186 AT THE NORTH OF BEARCAMP WATER. 
population could be sown into the fallow places 
in the hill country, their own competition would 
become a less fatal flame, and the country dis¬ 
tricts, instead of steadily degenerating in phys¬ 
ical, moral, and intellectual tone, would again 
become prolific in healthy men and women. 
So far as I know, the word “moor 95 is not ap¬ 
plied to any part of our New England scenery; 
yet there are dry, comparatively treeless uplands, 
wind-swept and dotted with bogs which closely 
resemble English moorland. I climbed to the 
level of one early in the afternoon and strolled 
along its rough surface. At the first bit of bog 
that I struck a wood-frog jumped across the 
path. He was listless, and made but short 
leaps. When I followed him he plunged be¬ 
neath a log which lay in the cold mud. Be¬ 
yond, on dry ground, a grouse rose noisily from 
low cover and flew far before going out of 
sight. As I crossed some stony ground a mouse 
ran from me and hid between two boulders. 
Blocking both entrances to his hiding-place 
with my feet, I tilted one rock aw T ay from the 
other. The mouse darted first towards one of 
my feet and then towards the other. He dared 
not cross either, for I kept them moving. So 
he remained trembling in the middle. He was 
Hesperomys , the deer mouse, big-eyed and 
white-footed. I left him unharmed. 
