FOOT PRINTS IN THE SNOW 



Each season has its peciiHar charm 

 and pleasures. Spring, a gallant youth 

 whose promises are about as stable as 

 one of his April days ; summer, the 

 season of hot sun teeming with life; 

 autumn, the time of mellow sunshine, 

 hazy woods and fields ; winter, white and 

 silent, the great expanse of snow lighted 

 at night by myriads of glittering stars. 

 Each is pleasant in its way, its own way. 



Winter is conceded to have the least 

 of animate life. What there is may be 

 well studied in the snow. Bare ground 

 and dry leaves make but faint foot- 

 prints and many things go on with no 

 one any the wiser. But it is not so easy 

 for such things to take place in winter 

 for the soft snow leaves impressions that 

 may be read. No night prowling with- 

 out its trail the following morning. 



When I go out after a fall of snow 

 I am impressed with the amount of 

 rambling about done by rabbits, cats and 

 mice. Around the house and barn the 

 cat and rabbit tracks form a maze in all 

 directions. Here, there and everywhere 

 they go. But the cats are domestic and 

 not so interesting from a wild animal 

 point of view. The rabbits are. Here 

 one hopped along quite deliberately, 

 almost walked in fact. Farther on he 

 has moved faster and then seems to have 

 been panic stricken, making lon^ leaps. 

 Over there by the fence is some freshly 

 cut brush and the signs of his nibbling 

 very apparent. I well know what will 

 happen to the young apple-trees if they 

 are not protected in some manner. The 

 inner bark, cambium, is excellent food 

 when clover is a thing of the past. He 

 has one peculiarity that no one seems to 

 be able to explain. He will always nib- 

 ble cut brush or sprouts before that still 

 standing. I have seen the trimmings in 

 brush heaps and cut sprouts completely 

 denuded of bark while the hazel bush 

 near by was untouched. It is needless 

 to say that this meets with the hearty 

 approval of the horticulturist. 



I know of few prettier sights nor any 

 that I much more enjoy watching than 



rabbits at play some bright night when 

 the moonlight falls on the snowy ground 

 making it almost as brilliant as day. 



Snow is probably "Brer Rabbit's" 

 worst enemy, for through it the hunter 

 relies on tracking his game. The palm 

 tree is not more grateful to the desert- 

 weary Arab than the first fall of snow to 

 the boy with a new gun. One of those 

 clear bright mornings in early winter 

 when the freshly fallen snow lies over 

 field and swamp, when the air is just 

 sharp enough to be exhilarating, it is 

 delightful, only sometimes I am forced 

 to think with 'Tunch," 'What a heav- 

 enly morning! let's go and kill some- 

 thing!" 



Of the squirrel family but two are 

 found in winter about here, the red and 

 fox. Mr. Chipmunk keeps himself se- 

 curely hidden this zero weather. A 

 snug, warm den, with a goodly store of 

 nuts and seeds, is much more to his 

 liking than hustling about in deep snow. 

 But the red or pine squirrel does not 

 lay up a winter supply. Sometimes he 

 will store some nuts about in a rather 

 desultory fashion, a walnut here, a hick- 

 ory nut there, but does not make a 

 store-house like the chipmunk. Oft- 

 times they will carry walnuts to the at- 

 tic, in spite of vigorous protests from 

 the mistress of the house. Then some- 

 times in daylight, sometimes at night, a 

 sound of rolling walnuts is heard accom- 

 panied by vigprous chattering, and we 

 know the squirrels are at work. But 

 this is not the ordinary course of events. 

 Generally they stay in the woods, where 

 they are more numerous than any others. 

 Tracks are always plentiful leading 

 from tree to stump and from tree to 

 tree. I hardly ever go there for any 

 time without seeing some. Indeed, there 

 is no trail found in a nut-bearing wood 

 that is in any way near as common as 

 that of the red-squirrel. Its track is 

 much like that of the rabbit, only short- 

 er and more compact, generally smaller 

 and closer together. The trail will run 



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