AN OCTOBER DIARY. 269 



scattered and successfully Lid themselves; but confi- 

 dence being restored by my remaining quiet, tliey re- 

 collected and, at greater speed, hurried to the meadows 

 near by. They were evidently influenced by excessive 

 dryness of the upland fields ; but they cannot reasonably 

 be supposed to have anticipated the drought that fol- 

 lowed. Even a house mouse is no fool, but it is an injus- 

 tice to intimate that it ever poses as a weather-prophet. 



October 3. — The rain continues, and by this time has 

 washed the dust from the throats of the robins, which 

 are now singing as merrily as of a "bright May day in 

 the morning ;" but I fail to see or hear another bird, 

 bearing the creek, sparrows are heard, and some unrec- 

 ognized songster warbles a few sweet notes that are 

 quite new. What an experience! How the heart 

 leaps at novelty! For an hour I stooped among low 

 bushes, and craned my neck to scan the topmost 

 branches of tall trees. High, low, and through inter- 

 vening space, but to no purpose. Something, some- 

 where, sweetly sang, and I was forced to give up the 

 search and go away unsatisfied. 



Poaetquissings is vastly improved, I find, by the rain. 

 The broad lily leaves and upright growths of splatter- 

 docks have been gray for weeks, and now are cheer- 

 fully green again. The creek itself, heretofore too 

 lazy to carry off the scum that flourishes in midsummer, 

 now bears it riverward in haste, and the broken shad- 

 ows of overhanging elms darken the waters from shore 

 to shore. 



It is strange how far-reaching is a drought in its ef- 



