ROUND ABOUT A SPRING. 



53 



soaked leaves, and are so active, be the weather 

 what it may, that some nourishment must be 

 taken. And there are frogs ; not one of them 

 disposed to exertion, perhaps, but none the 

 less able to leap or burrow headlong in the 

 yielding mud the instant they suspect danger. 

 During the present winter I have even heard 

 them faintly croaking at midday, but this, . of 

 course, is quite unusual. 



During January not a turtle need be looked for, 

 sunning itself, however warm may be the weather, 

 but, like the other creatures I have named, they 

 are not asleep. In a shallow basin, lined with 

 the cleanest of white sand, through which bubbled 

 an intermitting stream of sparkling water, I re- 

 cently surprised a mud-turtle poking anxiously 

 about, evidently in search of food. The creature 

 had a lean and anxious look, and its bright eyes 

 meant mischief, as it proved, when I reached for- 

 ward to pick it up. I was bitten after a fashion, 

 and therefore delighted, for I had never before 

 known these turtles to be snapping, and a dis- 

 covery, however insignificant, is truly delight- 

 ful. 



Active life, then, in many of its varied forms, 

 can be found during the winter in the mud, sand, 

 and water of almost every spring, and this fact 

 very naturally has its influence round about the 

 spot. There is no small winter bird, sparrow, 



