HARD FARE. 65 



that shawl. It was a masterly piece of analysis. The 

 work of the wheel and the loom was exactly reversed, 

 and what was once shawl was now the finest and 

 softest of wool. The white-footed mouse is much more 

 common along the fences and in the woods than one 

 would suspect. One winter day I set a mouse-trap 

 the kind known as the delusion trap beneath some 

 ledges in the edge of the woods, to determine what 

 species of mouse was most active at this season. The 

 snow fell so deeply that I did not visit my trap for two 

 or three weeks. When I did so, it was literally packed 

 full of white-footed mice. There were seven in all, 

 and not room for another. Our woods are full of 

 these little creatures, and they appear to have a 

 happy, social time of it, even in the severest winters. 

 Their little tunnels under the snow and their hurried 

 strides upon its surface may be noted everywhere. 

 They link tree and stump, or rock and tree, by their 

 pretty trails. They evidently travel for adventure 

 and to hear the news, as well as for food. They 

 know that foxes and owls are about, and they keep 

 pretty close to cover. When they cross an exposed 

 place, they do it hurriedly. 



Such a winter as I have referred to probably de- 

 stroys a great many of our half-migratory birds. The 

 mortality appears to be the greatest in the Border 

 States, where so many species, like the sparrows, 

 robins, bluebirds, meadow-larks, kinglets, etc., usually 

 pass the cold season. A great many birds are said to 

 have died in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, including 



