sky; and, when I thought they had gone off thither long since, they
it was an Austerlitz or Dresden. Concord Fight! Two killed on the
the hen of the woods. The young suddenly disperse on your approach,
observed two large ants, the one red, the other much larger, nearly
developed and precocious even than chickens. The remarkably adult
finally taken into their house; that she was of a dark brownish-gray
doves sat over the spring, or fluttered from bough to bough of the
morning I frequently saw this stately bird sailing out of my cove
meditation. I think that I am near the end of it. Leave me alone,
memorable to those whom it concerns as those of the battle of Bunker
invented which put all other locks and cements to shame. I should
for an instant ceased to gnaw at one of his feelers near the root,
brood, to probe the mud for worms, flying but a foot above them down
where he would rise; for again and again, when I was straining my
this you may have all to yourself today. I would advise you to set
the bank, while they ran in a troop beneath; but at last, spying me,
victualling cellar, sported his heavy quarters in the woods, without
Hill, at least.
enemies a prey to the birds. This event happened previous to the
would settle down by a slanting flight of a quarter of a mile on to
few rods in front of me, set up his wild laugh and betrayed himself.
pine which grew against the house. In June the partridge (Tetrao
part in the battle; probably the latter, for he had lost none of his
and again he laughed long and loud, andwith more reason than
direction he would take, and we were fifty rods apart when he came
the nearest bough, was particularly familiar and inquisitive. You
ferocity such as war only could excite. They struggled half an hour
eat need not work. I wonder how much they have reaped. Who would
within a few rods. If I endeavored to overtake him in a boat, in
saw this unequal combat from afar -- for the blacks were nearly
been men. The more you think of it, the less the difference. And
naturalist, and it interested him much. When I was building, one of
when a beast puts his muzzle to the ground and deliberately howls.
For hours, in fall days, I watched the ducks cunningly tack and
republicans on the one hand, and the black imperialists on the
she would leave her young and circle round and round me, nearer and
without suspecting their neighborhood. The parent will sometimes
scour his tubs this bright day! Better not keep a house. Say, some
never seen a man before; and it soon became quite familiar, and
terror in its denizens; -- now far behind his guide, barking like a
very nearly as the squares of the distances.
twice the size of the red -- he drew near with rapid pace till be
apparently passed directly under the boat. So long-winded was he
the sides of the room by short impulses, like a squirrel, which it
would run over my shoes and up my clothes. It could readily ascend
home. The surprise was mutual. Nevertheless the most domestic cat,
johnswort waving. I think that I may warrant you one worm to every
burrows and woodchucks holes; led perchance by some slight cur
As I was paddling along the north shore one very calm October
swam yet farther than at first. It was surprising to see how
certainly there is not the fight recorded in Concord history, at
digging the bait meanwhile. Angleworms are rarely to be met with in
Why has man just these species of animals for his neighbors; as if
perfect is this instinct, that once, when I had laid them on the
which they will have less need to practise in Louisiana bayous.
nearer than before. He dived again, but I miscalculated the
pierce; and the dark carbuncles of the sufferers eyes shone with
veer and hold the middle of the pond, far from the sportsman; tricks
years before the passage of Websters Fugitive-Slave Bill.
feelers and with only the remnant of a leg, and I know not how many
engagement between great and small ants is recorded by Olaus Magnus,
instantly dived again. I found that it was as well for me to rest
woodpecker tapping. Oh, they swarm; the sun is too warm there; they
spy-glasses. They come rustling through the woods like autumn
into a larger wood about the swamp. There, in a very secluded and
survived that combat, and spent the remainder of his days in some
keep, if I had kept any; for why should not a poets cat be winged
an hour more, he accomplished. I raised the glass, and he went off
that all its inhabitants may exhibit themselves to you by turns.
answered, and his god was angry with me; and so I left him
noonday prepared to fight till the sun went down, or life went out.
patriots side, and Luther Blanchard wounded! Why here every ant
cunning, did he invariably betray himself the moment he came up by
upon it. Or perchance he was some Achilles, who had nourished his
its water for the same reason that I do.
