56 SECRETS OF LAND AND WATEE. 



or plant may be spread over a whole State, or half the continent, yet, 

 nevertheless, be found only on that kind of ground which is best suited • 

 to it. 



One of the very first things a naturalist has to learn, therefore, in re- 

 spect to an animal whose habits he wishes to study, is what sort of sur- 

 roundings it loves, and he will be surprised, particularly in the case of 

 the smaller creatures, to learn how careful animals are in this matter, 

 since upon it, as a rule, depends their food and safety. There are cer- 

 tain snails, for example, which my friend finds in one corner of his farm 

 and never anywhere else. A pair of Bewick's wrens have lived in his 

 wagon-house for some years, but they are the only pair in the whole 

 county. It would be of no use for him to look anywhere off his bush- 

 grown hill-side for the worm-eating warbler, the mourning-warbler, or 

 the yellow-breasted chat, though his gardens up above entice many other 

 birds. Similarly, when the Carolina rail decides to make its home on 

 his land, it does not settle along the creek, but in a marshy part of his 

 meadows. I might mention a large number of equally pertinent exam- 

 ples, but these will suffice. 



For more than twenty years my friend has been diligently studying 

 this single square mile around his house. One would think he knew it 

 pretty well by this time, and he does — better, I believe, than any other 

 square mile is known in the United States. He can tell you," and has 

 written down, a hundred things about our common animals which are 

 real news ; yet he thinks that he has only begun, and is finding out 

 something more every few days. 



Here is an instance : 



Forty years ago, or more, a small, brightly spotted species of turtle 

 was described as living near Philadelphia, and two miserable specimens 

 were sent to Agassiz. It was called Miihlen berg's turtle, and since 

 then not one has been seen until last summer. My friend was always 

 on the lookout, never failing to pick up or turn over every small, turtle 

 he met on the meadows or along the creek, and examine whether the 

 marks on its under shell were those of the lost species. Finally, one of 

 the ditches in the meadows was drained off to be repaired, and there, 

 within a short distance, were picked up six Miihlenberg turtles ! 



They could easily have gone out of that ditch into other ditches, and 

 into the creek ; but if ever they did so, they succeeded for twenty years 

 in escaping some pretty sharp eyes that would have been very glad to 

 see them. Afterwards two more were obtained, and all are preserved in 

 the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, Massachusetts. 



