24 



NATURE'S CALENDAR 



February lo 



were so common that it was difficult for 

 the pioneers to keep their flocks and 

 herds intact during the winter ; and in 

 very cold spells they still make occasional 

 forays upon cattle-yard and hen-house. 

 The small yellow wildcat is, indeed, to be 

 heard of in winter almost everywhere ; but 

 the howl of the wolf, mingling^ with the 

 whine of the wind as it hurtles the snow 

 against the cabin window, no longer, as it 

 used to do, adds an eerie sense of peril to 

 the woodlander or prairie settler. The 

 wolf's young brother, the fox, still barks 

 at night on the glistening hill-tops, and 

 his sharply cut track is seen by the vil- 

 lager in the early morning when he goes 

 to the barn to milk. It resembles that of 

 a large cat, but the line is straighter, the 

 footprints farther apart, each showing 

 four pads and the marks of the claws in 

 front. The fox feeds at this season largely 

 on white-bellied mice, but takes poultry 

 and almost anything else he can catch. 

 Even a bear (whose young are born this 

 month in the middle districts) may now 

 and then wander lazily about on warm 

 days in sunny mountain valleys, and at 

 night visit the pigsty or calf-pen of some 

 lonely farm, driven by famine to a bold- 

 ness and ferocity very unlike the placid- 

 ity of the berry-and-insect-fed animal in 

 summer. 



One may also see the tracks on the 

 snow of an occasional raccoon and skunk, 

 though in the colder parts of the country 



February ii 



