread. Wax is made from honey. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The science or the meaning is also a little obscure in this phrase, which + occurs in one of the plays:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "One heat another heat expels,"— </pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + as one nail drives out another, or as one love cures another. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In a passage in "The Tempest" he speaks of the ivy as if it were + parasitical, like the mistletoe:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Now, he was + The ivy which had hid my princely + trunk, + And sucked my verdure out on't." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I believe it is not a fact that the ivy sucks the juice out of the trees + it climbs upon, though it may much interfere with their growth. Its aerial + rootlets are for support alone, as is the case with all climbers that are + not twiners. But this may perhaps be regarded as only a poetic license on + the part of Shakespeare; the human ivy he was picturing no doubt fed upon + the tree that supported it, whether the real ivy does or not. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + It is also probably untrue that + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The poor beetle that we tread + upon, + In corporal sufferance finds a pang + as great + As when a giant dies," +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + though it has suited the purpose of other poets besides Shakespeare to say + so. The higher and more complex the organization, the more acute the + pleasure and the pain. A toad has been known to live for days with the + upper part of its head cut away by a scythe, and a beetle will survive for + hours upon the fisherman's hook. It perhaps causes a grasshopper less pain + to detach one of its legs than it does a man to remove a single hair from + his beard. Nerves alone feel pain, and the nervous system of a beetle is a + very rudimentary affair. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In "Coriolanus" there is a comparison which implies that a man can tread + upon his own shadow,—a difficult feat in northern countries at all + times except midday; Shakespeare is particular to mention the time of day:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Such a nature, + Tickled with good success, disdains + the shadow + Which he treads on at noon." +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <p> + </p> + <h2> + VI. — FOOTPATHS + </h2> + <p> + </p> + <p> + AN intelligent English woman, spending a few years in this country with + her family, says that one of her serious disappointments is that she finds + it utterly impossible to enjoy nature here as she can at home—so + much nature as we have and yet no way of getting at it; no paths, or + byways, or stiles, or foot-bridges, no provision for the pedestrian + outside of the public road. One would think the people had no feet and + legs in this country, or else did not know how to use them. Last summer + she spent the season near a small rural village in the valley of the + Connecticut, but it seemed as if she had not been in the country: she + could not come at the landscape; she could not reach a wood or a hill or a + pretty nook anywhere without being a trespasser, or getting entangled in + swamps or in fields of grass and grain, or having her course blocked by a + high and difficult fence; no private ways, no grassy lanes; nobody walking + in the fields or woods, nobody walking anywhere for pleasure, but + everybody in carriages or wagons. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + She was staying a mile from the village, and every day used to walk down + to the post-office for her mail; but instead of a short and pleasant cut + across the fields, as there would have been in England, she was obliged to + take the highway and face the dust and the mud and the staring people in + their carriages. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + She complained, also, of the absence of bird voices,—so silent the + fields and groves and orchards were, compared with what she had been used + to at home. The most noticeable midsummer sound everywhere was the shrill, + brassy crescendo of the locust. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + All this is unquestionably true. There is far less bird music here than in + England, except possibly in May and June, though, if the first impressions + of the Duke of Argyle are to be trusted, there is much less even then. The + duke says: "Although I was in the woods and fields of Canada and of the + States in the richest moments of the spring, I heard little of that burst + of song which in England comes from the blackcap, and the garden warbler, + and the whitethroat, and the reed warbler, and the common wren, and + (locally) from the nightingale." Our birds are more withdrawn than the + English, and their notes more plaintive and intermittent. Yet there are a + few days here early in May, when the house wren, the oriole, the orchard + starling, the kingbird, the bobolink, and the wood thrush first arrive, + that are so full of music, especially in the morning, that one is loath to + believe there is anything fuller or finer even in England. As walkers, and + lovers of rural scenes and pastimes, we do not approach our British + cousins. It is a seven days' wonder to see anybody walking in this country + except on a wager or in a public hall or skating-rink, as an exhibition + and trial of endurance. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Countrymen do not walk except from necessity, and country women walk far + less than their city sisters. When city people come to the country they do + not walk, because that would be conceding too much to the country; beside, + they would soil their shoes, and would lose the awe and respect which + their imposing turn-outs inspire. Then they find the country dull; it is + like water or milk after champagne; they miss the accustomed stimulus, + both mind and body relax, and walking is too great an effort. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + There are several obvious reasons why the English should be better or more + habitual walkers than we are. Taken the year round, their climate is much + more favorable to exercise in the open air. Their roads are better, + harder, and smoother, and there is a place for the man and a place for the + horse. Their country houses and churches and villages are not strung upon + the highway as ours are, but are nestled here and there with reference to + other things than convenience in "getting out." Hence the grassy lanes and + paths through the fields. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Distances are not so great in that country; the population occupies less + space. Again, the land has been, longer occupied and is more thoroughly + subdued; it is easier to get about the fields; life has flowed in the same + channels for centuries. The English landscape is like a park, and is so + thoroughly rural and mellow and bosky that the temptation to walk amid its + scenes is ever present to one. In comparison, nature here is rude, raw, + and forbidding; has not that maternal and beneficent look, is less mindful + of man, runs to briers and weeds or to naked sterility. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Then as a people the English are a private, domestic, homely folk: they + dislike publicity, dislike the highway, dislike noise, and love to feel + the grass under their feet. They have a genius for lanes and footpaths; + one might almost say they invented them. The charm of them is in their + books; their rural poetry is modeled upon them. How much of Wordsworth's + poetry is the poetry of pedestrianism! A footpath is sacred in England; + the king himself cannot close one; the courts recognize them as something + quite as important and inviolable as the highway. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + A footpath is of slow growth, and it is a wild, shy thing that is easily + scared away. The plow must respect it, and the fence or hedge make way for + it. It requires a settled state of things, unchanging habits among the + people, and long tenure of the land; the rill of life that finds its way + there must have a perennial source, and flow there tomorrow and the next + day and the next century. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + When I was a youth and went to school with my brothers, we had a footpath + a mile long. On going from home after leaving the highway there was a + descent through a meadow, then through a large maple and beech wood, then + through a long stretch of rather barren pasture land which brought us to + the creek in the valley, which we crossed on a slab or a couple of rails + from the near fence; then more meadow land with a neglected orchard, and + then the little gray schoolhouse itself toeing the highway. In winter our + course was a hard, beaten path in the snow visible from afar, and in + summer a well-defined trail. In the woods it wore the roots of the trees. + It steered for the gaps or low places in the fences, and avoided the bogs + and swamps in the meadow. I can recall yet the very look, the very + physiognomy of a large birch-tree that stood beside it in the midst of the + woods; it sometimes tripped me up with a large root it sent out like a + foot. Neither do I forget the little spring run near by, where we + frequently paused to drink, and to gather "crinkle-root" (DENTARIA) in the + early summer; nor the dilapidated log fence that was the highway of the + squirrels; nor the ledges to one side, whence in early spring the skunk + and coon sallied forth and crossed our path; nor the gray, scabby rocks in + the pasture; nor the solitary tree, nor the old weather-worn stump; no, + nor the creek in which I plunged one winter morning in attempting to leap + its swollen current. But the path served only one generation of + school-children; it faded out more than thirty years ago, and the feet + that made it are widely scattered, while some of them have found the path + that leads through the Valley of the Shadow. Almost the last words of one + of these schoolboys, then a man grown, seemed as if he might have had this + very path in mind, and thought himself again returning to his father's + house: "I must hurry," he said; "I have a long way to go up a hill and + through a dark wood, and it will soon be night." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + We are a famous people to go " 'cross lots," but we do not make a path, + or, if we do, it does not last; the scene changes, the currents set in + other directions, or cease entirely, and the path vanishes. In the South + one would find plenty of bridle-paths, for there everybody goes horseback, + and there are few passable roads; and the hunters and lumbermen of the + North have their trails through the forest following a line of blazed + trees; but in all my acquaintance with the country,— the rural and + agricultural sections,—I do not know a pleasant, inviting path + leading from house to house, or from settlement to settlement, by which + the pedestrian could shorten or enliven a journey, or add the charm of the + seclusion of the fields to his walk. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + What a contrast England presents in this respect, according to Mr. + Jennings's pleasant book, "Field Paths and Green Lanes"! The pedestrian + may go about quite independent of the highway. Here is a glimpse from his + pages: "A path across the field, seen from the station, leads into a road + close by the lodge gate of Mr. Cubett's house. A little beyond this gate + is another and smaller one, from which a narrow path ascends straight to + the top of the hill and comes out just opposite the post-office on Ranmore + Common. The Common at another point may be reached by a shorter cut. After + entering a path close by the lodge, open the first gate you come to on the + right hand. Cross the road, go through the gate opposite, and either + follow the road right out upon Ranmore Common, past the beautiful deep + dell or ravine, or take a path which you will see on your left, a few + yards from the gate. This winds through a very pretty wood, with glimpses + of the valley here and there on the way, and eventually brings you out + upon the carriage-drive to the house. Turn to the right and you will soon + find yourself upon the Common. A road or path opens out in front of the + upper lodge gate. Follow that and it will take you to a small piece of + water from whence a green path strikes off to the right, and this will + lead you all across the Common in a northerly direction." Thus we may see + how the country is threaded with paths. A later writer, the author of "The + Gamekeeper at Home" and other books, says: "Those only know a country who + are acquainted with its footpaths. By the roads, indeed, the outside may + be seen; but the footpaths go through the heart of the land. There are + routes by which mile after mile may be traveled without leaving the sward. + So you may pass from village to village; now crossing green meadows, now + cornfields, over brooks, past woods, through farmyard and rick 'barken.' " + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The conditions of life in this country have not.been favorable to the + development of byways. We do not take to lanes and to the seclusion of the + fields. We love to be upon the road, and to plant our houses there, and to + appear there mounted upon a horse or seated in a wagon. It is to be + distinctly stated, however, that our public highways, with their breadth + and amplitude, their wide grassy margins, their picturesque stone or rail + fences, their outlooks, and their general free and easy character, are far + more inviting to the pedestrian than the narrow lanes and trenches that + English highways for the most part are. The road in England is always well + kept, the roadbed is often like a rock, but the traveler's view is shut in + by high hedges, and very frequently he seems to be passing along a deep, + nicely graded ditch. The open, broad landscape character of our highways + is quite unknown in that country. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The absence of the paths and lanes is not so great a matter, but the decay + of the simplicity of manners, and of the habits of pedestrianism which + this absence implies, is what I lament. The devil is in the horse to make + men proud and fast and ill-mannered; only when you go afoot do you grow in + the grace of gentleness and humility. But no good can come out of this + walking mania that is now sweeping over the country, simply because it is + a mania and not a natural and wholesome impulse. It is a prostitution of + the noble pastime. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + It is not the walking merely, it is keeping yourself in tune for a walk, + in the spiritual and bodily condition in which you can find entertainment + and exhilaration in so simple and natural a pastime. You are eligible to + any good fortune when you are in the condition to enjoy a walk. When the + air and the water taste sweet to you, how much else will taste sweet! When + the exercise of your limbs affords you pleasure, and the play of your + senses upon the various objects and shows of nature quickens and + stimulates your spirit, your relation to the world and to yourself is what + it should be,— simple and direct and wholesome. The mood in which + you set out on a spring or autumn ramble or a sturdy winter walk, and your + greedy feet have to be restrained from devouring the distances too fast, + is the mood in which your best thoughts and impulses come to you, or in + which you might embark upon any noble and heroic enterprise. Life is sweet + in such moods, the universe is complete, and there is no failure or + imperfection anywhere. