AUGUST DAYS 



shallow ripples with sunshine and redden 

 them with the inverted flames of the 

 cardinals that blaze on the sedgy brink. 

 Here the brown mink prowls with her 

 lithe cubs, all unworthy yet of the trap- 

 per's skill, but tending toward it with 

 growth accelerated by full feasts of pool- 

 impounded minnows. Here, too, the 

 raccoon sets the print of his footsteps on 

 the muddy shores as he stays his stom- 

 ach with frogs and sharpens his appetite 

 with the hot sauce of Indian turnip while 

 he awaits the setting of his feast in the 

 cornfields. The hounds are more im- 

 patient than he for the opening of his 

 midnight revel, and tug at their chains 

 and whimper and bay when they hear 

 his querulous call trembling through the 

 twilight. They are even fooled to melo- 

 diously mournful protest when their ears 

 catch the shriller quaver of the screech 

 owl's note. 



The woodcock skulks in the bordering 

 alders, and when forced to flight does 

 so with a stronger wing than when a 

 month ago his taking off was first legally 

 authorized. Another month will make 

 him worthier game ; and then, too, the 

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