GLIMPSES OF WILD LIFE 177 



to shoot a partridge, but I would not have killed, 

 if I could, the one that started out of the vines that 

 cover my rustic porch, as I approached that side of 

 the house one autumn morning. How much of the 

 woods, and of the untamable spirit of wild nature, 

 she brought to my very door ! It was tonic and ex- 

 hilarating to see her whirl away toward the vine- 

 yard. I also owe a moment's pleasure to the gray 

 squirrel that, finding my summer-house in the line 

 of his travels one summer day, ran through it and 

 almost over my feet as I sat idling with a book. 



I am sure my power of digestion was improved 

 that cold winter morning when, just as we were sit- 

 ting down to breakfast about sunrise, a red fox loped 

 along in front of the window, looking neither to the 

 right nor to the left, and disappeared amid the cur- 

 rant-bushes. What of the wild and the cunning did 

 he not bring! His graceful form and motion were 

 in my mind's eye all day. When you have seen a 

 fox loping along in that way, you have seen the po- 

 etry there is in the canine tribe. It is to the eye 

 what a flowing measure is to the mind, so easy, so 

 buoyant; the furry creature drifting along like a 

 large red thistledown, or like a plume borne by the 

 wind. It is something to remember with pleasure, 

 that a muskrat sought my door one December night 

 when a cold wave was swooping down upon us. 

 Was he seeking shelter, or had he lost his reckon- 

 ing? The dogs cornered him in the very doorway, 

 and set up a great hubbub. In the darkness, think- 

 ing it was a cat, I put my hand down to feel it. 



