188 
THE 
CANADIAN 
NATURALIST. 
watches over the welfare of the meanest objects of His crea- 
tion. He regulates with unerring wisdom^ and with benefi- 
cent providence^ the expanding of every leaf^ and the un- 
folding of every flower ; not a sparrow falls without His 
supervision, for " His kingdom ruleth over all What 
an encouragement is here for our implicit trust in His care, 
even as regards the comparatively trifling affairs of this life, 
what we shall eat, what we shall drink, wherewithal we 
shall be clothed seeing He clothes the grass of the field, 
and feeds the fowls of the air." And we are of far more 
value in His sight than these : if we do His holy will, and 
rely on Him by faith, we are raised above all anxiety, for 
Omnipotence and Omniscience itself is pledged to care for 
us : Who is he that shall harm you, if ye be followers of 
that which is good ? 
C. — Look ! what is this among the grass ? it is a little 
Tortoise. 
F, — They are not uncommon in some of the brooks: there 
is a brook running through what is called the Robinson farm, 
on the banks of the Coatacook, near Spafford's bridge, where 
this species ( Terrapene Clausa J is quite numerous. I have 
caught several at difl*erent times ; if I should not rather say 
found," for a tortoise is not a very difficult thing to catch, I 
kept one in the house for some days, where he was rather 
amusing : when touched, he would draw in his head and legs, 
and curl his tail so tightly to his body that my fingers could not 
pull it away : if left alone, he would gradually put forth his 
ugly, hawk -like head, but did not like to crawl if watched, 
contenting himself with merely looking out. If put into a 
room, however, by himself, he would soon take courage, and 
rattle over the floor with a speed I could not have antici- 
pated from his uncouth appearance. He managed to get 
