50 
AN INDOLENT RIVER 
in the shadow of the busy city* The Mink, hunted 
everywhere for his handsome coat, finds a respite 
from persecution and grows fat and saucy at his ease* 
The slender Weasel sometimes comes out to ask the 
business of a passing canoe. The Skunk and Wood- 
chuck excavate their cave dwellings in the high banks. 
The Red Fox sometimes braves the fate threatened by 
a bad reputation, and Squirrels and Chipmunks make 
the general quiet more subduing by contrast with 
their industry. The wary Blue Heron often rests in 
the shallow marshes, his white neck outlined against 
the dense banks of green. But he is mistrustful of 
man, and on the least threat of approach springs 
struggling into the air and takes his steady course 
to more remote haunts. The Bittern hides, invisibly 
seen, in the dense shelter, and sometimes rises with 
a fluttering rush from almost under the foot of a 
startled intruder. Rails and Gallinules chatter noisily 
in the marsh, and Blackbirds attend to their domestic 
affairs among the tall rushes. The Oriole finds an 
ideal swing on the drooping branch of an Elm, and 
the Flicker excavates a home in the decayed trunk of a 
Willow. The tiny Red-start moves like a live coal 
through the dense green shades. And when night 
closes in and the canoe moves imperceptibly with the 
silent water, the Fireflies come out and draw threads 
of light through the tall Rushes that bound the 
narrowed horizon. Frogs set up their weird chorus. 
