Fox's Earth to Mountain Tarn 



by, and waken just so much curiosity, and no 

 more, in the driver of the team. The child and 

 the dog would see no change. 



For each species of the groups might be found 

 a fitting double. Chough would pass for kitti- 

 wake as they sat side by side on the same rock 

 ledge overlooking the warring sea. The black- 

 headed gull has the quaint strut a little quicker 

 in the step and knowing ways of the jackdaw. 

 Needs but the staining of the wings to be 

 carried over the body, for the lesser black-back to 

 masquerade as carrion or grey crow. Raven and 

 great black-back in each other's garb, might pass 

 among the clans over which they reign in chief. 



In habits they are still more alike. If some are 

 bad habits, it is from no special seeking of theirs. 

 When the spheres are somewhat different which 

 is by no means always the case, since each is 

 equally at home in that of the other the acts 

 are of like shade and often black. There is 

 some reason for this. They have neither place 

 nor function they can call their own. Nothing 

 grows for them in nature's wild garden, nor is 

 hatched for them in nature's wild nursery. What 

 they most incline to can be had only by crooked 

 methods, when it is not placed just tantalizingly 

 beyond their reach. Their food is picked up 

 by the way ; they live on scraps. Well-nigh 

 anything will do at a pinch, and must be taken 

 without so much as by your leave. Scavengers 



167 



