Cornell Lab of Ornithology Li b rary at Sapsucker Woods Illustration of Bank Swallow by Louis Agassiz Fuertes /f7^V .J ,V^^^^^>?^:^ i;?i f^iim^M CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY LABORATORY OF ORNITHOLOGY LIBRARY Gift of THE BURGESS ANIMAL BOOK FOR CHILDREN BOOKS BY THORNTON W. BURGESS BEDTIME STORY-BOOKS The Advemtubbb of: 1. Rbddy Fox 10. Samut Jat 2. JOHNNT ChDOK 11. Buster Bear 6. Peter Cottohtail 12. Old Mr. Toad 4. DnO' BIU.T PosBnM 13. PaioKLT Porkt 6. Mb. Moceek 14. Old Man Coyote 6. Jebbt Muskbat IS. Paddt the Beater 7. Daknt Meadow 16. Poor Mrs. Quack Mouse 17. BoBBT Cook K Grandfather Frog 18. Jimmy Skunk 9. CHArTBSEB, THE EbD 19. BOB WBITE Squirrel 20. Ol' Mibtah Buzzard MOTHER WEST WIND SERIES 1. Old Mothbr West Wind 2. Mother West Wind's ChiiiPRBN 3. MoTHEB West Wind's Animal Friends 4. MoTHEB WasT Wind's NmoHBOss 6. Mother West Wind "Why" Stories 6. Mother West Wind "How" Btoeibs 7. Mother West Wind "When" Stombs 8. Mother West Wind "Where" STOztiBS GREEN MEADOW SERIES 1. Happy Jack 3, Bowser the Hound 2. Mas. Peter Rabbit 4. Old Gbanhy Fok GREEN FOREST SERIES 1. LiOHTFoOT THE Deer 3. Whitbfoot the Wood Mouse 2. Blacet THE Cbow 4. Buster Bbab's Twins WISHING-STONE SERIES 1. Tommy and the Wibhinq-stone 2. Tommy's Wishes Gome Tbde 3. Tommy's Chanoe of Hsakt The Burgess Btro Book for Children The Burgess Animal Book for Chiujren The Burgess Flower Book for Children Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022526457 4^»t/^a^'^t/^fi$y THUNDERFOOT THE BISON. He U con„nonly called Buffalo. His r«ce has been reduced from millions to a few hundreds. THE BURGESS ANIMAL BOOK FOR CHILDREN BY THORNTON W. BURGESS WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1924 79/ B9S Cofpyright, 19£0, Bt Little, Bbown, and Compant. All rights reserved Pmnted in the United States o; Ahemoa TO THE CAUSE OP WILD LIFE IN AMERICA. ESPECIALLY THE MAMMALS MANY OF WHICH ARE SERIOUSLY THREATENED WITH EXTINCTION, THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED. PREFACE The cordial reception given the Burgess Bird Book for Children, together with numerous let- ters to the author asking for information on the habits and characteristics of many of the mammals of America, led to the preparation of this volume. It is ofifered merely as an introduction to the four- footed friends, little and big, which form so impor- tant a part of the wild life of the United States and Canada. There has been no attempt to describe or classify sub-species. That is for the scientist and student with specific interests. The purpose of this book is to acquaint the reader with the larger groups — orders, families, and divisions of the latter, so that typical representatives may readily be recognized and their habits understood. Instead of the word mammal the word animal has been used throughout as having a better defined meaning to the average child. A conscien- tious effort to avoid technical terms and descrip- tions has been made that there may be nothing [vii] Preface to confuse the young mind. Clarity and simplic- ity have been the objects kept constantly in view. At the same time the utmost care to be accurate in the smallest details has been exercised. To this end the works of leading authorities on Amer- ican mammals have been carefully consulted and compared. No statements which are not con- firmed by two or more naturahsts of recognized standing have been made. In this research work the writings of Audubon and Bachman, Dr. E. W. Nelson, Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Dr. W. T. Hornaday, Ernest Thompson Seton and others, together with the bulletins of the Biological Survey of the Department of Agri- culture at Washington, have been of the greatest value. I herewith acknowledge my debt to these. Whatever the text may lack in clearness of description will be amply compensated for by the wonderful drawings in color and black-and- white by Mr. Louis Agassiz Fuertes, the artist- naturalist, whose hearty cooperation has been a source of great help to me. These drawings were made especially for this book and add in no small degree to such value as it may possess. If the reading of these pages shall lead even a few to an active interest in our wild animals, stimulating a desire to preserve and protect a priceless heritage from the past which a heedless [ viii ] Preface present threatens through wanton and reckless waste to deny the future, the labor will have been well worth while. Only through intimate acquaintance may un- derstanding of the animals in their relations to each other and to man be attained. To serve as a medium for this purpose this book has been written. As such I offer it to the children of America, conscious of its shortcomings yet hopeful that it will prove of some value in acquainting them with their friends and mine — the animals of field and wood, of mountain and desert, in the truest sense the first citizens of America. Thobnton W. Burgess [ix] CONTENTS FASB Preface ......... vii I Jenny When Gives Peteb Rabbit an Idea . . 1 Peter arranges to go to school to Old Mother Nature. n Peter and Jumper Go to School ... 9 The Cottontail Rabbit, Northern Hare and Marsh Rabbit. in More of Peter's Lono-Leoged Cousins . 18 The Swamp Hare, Arctic Hare, Prairie Hare, Antelope Jack and common Jack Rabbit. IV Chatterer and Happy Jack Join ... 27 The Squirrel family and order of Rodents. V The Squirrels op the Trees .... 36 The Bed, Gray, Fox, Kaibab and Abert Squirrels. VI Striped Chipmunk and His Cousins ... 46 The Chipmunk, Spermophiles and Flying Squirrel. Vn Johnny Chuck Joins the Ciasb .... 56 The Woodchuck and his ways. Vm WnisTiiER and Yap Yap 65 The Whistling or Hoary Marmot and Prairie Dogs. IX Two Queer Little Haymakers .... 73 The Pika or Cony and the Mountain Beaver or Sewellel. X Prickly Porky and Grubby Gopher ... 82 Introducing the Porcupine and Pocket Gopher. [xi] Contents CHAPTER XI xn xm XIV XV XVI xvn xvm XIX XX XXI PAOB A Fellow with a Thousand Spears . . 90 More about the Porcupine. A LUMBEHMAN AND ENGINEER .... 99 The Beaver and his works. A Worker and a Robber .... 112 The Muskrat and the Brown or Norway Rat. A Trader and a Handsome Fellow . . 120 The Cotton Rat, Wood or Pack Rat and the Kangaroo Rat. Two Unleke Little Cousins . . . .129 Whitefoot the Wood or Deer Mouse, and Danny Meadow Mouse, also called Field Mouse. Danny's Northern Cousins and Nimbleheeib 141 The Banded and Brown Lemmings and the Jump- ing Mouse. Three Little Redcoats and Some Others . 150 The Pine Mouse, Red-backed Mouse, Rufous Tree Mouse, Rock Mouse and Beach Mouse. Mice with Pockets, and Others . . . 158 The Silky and Spiny Pocket Mice, Grasshopper Mouse, Harvest Mouse and House Mouse. Teent Weeny and His Cousin . . . 166 The Common or Long-tailed Shrew or Shrew Mouse, Short-tailed Shrew or Mole Shrew and Marsh or Water Shrew. Four Busy Little Miners .... The Common Mole, Brewer's or Hairy-tailed Mole, Oregon Mole and Star-nosed Mole. 173 Flitter the Bat and His Family . . .183 The Red Bat, Little Brown or Cave Bat, Big Brown or House Bat, Silvery Bat, Hoary Bat and Big-eared Bat. [xii] Contents CHAPTER FAOB XXn An Independent Family 193 The Common Skunk, Hog-nosed or Badger Skunk and Little Spotted Skunk. XXTTT Digger and His Cousin Glutton . . . 203 The Badger and Wolverine or Carcajou. XXIV Shadow and His Family . . . .211 The Common or Bonaparte Weasel or Ermine, New York Weasel, Long-tailed or Yellow- bellied Weasel, Least Weasel and Black- footed Ferret. XXV Two Famous Swimmbks 218 BiUy Mink and Little Joe Otter. XXVI Spite the Marten and Pekan the Fisher . 229 The Pine Marten or Americap Sable and the Fisher or Pennant Marten. XXVn Reddy Fox Joins the School . . . 235 The Red, Black and Silver Foxes, Gray Fox, Kit Fox or Swift, Desert Fox, Arctic and Blue Foxes. XXV ill Old Man Coyote and Howler the Wolf . 248 The Prairie Wolf or Coyote and the Timber or Gray Wolf. XXIX YOWLER AND HiS CoUSIN TuFTY . . . 255 The Bay Lynx or Bob Cat a,nd the Canada Lynx or Lucivee. XXX Some Big and Little Cat Cousins . . 263 Puma the Panther, also called Cougar and Mountain Lion, the Jaguar, the Ocelot and the Jaguarundi Cat or ,Eyra. XXXI Bobby Coon Arritbb . . .268 The Raccoon and the Civet or Ring-tailed Cat, also called Coon Cat and Bassaris. [ xiii ] Contents CHAPTBB PAQB XXXn BtrsTEB Beak Nkaelt Bkeaeb Up School . 277 The Black Bear and his habits. XXXm BusTEE Bbab's Big Cousms . . . .287 Silvertip, the Grizzly Bear, the Alaska or Great Brown Bear and the Polar Bear. XXXIV Unc' Billy and Old Mks. Possum . . 294 The Virginia Opossum, which is the only Ameri- can Marsupial. XXXV LiGHTTOOT, Blacktail and Foekhohn . . 302 The White-tailed or Virginia Deer, Black-tailed Deer and Mule Deer. XXXVI BuGLEB, Flathokns and Wandekhoof . . 314 The Elk or Wapiti, Moose and Caribou. XXXVn Thundeetoot, Fleettoot and Longcoat . 323 The Buffalo or Bison, Antelope and Musk Ox. XXXVni Two WONDEKFUL MOUNTAIN ClIMBEES . . 331 The Rocky Mountain Sheep or Bighorn and the Rocky Mountain Gtoat. XXXIX Piggy and Habdhhell 338 The Peccary or Wild Pig and the Armadillo. XL The Mammals of the Sea .... 346 The Sea Otter, Walrus, Sea Lions, Seels and Manatee or Sea Cow. Index . . . . . . . . 355 [xiv] LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Thunderfoot the Bisoa .... Frontispiece PAQB Peter Rabbit 6 Jumper the Hare ........ 6 The Marsh Rabbit 14 Snow White the Arctic Hare 22 Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel 30 Rusty the Pox Squirrel 30 Jack Rabbit 38 The California Ground Squirrel 38 Timmy the Flying Squirrel 46 Chatterer the Red Squirrel ....... 46 Striped Chipmunk ....... 54 Seek Seek the Spermophile. 54 Johnny Chuck 62 Whistler the Hoary Marmot ..... 62 Yap Yap the Prairie Dog 70 Grubby the Pocket Gopher 70 Little Chief the Pika 78 Stubtail the Mountain Beaver 78 Prickly Porky the Porcupine ..... 86 Paddy the Beaver 94 Jeny Muskrat 102 Whitefoot the Wood Mouse 110 Trader the Wood Rat 110 The Brown Lemming 118 Nimbleheels the Jumping Mouse . . . . . 126 [XV] List of Illustrations PAoa Danny Meadow Mouse 126 Nibbler the House Mouse 134 Robber the Brown Rat ...... 134 Longfoot the Kangaroo Rat ...... 142 Digger the Badger 142 Teeny Weeny the Shrew 150 The Short-tailed Shrew 150 Miner the Mole 158 The Star-nosed Mole 158 Flitter the Bat 166 The Little Brown Bat 166 The Little Spotted Skunk 174 Jimmy Skunk 174 Billy Mink 182 Shadow the Weasel 182 The Black-footed Ferret 190 Glutton the Wolverine 198 Pekan the Fisher 198 Spite the Marten 206 Little Joe Otter 206 ReddyFox 214 The Gray Fox 214 The Arctic Fox 222 The Blue Fox 222 Howler the Wolf 230 Old Man Coyote 230 Tufty the Lynx 238 Yowler the Bob Cat 238 Puma the Panther 246 The Jaguar 254 The Ring-tailed or Civet Cat 262 Bobby Coon 270 Unc' Billy Possum 270 Buster Bear the Black Bear 278 [xvi] List of Illustrations PAoa Silvertip the Grizzly Bear 286 Bigfoot the Alaskan Brown Bear 294 Snow King the Polar Bear 302 Lightfoot the Deer 310 Forkhorn the Mule Deer 310 Bugler the Elk 318 Flathorns the Moose 326 Wanderhoof the Caribou 330 Fleetfoot the Antelope 334 Longcoat the Musk Ox 338 Bighorn the Mountain Sheep 342 Billy the Mountain Goat 342 Piggy the Collared Peccary 346 Hardshell the Armadillo 350 [xvii] THE BURGESS ANIMAL BOOK FOR CHILDREN CHAPTER I JENNY WREN GIVES PETER RABBIT AN IDEA "As sure as you 're alive now, Peter Rabbit, some day I will catch you," snarled Reddy Fox, as he poked his black nose in the hole between the roots of the Big Hickory-tree which grows close to the Smiling Pool. "It is lucky for you that you were not one jump farther away from this hole." Peter, safe inside that hole, did n't have a word to say, or, if he did, he did n't have breath enough to say it. It was quite true that if he had been one jump farther from that hole, Reddy Fox would have caught him. As it was, the hairs on Peter's funny white tail actually had tickled Reddy's black nose as Peter plunged frantically through the root-bound entrance to that hole. It had been the narrowest escape Peter had had for a long, long time. You see, Reddy Fox had sur- prised Peter nibbling sweet clover on the bank of the Smiling Pool, and it had been a lucky thing [1] The Burgess Animal Book for Children for Peter that that hole, dug long ago by Johnny Chuck's grandfather, had been right where it was. Also, it was a lucky thing that old Mr. Chuck had been wise enough to make the entrance between the roots of that tree in such a way that it could not be dug any larger. Reddy Fox was too shrewd to waste any time trying to dig it larger. He knew there was n't room enough for him to get between those roots. So, after trying to make Peter as uncomfortable as possible by telling him what he, Reddy, would do to him when he did catch him, Reddy trotted off across the Green Meadows. Peter remained where he was for a long time. When he was quite sure that it was safe to do so, he crept out and hurried, lipperty-lipperty-lip, up to the Old Orchard. He felt that that would be the safest place for him, because there were ever so many hiding places in the old stone wall along the edge of it. When Peter reached the Old Orchard, who should he see but Jenny Wren- Jenny had ar- rived that very morning from the Sunny South where she had spent the winter. "Tut, tut, tut, tut, tut!" exclaimed Jenny, as soon as she saw Peter. "If here isn't Peter Rabbit himself! How ever did you manage to keep out of the clutches of Reddy Fox all the long winter?" Peter chuckled. " I did n't have much trouble [2] Jenny Wren Gives Peter Rabbit an Idea with Reddy during the winter," said he, "but this very morning he so nearly caught me that it is a wonder that my hair is not snow white from fright." Then he told Jenny all about his narrow escape. "Had it not been for that handy hole of Grand- father Chuck, I could n't possibly have escaped," concluded Peter. Jenny Wren cocked her pert little head on one side, and her sharp little eyes snapped. "Why don't you learn to swim, Peter, like your cousin down in the Sunny South ? " she demanded. "If he had been in your place, he would simply have plunged into the Smiling Pool and laughed at Reddy Fox." Peter sat bolt upright with his eyes very wide open. In them was a funny look of surprise as he stared up at Jenny Wren. "What are you talking about, Jenny Wren?" he demanded. "Don't you know that none of the Rabbit family swim unless it is to cross the Laughing Brook when there is no other way of getting to the other side, or when actually driven into the water by an enemy from whom there is no other escape? I can swim a little if I have to, but you don't catch me in the water when I can stay on land. What is more, you won't find any other members of my family doing such a thing." "Tut, tut, tut, tut, Peter!" exclaimed Jenny [3] The Burgess Animal Book for Children Wren in her sharp, scolding voice, "Tut, tut, tut, tut! For a fellow who has been so curious about the ways of his feathered neighbors, you know very little about your own family. If I were in your place I would learn about my own relatives before I became curious about my neighbors. How many relatives have you, Peter?" "One," replied Peter promptly, "my big cousin. Jumper the Hare." Jenny Wren threw back her head and laughed and laughed and laughed. It was a most irritat- ing and provoking laugh. Finally Peter began to lose patience. "What are you laughing at.''" he demanded crossly. "You know very well that Jumper the Hare is the only cousin I have." Jenny Wren laughed harder than ever. "Peter!" she gasped. "Peter, you will be the death of me. Why, down in the Sunny South, where I spent the winter, you have a cousin who is more closely related to you than Jumper the Hare. And what is more, he is almost as fond of the water as Jerry Muskrat. He is called the Marsh Rabbit or Marsh Hare, and many a time I have watched him swimming about by the hour." "I don't believe it!" declared Peter angrily. "I don't believe a word of it. You are simply trying to fool me, Jenny Wren. There never was a Rabbit and there never will be a Rabbit who would [4] Jenny Wren Gives Peter Rqbbit an Idea go swimming for the fun of it. I belong to the Cottontail branch of the Hare family, and it is a fine family if I do say so. My cousin Jxunper is a true Hare, and. the only difference between us is that he is bigger, has longer legs and ears, changes the color of his coat in winter, and seldom, if ever, goes into holes in the ground. The idea of trying to tell me I don't know about my own relatives." Jenny Wren suddenly became sober. "Peter," said she very earnestly, "take my advice and go to school to Old Mother Nature for a while. What I have told you is true, every word of it. You have a cousin down in the Sunny South who spends half his time in the water. What is more, I suspect that you and Jumper have other relatives of whom you 've never heard. Such ignorance would be laughable if it were not to be pitied. This is what comes of never having traveled. Go to school to Old Mother Nature for a while, Peter. It will pay you." With this, Jenny Wren flew away to hunt for Mr. Wren that they might de- cide where to make their home for the summer. Peter tried to believe that what Jenny Wren had told him was nothing but a story, but do what he would, he could n't rid himself of a little doubt. He tried to interest himself in the affairs of the other little people of the Old Orchard, but it was useless. That little doubt kept growing and grow- [5] The Burgess Animal Book for Children ing. Could it be possible that Jenny Wren had spoken the truth? Could it be that he really did n't know what relatives he had or anything about them ? Of course Old Mother Nature could tell him all he wanted to know. And he knew that whatever she might tell him would be true. Finally that growing doubt, together with the curiosity which has led Peter to do so many queer things, proved too much for him and he started for the Green Forest to look for Old Mother Nature. It did n't take long to find her. She was veiy busy, for there is no time in all the year when Old Mother Nature has quite so much to do as in the spring. "If you please. Old Mother Nature," said Peter timidly but very politely, "I 've some questions I want to ask you." Old Mother Nature's eyes twinkled in a kindly way. "All right, Peter," she replied. "I guess I can talk and work at the same time. What is it you want to know ? " "I want to know if it is true that there are any other members of the Rabbit and the Hare family besides my big cousin, Jumper, who lives here in the Green Forest, and myself." Old Mother Nature's eyes twinkled more than ever. "Why, of course, Peter," she replied. "There are several other members. You ought [6] PETEIR RABBIT. The (amiliat Cottontail Rabbit whom everybody knows and loves. JUMPER THE HARE. The Northern or Varying Hare in summer and winter coat. Jenny Wren Gives Peter Rabbit an Idea to know that. But then, I suppose you don't because you never have traveled. It is surprising how Httle some folks know about the very things they ought to know most about." Peter looked very humble and as if he felt a little bit foolish. "Is — is — Is it true that way down in the Sunny South I have a cousin who loves to spend his time in the water ?" stammered Peter.' "It certainly is, Peter," replied Old Mother Nature. "He is called the Marsh Rabbit, and he is more nearly your size, and looks more like you, than any of your other cousins." Peter gulped as if he were swallowing something that went down hard. "That is what Jenny Wren said, but I did n't believe her," replied Peter meekly. "She said she had often watched him swimming about like Jerry Muskrat." Old Mother Nature nodded. "Quite true. Quite true," said she. "He is quite as much at home in the water as on land, if anything a little more so. He is one member of the family who takes to the water, and he certainly does love it. Is there anything else you want to know, Peter.'*" Peter shifted about uneasily and hesitated. "What is it, Peter?" asked Old Mother Nature kindly. "There is nothing in the Great World equal to knowledge, and if I can add to your store of it I will be very glad to." [7] The Burgess Animal Book for Children Peter took heart. "If — if you please. Mother Nature, I would like to learn all about my family. May I come to school to you every day ?" Old Mother Nature laughed right out. "Cer- tainly you may come to school to me, old Mr. Curiosity," said she. "It is a good idea; a very good idea. I 'm very busy, as you can see, but I 'm never too busy to teach those who really want to learn. We '11 have a lesson over here every morning just at sun-up. I can't be bothered any more to-day, because it is late. Run along home to the dear Old Briar-patch and think up some questions to ask me to-morrow morning. And, by the way, Peter, I wiU ask you some ques- tions. For one thing I shall ask you to tell me all you know about your own family. Now scamper along and be here to-morrow morning at sun-up." "May I bring my cousin. Jumper the Hare, if he wants to come?" asked Peter, as he prepared to obey Old Mother Nature. "Bring him along and any one else who wants to learn," replied Old Mother Nature kindly. Peter bade her good-by in his most polite manner and then scampered as fast as he could go, lipperty- lipperty-lip, to the dear Old Briar-patch. There he spent the remainder of the day thinking up questions and also trying to find out how much he really did know about his own family. [81 CHAPTER II PETER AND JUMPER GO TO SCHOOL Hardly had jolly, round, red Mr. Sun thrown off his rosy blankets and begun his daily climb up in the blue, blue sky when Peter Rabbit and his cousin. Jumper the Hare, arrived at the place in the Green Forest where Peter had found Old Mother Nature the day before. She was waiting for them, ready to begin the first lesson. "I am glad you are so prompt," said she. "Promptness is one of the most important things in life. Now I am very, very busy these days, as you know, so we will begin school at once. Before either of you ask any questions, I am going to ask some myself. Peter, what do you look like ? Where do you live? What do you eat? I want to find out just how much you reaUy known about yourself." Peter scratched one ear with a long hind foot and hesitated as if he did n't know just how to begin. Old Mother Nature waited patiently. Finally Peter began rather timidly. [9] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children "Of course," said he, "the only way I know how I look is by the way the other members of my family look, for I 've never seen myself. I sup- pose in a way I look like all the rest of the Rabbit family. I have long hind legs and short front ones. I suppose this is so I can make long jumps when I am in a hurry." Old Mother Nature nodded, and Peter, taking courage, continued. "My hind legs are stout and strong, but my front ones are rather weak. I guess this is because I do not have a great deal of use for them, except for running. My coat is a sort of mixture of brown and gray, more brown in summer and more gray in winter. My ears are longer for my size than are those of most animals, but really not very long after all, not nearly as long for my size as my cousin Jumper's are for his size. My tail does n't amount to much be- cause it is so short that it is hardly worth calling a tail. It is so short I carry it straight up. It is white like a little bunch of cotton, and I suppose that that is why I am called a Cottontail Rabbit, though I have heard that somjg folks call me a Gray Rabbit and others a Bush Rabbit. I guess I 'm called Bush Rabbit because I like bushy country in which to live. "I live in the dear Old Briar-patch and just love it. It is a mass of bushes and bramble- [10] Peter and Jumper Go to School tangles, and is the safest place I know of. I have cut little paths all through it just big enough for Mrs. Peter and myself. None of our enemies can get at us there, excepting Shadow the Weasel or BUly Mink. I have a sort of nest there where I spend my time when I am not running about. It is called a form and I sit in it a great deal. "In summer I eat clover, grass and other green things, and I just love to get over into Farmer Brown's garden. In winter I have to take what I can get, and this is mostly bark from young trees, buds and tender twigs of bushes, and any green plants I can find under the snow. I can run fast for a short distance, but only for a short distance. That is why I like thick brush and bramble-tangles. There I can dodge. I don't know any one who can beat me at dodging. If Reddy Fox or Bowser the Hound surprises me away from the dear Old Briar-patch I run for the nearest hollow log or hole in the ground. Some- times in summer I dig a hole fojr myself, but not often. It is much easier to use a hole somebody else has dug. When I want to signal my friends I thimap the ground with my hind feet. Jumper does the same thing. I forgot to say I don't like water." Old Mother Nature smiled. "You are think- ing of that cousin of yours, the Marsh Rabbit [llj The Burgess Animal Book for Children who lives way down in the Sunny South," said she. Peter looked a wee bit foolish and admitted that he was. Jumper the Hare was all interest at once. You see, he had never heard of this cousin. "That was a very good account of yourself, Peter," said Old Mother Nature. "Now take a look at your cousin, Jumper the Hare, and tell me how he differs from you." Peter took a long look at Jumper, and then, as before, scratched one ear with a long hind foot. "In the first place," said he, "Jumper is con- siderably bigger than I. He has very long hind legs and his ears are very long. In summer he wears a brown coat, but in winter he is all white but the tips of those long ears, and those are black. Because his coat changes so, he is called the Varying Hare. He likes the Green Forest where the trees grow close together, especially those places where there are a great many young trees. He 's the biggest member of our family. I guess that 's all I know about Cousin Jumper." "That is very good, Peter, as far as it goes," said Old Mother Nature. "You have made only one mistake. Jumper is not the biggest of his family." Both Peter and Jumper opened their eyes very wide with surprise: "Also," continued Old [12] Peter and Jumper Go to School Mother Nature, "you forgot to mention the fact that Jumper never hides in hollow logs and holes in the ground as you do. Why don't you, Jumper?" "I wouldn't feel safe there," replied Jumper rather timidly. "I depend on my long legs for safety, and the way I can dodge around trees and bushes. I suppose Reddy Fox may be fast enough to catch me in the open, but he can't do it where I can dodge around trees and bushes. That is why I stick to the Green Forest. If you please. Mother Nature, what is this about a cousin who likes to swim?" Old Mother Nature's eyes twinkled. "We'll get to that later on," said she. "Now, each of you hold up a hind foot and tell me what differ- ence you see." Peter and Jumper each held up a hind foot and each looked first at his own and then at the other's. "They look to me very much alike, only Jumper's is a lot longer and bigger than mine," said Peter. Jumper nodded as if he agreed. "What's the matter with your eyes?" de- manded Old Mother Nature. "Don't you see that Jumper's foot is a great deal broader than yours, Peter, and that his toes are spread apart, whUe yours are close together?" Peter and Jimiper looked sheepish, for it was [13] The Burgess Animal Book for Children just as Old Mother Nature had said. Jumper's foot really was quite different from that of Peter. Peter's was narrow and slim. "That is a very important difference," de- clared Old Mother Nature. "Can you guess why I gave you those big feet, Jumper ?" Jumper slowly shook his head. "Not unless it was to make me different," said he. "I 'm surprised," said Old Mother Nature. "Yes, indeed, I 'm surprised. You ought to know by this time that I never give anybody anything without a purpose. What happens to those big feet of yours in the winter, Jumper?" "Nothing that I know of, excepting that the hair grows out long between iny toes," Jumper replied. "Exactly," snapped CWd Mother Nature. "And when the hair does this you can travel over light snow without sinking in. It is just as if you had snowshoes. That is why you are often called a Snowshoe Rabbit. I gave you those big feet and make the hair grow out every winter because I know that you depend on your legs to get away from your enemies. You can run over the deep snow where your enemies break through. Peter, though he is smaller and lighter than you are, cannot go where you can. But Peter does n't need to depend always on his legs to save his life. [14] THE MARSH RABBIT. This cousin of Peter Rabbit is a famous swimmer. Peter and Jumper Go to School There is one thing more that I want you both to notice, and that is that you both have quite a lot of short hairs on the soles of your feet. That is where you differ from that cousin of yours down in the Sunny South. He has only a very few hairs on his feet. That is so he can swim better." "If you please, Mother Nature, why is that cousin of ours so fond of the water?" piped up Peter. "Because," replied