. The hunter and the trapper in North America ; or, Romantic adventures in field and forest. From the French of Bénédict Révoil . the lawn. Therascal, with the help of his paws, had extracted from ahole in the trunk some young woodpeckers, and greedilydevoured them, while the distracted mother was hoveringabove his head. He was also very fond of fresh-watermussels, and was particularly clever in hunting for themin the mud. Tortoise eggs he considered a great treat;his instinct for tracing the creatures humid track wassomething wonderful. Once—O massa ! see what an in-telligent vermin he was !—
. The hunter and the trapper in North America ; or, Romantic adventures in field and forest. From the French of Bénédict Révoil . the lawn. Therascal, with the help of his paws, had extracted from ahole in the trunk some young woodpeckers, and greedilydevoured them, while the distracted mother was hoveringabove his head. He was also very fond of fresh-watermussels, and was particularly clever in hunting for themin the mud. Tortoise eggs he considered a great treat;his instinct for tracing the creatures humid track wassomething wonderful. Once—O massa ! see what an in-telligent vermin he was !—I found him lying flat on hisbelly close to the edge of a pond, near which he and Ihad passed in our wanderings on the previous day; hehad concealed himself in a heap of reeds, and seemedto sleep like a marmot. A flock of wild ducks floatedupon the water, and approached the shore without anymistrust. Suddenly my racoon took a leap and ajump, I might almost say a flight, and pounced uponone of the largest and fattest members of the wingedtroop. The only fault I had to find with him was that he did 92 AN EVIL he pounced upon one of the largest of the winged troop. not respect the inhabitants of our poultry-yard. In thismatter his conduct was scarcely exemplary. He only stolethe eggs—when he got the chance. Besides the daintiesto which he thus helped himself occasionally, my racoonfed upon maize boiled in water, over which I pouredsome fresh milk when I wished to give him a ! the poor beast died the victim of his gluttony. STANDING AT BAY. 93 lie swallowed a rabbit whole, one fine morning—yes,liair and flesh and bones—like a boa constrictor ! And thus speaking, Master Dolly shed a tear of regret,while his vast mouth gave utterance to a succession ofyah^ yah, yahs ! followed by a couple of pshou—pshous!stereotyped in the mouth of every negro who laughs. I shall finish this chapter—too long already, I fear, forthe comfort of my readers—by r
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