224 



JPequam 

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once shy and daring, springing in tense 

 alarm at the slightest unknown squeak or 

 chirp or rustle, yet with a screeching ferocity 

 at times, when you corner him, that makes 

 your spine tingle. 



Because he is little known, even to the 

 naturalists, let me describe him just as you 

 meet him at home in the woods. If you see 

 him at all, which is not likely unless you 

 follow him for miles on the snow and find 

 his kill and then track him to his den, you 

 will be conscious chiefly of a black streak 

 drawn swiftly up the hillside and vanishing 

 over the top of a rock or a mossy log. If 

 you get any idea of the creature at all, it 

 .will be something like that of an enormous 

 black cat with a terrier in swift pursuit. If 

 he but stand for an instant to see what 

 frightened him and give you one of the 

 rarest sights in the woods, you will see an 

 exceedingly nervous animal, suggesting at 

 once a cat and a huge weasel. He is much 

 larger than a house cat, with short legs and 

 a pointed face, like a marten's, and glossy 

 ">-' ^S? black fur. That is as far as you will ever 



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