144 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
before, —then, taking in sail, went off again, 
always at the same rate of speed, yelping like 
an angry squirrel, squealing like a pig, occasion- 
ally clucking like a hen, and in general so fill- 
ing the woods with bustle and disturbance that 
there seemed no room for anything else. Quite 
overawed by the display, I stood watching her 
for some time, then entered the underbrush, 
where the little, invisible brood had been un- 
ceasingly piping, in their baby way. So motion- 
less were they, that, for all their noise, I stood 
with my feet among them, for some minutes, 
without finding it possible to detect them. 
When found and taken from the ground, which 
they so closely resembled, they made no attempt 
to escape; but when replaced, they presently 
ran away fast, as if conscious that the first 
policy had failed, and that their mother had 
retreated. Such is the summer life of these 
little things ; but come again in the fall, when 
the wild autumnal winds go marching through 
the woods, and a dozen pairs of strong wings 
will thrill like thunder through the arches of 
the trees, as the full-grown brood whirs away 
around you. 
Not only have we scarcely any species of 
birds which are thoroughly and unquestionably 
identical with European species, but there are 
certain general variations of habit. For in- 
