FIELD AND STUDY 



I smiled one day last April when, walking near 

 the edge of a small pond, I saw a muskrat on shore 

 very busy stuffing his mouth with dry leaves, then 

 taking to the water, holding his bedding well up till 

 he came opposite to his hole in the bank, when he 

 dived and swam to its underwater entrance. My 

 smile was provoked, I suppose, by the discrepancy 

 between the care the animal took to secure dry 

 leaves, and the necessity that compelled it to plunge 

 under the wave in order to reach its chamber. I do 

 not suppose the muskrat could have interpreted 

 my smile had he seen it and tried. 



I was interested and amused by the behavior of 

 the big garter snake I met in my field walk one 

 October day. The day was chilly and I could not stir 

 the snake into any considerable degree of activity. 

 He was sluggish and made no effort to escape, 

 though I teased him with my cane for a quarter of 

 an hour. He presently woke up enough to scent 

 danger in my cane. Probably he had a dim sense 

 that it was another snake. He flattened himself out 

 and became a half-round, opened his mouth threat- 

 eningly, but would not seize or strike my stick. He 

 coiled beautifully and when I turned him on his 

 back he righted himself quickly by a movement the 

 whole length of his body. After a while I noticed 

 that his body began to contract at a point about 

 one third the distance from the end of the tail ; then, 

 as I continued my teasing, he folded the rear part 

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