Old Mother Nature, "he lives in marshy country where there is a great deal of water. He is very nearly the same size as you, Peter, and looks very much like you. But his legs are not quite so long, his ears are a little smaller, and his tail is brownish instead of white. He is a poor runner and so in time of danger he takes to the water. For that matter, he goes swimming for pleasure. The water is warm down there, and he dearly loves to paddle about in it. If a Fox chases him he simply plunges into the water and hides among the water plants with only his eyes and his nose out of water." "Does he make his home in the water like Jerry Muskrat?" asked Peter innocently. Mother Nature smiled and shook her head. "Certainly not," she replied. "His home is on the ground. His babies are bom in a nest made just as Mrs. Peter makes her nest for your babies, [15] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children and Mrs. Jumper makes a nest for Jumper's babies. It is made of grass and lined with soft fur which Mrs. Rabbit pulls from her own breast, and it is very carefully hidden. By the way, Peter, how do your babies differ from the babies of your Cousin Jumper ?" Peter shook his head. "I don't know," said he. "My babies don't have their eyes open when they are born, and they have n't any hair." Jumper pricked up his long ears. "Wliat 's that?" said he. "Why, my babies have their eyes open and have the dearest little fur coats !" Old Mother Nature chuckled. "That 's the difference," said she. "I guess both of you have learned something." "You said a little while ago that Jumper is n't the biggest of our family," said Peter. "If you please, who is?" "There are several bigger than Jumper," re- plied Old Mother Nature, and smiled as she saw the funny look of surprise on the faces of Peter and Jumper. "There is oneway up in the Frozen North and there are two cousins way out in the Great West. They are as much bigger than Jumper as Jumper is bigger than you, Peter. But I have n't time to tell you about them now. If you really want to learn about them, be here promptly at sun-up to-morrow morning. Hello! [16] Peter and Jumper Go to School Here comes Reddy Fox, and he looks to me as if a good breakfast would not come amiss. Let me see what you have learned about taking care of yourselves." Peter and Jumper gave one startled look in the direction Mother Nature was pointing. Sure enough, there was Reddy Fox. Not far away was a hollow log. Peter wasted no time in getting to it. In fact, he left in such a hurry that he forgot to say good-by to Old Mother Nature. But she did n't mind, for she quite imderstood Peter's feelings, and she laughed when she saw his funny little white tail disappear inside the hollow log. As for Jumper, he promptly took to his long legs and disappeared with great boimds, Reddy Fox racing after him. [171 CHAPTER III MORE OF Peter's long-legged cousins At sun-up tlie next morning Peter Rabbit and Jumper the Hare were on hand promptly for their next lesson. Old Mother Nature smiled as she saw the eager curiosity shining in their eyes. She didn't wait for them to ask questions. "Yester- day," said she, "I told you about your water- loving cousin, the Marsh Rabbit. You have another relative down there in the Sunny South who is almost as fond of the water. Some folks call him the Swamp Rabbit. Others call him the Swamp Hare. The latter is really the best name for him, because he is a true Hare. He lives in swamps instead of marshes, but he is a splendid swimmer and fond of the water. When he is chased by an enemy he makes for the nearest pond or stream." "How big is he ?" asked Jumper. "Just about your size, Jumper," replied Old Mother Nature. "If anything, he is a little bit heavier. But because his hair lies much smoother [18] Mare of Peter's Long-Legged Cousins than yours, you probably would look a little bit bigger if you were sitting beside him. As with his cousin, the Marsh Rabbit, the hair on his feet is thin. His toes are rather long and he can spread them widely, which is a great help in swimming. He does n't have to take to the water as his little cousin does, for he is a very good runner. But he does take to it as the easiest way of getting rid of those who are chasing him. The Marsh Rabbit and the Swamp Hare are the only members of your family in all the Great World who are fond of the water and who are at home in it. Now, who shall I tell you about ?" "Our biggest cousins," cried Peter and Jumper together. "The ones you told us yesterday are bigger than Jumper," added Peter. "It is hard to believe that there can be any much bigger than he." Old Mother Nature's eyes twinkled. "It is often hard to believe things you know nothing about," said she. "Compared with these other relatives, Jumper really is n't big at all. He seems big to you, Peter, but if he should meet his cousin. Snow White the Arctic Hare, who lives way up in the Frozen North, I am quite sure Jumper would feel small. Snow White looks very much like Jumper in his winter coat, for he is all white save the tips of his ears, which are black/' [19] The Burgess Animal Book for Children "Does he wear a white coat all year round?" asked Peter eagerly. "When he lives so far north that there is snow and ice for most of the year, he does," replied Old Mother Nature. "But when he lives far enough south for the snow to disappear for a little while in the summer, he changes his white coat for one of gray." "But how can he live so far north that the snow and ice seldom melt?" asked Peter, looking very much puzzled. "What can he find to eat?" " Even way up there there is moss growing under the snow. And in the short summer other plants grow. During the long winter Snow White digs down through the snow to get these. He also eats the bark and twigs of little stunted trees. But big as he is, you have a cousin who is still bigger, the biggest of all the family." "Who is he ?" Jumper and Peter cried together. "He is called White-tailed Jack," replied Old Mother Nature. "And he lives chiefly on the great plains of the Northwest, though sometimes he is found in the mountains and forests. He is sometimes called the Prairie Hare. In winter his coat is white, but in summer it is a light brown. Summer or winter his tail is white, wherein he is much like you, Peter. It is because of this that he is called White-tailed Jack." [20] More of Peter's Long-Legged Cousins "Is his tail as short as mine?" asked Peter eagerly. Old Mother Nature laughed right out. "No, Peter," he replied. "It wouldn't be called a long tail by any other animal, but for a member of your family it really is long, and when White- tailed Jack is running he switches it from side to side. His hind legs are very long and powerful, and he can make a single jump of twenty feet with- out half trying. Not even Old Man Coyote can catch him in a straightaway race. You think Jumper's ears are long, Peter, but they are short compared to the ears of White-tailed Jack. Not only are his ears long, but they are very big. When he squats in his form and lays his ears back they reach way over his shoulders. Like the other members of the Hare family he does n't use holes in the ground or hollow logs. He trusts to his long legs and to his wonderful speed to es- cape from his enemies. Among the latter are Howler the Wolf, Old Man Coyote, Eagles, Hawks and Owls. He is so big that he would make five or six of you, Peter." Peter drew a long breath. "It is dreadfully hard to believe that I can have a cousin as big as that," he exclaimed. "But of course if you say it is so, it is so," he hastened to add. "Have I any other cousins anywhere near as big?" [21] The Burgess Animal Book for Children Old Mother Nature nodded. "There are some others very like White-tailed Jack, only not quite as big," said she. "They have just such long hind legs, and just such great ears, but their coats are different, and they live on the great plains farther south. Some of them live so far south that it is warm all the year round. One of these latter is Antelope Jack, whose home is in the Southwest." "Tell us about him," begged Peter. "To begin with," replied Old Mother Nature, "he is a member of the big Jack Rabbit or Jack Hare branch of your family. None of this branch should be called a Rabbit. All the members are first cousins to Jumper and are true Hares. All have big ears, long, rather thin necks, and long legs. Even their front legs axe comparatively long. Antelope Jack is probably next in size to White-tailed Jack. Strange to say, although he lives where it is warm for most of the year, his coat is very largely white. His back is a yellowish- brown and so is his throat. But his sides are white. The surprising thing about him is that he has the power of making himself seem almost wholly white. He can make the white hair spread out at will by means of some special little muscles which I have given him, so that the white of his sides at times almost seems to meet on his back. [22] SNOW WHITE THE ARCTIC HARE. Here he is at home with his (fiends in the far North. More of Peter's Long-Legged Cousins When he does this in the sun it makes flashes of white which can be seen a long way. By means of this Antelope Jack and his friends can keep track of each other when they are a long distance apart. There is only one other animal who can flash signals in this way, and that is the Antelope of whom I will tell you some other time. It is be- cause Jack flashes signals in this way that he is called Antelope Jack. In his habits he is other- wise much like the other members of his family. He trusts to his long legs and his wonderful powers of jumping to keep him out of danger. He is not as well known as his commoner cousin, plain Jack Rabbit. Everybody knows Jack Rabbit." Peter shook his head. "I don't," said he very meekly. "Then it is time you did," replied Old Mother Nature. "If you had ever been in the Far West you would know him. Everybody out there knows him. He is n't quite as big as Antelope Jack but still he is a big fellow. He wears a brownish coat much like Jumper's, and the tips of his long ears are black. His tail is longer than Jumper's, and when he runs he carries it down." "I don't carry mine down," Peter piped up. Old Mother Nature laughed right out. "True enough, Peter, true enough," said she. "You [23] The Burgess Animal Book for Children could n't if you wanted to. It is n't long enough to carry any way but up. Jack has more of a tail than you have, just as he has longer legs. My, how he can run ! He goes with great bounds and about every tenth bound he jumps very high. This is so that he can get a good look around to watch out for enemies." "Who are his enemies ?" asked Peter. " Foxes, Coyotes, Hawks, Eagles, Owls, Weasels, and men," replied Old Mother Nature. "In fact, he has about as many enemies as you have." "I suppose when you say men, you mean hunters," said Peter. Old Mother Nature nodded. "Yes," said she, "I mean those who hunt him for fun and those who hunt him to get rid of him." Peter pricked up his ears- "What do they want to get rid of him for ? What harm does he do?" he asked. "When he lives far away from the homes of men he does no harm," replied Old Mother Nature. "But when he lives near the homes of men he gets into mischief, just as you do when you visit Farmer Brown's garden." Old Mother Nature looked very severe when she said this and Peter hung his head. "I know I ought to keep away from that gar- den," said Peter very meekly, "but you have no [24] More of Peter's Long-Legged Cousins idea what a temptation it is. The things in that garden do taste so good." Old Mother Nature turned her head to hide the twinkle in her eyes. When she turned toward Peter again her face was severe as before. " That is no excuse, Peter Rabbit," said she. " You should be suflSciently strong-minded not to yield to tempta- tion. Yielding to temptation is the cause of most of the trouble in this world. It has made man an enemy to Jack Rabbit. Jack just cannot keep away from the crops planted by men. His family is very large, and when a lot of them get together in a field of clover or young wheat, or in a young orchard where the bark on the trees is tender and sweet, they do so much damage that the owner is hardly to be blamed for becoming angry and seeking to kill them. Yes, I am sorry to say, Jack Rabbit becomes a terrible nuisance when he goes where he has no business. Now I guess you have learned suflScient about your long-legged cousins. I 've a great deal to do, so skip along home, both of you." "If you please. Mother Nature, may we come again to-morrow?" asked Peter. "What for.?" demanded Old Mother Nature. " Have n't you learned enough about your family ? " "Yes," replied Peter, "but there are lots and lots of things I would like to know about other [25] The Burgess Animal Book for Children people. If you please, I would like to come to school to you every day. You see, the more I learn about my neighbors, the better able I will be to take care of myself." "All right, Mr. Curiosity," replied Old Mother Nature good-naturedly, "come again to-morrow morning. I would n't for the world deny any one who is really seeking for knowledge." So Peter and Jumper politely T^ade her good-by and started for their homes. [26] CHAPTER IV CHATTERER AND HAPPY JACK JOIN Peter Rabbit, on his way to school to Old Mother Nature, was trying to make up his mind about which of his neighbors he would ask. He had learned so many surprising things about his own family that he shrewdly suspected many equally surprising things were to be learned about his neighbors. But there were so many neighbors he could n't decide which one to ask about first. But that matter was settled for him and in a funny way. Hardly had he reached the edge of the Green Forest when he was hailed by a sharp voice. "Hello, Peter Rabbit!" said this sharp voice. "Where are you bound at this hour of the morning? You ought to be heading for home in the dear Old Briar-patch." Peter knew that voice the instant he heard it. It was the voice of Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel. Happy Jack was seated on the top of an old stump, eating a nut. "I 'm going to school," replied Peter with a great deal of dignity. [27] The Burgess Animal Book for Children "Going to school! Ho, ho, ho! Going to school!" exclaimed Happy Jack. "Pray tell me to whom you are going to school, and what for ?" "I 'm going to school to Old Mother Nature," retorted Peter, " I 've been going for several days, and so has my cousin, Jumper the Hare. We 've learned a lot about our own family and now we are going to learn about the other little people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows." "Pooh!" exclaimed Happy Jack. "Pooh! I know all about my own family, and I guess there is n't much worth knowing about my neighbors that I don't know." "Is that so, Mr. Know-it-all," retorted Peter. "I don't believe you even know all your own cousins. I thought I knew all mine, but I found I did n't." "What are you fellows talking about?" asked another voice, a sharp scolding voice, and Chatterer the Red Squirrel jumped from one tree to another just above Peter's head. "Peter is trying to make me believe that I don't know as much as I might about our own family," snapped Happy Jack indignantly. "He is on his way to school to Old Mother Nature and has advised me to join him. Is n't that a joke?" "Maybe it is, and maybe it is n't," retorted [28] Chatterer and Happy Jack Join Chatterer, who is n't the best of friends with his cousin, Happy Jack. "If I don't know as much about the Squirrel family as you do, may I never find another nut as long as I live. But at that, I 'm not sure I know all there is to know. I think it would be fun to go to school for a while. What do you say, Peter, if I go along with you?" Peter said that he thought it would be a very fine thing and that Chatterer never would regret it. Chatterer winked at his cousin, Happy Jack, and followed Peter, only, of course. Chatterer kept in the trees while Peter was on the ground. Happy Jack hesitated a minute and then, curiosity becoming too much for him, he hastened after the others. "Hello!" exclaimed Old Mother Nature, as Happy Jack and Chatterer appeared with Peter Rabbit. "What are you frisky folks doing over here.?" Happy Jack and Chatterer appeared to have lost their tongues, something very unusual for them, especially for Chatterer. The fact is, in the presence of Old Mother Nature they felt bashful. Peter replied for them. "They 've de- cided to come to school, too," said he. "Happy Jack says he knows all about his own family, but he has come along to find out if he really does." "It won't take us long to find out," said Old [29] The Burgess Animal Book for Children Mother Nature softly and her eyes twinkled with amusement, "How many cousins have you, Happy Jack?" Happy Jack thought for a moment. "Three," he replied, but he did n't say it in a very positive way. Peter chuckled to himself, for he knew that already doubt was beginning to grow in Happy Jack's mind. "Name them," commanded Old Mother Nature promptly. " Chatterer the Red Squirrel, Timmy the Flying Squirrel, and Striped Chipmunk," replied Happy Jack. "He's forgotten Rusty the Fox Squirrel," shouted Chatterer, dancing about gleefully. Happy Jack looked crestfallen and gave Chat- terer an angry look. "That's right. Chatterer," said Old Mother Nature. "Rusty is a very important member of the Squirrel family. Now suppose you name the others." * ' Wha — wha — what others ? ' ' stammered Chatterer. "I don't know of any others." Peter Rabbit hugged himself with glee as he watched the faces of Happy Jack and Chatterer. "They don't know any more about their family than we did about ours," he whispered in one of the long ears of Jumper the Hare. [30] HAPPY JACK THE GRAY SQUIRREL. No one knows better than he the value of thrift. RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL. His coat varies from red to gray. Chatterer and Happy Jack Join As for Old Mother Nature, she smiled In- dulgently. " Put on your thinking-caps, you two," said she. " You have n't named half of them. You are not wholly to blame for that, for some of them you never have seen, but there is one member of the Squirrel family whom both of you know very well, yet whom neither of you named. Put on your thinking-caps." Chatterer looked at Happy Jack, and Happy Jack looked at Chatterer, and each scratched his head. Each wanted to be the first to think of that other cousin, for each was jealous of the other. But though they scratched and scratched their heads, they could n't think who that other cousin could be. Old Mother Nature waited a few minutes before she told them. Then, seeing that either they could n't remember or did n't know, she said, " You did n't mention Johnny Chuck." "Johnny Chuck!" exclaimed Chatterer and Happy Jack together, and the look of surprise on their faces was funny to see. For that matter, the looks on the faces of Peter Rabbit and Jumper the Hare were equally funny. Old Mother Nature nodded. "Johnny Chuck," she repeated. "He is a member of the Squirrel family. He belongs to the Marmot branch, but he is a Squirrel just the same. He is one of your cousins." [31] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children "He 's a mighty funny looking Squirrel," said Chatterer, jerking his tail as only he can. "That just shows your ignorance. Chatterer," replied Old Mother Nature rather sharply. "I 'm surprised at the ignorance of you two." She looked first at Chatterer, then at Happy Jack. "It is high time you came to school to me for a while. You 've got a lot to learn. For that matter, so have Peter and Jumper. Now which of you can tell me what order you all belong to ?" Happy Jack looked at Chatterer, Chatterer looked at Peter Rabbit, and Peter looked at Jumper the Hare. On the face of each was such a funny, puzzled expression that Old Mother Nature almost laughed right out. Finally Peter Rabbit found his tongue. "If you please," said he, "I guess we don't know what you mean by an order." "I thought as much," said Old Mother Nature. "I thought as much. In the first place, the animals of the Great World are divided into big groups or divisions, and then these groups are divided into smaller groups, and these in turn into still smaller groups. Happy Jack and Chatterer belong to a group called the Squirrel family, and Peter and Jumper to a group called the Hare family. Both of these famiUes and several other families belong to a bigger group called an order, and this order is the order of Gnawers, or Rodents." [32] Chatterer and Happy Jack Join Peter Rabbit fairly jumped up in the air, he was so excited. "Then Jumper and I must be related to Happy Jack and Chatterer," he cried. "In a way you are," rephed Old Mother Nature. "It isn't a very close relationship, still you are related. All of you are Rodents. So are all the members of the Rat and Mouse family, the Beaver family, the Porcupine family, the Pocket Gopher family, the Pika family, and the SeweUel family." By this time Peter's eyes looked as if they would pop right out of his head. "This is the first time I 've ever heard of some of those families," said he. " My, what a lot we have to learn ! Is it because all the members of all those families have teeth for gnawing that they are all sort of related?" Old Mother Nature looked pleased. "Peter," said she, "I think you ought to go to the head of the class. That is just why. All the members of all the famihes I have named belong to the same order, the order of Rodents. All the members have big, cutting, front teeth. Animals without such teeth cannot gnaw. Now, as you and Jumper have learned about your family, it is the turn of Happy Jack and Chatterer to learn about their family. Theirs is rather a large family, and it is divided into three groups, the first of which consists of the true Squirrels, to which group both [33] The Burgess Animal Book for Children Happy Jack and Chatterer belong. The second group consists of the Marmots, and Johnny Chuck belongs to this. The third group Timmy the Flying Squirrel has all to himself." "Where does Striped Chipmunk come in?" asked Chatterer. "I 'm coming to that," replied Old Mother Nature. "The true Squirrels are divided into the Tree Squirrels, Rock Squirrels, and Ground Squir- rels. Of course Chatterer and Happy Jack are Tree Squirrels." "And Striped Chipmunk is a Ground Squirrel," interrupted Peter, looking as if he felt very much pleased with his own smartness. Old Mother Nature shook her head, "You are wrong this time, Peter," said she, and Peter looked as foolish as he felt. "Striped Chipmunk is a Rock Squirrel. Seek Seek the Spermophile, who lives on the plains of the West and is often called Gopher Squirrel, is the true Ground Squirrel, Now I can't spend any more time with you little folks this morning, because I 've too much to do. To-morrow morning I shall expect Chatterer to tell me all about Happy Jack, and Happy Jack to tell me all about Chatterer. Now scamper along, all of you, and think over what you have learned this morning." So Peter and Jumper and Chatterer and Happy [34] Chatterer and Happy Jack Join Jack thanked Old Mother Nature for what she had told them and scampered away. Peter headed straight for the far corner of the Old Orchard where he was sure he would find Johnny Chuck. He could n't get there fast enough, for he wanted to be the first to tell Johnny Chuck that he was a Squirrel. You see he did n't believe that Johnny knew it. [35] CHAPTER V THE SQUIRRELS OF THE TREES Pbter RA.BBIT found Johnny Chuck sitting on his doorstep, sunning himself. Peter was quite out of breath because he had hurried so. "Do you know that you are a Squirrel, Johnny Chuck ? " he panted. Johnny slowly turned his head and looked at Peter as if he thought Peter had suddenly gone crazy. "What are you talking about, Peter Rabbit ? I 'm not a Squirrel ; I 'm a Wood- chuck," he replied. "Just the same, you are a Squirrel," retorted Peter. "The Woodchucks belong to the Squirrel family. Old Mother Nature says so, and if she says so, it is so. You 'd better join our school, Johnny Chuck, and learn a little about your own relatives." Johnny Chuck blinked his eyes and for a minute or two could n't find a word to say. He knew that if Peter were telling the truth as to what Old Mother Nature had said, it must be true that he [361 The Squirrels of the Trees was a member of the Squirrel family. But it was hard to believe. "What is this school?" he finally asked. Peter hastened to tell him. He told Johnny all about what he and Jumper the Hare had learned about their family, and all the surprising things Old Mother Nature had told them about the Squirrel family, and he ended by again urging Johnny Chuck to join the school and promised to call for Johnny the next morning. But Johnny Chuck is lazy and does not like to go far from his own doorstep, so when Peter called the next morning Johnny refused to go, despite all Peter could say. Peter did n't waste much time arguing for he was afraid he would be late and miss something. When he reached the Green Forest he found his cousin. Jumper the Hare, and Chatterer the Red Squirrel, and Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel, already there. As soon as Peter arrived Old Mother Nature began the morn- ing lesson. "Happy Jack," said she, "yQU may tell us all you know about your cousin. Chatterer." "To begin with, he is the smallest of the Tree Squirrels," said Happy Jack. "He isn't so very much bigger than Striped Chipmunk, and that means that he is less than haH as big as myself. His coat is red and his waistcoat white; his tail [37] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children is about two thirds as long as his body and flat but not very broad. Personally, I don't think it is much of a tail." At once Chatterer's quick temper flared up and he began to scold. But Old Mother Nature silenced him and told Happy Jack to go on. "He spends more of his time in the trees than I do," continued Happy Jack, "and is especially fond of pine trees and other cone-bearing trees. He likes the deeper parts of the Green Forest better than I do, though he seems to feel just as much at home on the edge of the Green Forest, especially if it is near a farm where he can steal corn." Chatterer started to scold again but was si- lenced once more by Old Mother Nature. "I have to admit that Chatterer .is thrifty," con- tinued Happy Jack, quite as if he had n't been interrupted. "He is very fond of the seeds of cone-bearing tl-ees. He cuts the cones from the trees just before they are ripe. Then they ripen and open on the ground, where he can get at the seeds easily. He often has a number of store- houses and stores up cone seeds, acorns, nuts, and corn when he can get it. He builds a nest of leaves and strips of bark, sometimes in a hollow tree and sometimes high up in the branches of an evergreen tree. He is a good jumper and jumps from tree to tree. He is a busybody and [38] Jack rabbit. HIs long legs and long ears show him to be a Hare, not a Rabbit. THE CALIFORNIA GROUND SQUIRREL. He looks much like the Gray Squirrel but is a true Spermophile. The Squirrels of the Trees always poking his nose in where he has no business. He steals my stores whenever he can find them." "You do the same thing to me when you have the chance, which is n't often," sputtered Chat- terer. Happy Jack turned his back to Chatterer and continued. "He doesn't seem to mind cold weather at all, as long as the sun shines. His noisy tongue is to be heard on the coldest days of winter. He is the sauciest, most impudent fellow of the Green Forest, and never so happy as when he is making trouble for others. He sauces and scolds everybody he meets, and every time he opens his mouth he jerks his tail. He 's quarrel- some. Worse than that, in the spring when the birds are nesting, he turns robber. He goes hunt- ing for nests and steals the eggs, and what is even more dreadful, he kills and eats the baby birds. All the birds hate him, and I don't blame them." Chatterer could contain himself no longer. His tongue fairly flew and he jerked his tail so hard and so fast that Peter Rabbit almost ex- pected to see him break it right off. He called Happy Jack names, all the bad names he could think of, and worked himseK up into such a rage that it was some time before Old Mother Nature could quiet him. When at last he stopped from sheer lack of [39] The Burgess Animal Book for Children breath, Old Mother Nature spoke, and her voice was very severe. "I 'm ashamed of you, Chat- terer," said she. "Unfortunately, what Happy Jack has said about you is true. In many ways you are a disgrace to the Green Forest. Still I don't know how the Green Forest could get along without you. Happy Jack forgot to mention that you eat some insects at times. He also for- got to mention that sometimes you have a store- house down in the ground. Now tell us what you know about your cousin, Happy Jack." For a few minutes Chatterer sulked, but he did not dare disobey Old Mother Nature. "I don't know much good about him," he mumbled. "And you don't know much bad about me either," retorted Happy Jack sharply. Old Mother Nature held up a warning hand. "That will do," said she. "Now, Chatterer, go on." "Happy Jack is more than twice as big as I, but at that, I 'm not afraid of him," said Chatterer and glared at Happy Jack. "He is gray all over, except underneath, where he is white. He has a tremendously big tail and is so proud of it he shows it off whenever he has a chance. When he sits up he has a way of folding his hands on his breast. I don't know what he does it for unless it is to keep them warm in cold weather. He builds a nest [40] The Squirrels of the Trees very much like mine. Sometimes it is in a hollow tree, but quite as often it is in the branches of a tree. He is a good traveler in the tree-tops, but he spends a good deal of his time on the ground. He likes open woodland best, especially where there are many nut trees. He has a storehouse where he stores up nuts for winter, but he buries in the ground and under the leaves more than he puts in his storehouse. In winter, when he is hungry, he hunts for those buried nuts, and somehow he manages to find them even when they are covered with snow. When he comes to stealing he is no better than I am. I have seen him steal birds' eggs, and I would n't trust him unwatched around one of my storehouses." It was Happy Jack's turn to become indignant. "I may have taken a few eggs when I accidentally ran across them," said he, "but I never go looking for them, and I don't take them unless I am very hungry and can't find anything else. I don't make a business of robbing birds the way you do, and you know it. If I find one of your store- houses and help myself, I am only getting back what you have stolen from me. Everybody loves me and that is more than you can say." "That 's enough," declared Old Mother Nature, and her voice was very sharp. "You two cousins never have agreed and I am, afraid never will. [41] The Burgess Animal Book for Children A.S long as you are neighbors, I suspect you will quarrel. Have you told us all you know about Happy Jack, Chatterer?" Chatterer nodded. He was still mumbling to himself angrily and was n't polite enough to make a reply. Old Mother Nature took no notice of this. "What you have told us is good as far as it goes," said she, "You said that Happy Jack is all gray excepting underneath. Usually the Gray Squirrel is just as Chatterer has described him, but sometimes a Gray Squirrel is n't gray at all, but all black." Peter Rabbit's ears stood straight up with as- tonishment. "How can a Gray Squirrel be black.'