the top of the tall maple, or the crow with his hardy haw-haw, or
the pedestrain meadowlark 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.




II 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 mosquito 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 flesh, or on grubs and beetles, or fruit and
grain, that do not need to be approached stealthily. The big fish
love to cat up the little fish, and the little fish know it, and,
on the very day they are hatched, seek shallow water, and put
little sandbars between themselves and their too loving parents.