274 NATURE SKETCHES IN TEMPERATE AMERICA 



Meadow Echoes 



I'TER the night's shower, wliat a freshness 

 comes over the uncultivated meadow I It 

 is the time of year in cavW July when all 

 J nature is puttin<^ forAard her greatest 

 / ■Lj aiij i'lrts. The grasses and other flowering plants 



^■jr are of sufficient growth to afford protection to the 

 ^ young locusts and the grasshoppers now so plentiful; 

 also allowing the small garter snakes to easily escape unob- 

 served. The rasping call note of the meadow lark, constantly 

 repeated, hints of bird nesting, while every now and then 

 moths fly up disturbetl at our tramping footsteps. The 

 black-eyed susans are gathered in clusters, which, viewed at 

 a distance, appear as if the ground had been splashed here and 

 there with yellow amid the verdant green. 



If one comes cautiously upon the black-eyed susan, he may 

 see a little frecpienter of its blossoms, but one has to be very (piiet 

 in making its acquaintance. As soon as this small striped 

 beetle is aware of danger, it takes a headlong tumble into the 

 grasses below, in this way concealing itself from its enemies. 

 I have endeavored in the illustration of the black-eyed susan 



