The Effects of a Drought 75 



than take my outing in the track of a de- 

 serted watercourse. Nothing was gained 

 by the comparison of the conditions of the 

 one summer with the other, for it is beyond 

 belief that the life that was discommoded by 

 the drought really anticipated it. I suppose 

 the change was more gradual than in 1895, 

 and no form of life was caught napping. I 

 should have made daily observations for more, 

 than a month, walking ten miles every morn- 

 ing and evening, and I did nothing of the- 

 kind ; and it is only by unremitting effort 

 and an abundance of early morning courage 

 that really valuable observations can be made. 

 A leisurely outlook, at your convenience, 

 may be very pleasant, but do not generalize 

 upon what you see under such circumstances. 

 To return to our subject : if the phenom- 

 enon of a drought became an established con- 

 dition, a migratorial movement from upland 

 to meadow would soon become established ; 

 just as every year there is a transitionary flight 

 of sparrows of several species from the upland 

 fields to the low-lying meadows. This is, I 

 suppose, a question among themselves of food- 

 supply, the crop of seeds failing in the fields 

 first because there they are earlier to ripen. 



