64 BEACH GRASS 



"// Candlemas day he dry and fair^ 

 The half o' winter s to come and mair; 

 If Candlemas day be wet and foul^ 

 The half o' winter's gane at Yule.'' 



Four days after Candlemas, which had been 

 mild and pleasant, I was at Ipswich and dis- 

 covered in a smooth patch of sand on Wigwam 

 Hill the tracks of a woodchuck shown in the 

 photograph. He had undoubtedly seen his 

 shadow for the tracks were subsequent to a 

 shower that had occurred in the morning just be- 

 fore the sun shone. The haste of his progress — 

 rabbit fashion — suggested that he was anxious 

 to return to his hole for six weeks more sleep. 



The same day the weather grew colder and the 

 following day it snowed, and it snowed occasion- 

 ally afterwards, but on the whole, during the next 

 six weeks, the weather was very mild and there 

 were many days when the ground hog could ven- 

 ture abroad in comfort, if he were not bound to 

 abide by the prophesy of his shadow at the Can- 

 dlemas season. March 6 was an exceptionally 

 mild day, the glass reaching 60°, and the fresh 