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <p> + </p> + <h2> + VII. — A BUNCH OF HERBS + </h2> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + FRAGRANT WILD FLOWERS +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The charge that was long ago made against our wild flowers by English + travelers in this country, namely, that they are odorless, doubtless had + its origin in the fact that, whereas in England the sweet-scented flowers + are among the most common and conspicuous, in this country they are rather + shy and withdrawn, and consequently not such as travelers would be likely + to encounter. Moreover, the British traveler, remembering the deliciously + fragrant blue violets he left at home, covering every grassy slope and + meadow bank in spring, and the wild clematis, or traveler's joy, + overrunning hedges and old walls with its white, sweet-scented blossoms, + and finding the corresponding species here equally abundant but entirely + scentless, very naturally infers that our wild flowers are all deficient + in this respect. He would be confirmed in this opinion when, on turning to + some of our most beautiful and striking native flowers, like the laurel, + the rhododendron, the columbine, the inimitable fringed gentian, the + burning cardinal-flower, or our asters and goldenrod, dashing the + roadsides with tints of purple and gold, he found them scentless also. + "Where are your fragrant flowers?" he might well say; "I can find none." + Let him look closer and penetrate our forests, and visit our ponds and + lakes. Let him compare our matchless, rosy-lipped, honey-hearted trailing + arbutus with his own ugly ground-ivy; let him compare our sumptuous, + fragrant pond-lily with his own odorless NYMPHÆ ALBA. In our Northern + woods he will find the floors carpeted with the delicate linnæa, its twin + rose-colored, nodding flowers filling the air with fragrance. (I am aware + that the linnæa is found in some parts of Northern Europe.) The fact is, + we perhaps have as many sweet-scented wild flowers as Europe has, only + they are not quite so prominent in our flora, nor so well known to our + people or to our poets. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Think of Wordsworth's "Golden Daffodils:"— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "I wandered lonely as a cloud + That floats on high o'er vales and + hills, + When, all at once, I saw a crowd, + A host of golden daffodils, + Beside the lake, beneath the trees, + Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. + + "Continuous as the stars that shine + And twinkle on the milky way, + They stretched in never-ending line + Along the margin of a bay. + Ten thousand saw I at a glance, + Tossing their heads in sprightly + dance." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + No such sight could greet the poet's eye here. He might see ten thousand + marsh marigolds, or ten times ten thousand houstonias, but they would not + toss in the breeze, and they would not be sweet- scented like the + daffodils. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + It is to be remembered, too, that in the moister atmosphere of England the + same amount of fragrance would be much more noticeable than with us. Think + how our sweet bay, or our pink azalea, or our white alder, to which they + have nothing that corresponds, would perfume that heavy, vapor-laden air! + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In the woods and groves in England, the wild hyacinth grows very + abundantly in spring, and in places the air is loaded with its fragrance. + In our woods a species of dicentra, commonly called squirrel corn, has + nearly the same perfume, and its racemes of nodding whitish flowers, + tinged with pink, are quite as pleasing to the eye, but it is a shyer, + less abundant plant. When our children go to the fields in April and May, + they can bring home no wild flowers as pleasing as the sweet English + violet, and cowslip, and yellow daffodil, and wallflower; and when British + children go to the woods at the same season, they can load their hands and + baskets with nothing that compares with our trailing arbutus, or, later in + the season, with our azaleas; and, when their boys go fishing or boating + in summer, they can wreathe themselves with nothing that approaches our + pond-lily. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + There are upward of thirty species of fragrant native wild flowers and + flowering shrubs and trees in New England and New York, and, no doubt, + many more in the South and West. My list is as follows:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + White violet (VIOLA BLANDA). + Canada violet (VIOLA CANADENSIS). + Hepatica (occasionally fragrant). + Trailing arbutus (EPIGÆA REPENS). + Mandrake (PODOPHYLLUM + PELTATUM). + Yellow lady's-slipper (CYPRIPEDIUM + PARVIFLORUM). + Purple lady's-slipper (CYPRIPEDIUM + ACAULE). + Squirrel corn (DICENTRA CANADENSIS). + Showy orchis (ORCHIS SPECTABILIS). + Purple fringed-orchis (HABENARIA + PSYCODES). + Arethusa (ARETHUSA BULBOSA). + Calopogon (CALOPOGON + PULCHELLUS). + Lady's-tresses (SPIRANTHES CERNUA). + Pond-lily (NYMPHÆA ODORATA). + Wild rose (ROSA NITIDA). + Twin-flower (LINNÆA BOREALIS). + Sugar maple (ACER SACCHARINUM) + Linden (TILIA AMERICANA). + Locust-tree (ROBINIA PSEUDACACIA). + White alder (CLETHRA ALNIFOLIA). + Smooth azalea (RHODODENDRON + ARBORESCENS). + White azalea (RHODODENDRON + VISCOSUM). + Pinxter-flower (RHODODENDRON + NUDIFLORUM). + Yellow azalea (RHODODENDRON + CALENDULACEUM), + Sweet bay (MAGNOLIA GLAUCA). + Mitchella vine (MITCHELLA REPENS). + Sweet coltsfoot (PETASITES PALMATA). + Pasture thistle (CNICUS PUMILUS). + False wintergreen (PYROLA + ROTUNDIFOLIA). + Spotted wintergreen (CHIMAPHILIA + MACULATA). + Prince's pine (CHIMAPHILIA + UMBELLATA). + Evening primrose (ÂŒNOTHERA + BIENNIS). + Hairy loosestrife (STEIRONEMA + CILIATUM). + Dogbane (APOCYNUM). + Ground-nut (APIOS TUBEROSA). + Adder's-tongue pogonia (POGONIA + OPHIOGLOSSOIDES). + Wild grape (VITIS CORDOFOLIA). + Horned bladderwort (UTRICULARIA + CORNUTA). +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The last-named, horned bladderwort, is perhaps the most fragrant flower we + have. In a warm, moist atmosphere, its odor is almost too strong. It is a + plant with a slender, leafless stalk or scape less than a foot high, with + two or more large yellow hood or helmet shaped flowers. It is not common, + and belongs pretty well north, growing in sandy swamps and along the + marshy margins of lakes and ponds. Its perfume is sweet and spicy in an + eminent degree. I have placed in the above list several flowers that are + intermittently fragrant, like the hepatica, or liver-leaf. This flower is + the earliest, as it is certainly one of the most beautiful, to be found in + our woods, and occasionally it is fragrant. Group after group may be + inspected, ranging through all shades of purple and blue, with some + perfectly white, and no odor be detected, when presently you will happen + upon a little brood of them that have a most delicate and delicious + fragrance. The same is true of a species of loosestrife growing along + streams and on other wet places, with tall bushy stalks, dark green + leaves, and pale axillary yellow flowers (probably European). A handful of + these flowers will sometimes exhale a sweet fragrance; at other times, or + from another locality, they are scentless. Our evening primrose is thought + to be uniformly sweet-scented, but the past season I examined many + specimens, and failed to find one that was so. Some seasons the sugar + maple yields much sweeter sap than in others; and even individual trees, + owing to the soil, moisture, and other conditions where they stand, show a + great difference in this respect. The same is doubtless true of the + sweet-scented flowers. I had always supposed that our Canada violet—the + tall, leafy-stemmed white violet of our Northern woods—was odorless, + till a correspondent called my attention to the contrary fact. On + examination I found that, while the first ones that bloomed about May 25 + had very sweet-scented foliage, especially when crushed in the hand, the + flowers were practically without fragrance. But as the season advanced the + fragrance developed, till a single flower had a well-marked perfume, and a + handful of them was sweet indeed. A single specimen, plucked about August + 1, was quite as fragrant as the English violet, though the perfume is not + what is known as violet, but, like that of the hepatica, comes nearer to + the odor of certain fruit trees. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + It is only for a brief period that the blossoms of our sugar maple are + sweet-scented; the perfume seems to become stale after a few days: but + pass under this tree just at the right moment, say at nightfall on the + first or second day of its perfect inflorescence, and the air is laden + with its sweetness; its perfumed breath falls upon you as its cool shadow + does a few weeks later. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + After the linnæa and the arbutus, the prettiest sweet-scented flowering + vine our woods hold is the common mitchella vine, called squaw-berry and + partridge-berry. It blooms in June, and its twin flowers, light + cream-color, velvety, tubular, exhale a most agreeable fragrance. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Our flora is much more rich in orchids than the European, and many of ours + are fragrant. The first to bloom in the spring is the showy orchis, though + it is far less showy than several others. I find it in May, not on hills, + where Gray says it grows, but in low, damp places in the woods. It has two + oblong shining leaves, with a scape four or five inches high strung with + sweet-scented, pink- purple flowers. I usually find it and the fringed + polygala in bloom at the same time; the lady's-slipper is a little later. + The purple fringed-orchis, one of the most showy and striking of all our + orchids, blooms in midsummer in swampy meadows and in marshy, grassy + openings in the woods, shooting up a tapering column or cylinder of + pink-purple fringed flowers, that one may see at quite a distance, and the + perfume of which is too rank for a close room. This flower is, perhaps, + like the English fragrant orchis, found in pastures. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Few fragrant flowers in the shape of weeds have come to us from the Old + World, and this leads me to remark that plants with sweet- scented flowers + are, for the most part, more intensely local, more fastidious and + idiosyncratic, than those without perfume. Our native thistle—the + pasture thistle—has a marked fragrance, and it is much more shy and + limited in its range than the common Old World thistle that grows + everywhere. Our little, sweet white violet grows only in wet places, and + the Canada violet only in high, cool woods, while the common blue violet + is much more general in its distribution. How fastidious and exclusive is + the cypripedium! You will find it in one locality in the woods, usually on + high, dry ground, and will look in vain for it elsewhere. It does not go + in herds like the commoner plants, but affects privacy and solitude. When + I come upon it in my walks, I seem to be intruding upon some very private + and exclusive company. The large yellow cypripedium has a peculiar, heavy, + oily odor. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In like manner one learns where to look for arbutus, for pipsissewa, for + the early orchis; they have their particular haunts, and their + surroundings are nearly always the same. The yellow pond-lily is found in + every sluggish stream and pond, but NYMPHÆA ODORATA requires a nicer + adjustment of conditions, and consequently is more restricted in its + range. If the mullein were fragrant, or toadflax, or the daisy, or + blue-weed, or goldenrod, they would doubtless be far less troublesome to + the agriculturist. There are, of course, exceptions to the rule I have + here indicated, but it holds in most cases. Genius is a specialty: it does + not grow in every soil; it skips the many and touches the few; and the + gift of perfume to a flower is a special grace like genius or like beauty, + and never becomes common or cheap. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Do honey and fragrance always go together in the flowers? "Not uniformly. + Of the list of fragrant wild flowers I have given, the only ones that the + bees procure nectar from, so far as I have observed, are arbutus, + dicentra, sugar maple, locust, and linden. Non-fragrant flowers that yield + honey are those of the raspberry, clematis, sumac, white oak, bugloss, + ailanthus, goldenrod, aster, fleabane. A large number of odorless plants + yield pollen to the bee. There is nectar in the columbine, and the + bumblebee sometimes gets it by piercing the spur from the outside as she + does with dicentra. There ought to be honey in the honeysuckle, but I have + never seen the hive-bee make any attempt to get it. + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + WEEDS +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + One is tempted to say that the most human plants, after all, are the + weeds. How they cling to man and follow him around the world, and spring + up wherever he sets his foot! How they crowd around his barns and + dwellings, and throng his garden and jostle and override each other in + their strife to be near him! Some of them are so domestic and familiar, + and so harmless withal, that one comes to regard them with positive + affection. Motherwort, catnip, plantain, tansy, wild mustard,—what a + homely human look they have! they are an integral part of every old + homestead. Your smart new place will wait long before they draw near it. + Or knot-grass, that carpets every old dooryard, and fringes every walk, + and softens every path that knows the feet of children, or that leads to + the spring, or to the garden, or to the barn, how kindly one comes to look + upon it! Examine it with a pocket glass and see how wonderfully beautiful + and exquisite are its tiny blossoms. It loves the human foot, and when the + path or the place is long disused, other plants usurp the ground. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The gardener and the farmer are ostensibly the greatest enemies of the + weeds, but they are in reality their best friends. Weeds, like rats and + mice, increase and spread enormously in a cultivated country. They have + better food, more sunshine, and more aids in getting themselves + disseminated. They are sent from one end of the land to the other in seed + grain of various kinds, and they take their share, and more too, if they + can get it, of the phosphates and stable manures. How sure, also, they are + to survive any war of extermination that is waged against them! In yonder + field are ten thousand and one Canada thistles. The farmer goes resolutely + to work and destroys ten thousand and thinks the work is finished, but he + has done nothing till he has destroyed the ten thousand and one. This one + will keep up the stock and again cover his field with thistles. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Weeds are Nature's makeshift. She rejoices in the grass and the grain, but + when these fail to cover her nakedness she resorts to weeds. It is in her + plan or a part of her economy to keep the ground constantly covered with + vegetation of some sort, and she has layer upon layer of seeds in the soil + for this purpose, and the wonder is that each kind lies dormant until it + is wanted. If I uncover the earth in any of my fields, ragweed and pigweed + spring up; if these are destroyed, harvest grass, or quack grass, or + purslane, appears. The spade or the plow that turns these under is sure to + turn up some other variety, as chickweed, sheep-sorrel, or goose-foot. The + soil is a storehouse of seeds. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The old farmers say that wood-ashes will bring in the white clover, and + they will; the germs are in the soil wrapped in a profound slumber, but + this stimulus tickles them until they awake. Stramonium has been known to + start up on the site of an old farm building, when it had not been seen in + that locality for thirty years. I have been told that a farmer, somewhere + in New England, in digging a well came at a great depth upon sand like + that of the seashore; it was thrown out, and in due time there sprang from + it a marine plant. I have never seen earth taken from so great a depth + that it would not before the end of the season be clothed with a crop of + weeds. Weeds are so full of expedients, and the one engrossing purpose + with them is to multiply. The wild onion multiplies at both ends,—at + the top by seed, and at the bottom by offshoots. Toad-flax travels under + ground and above ground. Never allow a seed to ripen, and yet it will + cover your field. Cut off the head of the wild carrot, and in a week or + two there are five heads in place of this one; cut off these, and by fall + there are ten looking defiance at, you from the same root. Plant corn in + August, and it will go forward with its preparations as if it had the + whole season before it. Not so with the weeds; they have learned better. + If amaranth, or abutilon, or burdock gets a late start, it makes great + haste to develop its seed; it foregoes its tall stalk and wide flaunting + growth, and turns all its energies into keeping up the succession of the + species. Certain fields under the plow are always infested with "blind + nettles," others with wild buckwheat, black bindweed, or cockle. The seed + lies dormant under the sward, the warmth and the moisture affect it not + until other conditions are fulfilled. