and not one of them, however wild and fearful, 

 can resist his bent to prowl in the light of the 

 October moon. 



To know much of the wild animals at home 

 one must live near their haunts, with eyes and 

 ears open, forever on the watch. For you must 

 wait their pleasure. You cannot entreat them 

 for the sake of science, nor force them in the 

 name of the law. You cannot set up your easel 

 in the meadow, and hire a mink or muskrat to 

 pose for you any time you wish ; neither can 

 you call, when you like, at the hollow gum in 

 the swamp and interview a coon. The animals 

 flatly refuse to sit for their pictures, and to see 

 reporters and assessors. But carry your sketch- 

 book and pad with you, and, after a while, in 

 the most unlikely times and places, the wariest 

 will give you sittings for a finished picture, and 

 the most reticent will tell you nearly all that 

 he knows. 



At no time of the year are the animals so 

 loquacious, so easy of approach, as along in the 

 October nights. There is little to be seen of 

 them by day. They are cautious folk. By na- 

 ture most of them are nocturnal ; and when this 



[1961 



