l68 AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 



And while the members of the human family are either dis- 

 cussing the merits of Palm Beach and Ormond or else wondering 

 how the coal bill is going to be met, the members of Nature's 

 big family are also devising ways and means of spending the 

 winter. 



The birds are the aristocrats of the animal kingdom and 

 they alone can afford to spend the winter under genial southern 

 skies. But even some of their number must remain to look after 

 business and they are not all the poor cousins either, if one may 

 judge by appearances, for along with the sparrows and the somber 

 colored Juncos who are holding a carnival among the briars, 

 may be seen the scarlet crest of the Red-bird and the royal blue 

 of the Jay. 



Down in the woods in the whiteness of the winter midnight, 

 the rabbits, those happy-go-lucky children of Nature's family, 

 are having a feast and their choicest viands are the stems of the 

 w41d Hydrangea and the Arrow -wood, served with garnishings of 

 ferns and a relish of sassafras. Little does Bunny care for cold 

 or snow. But other dangers are abroad and sensitive nostrils warn 

 him just in time that the cut-throat mink is near. lie dashes 

 away in terror, his hind legs over-reaching his front ones in his 

 haste and leaving their imprints foremost in the snow. 



The mink starts to follow but is unequal to the pace and 

 turns his attention to smaller game. As he leaves the woods and 

 crosses a field a little tunnel in the snow catches his eye. Can 

 that be made by a mouse? he thinks, as he stops and sniffs at 

 the snow, thrusts his nose into it and sniffs again. No! it was 

 only a tiny shrew whose body is scarcely larger than a lady's 

 thumb, besides it has some glands which give it an' unsavory 

 taste and smell and so the mink trots on still looking for signs of 

 prey. 



Here is another mark to be examined. The foot-prints are 

 in pairs and there is a curious little streak in the snow behind them. 

 That streak must be the mark of a tail and so these tracks could 

 have been made only by a white-footed mouse for no other 

 creature with feet so small and a tail so long is abroad on these 

 cold winter nights. He would make a dainty morsel for a hungry 

 mink but he has gone under that old stump and there he is safe 

 for tonight. 



Over in the woods on the other side of the field the snow 



