KOVEMBEE. 265 



never found them at any great distance from the ground. 

 Among the old apple trees in the lane, all that I have ever 

 seen have been nearer the ground than the trees' tops ; 

 hut, on the other hand, the dainty little yellow tree-toad 

 — Pickering's hyla of the naturalists — is seldom content 

 with so humble a perch, and when in summer they quit 

 their aquatic and mud life for an arboreal one, they often 

 wander to the very highest available resting-places in the 

 trees. I once found one at the very top of a tulip tree, at 

 least sixty feet from the ground. " Peeping " shrilly at 

 such an elevation, it is little wonder that the sound should 

 be thought to be the whistling of a bird. 



As so often happens at the close of a dreary autumn 

 day, the sun shone then with peculiar splendor. For a 

 few minutes the meadows were gilded with a mellow light 

 that brought out even distant objects with startling dis- 

 tinctness. Animal life at once responded to the welcome 

 change. Babbits darted from their forms, squirrels scam- 

 pered through the trees, and mice stood up above their 

 runways, as though in doubt about their safety. Many 

 birds, whose presence I had not suspected, began to sing, 

 and the crows, that had been silently seeking their roosts, 

 abruptly broke ranks and clamored at the strange advent 

 of a sunny day. Moping herons rose from the rank 

 growths of the weedy marshes, sailed, in the gilded air 

 above me, crossed and recrossed the meadow and returned 

 — their sole object apparently in so doing, the pleasure of a 

 sun-bath. And beyond, where the creek shone like molten 

 metal, water-snakes, roused to active life again, left behind 

 them tortuous streaks of brilliant light ; while everywhere, 

 above, beneath, and on every side, rang out the shrill chirp 

 of the restless cricket. Here, in this still green meadow, 

 summer reigned. Asters, golden-rod, violets even, and 

 scattered dandelions acted well their part. I had but to 

 keep the leafless trees from view, and it was June again. 