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The way in which one plant thus keeps another down is a great mystery. + Germs lie there in the soil and resist the stimulating effect of the sun + and the rains for years, and show no sign. Presently something whispers to + them, "Arise, your chance has come; the coast is clear;" and they are up + and doing in a twinkling. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Weeds are great travelers; they are, indeed, the tramps of the vegetable + world. They are going east, west, north, south; they walk; they fly; they + swim; they steal a ride; they travel by rail, by flood, by wind; they go + under ground, and they go above, across lots, and by the highway. But, + like other tramps, they find it safest by the highway: in the fields they + are intercepted and cut off; but on the public road, every boy, every + passing herd of sheep or cows, gives them a lift. Hence the incursion of a + new weed is generally first noticed along the highway or the railroad. In + Orange County I saw from the car window a field overrun with what I took + to be the branching white mullein. Gray says it is found in Pennsylvania + and at the head of Oneida Lake. Doubtless it had come by rail from one + place or the other. Our botanist says of the bladder campion, a species of + pink, that it has been naturalized around Boston; but it is now much + farther west, and I know fields along the Hudson overrun with it. Streams + and water-courses are the natural highway of the weeds. Some years ago, + and by some means or other, the viper's bugloss, or blue-weed, which is + said to be a troublesome weed in Virginia, effected a lodgment near the + head of the Esopus Creek, a tributary of the Hudson. From this point it + has made its way down the stream, overrunning its banks and invading + meadows and cultivated fields, and proving a serious obstacle to the + farmer. All the gravelly, sandy margins and islands of the Esopus, + sometimes acres in extent, are in June and July blue with it, and rye and + oats and grass in the near fields find it a serious competitor for + possession of the soil. It has gone down the Hudson, and is appearing in + the fields along its shores. The tides carry it up the mouths of the + streams where it takes root; the winds, or the birds, or other agencies, + in time give it another lift, so that it is slowly but surely making its + way inland. The bugloss belongs to what may be called beautiful weeds, + despite its rough and bristly stalk. Its flowers are deep violet-blue, the + stamens exserted, as the botanists say, that is, projected beyond the + mouth of the corolla, with showy red anthers. This bit of red, mingling + with the blue of the corolla, gives a very rich, warm purple hue to the + flower, that is especially pleasing at a little distance. The best thing I + know about this weed besides its good looks is that it yields honey or + pollen to the bee. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Another foreign plant that the Esopus Creek has distributed along its + shores and carried to the Hudson is saponaria, known as "Bouncing Bet." It + is a common and in places troublesome weed in this valley. Bouncing Bet + is, perhaps, its English name, as the pink-white complexion of its flowers + with their perfume and the coarse, robust character of the plant really + give it a kind of English feminine comeliness and bounce. It looks like a + Yorkshire housemaid. Still another plant in my section, which I notice has + been widely distributed by the agency of water, is the spiked loosestrife. + It first appeared many years ago along the Wallkill; now it may be seen + upon many of its tributaries and all along its banks; and in many of the + marshy bays and coves along the Hudson, its great masses of purple-red + bloom in middle and late summer affording a welcome relief to the + traveler's eye. It also belongs to the class of beautiful weeds. It grows + rank and tall, in dense communities, and always presents to the eye a + generous mass of color. In places, the marshes and creek banks are all + aglow with it, its wand-like spikes of flowers shooting up and uniting in + volumes or pyramids of still flame. Its petals, when examined closely, + present a curious wrinkled or crumpled appearance, like newly washed + linen; but when massed, the effect is eminently pleasing. It also came + from abroad, probably first brought to this country as a garden or + ornamental plant. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + As a curious illustration of how weeds are carried from one end of the + earth to the other, Sir Joseph Hooker relates this circumstance: "On one + occasion," he says, "landing on a small uninhabited island nearly at the + Antipodes, the first evidence I met with of its having been previously + visited by man was the English chickweed; and this I traced to a mound + that marked the grave of a British sailor, and that was covered with the + plant, doubtless the offspring of seed that had adhered to the spade or + mattock with which the grave had been dug." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Ours is a weedy country because it is a roomy country. Weeds love a wide + margin, and they find it here. You shall see more weeds in one + day's-travel in this country than in a week's journey in Europe. Our + culture of the soil is not so close and thorough, our occupancy not so + entire and exclusive. The weeds take up with the farmers' leavings, and + find good fare. One may see a large slice taken from a field by + elecampane, or by teasel or milkweed; whole acres given up to whiteweed, + golden-rod, wild carrots, or the ox- eye daisy; meadows overrun with + bear-weed, and sheep pastures nearly ruined by St. John's-wort or the + Canada thistle. Our farms are so large and our husbandry so loose that we + do not mind these things. By and by we shall clean them out. When Sir + Joseph Hooker landed in New England a few years ago, he was surprised to + find how the European plants flourished there. He found the wild chicory + growing far more luxuriantly than he had ever seen it elsewhere, "forming + a tangled mass of stems and branches, studded with turquoise-blue + blossoms, and covering acres of ground." This is one of the many weeds + that Emerson binds into a bouquet in his "Humble-Bee:"— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Succory to match the sky, + Columbine with horn of honey, + Scented fern and agrimony, + Clover, catchfly, adder's-tongue, + And brier-roses, dwelt among." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + A less accurate poet than Emerson would probably have let his reader infer + that the bumblebee gathered honey from all these plants, but Emerson is + careful to say only that she dwelt among them. Succory is one of Virgil's + weeds also,— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "And spreading succ'ry chokes the + rising field." +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Is there not something in our soil and climate exceptionally favorable to + weeds,—something harsh, ungenial, sharp-toothed, that is akin to + them? How woody and rank and fibrous many varieties become, lasting the + whole season, and standing up stark and stiff through the deep winter + snows,—desiccated, preserved by our dry air! Do nettles and thistles + bite so sharply in any other country? Let the farmer tell you how they + bite of a dry midsummer day when he encounters them in his wheat or oat + harvest. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Yet it is a fact that all our more pernicious weeds, like our vermin, are + of Old World origin. They hold up their heads and assert themselves here, + and take their fill of riot and license; they are avenged for their long + years of repression by the stern hand of European agriculture. We have + hardly a weed we can call our own. I recall but three that are at all + noxious or troublesome, namely, milkweed, ragweed, and goldenrod; but who + would miss the last from our fields and highways? + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Along the roadside, like the flowers + of gold + That tawny Incas for their gardens + wrought, + Heavy with sunshine droops the + goldenrod," +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + sings Whittier. In Europe our goldenrod is cultivated in the flower + gardens, as well it may be. The native species is found mainly in woods, + and is much less showy than ours. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Our milkweed is tenacious of life; its roots lie deep, as if to get away + from the plow, but it seldom infests cultivated crops. Then its stalk is + so full of milk and its pod so full of silk that one cannot but ascribe + good intentions to it, if it does sometimes overrun the meadow. + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "In dusty pods the milkweed + Its hidden silk has spun," +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + sings "H. H." in her "September." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Of our ragweed not much can be set down that is complimentary, except that + its name in the botany is AMBROSIA, food of the gods. It must be the food + of the gods if anything, for, so far as I have observed, nothing + terrestrial eats it, not even billy-goats. (Yet a correspondent writes me + that in Kentucky the cattle eat it when hard-pressed, and that a certain + old farmer there, one season when the hay crop failed, cut and harvested + tons of it for his stock in winter. It is said that the milk and butter + made from such hay are not at all suggestive of the traditional Ambrosia!) + It is the bane of asthmatic patients, but the gardener makes short work of + it. It is about the only one of our weeds that follows the plow and the + harrow, and, except that it is easily destroyed, I should suspect it to be + an immigrant from the Old World. Our fleabane is a troublesome weed at + times, but good husbandry has little to dread from it. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + But all the other outlaws of the farm and garden come to us from over + seas; and what a long list it is:— + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Common thistle, + Canada thistle, + Burdock, + Yellow dock, + Wild carrot, + Ox-eye daisy, + Chamomile, + Mullein, + Dead-nettle (LAMIUM), + Hemp nettle (GALEOPSIS), + Elecampane, + Plantain, + Motherwort, + Stramonium, + Catnip, + Blue-weed, + Stick-seed, + Hound 's-tongue, + Henbane, + Pigweed, + Quitch grass, + Gill, + Nightshade, + Buttercup, + Dandelion, + Wild mustard, + Shepherd's purse, + St. John's-wort + Chickweed, + Purslane, + Mallow, + Darnel, + Poison hemlock, + Hop-clover, + Yarrow, + Wild radish, + Wild parsnip, + Chicory, + Live-forever, + Toad-flax, + Sheep-sorrel, + Mayweed, +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + and others less noxious. To offset this list we have given Europe the + vilest of all weeds, a parasite that sucks up human blood, tobacco. Now if + they catch the Colorado beetle of us, it will go far toward paying them + off for the rats and the mice, and for other pests in our houses. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The more attractive and pretty of the British weeds—as the common + daisy, of which the poets have made so much, the larkspur, which is a + pretty cornfield weed, and the scarlet field-poppy, which flowers all + summer, and is so taking amid the ripening grain—have not immigrated + to our shores. Like a certain sweet rusticity and charm of European rural + life, they do not thrive readily under our skies. Our fleabane has become + a common roadside weed in England, and a few other of our native less + known plants have gained a foothold in the Old World. Our beautiful + jewel-weed has recently appeared along certain of the English rivers. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Pokeweed is a native American, and what a lusty, royal plant it is! It + never invades cultivated fields, but hovers about the borders and looks + over the fences like a painted Indian sachem. Thoreau coveted its strong + purple stalk for a cane, and the robins eat its dark crimson-juiced + berries. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + It is commonly believed that the mullein is indigenous to this country, + for have we not heard that it is cultivated in European gardens, and + christened the American velvet plant? Yet it, too, seems to have come over + with the Pilgrims, and is most abundant in the older parts of the country. + It abounds throughout Europe and Asia, and had its economic uses with the + ancients. The Greeks made lamp-wicks of its dried leaves, and the Romans + dipped its dried stalk in tallow for funeral torches. It affects dry + uplands in this country, and, as it takes two years to mature, it is not a + troublesome weed in cultivated crops. The first year it sits low upon the + ground in its coarse flannel leaves, and makes ready; if the plow comes + along now, its career is ended. The second season it starts upward its + tall stalk, which in late summer is thickly set with small yellow flowers, + and in fall is charged with myriads of fine black seeds. "As full as a dry + mullein stalk of seeds" is almost equivalent to saying, "as numerous as + the sands upon the seashore." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Perhaps the most notable thing about the weeds that have come to us from + the Old World, when compared with our native species, is their + persistence, not to say pugnacity. They fight for the soil; they plant + colonies here and there, and will not be rooted out. Our native weeds are + for the most part shy and harmless, and retreat before cultivation, but + the European outlaws follow man like vermin; they hang to his coat-skirts, + his sheep transport them in their wool, his cow and horse in tail and + mane. As I have before said, it is as with the rats and mice. The American + rat is in the woods and is rarely seen even by woodmen, and the native + mouse barely hovers upon the outskirts of civilization; while the Old + World species defy our traps and our poison, and have usurped the land. So + with the weeds. Take the thistle for instance: the common and abundant one + everywhere, in fields and along highways, is the European species; while + the native thistles, swamp thistle, pasture thistle, etc., are much more + shy, and are not at all troublesome. The Canada thistle, too, which came + to us by way of Canada,—what a pest, what a usurper, what a defier + of the plow and the harrow! I know of but one effectual way to treat it,—put + on a pair of buckskin gloves, and pull up every plant that shows itself; + this will effect a radical cure in two summers. Of course the plow or the + scythe, if not allowed to rest more than a month at a time, will finally + conquer it. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Or take the common St. John's-wort,—how it has established itself in + our fields and become a most pernicious weed, very difficult to extirpate; + while the native species are quite rare, and seldom or never invade + cultivated fields, being found mostly in wet and rocky waste places. Of + Old World origin, too, is the curled-leaf dock that is so annoying about + one's garden and home meadows, its long tapering root clinging to the soil + with such tenacity that I have pulled upon it till I could see stars + without budging it; it has more lives than a cat, making a shift to live + when pulled up and laid on top of the ground in the burning summer sun. + Our native docks are mostly found in swamps, or near them, and are + harmless. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Purslane—commonly called "pusley," and which has given rise to the + saying, "as mean as pusley"—of course is not American. A good sample + of our native purslane is the claytonia, or spring beauty, a shy, delicate + plant that opens its rose-colored flowers in the moist, sunny places in + the woods or along their borders so early in the season. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + There are few more obnoxious weeds in cultivated ground than sheep- + sorrel, also an Old World plant; while our native wood-sorrel, with its + white, delicately veined flowers, or the variety with yellow flowers, is + quite harmless. The same is true of the mallow, the vetch, the tare, and + other plants. We have no native plant so indestructible as garden orpine, + or live-forever, which our grandmothers nursed, and for which they are + cursed by many a farmer. The fat, tender, succulent dooryard stripling + turned out to be a monster that would devour the earth. I have seen acres + of meadow land destroyed by it. The way to drown an amphibious animal is + never to allow it to come to the surface to breathe, and this is the way + to kill live-forever. It lives by its stalk and leaf, more than by its + root, and, if cropped or bruised as soon as it comes to the surface, it + will in time perish. It laughs the plow, the hoe, the cultivator to scorn, + but grazing herds will eventually scotch it. Our two species of native + orpine, SEDUM TERNATUM and S. TELEPHIOIDES, are never troublesome as + weeds. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The European weeds are sophisticated, domesticated, civilized; they have + been to school to man for many hundred years, and they have learned to + thrive upon him: their struggle for existence has been sharp and + protracted; it has made them hardy and prolific; they will thrive in a + lean soil, or they will wax strong in a rich one; in all cases they follow + man and profit by him. Our native weeds, on the other hand, are furtive + and retiring; they flee before the plow and the scythe, and hide in + corners and remote waste places. Will they, too, in time, change their + habits in this respect? + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Idle weeds are fast in growth," says Shakespeare, but that depends upon + whether the competition is sharp and close. If the weed finds itself + distanced, or pitted against great odds, it grows more slowly and is of + diminished stature, but let it once get the upper hand, and what strides + it makes! Red-root will grow four or five feet high if it has a chance, or + it will content itself with a few inches and mature its seed almost upon + the ground. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Many of our worst weeds are plants that have-escaped from cultivation, as + the wild radish, which is troublesome in parts of New England; the wild + carrot, which infests the fields in eastern New York; and the + live-forever, which thrives and multiplies under the plow and harrow. In + my section an annoying weed is abutilon, or velvet-leaf, also called "old + maid," which has fallen from the grace of the garden and followed the plow + afield. It will manage to mature its seeds if not allowed to start till + midsummer. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Of beautiful weeds quite a long list might be made without including any + of the so-called wild flowers. A favorite of mine is the little moth + mullein that blooms along the highway, and about the fields, and maybe + upon the edge of the lawn, from midsummer till frost comes. In winter its + slender stalk rises above the snow, bearing its round seed-pods on its + pin-like stems, and is pleasing even then. Its flowers are yellow or + white, large, wheel-shaped, and are borne vertically with filaments loaded + with little tufts of violet wool. The plant has none of the coarse, hairy + character of the common mullein. Our cone-flower, which one of our poets + has called the "brown-eyed daisy," has a pleasing effect when in vast + numbers they invade a meadow (if it is not your meadow), their dark brown + centres or disks and their golden rays showing conspicuously. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bidens, two-teeth, or "pitchforks," as the boys call them, are welcomed by + the eye when in late summer they make the swamps and wet, waste places + yellow with their blossoms. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Vervain is a beautiful weed, especially the blue or purple variety. Its + drooping knotted threads also make a pretty etching upon the winter snow. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Iron-weed, which looks like an overgrown aster, has the same intense + purple-blue color, and a royal profusion of flowers. There are giants + among the weeds, as well as dwarfs and pigmies. One of the giants is + purple eupatorium, which sometimes carries its corymbs of flesh-colored + flowers ten and twelve feet high. A pretty and curious little weed, + sometimes found growing in the edge of the garden, is the clasping + specularia, a relative of the harebell and of the European Venus's + looking-glass. Its leaves are shell-shaped, and clasp the stalk so as to + form little shallow cups. In the bottom of each cup three buds appear that + never expand into flowers; but when the top of the stalk is reached, one + and sometimes two buds open a large, delicate purple-blue corolla. All the + first-born of this plant are still-born, as it were; only the latest, + which spring from its summit, attain to perfect bloom. A weed which one + ruthlessly demolishes when he finds it hiding from the plow amid the + strawberries, or under the currant-bushes and grapevines, is the + dandelion; yet who would banish it from the meadows or the lawns, where it + copies in gold upon the green expanse the stars of the midnight sky? After + its first blooming comes its second and finer and more spiritual + inflorescence, when its stalk, dropping its more earthly and carnal + flower, shoots upward, and is presently crowned by a globe of the most + delicate and aerial texture. It is like the poet's dream, which succeeds + his rank and golden youth. This globe is a fleet of a hundred fairy + balloons, each one of which bears a seed which it is destined to drop far + from the parent source. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Most weeds have their uses; they are not wholly malevolent. Emerson says a + weed is a plant whose virtues we have not yet discovered; but the wild + creatures discover their virtues if we do not. The bumblebee has + discovered that the hateful toadflax, which nothing will eat, and which in + some soils will run out the grass, has honey at its heart. Narrow-leaved + plantain is readily eaten by cattle, and the honey-bee gathers much pollen + from it. The ox-eye daisy makes a fair quality of hay if cut before it + gets ripe. The cows will eat the leaves of the burdock and the stinging + nettles of the woods. But what cannot a cow's tongue stand? She will crop + the poison ivy with impunity, and I think would eat thistles if she found + them growing in the garden. Leeks and garlics are readily eaten by cattle + in the spring, and are said to be medicinal to them. Weeds that yield + neither pasturage for bee nor herd yet afford seeds to the fall and winter + birds. This is true of most of the obnoxious weeds of the garden, and of + thistles. The wild lettuce yields down for the hummingbird's nest, and the + flowers of whiteweed are used by the kingbird and cedar-bird. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Yet it is pleasant to remember that, in our climate, there are no weeds so + persistent and lasting and universal as grass. Grass is the natural + covering of the fields. There are but four weeds that I know of—milkweed, + live-forever, Canada thistle, and toad-flax— that it will not run + out in a good soil. We crop it and mow it year after year; and yet, if the + season favors, it is sure to come again. Fields that have never known the + plow, and never been seeded by man, are yet covered with grass. And in + human nature, too, weeds are by no means in the ascendant, troublesome as + they are. The good green grass of love and truthfulness and common sense + is more universal, and crowds the idle weeds to the wall. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + But weeds have this virtue; they are not easily discouraged; they never + lose heart entirely; they die game. If they cannot have the best, they + will take up with the poorest; if fortune is unkind to them to-day, they + hope for better luck to-morrow; if they cannot lord it over a corn-hill, + they will sit humbly at its foot and accept what comes; in all cases they + make the most of their opportunities. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <p> + </p> + <h2> + VIII. — WINTER PICTURES + </h2> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + A WHITE DAY AND A RED FOX +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The day was indeed white, as white as three feet of snow and a cloudless + St. Valentine's sun could make it. The eye could not look forth without + blinking, or veiling itself with tears. The patch of plowed ground on the + top of the hill, where the wind had blown the snow away, was as welcome to + it as water to a parched tongue. It was the one refreshing oasis in this + desert of dazzling light. I sat down upon it to let the eye bathe and + revel in it. It took away the smart like a poultice. For so gentle and on + the whole so beneficent an element, the snow asserts itself very proudly. + It takes the world quickly and entirely to itself. It makes no concessions + or compromises, but rules despotically. It baffles and bewilders the eye, + and it returns the sun glare for glare. Its coming in our winter climate + is the hand of mercy to the earth and to everything in its bosom, but it + is a barrier and an embargo to everything that moves above. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + We toiled up the long steep hill, where only an occasional mullein- stalk + or other tall weed stood above the snow. Near the top the hill was girded + with a bank of snow that blotted out the stone wall and every vestige of + the earth beneath. These hills wear this belt till May, and sometimes the + plow pauses beside them. From the top of the ridge an immense landscape in + immaculate white stretches before us. Miles upon miles of farms, smoothed + and padded by the stainless element, hang upon the sides of the mountains, + or repose across the long sloping hills. The fences or stone walls show + like half-obliterated black lines. I turn my back to the sun, or shade my + eyes with my hand. Every object or movement in the landscape is sharply + revealed; one could see a fox half a league. The farmer foddering his + cattle, or drawing manure afield, or leading his horse to water; the + pedestrian crossing the hill below; the children wending their way toward + the distant schoolhouse,— the eye cannot help but note them: they + are black specks upon square miles of luminous white. What a multitude of + sins this unstinted charity of the snow covers! How it flatters the + ground!- Yonder sterile field might be a garden, and you would never + suspect that that gentle slope with its pretty dimples and curves was not + the smoothest of meadows, yet it is paved with rocks and stone. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + But what is that black speck creeping across that cleared field near the + top of the mountain at the head of the valley, three quarters of a mile + away? It is like a fly moving across an illuminated surface. A distant + mellow bay floats to us, and we know it is the hound. He picked up the + trail of the fox half an hour since, where he had crossed the ridge early + in the morning, and now he has routed him and Reynard is steering for the + Big Mountain. We press on and attain the shoulder of the range, where we + strike a trail two or three days old of some former hunters, which leads + us into the woods along the side of the mountain. We are on the first + plateau before the summit; the snow partly supports us, but when it gives + way and we sound it with our legs, we find it up to our hips. Here we + enter a white world indeed. It is like some conjurer's trick. The very + trees have turned to snow. The smallest branch is like a cluster of great + white antlers. The eye is bewildered by the soft fleecy labyrinth before + it. On the lower ranges the forests were entirely bare, but now we + perceive the summit of every mountain about us runs up into a kind of + arctic region where the trees are loaded with snow. The beginning of this + colder zone is sharply marked all around the horizon; the line runs as + level as the shore line of a lake or sea; indeed, a warmer aerial sea + fills all the valleys, submerging the lower peaks, and making white + islands of all the higher ones. The branches bend with the rime. The winds + have not shaken it down. It adheres to them like a growth. On examination + I find the branches coated with ice, from which shoot slender spikes and + needles that penetrate and hold the cord of snow. It is a new kind of + foliage wrought by the frost and the clouds, and it obscures the sky, and + fills the vistas of the woods nearly as much as the myriad leaves of + summer. The sun blazes, the sky is without a cloud or a film, yet we walk + in a soft white shade. A gentle breeze was blowing on the open crest of + the mountain, but one could carry a lighted candle through these + snow-curtained and snow-canopied chambers. How shall we see the fox if the + hound drives him through this white obscurity? But we listen in vain for + the voice of the dog and press on. Hares' tracks were numerous. Their + great soft pads had left their imprint everywhere, sometimes showing a + clear leap of ten feet. They had regular circuits which we crossed at + intervals. The woods were well suited to them, low and dense, and, as we + saw, liable at times to wear a livery whiter than their own. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The mice, too, how thick their tracks were, that of the white- footed + mouse being most abundant; but occasionally there was a much finer track, + with strides or leaps scarcely more than an inch apart. This is perhaps + the little shrew-mouse of the woods, the body not more than an inch and a + half long, the smallest mole or mouse kind known to me. Once, while + encamping in the woods, one of these tiny shrews got into an empty pail + standing in camp, and died before morning, either from the cold, or in + despair of ever getting out of the pail. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + At one point, around a small sugar maple, the mice-tracks are unusually + thick. It is doubtless their granary; they have beech- nuts stored there, + I'll warrant. There are two entrances to the cavity of the tree,—one + at the base, and one seven or eight feet up. At the upper one, which is + only just the size of a mouse, a squirrel has been trying to break in. He + has cut and chiseled the solid wood to the depth of nearly an inch, and + his chips strew the snow all about. He knows what is in there, and the + mice know that he knows; hence their apparent consternation. They have + rushed wildly about over the snow, and, I doubt not, have given the + piratical red squirrel a piece of their minds. A few yards away the mice + have a hole down into the snow, which perhaps leads to some snug den under + the ground. Hither they may have been slyly removing their stores while + the squirrel was at work with his back turned. One more night and he will + effect an entrance: what a good joke upon him if he finds the cavity + empty! These native mice are very provident, and, I imagine, have to take + many precautions to prevent their winter stores being plundered by the + squirrels, who live, as it were, from hand to mouth. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + We see several fresh fox-tracks, and wish for the hound, but there are no + tidings of him. After half an hour's floundering and cautiously picking + our way through the woods, we emerge into a cleared field that stretches + up from the valley below, and just laps over the back of the mountain. It + is a broad belt of white that drops down and down till it joins other + fields that sweep along the base of the mountain, a mile away. To the + east, through a deep defile in the mountains, a landscape in an adjoining + county lifts itself up, like a bank of white and gray clouds. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + When the experienced fox-hunter comes out upon such an eminence as this, + he always scrutinizes the fields closely that lie beneath him, and it many + times happens that his sharp eye detects Reynard asleep upon a rock or a + stone wall, in which case, if he be armed with a rifle and his dog be not + near, the poor creature never wakens from his slumber. The fox nearly + always takes his nap in the open fields, along the sides of the ridges, or + under the mountain, where he can look down upon the busy farms beneath and + hear their many sounds, the barking of dogs, the lowing of cattle, the + cackling of hens, the voices of men and boys, or the sound of travel upon + the highway. It is on that side, too, that he keeps the sharpest lookout, + and the appearance of the hunter above and behind him is always a + surprise. We pause here, and, with alert ears turned toward the Big + Mountain in front of us, listen for the dog. But not a sound is heard. A + flock of snow buntings pass high above us, uttering their contented + twitter, and their white forms seen against the intense blue give the + impression of large snowflakes drifting across the sky. I hear a purple + finch, too, and the feeble lisp of the redpoll. A shrike (the first I have + seen this season) finds occasion to come this way also. He alights on the + tip of a dry limb, and from his perch can see into the valley on both + sides of the mountain. He is prowling about for chickadees, no doubt, a + troop of which I saw coming through the wood. When pursued by the shrike, + the chickadee has been seen to take refuge in a squirrel-hole in a tree. + Hark! Is that the hound, or doth expectation mock the eager ear? With open + mouths and bated breaths we listen. Yes, it is old "Singer;" he is + bringing the fox over the top of the range toward Butt End, the ULTIMA + THULE of the hunters' tramps in this section. In a moment or two the dog + is lost to hearing again. We wait for his second turn; then for his third. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "He is playing about the summit," says my companion. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Let us go there," say I, and we are off. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + More dense snow-hung woods beyond the clearing where we begin our ascent + of the Big Mountain,—a chief that carries the range up several + hundred feet higher than the part we have thus far traversed. We are + occasionally to our hips in the snow, but for the most part the older + stratum, a foot or so down, bears us; up and up we go into the dim, + muffled solitudes, our hats and coats powdered like millers'. A + half-hour's heavy tramping brings us to the broad, level summit, and to + where the fox and hound have crossed and recrossed many times. As we are + walking along discussing the matter, we suddenly hear the dog coming + straight on to us. The woods are so choked with snow that we do not hear + him till he breaks up from under the mountain within a hundred yards of + us. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "We have turned the fox!" we both exclaim, much put out. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Sure enough, we have. The dog appears in sight, is puzzled a moment, then + turns sharply to the left, and is lost to eye and to ear as quickly as if + he had plunged into a cave. The woods are, indeed, a kind of cave,—a + cave of alabaster, with the sun shining upon it. We take up positions and + wait. These old hunters know exactly where to stand. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "If the fox comes back," said my companion, "he will cross up there or + down here," indicating two points not twenty rods asunder. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + We stood so that each commanded one of the runways indicated. How light it + was, though the sun was hidden! Every branch and twig beamed in the sun + like a lamp. A downy woodpecker below me kept up a great fuss and clatter,—all + for my benefit, I suspected. All about me were great, soft mounds, where + the rocks lay buried. It was a cemetery of drift boulders. There! that is + the hound. Does his voice come across the valley from the spur off against + us, or is it on our side down under the mountain? After an interval, just + as I am thinking the dog is going away from us along the opposite range, + his voice comes up astonishingly near. A mass of snow falls from a branch, + and makes one start; but it is not the fox. Then through the white vista + below me I catch a glimpse of something red or yellow, yellowish red or + reddish yellow; it emerges from the lower ground, and, with an easy, + jaunty air, draws near. I am ready and just in the mood to make a good + shot. The fox stops just out of range and listens for the hound. He looks + as bright as an autumn leaf upon the spotless surface. Then he starts on, + but he is not coming to me, he is going to the other man. Oh, foolish fox, + you are going straight into the jaws of death! My comrade stands just + there beside that tree. I would gladly have given Reynard the wink, or + signaled to him, if I could. It did seem a pity to shoot him, now he was + out of my reach. I cringe for him, when crack goes the gun! The fox + squalls, picks himself up, and plunges over the brink of the mountain. The + hunter has not missed his aim, but the oil in his gun, he says, has + weakened the strength of his powder. The hound, hearing the report, comes + like a whirlwind and is off in hot pursuit. Both fox and dog now bleed,— + the dog at his heels, the fox from his wounds. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In a few minutes there came up from under the mountain that long, peculiar + bark which the hound always makes when he has run the fox in, or when + something new and extraordinary has happened. In this instance he said + plainly enough, "The race is up, the coward has taken to his hole, + ho-o-o-le." Plunging down in the direction of the sound, the snow + literally to our waists, we were soon at the spot, a great ledge thatched + over with three or four feet of snow. The dog was alternately licking his + heels and whining and berating the fox. The opening into which the latter + had fled was partially closed, and, as I scraped out and cleared away the + snow, I thought of the familiar saying, that so far as the sun shines in, + the snow will blow in. The fox, I suspect, has always his house of refuge, + or knows at once where to flee to if hard pressed. This place proved to be + a large vertical seam in the rock, into which the dog, on a little + encouragement from his master, made his way. I thrust my head into the + ledge's mouth, and in the dim light watched the dog. He progressed slowly + and cautiously till only his bleeding heels were visible. Here some + obstacle impeded him a few moments, when he entirely disappeared and was + presently face to face with the fox and engaged in mortal combat with him. + It is a fierce encounter there beneath the rocks, the fox silent, the dog + very vociferous. But after a time the superior weight and strength of the + latter prevails and the fox is brought to light nearly dead. Reynard winks + and eyes me suspiciously, as I stroke his head and praise his heroic + defense; but the hunter quickly and mercifully puts an end to his + fast-ebbing life. His canine teeth seem unusually large and formidable, + and the dog bears the marks of them in many deep gashes upon his face and + nose. His pelt is quickly stripped off, revealing his lean, sinewy form. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The fox was not as poor in flesh as I expected to see him, though I'll + warrant he had tasted very little food for days, perhaps for weeks. How + his great activity and endurance can be kept up, on the spare diet he must + of necessity be confined to, is a mystery. Snow, snow everywhere, for + weeks and for months, and intense cold, and no henroost accessible, and no + carcass of sheep or pig in the neighborhood! The hunter, tramping miles + and leagues through his haunts, rarely sees any sign of his having caught + anything. Rarely, though, in the course of many winters, he may have seen + evidence of his having surprised a rabbit or a partridge in the woods. He + no doubt at this season lives largely upon the memory (or the fat) of the + many good dinners he had in the plentiful summer and fall. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + As we crossed the mountain on our return, we saw at one point blood-stains + upon the snow, and, as the fox-tracks were very thick on and about it, we + concluded that a couple of males had had an encounter there, and a pretty + sharp one. Reynard goes a-wooing in February, and it is to be presumed + that, like other dogs, he is a jealous lover. A crow had alighted and + examined the blood-stains, and now, if he will look a little farther + along, upon a flat rock he will find the flesh he was looking for. Our + hound's nose was so blunted now, speaking without metaphor, that he would + not look at another trail, but hurried home to rest upon his laurels. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <h3> + A POTOMAC SKETCH + </h3> + <p> + </p> + <p> + While on a visit to Washington in January, 1878, I went on an expedition + down the Potomac with a couple of friends to shoot ducks. We left on the + morning boat that makes daily trips to and from Mount Vernon. The weather + was chilly and the sky threatening. The clouds had a singular appearance; + they were boat-shaped, with well-defined keels. I have seldom known such + clouds to bring rain; they are simply the fleet of Æolus, and so it + proved on this occasion, for they gradually dispersed or faded out and + before noon the sun was shining. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + We saw numerous flocks of ducks on the passage down, and saw a gun (the + man was concealed) shoot some from a "blind" near Fort Washington. + Opposite Mount Vernon, on the flats, there was a large "bed" of ducks. I + thought the word a good one to describe a long strip of water thickly + planted with them. One of my friends was a member of the Washington and + Mount Vernon Ducking Club, which has its camp and fixtures just below the + Mount Vernon landing; he was an old ducker. For my part, I had never + killed a duck,—except with an axe,—nor have I yet. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + We made our way along the beach from the landing, over piles of driftwood, + and soon reached the quarters, a substantial building, fitted up with a + stove, bunks, chairs, a table, culinary utensils, crockery, etc., with one + corner piled full of decoys. There were boats to row in and boxes to shoot + from, and I felt sure we should have a pleasant time, whether we got any + ducks or not. The weather improved hourly, till in the afternoon a + well-defined installment of the Indian summer, that had been delayed + somewhere, settled down upon the scene; this lasted during our stay of two + days. The river was placid, even glassy, the air richly and deeply toned + with haze, and the sun that of the mellowest October. "The fairer the + weather, the fewer the ducks," said one of my companions. "But this is + better than ducks," I thought, and prayed that it might last. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Then there was something pleasing to the fancy in being so near to Mount + Vernon. It formed a-sort of rich, historic background to our flitting and + trivial experiences. Just where the eye of the great Captain would perhaps + first strike the water as he came out in the morning to take a turn up and + down his long piazza, the Club had formerly had a "blind," but the ice of + a few weeks before our visit had carried it away. A little lower down, and + in full view from his bedroom window, was the place where the shooting + from the boxes was usually done. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The duck is an early bird, and not much given to wandering about in the + afternoon; hence it was thought not worth while to put out the decoys till + the next morning. We would spend the afternoon roaming inland in quest of + quail, or rabbits, or turkeys (for a brood of the last were known to lurk + about the woods back there). It was a delightful afternoon's tramp through + oak woods, pine barrens, and half-wild fields. We flushed several quail + that the dog should have pointed, and put a rabbit to rout by a + well-directed broadside, but brought no game to camp. We kicked about an + old bushy clearing, where my friends had shot a wild turkey Thanksgiving + Day, but the turkey could not be started again. One shooting had sufficed + for it. We crossed or penetrated extensive pine woods that had once + (perhaps in Washington's time) been cultivated fields; the mark of the + plow was still clearly visible. The land had been thrown into ridges, + after the manner of English fields, eight or ten feet wide, with a deep + dead furrow between them for purposes of drainage. The pines were scrubby,—what + are known as the loblolly pines,—and from ten to twelve inches + through at the butt. In a low bottom, among some red cedars, I saw robins + and several hermit thrushes, besides the yellow-rumped warbler. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + That night, as the sun went down on the one hand, the full moon rose up on + the other, like the opposite side of an enormous scale. The river, too, + was presently brimming with the flood tide. It was so still one could have + carried a lighted candle from shore to shore. In a little skiff, we + floated and paddled up under the shadow of Mount Vernon and into the mouth + of a large creek that flanks it on the left. In the profound hush of + things, every sound on either shore was distinctly heard. A large bed of + ducks were feeding over on the Maryland side, a mile or more away, and the + multitudinous sputtering and shuffling of their bills in the water sounded + deceptively near. Silently we paddled in that direction. When about half a + mile from them, all sound of feeding suddenly ceased; then, after a time, + as we kept on, there was a great clamor of wings, and the whole bed + appeared to take flight. We paused and listened, and presently heard them + take to the water again, far below and beyond us. We loaded a boat with + the decoys that night, and in the morning, on the first sign of day, towed + a box out in position, and anchored it, and disposed the decoys about it. + Two hundred painted wooden ducks, each anchored by a small weight that was + attached by a cord to the breast, bowed and sidled and rode the water, and + did everything but feed, in a bed many yards long. The shooting-box is a + kind of coffin, in which the gunner is interred amid the decoys,—buried + below the surface of the water, and invisible, except from a point above + him. The box has broad canvas wings, that unfold and spread out upon the + surface of the water, four or five feet each way. These steady it, and + keep the ripples from running in when there is a breeze. Iron decoys sit + upon these wings and upon the edge of the box, and sink it to the required + level, so that, when everything is completed and the gunner is in + position, from a distance or from the shore one sees only a large bed of + ducks, with the line a little more pronounced in the centre, where the + sportsman lies entombed, to be quickly resurrected when the game appears. + He lies there stark and stiff upon his back, like a marble effigy upon a + tomb, his gun by his side, with barely room to straighten himself in, and + nothing to look at but the sky above him. His companions on shore keep a + lookout, and, when ducks are seen on the wing, cry out, "Mark, coming up," + or "Mark, coming down," or, "Mark, coming in," as the case may be. If they + decoy, the gunner presently hears the whistle of their wings, or maybe he + catches a glimpse of them over the rim of the box as they circle about. + Just as they let down their feet to alight, he is expected to spring up + and pour his broadside into them. A boat from shore comes and picks up the + game, if there is any to pick up. