198 JVays of Wood Folk. 



interesting way of catching them. In June and July 

 immense numbers of trout and salmon run up the 

 wilderness rivers on their way to the spawning 

 grounds. Here and there, on small streams, are 

 shallow riffles, where large fish are often half out of 

 water as they struggle up. On one of these riffles 

 Mooween stations himself durintj the first bright 

 moonlight nights of June, when the run of fish is 

 largest on account of the higher tides at the river 

 mouth. And Mooween knows, as well as any other 

 fisherman, the kind of night on which to go fishing. 

 He knows also the virtue of keeping still. As a big 

 salmon struggles by, Mooween slips a paw under him, 

 tosses him to the shore by a dexterous flip, and springs 

 after him before he can flounder back. 



When hungry, Mooween has as many devices as a 

 fox for getting a meal. He tries flipping frogs from 

 among the lily pads in the same way that he catches 

 salmon. That failing, he takes to creeping through 

 the water-grass, like a mink, and striking his game 

 dead with a blow of his paw. 



Or he finds a porcupine loafing through the woods, 

 and follows him about to throw dirt and stones at 

 him, carefully refraining from touching him the while, 

 till the porcupine rolls himself into a ball of bristling 

 quills, — his usual method of defense. Mooween 

 slips a paw under him, flips him against a tree to stun 



