THE POLECAT 79 



Here the snow was beaten down, showing the 

 struggle of the dying rabbit with a polecat at 

 its throat. Only a few feet distant, the partly 

 eaten carcass on the blood-stained snow gave 

 evidence that the polecat had eaten his fill, and 

 made off to his burrow. 



The Naturalist spent some time in examin- 

 ing the marks of the struggle, and reading the 

 story as written in the snow. To-morrow the 

 sunshine or more snow might forever obliter- 

 ate the record, and he wished to become fully 

 familiar with it. Here a small animal had 

 made a dinner on another larger and swifter 

 than himself. To-night, no doubt, he would 

 come again to make still another meal from the 

 carcass, as it would be much easier than find- 

 ing and killing another. 



From that day the Naturalist sought for a 

 closer acquaintance with the black shadow 

 that constantly hung over the lives of the rab- 

 bits that lived in the wood. Poor Bunny! A 

 harassed life is his. The hunter and his dog 

 seek his life by day, while the owl and the 

 skunk constantly threaten him by night. Eter- 

 nal vigilance is the price of life in the woods. 

 The little son of the Naturalist also had de- 

 signs on Bunny's liberty, if not upon his life, 



