WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



Our chipmunk is the familiar of the old stone 

 wall, and where, in some parts of the country, these 

 are disappearing, the chipmunk is disappearing too, 

 while many a skunk and woodchuck also find 

 themselves dispossessed. 



How interested in you any wild creature becomes 

 when he finds you in the novel attitude of complete 

 quiet ! I was once lying upon a rock at the wooded 

 edge of Tidyaskung Lake, in Pike County, Pennsyl- 

 vania, closely observing the persistent effort of a 

 small water-snake to drag out from among some 

 stones a large sun-fish, when I suddenly became 

 aware that I, too, was under observation. A 

 mink was standing not six feet away, his head 

 turned on one side and his bright, black eyes re- 

 garding me intently. Probably he had had designs 

 on the snake and its prize when his nose, rather 

 than his eyes, detected my presence. I scarcely lift- 

 ed an eyelid, and slowly one small, velvety, black 

 paw was raised and set noiselessly down after the 

 other as he crept a little forward, as though to get a 

 better view. So I watched him and he watched me 

 what a chance it would have been for that new 

 order of sportsmen, the field photographers ! his 

 round head with its great, bead-like eyes, the 

 sensitive nostril sniffing the air suspiciously, the 



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