SNUGGING-DOWN DAYS 



has witchery been at work as well as 

 forethought, and strange and unaccount- 

 able things have been brought to pass 

 that tiny creatures may be kept safe 

 until spring. Here and there among the 

 goldenrod stems you find one that is 

 swollen to the size of a hickory nut, a 

 smooth globe which is merely the stem 

 expanded from the diameter of a tooth- 

 pick to three-quarters of an inch. When 

 I split this bulb with my knife I find it 

 made up of tough pith shot through with 

 the growing fibres of the plant, but hav- 

 ing a tiny hollow in the centre. 



Here, snugly ensconced and safe from 

 all the cold and storms, is a lazy creature 

 so fat that he looks like a globular ball 

 of white wax. Only when I poke him 

 does he squirm, and I can see his mouth 

 move in protest. His fairy language is 

 too fine for my ear, tuned to the rough 

 n 