*" he demanded. Old Mother Nature smiled. "That is a fair question, Peter," said she. "'Gray Squirrel is simply the name of Happy Jack's family. Some- times some of the babies are born with black coats instead of gray coats. Of course they are Just the same kind of Squirrel, only they look different. In some parts of the country there are numbers of these black-coated Squirrels and many think they are a different kind of Squirrel. They are not. They are simply black-coated members of Happy Jack's family. Just remember this. It is the same way in the family of Rusty the Fox Squirrel. Some members are rusty red, [42] The Squirrels of the Trees some are a mixture of red and gray, and some are as gray as Happy Jack himself. Way down in the Sunny South Fox Squirrels always have white noses and ears. In the North they never have white noses and ears. Rusty the Fox Squirrel is just a little bigger than Happy Jack and has just such a handsome tail. He is the strongest and heaviest of the Tree Squirrels and not nearly as quick and graceful as Happy Jack. Sometimes Rusty has two nests in the same tree, one in a hollow in a tree for bad weather and the other made of sticks and leaves outside in the branches for use in good weather. Rusty's habits are very much the same as those of Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel, and therefore he likes the same kind of surroundings. Like his cousin, Happy Jack, Rusty is a great help to me." Seeing how surprised everybody looked, Mother Nature explained. "Both Happy Jack and Rusty bury a great many more nuts than they ever need," said she. "And those they do not dig up sprout in the spring and grow. In that way they plant ever so many trees without knowing it. Just remember that, Chatterer, the next time you are tempted to quarrel with your cousin, Happy Jack. Very likely Happy Jack's great- great-ever-so-great grandfather planted the very tree you get your fattest and best hickory nuts [43] The Burgess Ammal Book for Children from. Way out in the mountains of the Far West you have a cousin called the Douglas Squirrel, who is really a true Red Squirrel and whose habits are very much like your own. Some folks call him the Pine Squirrel. By the way, Chatterer, Happy Jack forgot to say that you are a good swimmer. Perhaps he did n't know it." By the expression of Happy Jack's face it was quite clear that he did n't know it. " Certainly I can swim," said Chatterer. "I don't mind the water at all. I can swim a long distance if I have to." This was quite as much news to Peter Rabbit as had been the fact that a cousin of his own was a good swimmer, and he began to feel something very like respect for Chatterer. "Are there any other Tree Squirrels?" asked Jumper the Hare. "Yes," replied Old Mother Nature, "there are two, — the handsomest of all the family. They live out in the Southwest, in one of the most wonderful places in all this great land, a place called the Grand Canyon. One is called the Abert Squirrel and the other the Kaibab Squirrel. They are about the size of Happy Jack and Rusty but have broader, handsomer tails and their ears have long tufts of hair. The Abert Squirrel has black ears, a brown back, gray sides and white [44] The Squirrels of the Trees underneath. The Kaibab has brown ears with black tips, and his tail is mostly white. Both are very lovely, but their families are small and so they are little known." With this, Old Mother Nature dismissed school for the day. [45] CHAPTER VI STRIPED CHIPMUNK AND HIS COUSINS Of course there could n't be a school in the Green Forest without news of it spreading very fast. News travels quickly through the Green Forest and over the Green Meadows, for the little people who live there are great gossips. So it was not surprising that Striped Chipmunk heard all about Old Mother Nature's school. The next morning, just as the daily lesson was beginning, Striped Chipmunk came hurrying up, quite out of breath. "Well, well ! See who 's here !" exclaimed Old Mother Nature. "What have you come for. Striped Chipmunk?" " I 've come to try to learn. Will you let me stay, Mother Nature ? " replied Striped Chip- munk. "Of course I '11 let you stay," cried Old Mother Nature heartily. "I am glad you have come, especially glad you have come to-day, because to-day's lesson is to be about you and your cousins. Now, Peter Rabbit, what are the differences be- [46] TIMMY THE FLYING SQUIRREL. He does not actually fly for he has no wings. CHATTERER THE RED SQUIRREL. The little rollicking mischief-maker of the Green Forest. Striped Ckipmunk and His Cousins tween Striped Chipmunk and his cousins, the Tree Squirrels?" Peter looked very hard at Striped Chipmunk as if he had never really seen him before. "He is smaller than they are," began Peter. "In fact, he is the smallest Squirrel I know." Peter paused. Old Mother Nature nodded encouragingly. " Go on," said she. "He wears a striped coat," continued Peter. The stripes are black and yellowish-white and run along his sides, a black stripe running down the middle of his back. The rest of his coat is reddish- brown above and Ught underneath. His tail is rather thin and flat. I never see him in the trees, so I guess he can't climb." "Oh, yes, I can," interrupted Striped Chip- munk. "I can climb if I want to, and I do some- times, but I prefer the ground." "Go on, Peter," said Old Mother Nature. "He seems to like old stone walls and rock piles," continued Peter, "and he is one of the brightest, liveliest, merriest and most lovable of all my friends." "Thank you, Peter," said Striped Chipmunk softly. "I never have been able to find his home," continued Peter. "That is one of his secrets. But I know it is in the ground. I guess this is all [47] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children I know about him. I should say the chief differ- ence between Striped Chipmunk and the Tree Squirrels is that he spends all his time on the ground while the others live largely in the trees." "Very good, Peter," said Old Mother Nature. "But there are two very important differences which you have not mentioned. Striped Chip- munk has a big pocket on the inside of each cheek, while his cousins of the trees have no pockets at all." "Of course," cried Peter. "I don't see how I came to forget that. I 've laughed many times at Striped Chipmunk with those pockets stuffed with nuts or seeds until his head looked three times bigger than it does now. Those pockets must be very handy." "They are," replied Striped Chipmunk. "I could n't get along without them. They save me a lot of running back and forth, I can tell you." "And the other great difference," said Old Mother Nature, " is that Striped Chipmunk sleeps nearly all winter, just waking up occasionally to pop his head out on a bright day to see how the weather is. A great many folks call Striped Chip- munk a Ground Squirrel, but more properly he is a Rock Squirrel because he likes stony places best. Supposing, Striped Chipmunk, you tell us where and how you make your home." [481 Striped Chipmunk and His Cousins "1 make my home down in the ground," repUed Striped Chipmunk. "I dig a tunnel just big enough to run along comfortably. Down deep enough to be out of reach of Jack Frost I make a nice little bedroom with a bed of grass and leaves, and I make another little room for a store- room in which to keep my supply of seeds and nuts. Sometimes I have more than one store- room. Also I have some little side tunnels." "But why is it I never have been able to find the entrance to your tunnel?" asked Peter, as full of curiosity as ever. "Because I have it hidden underneath the stone wall on the edge of the Old Orchard," replied Striped Chipmunk. "But even then, I should think that all the sand you must have taken out would give your secret away," cried Peter. Striped Chipmunk chuckled happily. It was a throaty little chuckle, pleasant to hear. "I looked out for that," said he. "There isn't a grain of that sand around my doorway. I took it all out through another hole some distance away, a sort of back door, and then closed it up solidly. If you please. Mother Nature, if I am not a Ground Squirrel, who is?" "Your cousin. Seek Seek the Spermophile, some- times called Gopher Squirrel, who lives on the [49] The Burgess Animal Book for Children Open plains of the West where there are no rocks or stones. He likes best the flat, open country. He is called Spermophile because that means seed-eater, and he lives largely on seeds, especially on grain. Because of this he does a great deal of damage and is much disliked by farmers. "Seek Seek's family are the true Ground Squirrels. Please remember that they never should be called Gophers, for they are not Gophers. One of the smallest members of the family is just about your size, Striped Chipmunk, and he also wears stripes, only he has more of them than you have, and they are broken up into little dots. He is called the Thirteen-lined Spermophile. He has pockets in his cheeks just as you have, and he makes a home down in the ground very similar to yours. All the family do this, and all of them sleep through the winter. While they are great seed-eaters they also eat a great many insects and worms, and some of them even are guilty of killing and eating the babies of birds that nest on the ground, and also young mice. "Some members of the family are almost as big as Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel and have gray coats. They are called Gray Ground Squirrels and sometimes Gray Gophers. One of the largest of these is the California Ground Squirrel. He has a big, bushy tail, very like [50] Striped Chipmunk and His Cousins Happy Jack's. He gets into so much miscliief in the grain fields and in the orchards that he is quite as much disliked as is Jack Rabbit. This particular member of the family is quite as much at home among rocks and tree roots as in open ground. He climbs low trees for fruit and nuts, but prefers to stay on the ground. Now just re- member that the Chipmunks are Rock Squirrels and their cousins, the Spermophiles, are Ground Squirrels. Now who of you has seen Timmy the Flying Squirrel lately.''" "I have n't," said Peter Rabbit. "I have n't," said Striped Chipmunk. "I have n't," said Happy Jack. "I have n't," said Chatterer. "I have," spoke up Jumper the Hare. "I saw him last evening just after jolly, round, red Mr. Sun went to bed behind the Purple Hills and the Black Shadows came creeping through the Green Forest. My, I wish I could fly the way he can !" Old Mother Nature shook her head disap- provingly. "Jumper," said she, "what is wrong with your eyes ? When did you ever see Timmy fly?" " Last night," insisted Jumper stubbornly. "Oh, no, you didn't," retorted Old Mother Nature. "You didn't see him fly, for the very good reason that he cannot fly any more than [51] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children you can. You saw him simply jump. Just re- member that the only animals in this great land who can fly are the Bats. Timmy the Flying Squirrel simply jumps from the top of a tree and slides down on the air to the foot of another tree. If you had used your eyes you would have noticed that when he is in the air he never moves his legs or arms, and he is always coming down, never going up, excepting for a little at the end of his jump, as would be the case if he could really fly. He has n't any wings." " When he 's flying, I mean jumping, he looks as if he had wings," insisted Jumper stubbornly. " That is simply because I have given him a fold of skin between the front and hind leg on each side," explained Old Mother Nature. "When he jumps he stretches his legs out flat, and that stretches out those two folds of skin until they look almost like wings. This is the reason he can sail so far when he jumps from a high place. You 've seen a bird, after flapping its wings to get going, sail along with them outstretched and motionless. Timmy does the same thing, only he gets going by jumping. You may have noticed that he usually goes to the top of a tree before jumping; then he can sail down a wonderfully long distance. His tail helps him to keep his balance. If there is anything in the way, he can [52] Striped Chipmunk and His Cousins steer himself around it. Wh^ he reaches the tree he is jumping for he shoots up a little way and lands on the trunk not far above the ground. Then he scampers up that tree to do it all over again." "But why don't we ever see him?" inquired Striped Chipmunk. "Because, when the rest of you Squirrels are out and about, he is curled up in a little ball in his nest, fast asleep. And when he is out and about, you are fast asleep. Timmy likes the night, especially the early evening, and does n't like the light of day." "How big is he?" asked Happy Jack, and looked a little sheepish as if he were a wee bit ashamed of not being acquainted with one of his own cousins. "He is, if anything, a little smaller than Striped Chipmunk," replied Old Mother Nature. "Way out in the Far West he grows a little bigger. His coat is a soft yellowish-brown above ; beneath he is all white. His fur is wonderfully soft. He has very large, dark, soft eyes, especially suited for seeing at night. Then, he is very lively and dearly loves to play. By nature he is gentle and lovable." "Does he eat nuts like his cousins?" asked Peter Rabbit. [53] The Burgess Animal Book for Children "He certainly does," replied Old Mother Nature. "Also he eats grubs and insects. He dearly loves a fat beetle. He likes meat when he can get it." "Where does he make his home?" Peter in- quired. "Usually in a hole in a tree," said Old Mother Nature. "He is very fond of an old home of a Woodpecker. He makes a comfortable nest of bark lining, grass, and moss, or any other soft material he can find. Occasionally he builds an Outside nest high up in a fork in the branches of a tree. He likes to get into old buildings." "Does he have many enemies?" asked Happy Jack. "The same enemies the rest of you have," re- plied Old Mother Nature. "But the one he has most reason to fear is Hooty the Owl, and that is the one you have least reason to fear, because Hooty seldom hunts by day." "Does he sleep all winter?" piped up Striped Chipmunk. "Not as you do," said Old Mother Nature. " In very cold weather he sleeps, but if he happens to be living where the weather does not get very cold, he is active all the year around. Now I guess this is enough about the Squirrel family." "You 've forgotten Johnny Chuck," cried Peter. Old Mother Nature laughed. "So I have," [54] STRIPED CHIPMUNK. He has pockets in his cheeks for carrying his food. SEEK SEEK THE SPERMOPHILE. The Thirteen-lined Spetmophile, „ true Ground Squirrel and not a Gopher. Striped Chipmunk and His Cousins said she. " That will never do, never in the world. Johnny and his relatives, the Marmots, certainly cannot be overlooked. We will take them for our lesson to-morrow. Peter, you tell Johnny Chuck to come over here to-morrow morning." [55] CHAPTER VII JOHNNY CHUCK JOINS THE CLASS Peter Rabbit delivered Mother Nature's mes- sage to Johnny Chuck. Johnny did n't seem at all pleased. He grumbled and growled to himself. He did n't want to go to school. He did n't want to learn anything about his relatives. He was perfectly satisfied with things as they were. The truth is, Johnny Chuck was ialready beginning to get fat with good living and he is naturally lazy. As a rule he can find plenty to eat very near his home, so he seldom goes far from his own doorstep. Peter left him grumbling and growling, and chuckled to himself all the way back to the dear Old Briar-patch. He knew that Johnny Chuck would not dare disobey Old Mother Nature. Sure enough, the next morning Johnny Chuck came waddling through the Green Forest just as Old Mother Nature was about to open school. He did n't look at all happy, and he did n't reply at all to the greetings of the others. But when Old Mother Nature spoke to him he was very polite. [56] Johnny Chuck Joins the Class " Grood morning, Johnny Chuck," said she. Johnny bobbed his head and said, " Good morn- ing." "I imderstand," continued Old Mother Nature, "that you are not at all interested in learning about your relatives. I am sorry for any one who does n't want to learn. The more one knows the better fitted he is to take care of himself and do his part in the work of the Gr^at World. How- ever, it was n't for your benefit that I sent word for you to be here this morning. It was for the benefit of your friends and neighbors. Now sit up so that all can get a good look at you." Johnny Chuck obediently sat up, and of course all the others stared at him. It made him feel quite uncomfortable. "You remember," said Old Mother Nature, "how surprised you little folks were when I told you that Johnny Chuck is a member of the Squirrel family. Happy Jack, you go sit beside Johnny Chuck, and the rest of you look hard at Happy Jack and Johnny and see if you do not see a family resemblance." Seeing Happy Jack and Johnny Chuck sitting up side by side, Peter Rabbit caught the resem- blance at once. There was a sort of family look about them. "Why! Why-ee ! Johnny Chuck does look like a Squirrel," he exclaimed. "Of course he looks like a Squirrel, because he [57] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children is one," said Old Mother Nature. "Johnny Chuck is very much bigger and so stout in the body that he has none of the gracefulness of the true Squirrels. But you will notice that the shape of his head is much the same as that of Happy Jack. He has a Squirrel face when you come to look at him closely. The Woodchucks, sometimes called Ground Hogs, though why any one should call them this is more than I can understand, belong to the Marmot branch of the Squirrel family, and wherever found they look much alike. "As you will notice, Johnny Chuck's coat is brownish-yellow, his feet are very dark brown, almost black. His head is dark brown with light gray on his cheeks. Beneath he is reddish-orange, including his throat. His tail is short for a member of the Squirrel family, and although it is bushy, it is not very big. He has a number of whiskers and they are black. Some Woodchucks are quite gray, and occasionally there is one who is almost, or wholly black, just as there are black Gray Squirrels. "Johnny, here, is not fond of the Green Forest, but loves the Old Orchard and the Green Meadows. In some parts of the country there are members of his family who prefer to live just on the edge of the Green Forest. You will notice that Johnny has stout claws. Those are to help him dig, for [58] Johnny Chuck Joins the Class all the Marmot family are great diggers. What other use do you have for those claws, Johnny ?" "They help me to dimb," repUed Johnny promptly. " Chmb ! " exclaimed Peter Rabbit. " Who ever heard of a Woodchuck climbing?" "I can climb if I have to," retorted Johnny Chuck indignantly. "I 've climbed up in bushes and low trees lots of times, and if I can get a good run first, I can cUmb up the straight trunk of a tree with rough bark to the first branches — if they are not too far above ground. You ask Reddy Fox if I can't ; he knows." "That 's quite true, Johnny," said Old Mother Nature. "You can climb a little, but as a real climber you are not much of a success. You are better as a digger." "He certainly is all right as a digger," exclaimed Peter Rabbit. "My, how he can make the sand fly ! Johnny Chuck certainly is right at home when it comes to digging." "You ought to be thankful that he is," said Old Mother Nature, "for the holes he has dug have saved your life more than once. By the way, Peter, since you are so well acquainted with those holes, suppose you tell us what kind of a home Johnny Chuck has." Peter was delighted to air his knowledge. [59] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children "The last one I was in," said he, "was a long tunnel slanting down for quite a distance and then straightening out. The entrance was quite large with a big heap of sand out in front of it. Down a little way the tunnel grew smaller and then re- mained the same size all the rest of the way. Way down at the farther end was a nice little bedroom with some grass in it. There were one or two other little rooms, and there were two branch tunnels leading up to the surface of the ground, making side or back doorways. There was no sand around either of these, and they were quite hidden by the long grass hanging over them. I don't understand how Johnny made those doorways without leaving any sand on the doorsteps." "Huh!" interrupted Johnny Chuck. "That was easy enough. I pushed all the sand out of the main doorway so that there would be nothing to attract the attention of any one passing near those back doorways. Those back doorways are very handy in time of danger." "Do you always have three doorways?" asked Happy Jack. "No," replied Johnny Chuck. "Sometimes I have only two and once in a while only one. But that is n't really safe, and I mean always to have at least two." [60] Johnny Chuck Joins the Class "Do you use the same house year after year?" piped up Striped Chipmunk. Johnny shook his head. "No," said he. "I dig a new hole each spring. Mrs. Chuck and I like a change of scene. Usually my new home is n't very far from my old one, because I am not fond of traveling. Sometimes, however, if we cannot find a place that just suits us, we go quite a distance." "Are your babies born down in that little bed- room in the ground?" asked Jumper the Hare. "Of course," replied Johnny Chuck. "Where else would they be born?" " I did n't know but Mrs. Chuck might make a nest on the ground the way Mrs. Peter and Mrs. Jumper do," replied Jumper meekly. "No, siree !" replied Johnny. "Our babies are born in that little underground bedroom, and they stay down in the groimd until they are big enough to hunt for food for themselves." "How many do you usually have?" inquired Chatterer the Red Squirrel. "Six or eight," replied Johnny Chuck. "Mrs. Chuck and I believe in large families." "Do you eat nuts like the rest of our family?" inquired Striped Chipmunk. "No," replied Johnny Chuck. "Give me green food every time. There is nothing so good as [61] The Burgess Animal Book for Children tender sweet clover and young grass, unless it be some of those fine vegetables Farmer Brown grows in his garden." Peter Rabbit nodded his head very emphatically as if he quite agreed. "I suppose you are what is called a vegetarian, then," said Happy Jack, to which Johnny Chuck replied that he supposed he was. "And I sup- pose that is why you sleep all winter," added Happy Jack. "If I did n't I would starve," responded Johnny Chuck promptly. "When it gets near time for Jack Frost to arrive, I stuff and.stuflf and stuflf on the last of the good green things until I 'm so fat I can hardly waddle. Then I go. down to my bed- room, curl up and go to sleep. Cold weather, snow and ice don't worry me a bit." "I know," spoke up Striped Chipmunk. "I sleep most of the winter myself. Of course I have a lot of food stored away down in my house, and once in a while I wake up and eat a little. Do you ever wake up in the winter, Johnny Chuck?" "No," replied Johnny. "I sleep right through, thank goodness. Sometimes I wake up very early in the spring before the snow is all gone, earlier than I wish I did. That is where my fat comes in handy. It keeps me warm and keeps me alive until I can find the first green plants. Per- [62] JOHNNY CHUCK. The familiar Woodchuck is a Itue Marmot. WHISTLER THE HOARY MARMOT. The largest of the Marmots. He livei high up on the mountains of the West. Johnny Chuck Joins the Class haps you have noticed that early in the spring I am as thin as I was fat in the fall. This is because I have used up the fat, waiting for the first green things to appear." "Do you have many enemies?" asked Peter Rabbit, who has so many himself that he is con- stantly thinking of them. "Not many, but enough," growled Johnny Chuck. "Reddy Fox, Old Man Coyote, men and Dogs are the worst. Of course, when I was small I always had to be watching out for Hawks, and of course, like all the rest of us little folks, I am afraid of Shadow the Weasel. Reddy Fox has tried to dig me out more than once, but I can dig faster than he can. If he ever gets me cornered, he '11 find that I can fight. A small Dog surprised me once before I could get to my hole and I guess that Dog never will tackle another Woodchuck." "Time is up," interrupted Old Mother Nature. "Johnny Chuck has a big cousin out in the moun- tains of the Great West named Whistler, and on the prairies of the Great West he has a smaller cousin named Yap Yap. They are quite important members of the Marmot family, and to-morrow I '11 tell you about them if you want me to. You need not come to-morrow, Johnny Chuck, unless you want to," she added. Johnny Chuck hung his head, for he was a little [63] The Bmrgess Animal Book for Children ashamed that he had been so unwiUing to come that morning. "If you please, Mother Nature," said he, "I think I '11 come. I did n't know I had any close relatives, and I want to know about them." So it was agreed that all would be on hand at sun-up the next morning, and then everybody started for home to think over the things they had learned. [64] CHAPTER VIII WHISTLER AND YAP YAP Johnny Chuck was the first one on hand the next morning. The fact is, Johnny was quite ex- cited over the discovery that he had some near relatives. He always had supposed that the Woodchucks were a family by themselves. Now that he knew that he had some close relatives, he was filled with quite as much curiosity as ever Peter Rabbit possessed. Just as soon as Old Mother Nature was ready to begin, Johnny Chuck was ready with a question. "If you please," said he, "who are my nearest relatives?" "The Marmots of the Far West," replied Old Mother Nature. "You know, you are a Marmot, and these cousins of yours out there are a great deal like you in a general way. The biggest and handsomest of all is Whistler, who lives in the mountains of the Northwest. The fact is, he is the biggest of all the Marmot family." "Is he much bigger than Johnny Chuck?" asked Peter Rabbit. "Considerably bigger," replied Old Mother [65] The Burgess Animal Book Jor Children Nature, nodding her head. " Considerably bigger. I should think he would weigh twice as much as Johnny." Johnny's eyes opened very wide. "My!" he exclaimed, "I should like to see him. Does he look like me?" "In his shape he does," said Old Mother Nature, "but he has a very much handsomer coat. His coat is a mixture of dark brown and white hairs which give him a grayish color.. The upper part of his head, his feet and nails are black, and so are his ears. A black band runs from behind each ear