Chapter XII: Brute Neighbors
6 argumentative units
- 01A Dialogue Between a Hermit and a Poet
Thoreau presents a dialogue between a Hermit, content with his simple life, and a Poet, who arrives to go fishing.
- 02A Familiar Mouse and a Shy Partridge
He reflects on animals as beasts of burden for our thoughts and describes the wild mice and partridge family that lived near his house.
- 03The Secret Inhabitants of the Woods
He describes the many creatures, like the otter and raccoon, that live secretly in the woods, and the wood-cock that led her brood by his spring.
- 04A War Between Two Races of Ants
He witnesses a ferocious battle between red and black ants in his wood-yard, a conflict as epic and principled as any human war.
- 05A Winged Cat
He observes various domestic animals in the woods and recounts the story of a 'winged cat' that once lived in a nearby farmhouse.
- 06The Hunt for the Loon
He describes the autumn arrival of the loon, the subsequent frenzy of the town's sportsmen, and a game of pursuit he played with one on the pond.