THE RENAISSANCE. 75 



and with rather nervous flight. Now and then 

 its discordant mewing came to our ears on the 

 wings of the wind. 



In the orchards bluebirds were singing. We 

 heard at least ten. They seemed to say, "Cher- 

 u-it, cher-u-it" 'and to mean by it something 

 very pure and endearing. The lane led into 

 a wooded meadow, crossed by several brooks, 

 which we examined with intei'est for signs of 

 water life. Within half a mile we found one 

 painted turtle (chrysemys picta) and eighteen 

 speckled tortoises (nanemys guttatus). Some 

 seemed rather feeble, though full of enjoyment 

 of the warm sunshine. One of the number 

 had come to an early, sad, and to us mysterious 

 end. We found his empty shell picked clean 

 of all soft portions except the tail and a bit of 

 skin which adhered to it. The shell was un- 

 scarred. Neither of us could imagine what 

 beast or bird could have slain him. The 

 crime had been committed only a few hours 

 before, for the shell was still moist. In the 

 mud on the side of the brook we found an 

 unfamiliar track. Two five-clawed feet, making 

 a track as broad as the length of the first joint 

 of a man's thumb, had been planted side by 

 side, while several inches in front of them two 

 smaller feet had made two prints, one of which 

 was exactly in front of the other. My friend 



