WINTER NIGHTS. 293 



leading the hunter a weary chase. The cock of the woods, 

 or the great red-headed woodpecker, hates the cold, and is 

 never heard or seen in winter, except when a change is 

 near. If on a winter's day you do hear him giving tongue 

 chuckling away hoarsely on the extreme summit of a 

 giant rampike no matter how fine and bright the day, be 

 sure that to-morrow it will rain. In the fall of the year 

 beavers oil themselves at the approach of wet weather; 

 and the hunters at that season form an opinion as to the 

 severity of the coming winter by the thickness of the 

 roofs of these animals' lodges. 



As I have remarked elsewhere, actual cold as indicated 

 by the thermometer is lightly felt, but a much less degree 

 of frost accompanied by a high wind and poudre of drift- 

 ing snow penetrates the warmest clothing, and chills the 

 wretched wayfarer to the marrow. Such days are for- 

 tunately few and far between in the interior, owing to the 

 shelter of the surrounding forests, but of frequent occur- 

 rence on the more exposed seaboard. 



The nights in this country are lighter than in England, 

 and owing to the clearness of the atmosphere, the moon and 

 stars are much brighter. A still, cold Canadian winter's 

 night is one of the things to be seen, and to see it to per- 

 fection one must be in the woods. The stars then appear 

 little higher than the tree-tops, and the flashes of the 

 aurora borealis in the north are like spectres flitting about 

 in the distance ; the smooth surface of the snow reflects 

 the light of the moon and of the stars, so that it is possible 

 to read small print ; the silence is most profound, and a 

 dreamy, drowsy feeling steals over the watcher that feel- 

 ing which causes the lost Arctic traveller to lie down and 



