A CHRIST^IAS WALK WITH THE BIRDS AND BEASTS 



1529 



tion to two shining black shoe buttons in a crevice and 

 a tiny black muzzle which quivered slightly as though 

 it did not like the smell that was being wafted in its 

 direction. The animal, itself, we could scarcely dis- 

 tinguish from the snow all about it. When the eyes 

 suddenly disappeared, considerable of the snow disap- 

 peared with them and we knew that we had seen more of 

 his lordship than we realized. Not a sound did we hear 

 in the log pile but suddenly in an entirely different place 

 we perceived the shining eyes once more gazing intently 

 at us. Several times he appeared and disappeared as 

 though he were playing a little game with us, so we 

 thought we would respond. I put my hand to my lips 

 and gave the "young bird squeak" that is so successful 

 in drawing birds during the nesting season. In an in- 

 stant his entire attitude changed. Out popped his whole 



'^ ■'pq 



A MEADOW MOUSE SPEEDWAY 



When he ventures into the open, the meadow mouse is exposed to 

 many enemies and must put on the high gears. He lost no time in 

 crossing and recrossing this open stretcli. 



serpent-like head and shoulders, his head turning first 

 one way and then the other and his little muzzle sniffing 

 the air to detect the whereabouts of the breakfast that 

 his ears had just heard. Back into the logs he went and 

 then out of another crack much nearer. He was all at- 

 tention and his little muscles seemed to quiver with ex- 

 citement but his oft'ended nostrils told him that there 

 was nothing near but his huge and dreaded enemies, and, 

 after a few more passes, he disappeared. 



Our path now led us to the creek which was frozen 

 over except in the swiftest places. Out from one of these 

 led some broad pigeon-toed tracks with an uninterrupted 

 clean cut furrow following between them that we knew 

 could have been made by none other than "Major Musk- 

 rat." Where the snow was a little deeper his body made 

 a broad furrow and always his heavy flattened tail cut 

 down into the crust behind him. He apparently was not 

 bent on feeding for his tracks merely lead to the next 

 hole in the ice and cloudy water streaming from a hole 



THE BURROWS OF THE SHORT-TAILED SHREW 



His minute eyes seem barely to distinguish light from dark and he 

 furrows the surface or burrows beneath without seeming to know 

 tlie difference. 



in the bank told that he had not disappeared very long 

 before and was still inside his burrow. Down in the 

 marsh his brothers had built a nice warm house like a 

 beaver's, but this creek-dwelling muskrat had to be satis- 

 tied with a hole in the bank. 



Crossing a stubble field we could see where a flock of 



"THOUGH SHE BE BUT LITTLE, SHE IS FIERCE" 



The weasel is a blood-thirsty little beast and is never more vicious 

 than when caught in a trap. In the north, its fur is white in winter 

 and the best grades are known as "ermine." In the summer its fur 

 is reddish brown. 



