280 FROM A NEW ENGLAND HILLSIDE. 



manner most natural to him. Taking him 

 up in my hand, I conveyed him into the 

 yard, and put him down near the others, 

 and after a few minutes of amaze and un 

 certainty he joined them in their busy 

 investigation into the nature and character 

 of the soil. 



I was especially interested to note an 

 exhibition of inherited, or so-called intuitive 

 knowledge. One of the hens in the ad 

 joining yard having given utterance to the 

 familiar note of alarm and warning, the 

 whole flock immediately huddled together 

 at the mouth of the tunnel. And this 

 reminds me of an incident that occurred 

 a day or two since, which both interested 

 and pleased me. A chicken several weeks 

 old, and rather too large to get easily 

 through the meshes of the wire netting, 

 found itself within an inclosure where it 

 was not intended to be, and tried in vain, 

 with much vociferation, to get out. Seeing 

 its difficulty, 1 went to its rescue, which I 

 could only effect by catching it. This I did 

 with some difficulty. While I was attempt 

 ing to do this, its outcries were naturally 

 redoubled, and that which especially pleased 

 me was the fact that the whole flock of 

 Plymouth Hocks on the other side of the 



