24 IN WINTER. 



trees ! Your choice of such good company, and 

 yet there are those who would have gone mad 

 here from loneliness ! For the time I gave heed 

 to the brook, wondering as usual what might be 

 beneath the surface, and all the while, as ever 

 happens, the creatures of the brook were won- 

 dering about myself. If one turns to the text- 

 books he will find much said of the instinct that 

 leads the lower forms of life to seek a safe shelter 

 as winter approaches. The lower forms of life 

 in this brook had no such intention. First, I de- 

 tected dainty little frogs the peeping hylodes 

 squatted on dead leaves and yellow pebbles, and 

 so spotted, splotched, and wrinkled were they 

 that it took sharp eyes to find them. Their idea 

 of a shelter in winter is from enemies, and not 

 from the frosty air ; a little warmer sunshine to- 

 day would have moved them to sing. Time 

 and again during November they rattled and 

 " peeped " almost a shrilly as ever in April, and 

 they will again, if we are treated to a green 

 Christmas. 



The spirit of exploration seized me now, and I 

 brushed the shallow waters with a cedar branch. 

 Lazy mud minnows were whipped from their 

 retreats, and a beautiful red salamander that I 

 sent whizzing through the air wriggled among 

 the brown leaves upon the ground. It was only 

 after a hard chase that I captured it, and, holding 