that of catching the fish, when ones appetite is not too keen; and
soft white pines over my head; or the red squirrel, coursing down
ever, and he was endeavoring with feeble struggles, being without
having already caused the other to go by the board; while the
leaves again, and one accidentally fell on its side, it was found
would come up unexpectedly on the opposite side of me, having
sumachs and sweetbriers tremble. -- Eh, Mr. Poet, is it you? How do
these parts, where the soil was never fattened with manure; the race
nearest the pond, Mr. Gilian Bakers. When I called to see her in
well. The ignorant or reckless sportsman often shoots the parent at
file through the swamp, as she directed. Or I heard the peep of the
kind October wind rises, rustling the leaves and rippling the
am not sure whether it was a male or female, and so use the more
he was thinking one thing in his brain, I was endeavoring to divine
I pursued with a paddle and he dived, but when he came up I was
I know not whether it was the dumps or a budding ecstasy. Mem.
hollow tree; and then for morning calls and dinner-parties! Only a
such a time, and leaves these innocents to fall a prey tosome
which has lain on a rug all her days, appears quite at home in the
latter close, and dodged and played at bopeep with it; and when at
lost, so that I did not discover him again, sometimes, till the
that. How surprised must the fishes be to see this ungainly visitor
turning his head this way and that, he cooly surveyed the water and
legs, to attract my attention, and get off her young, who would
Theres good sport there if the water be not too high.
Indian bread. Why will men worry themselves so? He that does not
laughed in derision of my efforts, confident of his own resources.
when the pond was warmest. Thither, too, the woodcock led her
the widest part of the pond, and could not be driven from it. While
came and nibbled it, sitting in my hand, and afterward cleaned its
unearthly laugh behind me. But why, after displaying so much
the knowledge of his master, and ineffectually smelled at old fox
his mind and put his resolve into execution. He led me at once to
the hills and vales in my wood-yard, and the ground was already
met with a cat with young kittens in the woods, quite wild, and they
I was witness to events of a less peaceful character. One day
memorable. All intelligence seems reflected in them. They suggest
stronger black one dashed him from side to side, and, as I saw on
nothing but a mouse could have filled this crevice? I suspect that
without discovering them. I have held them in my open hand at such
Poet. How now, Hermit, is it too soon? I have got just
successfully and come up a long way off, he uttered a long-drawn
celebrated and the date of them recorded, though they say that Huber
these appendages dropped off. They gave me a pair of her "wings,"
least, if in the history of America, that will bear a moments
the stony shore of the pond, for they rarely wander so far from
with the rest in exactly the same position ten minutes afterward.
a time, and still their only care, obedient to their mother and
moult and bathe in the pond, making the woods ring with his wild
A phoebe soon built in my shed, and a robin for protection in a
grass, as if you were weeding. Or, if you choose to go farther, it
retreat to town and shop and unfinished jobs. But they were too
on my oars and wait his reappearing as to endeavor to calculate
thoughts.
unearthly howl, probably more like that of a wolf than any bird; as
three sentences of Confutsee; they may fetch that state about again.
leaves, at least ten men to one loon. Some station themselves on
appeared to know his course as surely under water as on the surface,
note was this demoniac laughter, yet somewhat like that of a
which I keep still. There is no appearance of a membrane about
In the fall the loon (Colymbus glacialis) came, as usual, to
comparison with this, whether for the numbers engaged in it, or for
was as near being resolved into the essence of things as ever I was
afternoon, for such days especially they settle on to the lakes,
stood on his guard within half an inch of the combatants; then,
is built, and probably still heard their whinnering at night.
order to see how he would manoeuvre, he would dive and be completely
would not be worth much thereafter. I never learned which party was
was a Buttrick -- "Fire! for Gods sake fire!" -- and thousands
speeding his way like a fish, for he had time and ability to visit
had severed the heads of his foes from their bodies, and the still
mewing, or seen her trail her wings to attract his attention,
is nearly extinct. The sport of digging the bait is nearly equal to
woods, and, by her sly and stealthy behavior, proves herself more
It is remarkable how many creatures live wild and free though
others embraces, in a little sunny valley amid the chips, now at
three sods you turn up, if you look well in among the roots of the
his thought in mine. It was a pretty game, played on the smooth
Holding a microscope to the first-mentioned red ant, I saw that,
half an inch long, and black, fiercely contending with one another.
surface. He commonly went off in a rain.
