THE SNOW- WALKERS. 71 



to tease you and provoke your attention ; then sud- 

 denly assumes a tone of good-natured, child-like defi- 

 ance and derision. That pretty little imp, the chip- 

 munk, will sit on the stone above his den, and defy 

 you, as plainly as if he said so, to catch him before he 

 can get into his hole if you can. You hurl a stone at 

 him, and " No you did n't " comes up from the depth 

 of his retreat. 



In February another track appears upon the snow, 

 slender and delicate, about a third larger than that of 

 the gray squirrel, indicating no haste or speed, but, on 

 the contrary, denoting the most imperturbable ease 

 and leisure, the foot-prints so close together that the 

 trail appears like a chain of curiously carved links. 

 Sir Mephitis chinga, or, in plain English, the skunk, 

 has woke up from his six weeks' nap, and come out 

 into society again. He is a nocturnal traveler, very 

 bold and impudent, coming quite up to the barn and 

 out-buildings, and sometimes taking up his quarters 

 for the season unde r the hay-mow. There is no such 

 word as hurry in his dictionary, as you may see by 

 his path upon the snow. He has a very sneaking, 

 insinuating way, and goes creeping about the fields 

 and woods, never once in a perceptible degree alter- 

 ing his gait, and, if a fence crosses his course, steers 

 tor a break or opening to avoid climbing. He is too 

 indolent even to dig his own hole, but appropriates 

 that of a woodchuck, or hunts out a crevice in the 

 ocks, from which he extends his rambling in all di- 

 rections, preferring damp, thawy weather. He has 



