COUNTRY LIFE
THE death of Thompson Seton recalls to me a number of pleasant experiences in his company, which was never not stimulating and fresh. For example, once under his direction I got a fire going in less than three minutes by the agency of two bits of dry wood, a bowstring and a smoothly- hollowed stone. Over and above his host of little ingenuities he had a profound knowledge of all branches of woodcraft, and was a scientific expert on anatomy of wild animals, especially the rodents. In his lovely home some fifty miles from New York he had built one observation post which yielded particularly heavy dividends. On a little island in one of the little lakes he had contrived a sham tree with a ladder up its hollow centre, and at its several windows were fixed ledges over which he sprinkled almost daily a fine covering of sand. The plank bridge that led to this one-tree island was also regularly sanded, and he would study the foot-
prints made daily by bird or animal. All these he could read as easily as block letters. There can have been no greater expert on spoors ; and this knowledge was of no little service to him when he travelled to less well-known regions in North Canada, partly to study hares and ermines and such-like creatures. On one occasion a hare in its winter coat crouched between his feet to escape a pursuing ermine, and lay there till the pursuer, tired of encircling the pair, made off. Then the hare without flurry or any symptom of fear lolloped happily away.
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