190 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



year through. In a tortuous burrow at the roots of the 

 tree is the home of a pair of minks, that have laughed 

 at all my traps ; in a black oak near by there are opos- 

 sums nearly always to be found, and in the long grass of 

 the meadow the musk-rat has his home. A few of the 

 birds I have already mentioned. What need, then, to 

 travel to distant parts with such a wealth of entertaining 

 life near by ? I have been familiar with all these mam- 

 mals, birds, reptiles, and fishes, from my earliest years, yet 

 not one of them is so well known that a day's study of 

 them, in their own homes, does not yield something new. 

 Lingering by the hour in this secluded corner, I have 

 heard owls utter sounds that are nowhere recorded as 

 within the range of their cries ; I have watched the 

 wary woodcocks performing their aerial dances, if they 

 may be so called ; I have seen the fierce snapping-tur- 

 tle play the gentle lover ; and, when all was covered 

 deep with winter's accumulated snows, I have tracked 

 the musk-rat to his home ; and sought out the mink, 

 the opossum, and the skunk, in their retreats among the 

 trees. Yerily, in such a corner, one may ceaselessly turn 

 the pages of the book of Nature, and never weary in so 

 doing. 



