74 The Effects of a Drought 



During the summer of 1896, there was a 

 more abundant precipitation during the 

 months of June and July, and the area de- 

 scribed in the foregoing pages was not so 

 soon affefted by lack of water ; but the an- 

 nual drought, though delayed, came at last, 

 and I was, of course, curious to note its 

 effefts and compare notes with the preceding 

 summer. Herein I was disappointed, for, to 

 all appearances, there had been going on an- 

 ticipatory movements on the part of the same 

 forms of life observed in 1895; and before 

 the upland brooks and swamps were dry, and 

 only the margins of springs were constantly 

 wet, all animal life had sought the tide- water 

 areas, where the evil effe&s of drought could 

 not reach them. I found no fish entrapped 

 in pools without outlets, or a single sleeping, 

 mud-encased frog or minnow. The general 

 aspect, zoologically, of many an upland trail 

 was that of an "azoic" desert, suggesting 

 that no living creature had ever been here ; 

 and, truly, there is no more melancholy sight 

 than the dry bed of a brook which for ten 

 months of the year is the scene of aftive life 

 in endless forms. I had rather wander 

 among skeletons in an opened graveyard 