down to his neck. His chin is pure white and there is white on his nose. Underneath he is a light, rusty color. His fur is thicker and softer than yours, Johnny; this is because he lives where it is colder. His tail is larger, somewhat bushier, and is a blackish-brown." "If you please, why is he called Whistler?" asked Johnny Chuck eagerly. "Because he has a sharp, clear whistle which can be heard a very long distance," replied Old Mother Nature. "He sits up just as you do. If he sees danger approaching he whistles, as a warn- ing to all his relatives within hearing." "I suppose it is foolish to ask if he lives in a hole in the ground as Johnny Chuck does," spoke up Peter Rabbit. [66] Whistler and Yap Yap "He does," replied Old Mother Nature. "All Marmots live in holes in the ground, but Whistler lives in entirely different country. He lives up on the sides of the mountains, often so high that no trees grow there and the ground is rocky. He digs his hole down in between, the rocks." "It must be a nice, safe hole," said Peter. "I guess he does n't have to worry about being dug out by Reddy Fox." "You guessed quite right," laughed Old Mother Nature. "Nevertheless, he has reason to fear being dug out. You see, out where he lives. Grizzly, the big cousin of Buster Bear, also lives, and Grizzly is very fond of a Marmot dinner when he can get one. He is so big and strong and has such great claws that he can pull the rocks apart and dig Whistler out. By the way, I forgot to tell you that Whistler is also called the Gray Marmot and the Hoary Marmot. He lives on grass and other green things and, like Johnny Chuck, gets very fat in the fall and then sleeps all winter. There are one or two other Marmots in the Far West who live farther south than does Whistler, but their habits are much the same as those of Whistler and Johnny Chuck. None of them are social. I mean by that you never find two Marmot homes very close together. In this they differ from Johnny's smaller cousin. Yap Yap [67] The Burgess Animal Book Jor Children the Prairie Dog. Yap Yap would n't be happy if he did n't have close neighbors of his own kind. He has one of the most social natures of all my little people." "Tell us about him," begged Happy Jack Squirrel before Johnny Chuck, who is naturally slow, could ask for the same thing. " Yap Yap is the smallest of the Marmot family," said Old Mother Nature. "In a way he is about as closely related to the Ground Squirrels as he is to the Marmots. Johnny Chuck has only four claws on each front foot, but Yap Yap has five, just as the Ground Squirrels have. He looks very much like a small Chuck dressed in light yellowish- brown. His tail for the most part is the same color as his coat, but the end is black, though there is one member of the family whose tail has a white tip. In each cheek is a small pouch, that is, a small pocket, and this is one of the things that shows how closely related to the Spermophiles he is. "As I said before. Yap Yap is very social by nature. He lives on the great open plains of the West and Southwest, frequently where it is very dry and rain seldom falls. When you find his home you are sure to find the homes of many more Prairie Dogs very close at hand. Sometimes there are hundreds and hundreds of homes, making a [68] Whistler and Yap Yap regular town. This is because the Prairie Dogs dearly love the company of their own kind." "Does Yap Yap dig the same kind of a hole that I do ?" asked Johnny Chuck. "In a way it is like yours," replied Old Mother Nature, "but at the same time it is different. In the first place, it goes almost straight down for a long distance. In the second place there is no mound of sand in front of Yap Yap's doorway. Instead of that the doorway is right in the very middle of the mound of sand. One reason for this is that when it does rain out where Yap Yap lives it rains very hard indeed, so that the water stands on the ground for a short time. The ground being flat, a lot of water would run down into Yap Yap's home and make him most un- comfortable if he did not do something to keep it out. So he brings the sand out and piles it all the way around his doorway and presses it down with his nose. In that way he builds up a firm mound which he uses for two purposes; one is to keep the water from running down the hole, and the other is as a sort of watch tower. He sits on the top of his mound to watch for his enemies. His cousin with the white tail digs a hole more like yours. "Yap Yap loves to visit his neighbors and to have them visit him. They are lively Uttle people [69] The Burgess Animal Book for Children and do a great deal of talking among themselves. The instant one of them sees an enemy he gives a signal. Then every Prairie Dog scampers for his own hole and dives in head first. Almost at once he pops his head out again to see what the danger may be." "How can he do that without going clear to the bottom to turn around ?" demanded Peter. "I wondered if any of you would think of that question," chuckled Old Mother Nature. "Just a little way down from the entrance Yap Yap digs a little room at one side of his tunnel. All he has to do is to scramble into that, turn around and then pop his head out. As I said before, his tunnel goes down very deep ; then it turns and goes almost equally far underground. Down there he has a nice little bedroom. Sometimes he has more than one." "If it is so dry out where he lives, how does he get water to drink?" asked Happy Jack. "He does n't have to drink," replied Old Mother Nature. "Some folks think that he digs down until he finds water way down underneath, but this is n't so. He does n't have to have water. He gets all the moisture he needs from the green things he eats." "I suppose, like the rest of us, he has lots of enemies?" said Peter. [70] Auii^ijikftttTif. -:f YAP YAP THE PRAIRIE DOG. A social httle Marmot who lives ou tne prairies of the West. ■jm"^'^ *i ■ ■ GRUBBY THE POCKET GOPHER. The irue Gopher and a great pest to farmers. Whistler and Yap Yap Old Mother Nature nodded. "Of course," said she. "Old Man Coyote and Reddy Fox are very fond of Prairie Dog. So are members of the Hawk family. Then in some places there is a cousin of Shadow the Weasel called the Black- footed Ferret. He is to be feared most of all be- cause he can follow Yap Yap down into his hole. There is a cousin of Hooty the Owl called the Burrowing Owl because it builds its home in a hole in the ground. You are likely to find many Burrowing Owls living in Prairie Dog villages. Also you are apt to find Buzztail the Rattlesnake there. "A lot of people believe that Yap Yap, Buzz- tail and the little Burrowing Owl are the best of friends and often live together in the same hole. This is n't so at all. Buzztail is very fond of young Prairie Dog and so is the Burrowing Owl. Rather than dig a hole for himself the Owl will sometimes take possession of one of Yap Yap's deserted holes. If he should make a mistake and enter a hole in which Yap Yap was at home, the chances are that Yap Yap would kill the Owl, for he knows that the Owl is an enemy. Buzztail the Rattlesnake also makes use of Prairie Dog holes, but it is safe to say that if there are any Prairie Dog babies down there they never live to see what the outside world is like. So Buzztail [71] The Burgess Animal Book. for Children and the Burrowing Owl are really enemies instead of friends of Yap Yap, the Prairie Dog." "Why is he called a Dog?" asked Peter. Old Mother Nature laughed right out. " Good- tiess knows," said she. "He doesn't look like a Dog and he does n't act like a Dog, so why people should call him a Dog I don't know, unless it is because of his habit of barking, and even his bark is n't at all like a Dog's, — not nearly so much so as the bark of Reddy Fox. Now I guess this will do for to-day. Have n't you little folks had enough of school?" "No," cried Peter Rabbit and Jumper the Hare and Happy Jack and Chatterer the Red Squirrel and Striped Chipmunk and Johnny Chuck. "We want to know about the rest of the members of the order of Rodents or Gnawers," added Peter. "Of course in a way they are sort of related to us and we want to know about therp." Old Mother Nature laughed good-naturedly. "AU right," said she, "come again to-morrow morning and we '11 see what more we can learn." [72] CHAPTER IX TWO QUEER LITTLE HAYMAKERS There is nothing like a little knowledge to make one want more. Johnny Chuck, who had gone to school only because Old Mother Nature had sent for him, had become as fuU of curiosity as Peter Rabbit. The discovery that he had a big, handsome cousin, Whistler the Marmot, living in the mountains of the Far West, had given Johnny something to think about. It seemed to Johnny such a queer place for a member of his family to live that he wanted to know more about it. So Johnny had a question all ready when Old Mother Nature called school to order the next morning. "If you please. Mother Nature," said he, "does my cousin. Whistler, have any neighbors up among those rocks where he lives ?" "He certainly does," replied Old Mother Nature, nodding her head. "He has for a near neighbor one of the quaintest and most interesting little members of the big order to which you all belong. And that order is what?" she asked abruptly. [73] The Burgess Animal Book for Children "The order of Rodents," replied Peter Rabbit promptly. "Right, Peter," replied Old Mother Nature, smiling at Peter. " I asked that just to see if you really are learning. I wanted to make sure that I am not wasting my time with you little folks. Now this little neighbor of "Whistler is Little Chief Hare." Instantly Peter Rabbit and Jumper the Hare pricked up their long ears and became more in- terested than ever, if that were possible. "I thought you had told us all about our family," cried Jumper, "but you did n't mention Little Chief." "No," said Old Mother Nature, "I did n't, and the reason I did n't was because Little Chief is n't a member of your farnily. He is called Little Chief Hare, but he is n't a Hare at all, although he looks much like a small Rabbit with short hind legs and rounded ears. He has a family all to himself and should be called a Pika. Some folks do call him that, but more call him a Cony, and some call him the Crying Hare. This is because he uses his voice a great deal, which is something no member of the Hare family does. In size he is just about as big as one of your half-grown babies, Peter, so, you see, he really is a very little fellow. His coat is grayish- brown. His ears are of good size, but instead of [74] Two Queer Little Haymakers being long, are round. He has small bright eyes. His legs are short, his hind legs being very little longer than his front ones. He has hair on the soles of his feet just like the members of the Hare family." "What about his tail ?" piped up Peter Rabbit. You know Peter is very much interested in tails. Old Mother Nature smiled. "He is worse off than you, Peter," said she, "for he has n't any at all. That is, he has n't any that can be seen. He lives way up among the rocks of the great mountains above where the trees grow and often is a very near neighbor to Whistler." "I suppose that means that he makes his home down in under rocks, the same as Whistler does," spoke up Johnny Chuck. "Right," replied Old Mother Nature. "He is such a little fellow that he can get through very narrow places, and he has his home and bams way down in among the rocks." "Barns!" exclaimed Happy Jack Squirrel. "Barns ! What do you mean by barns ?" Old Mother Nature laughed. "I just call them barns," said she, "because they are the places where he stores away his hay, just as Farmer Brown stores away his hay in his bam. I suppose you would call them storehouses." At the mention of hay, Peter Rabbit sat bolt [75] The Burgess Animal Book for Children upright and his eyes were wide open with as- tonishment. "Did you say hay ?" he exclaimed. "Where under the sun does he get hay way up there, and what does he want of it?" There was a twinkle in Old Mother Nature's eyes as she replied, "He makes that hay just as you see Farmer Brown make hay every summer. It is what he lives on in the winter and in bad weather. Little Chief knows just as much about the proper way of making hay as Farmer Brown does. Even way up among the rocks there are places where grass and pea-vines and other green things grow. Little Chief lives on these in summer. But he is as wise and thrifty as any Squirrel, another way in which he differs from the Hare family. He cuts them when they are ready for cutting and spreads them out on the rocks to dry in the sun. He knows that if he should take them down into his barns while they are fresh and green they would sour and spoil ; so he never stores them away until they are thoroughly dry. Then, of course, they are hay, for hay is nothing but sun-dried grass cut before it has begun to die. When his hay is just as dry as it should be, he takes it down and stores it away in his barns, which are nothing but little caves down in amcajg the rocks. There he has it for use in winter when there is no green food. [76] Two Queer Little Haymakers "Little Chief is so nearly the color of the rocks that it takes sharp eyes to see him when he is sitting still. He has a funny little squeaking voice, and he uses it a great deal. It is a funny voice because it is hard to tell just where it comes from. It seems to come from nowhere in par- ticular. Sometimes he can be heard squeaking way down in his home under the rocks. Like Johnny Chuck, he prefers to sleep at night and be abroad during the day. Because he is so small he must always be on the lookout for enemies. At the first hint of danger he scampers to safety in among the rocks, and there he scolds whoever has frightened him. There is no more lovable little person in all my great family than this little haymaker of the mountains of the Great West." "That haymaking is a pretty good idea of Little Chief's," remarked Peter Rabbit, scratching a long ear with a long hind foot. "I 've a great mind to try it myself." Everybody laughed right out, for everybody knew just how easy-going and thriftless Peter was. Peter himself grinned. He could n't help it. "That would be a very good idea, Peter," said Old Mother Nature. "By the way, there is another haymaker out in those same great moun- tains of the Far West." [77] The Burgess Animal Book jar Children "Who?" demanded Peter and Johnny Chuck and Happy Jack Squirrel, all in the same breath. "Stubtail the Mountain Beaver," replied Old Mother Nature promptly. "I know Paddy the Beaver," declared Peter promptly. "I suppose Stubtailis his cousin." Old Mother Nature shook her head. "No," said she. " No. Stubtail and Paddy are no more closely related than the rest of you. Stubtail is n't a Beaver at all. His proper name is Sewellel. Sometimes he is called Showt'l and sometimes the Boomer, and sometimes the Chehalis, but most folks call him the Mountain Beaver." "Is it because he looks like Paddy the Beaver ?" Striped Chipmunk asked. "No," replied Old Mother Nature. "He looks more like Jerry Muskrat than he does like Paddy. He is about Jerry's size and looks very much as Jerry would if he had no tail." "Has n't he any tail at all ?" asked Peter. "Yes, he has a little tail, a little stub of a tail, but it is so small that to look at him you would think he had n't any," replied Old Mother Nature. "He is found out in the same mountains of the Far West where Whistler and Little Chief live, but instead of living way up high among the rocks he is at home down in the valleys where the ground is soft and the trees grow thickly. Stub- [78] *'^Ss£-^«^''s' LITTLE CHIEF THE PIKA. Also called Cony and Little Chief Hare. STUBTAIL THE MOUNTAIN BEAVER. He is not a. Beaver at all but a Sewellel. Two Queer Little Haymakers tail has no use for rocks. He wants soft, wet ground where he can tunnel and tunnel to his heart's content. In one thing Stubtail is very like Yap Yap the Prairie Dog." "What is that.?" asked Johnny Chuck quickly, for, you know. Yap Yap is Johnny's cousin. "In his social habits," replied Old Mother Nature. " Stubtail is n't fond of living alone. He wants company of his own kind. So wherever you find Stubtail you are likely to find many of his family. They like to go visiting back and forth. They make little paths between their homes and all about through the thick ferns, and they keep these little paths free and clear, so that they may run along them easily. Some of these little paths lead into long tunnels. These are made for safety. Usually the ground is so wet that there will be water running in the bottoms of these little tunnels." "What kind of a house does Stubtail have?" inquired Johnny Chuck interestedly. "A hole in the ground, of course," replied Old Mother Nature. "It is dug where the ground is drier than where the runways are made. Mrs. Stubtail makes a nest of dried ferns and close by they build two or three storehouses, for Stubtail and Mrs. Stubtail are thrifty people." "I suppose he fills them with hay, for you said [79] The Burgess Animal Book Jor Children he is a haymaker," remarked Happy Jack Squirrel, who is always interested in storehouses. "Yes," replied Old Mother Nature, "he puts hay in them. He cuts grasses, ferns, pea-vines and other green plants and carries them in little bundles to the entrance to his tunnel. There he piles them on sticks so as to keep them off the damp ground and so that the air can help dry them out. When they are dry, he takes them in- side and stores them away. He also stores other things. He likes the roots of ferns. He cuts tender, young twigs from bushes and stores away some of these. He is fond of bark. In winter he is quite as active as in summer and tunnels about under the snow. Then he sometimes has Peter Rabbit's bad habit of killing trees by gnawing bark all around as high up as he can reach." "Can he cUmb trees?" asked Chatterer the Red Squirrel. "Just about as much as Johnny Chuck can," replied Old Mother Nature. "Sometimes he climbs up in low bushes or in small, low-branch- ing trees to cut off tender shoots, but he does n't do much of this sort of thing. His home is the ground. He is most active at night, but where Undisturbed, is out more or less during the day. When he wants to cut off a twig he sits up like a [80] ■Two Queer Little Haymakers Squirrel and holds the twig in his hands while he bites it off with his sharp teeth." "You didn't tell us what color his coat is," said Peter Rabbit. "I told you he looked very much like Jerry Muskrat," replied Old Mother Nature. "His coat is brown, much the color of Jerry's, but his fur is not nearly so soft and fine." "I suppose he has enemies just as the rest of us little people have," said Peter. "Of course," replied Old Mother Nature. "All little people have enemies, and most big ones too, for that matter. King Eagle is one and Yowler the Bob Cat is another. They are always watch- ing for Stubtail. That is why he digs so many tunnels. He can travel under the ground then. My goodness, how time flies ! Scamper home, all of you, for I have too much to do to talk any more to-day." [811 CHAPTER X PRICKLY PORKY AND GRUBBY GOPHER All the way to school the nqxt morning Peter Rabbit wondered who they would learn about that day. He was so busy wondering that he was heedless. Peter is apt to be heedless at times. The result was that as he hopped out of a bramble- tangle just within the edge of the Green Forest, he all but landed in something worse than the worst brambles that ever grew. It was only by a wild side jump that he saved himself. Peter had almost landed among the thousand little spears of Prickly Porky the Porcupine. "Gracious !" exclaimed Peter. "Why don't you look where you are going," grunted Prickly Porky. Plainly he was rather peevish. "It would n't be my fault if you had a few of my little spears sticking in you this very minute, and it would serve you right." He waddled along a few steps, then began talking again. "I don't see why Old Mother Nature sent for me this morning," he grumbled. "I hate a long walk." [82] Prickly Porky and Grubby Gopker Peter pricked up his long ears. "I know !" he cried. " You 're going to school, Prickly Porky. You 're a Rodent, and we are going to learn all about you this morning." "I'm not a Rodent; I 'm a Porcupine," grunted Prickly Porky indignantly. " You 're a Rodent just the same. You ' ve got big gnawing teeth, and any one with that kind of teeth is a Rodent," retorted Peter. Then at a sudden thought a funny look passed over his face. "Why, that means that you and I are related in a way," he added. " Don't believe it," grunted Prickly Porky, still shuffling along. "Don't believe it. Don't want to be related to anybody as heedless as you. What is this school, anyway? Don't want to go to school. Know all I want to know. Know how to get all I want to eat and how to make every- body get out of my way and leave me alone, and that 's enough to know." He rattled the thousand little spears hidden in his coat, and Peter shivered at the sound. It was a most unpleasant sound. "Well, some folks do like to be stupid," snapped Peter and hurried on, lipperty-lipperty-lip, while Prickly Porky slowly shuffled and rattled along behind. All the others were there when Peter arrived. Prickly Porky was n't even in sight. Old Mother [83] The Burgess Animal Book for Children Nature wasted no time. She has too much to do ever to waste time. She called the school to order at once. "Yesterday," she began, "I told you about two little haymakers of the high mountains of the Far West. Who were they, Peter Rabbit ?" "Little Chief Hare, called the Pika or Cony, and Stubtail the Mountain Beaver or Sewellel," replied Peter with great promptness. "Right," said Old Mother Nature. "Now I am going to tell you of one of my little plowmen who also lives in the Far West but prefers the great plains to the high mountains, though he is sometimes found in the latter. He is Grubby the Gopher, a member of the same order the rest of you belong to, but of a family quite his own. He is properly called the Pocket Gopher, and way dowa in the Southeast, where he is also found, he is called a Salamander, though what for I have n't the least idea." "Does he have pockets in his cheeks like mine ?" asked Striped Chipmunk eagerly. "He has pockets in his cheeks, and that is why he is called Pocket Gopher," replied Old Mother Nature ; " but they are not at all like yours, Striped Chipmunk. Yours are on the inside of your cheeks, but his are on the outside." "How funny!" exclaimed Striped Chipmunk. [84] Prickly Porky and Grubby Gopher "Your pockets are small conipared with those of Grubby," continued Old Mother Nature. " One of his covers almost the whole side of his head back to his short neck, and it is lined with fur, and remember he has two of them. Grubby uses these for carrying food and never for carrying out earth when he is digging a tunnel, as some folks think he does. He stuflFs them full with his front feet and empties them by pressing them from the back with his feet. The Gopher family is quite large and the members range in size from the size of Danny Meadow Mouse to that of Robber thb Rat, only these bigger members are stouter and heavier than Robber. Some are reddish- brown and some are gray. But whatever his size and wherever he is found, Grubby's habits are the same." All this time Peter Rabbit had been fidgeting about. It was quite clear that Peter had some- thing on his mind. Now as Old Mother Nature paused, Peter found the chance he had been waiting for. "If you please, why did you call him a plowman ?" he asked eagerly. "I 'm coming to that all in due time," replied Old Mother Nature, smiling at Peter's eagerness. "Grubby Gopher spends most of his life under- ground, very much like Miner the Mole, whom you all know. He can dig tunnels just about as [85] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children fast. His legs are short, and his front legs and feet are very stout and strong. They are armed with very long, strong claws and it is with these and the help of his big cutting teeth that Grubby digs. He throws the earth under him and then kicks it behind him with his hind feet. When he has quite a pile behind him he turns around, and with his front feet and head pushes it along to a little side tunnel and then up to the surface of the ground. As soon as he has it all out he plugs up the opening and goes back to digging. The loose earth he has pushed out makes little mounds, and he makes one of these mounds every few feet. "Grubby is a great worker. He is very in- dustrious. Since he is underground, it does n't make much difPerence to him whether it be night or day. In summer, during the hottest part of the day, he rests. His eyes are small and weak because he has little use for them, coming out on the surface very seldom and then usually in the dusk. He has a funny little tail without any hair on it; this is very sensitive and serves him as a sort of guide when he runs backward along his tunnel, which he can do quite fast. A funny thing about those long claws on his front feet is that he folds them under when he is walking or running. Do any of you know why Farmer Brown plows his garden ?" [86] PRICKLY PORKY THE PORCUPINE. An independem fellow with thousand little spears ia his coat. \ Prickly Porky and Grubby Gopher As she asked this, Old Mother Nature looked from one to another, and each in turn shook his head. "It is to mix the dead vegetable matter thoroughly with the earth so that the roots of the plants may get it easily," explained Old Mother Nature. "By making those tunnels in every direction and bringing up the earth below to the surface, Grubby Gopher does the same thing. That is why I call him my little plowman. He loosens up the hard, packed earth and mixes the vegetable matter with it and so makes it easy for seeds to sprout and plants to grow." "Then he must be one of the farmer's best friends," spoke up Happy Jack Squirrel. Old Mother Nature shook her head. "He has been in the past," said she. "He has done a wonderful work in helping make the land fit for farming. But where land is being farmed he is a dreadful pest, I am sorry to say. You see he eats the crops the farmer tries to raise, and the new mounds he is all the time throwing up bury a lot of the young plants, and in the meadows make it very hard to use a mowing machine for cutting hay. Then Grubby gets into young orchards and cuts off all the tender roots of young trees. This kills them. You see he is fond of tender roots, seeds, stems of grass and grain, and is never happier than when he can find a field of potatoes. [87] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children "Being such a worker, he has to have a great deal to eat. Then, too, he stores away a great deal for winter, for he does n't sleep in winter as Johnny Chuck does. He even tunnels about under the snow. Sometimes he fills these little snow tunnels with the earth he brings up from below, and when the snow melts it leaves queer little earth ridges to show where the tunnels were. "Grubby is very neat in his habits and keeps his home and himself very clean. During the day he leaves one of his mounds open for a little while to let in fresh air. But it is only for a little while. Then he closes it again. He does n't dare leave it open very long, for fear Shadow the Weasel or a certain big Snake called the Gopher Snake will find it and come in after him. Digger the Badger is the only one of his enemies who can dig fast enough to dig him out, but at night, when he likes to come out for a little air or to cut grain and grass, he must always watch for Hooty the Owl. Old Man Coyote and members of the Hawk family are always looking for him by day, so you see he has plenty of enemies, like the rest of you. "He got the name Gopher because that comes from a word meaning honeycomb, and Grubby's tunnels go in every direction until the ground is like honeycomb. He is n't a bit social and has rather a mean disposition. He is always ready [88] Prickly Porky and Grubby Gopher to fight. On the plains he has done a great deal to make the soil fine and rich, as I have already told you, but on hillsides he does a great deal of harm. The water runs down his tunnels and washes away the soil. Because of this and the damage he does to crops, man is his greatest enemy. But man has furnished him with new and splendid foods easy to get, and so Grubby's family increases faster than it used to, in spite of traps and poison. Hello ! See who 's here ! It is about time." There was a shuffling and rattling and grunting, and Prickly Porky climbed up on an old stump, looking very peevish and much out of sorts. He had come to school much against his will. [89] CHAPTER XI A FELLOW WITH A THOUSAND SPEAKS "There," said Old Mother Nature, pointing to Prickly Porky the Porcupine, "is next to the largest member of your order, which is ?" "Order of Rodents," piped up Striped Chip- munk. "He is not only next to the largest, but is the stupidest," continued Old Mother Nature. "At least that is what people say of him, though I suspect he is n't as stupid as he sometimes seems. Anyway, he manages to keep well fed and escape his enemies, which