rain, and I was impressed as if it were the prayer of the loon
domestic cat. This would have been the right kind of cat for me to
His white breast, the stillness of the air, and the smoothness of
shared the fate of Davis and Hosmer. There was not one hireling
And oh, the housekeeping! to keep bright the devils door-knobs, and
When compelled to rise they would sometimes circle round and round
longer under the tumbler, and when I looked again the black soldier
only need sit still long enough in some attractive spot in the woods
spitting at me. A few years before I lived in the woods there was
scrutiny, then, cantering off, bending the bushes with his weight,
water-fowl; but occasionally, when he had balked me most
east and rippled the surface, and filled the whole air with misty
common pronoun), but her mistress told me that she came into the
you like the world to-day?
such a gem. The traveller does not often look into such a limpid
loon, suddenly one, sailing out from the shore toward the middle a
Why do precisely these objects which we behold make a world?
Hill, half a mile from my field. The approach to this was through a
umbellus), which is so shy a bird, led her brood past my windows,
coeval with the sky it reflects. The woods do not yield another
succession of descending grassy hollows, full of young pitch pines,
much as our ancestors, and not to avoid a three-penny tax on their
dying combatants. I was myself excited somewhat even as if they had
battle-cry was "Conquer or die." In the meanwhile there came along
the bodies of their own soldiers, but left those of their giant
have my living to get, and have not eaten to-day, that I might go
roll and spin round before you in such a dishabille, that you
distance from the boat. It was surprising how quickly he made up
and thither I went for this purpose almost every day in midsummer,
just now? The hands are coming in to boiled salt beef and cider and
young when I could not see the parent bird. There too the turtle
their instinct, was to squat there without fear or trembling. So
strewn with the dead and dying, both red and black. It was the only
living heads were hanging on either side of him like ghastly
Hermit. Well, then, lets be off. Shall we to the Concord?
This was his looning -- perhaps the wildest sound that is ever heard
warrior, whose breastplate was apparently too thick for him to
what was called a "winged cat" in one of the farm-houses in Lincoln
second floor, and swept out the shavings, would come out regularly
whir of the old bird as she flew off, and her anxious calls and
they will directly disperse on some alarm, and so are lost, for they
village to my house from the other side of the town, and the
and three by three, with patent rifles and conical balls and
shiner may make a meal off one without finding the skewer.
will go with you gladly soon, but I am just concluding a serious
witnessing the struggle, the ferocity and carnage, of a human battle
was thinking of? It was a very hazy day. I will just try these
clear gray water, where I could dip up a pailful without roiling it,
was indeed a silly loon, I thought. I could commonly hear the
are born too far into life for me. I have water from the spring,
fought in the pontificate of Eugenius the Fourth, in the presence of
kind not found in the village. I sent one to a distinguished
trade I have learned. Come, lets along.
never hear the mothers call which gathers them again. These were
prolific hybrids have been produced by the union of the marten and
that day as if I had had my feelings excited and harrowed by
them. Some thought it was part flying squirrel or some other wild
and mind only their mothers directions given from a distance, nor
then, for a while. But that we may not be delayed, you shall be
Hermit. I wonder what the world is doing now. I have not heard
Hermit alone. Let me see; where was I? Methinks I was nearly
leaving the foe to select among his own members; and so there were
left no track, and I cannot find the path again. What was it that I
yet innocent expression of their open and serene eyes is very
and so unweariable, that when he had swum farthest he would
latter part of the day. But I was more than a match for him on the
not merely the purity of infancy, but a wisdom clarified by
that I could see where he broke the surface when I did not hear him.
traveler has placed his foot in the midst of a brood, and heard the
"AEneas Sylvius," say they, "after giving a very circumstantial
Poet. See those clouds; how they hang! Thats the greatest
beasts of burden, in a sense, made to carry some portion of our
before my door.
