WILDWOOD WAYS [Illustration: The muskrats have built higher than common this year] WILDWOOD WAYS BY WINTHROP PACKARD AUTHOR OF “WILD PASTURES” [Illustration] BOSTON SMALL, MAYNARD AND COMPANY PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT, 1909 BY SMALL, MAYNARD AND COMPANY (INCORPORATED) _Entered at Stationers’ Hall_ THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. The author wishes to express his thanks to the “Boston Transcript” for permission to reprint in this volume matter which was originally contributed to its columns. CONTENTS PAGE SNUGGING-DOWN DAYS 1 CERTAIN WHITE-FACED HORNETS 23 THIN ICE 45 WINTER FERN-HUNTING 65 THE BARE HILLS IN MIDWINTER 87 SOME JANUARY BIRDS 107 WHEN THE SNOW CAME 129 THE MINK’S HUNTING GROUND 151 IN THE WHITE WOODS 169 THE ROAD TO MUDDY POND 191 AMONG THE MUSKRAT LODGES 215 THICK ICE 235 ILLUSTRATIONS The muskrats have built higher than common this year _Frontispiece_ OPPOSITE PAGE Their paper fort ... had by September grown to the dimensions of a water-bucket and contained a prodigious swarm of valiant fighters 34 There are other feathered folk who seem to delight in the cold 118 Here in a little tangle of tiny undergrowth and brown leaves, with a fallen trunk for overhead shelter, you might find him any forenoon 132 You may ... get a glimpse of the weasel-like head of one lifted above the bank as he sniffs the breeze for game and enemies 160 He lifted his head high, fluffed out those glossy black neck feathers and strutted 179 He was in and out again in a jiffy 182 SNUGGING-DOWN DAYS