76 In Touch with -Nature. 



times get slightly bedraggled, especially about the 

 tail, during a prolonged rain, but never enough to 

 seriously impair its power of flight. Indeed, it is 

 always a surprise to one to see how dry and clean 

 the birds keep during long storms. The swallows 

 will keep on the wing during quite a rain, with 

 plumage apparently as untouched as if they 

 steered between the drops. Both birds and ani- 

 mals seem to wear some charm against wet. I 

 once saw a little meadow-mouse swimming across 

 a lake in the woods. I rowed out and gave him 

 a lift over in my boat, which service, however, he 

 did not need. He was as dry as I was, except 

 upon his extremities." 



My friend is all at sea. It was not a matter 

 where any inference could be drawn. The birds 

 were soaked, and that is all there is of it. The 

 hasty inference is to suppose feathers cannot be 

 wetted. I have had the matter in mind all sum- 

 mer, and have seen the same condition due to 

 another cause. Time and again I have studied 

 bathing birds, and put them to their wit's ends 

 too, as they emerged from their baths. Every 

 time I drift by the pebbly shore of the river, if it 



