A YEAR IN THE FIELDS 



see. The fox-hunter knows pretty well the 

 ways and habits of the fox, but on any 

 other subject he is apt to mislead you. He 

 comes to see only fox traits in whatever he 

 looks upon. The bee-hunter will follow the 

 bee, but lose the bird. The farmer notes 

 what affects his crops and his earnings, and 

 little else. Common people, St. Pierre says, 

 observe without reasoning, and the learned 

 reason without observing. If one could 

 apply to the observation of nature the sense 

 and skill of the South American rastreador, 

 or trailer, how much he would track home ! 

 This man's eye, according to the accounts 

 of travelers, is keener than a hound's scent. 

 A fugitive can no more elude him than he 

 can elude fate. His perceptions are said to 

 be so keen that the displacement of a leaf 

 or pebble, or the bending down of a spear 

 of grass, or the removal of a little dust from 

 the fence are enough to give him the clew. 

 He sees the half-obliterated footprints of a 

 thief in the sand, and carries the impression 

 in his eye till a year afterward, when he 

 again detects the same footprint in the sub- 

 urbs of a city, and the culprit is tracked 

 home and caught. I knew a man blind 

 from his youth who not only went about his 

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