FIELD AND STUDY 



as it were. Say the word, and he bounds to your 

 side, or leads the way to the woods. 



My dog enjoys a walk more than I do; his nature- 

 study is quite as real as mine is, though of a totally 

 different kind; the sense of smell that plays such 

 a part in his excursions, plays httle or none in mine, 

 and the eye and the mind, which contribute so much 

 to my enjoyment, are almost a blank with him. 

 He enjoys the open fire, too, and a warm, soft bed, 

 and a good dinner. All his purely animal enjoy- 

 ments are as keen or keener than mine, but has he 

 any other? 



How different his interest in cats is from mine, 

 and in dogs, and in men ! He is not interested in the 

 landscape as a whole : I doubt very much if he sees 

 it at all; but he is interested in what the landscape 

 holds for him — the woodchuck-hole, or the squir- 

 rel's den, or the fox's trail. His life is entirely the 

 life of the senses, and on this ground we meet and 

 are boon companions. 



If he has any mind-life, and ideas, if he ever looks 

 back over the past, or forward into the future, I see 

 no evidence of it. When there is nothing doing he 

 sleeps; apparently he could sleep all the time, if 

 there were nothing better going on. 



V. WOOD WAIFS 



Those little waifs from the woods — chickadees, 

 nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, and brown creep- 



206 



