AUGUST 



15 



JOHX TORRE Y, 1796. 



Rana sylvatica, the wood-frog, betrayed himself 

 by leaping over the dry beech leaves. I followed 

 him quickly as he sought to elude me. Not only 

 were his leaps long, but his skill in doubling was 

 something marvelous. His second jump was gener- 

 ally at right angles with the first, and thrice he no 

 sooner struck the ground than he turned and re- 

 bounded upon his tracks, so that he passed over or 

 between my feet. 



BOLLES: At the North of Bearcamp Water. 



16 



I see a pickerel in the brook showing his whitish, 

 greedy upper lips projecting over the lower. How 

 well concealed he is. He is generally of the color 

 of the muddy bottom, or the decayed leaves and 

 wood that compose it, and the longitudinal light 

 stripe on his back, and the transverse ones on his 

 sides are the color of the yellowish sand here and 

 there exposed. He heads up stream and keeps 

 his body perfectly motionless, however rapid the 

 current, chiefly by the motion of his narrow pec- 

 toral fins, though also by the waving of his other 

 fins and tail as much as is necessary, a motion 

 which a frog might mistake for that of weeds. 



THOREAU: Summer. 