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The club-man, by common consent, was the first in the box that morning; + but only a few ducks were moving, and he had lain there an hour before we + marked a solitary bird approaching, and, after circling over the decoys, + alighting a little beyond them. The sportsman sprang up as from the bed of + the river, and the duck sprang up at the same time, and got away under + fire. After a while my other companion went out; but the ducks passed by + on the other side, and he had no shots. In the afternoon, remembering the + robins, and that robins are game when one's larder is low, I set out alone + for the pine bottoms, a mile or more distant. When one is loaded for + robins, he may expect to see turkeys, and VICE VERSA. As I was walking + carelessly on the borders of an old brambly field that stretched a long + distance beside the pine woods, I heard a noise in front of me, and, on + looking in that direction, saw a veritable turkey, with a spread tail, + leaping along at a rapid rate. She was so completely the image of the + barnyard fowl that I was slow to realize that here was the most notable + game of that part of Virginia, for the sight of which sportsmen's eyes do + water. As she was fairly on the wing, I sent my robin-shot after her; but + they made no impression, and I stood and watched with great interest her + long, level flight. As she neared the end of the clearing, she set her + wings and sailed straight into the corner of the woods. I found no robins, + but went back satisfied with having seen the turkey, and having had an + experience that I knew would stir up the envy and the disgust of my + companions. They listened with ill-concealed impatience, stamped the + ground a few times, uttered a vehement protest against the caprice of + fortune that always puts the game in the wrong place or the gun in the + wrong hands, and rushed off in quest of that turkey. She was not where + they looked, of course; and, on their return about sundown, when they had + ceased to think about their game, she flew out of the top of a pine-tree + not thirty rods from camp, and in full view of them, but too far off for a + shot. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + In my wanderings that afternoon, I came upon two negro shanties in a small + triangular clearing in the woods; no road but only a footpath led to them. + Three or four children, the eldest a girl of twelve, were about the door + of one of them. I approached and asked for a drink of water. The girl got + a glass and showed me to the spring near by. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "We's grandmover's daughter's chilern," she said, in reply to my inquiry. + Their mother worked in Washington for "eighteen cents a month," and their + grandmother took care of them. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Then I thought I would pump her about the natural history of the place. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "What was there in these woods,—what kind of animals,—any? " + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Oh, yes, sah, when we first come here to live in dese bottoms de possums + and foxes and things were so thick you could hardly go out- o'-doors." A + fox had come along one day right where her mother was washing, and they + used to catch the chickens "dreadful." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Were there any snakes?" + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Yes, sah; black snakes, moccasins, and doctors." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The doctor, she said, was a powerful ugly customer; it would get right + hold of your leg as you were passing along, and whip and sting you to + death. I hoped I should not meet any "doctors." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I asked her if they caught any rabbits. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Oh, yes, we catches dem in 'gums.' " + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "What are gums?" I asked. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "See dat down dare? Dat's a 'gum.' " + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I saw a rude box-trap made of rough boards. It seems these traps, and many + other things, such as beehives, and tubs, etc., are frequently made in the + South from a hollow gum-tree; hence the name gum has come to have a wide + application. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + The ducks flew quite briskly that night; I could hear the whistle of their + wings as I stood upon the shore indulging myself in listening. The ear + loves a good field as well as the eye, and the night is the best time to + listen, to put your ear to Nature's keyhole and see what the whisperings + and the preparations mean. + </p> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Dark night, that from the eye his + function takes, + The ear more quick of apprehension + makes," +</pre> + <p> + </p> + <p> + says Shakespeare. I overheard some muskrats engaged in a very gentle and + affectionate jabber beneath a rude pier of brush and earth upon which I + was standing. The old, old story was evidently being rehearsed under + there, but the occasional splashing of the ice-cold water made it seem + like very chilling business; still we all know it is not. Our decoys had + not been brought in, and I distinctly heard some ducks splash in among + them. The sound of oar-locks in the distance next caught my ears. They + were so far away that it took some time to decide whether or not they were + approaching. But they finally grew more distinct,—the steady, + measured beat of an oar in a wooden lock, a very pleasing sound coming + over still, moonlit waters. It was an hour before the boat emerged into + view and passed my post. A white, misty obscurity began to gather over the + waters, and in the morning this had grown to be a dense fog. By early dawn + one of my friends was again in the box, and presently his gun went bang! + bang! then bang! came again from the second gun he had taken with him, and + we imagined the water strewn with ducks. But he reported only one. It + floated to him and was picked up, so we need not go out. In the dimness + and silence we rowed up and down the shore in hopes of starting up a stray + duck that might possibly decoy. We saw many objects that simulated ducks + pretty well through the obscurity, but they failed to take wing on our + approach. The most pleasing thing we saw was a large, rude boat, propelled + by four colored oarsmen. It looked as if it might have come out of some + old picture. Two oarsmen were seated in the bows, pulling, and two stood + up in the stern, facing their companions, each working a long oar, bending + and recovering and uttering a low, wild chant. The spectacle emerged from + the fog on the one hand and plunged into it on the other. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Later in the morning, we were attracted by another craft. We heard it + coming down upon us long before it emerged into view. It made a sound as + of some unwieldy creature slowly pawing the water, and when it became + visible through the fog the sight did not belie the ear. We beheld an + awkward black hulk that looked as if it might have been made out of the + bones of the first steamboat, or was it some Virginia colored man's study + of that craft? Its wheels consisted each of two timbers crossing each + other at right angles. As the shaft slowly turned, these timbers pawed and + pawed the water. It hove to on the flats near our quarters, and a colored + man came off in a boat. To our inquiry, he said with a grin that his craft + was a "floating saw-mill." + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + After a while I took my turn in the box, and, with a life-preserver for a + pillow, lay there on my back, pressed down between the narrow sides, the + muzzle of my gun resting upon my toe and its stock upon my stomach, + waiting for the silly ducks to come. I was rather in hopes they would not + come, for I felt pretty certain that I could not get up promptly in such + narrow quarters and deliver my shot with any precision. As nothing could + be seen, and as it was very still, it was a good time to listen again. I + was virtually under water, and in a good medium for the transmission of + sounds. The barking of dogs on the Maryland shore was quite audible, and I + heard with great distinctness a Maryland lass call some one to breakfast. + They were astir up at Mount Vernon, too, though the fog hid them from + view. I heard the mocking or Carolina wren alongshore calling quite + plainly the words a Georgetown poet has put in his mouth,—"Sweetheart, + sweetheart, sweet!" Presently I heard the whistle of approaching wings, + and a solitary duck alighted back of me over my right shoulder,—just + the most awkward position for me she could have assumed. I raised my head + a little, and skimmed the water with my eye. The duck was swimming about + just beyond the decoys, apparently apprehensive that she was intruding + upon the society of her betters. She would approach a little, and then, as + the stiff, aristocratic decoys made no sign of welcome or recognition, she + would sidle off again. "Who are they, that they should hold themselves so + loftily and never condescend to notice a forlorn duck?" I imagined her + saying. Should I spring up and show my hand and demand her surrender? It + was clearly my duty to do so. I wondered if the boys were looking from + shore, for the fog had lifted a little. But I must act, or the duck would + be off. I began to turn slowly in my sepulchre and to gather up my + benumbed limbs; I then made a rush and got up, and had a fairly good shot + as the duck flew across my bows, but I failed to stop her. A man in the + woods in the line of my shot cried out angrily, "Stop shooting this way!" + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + I lay down again and faced the sun, that had now burned its way through + the fog, till I was nearly blind, but no more ducks decoyed, and I called + out to be relieved. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + With our one duck, but with many pleasant remembrances, we returned to + Washington that afternoon. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <p> + </p> + <h2> + INDEX + </h2> + <p> + </p> + <p> + ABUTILON, or velvet-leaf. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Ailanthus. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Alder, white. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Amaranth, 215. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Arbutus, trailing, or mayflower. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Arethusa. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Arkville. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Arnold, George. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Ash. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Asters. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Azalea, pink, or pinxter-flower. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Azalea, smooth. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Azalea, white. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Azalea, yellow. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Ball, an inexpensive. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bark-a-boom. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Baxter's Brook. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bay, sweet. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bear, black, attacked with a club. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bear-weed. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Beattie, James, quotation from. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Beaver, 173. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bee. See Bumblebee, Honey-bee, and Sweat-bee. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bee, solitary. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Beech. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Berries. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bidens, or two-teeth, or pitchforks. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Big Beaver Kill. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Big Mountain. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bindweed, black. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Birch, yellow. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Birds, singing at night; morning awakening of; individuality in the songs + of; in poetry; process of hatching; leaving the nest; arrival in spring; + love-making among; war among; their departure in the fall; a good season + for; songs of, in America and in England. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Birds of prey, their flight when laden. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Blackbird, cow, or cowbird (MOLOTHRUS ATER). + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Blackbird, crow, or purple grackle (QUISCALUS QUISCULA). + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Blackbird, European, in poetry; his resemblance to the American robin; + notes of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Blackbird, red-winged. See Starling, red-shouldered. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Blackbird, rusty. See Grackle, rusty. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bladderwort, horned. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bluebird (SIALIA SIALIS), in poetry; notes of; nest of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Blue-weed, or viper's bugloss; travels of; description of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Boat, a picturesque. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bobolink (DOLICHONYX ORYZIVORUS; as a wooer; notes of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bob-white. See Quail. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bouncing Bet, or saponaria. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Boys. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bryant, William Cullen; as a poet of nature; quotations from. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Buckwheat, wild. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bugloss. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bugloss, viper's. See Blue-weed. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bullfrog. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bumblebee; nest of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bunting, English. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bunting, indigo. See Indigo-bird. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Bunting, snow, or snowflake (PASSERINA NIVALIS). + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Burdock. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Burns, Robert, quotation from. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Butt End. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Buttercup. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Caledonia springs. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Calopogon. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Camping; in the rain. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Campion, bladder. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Cardinal (CARDINALIS CARDINALIS); notes of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Cardinal flower. See Lobelia, scarlet. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Carrot, wild. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Catbird (GALEOSCOPTES CAROLINENSIS), in poetry; notes of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Catnip. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Catskill Mountains. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Cattle, crossing a river; as eaters of weeds. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Cedar-bird, or cedar waxwing (AMPELIS CEDRORUM. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Chamomile. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Chewink, or towhee (PIPILO ERYTHROPHTHALMUS). + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Chickadee (PARUS ATRICAPILLUS); nest of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Chickweed; at the antipodes. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Chicory, or succory; in poetry. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Chipmunk. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Chippie. See Sparrow. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Chough. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Cicada, or harvest-fly. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Claytonia, or spring beauty. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Clematis, wild. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Clouds, boat-shaped. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Clover. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Clover, white. