THE SNOW-WALKERS 



play amid this snowy desolation. Fox-tracks are 

 far less numerous than in the fields; but those 

 of hares, skunks, partridges, squirrels, and mice 

 abound. The mice tracks are very pretty, and look 

 like a sort of fantastic stitching on the coverlid of the 

 snow. One is curious to know what brings these 

 tiny creatures from their retreats ; they do not seem 

 to be in quest of food, but rather to be traveling 

 about for pleasure or sociability, though always go- 

 ing post-haste, and linking stump with stump and 

 tree with tree by fine, hurried strides. That is when 

 they travel openly; but they have hidden passages 

 and winding galleries under the snow, which un- 

 doubtedly are their main avenues of communica- 

 tion. Here and there these passages rise so near 

 the surface as to be covered by only a frail arch of 

 snow, and a slight ridge betrays their course to the 

 eye. I know him well. He is known to the farmer 

 as the " deer mouse," to the naturalist as the white- 

 footed mouse, a very beautiful creature, noctur- 

 nal in his habits, with large ears, and large, fine 

 eyes, full of a wild, harmless look. He is daintily 

 marked, with white feet and a white belly. When 

 disturbed by day he is very easily captured, having 

 none of the cunning or viciousness of the common 

 Old World mouse. 



It is he who, high in the hollow trunk of some 

 tree, lays by a store of beechnuts for winter use. 

 Every nut is carefully shelled, and the cavity that 

 15 