when I went out to my wood-pile, or rather my pile of stumps, I
Nicholas Pistoriensis, an eminent lawyer, who related the whole,
and rolled on the chips incessantly. Looking farther, I was
these had its nest underneath the house, and before I had laid the
Mill-dam sportsmen are on the alert, in gigs and on foot, two by two
which they so much resemble. It is said that when hatched by a hen
would do any good, I would whistle for them. When they make us an
surprised to find that the chips were covered with such combatants,
shaded spot, under a spreading white pine, there was yet a clean,
in which the small ones, being victorious, are said to have buried
imagining that he is on the track of some stray member of the
June, 1842, she was gone a-hunting in the woods, as was her wont (I
and swam much faster there. Once or twice I saw a ripple where he
by sailing in the middle of Walden I do not know, unless they love
nearer till within four or five feet, pretending broken wings and
trophies at his saddle-bow, still apparently as firmly fastened as
Kirby and Spence tell us that the battles of ants have long been
Many a village Bose, fit only to course a mud-turtle in a
from another sphere speeding his way amid their schools! Yet he
having severed his remaining feeler, his own breast was all torn
my hens and chickens.
and over the pond at a considerable height, from which they could
so much as a locust over the sweet-fern these three hours. The
prowling beast or bird, or gradually mingle with the decaying leaves
and they so exactly resemble the dried leaves and twigs that many a
face and paws, like a fly, and walked away.
red ones to one black. The legions of these Myrmidons covered all
The smaller red champion had fastened himself like a vice to his
otter manages to live here! He grows to be four feet long, as big
three united for life, as if a new kind of attraction had been
firm sward to sit on. I had dug out the spring and made a well of
and a loaf of brown bread on the shelf. -- Hark! I hear a rustling
before. He manoeuvred so cunningly that I could not get within half
him. I formerly saw the raccoon in the woods behind where my house
other wounds, to divest himself of them; which at length, after half
like the milkweed down, having looked in vain over the pond for a
have been caught in the New York lakes eighty feet beneath the
Was that a farmers noon horn which sounded from beyond the woods
without any noise that I could hear, and human soldiers never fought
not have wondered by this time to find that they had their
after an hour he seemed as fresh as ever, dived as willingly, and
thirteen whole ones, beside several which are imperfect or
cannot, for a few moments, detect what kind of creature it is. The
god of loons to aid him, and immediately there came a wind from the
are said to have been introduced into the country, but a wild native
splash of the water when he came up, and so also detected him. But
approached the surface, just put his head out to reconnoitre, and
species on the trunk of a pear tree," adds that "this action was
of it.
from the woods in the rear to the front of my house, clucking and
the bench one day, it ran up my clothes, and along my sleeve, and
inches long by two and a half wide, and under her chin like a muff,
as a small boy, perhaps without any human being getting a glimpse of
history of the battle with the greatest fidelity." A similar
secret in the woods, and still sustain themselves in the
a distant part which was left free; but what beside safety they got
I took up the chip on which the three I have particularly
in my life. I fear my thoughts will not come back to me. If it
victorious, nor the cause of the war; but I felt for the rest of
up the hook so much. Those village worms are quite too large; a
resembled in its motions. At length, as I leaned with my elbow on
battle which I have ever witnessed, the only battle-field I ever
all, like their mother, had their backs up and were fiercely
to the surface this time, for I had helped to widen the interval;
experience. Such an eye was not born when the bird was, but is
trod while the battle was raging; internecine war; the red
omnipresent; if he dive here he must come up there. But now the
in this frame of mind; the world lay about at this angle. Shall I
easily see to other ponds and the river, like black motes in the
with their discharges. The waves generously rise and dash angrily,
neighborhood a little more than a year before, in April, and was
color, with a white spot on her throat, and white feet, and had a
over the window-sill in that crippled state. Whether he finally
is the only modern author who appears to have witnessed them.
where in the deep pond, beneath the smooth surface, he might be
pigeons are all asleep upon their roosts -- no flutter from them.
account of one contested with great obstinacy by a great and small
Hermit. I cannot resist. My brown bread will soon be gone. I
catching of the dinner was as much a social exercise as the eating
Commonly I rested an hour or two in the shade at noon, after
will your approach make them run again and betray themselves. You
canine bull toward some small squirrel which had treed itself for
instinct of the chase? or the lost pig which is said to be in these
the patriotism and heroism displayed. For numbers and for carnage
immediately plunge again, nevertheless; and then no wit could divine
The mice which haunted my house were not the common ones, which
a single red ant on the hillside of this valley, evidently full of
tea; and the results of this battle will be as important and
ants, the red always pitted against the black, and frequently two
coast of Spain. Thats a true Mediterranean sky. I thought, as I
and flatted out along her sides, forming stripes ten or twelve
will not be unwise, for I have found the increase of fair bait to be
live there where a body can never think for the barking of Bose?
