1892
Feb. 4
(no2)
Concord, Massachusetts.
Damsdale & Estabrook 
Woods
Mass.
Concord. - branches were bent down by the weight of
the snow to a considerable angle below the horizontal
plane giving them a curiously close resemblance,
especially at a distance, to spruce or fir trees.
The snow lay about six inches deep on the ground
where it had not been intercepted in its fall by
the trees. At first it was fine and powdery
but as the sun rose higher it became wet
and settled into a more solid and very soggy
blanket which covered the ground everywhere.
There were many tracks of mice and shrews,
a few of squirrels and rabbits, and occasionally
the trail of a fox or dog. In one place I
found what I at first took for an Otter track.
It was a furrow about eight inches wide and
two deep with obsolete foot prints in the bottom.
The obscurity and apparently small size of the
footprints puzzled me at first but the mystery
was solved when I traced the furrow to a
hole as large as my fist in a mound. The edges
of the hole were smeared with fresh blood and
rabbits fur. Evidently some animal of the weasel
family and probably a mink had killed a rabbit
and, often is usual custom, had dragged it to
its hole, moving backward, the carcass of its victim
making the furrow and obliterating the tracks
of the slayer.
[margin]Tracks[/margin]
[margin]Mink(?)
trail.[/margin]
  Saw several little parties of Chickadees, and heard
a Kinglet and a number of Blue Jays. Reached
the house about 1 P.M. riding back on the sled
on the top of a load of wood.