204 IRature Studies in Berkshire. 



him, he floundered into the air again and was soon 

 sailing calmly to some quieter retreat. A few days 

 later he reappeared with a mate ; but this time did 

 not deign to alight, ignoring our attractive marsh, 

 possibly on account of its remembered publicity. 



But the chief lion in our bird community, if one 

 may be pardoned for putting it thus, is an eagle. 

 He is a splendid fellow, and it is the episode of a day 

 when he appears in the sky spaces, soaring with that 

 stately ease which so mocks our human resources of 

 motion, or rushing forward upon his way. He seems 

 to have learned the immunity he enjoys under the 

 laws of the State ; for he is a fearless creature, so far 

 as man is in question, and permits his human ad- 

 mirers to come within easy speaking distance of him 

 when he is resting upon some favourite perch. How 

 the smaller creatures regard his presence I am not 

 prepared to say, nor whether the king-bird who 

 bullies the crows and the hawks, ever ventures to 

 chase an eagle ! But for those of us who have no- 

 thing to fear from him he is one of the joys of life 

 upon this water-margin. 



The lake has fallen a little from its high-water 

 level, and there are rusty patches on the wooded 

 hillsides which suggest the waning of the summer. 

 The lake and its verdant setting will soon be entering 

 upon another phase of their life. The bullfrog seldom 

 sings any more to his lady love ; but the katydid 

 sharply reiterates at night his absurd insistence " she 

 did," " she did." By these and other infallible signs 



