putterings 473 < 474 > 475 index
without any definite system, with what purpose I know not
I employ a blind, and after puttering around for several seasons without any definite system of operation, we concluded at length that the most practical method for us was at night with the aid of artificial light. The location of two salt licks was known to us, each near a homesteader’s cabin, and we rather thought that we should have ₁
moved the boat out after her and followed across the stream. She disappeared in the rushes, stopped there for a few seconds, and then took two or three very high leaps and blew again. I have never seen a deer change her mind so often in such a short space of time, and it is rather unusual to find one that will give the alarm and then continue puttering around in the neighborhood. This incident is not particularly convincing in establishing the fact that deer will take note of the beaver’s danger signal, but we did have one experience with a doe that seemed quite... ₂
and puttering along at the water’s edge, with what purpose I know not. And many times under such circumstances, we have heard them as they slowly edged along, cracking a twig now and then, or quarreling with each other, whining and squaling until the bay re- ₃
all from Tappan Gregory, respectively (google snippets only) his
A. Tappan Gregory (1886-1961), mammalogist, nature photographer, lawyer
see “Taking animal self portraits with Tappan Gregory” at the Chicago Academy Sciences blog (July 10, 2021) : link