is more than can be said for some others who are supposed to have quick wits." "Escaping his enemies is no credit to him. They are only too glad to keep out of his way ; he does n't have to fear anybody," said Chatterer the Red Squirrel to his cousin, Happy Jack. His remark did n't escape the keen ears of Old Mother Nature. "Are you sure about that?" she demanded. " Now there 's Pekan the Fisher — " [90] A Fellow with a Thousand Spears She was interrupted by a gre^t rattling on the old stump. Everybody turned to look. There was Prickly Porky backing down as fast as he could, which was n't fast at all, and rattling his thousand little spears as he did so. It was really very funny. Everybody had to laugh, even Old Mother Nature. You see, it was plain that he was in a great hurry, yet every movement was slow and clumsy. "Well, Prickly Porky, what does this mean? Where are you going?" demanded Old Mother Nature. Prickly Porky turned his dull-looking eyes towards her, and in them was a troubled, worried look. "Where's Pekan the Fisher?" he asked, and his voice shook a little with something very much like fear. Old Mother Nature understood instantly. When she had said, "Now there 's Pekan the Fisher," Prickly Porky had waited to hear no more. He had instantly thought that she meant that Pekan was right there somewhere. "It 's all right. Prickly Porky," said she. "Pekan isn't any- where around here, so climb back on that stump and don't worry. Had you waited for me to finish, you would have saved yourself a fright. Chatterer had just said that you didn't have to fear anybody and I was starting to explain [91] The Bwgess Animal Book for Children that he was wrong, that despite your thousand little spears you have reason to fear Pekan the Fisher." Prickly Porky shivered and this made the thousand little spears in his coat rattle. It was such a surprising thing to see' Prickly Porky actually afraid that the other little folks almost doubted their own eyes. "Are you quite sure that Pekan isn't anywhere around?" asked Prickly Porky, and his voice still shook. "Quite sure," replied Old Mother Nature. "If he were I wouldn't allow him to hurt you. You ought to know that. Now sit up so that every one can get a good look at you." Prickly Porky sat up, and thie others gathered around the foot of the stump to look at him. "He certainly is no beauty," murmured Happy Jack Squirrel. Happy Jack was quite right. He was any- thing but handsome. The truth is he was the homeliest, clumsiest-looking fellow in all the Green Forest. He was a little bigger than Bobby Coon and his body was thick and heavy-looking. His back humped up like an arch. His head was rather small for the size of his body, short and rather round. His neck was even shorter. His eyes were small and very dull. It was plain that he could n't see far, or clearly unless what he was [92] A Fellow with a Thousand Spears looking at was close at hand. His ears were small and nearly hidden in hair. His front teeth, the gnawing teeth which showed him to be a Rodent, were very large and bright orange. His legs were short and stout. He had four toes on each front foot and five on each hind foot, and these were armed with quite long, stout claws. But the queerest thing and the most interesting thing about Prickly Porky was his coat. Not one among the other little people of the Green Forest has a coat anything like his. Most of them have a soft, short under fur protected and more or less hidden by longer, coarser hair. Prickly Porky had the long coarse hair and on his back it was very long and coarse, brownish-black in color up to the tips, which were white. Under this long hair was some soft woolly fur, but what that long hair hid chiefly was an array of wicked- looking little spears called quills. They were white to the tips, which were dark and very, very sharply pointed. All down the sides were tiny barbs, so small as hardly to be sgen, but there just the same. On his head the quills were about an inch long, but on his back they were four inches long, becoming shorter towards the tail. The latter was rather short, stout, and covered with short quills. As he sat there on that old stump some of [93] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children Prickly Porky's little spears could be seen peeping out from the long hair on his back, but they did n't look particularly dangerous. Peter Rabbit sud- denly made a discovery. "Why !" he exclaimed. •'He hasn't any little spears on the under side of him!" "I wondered who would be the first to notice that," said Old Mother Nature. "No, Prickly Porky has n't any little spears underneath,, and Pekan the Fisher has found that out. He knows that if he can turn Prickly Porky on his back he can kill him without much danger from those little spears, and he has learned how to do that very thing. That is why Prickly Porky is afraid of him. Now, Prickly, climb down off that stump and show these little folks what you do when an enemy comes near." Grumbling and growling. Prickly Porky climbed down to the groimd. Then he tucked his head down between his front paws and suddenly the thousand little spears appeared all over him, pointing in every direction until he looked like a giant chestnut burr. Then he began to thrash his tail from side to side. "What is he doing that for?" asked Johnny Chuck, looking rather puzzled. " Go near enough to be hit by it, and you '11 understand," said Old Mother Nature dryly. [941 PADDY THE BEAVEIR. This shows his wonderful dam and his house. A Fellow vnth a Thousand Spears " That is his one weapon. "Whoever is hit by that tail will find himself full of those little spears and will take care never to go near Prickly Porky again. Once those little spears have entered the skin, they keep working in deeper and deeper, and more than one of his enemies has been killed by them. On account of those tiny barbs they are hard to pull out, and pulling them out hurts dreadfully. Just try one and see." But no one was anxious to try, so Old Mother Nature paused only a moment. "You will notice that he moves that tail quickly," she continued. "It is the only thing about him which is quick. When he has a chance, in time of danger, he likes to get his head under a log or rock, instead of putting it between his paws as he is doing now. Then he plants his feet firmly and waits for a chance to use that tail." "Is it true that he can throw those little spears at folks ?" asked Peter. Old Mother Nature shook her head. "There is n't a word of truth in it," she declared. "That story probably was started by some one who was hit by his tail, and it was done so quickly that the victim did n't see the tail move and so thought the little spears were thrown at him." "How does he make all those little spears stand up that way?" asked Jumper the Hare. The Burgess Animal Booh for Children "He has a special set of muscles for just that purpose," explained Old Mother Nature. "When those quills stick into some one they must pull out of Prickly Porky's own skin; I should think that would hurt him," spoke up Striped Chipmunk. "Not at all," replied Old Mother Nature. "They are very loosely fastened in his skin and come out at the least little pull. New ones grow to take the place of those he loses. Notice that he puts his whole foot flat on the ground just as Buster Bear and Bobby Coon do, and just as those two-legged creatures called men do. Very few animals do this, and those that do are said to be plantigrade. Now, Prickly Porky, tell us what you eat and where you make your home, and that will end to-day's lesson." "I eat bark, twigs and leaves mostly," grunted Prickly Porky ungraciously. "I like hemlock best of all, but also eat poplar, pine and other trees for a change. Sometimes I stay in a tree for days until I have stripped it of all its bark and leaves. I don't see any sense in moving about any more than is necessary." "But that must kill the tree !" exclaimed Peter Rabbit. "Well, what of it?" demanded Prickly Porky crossly. "There are plenty of trees. In summer [96] A Fellow with a Thousand Spears I like lily pads and always get them when I can." "Can you swim ?" asked Peter eagerly. "Of course," grunted Prickly Porky. "I never see you out on the Green Meadows," said Peter. "And you never will," retorted Prickly Porky. "The Green Forest for me every time. Summer or winter, I'm at home there." " Don't you sleep through the cold weather the way Buster Bear and I do?" asked Johnny Chuck. "What should I sleep for?" grumbled Prickly Porky. " Cold weather does n't bother me. I like it. I have the Green Forest pretty much to myself then. I like to be alone. And as long as there are trees, there is plenty to eat. I sleep a great deal in the daytime because I Uke night best." "What about your home ?" asked Happy Jack. "Home is wherever I happen to be, most of the time, but Mrs. Porky has a home in a hollow log or a cave or under the roots of a tree where the babies are born. I guess that 's all I 've got to tell you." "You might add that those babies are big for the size of their mother and have a full supply of quills when they are born," said Old Mother [97] The Burgess Animal Book. for Children Nature. "And you forgot to say how fond of salt you are, and how often this fondness gets you into trouble around the camps of men. Your fear of Pekan the Fisher we all saw. I might add that Pimaa the Panther is to be feared at times, and when he is very hungry Buster Bear will take a chance on turning you on your back. By the way, don't any of you call Prickly Porky a Hedgehog. He is n't anything of the kind. He is sometimes called a Quill Pig, but his real name, Porcupine, is best. He has no near rela- tives. To-morrow morning, instead of meeting here, we 'U hold school on the shore of the pond Paddy the Beaver has made. School is dismissed." [98] CHAPTER XII A LUMBERMAN AND ENGINEER Johnny Chuck and Striped Chipmunk were the only ones who were not on hand at the pond of Paddy the Beaver deep in the Green Forest at sun-up the next morning. Johnny and Striped Chipmunk were afraid to go so far from home. To the surprise of everybody, Prickly Porky was there. "He must have traveled all night to get here, he is such a slow-poke," said Peter Rabbit to his cousin, Jumper the Hare. Peter was n't far from the truth. But how- ever he got there, there he was, reaching for lily pads from an old log which lay half in the water, and appearing very well satisfied with life. You know there is nothing like a godd meal of things you like, to make everything seem just as it should. Old Mother Nature seated hprseK on one end of Paddy's dam and called the school to order. Just as she did so a brown head popped out of [99] The Burgess Animal Book for Children the water close by and a pair of anxious eyes looked up at Old Mother Nature. "It is quite all right, Paddy," said she softly. "These little folks are trying to gain a little knowledge of themselves and other folks, and we are going to have this morning's lesson right here because it is to be about you." Paddy the Beaver no longer looked anxious. There was a sparkle in his eyes. "May I stay?" he asked eagerly. "If there is a chance to learn anything I don't want to miss it." Before Old Mother Nature could reply Peter Rabbit spoke up. "But the lesSon is to be about you and your family. Do you expect to learn anything about yourself?" he. demanded, and chuckled as if he thought that a great joke. "It seems to me that some one named Peter learned a great deal about his own family when he first came to school to me," said Old Mother Nature. Peter had grace enough to hang his head and look ashamed. "Of course you may stay, Paddy. In fact, I want you to. There are some things I shall want you to explain. That is why we are holding school over here this morning. Just come up here on your dam where we can all get a good look at you." Paddy the Beaver climbed out on his dam. It was the first time Happy Jack Squirrel ever had [100] A Lumberman and Engineer seen him out of water, and Happy Jack gave a little gasp of surprise. "I had no idea he is so big ! " he exclaimed. "He is the biggest of all the Rodents in this country, and one of the biggest in all the Great World. Also he is the smartest member of the whole order," said Old Mother Nature. "He doesn't look it," said Chatterer the Red Squirrel with a saucy jerk of his tail. "Which means, I suppose, that you haven't the least doubt that you are quite as smart as he," said Old Mother Nature quietly, and Chatterer looked both guilty and a little bit ashamed. "I '11 admit that you are smart. Chatterer, but often it is in a wrong way. Paddy is smart in the very best way. He is a lumberman, builder and engineer. A lot of my little people are workers, but they are destructive workers. The busier they are, the more they destroy. Paddy the Beaver is a con- structive worker. That means that he is a builder instead of a destroyer." "How about all those trees he cuts down? If that is n't destroying, I don't know what is !" said Chatterer, and with each word jerked his tail as if somehow his tongue and tail were connected. "So it is," replied Old Mother Nature good- naturedly. "But just think of the number of trees you destroy." [101] The Burgess Animal Book 'for Children "I never have destroyed a tree in my life!" declared Chatterer indignantly. "Yes, you have," retorted Old Mother Nature. "I never have!" contradicted Chatterer, quite forgetting to whom he was speaking. But Old Mother Nature overlooked this. "I don't suppose you ever ate a chestnut or a fat hickory nut or a sweet beechnut," said she softly. " Of course," retorted Chatterer sharply. " I 've eaten ever and ever and ever so many of them. What of it?" "In the heart of each one was a little tree," explained Old Mother Nature. "But for you very many of those little trees would have sprung up and some day would have made big trees. So you see for every tree Paddy has destroyed you probably have destroyed a hundred. You eat the nuts that you may live. Paddy cuts down the trees that he may live, for the bark of those trees is his food. Like Prickly Porky he lives chiefly on bark. But, unlike Prickly Porky, he does n't destroy a tree for the bark a,lone. He wastes nothing. He makes use of every bit of that tree. He does something for the Green Forest in return for the trees he takes." Chatterer looked at Happy Jack and blinked in a puzzled way. Happy Jack looked at Peter Rabbit and blinked. Peter looked at Jumper the [ 102 ] JERRY MUSKRAT. He is the largest of American Rats. Note how his tail is flattened. A Lumberman and Engineer Hare and blinked. Jumper looked at Prickly Porky and blinked. Then all looked at Paddy the Beaver and finally at Old Mother Nature, and all blinked. Old Mother Nature chuckled. "Don't you think the Green Forest is more beautiful because of this little pond?" she asked. Everybody nodded. "Of course," she continued. "But there wouldn't be any little pond here were it not for Paddy and the trees he has cut. He destroyed the trees in order to make the pond. That is what I meant when I called him a con- structive worker. Now I want you all to take a good look at Paddy. Then he will show us just how as a lumberman he cuts trees, as a builder he constructs houses and dams, and as an engineer he digs canals." As Paddy sat there on his dam, he looked rather like a giant member of the Rat family, though his head was more like that of a Squirrel than a Bat. His body was very thick and heavy, and in color he was dark brown, lighter underneath than above. Squatting there on the dam his back was rounded. All together, he was a very clumsy-looking fellow. Peter Rabbit appeared to be interested in just one thing, Paddy's tail. He couldn't keep his eyes off it. Old Mother Nature noticed this. " Well, Peter," said she, "what have you on your mind now?" [103] The Burgess Animal .Book for Children "That tail," replied Peter. "That 's the queer- est tail I 've ever seen. I should think it would be heavy and dreadfully in the way." Old Mother Nature laughed. "If you ask him, Paddy will tell you that that tail is the handiest tail in the Green Forest," said she. "There is n't a,nother like it in all the Great World, and if you '11 be patient you will see just how handy it is." It was a queer-looking tail. It was broad and thick and flat, oval in shape, and covered with scales instead of hair. Just then Jumper the Hare made a discovery. "Why!" he exclaimed, "Paddy has feet like Honker the Goose !" "Only my hind feet," said Paddy. "They have webs between the toes just as Honker's have. That is for swimming. But there are no webs between my fingers." He held up a hand for all to see. Sure enough, the fingers were free. "Now that everybody has had a good look at you, Paddy," said Old Mother Nature, "suppose you swim over to where you have, been cutting trees. We will join you there, and'theji you can show us just how you work." \ Paddy slipped into the water, where for a second or two he floated with just his head above the surface. Then he quickly raised his broad, heavy [104] A Lumherman and Engineer tail and brought it down on the water with a slap that sounded like the crack of a terrible gun. It was so loud and unexpected that every one save Old Mother Nature and Prickly Porky jumped with fright. Peter Rabbit happened to be right on the edge of the dam and, because he jumped before he had time to think, he jumped right into the water with a splash. Now Peter does n't like the water, as you know, and he scrambled out just as fast as ever he could. How the others did laugh at him. "What did he do that for?" demanded Peter indignantly. "To show you one use he has for that handy tail," replied Old Mother Nature. "That is the way he gives warning to his friends whenever he discovers danger. Did you notice how he used his tail to aid him in swimming? He turns it almost on edge and uses it as a rudder. Those big, webbed hind feet are the paddles which drive him through the water. He can stay under water a long time, — as much as five minutes. See, he has just come up now." Sure enough, Paddy's head had just appeared clear across the pond almost to the opposite shore, and he was now swimming on the surface. Old Mother Nature at once led the way around the pond to a small grove of poplar trees which stood [105] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children a little way back from the water. Paddy was already there. "Now," said Old Mother Nature, "show us what kind of a lumberman you are." Paddy picked out a small tree, sat up much as Happy Jack Squirrel does, but with his big flat tail on the ground to brace him, seized the trunk of the tree in both hands, and went to work with his great orange-colored cutting teeth. He bit out a big chip. Then another and another. Gradually he worked around the tree. After a while the tree began to sway and crack. Paddy bit out two or three more chips, then suddenly slapped the ground with his tail as a warning and scampered back to a safe distance. He was taking no chances of being caught under that falling tree. The tree fell, and at once Paddy returned to work. The smaller branches he cut off with a single bite at the base of each. The larger ones required a number of bites. Then he set to work to cut the trunk up in short logs. At this point Old Mother Nature Interrupted. "Now show us," said she, "w;hat you do with the logs." Paddy at once got behind a log, and by pushing rolled it ahead of him until at last it fell with a splash in the water of a ditch or canal which led from near that grove of trees to the pond. Paddy [106] A Lumberman and Engineer followed into the water and began to push it ahead of him towards the pond. "That will do," spoke up Old Mother Nature. "Come out and show us how you take the branches." Obediently Paddy climbed out and returned to the fallen tree. There he picked up one of the long branches in his mouth, grasping it near the butt, twisted it over his shoulder and started to drag it to the canal. When he reached the latter he entered the water and began swimming, still dragging the branch in the same way. Once more Old Mother Nature stopped him. "You 've shown us how you cut trees and move them, so now I want you to answer a few questions," said she. Paddy climbed out and squatted on the bank. "How did this canal happen to be here so handy?" asked Old Mother Nature. "Why, I dug it, of course," replied Paddy, looking surprised. "You see, I 'm rather slow and clumsy on land, and don't like to be far from water. Those trees are pretty well back from the pond, so I dug this canal, which brings the water almost to them. It makes it safer for me if Old Man Coyote or Buster Bear or Yowler the Bob- cat happens to be looking for a Beaver dinner. Also it makes it very much easier to get my logs and branches to the pond." [107] The Burgess Animal Book for Children Old Mother Nature nodded. "Just so," said she. "I want the rest of you to notice how well this canal has been dug. At the other end it is carried along the bottom of the pond where the water is shallow so as to give greater depth. Now you will understand why I called Paddy an engineer. What do you do with your logs and branches J Paddy ? " "Put them in my food-pile, out there where the water is deep near my house," replied Paddy promptly. "The bark I eat, and the bare sticks I use to keep my house and dam in repair. In the late fall I cut enough trees to keep me in food all winter. When my pond is covered with ice I have nothing to worry about; my food supply is below the ice. When I am hungry I swim out under the ice, get a stick, take it back into my house and eat the bark. Then I take the bare stick outside to use when needed on my dam or house." "How did you come to make this fine pond?" asked Old Mother Nature. "Oh, I just happened to come exploring up the Laughing Brook and found there was plenty of food here and a good place for a pond," replied Paddy. "I thought I would like to live here. Down where my dam is, the Laughing Brook was shallow, — just the place for a dam." [108] A Lumberman and Engineer "Tell us why you wanted a pond and how you built that dam," commanded Old Mother Nature. "Why, I had to have a pond, if I was to stay here," repUed Paddy, as if every one must under- stand that. "The Laughing Brook wasn't deep or big enough for me to live here safely. If it had been, I would have made my home in the bank and not bothered with a house or dam. But it was n't, so I had to make a pond. It required a lot of hard work, but it is worth all it cost. " First, I cut a lot of brush and young trees and placed them in the Laughing Brook in that shallow place, with the butts pointing up-stream. I kept them in place by piling mud and stones on them. Then I kept piling on more stidks and brush and mud. The water brought down leaves and float- ing stuff, and this caught in the dam and helped fill it in. I dug a lot of mud in front of it and used this to fill in the spaces between the sticks. This made the water deeper in front of the dam and at the same time kept it from getting through. As the water backed up, of course it made a pond. I kept making my dam longer and higher, and the longer and higher it became the bigger the pond grew. When it was big enough and deep enough to suit me, I stopped work on the dam and built my house out there." Everybody turned to look at Paddy's house, [109] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children the roof of which stood high out of water a little way from the dam. "Tell us how you built that," said Old Mother Nature quietly. "Oh, I just made a big platform of sticks and mud out there where it was deep enough for me to be sure that the water could not freeze clear to the bottom, even in the coldest weather," re- plied Paddy, in a matter-of-fact tone. "I built it up until it was above water. Then I built the walls and roof of sticks and mud, just as you see them there. Inside I have a fine big room with a comfortable bed of shredded wood. I have two openings in the floor with a long passage leading from each down through the foundations and opening at the bottom of the pond. Of course, these are filled with water. Some houses have only one passage, but I like two. These are the only entrances to my house. "Every fall I repair my walls and roof, adding sticks and mud and turf, so that now they are very thick. Late in the fall I sometimes plaster the outside with mud. This freezes hard, and no enemy who may reach my house on the ice can tear it open. I guess that 's all." Peter Rabbit drew a long breath. "What a dreadful lot of work," said he. "Do you work all the time?" Paddy chuckled. "No, Peter," said he. "In [1101 WHITEFOOT THE WOOD MOUSE. One of the prettiest members of ifie Mouse family. TRADER THE WOOD RAT. This is the Eastern form of this interesting blanch of the Rat family. A Lumberman and Engineer the spring and summer I like to play and go on exploring trips. But when it is time to work, I work every minute. I believe in working with all my might when it is time to work, and playing the same way in play-time." Old Mother Nature nodded in approval. " Quite right," said she. "Quite right. Are there any more questions ?" "Do you eat nothing but bark?" It was Happy Jack Squirrel who spoke. "Oh, no," replied Paddy. "In summer I eat berries, mushrooms, grass and the leaves and stems of a number of plants. In winter I vary my fare with lily roots and the roots of alder and willow. But bark is my principal food." Old Mother Nature waited a few minutes, but as there were no more question? she added a few words. "Now I hope you understand why I am so proud of Paddy the Beaver, and why I told you that he is a lumberman, builder and engineer," said she. "For the next lesson we will take up the Rat family." [Ill] CHAPTER Xin A WORKEB AND A ROBBEB "Now we come to the largest family of the Rodent order, the Rat family, which of course includes the Mice," said Old Mother Nature, after calling school to order at the old meeting- place. "And the largest member of the family reminds me very much of the one we learned about yesterday." "I know!" cried Peter Rabbit. "You mean Jerry Muskrat." "Go to the head of the class, Peter," said Old Mother Nature, smiling. "Jerry is the very one, the largest member of the Rat family. Sometimes he is spoken of as a little cousin of Paddy the Beaver. Probably this is because he looks some- thing like a small Beaver, builds a house in the water as Paddy does, and lives in very much the same way. The truth is, he is no more closely related to Paddy than he is to the rest of you. He is a true Rat. He is called Muskrat because he carries with him a scent called musk. It is not [1121 A Worker and a Robber an unpleasant scent, like that of Jimmy Skunk, and is n't used for the same purpose. Jerry uses his to tell his friends where he has been. He leaves a little of it at the places he visits. Some folks call him Musquash, but Muskrat is better. "Jerry is seldom found far from the water and then only when he is seeking a new home. He is rather slow and awkward on land; but in the water he is quite at home, as all of you know who have visited the Smiling Pool. He can dive and swim under water a long distance, though not as far as Paddy the Beaver." "Has he webbed hind feet like Paddy?" piped up Jumper the Hare. "Yes and no," repHed Old Mother Nature. "They are not fully webbed as Paddy's are, but there is a little webbing between some of the toes, enough to be of great help in swimming. His tail is of greater use in swimming than is Paddy's. It is bare and scaly, but instead of being flat top and bottom it is flattened on the sides, and he uses it as a propeller, moving it rapidly from side to side. "Like Paddy he has a dark brown outer coat, lighter underneath than on his back and sides, and like Paddy he has a very warm soft under coat,- through which the water cannot get and which keeps him comfortable, no matter how [113] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children cold the water is. You have all seen his house in the Smiling Pool. He builds it in much the same way that Paddy builds his, but instead of sticks he cuts and uses rushes. Of course it is not nearly as large as Paddy's house, beca;use Jerry is him- self so much smaller. It is arranged much the same, with a comfortable bedroom and one or more passages down to deep water. In winter Jerry spends much of his time in this house, going out only for food. Then he lives chiefly on hly roots and roots of other water plants, digging them up and taking them back to his house to eat. When the ice is clear you can sometimes see him swimming below." "I know," spoke up Peter Rabbit. "Once I was crossing the Smiling Pool on the ice and saw him right under me." "Jerry doesn't build dams, but he sometimes digs little canals along the bottom where the water is n't deep enough to suit him," continued Old Mother Nature. "Sometimes in the winter Jerry and Mrs. Jerry share their home with two or three friends. If there is a good bank Jerry usually has another home in that. He makes the entrance under water and then tunnels back and up for some distance, where he builds a snug little bedroom just below the surface of the ground