A CHRISTMAS WALK WITH THE BIRDS AND BEASTS 



1527 



before and no doubt the blessed haven was well fixed in 

 her rabbit memory though it was now almost concealed 

 by snow. 



The woodchuck hole was on the edge of the woods 

 and near it was an old oak that we knew to be the home 

 of a frolicsome family of red squirrels. How busy they 

 had been storing acorns last fall and scolding the blue 

 jays and the redheaded woodpecker that competed with 

 them for the fruits of the great tree, but this morning 

 all was quiet. We were about to believe that they were 

 not yet up when we noticed the numerous trails leading 



started down the other side, the long slits in the snow 

 announced his identity. The only other long-tailed mouse 

 that lived in the vicinity, the meadow jumping mouse, 

 we knew was safely tucked away in a snug little nest 

 for his winter sleep. There were other deer mice living 

 in this woodland and all had apparently been out the 

 night before passing and repassing each other so that 

 their trails often made a network of tracks. Sometimes 

 they led up to the base of a tree and did not return so we 

 knew the little mouse had climbed the tree like a squirrel 

 for sheer fun and finally had scrambled down a grape 

 vine that hung from one of its branches. One deer 

 mouse track led up to a bush containing a song spar- 

 row's nest that had been roofed over with shreds of 

 bark and grasses, and when we touched it, a tiny yellow- 

 brown head with two big black eyes and two big ears 

 popped out of a hole in the side as if to say, "Hello, 

 who's there? Then, terrified by the size of her callers, 

 she leaped to the ground and disappeared under a log. 

 Here and there in the woodland we found shallow 

 furrows in the snow leading into burrows that ran just 

 beneath the surface and then out into furrows again as 

 though the little animal that made them did not know or 

 did not care wh>.ther he ran on the surface or burrowed 



A HUNGRY RED SQUIRREL 



Squirrel tracks resemble small rabbit tracks but the front feet always 

 strike side by side. 



from the base of the tree in all directions and we knew 

 that we were the laggards. The tracks looked something 

 like small rabbit tracks but the marks of the front feet 

 were always side by side no matter how fast the little 

 animal was traveling. Most of the tracks led out from 

 the base of the tree for a couple of rods to small holes 

 in the snow where the squirrel had dug down for acorns 

 and then they proceeded back to the tree again where 

 he could eat in safety. We wondered how he could re- 

 member where each nut was when the ground was 

 covered with snow for he never seemed to make a mis- 

 take. Every track was full of purpose, going directly to 

 the spot where the treasures were hidden. 



Not so business-like were the tracks of the little deer 

 mouse coming from a nearby stump. Perhaps he had all 

 his stores for the winter hidden in the roots of the stump 

 and came out just for exercise, for though we followed 

 his tracks all about the corner of the woods, we could not 

 discover his particular errand. We knew it was a deer 

 mouse that lived in the stump because of the long hops 

 and the marks made by his long tail in the snow. Occa- 

 sionally when climbing a hill he apparently held his tail 

 up from the snow so that his tracks looked very much 

 like his cousin's, the meadow mouse, but as soon as he 



MAKING TRACKS 



This shows how the tracks of the cottontail are formed: the front 

 feet, one behind the other and both behind the larger hind feet that 

 strike side by side. 



beneath it. This we knew to be the trail of a short-tailed 

 shrew whose tiny eyes can probably scarcely tell day 

 from night. He is about the size of a small mouse but 

 his fur is short and dense and gray like a mole's and his 

 nose is very pointed. Unlike the mole, however, his front 

 feet are not enlarged and the footprints that he leaves 

 in the bottom of the furrow as he patters along are small 

 and equally far apart. In spite of his small size and 

 apparent blindness, however, he is a wicked little beast 

 for he follows the deer mice and meadow mice into their 

 burrows where he corners them and mercilessly kills them 

 with his needle-like teeth. Such an appetite has he that 

 he seems to have no difficulty in disposing of an entire 

 mouse much larger than himself for he leaves only the 



