Sometimes I he

    village to my ohe

    catcing

    of it.

    .  I  heard

    so muc over t-fern the

    pigeons are all asleep upon ts -- no flutter from them.

    as t a farmers noon he woods

    just noo boiled salt beef and cider and

    Indian bread.   does not

    eat need not work.  I wonder hey have reaped.  ho would

    live the barking of Bose?

    And oo keep brighe devils door-knobs, and

    scour ubs t day!  Better not keep a house.  Say, some

    ree; and ties!  Only a

    apping.  Ooo hey

    are born too far into life for me.  I er from the spring,

    and a loaf of broling

    of t some ill-fed village o the

    instinct of t pig hese

    er t comes on apace; my

    sumacbriers tremble. -- E, is it you?  how do

    you like to-day?

    Poet.  See ts test

    to-day.  t in old paintings,

    not in foreign lands -- unless whe

    coast of Spain.  ts a true Mediterranean sky.  I t, as I

    o get, and  eaten to-day, t I might go

    a-fiss true industry for poets.  It is the only

    trade I s along.

    .  I cannot resist.  My brown bread will soon be gone.  I

    I am just concluding a serious

    meditation.  I t I am near t.  Leave me alone,

    t t  be delayed, you shall be

    digging t mean h in

    ts, he race

    is nearly extinct.  t of digging t is nearly equal to

    t of catcite is not too keen; and

    to yourself today.  I o set

    in ts, whe

    jo  I may  you one o every

    turn up, if you look s of the

    grass, as if you

    be uno be

    very nearly as tances.

    alone.  Let me see; whinks I was nearly

    in t at this angle.  Shall I

    go to ation

    to an end,  occasion be likely to offer?  I

    o things as ever I was

    in my life.  I fear my ts  come back to me.  If it

    hey make us an

    offer, is it o say, e ?  My ts have

    left no track, and I cannot find t  t I

    ry these

    tences of Confutsee; tc state about again.

    I kno asy.  Mem.

    t one opportunity of a kind.

    Poet.  , is it too soon?  I  just

    teen w or

    undersized; but t cover

    up te too large; a

    s finding the skewer.

    .  ell, ts be off.  So the Concord?

    t ter be not too high.

    s which we behold make a world?

    these species of animals for his neighbors; as if

    not a mouse could  t

    Pilpay amp; Co.  animals to t use, for they are all

    beasts of burden, in a sense, made to carry some portion of our

    ts.

    ted my  the common ones, which

    are said to roduced into try, but a ive

    kind not found in t one to a distinguished

    naturalist, and it interested him much.  hen I was building, one of

    ts nest underneathe

    second floor, and s out t regularly

    at luncime and pick up t my feet.  It probably had

    never seen a man before; and it soon became quite familiar, and

    would run over my s could readily ascend

    t impulses, like a squirrel, w

    resembled in its motions.  At length my elbow on

    t ran up my clothes, and along my sleeve, and

    round and round t the

    latter close, and dodged and played at bopeep ; and w

    last I ill a piece of c

    came and nibbled it, sitting in my ers

    face and paws, like a fly, and walked away.

    A p in my section in a

    pine ridge (tetrao

    umbellus), w my windows,

    from to t of my house, clucking and

    calling to them like a hen, and in all her behavior proving herself

    the young suddenly disperse on your approach,

    at a signal from t them away,

    and tly resemble t many a

    traveler  in t of a brood, and he

    whe old bird as she flew off, and her anxious calls and

    metract tention,

    suspecting t imes

    roll and spin round before you in suc you

    cannot, for a fes, detect ure it is.  the

    young squat still and flat, often running their heads under a leaf,

    and mind only tions given from a distance, nor

    hemselves.  You

    may even tread on te,

    discovering t such

    a time, and still t to ther and

    tinct, o squat t fear or trembling.  So

    perfect is tinct, t once, whe

    leaves again, and one accidentally fell on its side, it was found

    in exactly tion ten minutes afterward.

    t callo birds, but more perfectly

    developed and precocious even t

    yet innocent expression of their open and serene eyes is very

    memorable.  All intelligence seems reflected in t

    not merely ty of infancy, but a wisdom clarified by

    experience.  Suc born w is

    coeval  reflects.  t yield another

    sucraveller does not often look into such a limpid

    or reckless sportsman often ss t at

    sucime, and leaves ts to fall a prey to some

    pro or bird, or gradually mingle he decaying leaves

    wched by a hen

    tly disperse on some alarm, and so are lost, for they

    never hese were

    my hens and chickens.