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Cochecton Falls. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Cockle. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Colchester. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, quotation from. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Coltsfoot. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Coltsfoot, sweet. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Columbine. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Companions, outdoor. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Cone-flower. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Coon. See Raccoon. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Cormorant. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Corn, Indian. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Cowbird. See Blackbird, cow. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Cows. See Cattle. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Cowslip. See Marigold, marsh. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Cowslip, English. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Creeper, brown (CERTHIA FAMILIARIS AMERICANA), nest of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Crickets. See Tree-crickets. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Crow American (CORVUS BRACHYRHYNCHOS), gait of; notes of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Cuckoo (COCCYZUS sp.), heard at night; habits of; in poetry; notes of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Cuckoo, European. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Cuckoo-buds. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Cuckoo-flower. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Cuckoo-pint. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Cypripedium. See Lady's-slipper. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Daffodil. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Daisy, English. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Daisy, ox-eye. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Dandelion. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Darnel. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Day, a white. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Dead-nettle. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Delaware River, Pepacton branch of. See Pepacton River. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Dentaria. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Deposit. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Dicentra, or squirrel corn. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Dock, curled-leaf. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Dock, yellow. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Doctor, the (a snake). + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Dog, Cuff and the woodchucks. See Greyhound and Hound. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Dog, farm, hound and. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Dogbane. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Dove, mourning (ZENAIDURA MACROURA). + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Doves. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Downsville. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Dry Brook. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Ducks, feeding. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Duck-shooting on the Potomac. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Eagle, chased by a kingbird; flight of an. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + East Branch. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Elecampane. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Emerson, Ralph Waldo, quotations from; his knowledge of nature. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + England, bird-songs in; pedestrianism in; the footpaths of; the highways + of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Esopus. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Eupatorium, purple. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Falcon, haggard. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Finch, purple (CARPODACUS PURPUREUS; notes of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Fisherman, an ancient. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Fishes, spring movements of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Fleabane, or whiteweed. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Flicker. See High-hole. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Flowers, wild, in poetry; fragrant. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Footpaths, lack of, in America; English; a schoolboy's footpath. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Forenoon, as distinguished from morning. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Fort Washington. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Fox, red, and hound,; hunting a; favorite sleeping places of; hard fare in + winter; an encounter between rivals. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Fringed-orchis, purple. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Frog. See Bullfrog. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Frog, clucking. See Wood-frog. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Frog, peeping. See Hyla, Pickering's. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Garlic. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Gentian, closed. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Gentian, fringed, 63; Bryant's poem on. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Gill. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Girls. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Goethe. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Goldenrod. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Goldfinch, American (ASTRAGALINUS TRISTIS; pairing habits of; notes of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Goose-foot. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Grackle, purple. See Blackbird, crow. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Grackle, rusty, or rusty blackbird (EUPHAGUS CAROLINUS), notes of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Grass, the natural covering of the fields. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Grass, harvest. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Grass, quack. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Grass, quitch. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Green Cove Spring. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Greyhound. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Ground-nut. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Grouse, ruffed, or partridge (BONASA UMBELLUS), in poetry; drumming of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + "Gums,". + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Gum-tree. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Haggard. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hancock. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hare, northern. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hares. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Harrisonburg, Va. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Harvard. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Harvest-fly. See Cicada. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hawk, in poetry, 116. See Hen-hawk. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hawkfish. See Osprey, American. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hawk's Point. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hedgehog. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hedge-sparrow. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hemlock, poison. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Henbane. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hen-hawk. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hepatica, or liver-leaf; the first spring flower; an intermittently + fragrant flower. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hercules. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Heron. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Heron, great blue (ARDEA HERODIAS; notes of, 24, 28. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + High-hole, or golden-winged woodpecker, or flicker (COLAPTES AURATUS + LUTEUS; notes of; nest of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Highlands of the Hudson, the. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Holywell. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Honey, flowers which yield. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Honey-bee, a product of civilization; wandering habits of; hunting wild + bees; method of handling; as robbers; enemies of; Virgil on. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Honeysuckle. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hooker, Sir Joseph. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hop-clover. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hornet, black. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hornet, sand. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hound, fox and. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hound's-tongue. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Housatonic River. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Houstonia, or innocence. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Humble-bee. See Bumblebee. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Humming-bird, ruby-throated (TROCHILUS COLUBRIS), in poetry; nest of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hunt, Helen, quotation from. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hyacinth, wild. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hyla, Pickering's, or peeping frog; arboreal life of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Hylas, the story of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Indigo-bird or indigo bunting (CYANOSPIZA CYANEA; notes of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Innocence. See Houstonia. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Insects, nocturnal. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Iron-weed. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Ivy. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Ivy, poison. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Jack, catching. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Jay, blue (CYANOCITTA CRISTATA; notes of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Jewel-weed. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Junco, slate-colored. See Snowbird. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Katydids. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Kingbird (TYRANNUS TYRANNUS), chasing an eagle; as a bee-eater; notes of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Kingfisher, belted (CERYLE ALCYON. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Knapp, Hon. Charles. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Knot-grass. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Lady's-slipper, large yellow. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Lady's-slipper, purple. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Lady's-slipper, small yellow. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Lady's tresses. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Lake Oquaga. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Lamprey. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Lapwing. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Lark. See Skylark. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Lark, shore or horned (OTOCORIS ALPESTRIS and O. A. PRATICOLA) and note. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Larkspur. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Laurel, mountain. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Leeks. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Lettuce, wild, 230, inden. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Linnæa. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Live-forever. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Liver-leaf. See Hepatica. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Lobelia, great blue. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Lobelia, scarlet, or cardinal flower. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Locust-tree. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, his inaccuracy in dealing with nature; + quotations from. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Loosestrife. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Loosestrife, hairy. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Loosestrife, spiked, travels of; description of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Lowell, James Russell, quotations from; his fidelity to nature. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Mallow. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Mandrake. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Maple, sugar; fragrance of its blossoms. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Marigold, marsh. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Martin, purple (PROGNE SUBIS). + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Masque of the Poets, A, quotation from. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Mayflower. See Arbutus, trailing. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Mayweed. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Meadowlark (STURNELLA MAGNA); notes of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Merganser, hooded (LOPHODYTES CUCULLATUS), with a brood of young. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Mice. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Milkweed. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Mink. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Mitchella vine, or squaw-berry, or partridge-berry. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Moccasin. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Mockingbird (MIMUS POLYGLOTTOS), in poetry. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Morning and forenoon, distinction between. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Motherwort. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Mount Vernon. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Mouse, field. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Mouse, white-footed, 169; tracks of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Mullein; habits of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Mullein, moth. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Mullein, white. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Musconetcong Creek. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Muskrat; a weatherwise animal; active in winter; nests of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Mustard, wild. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Nature, the poets' intuitive knowledge of; Emerson's knowledge of; + Bryant's knowledge of; Longfellow's inaccuracy in dealing with; Whittier's + treatment of; Lowell's fidelity to Tennyson's accurate observations of; + Walt Whitman a close student of; the poetic interpretation of; the + scientific interpretation of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Negro girl, a conversation with a. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Nettle. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Nettle, blind. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Nettle, hemp. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Nighthawk (CHORDEILES VIRGINIANUS. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Nightshade. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Note in the woods, a new. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Oak, white. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Onion, wild. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Opossum. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Orchids, American flora rich in. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Orchis, fringed. See Fringed-orchis. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Orchis, showy. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Oriole, Baltimore (ICTERUS GALBULA); as a fruit-destroyer; notes of; nest + of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Orpine, garden. See Live-forever. