200 FOREST LIFE IN ACADIE. 



domesticated specimens by oatmeal feeding to over sevei 

 hundred. 



Having awoke at last, the genial warmth of a spring^ 

 day tempts him forth to try and find something to' 

 appease the growing cravings of appetite. What is the 

 bill of fare ? meagre enough generally, for the snow still 

 covers the dead timber (where he might find colonies of 

 ants), the roots, and young shoots and buds ; but he 

 bethinks himself of the cranberries in the open bogs from 

 which, unshaded by the branches of the dark fir-forest, 

 the snow has disappeared, disclosing the bright crimson 

 berries still clinging to their tendrils on the moss-clumps 

 and rendered tender and luscious by the winter s frost. 

 Even the rank marsh-grass forms part of his diet ; and, as 

 . the snow disappears, he turns over the fallen timber to 

 look for such insects as ants or wood-lice, which might 

 be sheltered beneath. Although so large an animal, he 

 will seek his food patiiently; and the prehensile nature of 

 his lips enables him to pick up the smallest insect or 

 forest berry with great dexterity. The runs between the 

 forest lakes also afford him early and profitable spring 

 fishing; and he may be seen lying on the edge of the ice, 

 fishing for smelts (Osmerus), which delicate little fish 

 abound in the lakes, near their junction with harbours, 

 throughout the winter, tipping them out of the water on 

 to the ice behind him in a most dexterous manner with 

 his paws. Later in the spring he continues his fishing pro- 

 pensities, and makes capital hauls when the gaspereaux, 

 or ale wives (Alosa vernalis), — a description of herring — - 

 rush up the forest brooks in countless multitudes, carry- 

 ing an ample source of food to the doors of settlers living 

 by the banks in the remotest wilds. Works on natural 



