WAYS OF NATURE 



but his " wife would not consent." Many a feather- 

 less biped has had the same experience with his 

 society-spoiled wife. The puzzle is, how did this 

 masterly observer know that this state of affairs 

 existed between this couple ? Did the wife tell him, 

 or the husband ? " Hermit " often takes his visitors 

 to a wood thrushes' singing-school, where, " as the 

 birds forget their lesson, they drop out one by one." 



He has seen an old rooster teaching a young 

 rooster to crow! At first the old rooster crows 

 mostly in the morning, but later in the season he 

 crows throughout the day, at short intervals, to show 

 the young "the proper thing." "Young birds re- 

 moved out of hearing will not learn to crow." He 

 hears the old grouse teaching the young to drum in 

 the fall, though he neglects to tell us that he has 

 seen the young in attendance upon these lessons. 

 He has seen a mother song sparrow helping her two- 

 year-old daughter build her nest. He has discov- 

 ered that the cat talks to her kittens with her ears : 

 when she points them forward, that means "yes;" 

 when she points them backward, that means " no." 

 Hence she can tell them whether the wagon they 

 hear approaching is the butcher's cart or not, and 

 thus save them the trouble of looking out. 



And so on through a long list of wild and domes- 

 tic creatures. At first I suspected this writer was 

 covertly ridiculing a certain other extravagant " ob- 

 server," but a careful reading of his letter shows him 

 94 



