343
Concord, Mass.
1897.
Nov. 21
  Early morning foggy; remainder of day clear with
warm S.W. wind.
  When I first stepped out of the cabin at a 
little after seven this morning the landscape was shrouded 
in dense fog through which the low sun shone dimly.
  There was not a breath of air and the river was
as calm as possible. Crows were cawing in the
distance. A Robin called near at hand & presently
I saw him sitting with four others in the top 
of a maple by the river.
  The snow about the cabin was literally covered 
with footprints, most of them those of Rabbits which,
as I predicted, had evidently been roaming about everywhere
during the night (but only in this immediate
vicinity for elsewhere I saw very few of their tracks
during the day). The finely embroidered trails of mice 
crossed each other every few yards and one of these
animals had ploughed a furrow directly across the
roof of the cabin. One track puzzled me; the 
footprints were nearly as large as those of a
Squirrel but they were placed very near together &
showed that the creature had short legs and moved
altogether at either a walk or a slow trot. It
had come up from the river, crossed the path, and
had dug a little at our heap of kitchen refuse.
I think it must have been either a Mink or
a Weasel but both these animals usually gallop
a good deal especially when crossing open spaces.
It certainly was not a Muskrat for the footprints
were too small and thin with no marks of the tail.