Wild Creatures in Winter

CHAPTER 3

"I SEE that Paddletail the Beaver is filling his Pantry," said Danny Muskrat to Mrs. Muskrat.

"Yes, and it is about time for us to go to work ourselves," said Mrs. Muskrat. "We must make our house warmer before Old Man Winter arrives."

The Muskrats lived in a Grassy House on the Wildwood Pond not far from Paddletail the Beaver's Hidden Den. The Beavers and the Muskrats were very good friends. Almost every night the Muskrats would go to visit the Beavers for a game of Water Tag.

Now it happened that when Jack Frost came to the Old Homestead, the first ones who noticed him were the Furry Folk who lived in the water much of the time. You see, as soon as Danny Muskrat and the other Water Animals left the water on Cold-Cold Nights the Playful Air Whiffs began to freeze Sharp Little Icicles on their fur. And so, as the nights grew colder and colder, they had to stay in the water more and more to keep the Sharp Little Icicles from forming on their fur. Danny Muskrat knew that after the Wildwood Pond was covered with Glassy Ice, the only place he could go out of water was in his Grassy House.

During the Balmy Summer Days, Danny liked to sit on his Grassy House, or on a Floating Log, or at a Mud Slide, while he ate his Sweet Cattail Stalks and Juicy Water Bulbs. But after the Wintry Weather came, Danny knew he would have to eat them in his Grassy House, or under the Glassy Ice if he could find a place. So his Grassy House had to be warm.

Away went Danny and Mrs. Muskrat, and soon they were carrying large bunches of Tumbled Bulrushes and Green Water Moss and Fuzzy Cattail Heads and Swamp Grass, and piling it on their Grassy House. It was no trouble at all to find plenty of things with which to make their house warmer, and within a few nights their Grassy House had thick, warm sides.

Danny Muskrat was better off than Paddletail the Beaver in one way. He did not have to fill a Pantry. That was because the Juicy Water Bulbs and Sweet Cat-tail Stalks grew under water. At least there were enough under water so that Danny could usually find plenty under the Glassy Ice. But Danny had a dining room in his Grassy House, and sometimes he kept some Juicy Water Bulbs there so he would have a supply in very cold weather. He did not always eat all that he carried into his Grassy House for supper; then he would have some left for another day.

Now, it was a wonder how Danny could swim around under the Glassy Ice and find something to eat without drowning, but he did. Yes, sir, he could go just as far as he wanted to. When Danny left his Grassy House, he took a full breath of air. After he had swum a long way and needed a fresh breath, if he could not find an air space under the ice, he let out his breath against the ice; then soon it was fresh and ready to be breathed again. That was a trick that Paddletail knew also.

But there was one who lived at the Wildwood Pond that could do more than either Paddletail or Danny. That was Croaker the Frog.

"Cronk, croak," he said, one Cold-Cold Day; "I believe it is time to get ready for winter."

And then all Croaker did was to burrow down deep into the Oozy Mud in the bottom of the Wildwood Pond and go to sleep. And there he stayed until Jolly Spring came back and awoke him. Wasn't that an unusual way to spend the winter?

And then there was Ouzel the Dipper, who lived near Paddletail's High Dam, where the Swift Waterfall came tumbling over. You would never see Ouzel worrying about Cold-Cold Days. He wore a coat of Soft Warm Down, and he could dive right through the Swift Waterfall or into the Icy Water and not mind it at all, though what he could find there to eat is a mystery.

One would never have guessed that Ouzel liked to play in the water any more than he would have thought that Jenny Wren did, because he was not much larger than Jenny Wren and looked something like her. But while Jenny Wren was playing in the Sunny Southland, there was Ouzel sitting on a rock and looking into the Icy Water for something to dive in after.

Each day after Jack Frost came, and even before he came, the Feathered Friends around the Wildwood Pond became scarcer and scarcer. Crooner the Dove left his nest in the Giant Cottonwood Tree near Dandy the Chickadee's nest, and went out to the Yellow Stubble Field to live for a while where he could eat the scattered Tempting Kernels.

Browny Thrasher and Mew-Mew the Catbird left the Big Jungle Thicket and started for the Land of Sunshine. Altyon the Kingfisher had to leave also when the Glassy Ice would not let him catch fish any more. And even Pesty the Magpie spent more time away from the Black Forest.

"It seems as if every one is leaving," said Danny Muskrat.

"Yes, it is rather quiet around here," said Paddletail the Beaver.

"Tap-tap-tap-tap," went Redhead the Woodpecker on a Giant Cottonwood Tree; "I am still here, and I haven't quite made up my mind to leave."

It seemed as if Redhead never could decide whether to go south or not until the last minute; and then he was just as likely to stay as to go. You see, he could usually find plenty of Tree Borers and such things to eat all winter, so it really did not make much difference to him.

