that I ever heard. It was very much like the bleating of a
young lamb, and, on hearing it the first time, I thought sure it was
from some little lamb that was lost, or in distress of some kind. I
never looked the matter up to ascertain of what particular species
those frogs were. They may be common throughout the South, but I never
heard this particular call except around and near Bolivar. And the
woods between Bolivar and Toone's were full of owls, from great big
fellows with a thunderous scream, down to the little screech owls, who
made only a sort of chattering noise. One never failing habit of the
big owls was to assemble in some grove of tall trees just about
daybreak, and have a morning concert, that could be heard half a mile
away. And there were also whippoorwills, and mocking birds, and, during
the pleasant season of the year, myriads of insects that would keep
sounding their shrill little notes the greater part of the night. And
the only time one sees a flying squirrel, (unless you happen to cut
down the tree in whose hollow he is sleeping,) is in the night time.
They are then abroad in full force.

When on picket in my army days I found out that dogs are great
nocturnal ramblers. I have been on guard at a big tree, on some
grass-grown country road, when something would be heard coming down the
road towards me; pat, pat, pitty-pat,--then it would stop short. The
night might be too dark for me to see it, but I knew it must be a dog.
It would stand silent for a few seconds, evidently closely scrutinizing
that man alone under the tree, with something like a long shining stick
in his hands; then it would stealthily leave the road, and would be
heard rustling through the leaves as it made a half circle through the
woods to get by me. On reaching the road below me, its noise would
cease for a little while,--it was then looking back over its shoulder
to see if that man was still there. Having satisfied itself on that
point, then--pat, pat, pitty-pat, and it went off in a trot down the
road. When you see an old farm dog asleep in the sun on the porch in
the day time, with his head between his paws, it is, as a general rule,
safe to assume that he was up and on a scout all the previous night,
and maybe traveled ten or fifteen miles. Cats are also confirmed night
prowlers, but I don't think they wander as far as dogs. Later, when we
were in Arkansas, sometimes a full grown bear would walk up to some
drowsy picket, and