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Orpines, native. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Osprey, American, or fish hawk (PANDION HALIAËTUS CAROLINENSIS), feeding + on the wing. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Otter. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Oven-bird (SEIURUS AUROCAPILLUS); song of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Owl, screech (MEGASCOPS ASIO), and shrike. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Oxlip. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Pain, in relation to the nervous system. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Parsnip, wild. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Partridge. See Grouse, ruffed. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Partridge-berry. See Mitchella vine. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Partridge Island. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Pepacton River; a voyage down. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Pewee, wood (CONTOPUS VIRENS), Trowbridge's poem on. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + PhÂœbe-bird (SAYORNIS PHÂŒBE); notes of; nest of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Pigeon, passenger (ECTOPISTES MIGRATORIUS). + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Pigeons. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Pigweed. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Pine, loblolly, 247. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Pinxter-flower. See Azalea, pink. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Pipit, American. See Titlark. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Pitchforks. See Biclens. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Plantain. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Plantain, narrow-leaved. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Pliny, his account of an intermittent spring. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Poets, their intuitive knowledge of nature; inaccuracies and felicities in + matters of natural history; their interpretation of nature. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Pogonia, adder's-tongue. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Pokeweed. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Polygala, fringed. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Pond-lily, or sweet-scented water lily. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Pond-lily, yellow. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Poppy, scarlet field. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Porcupine, Canadian. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Potomac River, duck-shooting on. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Primrose, in poetry. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Primrose, evening. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Prince's pine. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Purslane. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Pyrola. See Wintergreen, false. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Quail, or bob-white (COLINUS VIRGINIANUS. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Rabbit, gray. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Rabbits. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Raccoon, or coon. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Radish, wild. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Rafting on the Delaware. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Ragweed; a troublesome weed. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Rain, arboreal; summer. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Raspberry. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Rat, wood. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Redbird. See Cardinal. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Redpoll (ACANTHIS LINARIA), notes; of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Red-root. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Rhododendron. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + River, a voyage down a; loneliness of the. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Roads, in England and America. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Robin, American (MERULA MIGRATORIA); in poetry; in love and war; notes of; + nest of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Rondout Creek. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Roots, like molten metal. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + St. John's-wort. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Salamander, banded. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Salamander, red. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Salamander, violet-colored or spotted. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + San Antonio, Texas. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Saponaria. See Bouncing Bet. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Sapsucker, yellow-bellied. See-Woodpecker, yellow-bellied. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Sawmill, a floating. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Scott, Sir Walter. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <h3> + SEDUM TELEPHIOIDES. + </h3> + <p> + </p> + <h3> + SEDUM TERNATUM. + </h3> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Shagbark. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Shairp, John Campbell, his POETIC INTERPRETATION OF NATURE. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Shakespeare, quotations from; his accuracy in observation. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Shavertown. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Shawangunk Mountains. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Shepherd's purse. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Shrew. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Shrike. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Skunk. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Skunk-cabbage. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Skylark; on the Hudson; song of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Snail. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Snake. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Snake, black. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Snow, a landscape of; in the woods. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Snowbird, slate-colored, or slate-colored junco (JUNCO HYEMALIS), in + poetry; notes of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Snowflake. See Bunting, snow. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Sodom. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Sorrel, sheep. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Sparrow, bush or Held (SPIZELLA PUSILLA. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Sparrow, English (PASSER DOMESTICUS), manner of courtship. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Sparrow, social or chipping, or "chippie" (SPIZELLA SOCIALIS). + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Sparrow, song (MELOSPIZA CINEREA MELODIA); notes of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Sparrow, vesper (POÂŒCETES GRAMINEUS), rejecting the attentions of a + skylark. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Specularia, clasping. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Spider, killing a bee; a musical. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Spring, sudden coming of, 160-168. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Spring beauty. See Claytonia. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Springs, paths leading to; their universal attractiveness; centres of + greenness; symbolism of; locations of; fondness of trout for; physiology + of; their mineral elements; large; as refrigerators; countries poor in; on + mountains; places of worship; various kinds of; marvelous; intermittent; + in the Idyls of Theocritus. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Squaw-berry. See Mitchella vine. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Squirrel, flying. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Squirrel, gray. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Squirrel, Mexican black. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Squirrel, red. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Squirrel corn. See Dicentra. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Squirrels, as parachutes. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Star, shooting. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Starling, red-shouldered, or red winged blackbird, notes of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Stedman, Edmund Clarence, his SEEKING THE MAYFLOWER. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Stevenson, Robert Louis, his TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Stick-seed. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Stones, life under. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Stramonium. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Strawberries, wild. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Succory. See Chicory. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Sumac. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Swallow, bank (RIPARIA RIPARIA). + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Swallow, barn (HIRUNDO ERYTHROGASTRA); nest of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Swallow, chimney, or chimney swift (CHÆTURA PELAGICA), nest of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Swallow, cliff (PETROCHELIDON LUNIFRONS), in poetry; nest of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Swallow, European. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Swallows, in poetry. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Sweat-bee. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Tails, uses of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Tansy. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Tare. See Vetch. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Teasle. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Tennyson, Alfred, quotations from; a good observer. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Theocritus, quotation from. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Thistle, Canada. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Thistle, common. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Thistle, pasture. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Thistle, swamp. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Thomson, James, quotation from. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Thrasher, brown (TOXOSTOMA RUFUM), song of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Thrush, hermit (HYLOCICHLA GUTTATA PALLASII), in poetry; notes of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Thrush, wood (HYLOCICHLA MUSTELINA), notes of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Titlark, or American pipit (ANTHUS PENSILVANICUS). + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Toad. See Tree-toad. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Toad-flax. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Tobacco. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Tortoise. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Towhee. See Chewink. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Tree-crickets. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Tree-toad. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Trout, brook, their fondness for springs; caught with tickling. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Trout-fishing. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Trowbridge, John T., his natural history; quotations from. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Turkey, wild (MELEAGRIS GALLOPAVO SILVESTRIS). + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Turtle. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Turtle-head. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Twin-flower. See Linnæa. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Two-teeth. See Bidens. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Velvet-leaf. See Abutilon. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Venus's looking-glass. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Vervain. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Vetch, or tare. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Violet, in poetry. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Violet, Canada; its fragrance. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Violet, common blue. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Violet, English. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Violet, white. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Violet, yellow. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Vireo, in poetry. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Virgil, on honey-bees; quotations from. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Walking, in England; a simple and natural pastime. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Warbler, yellow-rumped, or myrtle (DENDROICA CORONATA). + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Wasp, sand. See Hornet, sand. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Water-lily. See Pond-lily. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Waxwing, cedar. See Cedar-bird. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Weasel. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Weebutook River. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Weeds; their devotion to man; the gardener and the farmer the best friends + of; Nature's makeshift; great travelers; their abundance in America; + native and foreign; the growth of; escaped from cultivation; beautiful; + uses of various; less persistent and universal than grass; virtues of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Well of St. Winifred. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Wheat, winter. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Whip-poor-will (ANTROSTOMUS VOCIFERUS), song of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Whiteweed. See Fleabane. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Whitman, Walt, a close student of American nature; quotations from. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Whittier, John Greenleaf, as a poet of nature; quotations from. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Winchester, Va. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Wintergreen, false, or pyrola. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Wintergreen, spotted. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Witch-hazel, 101. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Woodchuck. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Wood-frog. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Woodpecker, in poetry. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Woodpecker, downy (DRYOBATES PUBESCENS MEDIANUS). + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Woodpecker, golden-winged. See High-hole. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Woodpecker, yellow-bellied, or yellow-bellied sapsucker (SPHYRAPICIUS + VARIUS), drumming of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Wood-pigeons. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Wood-sorrel, common. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Wood-sorrel, yellow. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Wordsworth, William, quotations from. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Wren, Carolina (THRYOTHORUS LUDOVICIANUS), notes of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Wren, house (TROGLODYTES AËDON), notes of; nest of. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Yarrow. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Yellow-jacket. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <p> + Yew, American. + </p> + <p> + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <p> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE WRITINGS OF JOHN BURROUGHS *** + +This file should be named 7441-h.htm or 7441-h.zip + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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