"HOE-HOE-HOE," said Great Horn the Owl; "I guess it is time to get up." And then he blinked his large, round eyes a few times to make sure he was awake.

Great Horn had been sleeping all day in the Heavy Boughs of a Great Pine Tree. He liked to hide and sleep during the day, because he could not see well then. But when the Long Shadows began to chase one another through the Black Forest, Great Horn was ready to start his night's hunt, for then his eyes could see better.

Great Horn left his Heavy Bough and flew silently to a High Limb of an Old Hollow Stub, to look around.

"Hoe-hoe-hoe," he said, "Jack Frost has caused many of the Dancing Little Leaflets to fall off, and I can see through the Rabbit Bushes and the Bitter Willow Bushes so much better. I believe I will just fly over to Little River and see if I can find Snowshoe the Hare or Jimmy the Swamp Rabbit. I surely would like tender rabbit for breakfast."

You see, Great Horn the Owl ate his breakfast in the evening instead of in the morning, because he slept all day and hunted at night.

Away flew Great Horn as silently as a shadow through the Black Tree Tops. "Hoe-hoe-hoe," he said; "I wonder if Snowshoe the Hare is still living in his Bitter Willow Thicket over by Paddletail's Wildwood Pond."

Snowshoe's Bitter Willow Thicket was along Little River just above the place where Little River flowed into the Wildwood Pond. Great Horn had been there many times, and he knew every Lookout Stub and High Limb along the way. Every little while he would stop and look around to see if there were any Frolicking Bunnies in sight.

Now it happened that when Jack Frost nipped the Dancing Little Leaflets, almost the first trees to undress for their long winter's sleep were the Bitter Willow Trees in the Thicket where Snowshoe the Hare lived. Yes, sir, in just a little while there was scarcely a Dancing Little Leaflet left on them.

You may be sure that when the Dancing Little Leaflets began to fall off, Snowshoe the Hare was worried. You see, Snowshoe lived in a Cozy Form, which was like a little round nest on the ground, and he knew that when all the Dancing Little Leaflets had fallen there would not be much to hide his Cozy Form. No, sir, it would be in plain sight of Great Horn the Owl and Shadow the Lynx and anyone else that came along.

"Oh, dear me," said Snowshoe, when he saw the Dancing Little Leaflets come tumbling down; "I fear that I shall be caught if I stay here."

So Snowshoe the Hare decided to move over into the Big Jungle Thicket for a while. There were many, many Blackberry Brambles and Twining Vines and Dead Grasses in which he could hide. That was why Snowshoe was not in his Bitter Willow Thicket when Great Horn the Owl came to look for him.

But there was one Great Enemy that Snowshoe feared, even in the seclusion of the Big Jungle Thicket, and that was Shadow the Lynx. Snowshoe feared that Shadow would come sneaking noiselessly through the Big Jungle Thicket on his large, padded feet, and pounce upon him before he saw him. It really was hard to see anyone coming among all those Blackberry Brambles and Twining Vines, and no one could hear Shadow when he walked.

It is a wonder that Snowshoe did not find a Friendly Burrow into which he could run when he wanted to hide, as Peter and Molly Cottontail did. But Snowshoe was like his big cousin Jack the Jumper. He did not like to live in a Friendly Burrow. And neither did Jimmy the Swamp Rabbit.

Jack the Jumper really did not need a Friendly Burrow. He lived on the Broad Prairie and in the Rustling Cornfield; and whenever he saw Ranger the Coyote or some other Enemy coming near, he jumped out of his Cozy Form and ran away.

And how Jack could run

Jimmy the Swamp Rabbit did not need a Friendly Burrow, because he could jump into the Singing Water and swim away from his Furry Enemies; that is, he could when the Singing Water was not frozen.

Now although Snowshoe the Hare could not run nearly so fast and so far as his cousin Jack the Jumper, or swim like his other cousin Jimmy the Swamp Rabbit, there was one thing he could do that neither Jack nor Jimmy could do. That was to change the color of his coat.

Of course, Snowshoe really was not the one that did the changing. It was the work of God, who created Snowshoe in the beginning. You see, during the summer months while there were all kinds of Bushes and Grasses and Vines in which Snowshoe could hide, the Lord gave him a dusky brown coat to wear so that Great Horn the Owl and Shadow the Lynx and Shaggy the Wolf and Terror the Hunter could not see him so easily when he was sitting in his Cozy Form.

But when Old Man Winter came and covered the Great Wide World with Fleecy Snow, the Lord knew that anyone could see Snowshoe as plain as day if he were sleeping on the Soft White Blanket in his dusky brown coat. So He gave him a new white coat each fall, just about the time that the Bluebirds were leaving for the Sunny Southland. And then Snowshoe could go back to his Bitter Willow Thicket to live.

Dynamic Drive.