In the Haunts of tbe Hare 371 



Mr. Owl, always prompt and efficient, at once arrested 

 the notorious Molly Cottontail and haled her before 

 the Beak. She was promptly put away." " House- 

 holders are warned that the well-known criminal, 

 Brown Mink, is hanging about the neighborhood. 

 Our readers will do well to closely examine all fast- 

 enings before retiring." And so they ran on in the 

 usual backwoods style. 



To take it seriously, though, this reading of the 

 snow is a wonderfully interesting thing. Here the 

 delicate tracery of tiny feet tells where the seed- 

 laden ragweed bent low. Yonder a regular stitch- 

 ing and a tiny furrow betray the feet and dragging 

 tail of a wood-mouse ; again, a series of small prints 

 marks the course of a red squirrel to and from his 

 hidden granary. Trim, close-crowded marks tell 

 where a bevy of Bob Whites followed the zigzag 

 shelter of a rail fence. At the edge of the swale, 

 a single row of round, evenly spaced prints marks 

 the route of a fox, and farther on the sign tells that 

 he tried for a grouse and missed. All the doings of 

 day and night are truly recorded, and he who loves 

 the wild things and their affairs may be pardoned 

 for lingering over this, his morning paper. 



At last I find something which directly concerns 

 present business. It is a rough triangle the apex 

 two small prints, the sides two long ones. It is the 

 track of a hare, and the distance between the prints 

 proves he was going at speed. A green hand almost 

 certainly would follow the back track. When a suc- 

 cession of big V's indicate a route, the eye naturally 

 follows the way the points direct. In this case, that 

 would be an error. I have a vivid recollection of the 



