24 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



through a wooded blue-grass pasture, and watched 

 the denizens of its waters. A peaceful calm existed, 

 the water being without a ripple and with scarce the 

 semblance of a flow the air without the shadow of a 

 breeze. Dragon flies lazily winged their way across 

 the pool, now resting daintily upon a blade of sedge 

 or swamp grass, now dipping the tips of their abdo- 

 mens beneath the surface of the water while deposit- 

 ing their eggs. The only sounds of nature were the 

 buzz of a bumble-bee feeding among the flowers of 

 the JZrunella at my side, and an occasional drawl of a 

 dog-day locust from the branches of the sycamore 

 which threw a grateful shade about me. 



The sunflsh "hung motionless" in the water, their 

 heads towards me, holding their position only by a 

 slow flapping of their dorsal and pectoral fins. Their 

 nesting time over, their season's labor ended, it was 

 with them, as with many other beings, a time of 

 languor. 



These long-eared fishes are the lords and ladies of 

 the respective pools wherein they abide. When they 

 move other smaller fry clear the way. If a worm or 

 gnat, falling upon the surface, tempts them, it is theirs. 

 A leaf falls near them and is seemingly unnoticed a 

 fly, and how quickly their dormant energy is put into 

 motion. With a dart and a gulp the insect is swal- 

 lowed and a new stage of waiting expectancy is 

 ushered in. 



How admirably fitted their form for cleaving the 

 water! They often seem to glide rather than propel 

 themselves through its depths. Again, how swiftly 

 the caudal fin moves when with straight unerring 



