176 GLIMPSES OF WILD LIFE 



eaten in the top of the horse's neck, that its 

 back was bitten and scratched, and that he was 

 convinced it was the work of some wild animal 

 like a panther which had landed upon the 

 horse's back and fairly devoured it alive. The 

 horse had run up and down the field trying to 

 escape, and finally, in its desperation, had 

 plunged headlong off a high stone wall by the 

 barn and been killed. I was compelled to ac- 

 cept his story, but I pooh-poohed the conclu- 

 sions. It was impossible that we should have 

 a panther in the midst of us, or, if we had, that 

 it would attack and kill a horse. But how 

 eagerly the people believed it ! It tasted good. 

 It tasted good to me too, but I could not believe 

 it. It soon turned out that the horse was killed 

 by another horse, a vicious beast that had fits of 

 murderous hatred toward its kind. The sheep 

 and calf were probably not killed at all, and 

 the big dogs had had a fight among themselves. 

 So the panther legend faded out, and our woods 

 became as tame and humdrum as before. We 

 cannot get up anything exciting that will hold, 

 and have to make the most of such small deer 

 as coons, foxes, and woodchucks. Glimpses of 

 these and of the birds are all I have to report. 



II 



The day on which I have any adventure with 

 a wild creature, no matter how trivial, has a 

 little different flavor from the rest; as when, 

 one morning in early summer, I put my head 



