LIFE IN THE WOODS 



I find that my note-book is filled with notes 

 on flowers and other things besides birds. 

 Early in the spring, or at other times, when 

 the frost was coming out of the ground, I 

 noticed that the stones, or small rocks, in the 

 grassy highway did not fit their beds. There 

 would be a space around each stone ; the width 

 of the space would be gauged by the shape 

 of the stone. If the stone was conical, the 

 space would be quite noticeable. If round, 

 the space was much smaller. I suppose the 

 cause was expansion, owing to the freezing 

 of the ground. It was the water in the 

 ground that expanded, carrying the dirt and 

 rocks with it. Under the influence of a thaw, 

 the rocks dropped back to their beds, leaving 

 a space because the part of the rock above the 

 ground is almost always smaller than the 

 part underground. That is, a rock stands 

 on its base and not on its apex. 



Another thing that has puzzled me is the 

 behavior of dead pine-limbs. One would sup- 

 pose a dead limb ought to remain decently 

 quiet and not move about like some living 

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