64 BOULDER REVERIES. 



the air. She takes wing as she rises, and with 

 slow ungainly flight mounts higher and higher 

 to the limb on which her future mate is waiting. 



Myriads of the husks or old coats of these 

 locusts are on the leaves and branches of the 

 shrubs in this woods-pasture, or on the boles of 

 the rougher barked trees, especially those of elm 

 and maple. On one bole I counted 142 within 

 15 feet of the ground. On some trees I can see 

 them 30 feet above the ground, especially on 

 the sides of the larger limbs, three or four feet 

 out from the main trunk of the tree. About 

 one in every 20 seems to have died while trying 

 to shed its coat, and I find them dead or dying 

 while half-way out. 



On the way hither a number of hens and 

 ducks were noted in the midst of the woods, far 

 away from their accustomed haunts; there at- 

 tracted no doubt by the abundance of fat, juicy 

 locusts, many of which are still emerging from 

 the ground, though the majority have, e'er this, 

 come forth. The fowls doubtless wonder at the 

 new dish which nature has prepared for their 



