CHAPTER V. 



BROOK LIFE. 



N a deep ravine, where a hill stream 

 tumbles down a stairway of rocks, is 

 one of our favorite resorts on Satur- 

 days. A dense forest growth covers 

 the sides of the ravine, and shuts out 

 all the world besides ; but at midday, 

 when the sun shines brightly, the light 

 streams down through the narrow 

 opening above the creek. This is the 

 time to watch the ways of the crea- 

 tures clinging to the rocks in the 

 rapids, or living in the quiet pools below. Many a 

 holiday have we waded up this stream, bottles and 

 lens in hand, coaxing Nature to yield up some of her 

 secrets. 



Here we have watched the caddice-worms drag 

 their log houses over the bottoms of the pools ; here 

 the brinks of the falls bear great patches of a living 

 carpet of wriggling black-f]}^ larvas ; and here we 

 discovered how the net-winged midges leave the 

 water, unfold their wings, and take flight. It is a 

 rich collecting field ; the cool, pure water of the 

 brook and the rush of the torrents affording a home 



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