280 UPLAND AND MEADOW. 



passing to and fro in quite a haphazard manner. One 

 instance, during the past summer, of the mole's unfort- 

 unate choice of locality, was amusing to me, but quite 

 otherwise to the farmer. This mole had passed down a 

 line of lima beans, uprooting every one, and then, turn- 

 ing about, moved sufficiently far to one side to strike 

 the line of beans adjoining those uprooted, and with 

 equal skill he passed down them, destroying every 

 plant. Is it strange, after all, that a farmer should 

 think beans, and not earth-worms, were the food of 

 moles ? 



For several mornings, before I was fairly awake, I 

 have heard the nuthatches in the wild cherry that 

 stands just beyond ray windows. " Quank-quank," calls 

 the white-bellied species; " Ta-ta- tat," replies its rudci}-- 

 bellied cousin. The two seem to be always associated. 

 These little birds are worthy of careful study, for they 

 have a host of pretty ways ; and this habit of the two 

 species being always together is curious. It might be 

 thought that hybrids would occasionally be found ; but 

 I have no knowledge of such having been met with. 

 Even in the stormiest weather, as blithesome as to-day, 

 these birds forage without a moment's rest, and move 

 about the trees with equal ease and more grace than 

 mice move over level surfaces. The cracked and cran- 

 nied bark of the cherry-tree was hunted in the most 

 systematic tnanner, and I judge an abundance of food 

 was found, for the birds tarried on it for fully half an 

 hour. Indeed, I am not sure that they left the tree 

 then, for they often persistently remain on the opposite 



