Don't follow a fox track with the intention of overtaking the maker, unless you have dogs. He may be ten miles away at that very moment, and even if you should draw near to him, he is almost certain to elude your sight by sneaking away. December Twenty-first You may find where a muskrat has left the stream and started across the meadow to a marsh near by. Suddenly a mink's track breaks into the trail and follows in the same direction, and you soon come to a spot where the snow is much disturbed, and the tracks mingle in confusion. Blood-stains on the snow and matted places show where the two have fought a battle for existence. A broad, deep trail leading to a stump indicates that some object has been dragged across the snow, and there you find the half-eaten remains of the muskrat. Notes December Twenty-second What tracks are these, trailing along the fence between a brush-lot and a buckwheat field? At the corner of the fence human footprints and those of a dog join them. All now travel in the same direction, first on one side of the fence, then on the other. Finally the bird tracks stop abruptly and the marks of wings on each side of them show that the birds have taken flight. The dog has suddenly bolted, and where his tracks turn back is a dash in the snow and a few quail feathers which tell the story; a hunter has bagged his game. December Twenty-third An open brush-lot bordering woods is the best place to find cotton-tail rabbit tracks. Judging from the number of tracks and the spaces between them, the rabbits have been playing tag, or attempting to break the record for running and jumping. They did rest, however, for beneath a bush, and by the side of a stump, we find impressions in the snow where they sat down. If it is a warm day, you are apt to surprise one taking a sun-bath. December Twenty-fourth Save in the dome of the Capitol, could our national bird, the bald eagle, select a more appropriate place for its nest than at Washington's home? In a patch of heavy timber at Mt. Vernon, Va., a pair of eagles have nested for several years. [Illustration: Photograph by J. Alden Loring. COTTONTAIL RABBIT TAKING A SUNBATH.] Notes December Twenty-fifth Mistletoe is a parasitic evergreen shrub that is abundant in the South. It grows in thick clusters on limbs of various species of trees. Its flowers are whitish, and after the flowering season, clusters of white berries take the place of the blossoms. As the berries are ready to fall, they become soft and sticky, and when they drop they adhere to the bark of any limb they strike, and the seeds take root and are nourished by the sap of the tree. December Twenty-sixth