THE SNOW-WALKERS 57 



denly seems to have acquired new powers, and there 

 is no movement to confuse the eye. Presently you 

 hear the rustling of a branch, and see it sway or 

 spring as the squirrel leaps from or to it; or else 

 you hear a disturbance in the dry leaves, and mark 

 one running upon the ground. He has probably 

 seen the intruder, and, not liking his stealthy move- 

 ments, desires to avoid a nearer acquaintance. Now 

 he mounts a stump to see if the way is clear, then 

 pauses a moment at the foot of a tree to take his 

 bearings, his tail, as he skims along, undulating be- 

 hind him, and adding to the easy grace and dignity 

 of his movements. Or else you are first advised of 

 his proximity by the dropping of a false nut, or the 

 fragments of the shucks rattling upon the leaves. 

 Or, again, after contemplating you a while unob- 

 served, and making up his mind that you are not 

 dangerous, he strikes an attitude on a branch, and 

 commences to quack and bark, with an accompany- 

 ing movement of his tail. Late in the afternoon, 

 when the same stillness reigns, the same scenes are 

 repeated. There is a black variety, quite rare, but 

 mating freely with the gray, from which he seems 

 to be distinguished only in color. 



The track of the red squirrel may be known by 

 its smaller size. He is more common and less dig- 

 nified than the gray, and oftener guilty of petty lar- 

 ceny about the barns and grain-fields. He is most 

 abundant in old barkpeelings, and low, dilapidated 

 hemlocks, from which he makes excursions to the 

 fields and orchards, spinning along the tops of the 