    It is remarkable ures live hough

    secret in till sustain the

    neigoed by ers only.  ired the

    otter manages to live o be four feet long, as big

    as a small boy, per any ting a glimpse of

    he woods behind where my house

    is built, and probably still  night.

    Commonly I rested an  noon, after

    planting, and ate my lunctle by a spring which was

    ters

    o through a

    succession of descending grassy ch pines,

    into a larger  there, in a very secluded and

    s, under a spreading  a clean,

    firm so sit on.  I  the spring and made a well of

    clear gray er, ,

    and t for t every day in midsummer,

    oo, the woodcock led her

    brood, to probe t a foot above them down

    troop beneat at last, spying me,

    she would leave her young and circle round and round me, nearer and

    nearer till , pretending broken wings and

    legs, to attract my attention, and get off her young, who would

    already aken up t, wiry peep, single

    file ted.  Or I he

    young  bird.  too turtle

    doves sat over ttered from bougo boughe

    soft we pines over my he red squirrel, coursing down

    t bougicularly familiar and inquisitive.  You

    only need sit still long enougtractive spot in the woods

    t all its inants may ex to you by turns.

    I ness to events of a less peaceful cer.  One day

    to my umps, I

    observed ts, ther much larger, nearly

    ending her.

    go, but struggled and led

    and rolled on tly.  Looking farther, I was

    surprised to find t tants,

    t it  a duellum, but a bellum, a wo races of

    ants, tted against tly two

    red ones to one black.  these Myrmidons covered all

    the ground was already

    stre he only

    battle tle-field I ever

    trod ernecine he red

    republicans on ts on the

    ot, yet

    any noise t I could

    so resolutely.  I c  locked in each

    ottle sunny valley amid t

    noonday prepared to figill t do out.

    tened o his

    adversarys front, and tumblings on t field never

    for an instant ceased to gna one of ,

    o go by the

    stronger black one daso side, and, as I saw on

    looking nearer, ed him of several of his members.

    t inacity ted

    t disposition to retreat.  It  t their

    battle-cry ;Conquer or die.quot;  In there came along

    a single red ant on tly full of

    excitement,  taken

    part in ttle; probably tter, for  none of his

    limbs; urn h his shield or

    upon it.  Or perchance he was some Achilles, who had nourished his

    , and o avenge or rescue roclus.  he

    sa from afar -- for the blacks were nearly

    till be

    stood on ants; then,

    cunity, he black warrior, and

    commenced ions near t of  fore leg,

    leaving to select among here were

    ted for life, as if a netraction had been

    invented s to shame.  I should

    not ime to find t their

    respective musical bands stationed on some eminent chip, and playing

    tional airs to excite the

    dying combatants.  I ed somehey had

    been men.  t, the difference.  And

    certainly t t recorded in Concord ory, at

    least, if in tory of America, t s

    comparison , or for

    triotism and heroism displayed.  For numbers and for carnage

    it erlitz or Dresden.  Concord Fighe

    patriots side, and Lut

    trick -- quot;Fire! for Gods sake fire!quot; -- and thousands

    se of Davis and  one hireling

    t t it  for, as

    mucors, and not to avoid a tax on their

    tea; and ts of ttle ant and

    memorable to t concerns as ttle of Bunker

    least.

    I took up ticularly

    described ruggling, carried it into my

    under a tumbler on my o see the issue.

    o t-mentioned red ant, I sa,

    t the near fore leg of his enemy,

    orn

    aals o the black

    e ly too to

    pierce; and th

    ferocity suce.  truggled half an hour

    longer under tumbler, and whe black soldier

    ill

    living ly

    trop ill apparently as firmly fastened as

    ever, and ruggles, being

    feelers and  of a leg, and I kno how many

    oto divest  lengter half

    an  off

    over t crippled state.  her he finally

    survived t combat, and spent the remainder of his days in some

    el des Invalides, I do not kno I t t ry

    be er.  I never learned wy was

    victorious, nor t I felt for t of

    t day as if I ed and harrowed by

    nessing truggle, ty and carnage, of a tle

    before my door.

    Kirby and Spence tell us t ttles of ants have long been

    celebrated and te of t huber

    is to nessed them.

    quot;AEneas Sylvius,quot; say t;after giving a very circumstantial

    account of one contested  obstinacy by a great and small

    species on trunk of a pear tree,quot; adds t quot;tion was

    fougificate of Eugenius the presence of

    Nicoriensis, an eminent lahe whole,

    ory of ttle est fidelity.quot;  A similar

    engagement bet and small ants is recorded by Olaus Magnus,

    in o have buried

    t left t

    enemies a prey to t o the

    expulsion of tyrant Ciern t;  the

    battle ook place in the Presidency of Polk, five

    years before ters Fugitive-Slave Bill.

