In spite of the exposure this must be a warm 

 bed. The walls are thick and well plastered with 

 mud, and are packed inside with fine, shredded 

 bark which the mouse himself has pulled from 

 the dead chestnut limbs, or, more likely, has 

 taken from a deserted crow's nest. The whole 

 is thatched with a roof of shredded bark, so 

 neatly laid that it sheds water perfectly. The 

 entrance is on the side, just over the edge of 

 the original structure, but so shielded by the 

 extending roof that the rain and snow never beat 

 in. The thrushes did their work well ; the nest 

 is securely mortised into the forking branches ; 

 and Whitefoot can sleep without a tremor 

 through the wildest winter gale. Whenever 

 the snow falls lightly a high white tower rises 

 over the nest ; and then the little haycock, 

 lodged in the slender limbs so far above our 

 heads, is a very castle indeed. 



High over the nest of the white-footed mouse, 

 in the stiffened top of a tall red oak that stands 

 on the brow of the hill, swings another winter 

 bed. It is the bulky oak -leaf hammock of the 

 gray squirrel. 



A hammock for a winter bed ? Is there any- 

 [61] 



