SOME VISITING CARDS. 303 



the snow-decked hedges, and back into the copse; 

 there a weasel's tracks are printed from the hedge 

 all down by the side of the stream, in and out of 

 the thickets of rose briars and thorns, under the 

 snowy arches of bracken leaves, and finally lost in 

 the hedge again. He has been taking a morning 

 stroll in quest of breakfast ; but rabbits are too 

 wary, and birds not numbed enough yet for an 

 easy capture. His tracks are not marked by 

 blood, as is so often the case ; he has gone home 

 hungry as he came. As we enter the wood > 

 another style of writing may be seen upon the 

 snow. Up and down the drives, and round the 

 places where food is scattered by the keeper, the 

 three-pronged feet of the Pheasant prick deeply 

 into the surface ; his hind toe leaves little track 

 behind, because it is placed some distance above 

 the plane of the rest. Other birds have been 

 down upon the snow as well as he. There is 

 the short, quick stride of the Ring Dove, the 

 surface of the snow being brushed away by the 

 body of the bird as it walked, owing to the ex- 

 treme shortness of the tarsi ; there are the two 

 footprints, side by side, of the hopping Jay, and 

 mingled amongst them are the tiny impressions 

 left by some small Passerine bird most probably 

 a Robin, as it dropped down from the bushes in 

 quest of food. On the borders of the wood, 

 down by the holly trees, the footmarks of the 

 Blackbird are plainly visible on the snow. He 

 fluttered out of the evergreens at dawn, scattering 



