

THE SUMMER AFIELD 7 



manders, frogs, toads, newts, a wonderfully inter- 

 esting group, with a real live rattler among them if 

 you should go over to the Blue 

 Hills, fifteen miles away. 



You will go many times into 

 the fields before you can make 

 of the reptiles your friends and 

 neighbors. But by and 

 by you will watch them 

 and note their ways with 

 as much interest as you 

 watch the other wild 

 folk about you. It is a < 

 pretty shallow lover of RED SALAMANDERS, OLD AND YOUNG 

 nature who jumps upon 



a little snake with both feet, or who shivers when a lit- 

 tle salamander drops out of the leaf-mould at his feet. 



And what shall I say of the 

 fishes ? There are a dozen of 

 them in the stream and ponds 

 within the compass of rny 

 haunt. They are a fascina- 

 ting family, and one very lit- 

 tle watched by the ordinary 

 tramper. But you are not or- 

 dinary. Quiet and patience and 

 much putting together of scraps of observations will 

 be necessary if you are to get at the whole story of 

 any fish's life. The story will be worth it, however. 



NEWTS 



