466 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



mals, as mice and shrews, and birds, like sparrows, but ordi- 

 narily these same creatures drink much oftener than once a day. 

 But this briefly moist condition of the dawn and early morn- 

 ing hours was not of itself sufficient to keep the wide range of 

 animal life in health or comfort, and the result was a migratory 

 movement from the drier uplands to the moister meadows ; a 

 noticeable depletion of the fields and overcrowding of the marshes. 

 This was not suddenly brought about, but rather gradual, and 

 would not probably have been noticed except by one daily upon 

 the scene. The parched vegetation had, of course, its effect upon 

 seed-eating birds, but probably a more marked one upon insect 

 life. Certainly the insect-eating birds left their old haunts to a 

 great extent and were found in unusual abundance along the two 

 creeks that divide the meadows into three great tracts ; and it was 

 noticeable during the evening that bats and night hawks were 

 more abundant over the meadows than the fields. Mice and hares 

 certainly were unusually scarce in the uplands. Here, it should 

 be remembered, no observations were practicable that gave posi- 

 tive results. No census could be taken of the life in the two locali- 

 ties, and every statement is one of general impressions gained by 

 almost daily visits to the more important points. One unques- 

 tionable fact was ascertained : there was an unusual abundance 

 of life of every kind in the lowlands, and a quiet, desolate condi- 

 tion of the fields above, wholly different from what obtains in 

 ordinary summers. As the weeks rolled by, the smaller meadow 

 streams failed entirely, and hundreds of acres of land, usually more 

 or less wet the year through, became as dry, parched, and desert- 

 like as the sandiest field in the higher ground. Aquatic and semi- 

 aquatic plants withered and died. The rose mallow failed to bloom, 

 arrow-leaf wilted, and the pickerel weeds were soon as brown 

 as sedges. This condition necessitated a second migratory move- 

 ment of many forms of life, but was fatal to others. Such crea- 

 tures as took refuge in pools found when too late their means of 

 escape cut off and perished. Small minnows, young salamanders, 

 and even aquatic insects gradually succumbed, and their dried re- 

 mains were found resting upon the parched mud which became 

 quite hard, sustaining an ordinary foot-press without retaining 

 any mark thereof. Lifting the mummified remains from their 

 resting place, there were found impressions of each, distinct in al- 

 most every feature. It was instructive as showing how fossils are 

 formed, and further so, in indicating how animals not associated 

 in life become accumulated in small areas. In one such dried-up 

 pool I found a mouse, a star-nosed mole, and remains of many 

 earthworms, as well as fish, batrachians, and insects. Just why 

 the mouse and mole should have remained there and died can 

 only be surmised. But, to return to the uplands : a more striking 



