summary of brute neighbors by thoreu
...s at his food. He describes a robin and a phoebe, which builds a shed against his house. He also talks about a partridge that proves herself to be the hen of the woods, a woodcock, and others. He describes it as, “Remarkable how many creatures live wild and free though secret in the woods, and still sustain themselves in the neighborhood of towns, suspected by hunters only.” These animals are around humans all the time. They are just as a part of the neighborhood as humans are, regardless if someone sees the animals or not. The narrator describes this with a battle he witnessed between the blacks ants and the red ants. He says, “on every side they were engaged in deadly combat.” He says, “He had no doubt that it was a principle they fought for and the results of the battle will be as important and memorable to those whom it concerns as those of the battle of Bunker Hill.” He was excited “as if they had been men and the more he thought of it, the less the difference.” That battle to the ants could have been in comparison to the Civil War for humans. Rega...