The Road to Dumbiedykes 



have landed frequently on the wood- 

 pecker's face. Those needle points 

 on the ends of his tiny paws were 

 admirably calculated to scratch out an 

 adversary's eyes. And so, after as 

 pretty and as lively and as strange a 

 set-to as I have ever witnessed, the 

 bird gave up trying to force this Dar- 

 danelles, and winged his way back 

 into the depths of the wood whence he 

 came, leaving the flying squirrels mas- 

 ters of what was to be their winter 

 home. And here we bade them fare- 

 well when we closed the cottage and 

 returned to our quarters in the city. 



Longfellow's description of the "cold 

 and cruel winter" fits well the condi- 

 tions that now overtook the last of the 

 race of flying squirrels in Midlothian 

 wood. Heavy snow and ice coated all 

 the countryside, the mercury sank to 

 almost unprecedented depths and it 

 seemed as if the sun would never again 

 return to release the northern earth 

 from the iron in which it was bound. 

 [108] 