where it ig dry. Usually he has more than one [114] A Worker and a Robber tunnel leading to this, and sometimes an opening from above. This is covered with sticks and grass to hide it, and provides an entrance for fresh air. "Jerry lives mostly on roots and plants, but is fond of mussels or fresh-water clams, fish, some insects and, I am sorry to say, young birds when he can catch them. Jerry could explain where some of the babies of Mr. and Mrs. Quack the Ducks have disappeared to. Paddy the Beaver does n't eat flesh at all. "Jerry and Mrs. Jerry have several families in a year, and Jerry is a very good father, doing his share in caring for the babies. He and Mrs. Jerry are rather social and enjoy visiting neighbors of their own kind. Their voices are a sort of squeak, and you can often hear them talking among the rushes in the early evening. That is the hour they like best, though they are abroad during the day when undisturbed. Man is their greatest enemy. He hunts and traps them for their warm coats. But they have to watch out for Hooty the Owl at night and for Reddy Fox and Old Man Coyote whenever they are on land. Billy Mink also is an enemy at times, perhaps the most to be dreaded because he can follow Jerry anywhere. "Jerry makes little landings of mud and rushes [115] The Burgess Animal Book for Children along the edge of the shore. On these he delights to sit to eat his meals. He likes apples and vegetables and sometimes will travel quite a distance to get them. Late in the summer he begins to prepare for winter by starting work on his house, if he is to have a new one. He is a good worker. There is n't a lazy bone in him. All things considered, Jerry is a credit to his family. "But if Jerry is a credit to bis family there is one of its members who is not and that is — who knows?" "Robber the Brown Rat," replied Happy Jack Squirrel promptly. " I have often seen him around Farmer Brown's barn. Ugh ! He is an ugly- looking fellow." "And he is just as ugly as he looks," replied Old Mother Nature. "There isn't a good thing I can say for him, not one. He does n't belong in this country at all. He was brought here by man, and now he is found evjerywhere. He is sometimes called the Norway Rat and sometimes the Wharf Rat and House Rat. He is hated by all animals and by man. He is big, being next in size to Jerry Muskrat, savage in temper, the most destructive of any animal I know, and dirty in his habits. He is an outcast, but he does n't seem to care. "He lives chiefly around the homes of men, [116] A Worker and a Robber and all his food is stolen. That is why he is named Robber. He eats anything he can find and is n't the least bit particular what it is or whether it be clean or unclean. He gnaws into grain bins and steals the grain. He gets into hen- houses and sucks the eggs and kills young chickens. He would like nothing better than to find a nest of your babies, Peter Rabbit." Peter shivered. "I 'm glad he sticks to the homes of men," said he. "But he does n't," declared Old Mother Nature. "Often in summer he moves out into the fields, digging burrows there and doing great damage to crops and also killing and eating any of the furred and feathered folk he can catch. But he is not fond of the light of day. His deeds are deeds of darkness, and he prefers dark places. He has very large families, sometimes ten or more babies at a time, and several families in a year. That is why his tribe has managed to overrun the Great World and why they cause such great damage. Worse than the harm they do with their teeth is the terrible harm they do to man by carrying dreadful diseases and spreading them, — diseases which cause people to die in great num- bers." "Isn't Robber afraid of any one?" asked Peter. [117] The Burgess Animal Book for Children "He certainly is," replied Old Mother Nature. *'He is in deadly fear of one whom every one of you fears, — Shadow the Weasel. One good thing I can say for Shadow is that he never misses a chance to kill a Rat. Wherever a Rat can go he can go, and once he finds a colony he hunts them until he has killed all or driven them away. "When food becomes scarce. Robber and his family move on to where it is more plentiful. Often they make long journeys, a great number of them together, and do not hesitate to swim a stream that may be in their path." "I 've never seen Robber," said Peter. "What kind of a tail does he have ?" "I might have known you would ask that," laughed Old Mother Nature. "It is long and slim and has no hair on it. His fur is very coarse and harsh and is brown and gray. He has a close relative called the Black Rat. But the latter is smaller and has been largely driven out of the country by his bigger cousin. Now I guess this is enough about Robber. He is bad, all bad, and has n't a single friend in all the Great World." " What a dreadful thing, — not to have a single friend," said Happy Jack. "It is dreadful, very dreadful," repUed Old [118] THE BROWN LEMMING. A northern cousin of Danny Meadow Mouse. A Worker and a Robber Mother Nature. "But it is wholly his own fault. It shows what happens when one becomes dis- honest and bad at heart. The worst of it is Robber does n't care. To-morrow I '11 tell you about some of his cousins who are not bad." 1 110 I CHAPTER XIV A TRADER AND A HANDSOME FELLOW "Way down in the Sunny South," began Old Mother Nature, "lives a member of the Rat family who, though not nearly so bad as Robber, is none too good and so is n't thought well of at all. He is Little Robber the Cotton Rat, and though small for a Rat, being only a trifle larger than Striped Chipmunk, looks the little savage that he is. He has short legs and is rather thick- bodied, and* appears much like an overgrown Meadow Mouse with a long tail. The latter is not bare like Robber's, but the hair on it is very short and thin. In color he is yellowish-brown and whitish underneath. His fur is longer and coarser than that of other native Rats. " He lives in old fields, along ditches and hedges, and in similar places where there is plenty of cover in which he can hide from his enemies. He burrows in the ground and usually has his nest of dry grass there, though often in summer it is on [120] A Trader and a Handsome Fellow the surface of the ground. He does not Uve in and around the homes of men, hke the Brown Rat, but he causes a great deal of damage by steaUng grain ih the shock. He eats all kinds of grain, many seeds, and meat when he can get it. He is very destructive to eggs and young of ground-nesting birds. He has a bad temper and will fight savagely. Mr. and Mrs. Cotton Rat raise several large families in a year. Foxes, Owls and Hawks are their chief enemies. "But there are other members of the Rat family far more interesting and quite worth knowing. One of these is Trader the Wood Rat, in some parts of the Far West called the Pack Rat. Among the mountains he is called the Mountain Rat. Wherever found, his habits are much the same and make him one of the most interesting of all the little people who wear fur. " Next to Jerry Muskrat he is the largest native Rat, that is, of the Rats which belong in this country. He is about two thirds as big as Robber the Brown Rat, but though he is of the same general shape, so that you would know at once that he is related to Robber, he is in all other ways wholly unlike that outcast. His fur is thick and soft, almost as soft as that of a Squirrel. His fairly long tail is covered with hair. Indeed, some members of his branch of the family have tails [121] The Burgess Animal Book for Children almost as bushy as a Squirrel's. His coat is soft gray and a yellowish-brown above, and under- neath pure white or light buff. His feet are white. He has rounded ears and big black eyes with none of the ugliness in them that you always see in the eyes of Robber. And he has long whiskers and plenty of them." "But why is he called Trader?" asked Peter Rabbit a bit impatiently. "Patience, Peter, patience. I 'm coming to that," chided Old Mother Nature. "He is called Trader because his greatest delight is in trading. He is a born trader if ever there was one. He does n't steal as other members of his family do, but trades. He puts something back in place of whatever he takes. It may be little sticks or chips or pebbles or anything else that is handy, but it is something to replace what he has taken. You see, he is very honest. If Trader finds some- thing belonging to some one else that he wants, he takes it, but he tries to pay for it. "Next to trading he delights in collecting. His home is a regular museum. He delights in any- thing bright and shiny. When he can get into the camps of men he will take anything he can move. But being honest, he tries to leave some- thing in return. All sorts of queer things are found in his home, — buckles cut from saddles, [122] A Trader and a Handsome Fellow spoons, knives, forks, even money he has taken from the pockets of sleeping campers. When- ever any small object is missed from a camp, the first place visited in search of it is the home of Trader. In the mountains he sometimes makes piles of little pebbles just for the fun of collecting them. "He is found all over the West, from the moun- tains to the deserts, in thick forests and on sandy wastes. He is also found in parts of the East and in the Sunny South. He is a great climber and is perfectly at home in trees or among rocks. He eats seeds, grain, many kinds of nuts, leaves and other parts of plants. In the colder sections he lays up stores for winter." "What kind of a home does he have?" asked Happy Jack. "His home usually is a very remarkable affair," replied Old Mother Nature. "It depends largely on where he is. When he is living in rocky country, he makes it amongst the rocks. In some places he burrows in the ground. But more often it is on the surface of the ground, — a huge pile of sticks and thorns in the very middle of which is his snug, soft nest. The sticks and thorns are to protect it from enemies. When he lives down where cactus grow, those queer plants with long sharp spines, he uses these, and there are few enemies [ 123 ] The Burgess Animal Book jar Children who will try to pull one of these houses apart to get at him. " When he is alarmed or disturbed, he has a funny habit of drumming on the ground with his hind feet in much the same way that Peter Rabbit and Jumper the Hare thump, only he does it rapidly. Sometimes he builds his house in a tree. When he finds a cabin in the woods he at once takes possession, carrying in a great mass of sticks and trash. He is chiefly active at night, and a very busy fellow he is, trading and collecting. He has none of the mean disposition of Robber the Brown Rat. Mrs. Trader has two to five babies at a time and raises several families in a year. As I said before, Trader is one of the most in- teresting little people I know of, and he does very, very funny things. "Now we come to the handsomest member of the family, Longfoot the Kangaroo Rat, so called because of his long hind legs and tail and the way in which he sits up and jumps. Really he is not a member of the Rat branch of the family, but closely related to the Pocket Mice. You see, he has pockets in his cheeks." "Like mine?" asked Striped Chipmunk quickly. "No. They are on the outside instead of on the inside of his cheeks. Yours are inside." [124] A Trader and a Handsome Fellow "I think mine must be a lot handier/' asserted Striped Chipmunk, nodding his head in a very decided way. "Longfoot seems to think his are quite satis- factory," replied Old Mother Nature. "He really is handsome, but he is n't a bit vain and is very gentle. He never tries to bite when caught and taken in a man's hand." " But you have n't told us how big he is or what he looks like," protested impatient Peter. "When he sits up or jumps, he looks like a tiny Kangaroo. But that does n't mean anything to you, and you are no wiser than before, for you never have seen a Kangaroo," replied Old Mother Nature. "In the first place he is about the size of Striped Chipmunk. That is, his body is about the size of Striped Chipmunk's; but his tail is longer than his head and body together." "My, it must be some tail!" exclaimed Peter Rabbit admiringly. Old Mother Nature smiled. "It is," said she. "You would like that tail, Peter. His front legs are short and the feet small, but his hind legs are long and the feet big. Of course you have seen Nimbleheels the Jumping Mouse, Peter." Peter nodded. "Of course," he replied. "My, how that fellow can jump !" "Well, Longfoot is built on the same plan as [125] The Burgess Animal Book for Children Nimbleheels and for the same ptirpose/'continued Old Mother Nature. "He is a jumper." "Then I know what that long tail is for," cried Peter. "It is to keep him balanced when he is in the air so that he can jump straight." "Right again, Peter," laughed Old Mother Nature. "That is just what it is for. Without it, he never would know where he was going to land when he jumped. As I told you, he is a handsome little fellow. His fur is very soft and gilky. Above, it is a pretty yellowish-brown, but underneath it is pure white. His cheeks are brown, he is white around the ears, and a white stripe crosses his hips and keeps right on along the sides of his tail. The upper and under parts of his tail are almost or quite black, and the tail ends in a tuft of long hair which is pure white. His feet are also white. His head is rather large for his size, and long. He has a long nose. Long- foot has a number of cousins, some of them much smaller than he, but they all look very much alike." "Where do they live?" asked Johnny Chuck, for Johnny had been unable to stay away from school another day. "In the dry, sandy parts of the Southwest, places so dry that it seldom rains, and water is to be found only long distances apart," replied Old Mother Nature. [126] NIMBLEHEELS THE JUMPING MOUSE. Look for this pretty little fellow in old weedy fields. DANNY MEADOW MOUSE. He kills young trees by gnawing off ttie bark under tlie snow. A Trader and a Handsome Fellow "Then how does Longfoot get water to drink?'* demanded Chatterer the Red Squirrel. "He gets along without drinking," replied Old Mother Nature. "Such moisture as he needs he gets from his food. He eats seeds, leaves of certain plants and tender young plants just com- ing up. He burrows in the ground and throws up large mounds of earth. These have several entrances. One of these is the main entrance, and during the day this is often kept closed with earth. Under the mound he has little tunnels in all directions, a snug little bedroom and store- rooms for food. He is very industrious and dearly loves to dig. "Longfoot likes to visit his relatives sometimes, and where there are several families living near together, little paths lead from mound to mound. He comes out mostly at night, probably because he feels it to be safer then. Then, too, in that hot country it is cooler at night. The dusk of early evening is his favorite playtime. If Long- foot has a quarrel with one of his relatives they fight, hopping about each other, watching for a chance to leap and kick with those long, strong hind feet. Longfoot sometimeis drums with his hind feet after the manner of Trader the Wood Rat. "Now I think this will do for this morning. [ 127 ] The Burgess Animal Book for Children If any of you should meet Whitefoot the Wood Mouse, tell him to come to school to-morrow morning. And you might tell Danny Meadow Mouse to come also, Peter. That is, of course, if you little folks want school to continue." "We do!" cried Peter Rabbit and Jumper the Hare and Happy Jack Squirrel and Chatterer the Red Squirrel and Striped Chipmunk and Johnny Chuck as one. [128] CHAPTER XV TWO UNLIKE LITTLE COUSINS Whitefoot the Wood Mouse is one of the smallest of the little people who live in the Green Forest. Being so small he is one of the most timid. You see, by day and by night sharp eyes are watching for Whitefoot alid he knows it. Never one single instant, while he is outside where sharp eyes of hungry enemies may see him, does he forget that they are watching for him. To forget even for one little minute might mean, — well, it might mean the end of little Whitefoot, but a dinner for some one with a liking for tender Mouse. So Whitefoot the Wood Mouse rarely ventures more than a few feet from a hiding place and safety. At the tiniest sound he starts nervously and often darts back into hiding without waiting to find out if there really is any danger. If he waited to make sure he might wait too long, and it is better to be safe than sorry. If you and I had as many real frights in a year, not to mention false frights, [ 129 ] The Burgess Animal Book Jor Children as Whitefoot has in a day, we would, I suspect, lose our minds. Certainly we would be the most unhappy people in all the Great World. But Whitefoot isn't unhappy. Not a bit of it. He is a very happy little fellow. There is a great deal of wisdom in that pretty little head of his. There is more real sense in it than in some very big heads. When some of his neighbors make fun of him for being so very, very timid he does n't try to pretend that he is n't afraid. He does n't get angry. He simply says : "Of course I 'm timid, very timid indeed. I 'm afraid of almost everything. I would be foolish not to be. It is because I am afraid that I am alive and happy right now. I hope I shall never be less timid than I am now, for it would mean that sooner or later I would fail to run in time and would be gobbled up. It is n't cowardly to be timid when there is danger all around. Nor is it bravery to take a foolish and needless risk. So I seldom go far from home. It is n't safe for me, and I know it." This being the way Whitefoot looked at matters, you can guess how he felt when Chatterer the Red Squirrel caught sight of him and gave him Old Mother Nature's message. "Hi there, Mr. Fraidy!" shouted Chatterer, as he caught sight of Whitefoot darting under 1130] Two Unlike Little Cousins a log. "Hi there! I've got a message for you!" Slowly, cautiously, Whitefoot poked his head out from beneath the old log and looked up at Chatterer. "What kind of a message?" he demanded suspiciously. "A message you '11 do well to heed. It is from Old Mother Nature," replied Chatterer. "A message from Old Mother Nature!" cried Whitefoot, and came out a bit more from beneath the old log. " That 's what I said, a message from Old Mother Nature, and if you will take my advice you will heed it," retorted Chatterer. "She says you are to come to school with the rest of us at sun-up to-morrow morning." Then Chatterer explained about the school and where it was held each morning and what a lot he and his friends had already learned there. Whitefoot listened with something very like dis- may in his heart. That place where school was held was a long way oflF. That is, it was a long way for him, though to Peter Rabbit or Jumper the Hare it would n't have seemed long at all. It meant that he would have to leave all his hiding places and the thought made him shiver. But Old Mother Nature had sent for him and not once did he even think of disobeying. "Did [131] The Burgess Animal Boole for Children you say that school begins at sun-up ?" he asked, and when Chatterer nodded Whitefoot sighed. It was a sigh of relief. "I 'm glad of that," said he. "I can travel in the night, which will be much safer. I '11 be there. That is, I will if I am not caught on the way." Meanwhile over on the Green Meadows Peter Rabbit was looking for Danny Meadow Mouse. Danny's home was not far from the dear Old Briar-patch, and he and Peter were and still are very good friends. So Peter knew just about where to look for Danny and it did n't take him long to find him. "Hello, Peter ! You look as if you have some- thing very important on your mind," was the greeting of Danny Meadow Mouse as Peter came hurrying up. "I have," said Peter. "It is a message for you. Old Mother Nature says for you to be on hand at sun-up to-morrow when school opens over in the Green Forest. Of course you will be there." " Of course," replied Danny in the most matter- of-fact tone. " Of course. If Old Mother Nature really sent me that message — " "She really did," interrupted Peter. "There is n't anything for me to do but obey," finished Danny. Then his face became very sober. "That is a long way for me to go, Peter," [132] Two Unlike Little Cousins said he. "I wouldn't take such a long journey for anything or for anybody else. Old Mother Nature knows, and if she sent for me she must be sure I can make the trip safely. What time did you say I must be there .?" "At sun-up," replied Peter. "Shall I call for you on my way there ? " Danny shook his head. Then he began to laugh. "What are you laughing at?" demanded Peter. "At the very idea of me with my short legs trying to keep up with you," replied Danny. "I wish you would sit up and take a good look all around to make sure that Old Man Coyote and Reddy Fox and Redtail the Hawk and Black Pussy, that pesky Cat from Farmer Brown's, are nowhere about." Peter obligingly sat up and looked this way and looked that way and looked the other way. No one of whom he or Danny Meadow Mouse need be afraid was to be seen. He said as much, then asked, "Why did you want to know, Danny ?" "Because I am going to start at once," replied Danny. "Start for where?" asked Peter, looking much puzzled. "Start for school of course," replied Danny rather shortly. [133] The Burgess Animal Book for Children "But school doesn't begin until sun-up to- morrow," protested Peter. "Which is just the reason I am going to start now," retorted Danny. "If I should put off starting until the last minute I might not get there at all. I would have to hurry, and it is difficult to hurry and watch for danger at the same time. I 've noticed that people who put things off to the last minute and then have to hurry are quite apt to rush headlong into trouble. The way is clear now, so I am going to start. I can take my time and keep a proper watch for danger. I '11 see you over there in the morning, Peter." Danny turned and disappeared in one of his private little paths through the tall grass. Peter noticed that he was headed towards the Green Forest. When Peter and the others arrived for school the next morning they found Whitefoot the Wood Mouse and Danny Meadow Mouse waiting with Old Mother Nature. Safe in her presence, they seemed to have lost much of their usual timidity. Whitefoot was sitting on the end of a log and Danny was on the ground just beneath him. "I want all the rest of you to look well at these two little cousins and notice how unlike two cousins can be, " said Old Mother Nature . * ' White- [134] NIBBLER THE HOUSE MOUSE. ROBBER THE RROWN RAT. Here are iwo of the worst pesls in the world. Neither is native to America. Two Unlike Ldttle Cousins foot, who is quite as often called Deer Mouse as Wood Mouse, is one of the prettiest of the entire Mouse family. I suspect he is called Deer Mouse because the upper part of his coat is such a beauti- ful fawn color. Notice that the upper side of his long slim tail is of the same color, while the under side is white, as is the whole under part of White- foot. Also those dainty feet are white, hence his name. See what big, soft black eyes he has, and notice that those delicate ears are of good size. "His tail is covered with short fine hairs, in- stead of being naked as is the tail of Nibbler the House Mouse, of whom I will tell you later. Whitefoot loves the Green Forest, but out in parts of the Far West where there is no Green Forest he lives on the brushy plains. He is a good climber and quite at home in the trees. There he seems almost like a tiny Squirrel. Tell us, Whitefoot, where you make your home and what you eat." "My home just now," replied Whitefoot, "is in a certain hollow in a certain dead limb of a certain tree. I suspect that a member of the Woodpecker family made that hollow, but no one was living there when I found it. Mrs. White- foot and I have made a soft, warm nest there and wouldn't trade homes with any one. We have had our home in a hollow log on the ground, in [ 135 ] The Burgess Animal Book for Children an old stump, in a hole we dug in the ground under a rock, and in an old nest of some bird. That was in a tall bush. We roofed that nest over and made a little round doorway on the under side. Once we raised a family in a box in a dark corner of Farmer Brown's sugar camp. "I eat all sorts of things, — seeds, nuts, insects and meat when I can get it. I store up food for winter, as all wise and thrifty people do." "I suppose that means that you do not sleep as Johnny Chuck does in winter," remarked Peter Rabbit. "I should say not !" exclaimed Whitefoot. "I like winter. It is fun to run about on the snow. Have n't you ever seen my tracks, Peter.?" "I have, lots of times," spoke up Jumper the Hare. "Also I 've seen you skipping about after dark. I guess you don't care much for sunlight." "I don't," replied Whitefoot. "I sleep most of the time during the day, and work and play at night. I feel safer then. But on dull days I often come out. It is the bright sunlight I don't like. That is one reason I stick to the Green Forest. I don't see how Cousin Danny stands it out there on the Green Meadows. Now I guess it is his turn." Every one looked at Danny Meadow Mouse. In appearance he was as unlike Whitefoot as it [ 136 ] Two Unlike Little Cousins was possible to be and still be a Mouse. There was nothing pretty or graceful about Danny. He was n't dainty at all. His body was rather stout, looking stouter than it really was because his fur was quite long. His head was blunt, and he seemed to have no neck at all, though of course he did have one. His eyes were small, like little black beads. His ears were almost hidden in his hair. His legs were short and his tail was quite short, as if it had been cut off when half grown. No, those two cousins did n't look a bit alike. Danny felt most uncomfortable as the others compared him with pretty Whitefoot. He knew he was homely, but never before had he felt it quite so keenly. Old Mpther Nature saw and understood. " It is n't how we look, but what we are and what we do and how we fit into our particular places in life that count," said she. "Now, Danny is a homely little fellow, but I know, and I know that he knows, that he is just fitted for the life he lives, and he lives it more successfully for being just as he is. "Danny is a lover of the fields and meadows where there is little else but grass in which to hide. Everything about him is just suited for living there. Is n't that so, Danny ?" "Yes 'm, I guess so," replied Danny. "Some- [1371 The Burgess Animal Book for Children times my tail does seem dreadfully short to look well." Everybody laughed, even Danny himself. Then he remembered how once Reddy Fox had so nearly caught him that one of Reddy's black paws had touched the tip of his tail. Had that tail been any longer Reddy would have caught him by it. Danny's face cleared and he hastened to declare, "After all, my tail suits me just as it is." "Wisely spoken, Danny," said Old Mother Nature. "Now it is your turn to tell how you live and what you eat and anything else of interest about yourself." "I guess there is n't much interesting about me," began Danny modestly. "I 'm just one of the plain, common little folks. I guess every- body knows me so well there is nothing for me to tell." "Some of them may know all about you, but I don't," declared Jumper the Hare. "I never go out on the Green Meadows where you live. How do you get about in all that tall grass ? " "Oh, that 's easy enough," replied Danny. "I cut little paths in all directions." "Just the way I do in the dear Old Briar-patch," interrupted Peter Rabbit. "I keep those little paths clear and clean so that there never is anything in my way to trip [138] Two Unlike Little Cousins me up when I have to run for safety," continued Danny. "When the grass gets tall those little paths are almost like little tunnels. The time I dread most is when Farmer Brown cuts the grass for hay. I not only have to watch out for that dreadful mowing machine, but when the hay has been taken away the grass is so short that it is hard work for me to keep out of sight. "I sometimes dig a short burrow and at the end of it make a nice nest of dry grass. Sometimes in summer Mrs. Danny and I make our nest on the surface of the ground in a hollow or in a clump of tall grass, especially if the ground is low and wet. We have several good-sized families in a year. All Meadow Mice believe in large families, and that is probably why there are more Meadow Mice than any other Mice in the country. I forgot to say that I am also called Field Mouse." "And it is because there are so many of your family and they require so much to eat that you do a great deal of damage to grass and other crops," spoke up Old Mother Nature. "You see," she explained to the others, "Danny eats grass, clover, bulbs, roots, seeds and garden vegetables. He also eats some insects. He sometimes puts away a few seeds for the winter, but depends chiefly on finding enough to eat, for he is active all winter. He tunnels about under the snow in search of [139] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children food. When other food is hard to find he eats bark, and then he sometimes does great damage in young orchards. He gnaws the bark from young fruit trees all the way around as high as he can reach, and of course this kills the trees. He is worse than Peter Rabbit. "Danny didn't mention that he is a good swimmer and not at all afraid of the water. No one has more enemies than he, and the fact that he is alive and here at school this morning is due to his everlasting watchfulness. This will do for to-day. To-morrow we will take up others of the Mouse family." [140] CHAPTER XVI Danny's northern cousins and nimbleheels Whitefoot the Wood Mouse and Danny Meadow Mouse had become so interested that they decided they could n't afford to miss the next lesson. Neither did either of them feel like mak- ing the long journey to his home and back again. So Whitefoot found a hole in a stump near by and decided to camp out there for a few days. Danny decided to do the same thing in a comfortable place under a pile of brush not far away. So the next morning both were on hand when school opened. "I told you yesterday that I would tell you about some of Danny's cousins," began Old Mother Nature just as Chatterer the Red Squirrel, who was late, came hurrying up quite out of breath. "Way up in the Far North are two of Danny's cousins more closely related to him than to any other members of the Mouse family. Yet, strange to say, they are not called Mice at all, but Lem- [ 141 ] The Burgess Animal Book for Children mings. However, they belong to the Mouse family. "Bandy the Banded Lemming is the most interesting, because he is the one member of the entire family who changes the color of his coat. In summer he wears beautiful shades of reddish- brown and gray, but in winter his coat is wholly white. He is also called the Hudson Bay Lem- ming. " Danny Meadow Mouse thinks his tail is short, but he would n't if he should see Bandy's tail. That is so short it hardly shows beyond his long fur. He is about Danny's size, but a little stouter and stockier, and his long fur makes him appear even thicker-bodied than he really is. He has very short legs, and his ears are so small that they are quite hidden in the fur around them, so that he appears to have no ears at all. "In that same far northern country is a close relative called the Brown Lemming. He is very much like Bandy save that he is all brown and does not change his coat in winter. Both have the same general habits, and these are much like the habits of Danny Meadow Mouse. They make short burrows in the ground leading to snug, warm nests of grass and moss. In winter they make little tunnels in every direction under the snow, with now and then an opening to the surface. f 142 1 ^HKii^eFtfT^ ' — LONGFOOT THE KANGAROO RAT. He is not a true Rat but is related to the Pocket Mice. 1^ Jf>«f, QgpfK*%t^t, DIGGER THE BADGER. Though he doesn't look it he is a member of the Weasel family. Danny's Northern Cousins and Nimbleheels "There are many more Brown Lemmings than Banded Lemmings, and their little paths run everywhere through the grass and moss. In that country there is a great deal of moss. It covers the ground just as grass does here. But the most interesting thing about these Lemmings is the way they migrate. To migrate is to move from one part of the country to another. You know most of the birds migrate to the Sunny South every autumn and back every spring. "Once in a while it happens that food becomes very scarce where the Lemmings are. Then very many of them get together, just as migrating birds form great flocks, and start on a long journey in search of a place where there is plenty of food. They form a great army and push ahead, regard- less of everything. They swim wide rivers and even lakes which may lie in their way. Of course, they eat everything eatable in their path." "My!" exclaimed Danny Meadow Mouse, "I 'm glad I don't live in a country where I might have to make such long journeys. I don't envy those cousins up there in the Far North a bit. I 'm perfectly satisfied to live right on the Green Meadows." "Which shows your good common sense," said Old Mother Nature. "By the way, Danny, I suppose you are acquainted with Nimbleheels the [143] The Burgess Animal Book for Children Jumping Mouse, who also is rather fond of the Green Meadows. I ought to have sent word to him to be here this morning." Hardly were the words out of Old Mother Nature's mouth when something landed in the leaves almost at her feet and right in the middle of school. Instantly Danny Meadow Mouse scurried under a pile of dead leaves. Whitefoot the Wood Mouse darted into a knothole in the log on which he had been sitting. Jumper the Hare dodged behind a little hemlock tree. Peter Rabbit bolted for a hollow log. Striped Chipmunk vanished in a hole under an old stump. Johnny Chuck backed up against the trunk of a tree and made ready to fight. Only Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel and Chatterer the Red Squirrel and Prickly Porky the Porcupine, who were sitting in trees, kept their places. You see they felt quite safe. As soon as all those who had run had reached places of safety, they peeped out to see what had frightened them so. Just imagine how very, very foolish they felt when they saw Old Mother Nature smiling down at a little fellow just about the size of little Whitefoot, but with a much longer tail. It was Nimbleheels the Jumping Mouse. "Well, well, well!" exclaimed Old Mother Nature. "I was just speaking of you and wish- [144] Danny's Northern Cousins and Nimhleheels ing I had you here. How did you happen to come? And what do you mean by scaring my pupils half out of their wits ? " Her eyes twinkled. Nimhleheels saw this and knew that she was only pretending to be severe. Before he could reply Johnny Chuck began to chuckle. The chuckle became a laugh, and pres- ently Johnny was laughing so hard he had to hold his sides. Now, as you know, laughter is catch- ing. In a minute or so everybody was laughing, and no one but Johnny Chuck knew what the joke was. At last Peter Rabbit stopped laughing long enough to ask Johnny what he was laughing at. "At the idea of that little pinch of nothing giv- ing us all such a fright," replied Johnny Chuck. Then all laughed some more. "When they were through laughing Nimble- heels answered Old Mother Nature's questions. He explained that he had heard about that school, as by this time almost every one in the Green Forest and on the Green Meadows had. By chance he learned that Danny Meadow Mouse was at- tending. He thought that if it was a good thing for Danny it would be a good thing for him, so he had come. "Just as I was almost here I heard a twig snap behind me, or thought I did, and I jumped so as to get here and be safe. I didn't suppose any [145] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children one would be frightened by lirttle me," he ex- plained. "It was some jump!" exclaimed Jumper the Hare admiringly. "He went right over my head, and I was sitting up at that !" "It is n't much of a jump to go over your head," replied Nimbleheels. "You ought to see me when I really try to jump. I was n't half trying when I landed here. I 'm sorry I frightened all of you so. It gives me a queer feeling just to think that I should be able to frighten anybody. If you please. Mother Nature, am I in time for to-day's lesson?" "Not for all of it, but you ave just in time for the part I wanted you here for," replied Old Mother Nature. " Hop up on that log side of your Cousin Whitefoot, where all can see you." Nimbleheels hopped up beside Whitefoot the Wood Mouse, and as the two little cousins sat side by side they were not unlike in general ap- pearance, though of the two Whitefoot was the prettier. The coat of Nimbleheels was a dull yellowish, darker on the back than on the sides. Like Whitefoot he was white underneath. His ears were much smaller than those of Whitefoot. But the greatest differences between the two were in their hind legs and tails. The hind legs and feet of Nimbleheels were long, [146] Danny's Northern Cousins and Nimbleheels on the same plan as those of Peter Rabbit. From just a glance at them any one would know that he was a born jumper and a good one. Whitefoot possessed a long tail, but the tail of Nimbleheels was much longer, slim and tapering. "There," said Old Mother Nature, "is the great- est jumper for his size among all the animals in this great country. When I say this, I mean the greatest ground jumper. Timmy the Flying Squirrel jumps farther, but Timmy has to climb to a high place and then coasts down on the air. I told you what wonderful jumps Jack Rabbit can make, but if he could jump as high and far for his size as Nimbleheels can jump for his size, the longest jump Jack has ever made would seem nothing more than a hop. By the way, both Nimbleheels and Whitefoot have small pockets in their cheeks. Tell us where you live, Nimble- heels." "I live among the weeds along the edge of the Green Meadows," replied Nimbleheels, "though sometimes I go way out on the Green Meadows. But I like best to be among the weeds because they are tall and keep me well hidden, and also because they furnish me plenty to eat. You see, I live largely on seeds, though I am also fond of berries and small nuts, especially , beechnuts. Some of my family prefer the Green Forest, especially if [147] The Burgess Animal Book for Children there is a Laughing Brook or pond in it. Person- ally I prefer, as I said before, the edge of the Green Meadows." "Do you make your home under the ground?" asked Striped Chipmunk. "For winter, yes," replied Nimbleheels. "In summer I sometimes put my nest just a few inches under ground, but often I hide it under a piece of bark or in a thick clump of grass, just as Danny Meadow Mouse often does his. In the fall I dig a deep burrow, deep enough to be beyond the reach of Jack Frost, and in a nice little bedroom down there I sleep the winter away. I have little storerooms down there too, in which I put seeds, berries and nuts. Then when I do wake up I have plenty to eat." "I might add," said Old Mother Nature, "that when he goes to sleep for the winter he curls up in a little ball with his long tail wrapped around him, and in his bed of soft grass he sleeps very sound ' indeed. Like Johnny Chuck he gets very fat before going to sleep. Now, Nimbleheels, show us how you can jump." Nimbleheels hopped down frorn the log on which he had been sitting and at once shot into the air in such a high, long, beautiful jump that every- body exclaimed. This way and that way he went in great leaps. It was truly wonderful. [148] Danny's Northern Cousins and Nimbleheels "That long tail is what balances him," ex- plained Old Mother Nattire. "If he should lose it he would simply turn over and over and never know where or how he was going to land. His jumping is done only in times of danger. When he is not alarmed he runs about on the ground like the rest of the Mouse family. This is all for to-day. To-morrow I will tell you still more about the Mouse family." [149] CHAPTER XVII THREE LITTLE REDCOATS AND SOME OTHERS With Whitefoot the Wood Mouse, Danny Meadow Mouse and Nimbleheels the Jumping Mouse attending school, the Mouse family was well represented, but when school opened the morning after Nimbleheels had made his sudden and startling appearance, there was still another present. It was Piney the Pine Mouse. White- foot, who knew him, had hunted him up and brought him along. "I thought you would n't mind if Piney came," explained Whitefoot. "I 'm glad he has come," replied Old Mother Nature. "It is much better to see a thing than merely to be told about it, and now you have a chance to see for yourselves the differences be- tween two cousins very closely related, Danny Meadow Mouse and Piney the Pine Mouse. What difference do you see, Happy Jack Squirrel?" "Piney is a little smaller than Danny, though [150] TEENY WEENY THE SHREW. This is the common ot long-tailed Shrew, one of the smallest animals in all the Great World. THE SHORT-T AILED SHREW. He is sometimes called the Mole Shrew and the Blarina. Three Ldttle Redcoats and Some Others he is much, the same shape," was the prompt reply. "True," said Old Mother Nature. "Now, Striped Chipmunk, what difference do you see?" "The fur of Piney's coat is shorter, finer and has more of a shine. Then, too, it is more of a reddish- brown than Danny's," replied Striped Chipmunk. "And what do you say, Peter Rabbit?" asked Old Mother Nature. "Piney has a shorter tail," declared Peter, and everybody laughed. "Trust you to look at his tail first," said Old Mother Nature. "These are the chief differences as far as looks are concerned. Their habits differ in about the same degree. As you all know, Danny cuts little paths through the grass. Piney does n't do this, but makes little tunnels just under the surface of the ground very much as Miner the Mole does. He is n't fond of the open Green Meadows or of damp places as Danny is, but likes best the edge of the Green Forest and brushy places. He is very much at home in a poorly kept orchard where the weeds are allowed to grow and in young orchards he does a great deal of damage by cutting off the roots of young trees and stripping off the bark as high up as he can reach. Tell us, Piney, how and where you make your home." [ l.'il ] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children Piney hesitated a little, for he was bashful. "I make my home under ground," he ven- tured finally. "I dig a nice little bedroom with several entrances from my tunnels, and in it I make a fine nest of soft grass. Close by I dig one or more rooms in which to store my food, and these usually are bigger than my bedroom. When I get one filled with food I close it up by filling the entrance with earth." "What do you put in your storerooms?" asked Peter Rabbit. "Short pieces of grass and pieces of roots of different kinds," replied Piney. "I am very fond of tender roots and the bark of trees and bushes." "And he dearly loves to get in a garden where he can tunnel along a row of potatoes or other root crops," added Old Mother Nature. "Be- cause of these habits he does a great deal of damage and is much disliked by man. Striped Chip- munk mentioned his reddish-brown coat. There is another cousin with a coat so red that he is called the Red-backed Mouse. He is about the size of Danny Meadow Mouse but has larger ears and a longer tail. " This little fellow is a lover of the Green Forest, and he is quite as active by day as by night. He is pretty, especially when he sits up to eat, hold- ing his food in his paws as does Happy Jack [152] Three Little Redcoats and Some Others Squirrel. He makes his home in a burrow, the entrance to which is under an old stump, a rock or the root of a tree. His nest is of soft grass or moss. Sometimes he makes it in a hollow log or stump instead of digging a bedroom under ground. He is thrifty and lays up a supply of food in underground rooms, hollow logs and similar places. He eats seeds, small fruits, roots and various plants. Because of his preference for the Green Forest and the fact that he Uves as a rule far from the homes of men, he does little real damage. "There is still another little Redcoat in the family, and he is especially interesting because while he is related to Danny Meadow Mouse he lives almost wholly in trees. He is called the Rufous Tree Mouse. Rufous means reddish- brown, and he gets that name because of the color of his coat. He lives in the great forests of the Far West, where the trees are so big and tall that the biggest tree you have ever seen would look small beside them. And it is in those great trees that the Rufous Tree Mouse lives. "Just why he took to living in trees no one knows, for he belongs to that branch of the family known as Ground Mice. But live in them he does, and he is quite as much at home in them as any Squirrel." [153] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children Chatterer the Red Squirrel was interested right away. "Does he build a nest in a tree like a Squirrel?" he asked. "He certainly does," replied Old Mother Na- ture, " and often it is a most remarkable nest. In some sections he places it only in big trees, sometimes a hundred feet from the ground. In other sections it is placed in small trees and only a few feet above the ground. The high nests often are old deserted nests of Squirrels enlarged and built over. Some of them are very large indeed and have been used year after year. Each year they have been added to. "One of these big nests will have several bed- rooms and little passages running all through it. It appears that Mrs. Rufous usually has one of these big nests to herself, Rufous having a small nest of his own out on one of the branches. The big nest is close up against the trunk of the tree where several branches meet." "Does Rufous travel from one tree to another, or does he live in just one tree.''" asked Happy Jack Squirrel. "Wherever branches of one tree touch those of another, and you know in a thick forest this is frequently the case, he travels about freely if he wants to. But those trees are so big that I sus- pect he spends most of his time in the one in which [154] Three Little Redcoats and Some Others his home is," replied Old Mother Nature. "How- ever, if an enemy appears in his home tree, he makes his escape by jumping from one tree to another, just as you would do." "What I want to know is where he gets his food if he spends all his time up in the trees," spoke up Danny Meadow Mouse. "Old Mother Nature smiled. "Where should he get it but up where he lives?" she asked. "Rufous never has to worry about food. It is all around him. You see, so far as known, he lives wholly on the thick parts of the needles, which you know are the leaves, of fir and spruce trees, and on the bark of tendpr twigs. So you see he is more of a tree dweller than any of the Squirrel family. While RufouS has the general shape of Danny and his relatives, he has quite a long tail. Now I guess this will do for the nearest relatives of Danny Meadow Mouse." "He certainly has a lot of them," remarked WTiitefoot the Wood Mouse. Then he added a little wistfully, "Of course, in a way they are all cousins of mine, but I wish I had some a little more closely related." "You have," replied Old Mother Nature, and Whitefoot pricked up his big ears. " One of them is Bigear the Rock Mouse, who lives out in the mountains of the Far West. He is as fond of the [155] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children rocks as Rufous is of the trees. Sometimes he lives in brush heaps and in brushy country, but he prefers rocks, and that is why he is known as the Rock Mouse. "He is a pretty Uttle fellow, if anything a trifle bigger than you, Whitefoot, and he is dressed much like you with a yellowish-brown coat and white waistcoat. He has just such a long tail covered with hair its whole length. But you should see his ears. He has the largest ears of any member of the whole family. That is why he is called Bigear. He likes best to be out at night, but often comes out on dull days. He eats seeds and small nuts and is especially fond of juniper seeds. He always lays up a supply of food for winter. Often he is found very high up on the mountains. "Another of your cousins, Whitefoot, lives along the seashore of the East down in the Sunny South. He is called the Beach Mouse. In general appearance he is much like you, having the same shape, long tail and big ears, but he is a little smaller and his coat varies. When he lives back from the shore, in fields where the soil is dark, his upper coat is dark grayish-brown, but when he lives on the white sands of the seashore it is very light. His home is in short burrows in the ground. "Now don't you little people think you have learned enough about the Mouse family?" [156] Three Little Redcoats and Some Others "You have n't told us about Nibbler the House Mouse yet, and you said you would," protested Peter Rabbit. "And when we were learning about Longfoot the Kangaroo Rat you said he was most closely related to the Pocket Mice. What about them?" said Johnny Chuck. Old Mother Nature laughed. "I see," said she, "that you want to know all there is to know. Be on hand to-morrow morning. I guess we can finish up with the Mouse family then and with them the order of Rodents to which all of you belong." [157] CHAPTER XVIII MICE WITH POCKETS, AND OTHERS "Pockets are very handy things for little people who are thrifty and who live largely on small seeds. Without pockets in which to carry the seeds, I am afraid some of them would never be able to store up enough food for winter," began Old Mother Nature, as soon as everybody was on hand the next morning. "I wouldn't be without my pockets for any- thing," spoke up Striped Chipmunk. Old Mother Nature smiled. "You certainly do make good use of yours," said she. "But there are others who have even greater need of pockets, and among them are the Pocket Mice. Of course, it is because of their pockets that they are called Pocket Mice. All of these pretty little fellows live in the dry parts of the Far West and Southwest in the same region where Longfoot the Kangaroo Rat lives. They are close neighbors and relatives of his. [158] MINER THE MOLE. This shows how he uses his spade-hke hands in digging. THE STAR-NOSED MOLE. His nose is one of the oddest in the world. Mice with Pockets, and Others "Midget the Silky Pocket Mouse is one of the smallest animals in all the Great World, so small that Whitefoot the Wood Mouse is a giant com- pared with him. He weighs less than an ounce and is a dear little fellow. His back and sides are yellow, and beneath he is white. He has quite long hind legs and a long tail, and these show at once that he is a jumper. In each cheek is a pocket opening from the outside, and these pockets are lined with hair. He is called Silky Pocket Mouse because of the fineness and softness of his coat. He has some larger cousins, one of them being a little bigger than Nibbler the House Mouse. Neighbors and close relatives are the Spiny Pocket Mice." "Do they have spines like Prickly Porky?" demanded Peter Rabbit. Old Mother Nature laughed. "I don't wonder you ask," said she. "I think it is a foolish name myself, for they have n't any spines at all. Their fur is n't as fine as that of Midget, and it has all through it long coarse hairs almost like bristles, and from these they get their name. The smallest of the Spiny Pocket Mice is about the size of Nibbler the House Mouse and the largest is twice as big. They are more slender than their Silky cousins, and their tails are longer in proportion to their size and have little tufts of hair at the [159] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children ends. Of course, they have pockets in their cheeks. "In habits all the Pocket Mice are much alike. They make burrows in the grouijd, often throwing up a little mound with several entrances which lead to a central passageway connecting with the bedroom and storerooms. By day the entrances are closed with earth from inside, for the Mice are active only at night. Sometimes the bur- rows are hidden under bushes, and sometimes they are right out in the open. Living as they do in a hot, dry country, the Pocket Mice have learned to get along without drinking water. Their food consists mainly of a variety of small seeds. "Another Mouse of the West looks almost enough like Whitefoot to be a member of his branch of the family. He has a beautiful yellow- ish-brown coat and white waistcoat, and his feet are white. But his tail is short in comparison with Whitefoot's and instead of being slim is quite thick. His fur is like velvet. He is called the Grasshopper Mouse." "Is that because he eats Grasshoppers?" asked Peter Rabbit at once. "You 've guessed it," laughed Old Mother Nature. "He is very, very fond of Grasshoppers and Crickets. He eats many kinds of insects, Moths, Flies, Cutworms, Beetles, Lizards, Frogs [160] Mice vdth Pockets, and Others and Scorpions. Because of his fondness for the latter he is called the Scorpion Mouse in some sec- tions. He is fond of meat when he can get it. He also eats seeds of many kinds. He is found all over the West from well up in the North to the hot dry regions of the Southwest. When he cannot find a convenient deserted burrow of some other animal, he digs a home for himseU and there raises several families each year. In the early evening he often utters a fine, shrill, whistling call note. "Another little member of the Mouse family found clear across the country is the Harvest Mouse. He is never bigger than Nibbler the House Mouse and often is much smaller. In fact, he is one of the smallest of the entire family. In appearance he is much like Nibbler, but his coat is browner and there are fine hairs on his tail. He loves grassy, weedy or brushy places. "As a rule he does little harm to man, for his food is chiefly seeds of weeds, small wild fruits and parts of wild plants of no value to man. Once in a while his family becomes so large that they do some damage in grain fields. But this does not happen often. The most interesting thing about this little Mouse is the way he builds his home. Sometimes he uses a hole in a tree or post and sometimes a deserted birds' nest, but more frequently he builds a nest for himself, — [161] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children a little round ball of grass and other vegetable matter. This is placed in thick grass or weeds close to the ground or in bushes or low trees several feet from the ground. "They are well-built little houses and have one or more little doorways on the under side when they are in bushes or trees. Inside is a warm, soft bed made of milkweed or cattail down, the very nicest kind of a bed for the babies. No one has a neater home than the Harvest Mouse. He is quite as much at home in bushes and low trees as Happy Jack Squirrel is in bigger trees. His long tail comes in very handy then, for he often wraps it around a twig to make his footing more secure. " Now this is all about the native Mice and — What is it, Peter?" "You 've forgotten Nibbler the House Mouse," replied Peter. "How impatient some little folks are and how fearful that their curiosity will not be satisfied," remarked Old Mother Nature. "As I was say- ing, this is all about our native Mice ; that is, the Mice who belong to this country. And now we come to Nibbler the House Mouse, who, like Robber the Brown Rat, has no business here at all, but who has followed man all over the world and like Robber has become a pest to man." [162] Mice with Pockets, and Others Peter Rabbit looked rather sheepish when he discovered that Old Mother Nature hadn't for- gotten, and resolved that in the future he would hold his tongue. "Have any of you seen Nibbler?" asked Old Mother Nature. "I have," replied Danny Meadow Mouse. " Once I was carried to Farmer Brown's bam in a shock of corn and I found Nibbler living in the barn." "It is a wonder he was n't living in Farmer Brown's house," said Old Mother Nature. "Prob- ably other members of his famiily were. He is perfectly at home in any building put up by man, just as is Robber the Rat. Because of his small size he can go where Robber cannot. He delights to scamper about between the walls. Being a true Rodent he is forever gnawing holes in the corners of rooms and opening on to pantry shelves so that he may steal food. He eats all sorts of food, but spoils more for man, by running about over it, than he eats. In barns and henhouses he gets into the grain bins and steals a great deal of grain. "It is largely because of Robber the Rat and Nibbler that men keep the Cats you all hate so. A Cat is Nibbler's worst enemy. Nibbler is slender and graceful, with a long, hairless tail and [163] The Burgess Animal Book for Children ears of good size. He is very timid, ready to dart into l^is hole at the least sound. He raises from four to nine babies at a time and several sets of them in a year. "If Mr. and Mrs. Nibbler are living in a house, their nest is made of scraps of paper, cloth, wool and other soft things stolen from the people who live in the house. In getting this material they often do great damage. If they are living in a barn, they make their nest of hay and any soft material they can find. "While Nibbler prefers to live in or close to the homes of men, he sometimes is driven out and then takes to the fields, especially in summer. There he lives in all sorts of hiding places, and is n't at all particular what the place is, if it promises safety and food can be obtained close by. I 'm sorry Nibbler ever came to this country. Man brought him here and now he is here to stay and quite as much at home as if he belonged here the way the rest of you do. "This finishes the lessons on the order of Rodents, the animals related by reason of having teeth for the purpose of gnawing. I suspect these are the only ones in whom you take any interest, and so you will not care to come to school any more. Am I right?" "No, marm," answered Happy Jack the Gray [164] Mice with Pockets, and Others Squirrel, who, you remember, had