52 Redruff 



the Mad Moon found him once more in the 

 Mud Creek Glen, but absolutely alone. 



Food grew scarce as winter wore on. Red- 

 ruff clung to the old ravine and the piney sides 

 of Taylor's Hill, but every month brought its 

 food and its foes. The Mad Moon brought 

 madness, solitude, and grapes; the Snow Moon 

 came with rosehips ; and the Stormy Moon 

 brought browse of birch and silver storms that 

 sheathed the woods in ice, and made it hard to 

 keep one's perch while pulling off the frozen 

 buds. Redruff's beak grew terribly worn with 

 the work, so that even when closed there was 

 still an opening through behind the hook. But 

 nature had prepared him for the slippery foot- 

 ing ; his toes, so slim and trim in September, 

 had sprouted rows of sharp, horny points, and 

 these grew with the growing cold, till the first 

 snow had found him fully equipped with snow- 

 shoes and ice-creepers. The cold weather had 

 driven away most of the hawks and owls, and 

 made it impossible for his four-footed enemies 

 to approach unseen, so that things were nearly 

 balanced. 



His flight in search of food had daily led him 



