EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 73 
that we get a little of the peculiar still lake 
view at evening when the wind goes down. 
Two red squirrels made an ado about or above 
me near the North River, hastily running from 
tree to tree, leaping from the extremity of one 
bough to that of another on the next tree, until 
they gained and ascended a large white pine. 
I approached and stood under this, while they 
made a great fuss about me. One at length 
came part way down to reconnoitre me. It 
seemed that one did the barking, a faint, short, 
chippy bark, like that of a toy dog, its tail vi¬ 
brating each time, while its neck was stretched 
over a bough as it peered at me. The other, 
higher up, kept up a sort of gurgling whistle, 
more like a bird than a beast. When I made a 
noise, they would stop a moment. 
Scared up a partridge which had crawled 
into a pile of wood. Saw a gray hare, a dirty 
yellowish gray, not trig and neat, but, as usual, 
apparently in dishabille. As it frequently does, 
it ran a little way and stopped just at the en¬ 
trance to its retreat, then, when I moved again, 
suddenly disappeared. By a slight obscure hole 
in the snow it had access to a large and appar¬ 
ently deep woodchucks’ hole. 
March 6, 1854. The water here and there 
on the meadow begins to appear smooth and I 
look to see it rippled by a musk-rat. The earth 
