MILL CREEK. 303 



don the practice of placing nests upon the ground, and 

 to locate them in bushes or trees. It is a rather curious 

 fact that of nineteen song-sparrows' nests found in the 

 lowlands, where meadow-mice abounded, fifteen were in 

 bushes, and ranging from two to five feet from the 

 ground, while in the upland fields, where there are very 

 few of these mice, of twenty-three nests found, eleven 

 were on the ground, but all so placed at the base of 

 some rank growth that their detection would not be 

 easy. Of the brown thrush, or thrasher, it is now to be 

 said that it has pretty generally abandoned nesting upon 

 the ground. It is one of several species that is partial 

 to a locality once chosen, and will return to it year after 

 year if not disturbed ; and now the densest thicket of 

 smilax, or a vine-hidden branch of a gnarly oak, is far 

 more apt to be chosen than any spot upon the ground. 

 That mice, snakes, and all egg - loving creatures have 

 brought about this change, is quite likely to be true. 

 Indeed, it is hard to understand why any of our small 

 inland birds should ever select such a locality as the bare 

 ground, yet one little sparrow, the vesper -bird, never 

 builds anywhere else, and escapes the many dangers that 

 beset it, for no bird is more abundant, both young and 

 old. 



To return to my Mill Creek meadow-mouse — marsh- 

 campagnol, as Godman calls it. After it had straight- 

 ened its fur and had so far recovered from fatigue as to 

 feel equal to continuing its journey, it started up the 

 oar towards the boat, and apparently not until it had 

 reached the gunwale did it notice me. Its sudden stop- 

 ping, that nearly caused it to fall over backward, was 



