BREATHINGS OF NATURE. 



notes now low, soft, and long drawn out, now 

 shrill, disjointed, and harsh. 



These studies of Nature are the hunter's re- 

 creations, and he feels pleasure proportionate as 

 he understands them. Her laws are ever the 

 same, ever changeless, ever perfect. Truth is 

 ever before him, and there are no imperfections 

 in the models of his study for Nature is ever 

 young. 

 Th B th ^ e ^ * nere are mysterious natural 



ings of Nature, -i vi ,1 j 



phenomena met with in the dense 



forest, for which even the long-initiated hunter 

 cannot account. I allude to those indescribable 

 but peculiarly soothing and melodious sounds 

 that issue from every side, and seem to make the 

 very stillness palpable. My mentor, Walter 



M , who, besides being the keenest sportsman 



was also the most skilled in woodcraft, and all 

 knowledge appertaining to the forest that India 

 ever produced, used to term these nameless 

 sounds the "breathings of Nature;" and often, 

 when watching for game in places far away from 



