Windfalls 175 



me as I crept through the rails of the old 

 fence and stood in the shade of the nearest 

 tree, a wine-sap that had borne most excel- 

 lent fruit in its day. I did not scan the half- 

 leafless branches, but looked into the hollow 

 of the trunk, where, a year ago, I had placed 

 a convenient hickory club, that had brought 

 down for me many a stray apple. Drawing 

 out the club I disturbed a pretty white-footed 

 mouse. What strange impulses we have ! I 

 threw the club after the retreating mouse and 

 barely missed it. How persistently the savage 

 lingers in us ! I have found that a very large 

 proportion of our wild-life is associated with 

 hollow trees, and particularly with hollow 

 apple-trees. This is quite readily accounted 

 for. The orchard is, for much of the time, 

 a well-stored magazine, with no locks guard- 

 ing the supplies. The fruit attra&s the in- 

 se&s ; these attraft birds ; these, in turn, draw 

 the carnivorous mammals. Again, an orchard 

 is not as frequently entered as the fields or 

 even pastures. The rows of trees become a 

 new forest, and afford, when they are grown 

 as old as these, safe and snug harbors for nearly 

 every form of terrestrial life. Even such 

 large creatures as the raccoon and opossum 



