SWIMMERS 



Yesterday, March lo, i8gg, I found the tracks 

 of a large mink in some hemlock woods by the 

 edge of a swamp ; he appeared to have been 

 chasing rabbits back and forth among the trees, 

 sometimes following in their tracks, and again 

 evidently trying to head them off as they ran in 

 circles ; and, judging from the wild leaps they 

 often made, he must have been quite near them 

 at times, though I found no actual evidence of 

 success on the part of the mink. 



What surprised me a good deal at first was 

 the fact that he seemed purposely to avoid the 

 water, as there was an open brook only a few 

 rods away which was formerly a great favourite of 

 theirs in winter, since it never freezes and flows 

 for a large part of the way underground, whole 

 reaches of it being roofed over by the trunks of 

 fallen trees and dead leaves and vegetable mould, 

 held together by the roots of the living forest. 



But yesterday there were no mink tracks any- 

 where along its banks, nor have there been any 



I2S 



