1907
August
Lake Umbagog
followed every evening by Muskrats swimming to and fro.
As twilight is passing into night a Skunk, ambling along
a wood road or digging for crickets in some grassy opening, may 
attract the eye of the wayfarer by its conspicuous white
markings. The Porcupine is still more likely to be encountered
often in broad daylight although it moves about most freely by
night. Relying for safety on its bristling armature of quills it
seldom makes any very efficient use of its short legs as a means
of weapon and it may be usually approached as near as one cares
to go to so formidable looking a creature. In the heart of the
forest, as well as in its outskirts, Red and Chipmunk Squirrels
are rarely out of sight or hearing by day. At night the
camper is sure to hear the rustling sounds of Mice and the
thud-thud-thudding of heavy footed Hares, moving about
in the brushwood close at hand, perhaps within a yard or two
of his couch. Every now and then a Flying Squirrel may
alight with a startling thump on the ridge pole of the
tent and then slide or scamper down its steeply sloping
roof, dimly seen, perhaps, through the thin fabric if there
be moonlight. All these, with Woodchucks, Moles, Shrews
and Bats of several kinds, one may see or hear during
a brief sojourn in the forests about Lake Umbagog.
But the chances are remote indeed of getting so much
as a fleeting glympse of a Bear, a Lynx, an Otter
a Sable or a Fisher. Rarely are they seen alive
by any one - even by professional hunters - except
where caught in traps. No one of them has ever
come under my professional observation although I
have sought for them diligently in earlier days and
in places where they were then numerous.
Mammals