AN IDYL OF THE HONEY-BEE. 49 



long series of cultivated fields toward some high, 

 uplying land, behind which rises a rugged woo. | 

 ridge or mountain, the most sightly point in all this 

 tion. Behind this ridge for several miles the country 

 is wild, wooded, and rocky, and is no doubt the 

 home of many wild swarms of bees. What a -lee- 

 ful uproar the robins, cedar-birds, high-holes, and cow 

 black-birds make amid the black cherry-trees as we 

 pass along. The raccoons, too, have been here after 

 black cherries, and we see their marks at various 

 points. Several crows are walking about a newly 

 sowed wheat field we pass through, and we pause to 

 note their graceful movements and glossy coats. I 

 have seen no bird walk the ground with just the 

 same air the crow does. It is not exactly pride ; 

 there is no strut or swagger in it, though perhaps 

 just a little condescension ; it is the contented, com- 

 plaisant, and self-possessed gait of a lord over his 

 domains. All these acres are mine, he says, aud all 

 these crops ; men plow and sow for me, and I stay 

 here or go there, and find life sweet and good 

 wherever I am. The hawk looks awkward and out 

 of place on the ground ; the game birds hurry and 

 skulk, but the crow is at home and treads the 

 earth as if there were none to molest or make him 

 afraid. 



The crows we have always with us, but it is not 

 every day or every season that one sees an eagle. 

 Hence I must preserve the memory of one I saw 

 the last day I went bee-hunting. As I was laboring 

 up the side of a mountain at the head of a valley, 

 the noble bird sprang from the top of a dry tree 

 above me and came sailing directly over my head. I 

 saw him bend his eye down upon me, and I could 



