CONCORD 
1897 
fber 21 
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 and 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 
and 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 there were no marks of the tail. 
