UNDER THE MAPLES 



Eastern species is as free from odor as a squirrel or 

 a woodchuck. Kill or disturb one by day or night 

 in his haunts, and he leaves an odor on the ground 

 that lasts for months. While at a friend's house in 

 the Catskills last August a wood pussy came up 

 behind the kitchen and dug in the garbage-heap. 

 We saw him from the window in the early evening, 

 and we smelled him. For some reason he betrayed 

 his presence. Late that night I was awakened by a 

 wave of his pungent odor; it fairly made my nose 

 smart, yet in the morning no odor could be detected 

 anywhere about the place. Of course the smell is 

 much more pronounced in the damp night air 

 than by day, yet this does not seem an adequate 

 explanation. Does he signal at night to his fellows 

 by his odor? He has no voice, so far as I know. I 

 have never heard him make a vocal sound. When 

 caught in a trap, or besieged by dogs in a stone 

 wall, he manifests his displeasure by stamping 

 his feet. He is the one American who does not 

 hurry through life. I have no proof that he ever 

 moves faster than a walk, or that by any sign, he 

 ever experiences the feeling of fear, so common to 

 nearly all our smaller animals. His track upon the 

 snow is that of a creature at peace with all the 

 world. 



V. CHANCE IN ANIMAL LIFE 



CHANCE plays a much larger part in the lives of 

 208 



