LEAVES FROM AN APRIL JOURNAL. 59 



empty acorn-sliells, and hurries on confusedly from 

 one object to another, every movement expressing 

 his sense of insecurity while on the ground, finally 

 arrives at the foot of another elm, and, after look- 

 ing up, apparently to ascertain the kind of tree it 

 is, runs up the trunk so quickly as to appear like 

 a moving streak of bark, and settles down on the 

 opposite side of a topmost branch nibbling a tender 

 bud. 



They are great gymnasts, and, when startled, 

 make valiant leaps. It seems hardly possible that 

 muscles and sinews could send them from spray to 

 spray so far apart, and that this should be accom- 

 plished by the mere force of the will. Ah! but 

 sometimes they fail. I have seen one miss his 

 foothold and fall forty feet, striking the ground 

 with a heavy blow, where he lay for an instant like 

 a clod. I can hardly think that such adventures 

 can be natural ; yet this feUow obviously had the 

 physical ability to endure just such " short stops " 

 as this, for he afterward glided along the ground 

 as though nothing ailed him, and was soon up 

 another tree. 



April 30 : The rain of yesterday, and the warm 

 sun to-day beating down on the pines and hem- 

 locks, has made a rich, sweet odor, inhaled in 



