148 NOTES BY THE WAY. 



three bull's-eyes in succession is not a mere coinci- 

 dence; it is a proof of skill. The muskrat is not 

 found in the Old World, which is a little singular, as 

 other rats so abound there, and as those slow-going 

 English streams especially, with their grassy banks, 

 are so well suited to him. The water-rat of Europe is 

 smaller, but of similar nature and habits. The musk 

 rat does not hibernate like some rodents, but is pretty 

 active all winter. In December I noticed in my walk 

 where they had made excursions of a few yards to an 

 orchard for frozen apples. One day, along a little 

 stream, I saw a mink track amid those of the musk- 

 rat ; following it up, I presently came to blood and 

 other marks of strife upon the snow beside a stone 

 wall. Looking in between the stones, I found the 

 carcass of the luckless rat, with its head and neck 

 eaten away. The mink had made a meal of him. 



CHEATING THE SQUIRRELS. 



FOR the largest and. finest chestnuts I had last 

 fall I was indebted to the gray squirrels. Walking 

 through the early October woods one day, I came 

 vpon a place where the ground was thickly strewn 

 with very large unopened chestnut burs. On exam- 

 ination I found that every bur had been cut square 

 off with about an inch of the stem adhering, and no* 

 one had been left on the tree. It was not accident 



