66 66 he says this to the ear of common folk, what would he not say to the poet? One of the pewees says "stay there!" with great emphasis. The cardinal grossbeak calls out "what cheer," "what cheer;" the bluebird says "purity," "purity," "purity; the brown-thrasher, or ferruginous thrush, according to Thoreau, calls out to the farmer planting his corn, "drop it," "drop it," cover it up," cover it up." The yellow-breasted chat says "who," "who," and "tea-boy." What the robin says, caroling that simple strain from the top of the tall maple, or the crow with his hardy haw-haw, or the pedestrian meadow-lark sounding his piercing and long-drawn note in the spring meadows, the poets ought to be able to tell us. I only know the birds all have a language which is very expressive, and which is easily translatable into the human tongue. TOUCHES OF NATURE. I. WHEREVER Nature has commissioned one creature to prey upon another, she has preserved the balance by forewarning that other creature of what she has done. Nature says to the cat, "Catch the mouse," and she equips her for that purpose; but on the selfsame day she says to the mouse, "Be wary—the cat is watching for you." Nature takes care that none of her creatures have smooth sailing, the whole voyage at least. Why has she not made the musquito noiseless and its bite itchless? Simply because in that case the odds would be too greatly in its favor. She has taken especial pains to enable the owl to fly softly and silently, because the creatures it preys upon are small and wary, and never venture far from their holes. She has not shown the same caution in the case of the crow, because the crow feeds on dead fleshor on grubs and beetles, or fruit and grain, that do not need to be approached stealthily. The big fish love to eat up the little fish, and the little fish know it, and on the very day they are hatched seek shallow |