58 Travels in a Tree-top 



capture the creature. An attempt to do so 

 on my part was followed by its disappearance 

 with a suddenness that could be likened only 

 to the flashes of light that played upon its 

 back. Here I heard many frogs, but could 

 find none. The rattle and peep were not 

 like the voices of those in the meadows at 

 home, and I wondered about Cope's new 

 tiger-frog and the little green hyla that is so 

 rare here in Jersey. Possibly I heard them 

 both ; probably not. 



We returned to prosy life when the boat 

 was lifted over the dam, and the incidents 

 were few and commonplace in the short drift 

 that carried us to an old wharf, a relic of the 

 last century. 



What a difference between such a forest 

 and a few hundred oaks and ashes at home ! 

 and yet these are far better than treeless fields. 

 It is these few trees that hold many of our 

 migratory birds, and through them, in spring, 

 troop the north-bound warblers. In the 

 gloaming a small traft of woodland widens 

 out, and, seeing no open country beyond, 

 what does it matter, if we walk in a circle, 

 whether it be one acre or one thousand? 



