PEPACTON 



the entrance to the cavity. As I approached, he 

 did not so much seem to move as to diminish 

 in size, like an object dwindling in the distance; 

 he depressed his plumage, and, with his eye fixed 

 upon me, began slowly to back and sidle into his 

 retreat till he faded from my sight. The shrike 

 wiped his beak upon the branches, cast an eye 

 down at me and at his lost mouse, and then flew 

 away. He was a remarkably fine specimen, his 

 breast and under parts as white as snow, and his 

 coat of black and ashen gray appearing very bright 

 and fresh. A few nights afterward, as I passed 

 that way, I saw the little owl again sitting in his 

 doorway, waiting for the twilight to deepen, and 

 undisturbed by the passers-by; but when I paused 

 to observe him, he saw that he was discovered, 

 and he slunk back into his den as on the former 



SHAKESPEARE S NATURAL HISTORY 



It is surprising that so profuse and prodigal a 

 poet as Shakespeare, and one so bold in his dealings 

 with human nature, should seldom or never make 

 a mistake in his dealings with physical nature, or 

 take an unwarranted liberty with her. True it is 

 that his allusions to nature are always incidental, 

 never his main purpose or theme, as with many 

 later poets; yet his accuracy and closeness to fact, 

 and his wide and various knowledge of unbookish 



