68 LAND OF THE LINGERING SNOW. 



with his head pointing forward until he gained 

 the cover of a larger growth of grass, then 

 stopped and raised his head slowly above it, and 

 remained motionless, vigilant. 



Crouched among the grass in a hollow I 

 watched him, my glass levelled at his head. 

 Five minutes may have passed before he gave a 

 sharp " chip," ran at full speed down the bank, 

 and flew back to his feeding-ground. Near an- 

 other pool a dozen or more horned larks were 

 feeding on the wet ground. This bird is one 

 of the most beautiful I know. In the pool, cad- 

 dis-worms were crawling about in cases made, 

 not of grains of gravel, but of sections of scour- 

 ing-rush, which they had found to answer all 

 practical purposes. This is an instance of the 

 use of ready-made clothing to oppose to Nature's 

 usual demand for custom-made garments. These 

 caddis-worms were the first water-life which I 

 had seen stirring this spring. Later in the day 

 I saw " Torn Coddies " or " mummichogs " 

 swimming in a ditch, but they are active all 

 winter. Another sign of spring was the track 

 of a white-footed mouse (hespcromys leuco- 

 pus) found by the mouse-hunter on his morn- 

 ing round. 



Standing on the crest of one of the dunes 

 next the sea, and looking through the fog across 

 lagoons filled with islands to other dunes of 



