Thoreau
November 11
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and Other Natural History Essays |
 Henry David Thoreau American Writer  Apple in the Winter  Muskrat  H. D. Thoreau, a Writer's Journal  Thoreau A Book of Quotations  Excursions  The Journal of Henry David Thoreau: 1837-1861 Kindle Edition  Walden  Thumbing Through Thoreau A Book of Quotations by Henry David Thoreau  Walden, or Life in the Woods Poster  Kindle 6" Display, U.S. & International Wireless |
A fine,
calm, frosty morning, a resonant and clear air except a slight white
vapor which escaped being frozen or perchance is the steam of the
melting frost. Bracing cold, and exhilarating sunlight on russet and
frosty fields. I wear mittens now. Apples are frozen on the trees
and rattle like stones in my pocket. Aster purniccus left. A little
feathery frost on the dead weeds and grasses, especially about water -
springs and brooks (though now slightly frozen) - where was some vapor
in the night. I notice also this little frostwork about the mouth of a
woodchuck's hole, where, perhaps, was a warm, moist breath from the
interior, perchance from the chuck!
Some muskrat-houses have received a slight addition in the night. The one I opened day before yesterday has been covered again, though not yet raised so high as before. The hips of the late rose still show abundantly along the shore, and in one place nightshade berries. I hear a faint cricket (or locust ?) still, even after the slight snow. I hear the cawing of crows toward the distant wood through the clear, echoing, resonant air, and the lowing of cattle. It is rare that the water is smooth in the forenoon . It is now as smooth as in a summer evening or a September or October afternoon. There is frost on all the weeds that rise above the water or ice. The Polygonum Hydropiper is the most conspicuous, abundant, and enduring of those in the water. I see the spire of one white with frost-crystals, a perfect imitation at a little distance of its loose and narrow spike of white flowers, that have withered. I have noticed no turtles since October 31st, and no frogs for a still longer time. At the bathing[-place] I looked for clams, in summer almost as thick as paving-stones there, and found none. They have probably removed into deeper water and into the mud(?). When did they move? The jays are seen and heard more of late, their plumage apparently not dimmed at all. I counted nineteen muskrat-cabins between Hubbard Bathing-Place and Hubbard's further wood, this side the Hollowell place, from two to four feet high. They thus help materially to raise and form the river-bank. I opened one by the Hubbard Bridge. The floor of chamber was two feet or more beneath the top and one foot above the water. It was quite warm from the recent presence of the inhabitants. I heard the peculiar plunge of one close by. The instant one has put his eyes noiselessly above water he plunges like a flash, showing tail, and with a very loud sound, the first notice you have of his proximity - that he has been there - as loud as if he had struck a solid substance. This had a sort of double bed, the whole about two feet long by one foot wide and seven or eight inches high, floored thinly with dry meadow-grass. There were in the water green butts and roots of the pontederia, which I think they eat. I find the roots gnawed off. Do they eat flagroot ? A good deal of a small green hypnum-like river-weed forms the mouthfuls in their masonry. It makes a good sponge to mop the boat with. The wind has risen and sky overcast. I stop at Lee's Cliff, and there is a Veronica scrpyllifolia out. Sail back. Scared up two small clucks, perhaps teal. I had not seen any of late. They have probably almost all gone south. 1853 Other Entries |