Concord, Mass.
1894
Oct 11 to
Nov.21
(No 2)
to paddle past within a few yards without apparently
taking any notice of me. At other times, however, they are
so wary and suspicious that I do not succeed in getting
so much as a glimpse at one although as I round
the bends I see [delete]one or more of their[/delete] the silvery furrows
when they have just dried and everywhere ripples
rolling out of the thickets of button bushes or willows
when they have been feeding. I am quite unable to
understand this difference in [delete]them[/delete] behavior or to correlate
it with any peculiar or particular conditions of the weather.
During the autumn Muskrats are sure abroad by day
much less often than in spring or summer but occasionally
during the past month I have surprised one taking
a sun bath in a bush when the sun was warm & the
water cold. Only twice during this period have I
heard them make the low murmuring sound so often
[delete]heard[/delete] given in spring and not once have I smelt their
"musk".
[margin]Muskrats[/margin]
  I have seen only one Mink this autumn. He swam
across the river just above Ball's Hill at about 3 P.M.
and two hours later I found him in the Holt
(nearly a mile above Ball's Hill by river) when he galloped
along the bank for a few yards and then sought
refuge among the roots of an old maple when he
kept peeping out at me with evident shy expression.
He was a very large individual. This happened
about October 30th.
[margin]Mink[/margin]
  Squirrels have been scarce this autumn, at least
in the Ball's Hill region when I have seen [delete]only[/delete] but one