WINTER PICTURES 223 



for months, and intense cold, and no henroost 

 accessible, and no carcass of sheep or pig in the 

 neighborhood! The hunter, tramping miles and 

 leagues through his haunts, rarely sees any sign of 

 his having caught anything. Rarely, though, in 

 the course of many winters, he may have seen evi- 

 dence of his having surprised a rabbit or a par- 

 tridge in the woods. He no doubt at this season 

 lives largely upon the memory (or the fat) of the 

 many good dinners he had in the plentiful summer 

 and fall. 



As we crossed the mountain on our return, we 

 saw at one point blood-stains upon the snow, and, 

 as the fox- tracks were very thick on and about it, 

 we concluded that a couple of males had had an 

 encounter there, and a pretty sharp one. Eeynard 

 goes a- wooing in February, and it is to be presumed 

 that, like other dogs, he is a jealous lover. A crow 

 had alighted and examined the blood-stains, and 

 now, if he will look a little farther along, upon a 

 flat rock he will find the flesh he was looking for. 

 Our hound's nose was so blunted now, speaking 

 without metaphor, that he would not look at another 

 trail, but hurried home to rest upon his laurels. 



A POTOMAC SKETCH 



While on a visit to Washington in January, 

 1878, I went on an expedition down the Potomac 

 with a couple of friends to shoot ducks. We left 

 on the morning boat that makes daily trips to and 

 from Mount Vernon. The weather was chilly and 



