WATER TRAILS OF THE CERISO 



vals on half-lighted days, meadow and field 

 mice steal delicately along the trail. These 

 visitors are all too small to be watched 

 carefully at night, but for evidence of their 

 frequent coming there are the trails that 

 may be traced miles out among the crisp- 

 ing grasses. On rare nights, in the places 

 where no grass grows between the shrubs, 

 and the sand silvers whitely to the moon, 

 one sees them whisking to and fro on in- 

 numerable errands of seed gathering, but 

 the chief witnesses of their presence near 

 the spring are the elf owls. Those bur- 

 row-haunting, speckled fluffs of greediness 

 begin a twilight flitting toward the spring, 

 feeding as they go on grasshoppers, lizards, 

 and small, swift creatures, diving into bur- 

 rows to catch field mice asleep, battling 

 with chipmunks at their own doors, and 

 getting down in great numbers toward the 

 38 







