MOORLAND IDYLLS. 



tiger versus cobra. The assailant was a 

 thrush, the defender an earthworm. Now, 

 thrushes, we all know, are sweet songsters 

 when they have dined. Has not George 

 Meredith hymned them, as Shelley the sky- 

 lark ? But if you want to see the poetry 

 taken clean out of a thrush, just watch him 

 as he catches and devours an earthworm ! 

 The poor unsuspicious annelid, feeling the 

 joy of spring stir in his sluggish veins, 

 comes to the surface for a moment in 

 search of those fallen leaves which form 

 the staple of his blameless vegetarian diet. 

 No mole shakes the earth ; the sod is 

 fresh and moist ; here seems a propitious 

 moment for an above-ground excursion. 

 So the earthworm pokes out his head and 

 peers around him inquiringly ; peers, I 

 venture to say, blind beast though he be, 

 because his method of feeling his way and 

 exploring by touch is so human and in- 

 quisitive. But embodied Fate is on the 

 watch, silent, keen-eyed, immovable ; and 

 154 



