We were elated with 

 stump was not .five minutes 

 path from the hen-yard. And 



WINTER 



in the snow mean hurry. Now a cat, 

 going as slowly as this creature went, 

 would have put down her dainty feet 

 almost in a single line, and would 

 have left round, cushion-marked 

 holes in the snow, not triangular, 

 nail-pointed prints like these. Cats 

 do not venture into holes under 

 stumps, either. 



We had bagged our first quarry ! 

 No, no ! We had not pulled that 

 wood pussy out of his hole and put 

 him into our game-bag. We did not 

 want to do that. We really carried 

 no bag ; and if we had, we should 

 not have put the wood pussy into 

 it, for we were hunting tracks, 

 not animals, and " bagging our 

 quarry " meant trailing a creature 

 to its den, or following its track 

 till we had discovered some- 

 thing it had done, or what 

 its business was, and why it 

 was out. We were on 

 the snow for animal 

 facts, not pelts, 

 our luck, for this 



<^ by the ridge 

 here, stand- 



