813 UPLAND AND MEADOW. 



meadow mice know that the hawks cannot see them, 

 and so have a good time on the wet grass ? I saw scores 

 of them scampering about, and their united squeaks 

 were not altogether unlike the chirping of birds. A 

 star-nosed mole, too, was taking an airing on the ditch 

 banks; but it heard me before I could reach it, and 

 plunged into the water. Thej are freer of foot than 

 common moles, and swim with grace and rapidity. 



It is during such a fog as that of to-day that birds 

 prove their possession of a spoken language. I saw a 

 few crows, perhaps twenty, that were scattered among 

 the tree-tops at the mouth of the gully. These birds 

 seldom uttered the same sound twice consecutively. No 

 two of them uttered similar sounds. They were so far 

 scattered that they could not see each other. To me, 

 standing beneath them, it was precisely similar to a 

 gathering of foreigners discoursing earnestly in an (to 

 me) unknown tongue. Certainly the loud and varied 

 cries of each individual crow could not have been ut- 

 tered for his own edification merely, as is true of the 

 songs of certain birds; and, to prove that this view of 

 the matter is correct, it was not long before these birds 

 came to a conclusion upon an important subject they 

 had been discussing; for, with a unity of movement not 

 otherwise explicable, they all came to the ground. Un- 

 fortunately I did not conceal myself quickly enough, 

 and they all went back again with unceremonious haste. 

 Still, they did not take flight until after brief consul- 

 tation, when they started towards the river as a little 

 flock, keeping as near each other as practicable. Such 

 little incidents must be witnessed to be appreciated; 



