A Winter Walk 295 



asleep, while half a dozen others will try to 

 catch him outside his house. 



" See that old yellow birch stub at the edge 

 of the swamp? " asked Ben. 



I saw it and remarked that it did not look 

 very interesting. 



" There you are wrong, boy. Dead trees 

 are always more interesting than live ones 

 when you are out looking for the wild folk. 

 One old dead maple stump standing in the 

 middle of the cow pasture is worth a whole 

 grove of ordinary maples. 



" Now, that old birch stump was the home 

 of a family of raccoons last year, and I 

 wouldn't be surprised if they were sleeping 

 there now. You see, Harry, the raccoon is 

 the little brother of the bear. He walks 

 like a bear, he acts like a bear, and his face 

 looks very much like a bear's. He likes 

 many of the things that a bear eats; in fact, 

 he is a real little bear, although he has a 

 long ringed tail and is considered only a rac- 

 coon." 



We went over to the birch stump and 



