y 
and beyond them and flew off up the Damsdale meadow. I 
was wondering what had startled it when a young man appeared 
coming through the alders with a bunch of ma,rsh marigolds 
in his hand. He passed without seeing me andjl crossed 
the brook and walked down to the edge of the old clay pit 
now a pretty little pond surrounded on three sides by 
alders and maples and bordered on the fourth side by a 
strip of meadow literally spangled with marsh marigolds 
in full bloom. As I paused to admire the clusters of 
golden blossoms and their setting of equally beautiful fo¬ 
liage I saw a Water Thrush flitting among the alders and 
presently a Maryland Yellow-throat hopping about on a tus¬ 
sock. Then an Oven-bird uttered its dry "tee-cha" song in 
the woods beyond. At my feet lay a Wood Tortoise which I 
3V had not at first observed.Again I looked out ever the 
pool when suddenly from under the high bank on the right 
a silvery furrow shot out cleft by a l<§ng, slender, brown 
form which I at once recognized as that of a Mink. It 
* 
swam very swiftly and showed the whole line of the back 
while the bushy tail trailed in its wake apparently just 
touching the water on its under side. The head looked very 
slender and had a wicked, "snaky" aspect. When the animal 
landed I saw for the first time that it bore in its mouth 
either a Field Mouse or a Mole ( Sealops aquaticus ), 
I think the former (it certainly was not a Star-nosed Mole). 
On reaching dry land the Mink at once started off at a 
gallop taking surprisingly long, graceful bounds, making a 
S' 
