94 The Witchery of Winter 



of companionship when among old trees that 

 is less pronounced among the weeds and 

 grass ; a circle of the eleft in one case, the 

 common crowd in the other; but this is 

 unkind to the honest weeds in the meadow. 

 But I was not alone with the trees. I 

 startled deer-mice that leaped in a bewil- 

 dered way from their bird-nest homes, and 

 what a tumult in a decayed log when I sent 

 a great puff of smoke through the many 

 tunnellings of the rotten tree-trunk now 

 occupied by fat, lazy meadow mice ! those 

 that have the long runways in the grass and 

 burrows besides, deep into the ground, into 

 which they precipitately flee when too close 

 pressed. It is only of recent date that I 

 have found these creatures entertaining. 



They have hitherto been stupid and I 

 have often passed them by without a second 

 glance, but a touch of frost wakens them to a 

 livelier pace, and then, as it was to-day, they 

 are worthy game for the fun-loving rambler. 

 When these mice sit up, with a berry in 

 their forepaws, and look inquiringly about 

 as you draw near, they have as much char- 

 after as any squirrel, and are very like the 

 marmots of the far West in their general 



