238 NATURE'S DREAMS 



rounding universe alive with human activities. Did 

 the witches riding on their brooms alight for a 

 moment in their wild orgy i 



All mysteries yield to investigation. Under the 

 surface these round holes become intricate and 

 winding burrows, where the Field Mice have been 

 enjoying the bracing climate. Every part of the field 

 has been crossed and recrossed by them. Their 

 winding course is seen wherever the snow is kicked 

 away. This explains the phenomenal activity of a 

 Dog that has covered the hillside close to the woods 

 with tracks, while no trace of his quarry appears on 

 the snow. He has been running the scent of intricate 

 winding trails underneath. 



Over by the edge of the stream, where the snow- 

 covered ice reaches out on the black water, one of the 

 little burrowers has made his way to the surface. It 

 is probably a Shore Mouse, and his little tracks look 

 helplessly diminutive on the great waste of snow. 

 The wind toying with some broken Golden-rod stalks 

 has described accurate circles in the snow before 

 twisting them off and whisking them away. It has 

 cleared the snow from a low Sassafras thicket, 

 showing where the destructive little excavators have 

 girdled the bark, leaving the young trees to die in the 

 spring. 



Up the stream, where even the runm'ng water 

 seems a part of the dead landscape, a Muskrat comes 



