2 ; WINTER 



mer day when the chestnuts are dropping for you 

 in the pastures ; the keen, crisp February day when 

 the ice spreads glassy-clear and smooth for you over 

 the mill-pond ; the muddy, raw, half-thawed, half- 

 lighted, half-drowned March day when the pussy- 

 willows are breaking, and the first spring frogs are 

 piping to you from the meadow. Then there is 

 every day, every one of the three hundred and sixty- 

 five days, each of them best days to be out in the 

 live world of the fields and woods. 



But one of the very best days to be out in the 

 woods is the day that follows the first winter snow- 

 fall, for that is the day when you must shoulder a 

 good stout stick and go gunning. Gunning with a 

 stick? Yes, with a stick, and rubber boots, and bird- 

 glasses. Along with this outfit you might take a 

 small jointed foot-rule with which to measure your 

 quarry, and a notebook to carry the game home in. 



It ought to be the day after the first real snow, 

 but not if that snow happens to be a blizzard and lies 

 deep in dry powdery drifts, for then you could 

 hardly follow a trail if you should find one. Do not 

 try the hunt, either, if the snow comes heavy and 

 wet; for then the animals will stay in their dens until 

 the snow melts, knowing, as they do, that the soft 

 slushy stuff will soon disappear. The snow you need 

 will lie even and smooth, an inch or two deep, and 

 will be just damp enough to pack into tight snow- 

 balls. 