    Many a village Bose, fit only to course a mud-turtle in a

    victualling cellar, sported ers in t

    ter, and ineffectually smelled at old fox

    burrows and woodc cur

    ill inspire a natural

    terror in its denizens; -- now far behind his guide, barking like a

    canine bull toself for

    scrutiny, tering off, bending t,

    imagining t rack of some stray member of the

    jerbilla family.  Once I o see a cat walking along

    tony shey rarely wander so far from

    ual.  Nevert domestic cat,

    he

    hy behavior, proves herself more

    native tants.  Once, when berrying, I

    met  tens in te hey

    all, like their backs up and were fiercely

    spitting at me.  A fehere was

    ;quot; in one of the farm-houses in Lincoln

    nearest to see her in

    June, 1842, sing in t (I

    am not sure he more

    common pronoun), but ress told me t so the

    neigtle more than a year before, in April, and was

    finally taken into t she was of a dark brownish-gray

    color, e spot on , and , and had a

    large busail like a fox; t in ter thick

    and flatted out along ripes ten or twelve

    incwo and a half wide, and under her chin like a muff,

    tted like felt, and in the spring

    t;;

    t it  flying squirrel or some other wild

    animal, o naturalists,

    prolific en and

    domestic cat.  t kind of cat for me to

    keep, if I  any; for s cat be winged

    as well as his horse?

    In to

    moult and bath his wild

    laug rumor of he

    Mill-dam sportsmen are on t, in gigs and on foot, two

    and tent rifles and conical balls and

    spy-glasses.  tling tumn

    leaves, at least ten men to one loon.  Some station themselves on

    t, for t be

    omnipresent; if  come up t nohe

    kind October ling the

    surface of ter, so t no loon can be hough

    he woods resound

    he waves generously rise and dash angrily,

    taking sides er-fosmen must beat a

    retreat to tooo

    often successful.   to get a pail of er early in the

    morning I frequently saately bird sailing out of my cove

    o overtake , in

    order to see ely

    lost, so t I did not discover imes, till the

    latter part of t I che

    surface.   off in a rain.

    As I ober

    afternoon, for suctle on to the lakes,

    like the pond for a

    loon, suddenly one, sailing out from tohe middle a

    fe of me, set up rayed himself.

    I pursued  when he came up I was

    nearer t I miscalculated the

    direction ake, and y rods apart when he came

    to time, for I o erval;

    and again han

    before.   I could not get hin half

    a dozen rods of ime, he surface,

    turning , er and

    tly c  come up

    er and at test

    distance from t.  It was surprising how quickly he made up

    o execution.   once to

    t part of t be driven from it.  hile

    o divine

    in mine.  It ty game, played on th

    surface of t a loon.  Suddenly your

    adversarys che problem is

    to place yours nearest to wimes he

    edly on te side of me, having

    apparently passed directly under t.  So long-winded was he

    and so un w he would

    immediately plunge again, nevert could divine

    w be

    speeding ime and ability to visit

    ttom of ts deepest part.  It is said t loons

    in ty feet beneathe

    surface,  for trout -- than

    t.   to see tor

    from anot he

    appeared to knohe surface,

    and swice I saw a ripple where he

    approac put  to reconnoitre, and

    instantly dived again.  I found t it o rest

    on my oars and  o endeavor to calculate

    wraining my

    eyes over tartled by his

    uneart wer displaying so much

    cunning, did ray  he came up by

    t loud laug e breast enougray him?  he

    .  I could commonly he

    splaser ed

    after an hour he seemed as fresh as ever, dived as willingly, and

    s fart first.  It o see how

    serenely  he

    surface, doing all t beneath.  his usual

    note er, yet some of a

    er-fo occasionally, w

    successfully and come up a long ered a long-drawn

    uneart of a han any bird; as

    s o tely howls.

    t sound t is ever heard

    he

    laugs, confident of his own resources.

    time overcast, th

    t I could see w hear him.

    e breast, tillness of thness of

    ter   lengty rods

    off, tered one of the

    god of loons to aid ely the

    east and rippled ty

    rain, and I  he loon

    answered, and  him

    disappearing far aumultuous surface.

    For cack and

    veer and sman; tricks

    ise in Louisiana bayous.

    o rise times circle round and round

    and over t a considerable , from whey could

    easily see to otes in the

    sky; and, hey

    tle doing fliger of a mile on to

    a distant part  y t

    by sailing in t knohey love

    its er for t I do.