34 



Why he does this is largely a matter of guess- 

 work. It is not to clean it, for much of it is 

 Brofher a l rea( jy clean ; not to soften it, for clams are 

 soft enough as they are, and his jaws are pow- 

 erful enough to crush the hardest shells, yet 

 he souses them just the same before eating. 

 Possibly it is to give things the watery taste 

 of fish, of which he is very fond ; more prob- 

 ably it is a relic, like the dog's turning around 

 before he lies down, or like the unnecessary 

 migration of most birds, the inheritance from 

 some forgotten ancestor that had a reason for 

 the habit, and that lived on the earth long, 

 long years before there was any man to watch 

 him or to wonder why he did it. 



Deep in the wilderness Mooweesuk is shy 

 and alert for danger, like most of the wild 

 things there ; but if approached very quietly, 

 or if he find you unexpectedly near him, he 

 is filled with the Wood Folk's curiosity to 

 know who you are. Once, on the long tote- 

 road from St. Leonards to the headwaters of 

 the Restigouche, I saw Mooweesuk sitting on 

 a rock by a trout brook diligently sousing 

 something that he had just caught. I crept 



