58 LEAVES FROM AN APRIL JOURNAL. 



strike ; so closely does this harmless species imi- 

 tate the venomous kind. How accurately the 

 broad scales on the under parts overlap each other, 

 like those of a fish; and in lack of fin, wing or 

 limb, how ingeniously Nature has turned them to 

 account as a means of locomotion ! These creat- 

 ures no doubt are preying on the frogs and mice 

 which are, also, out to get a sun-bath. Here one 

 little rodent runs nervously back and forth across 

 the shallow pools. It has so many enemies, above, 

 below, and on all sides, that it appears confused 

 and puzzled how to take care of its precious little 

 body. 



How different are these rodents from the red 

 and gray squirrels that are out in goodly numbers 

 feeding on the elm blossoms ! 



They all appear to have been weU-kept through 

 the winter. Here comes a sleek fellow down this 

 trunk ; he stops in his descent to eye me, and 

 remains as motionless as a stuffed specimen fixed 

 to the bark, clinging to it with his hind feet, which 

 are turned completely round, as if his joints were 

 worked like swivels. Now he starts, as if the 

 motionless model had been acted upon by some 

 electrical machine ; tilts his tail, and scampers over 

 the mosses and dead leaves ; gives short sniffs at 



