104 AT THE NORTH OF BEARCAMP WATER. 
in the dim upper air but a moment, taking a 
headlong plunge into the shrubbery below. I 
thought even the frogs resented the slow-mov¬ 
ing vapors, for they croaked and splashed rest¬ 
lessly. 
A red-eyed vireo began his sermon at 6.10, 
and soon after, blue sky and scattering rays 
of sunlight appeared. Then the birds became 
more cheerful, and catbirds, crows, kingbirds, 
Maryland yellow - throats, and song sparrows 
vied with each other in activity and noise. 
Every one of them was intent upon making 
a good breakfast. The catbirds ate viburnum 
berries; the crows marched upon the lake sand, 
searching for the waste of the waves; a barn 
swallow, the kingbirds, and several smaller fly¬ 
catchers hovered or darted in pursuit of insects, 
and the sparrows gathered their harvest from 
the earth. Then a flicker appeared in the top 
of the old tree, and, finding a resonant spot in 
the trunk, beat his reveille softly upon it. My 
neck fairly ached when I tried to imagine the 
mental and muscular effort required of the bird 
to produce such regular and rapid action with 
his beak. The only way in which a man can 
make as many beats to the minute with any 
regularity is by allowing his hand to rest in such 
a position that it will tremble. Then, by grasp¬ 
ing a pencil and resting its tip upon a board, a 
