Chapter XV: Winter Animals

When the ponds froze, they afforded new routes and views, and Walden became his yard where he could skate freely.

He describes the winter night sounds: the hooting owl, the honking of geese, the cracking of ice, and the barking of foxes.

He throws out corn and is entertained by the frivolous and whimsical manoeuvres of the red squirrels that come to eat it.

He observes the thieving jays, the familiar chickadees, and the brave partridges that come to feed near his house in the winter.

He hears the cry of hounds hunting a fox and recounts a story from an old hunter about the chase and the kill.

He describes the hounds he sometimes meets at midnight, the mice gnawing on pines, and the familiar hares that lived under his house.