JUPITER PLUVIUS BLUFFS. 163 



ices and crannies of these old trees, and this hot 

 dry season suite well their mode of life. Their 

 double quartet of legs sends a shiver up and 

 down my spine whenever they tickle my skin. 



The wood thrush, usually an evening songster, 

 here in the wilds tunes up occasionally at mid- 

 day, his clear ringing note filling the woodland 

 with its cadence. One of the most melodious of 

 our summer visitors and frequent in thickets 

 and copses throughout the State, it is a shy 

 bird and known much more commonly by note 

 than by sight. 



Soon after noon J. Pluvius, in obedience to 

 my supplications, massed his clouds, put his 

 winds in action, sounded his trumpets, threat- 

 ened, bluffed, and passed on. Not a drop of 

 rain did he squeeze out above this particular 

 region. Elsewhere to the north and east he 

 worked, as shown by a slight rise in the stream. 

 Here, where drought severe doth reign, is where 

 I beseeched him to send down his moisture and 

 not on other square miles far beyond. While he 

 was threatening I was tempting the finny tribe 

 with grasshoppers and crawfish. But one gog- 

 gle-eye and three sunnies rewarded my efforts 

 They however are sufficient in bulk to furnish 

 plentiful nutriment for my evening meal. 



Along the eroded slopes which I pass on my 

 return that homely weed, the mullen 61 in many 



81 Verbascum thapsus L. 



