NATURAL SELECTION 41 



school might be found here and there an 

 attitude toward him not of admiration ; and 

 brooding alone that evening he chewed the 

 cud of his mortification and found it bitter. 

 But, like many of his type among the higher 

 vertebrates, he concluded that the needed 

 thing was a more complete showing of his 

 prowess, and so bided his time. 



Then a change came over nature, slight 

 at first but more apparent with the hurrying 

 days. Out on the shore the tamaracks lost 

 their luscious green and aged ; leaves of the 

 birch fell and skimmed like frail canoes 

 over the water ; oak leaves turned brown and 

 rattled in the biting wind. 



It was the approach of winter. Notice- 

 able first in the lake was the absence of food. 

 No longer did the breeze come freighted 

 with its burden of insects. Gnats ceased to 

 fall. Only little frogs, green and tender, 

 hung in the water's edge. In the shallows 

 it was cold. 



One day Old Black Bass was nosing close 

 in when a tiny snake descried him and 

 wriggled frantically for the shore. But the 

 rush of the carnivore was too swift. 

 Knotted into a ball the little reptile felt the 



