UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 



at its beginning and ending. When one has learned 

 to note and discriminate the warblers, he has made a 

 good beginning in his ornithological studies. 



11. A SHORT WAI^ 



One midsummer afternoon I went up to "Scot- 

 land" and prowled about amid the raspberry-bushes, 

 finding a little fruit, black and red, here and there, 

 and letting my eyes wander to the distant farms and 

 mountains. The wild but familiar prospect dilated 

 and rested me. As I lingered near the torn edge of the 

 woods in a tangle of raspberry-bushes, I caught a 

 glimpse of some large bird dropping suddenly to the 

 ground from a tall basswood that stood in the edge 

 of the open, where it was hidden from my view. 

 Was it a crow or a hawk? A hawk, I guessed, from 

 its manner of descent. I threw a stone after waiting 

 some moments for it to reappear, but it made no 

 sign. Then I moved slowly toward the spot, and 

 presently up sprang a hen-hawk and, uttering its 

 characteristic squeal, circled around near me and 

 then alighted not far off. A young hawk, I saw it 

 was, and quite unsophisticated. Presently, as I 

 made my way along, just touching the edge of the 

 woods, a covey of nearly full-grown partridges burst 

 up out of the berry-bushes, ten or twelve of them, 

 and went humming up into the denser woods, some 

 of them alighting in the trees, whence they stretched 

 their necks to watch me as I passed along. The dust 

 116 



