132 BOULDER REVERIES. 



advancement was slow, very slow. When, by 

 degrees, he gained a notch, so that all his time 

 was not necessary to provide food for himself, 

 or for self, mate and offspring, he had leisure 

 to think of other things; to devise new wants, 

 to create new artificial desires. Is he now hap- 

 pier, more content, than in those old days when 

 the search for food and a mate was his only aim 

 in life ? 



XXX. 



Aug. 28, '04- The glamour of a perfect Au- 

 gust day once more enthralls me. A tempera- 

 ture just to my liking a dome of cloudless blue 

 above me a carpet of velvety green beneath my 

 feet what more could I ask ? 



I have watched for twenty minutes the fly- 

 catching movements of a red-headed woodpecker 

 in the valley below. From the center of each of 

 the crowns of two mighty white oaks, which 

 stand about seventy feet apart, extends a dead 

 branch, bare of leaves and twigs. On the tip of 

 one of these bare branches or aeries the bird 

 rests and watches. Suddenly he gives a swoop, 

 far out, up or down, as occasion requires, nabs 



