42 RAMBLESOF 



but as I approached the bank of the rivulet, some- 

 thing suddenly retreated towards the grass, seeming 

 to vanish almost unaccountably from sight. Very 

 carefully examining the point at which it disap- 

 peared, I found the entrance of another gallery or 

 burrow, but of very different construction from that 

 first observed. This new one was formed in the 

 grass, near and among whose roots and lower stems 

 a small but regular covered way was practised. 

 Endless, however, would have been the attempt to 

 follow this, as it opened in various directions, and 

 ran irregularly into the field, and towards the brook, 

 by a great variety of passages. It evidently be- 

 longed to an animal totally different from the owner 

 of the subterranean passage, as I subsequently dis- 

 covered, and may hereafter relate. Tired of my 

 unavailing pursuit, I now returned to the little 

 brook, and seating myself on a stone, remained for 

 some time unconsciously gazing on the fluid which 

 gushed along in unsullied brightness over its pebbly 

 bed. Opposite to my seat was an irregular hole in 

 the bed of the stream, into which, in an idle mood, 

 I pushed a small pebble with the end of my stick. 

 What was my surprise, in a few seconds afterwards, 

 to observe the water in this hole in motion, and the 

 pebble I had pushed into it gently approaching the 

 surface. Such was the fact : the hole was the dwell- 

 ing of a stout little crayfish, or fresh-water lobster, 

 who did not choose to be- incommoded by the pebble, 

 though doubtless he attributed its sudden arrival to 

 the usual accidents of the stream, and not to my 



