IN THE CATSKILLS 



serves as storehouse lined with grass and leaves. 

 The wood-chopper frequently squanders this pre- 

 cious store. I have seen half a peck taken from one 

 tree, as clean and white as if put up by the most 

 delicate hands, as they were. How long it must 

 have taken the little creature to collect this quan- 

 tity, to hull them one by one, and convey them up 

 to his fifth-story chamber! He is not confined to 

 the woods, but is quite as common in the fields, 

 particularly in the fall, amid the corn and potatoes. 

 When routed by the plow, I have seen the old 

 one take flight with half a dozen young hanging to 

 her teats, and with such reckless speed that some 

 of the young would lose their hold and fly off amid 

 the weeds. Taking refuge in a stump with the rest 

 of her family, the anxious mother would presently 

 come back and hunt up the missing ones. 



The snow-walkers are mostly night-walkers also, 

 and the record they leave upon the snow is the main 

 clew one has to their life and doings. The hare 

 is nocturnal in its habits, and though a very lively 

 creature at night, with regular courses and run-ways 

 through the wood, is entirely quiet by day. Timid 

 as he is, he makes little effort to conceal himself, 

 usually squatting beside a log, stump, or tree, and 

 seeming to avoid rocks and ledges where he might 

 be partially housed from the cold and the snow, 

 but where also and this consideration undoubt- 

 edly determines his choice he would be more apt 

 16 



