SNOW-QUAKES AND THE SNOW-QUAKER 



January 26th 



^E of the most welcome occasional companions 

 of the winter walker is the gray squirrel. On 

 almost any genial day we are sure of him if 

 our eyes are sharp enough, and our manners 

 sufficiently decorous. His eccentric doings are written 

 in his footprints everywhere upon the new-fallen snow, 

 connecting tree with tree, and keeping one's eyes ever 

 on the lookout for the whisking tail. 



At our approach he has leaped upon a convenient 

 trunk, and suspended himself head downward, unwink- 

 ing and motionless, with brush laid flat against the 

 bark. But not for long. If we wait with sufficient pa- 

 tience, the nervous loop of that tell-tail will soon show 

 us his whereabouts, and in a moment more we see him 

 bounding with graceful curves across the snow, every 

 subtle motion of his beautiful body accentuated as nev- 

 er before, in its contrast against the white carpet. 



His summer companion, the chickaree, or red squir- 

 rel, is still curled up in its semi-hibernating sleep, or 

 perhaps has taken a peep at the white world without 

 from its hole in the tree, or a nibble from its convenient 

 frozen apple or nut in the crotch above. But we rarely 



