V 



NOTES BY THE WAY 



A NEW NOTE IN THE WOODS 



rjlHERE is always a new page to be turned in 

 A natural history, if one is sufficiently on the 

 alert. I did not know that the eagle celebrated 

 his nuptials in the air till one early spring day 

 I saw a pair of them fall from the sky with talons 

 hooked together. They dropped a hundred feet 

 or more, in a wild embrace, their great wings 

 fanning the air, then separated and mounted aloft, 

 tracing their great circles against the clouds. 

 "Watch and wait" is the naturalist's sign. For 

 years I have been trying to ascertain for a cer- 

 tainty the author of that fine plaintive piping 

 to be heard more or less frequently, according to 

 the weather, in our summer and autumn woods. 

 It is a note that much resembles that of our small 

 marsh frog in spring, the hyla ; it is not quite 

 so clear and assured, but otherwise much the 

 same. Of a very warm October day I have heard 

 the wood vocal with it ; it seemed to proceed from 

 every stump and tree about one. Ordinarily it is 

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