UNDER A GREENWOOD-TREE 



trees to climb and forage on. Blackbirds are 

 sometimes seen in flocks, the redwinged and 

 the crow-blackbirds going together. They go 

 into the edges of the woods, and sometimes, 

 where hard maples form a grove, they will 

 fly in and chatter until something scares them 

 away. The cuckoo, or " rain-crow/' as he is 

 sometimes termed, haunts thickety portions of 

 the woods, the undergrowth that stands along 

 some portions of the forest. He will not fly 

 at the approach of an idler, but will wait on 

 a fence-post or twig and eye the intruder 

 fearlessly. 



Blackberry vines and ferns are scattered 

 all through the timber, and splotches of moss 

 girdle the bottoms of tree-trunks. Sometimes 

 a ruffed grouse thunders up from a covert, 

 his strong wings carrying him out of sight 

 quickly. Rabbits are scarce, but at times a 

 brown body will scamper away through the 

 brush, a white tail bobbing up and down as 

 he goes. Snakes do not seem to frequent these 

 woods at all. 



Of' all things that seem most significant in 

 bird or animal life in these gatherings of 

 heavily foliaged and silent trees the turtle- 

 109 



