To Mountain Tarn 



Still further up the hill, and the drama is gone 

 over for a third time. The actors are only 

 larger, as the stoat was larger. The mountain 

 hare, in a sense, is only a bigger rabbit. If not a 

 weasel, the hill fox is still a carnivore, and there- 

 fore not very far away. 



In this case the pursued puts on winter wear 

 when the hills do, or ought to do ; seeks safety 

 in sympathy with the background. A semi- 

 Arctic variety of the common hare, it differs in 

 range, and therefore in its change of coat. It is 

 at home in the snow. Unlike the rabbit on the 

 lower slopes, it turns white. Unlike the stoat, the 

 pursuer is of darker winter hue. 



The red mountain fox leaves the white ermine 

 below. The would-be stealthy approach is 

 betrayed by a tell-tale purity. In so far it is 

 handicapped in the game of lose or win, placed 

 at a disadvantage in the struggle for existence. 

 Our winters are not always Arctic. Where fox 

 and hare dwell is not always white. Storm lashes 

 across, and they are dark. When dark, the hare 

 is left naked to its enemies. So the balance is kept 

 shifting. Perhaps the fox is shrewd enough to 

 have no quarrel with his red coat, and the hare 

 might, on the whole, be safer without his white 

 one. 



On the rough pasture, down by the glen stream, 

 the red weasel pursues the dark vole. When the 

 snow comes, the pursuer changes not his coat. 



227 



