60 WINTER SUNSHINE 



and beast, and will not hurry himself to get out of 

 the way of either. Walking through the summer 

 fields at twilight, I have come near stepping upon 

 him, and was much the more disturbed of the two. 

 When attacked in the open fields he confounds the 

 plans of his enemies by the unheard-of tactics of 

 exposing his rear rather than his front. "Come if 

 you dare,'' he says, and his attitude makes even 

 the farm-dog pause. After a few encounters of 

 this kind, and if you entertain the usual hostility 

 towards him, your mode of attack will speedily re- 

 solve itself into moving about him in a circle, the 

 radius of which will be the exact distance at which 

 you can hurl a stone with accuracy and effect. 



He has a secret to keep and knows it, and is 

 careful not to betray himself until he can do so with 

 the most telling effect. I have known him to pre- 

 serve his serenity even when caught in a steel trap, 

 and look the very picture of injured innocence, 

 manoeuvring carefully and deliberately to extricate 

 his foot from the grasp of the naughty jaws. Do 

 not by any means take pity on him, and lend a 

 helping hand! 



How pretty his face and head! How fine and 

 delicate his teeth, like a weasel's or cat's! When 

 about a third grown, he looks so well that one cov- 

 ets him for a pet. He is quite precocious, however, 

 and capable, even at this tender age, of making a 

 very strong appeal to your sense of smell. 



No animal is more cleanly in its habits than he. 

 He is not an awkward boy who cuts his own face 