of the leaves. Is it some ill-fed village hound yielding to the
surface, doing all the work with his webbed feet beneath. His usual
thing I have seen to-day. Theres nothing like it in old paintings,
woods, whose tracks I saw after the rain? It comes on apace; my
adversarys front, and through all the tumblings on that field never
calling to them like a hen, and in all her behavior proving herself
taking sides with all water-fowl, and our sportsmen must beat a
looking nearer, had already divested him of several of his members.
surface of the water, so that no loon can be heard or seen, though
They are not callow like the young of most birds, but more perfectly
Though the sky was by this time overcast, the pond was so smooth
go to heaven or a-fishing? If I should soon bring this meditation
here, making the woods ring far and wide. I concluded that he
the water were all against him. At length having come up fifty rods
this side of the pond, some on that, for the poor bird cannot be
disappearing far away on the tumultuous surface.
described were struggling, carried it into my house, and placed it
serenely he sailed off with unruffled breast when he came to the
limbs; whose mother had charged him to return with his shield or
round and round the paper which held my dinner, while I kept the
so resolutely. I watched a couple that were fast locked in each
that it was not a duellum, but a bellum, a war between two races of
that loud laugh? Did not his white breast enough betray him? He
expulsion of the tyrant Christiern the Second from Sweden." The
the upper side loose, the under matted like felt, and in the spring
native there than the regular inhabitants. Once, when berrying, I
animal, which is not impossible, for, according to naturalists,
in the spade down yonder among the ground-nuts, where you see the
nothing like it in foreign lands -- unless when we were off the
the land, and apparently chose his course so that he might come up
jerbilla family. Once I was surprised to see a cat walking along
to place yours nearest to where his will appear again. Sometimes he
planting, and ate my lunch, and read a little by a spring which was
at a signal from the mother, as if a whirlwind had swept them away,
Sometimes I had a companion in my fishing, who came through the
to an end, would another so sweet occasion be likely to offer? I
away, exposing what vitals he had there to the jaws of the black
other. On every side they were engaged in deadly combat, yet
though he was assiduously gnawing at the near fore leg of his enemy,
already have taken up their march, with faint, wiry peep, single
undersized; but they will do for the smaller fry; they do not cover
battle which I witnessed took place in the Presidency of Polk, five
surface, with hooks set for trout -- though Walden is deeper than
which nimbly threaded the wood, and might still inspire a natural
watching his opportunity, he sprang upon the black warrior, and
respective musical bands stationed on some eminent chip, and playing
where there was the widest expanse of water and at the greatest
commenced his operations near the root of his right fore leg,
wrath apart, and had now come to avenge or rescue his Patroclus. He
as well as his horse?
neighborhood of towns, suspected by hunters only. How retired the
his foes sweep thepond with spy-glasses, and make the woods resound
large bushy tail like a fox; that in the winter the fur grew thick
excitement, who either had despatched his foe, or had not yet taken
their national airs the while, to excite the slow and cheer the
last I held still a piece of cheese between my thumb and finger, it
at lunch time and pick up the crumbs at my feet. It probably had
a-fishing. Thats the true industry for poets. It is the only
Pilpay & Co. have put animals to their best use, for they are all
Having once got hold they never let go, but struggled and wrestled
off, he uttered one of those prolonged howls, as if calling on the
There never is but one opportunity of a kind.
there. I have no doubt that it was a principle they fought for, as
the source of a swamp and of a brook, oozing from under Bristers
the least disposition to retreat. It was evident that their
a dozen rods of him. Each time, when he came to the surface,
often successful. When I went to get a pail of water early in the
surface of the pond, a man against a loon. Suddenly your
eyes over the surface one way, I would suddenly be startled by his
may even tread on them, or have your eyes on them for a minute,
young squat still and flat, often running their heads under a leaf,
They fought with more pertinacity than bulldogs. Neither manifested
Hotel des Invalides, I do not know; but I thought that his industry
under a tumbler on my window-sill, in order to see the issue.
offer, is it wise to say, We will think of it? My thoughts have
laughter before I had risen. At rumor of his arrival all the
the bottom of the pond in its deepest part. It is said that loons
adversarys checker disappears beneath the board, and the problem is
