38 THE FACE OF THE FIELDS 



float into the warm, lighted spots, or crawl out 

 and doze comfortably on the hummocks and 

 snags. 



" What fragrant mornings those were ! How 

 fresh and new and unbreathed ! The pond odors, 

 the woods odors, the odors of the ploughed fields 

 — of water-lily, and wild grape, and the dew-laid 

 soil ! I can taste them yet, and hear them yet — 

 the still, large sounds of the waking day — the 

 pickerel breaking the quiet with his swirl ; the 

 kingfisher dropping anchor; the stir of feet and 

 wings among the trees. And then the thought 

 of the great book being held up for me ! Those 

 were rare mornings ! 



" But there began to be a good many of them, 

 for the turtles showed no desire to lay. They 

 sprawled in the sun, and never one came out 

 upon the sand as if she intended to help on the 

 great professor's book. The embryology of her 

 eggs was of small concern to her; her Contribu- 

 tion to the Natural History of the United States 

 could wait. 



"And it did wait. I began my watch on the 

 14th of May; June 1st found me still among 

 the cedars, still waiting, as I had waited every 



