NOVEMBER. 2G5 



never found them at any great distance from the ground. 

 Among the old apple trees in the lane, all that I have ever 

 seen have been nearer the ground than the trees' tops ; 

 but, on the other hand, the dainty little yellow tree-toad 

 Pickering's hyla of the naturalists is seldom content 

 with so humble a perch, and when in summer they quit 

 their aquatic and mud life for an arboreal one, they often 

 wander to the very highest available resting-places in the 

 trees. I once found one at the very top of a tulip tree, at 

 least sixty feet from the ground. " Peeping " shrilly at 

 such an elevation, it is little wonder that the sound should 

 be thought to be the whistling of a bird. 



As so often happens at the close of a dreary autumn 

 day, the sun shone then with peculiar splendor. For a 

 few minutes the meadows were gilded with a mellow light 

 that brought out even distant objects with startling dis- 

 tinctness. Animal life at once responded to the welcome 

 change. Rabbits darted from their forms, squirrels scam- 

 pered through the trees, and mice stood up above their 

 runways, as though in doubt about their safety. Many 

 birds, whose presence I had not suspected, began to sing, 

 and the crows, that had been silently seeking their roosts, 

 abruptly broke ranks and clamored at the strange advent 

 of a sunny day. Moping herons rose from the rank 

 growths of the weedy marshes, sailed in the gilded air 

 above me, crossed and recrossed the meadow and returned 

 their sole object apparently in so doing, the pleasure of a 

 sun-bath. And beyond, where the creek shone like molten 

 metal, water-snakes, roused to active life again, left behind 

 them tortuous streaks of brilliant light ; while everywhere, 

 above, beneath, and on every side, rang out the shrill chirp 

 of the restless cricket. Here, in this still green meadow, 

 summer reigned. Asters, golden-rod, violets even, and 

 scattered dandelions acted well their part. I had but to 

 keep the leafless trees from view, and it was June again. 



