30 BATS OUT OF DOORS. 



I would see what wild life was astir. At other times a 

 well-chosen stand is better for general observation, creat- 

 ures of every kind often passing in review before you, but 

 a deep snow changes all this, and one must seek for nearly 

 every object that he is favored to see. 



Turning toward the meadows that stretch out for 

 miles from the foot of the hill, I thought of a great oil- 

 cask that years ago was sunk in the ground to collect the 

 waters of a little spring. It is a favorite spot with me at 

 all times, and I was curious to know how its many inhab- 

 itants had fared of late ; for frogs, snakes, turtles, and 

 salamanders never fail, in winter, to make it their home ; 

 and, I may add, many a mouse and tortoise find it their 

 grave. 



Before I reached the spot, I was delighted to make 

 out faint foot-prints on the snow as I advanced, and so 

 to learn that some creature had passed that way since 

 the storm ceased. I supposed the spring to have been 

 the goal of the creature's journey, as it was of mine, 

 and I proved correct in this, for the first object that 

 caught my eye when the spot came in view was my late 

 friend the opossum of armadillo-tactics notoriety. His 

 mental caliber began to loom up into respectable pro- 

 pof tions in my estimation. Was he such a fool, after all ? 

 I wondered much, and was ready to believe a great deal, 

 before it occurred to me that this might really be another 

 opossum ; and certainly the tracks it made, and the ab- 

 sence of the mark made by the tail, suggested another 

 individual. What the animal's object was in visiting the 

 spring in the broad daylight must remain unknown, for 

 my abrupt appearance on the scene quite disconcerted him, 

 and he retired with as much haste as the superlatively 

 rough walking permitted. That the opossum sought 

 food rather than drink at the spring is eminently prob- 

 able ; but upon any of the animals living in its waters, I 



