THE BEECH WOODS 



using their flat tails to propel them 

 along by waving them from side to side. 

 Often they stopped to nibble at the 

 dead limbs grounded on the banks of 

 the stream, evidently finding susten- 

 ance in the lichens on the bark. Nature 

 has fitted them well with their brown 

 coats, making them difficult to distin- 

 guish from the brown roots and debris 

 in the stream. Presently they started 

 off up the creek, evidently making for 

 their home in the bank of the old dam. 

 Swimming steadily, submerged except 

 for the tip of the nose, they left no 

 wake in the running water as they dis- 

 appeared around a bend in the stream. 

 Approaching the fence by the thicket 

 the Neighbour listened for the part- 

 ridge and was rewarded presently by 

 the familiar drumbeat coming from the 

 same direction as on the previous day. 

 He carefully went forward to the hol- 

 low near the foot of the knoll and 

 waited. When just about to advance 

 still further the beating suddenly 

 started, and to his surprise, there in 

 the shrubbery, half way up the knoll 

 on a decaying log, was Mr. Partridge. 

 34 