laughed at Peter Rabbit for wanting to go to school. "No, marm. There are ever so many other people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows we want to know more about than we now know. Is n't that so ?" Happy Jack turned to the others and every one nodded, even Prickly Porky. "There is one little fellow living right near here who looks to me as if he must be a member of the Mouse family, but he is n't like any of the Mice you have told us about," continued Happy Jack. "He is so small he can hide under a leaf. I 'm sure he must be a Mouse." "You mean Teeny Weeny the Shrew," replied Old Mother Nature, smiling at Happy Jack. "He isn't a Mouse. He isn't even a Rodent. I '11 try to have him here to-morrow morning and we will see what we can find out about him and his relatives." [165] CHAPTER XIX TEENY WEENY AND HIS COUSIN "Of course Old Mother Nature knows, but just the same it is hard for me not to believe that Teeny Weeny is a member of the Mouse family," said Happy Jack Squirrel to Peter Rabbit, as they scampered along to school. "I never have had a real good look at him, but I 've had glimpses of him lots of times and always supposed him a little Mouse with a short tail. It is hard to be- lieve that he is n't." "I hope Old Mother Nature will put him where we can get a good look at him," replied Peter. "Perhaps when you really see him he won't look so much like a Mouse." When all had arrived Old Mother Nature began the morning lesson at once. "You have learned about all the families in the order of Rodents," said she, "so now we will take up another and much smaller order called Insectivora. I wonder if any of you can guess what that means." [166] FLITTER THE BAT. This is the Red Bat, also called Tree Bat. THE LITTLE BROWN BAT. He is about to catch a fly on the surface of the water. Teeny Weeny and His Cousin "It sounds," said Peter Rabbit, "as if it must have something to do with insects." "That is a very good guess, Peter," rephed Old Mother Nature, smiling at him. "It does have to do with insects. The members of this order live very largely on insects and worms, and the name Insectivora means insect-eating. There are two families in this order, the ^hrew family and the Mole family." "Then Teeny Weeny and Miner the Mole must be related," spoke Peter quickly. "Right again, Peter," was the prompt reply. " The Shrews and the Moles are related in the same way that you and Happy Jack Squirrel are related." "And is n't Teeny Weeny the Shrew related to the Mice at all ?" asked Happy Jack. "Not at all," said Old Mother Nature. "Many -people think he is and often he is called Shrew Mouse. But this is a great mistake. It is the result of ignorance. It seems strange to me that people so often know so little about their near neighbors." She looked at Happy Jack Squirrel as she said this, and Happy Jack looked sheepish. He felt just as he looked. All this time the eyes of every one had been searching this way, that way, every way, for Teeny Weeny, for Old Mother Nature had promised to try to have him there that morning. But Teeny Weeny was not to be [167] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children seen. Now and then a leaf on the ground close by- Old Mother Nature's feet moved, but the Merry Little Breezes were always stirring up fallen leaves, and no one paid any attention to these. Old Mother Nature understood the disappoint- ment in the faces before her and her eyes began to twinkle. "Yesterday I told you that I would try to have Teeny Weeny here," said she. A leaf moved. Stooping quickly she picked it up. "And here he is," she finished. Sure enough where a second before the dead brown leaf had been was a tiny little fellow, — so tiny that that leaf had covered him com- pletely, and it was n't a very ,big leaf. It was Teeny Weeny the Shrew, also called the Common Shrew, the Long-tailed Shrew and the Shrew Mouse, one of the smallest animals in all the Great World. He started to dart under another leaf, but Old Mother Nature stopped him. "Sit still," she commanded sharply. "You have noth- ing to fear. I want everybody to have a good look at you, for it is high time these neighbors of yours should know you. I know just how nervous and uncomfortable you are and I '11 keep you only a few minutes. Now everybody take a good look at Teeny Weeny." This command was quite needless, for all were staring with all their might. What they saw was [168] Teeny Weeny and His Cousin a mite of a fellow less than four inches long from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail, and of this total length the tail was almost half. He was slender, had short legs and mouselike feet. His coat was brownish above and -grayish beneath, and the fur was very fine and soft. But the oddest thing about Teeny Weeny was his long, pointed head ending in a long nose. No Mouse has a head like it. The edges of the ears could be seen above the fur, but the eyes were so tiny that Peter Rabbit thought he had n't any and said so. Old Mother Nature laughed. "Yes, he has eyes, Peter," said she. "Look closely and you will see them. But they don't amount to much, — little more than to tell daylight from dark- ness. Teeny Weeny depends on his nose chiefly. He has a very wonderful little nose, flexible and very sensitive. Of course, with such poor eyes he prefers the dark when there are fewer enemies abroad." All this time Teeny Weeny had been growing more and more uneasy. Old Mother Nature saw and understood. Now she told him that he might go. Hardly were the words out of her mouth when he vanished, darting under some dead leaves. Hidden by them he made his way to an old log and was seen no more. [169] The Burgess Animal Booh jor Children " Does n't he eat anything but insects and worms?" asked Striped Chipmunk. "Yes," replied Old Mother Nature. "He is very fond of flesh, and if he finds the body of a bird or animal that has been killed he will tear it to pieces. He is very hot-tempered, as are all his family, and will not hesitate to attack a Mouse much bigger than himself. He is so little and so active that he has to have a great deal of food and probably eats his own weight in food every day. Of course, that means he must do a great deal of hunting, and he does. "He makes tiny little paths under the fallen leaves and in swampy places, — little tunnels through the moss. He is especially fond of old rotted stumps and logs and brush piles, for in such places he can find grubs and insects. At the same time he is well hidden. He is active by day and night, but in the daytime takes pains to keep out of the light. He prefers damp to dry places. In winter he tunnels about under the snow. In summer he uses the tunnels and run- ways of Meadow Mice and others when he can. He eats seeds and other vegetable food when he cannot find insects or flesh." "How about his enemies?" asked Chatterer the Red Squirrel. "He has plenty," replied Old Mother Nature, [170] Teeny Weeny and His Cousin "but is not so much hunted as the members of the Mouse family. This is because he has a strong, unpleasant scent which makes him a poor meal for those at all particular about their food. Some of the Hawks and Owls appear not to mind this, and these are his worst enemies." "Has he any near relatives ? " asked Jumper the Hare. "Several," was the prompt response. "Blarina the Short-tailed Shrew, also called Mole Shrew, is the best known. He is found everywhere, in forests, old pastures and along grassy banks, but seldom far from water. He prefers moist ground. He is much larger and thicker than Teeny Weeny and has a shorter tail. People often mistake him for Miner the Mole, because of the thick, fine fur which is much like Miner's and his habit of tunnel- ing about just beneath the surface, but if they would look at his fore feet they would never make that mistake. They are small and like the feet of the Mouse family, not at all like Miner's big shovels. Moreover, he is smaller than Miner, and his tunnels are seldom in the earth but just under the leaves and grass. "His food is much the same as that of Teeny Weeny, — worms, insects, flesh when he can get it, and seeds. He is fond of beechnuts. He is quite equal to killing a Mouse of his own size or [171] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children bigger and does not hesitate to do so when he gets the chance. He makes a soft, comfortable nest under a log or in a stump or in the ground and has from four to six babies at a time. Teeny Weeny sometimes has as many as ten. The senses of smell and hearing are very keen and make up for the lack of sight. His eyes, like those of Other Shrews, are probably of use only in dis- tinguishing light from darkness. His coat is dark brownish-gray. "Another of the Shrew family is the Marsh Shrew, also called Water Shrew and Black-and- white Shrew. He is longer than either of the others and, as you have guessed, is a lover of water. He is a good swimmer and gets much, of his food in the water, — water Beetles and grubs and perhaps Tadpoles and Miniiows. Now who among you knows Miner the Mole ?" "I do. That is, I have seen him," replied Peter Rabbit. "Very well, Peter, to-morrow morning we will see how much you know about Miner," replied Old Mother Nature. [172] CHAPTER XX FOUR BUSY LITTLE MINERS Scampering along on his way to school and thinking of nothing so uninteresting as watching his steps, Peter Rabbit stubbed his toes. Yes, sir, Peter stubbed his toes. With a little exclama- tion of impatience he turned to see what he had stumbled over. It was a little ridge where the surface of the ground had been raised a trifle since Peter had passed that way the day before. Peter chuckled. "Now isn't that funny?" he demanded of no one at all, for he was quite alone. Then he answered himself. "It certainly is," said he. "Here I am on my way to learn something about Miner the Mole, and I trip over one of the queer little ridges he is forever making. It was n't here yesterday, so that means that he is at work right around here now. Hello, I thought so!" Peter had been looking along that little ridge and had discovered that it ended only a short [173] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children distance from him. Now as he looked at it again, he saw the flat surface of the ground at the end of the ridge rise as if being pushed up from beneath, and that little ridge became just so much longer. Peter understood perfectly. Out of sight be- neath the surface Miner the Mole was at work. He was digging a tunnel, and that ridge was simply the roof to that tunnel. It was so near the surface of the ground that Miner simply pushed up the loose soil as he bored his way along, and this made the little ridge over which Peter had stumbled. Peter watched a few minutes, then turned and scampered, lipperty-lipperty-lip, for the Green Forest. He arrived at school quite out of breath, the last one. Old Mother Nature was about to chide him for being late, but noticing his excite- ment, she changed her mind. "Well, Peter," said she. "What is it now? Did you have a narrow escape on your way here ?" Peter shook his head. "No," he replied. "No, I did n't have a narrow escape, but I discovered something." Happy Jack Squirrel snickered. "Peter is al- ways discovering something," said he. "He is a great little discoverer. Probably he has just found out that the only way to get anywhere on time is to start soon enough." [174] JIMMY SKUNK. The common Skunk is of considerable economic value as well as a valuable (ur-bearer. THE LITTLE SPOTTED SKUNK. A small cousin ot Jimmy Skunk. Note the curious pattern o( his markings. Four Busy Little Miners "No such thing!" declared Peter indignantly. "You—" "Never mind him, Peter," interrupted Old Mother Nature soothingly. "What was it you discovered?" "That the very one we are to learn about is only a little way from here this very minute. Miner the Mole is at work on the Green Meadows close to the edge of the Green Forest," cried Peter eagerly. "I thought perhaps you would want to—" "Have this morning's lesson right there where we can at least see his works if not himself," in- terrupted Old Mother Nature again. "That is fine, Peter. We will go over there at once. It is always better to see things than to merely hear about them." So Peter led the way to where he had stumbled over that little ridge on his way to school. It was longer than when he had left it, but even as the others crowded about to look, the earth was pushed up and it grew in length. Old Mother Nature stooped and made a little hole in that ridge. Then she put her lips close to it and commanded Miner to come out. She spoke softly, pleasantly, but in a way that left no doubt that she expected to be obeyed. She was. Almost at once a queer, long, sharp [175] The Burgess Animal Book for Children nose was poked out of the little hole she had made, and a squeaky voice asked fretfully, "Do I have to come way out ?" "You certainly do," replied Old Mother Nature. "I want some of your friends and neighbors to get a good look at you, and they certainly can't do that with only that sharp nose of yours to be seen. Now scramble out here. No one will hurt you. I will keep you only a few minutes. Then you can go back to your everlasting digging. Out with you, now !" While the others gathered in a little circle close about that hole there scrambled into view one of the queerest little fellows in all the Great World. Few of them had ever seen him close to before. He was a stout little fellow with the softest, thick- est, gray coat imaginable. He was about six inches long and had a funny, short, pinkish-white, naked tail that at once remirided Peter of an Angleworm. His head seemed to be set directly on his shoul- ders, so that there was no neck worth mentioning. His nose was long and sharp and extended far beyond his mouth. Neither ears nor eyes were to be seen. Striped Chipmunk at once wanted to know how Miner could see. "He doesn't see as you do," replied Old Mother Nature. "He has very small [176] Four Busy Little Miners eyes, tiny things, which you might find if you should part the fur around them, but they are of use only to distinguish light from darkness. Miner has n't the least idea what any of you look like. You see, he spends his life under ground and of course has no use for eyes there. They would be a nuisance, for the dirt would be con- tinually getting in them if they were any larger than they are or were not protected as they are. If you should feel of Miner's nose you would find it hard. That is because he uses it to bore with in the earth. Just notice those hands of his." At once everybody looked at Miner's hands. No one ever had seen such hands before. The arms were short but looked very strong. The hands also were rather short, but what they lacked in length they made up in width and they were armed with long, stout claws. But the queer thing about them was the way he held them. He held them turned out. His hind feet were not much different from the hind feet of the Mouse family. Miner was plainly uncomfortable. He wriggled about uneasily and it was very clear that he was there only because Old Mother Nature had com- manded him to be there, and that the one thing he wanted most was to get back into his beloved ground. Old Mother Nature saw this and took pity on him. She picked him up and placed [177] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children him on the ground where there was no opening near. "Now, Miner," said she, "your friends and neighbors have had a good look at you, and I know just how uncomfortable you feel. There is but one thing more I '11 ask of you. It is that you will show us how you can dig. Johnny Chuck thinks he is a pretty good digger. Just show him what you can do in that line." Miner did n't wait to be told twice. The instant Old Mother Nature stopped speaking he began to push and bore into the earth with his sharp nose. One of those great, spadelike hands was slipped up past his face and the claws driven in beside his nose. Then it was swept back and the loosened earth with it. The other hand was used in the same way. It was quite plain to every- body why they were turned out in the way they were. There was nothing slow about the way Miner used that boring nose and those shoveling hands. Peter Rabbit had hardly time for half a dozen long breaths before Miner the Mole had disappeared. "Some digging!" exclaimed Peter. "Never again as long as I live will I boast of my digging," declared Johnny Chuck admiringly. From the point where Miner had entered the ground a little ridge was being pushed up, and [178] Four Busy Little Miners they watched it grow surprisingly fast as the Httle worker under the sod pushed his tunnel along in the direction of his old tunnels. It was clear that he was in a hurry to get back where he could work in peace. "What a queer life," exclaimed Happy Jack Squirrel. "He can't have much fun. I should think it would be awful living in the dark that way all the time." " You forget that he cannot see as you can, and so prefers the dark," replied Old Mother Nature. "As for fun, he gets that in his work. He is called Miner because he lives in the ground and is always tunneling." "What does he eat; the roots of plants?" asked Jumper the Hare. Old Mother Nature shook her head. "A lot of people think that," said she, "and often Miner is charged with destroying growing crops, eating seed corn, etc. That is because his tunnels are found running along the rows of plants. The fact is Miner has simply been hunting for grubs and worms around the roots of those plants. He has n't touched the plants at all. I suspect that Danny Meadow Mouse or one of his cousins could explain who ate the seed corn and the young plants. They are rather fond of using Miner's tunnels when he is n't about." [179] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children Danny hung his head and looked guilty, but didn't say anything. "The only harm Miner does is sometimes to tunnel so close to garden plants that he lets air in around the tender roots and they dry out," continued Old Mother Nature. "His food consists almost wholly of worms, grubs and insects, and he has to have a great many to keep him alive. That is why he is so active. Those tunnels of his which seem to be without any plan are made in his search for food. He is es- pecially fond of Angleworms. "As a matter of fact, he is a useful little fellow. The only time he becomes a nuisance to man is when he makes his little ridges across smooth lawns. Even then he pays for the trouble by destroying the grubs in the grass roots, grubs that in their turn would destroy the grass. When you see his ridges you may know that his food is close to the surface. When in dry or cold weather the worms go deep in the ground. Miner follows and then there is no trace of his tunnels on the surface. "Night and day are all the same to him. He works and sleeps when he chooses. In winter he tunnels below the frost line. You all noticed how dense his fur is. That is so the sand cannot work down in it. His home is a snug nest of grass or leaves in a Uttle chamber under the ground from [180] Four Busy Little Miners which several tunnels offer easy means of escape in ease of sudden danger." "Has Miner any near relatives?" asked Peter Rabbit. "Several," repUed Old Mother Nature. "All are much alike in habits. One who lives a little farther north is called Brewer's Mole or the Hairy- tailed Mole. His tail is a little longer than Miner's and is covered with fine hair. The largest and handsomest member of the famUy is the Oregon Mole of the Northwest. His coat is very dark and his fur extremely fine. His ways are much the same as those of Miner whom you have just met, excepting that when he is tunneling deep in the ground he pushes the earth to the surface after the manner of Grubby Gopher, and his mounds become a nuisance to farmers. When he is tunnel- ing just under the surface he makes ridges exactly like these of his eastern cousin. "But the oddest member of the Mole family is the Star-nosed Mole. He looks much like Miner with the exception of his nose and tail. His nose has a fringe of little fleshy points, twenty-two of them, like a many-pointed star. From this he gets his name. His tail is a little longer than Miner's and is hairy. During the late fall and winter this becomes much enlarged. "This funny little fellow with the star-like nose [181] The Burgess Animal Book for Children is especially fond of moist places, swamps, damp meadows, and the banks of streams. He is not at all afraid of the water and is a good swimmer. Sometimes he may be seen swimming under the ice in winter. He is seldom found where the earth is dry. For that matter, none of the family are found in those sections where there are long, dry periods and the earth becomes baked and hard. "The fur of Miner and his cousins will lay in either direction, which keeps it smooth no matter whether the wearer is going forward or backward. Otherwise it would be badly mussed up most of the time. Altogether these little underground workers are most interesting little people when you know them. But that is something few people have a chance to do. "Now just remember that the Shrews and the Moles belong to the order of Insectivora, mean- ing eaters of insects, and are the only two families in that order. And don't despise either of them, for they do a great deal of good in the Great World, more than some right here whom I might name, but will not. School is dismissed." [182 BILLY MINK. He is equally at home on land or in the water. SHADOW THE WEASEL. In his winter coat of white he is called the Ermine CHAPTER XXI FLITTER THE BAT AND HIS FAMILY In the dusk of early evening, as Peter Rabbit sat trying to make up his mind whether to spend that night at home in the dear Old Briar-patch with timid little Mrs. Peter or go over to the Green Forest in search of adventure, a very fine, squeaky voice which came right out of the air above him startled him for a moment. "Better stay at home, Peter Rabbit. Better stay at home to-night," said the thin, squeaky voice. "Hello, Flitter!" exclaimed Peter, as he stared up at a little dark form darting this way, twisting that way, now up, now down, almost brushing Peter's head and then flying so high he could hardly be seen. "Why should I stay at home.?" "Because I saw Old Man Coyote sneaking along the edge of the Green Forest, Reddy Fox is hunt- ing on the Green Meadows, and Hooty the Owl is [183] The Burgess Animal Book for Children on watch in the Old Orchard," replied Flitter the Red Bat. "Of course it is no business of mine what you do, Peter Rabbit, but were I in your place I certainly would stay at home. Gracious ! I 'm glad I can go where I please when I please. You ought to fly, Peter. You ought to fly. There is nothing like it." "I wish I could," sighed Peter. "Well, don't say I did n't warn you," squeaked Flitter, and darted away in the direction of Farmer Brown's house. Peter wisely decided that the dear Old Briar-patch was the best place for him that night, so he remained at home, to the joy of timid little Mrs. Peter, and spent the night eating, dozing and wondering how it would seem to be able to fly like Flitter the Bat. Flitter was still in his mind when he started for school the next morning, and by the time he got there he was bubbling over with curiosity and questions. He could hardly wait for school to be called to order. Old Mother Nature noticed how fidgety he was. "What have you on your mind, Peter?" she asked. "Did n't you tell us that the Shrew family and the Mole family are the only families in this country in the order of insect-eaters?" asked Peter. [184] Flitter the Bat and His Family "I certainly did," was the prompt reply. "Doesn't Flitter the Bat live on insects?" asked Peter. Old Mother Nature nodded. "He does," said she. "In fact he lives altogether on insects." "Then why is n't he a member of that order?" demanded Peter. Old Mother Nature smiled, for she was pleased that Peter had thought of this. "That question does you credit, Peter," said she. "The reason is that he and his relatives are so very different from other animals that they iave been placed in an order of their own. It is called the Chi- rop-ter-a, which means wing-handed. How many of you know Flitter the Bat?" "I 've often seen him," declared Jumper the Hare. "So have I," said Chatterer the Red Squirrel. Each of the others said the same thing. There was n't one who had n't watched and envied Flitter darting about in the air just at dusk of early evening or as the Black Shadows were steal- ing away in the early morning. Old Mother Nature smiled. "Seeing him isn't knowing him," said she. "Who is there who knows anything about him and his ways save that he flies at night and catches insects in the air?" [185] The Burgess Animal Book for Children She waited a minute or two, but no one spoke. The fact is there was not one who really knew anything about Flitter. "It is one of the strange things of life," said she, "that people often know nothing about the neighbors whom they see every day. But in this case it is not to be wondered at. I suspect none of you has seen Flitter, ex- cepting in the air, and then he moves so rapidly that there is no chance to get a good look at him. I think this is just the time and place for you to really make the acquaintance of Flitter the Red Bat." She stepped over to a bush and parted the leaves. Hanging from a twig was what appeared at first glance to be a rumpled, reddish-brown dead leaf. She touched it lightly. At once it came to life, stirring uneasily. A thin, squeaky voice peevishly demanded to know what was wanted. "You have some callers, a few of your friends who want to get really acquainted with you. Suppose you wake up for a few minutes," ex- plained Old Mother Nature pleasantly. Flitter, for that is just who it was, yawned once or twice sleepily, shook himself, then grinned down at the wondering faces of his friends crowded about just under him. "Hello, folks," said he in that thin, squeaky voice of his. [186] Flitter the Bat and His Family The sunlight fell full on him, but he seemed not to mind it in the least. In fact, he appeared to enjoy its warmth. He was hanging by his toes, head down, his wings folded. He was about four inches long, and his body was much like that of a Mouse. His fur was fine and thick, a beautiful orange-red. For his size his ears were large. Instead of the long head and sharp nose of the Mouse family, Flitter had a rather round head and blunt nose. Almost at once Peter Rabbit made a discovery. It was that Flitter possessed a pair of bright, little, snapping eyes and did n't seem in the least bothered by the bright light. "Where did that saying 'blind as a Bat' ever come from?" demanded Peter. Old Mother Nature laughed. "Goodness knows; I don't," said she. "There is nothing blind about Flitter. He sleeps through the day and does his hunting in the dusk of evening or early morning, but if he is disturbed and has to fly during the day, he has no trouble in seeing. Flitter, stretch out one of your wings so that everybody can see it." Obediently Flitter stretched out one of his wings. Everybody gasped, for it was the first time any of them ever had seen one of those wings near enough to know just what it was like. Flit- ter's arm was long, especially from his elbow to [187] The Burgess Animal Book for Children his hand. But the surprising thing was the length of his three fingers. Each finger appeared to be about as long as the whole arm. From his shoulder a thin, rubbery skin was stretched to the ends of the long fingers, then across to the ankle of his hind foot on that side, and from therp across to the tip of his tail. A little short thumb with a long, curved claw stuck up free from the edge of the wing. "Now you can see just why he is called wing- handed," explained Old Mother Nature, as Flitter folded the wing. In a minute he began to clean it. Everybody laughed, for it was funny to watch him. He would take the skin of the wing in his mouth and pull and stretch it as if it were rubber. He washed it with his tiny tongue. Then he washed his fur. You see. Flitter is very neat. With the little claw of his thumb he scratched his head and combed his hair. All the time he remained hanging head down, clinging to the twig with his toes. "Where is Mrs. Flitter?" asked Old Mother Nature. "Don't know," replied Flitter, beginning on the other wing. " She 's quite equal to looking after herself, so I don't worry about her." "Nor about your babies. Flitter, I 'm ashamed of you. You are a poor kind of a father," de- [188] Flitter the Bat and His Family clared Old Mother Nature severely. "If you don't know where to find your family, I '11 show you." She stepped over to the very next tree, parted the leaves, and there, sure enough, hung Mrs. Flitter fast asleep. And clinging to her were three of the funniest babies in all the Great World [ All were asleep, and Old Mother Nature did n't awaken them. As for Flitter, he seemed to take not the slightest interest in his family, but went right on with his toilet. "Flitter the Red Bat is one of the best known of the whole family in this country," said Old Mother Nature, as they left Flitter to resume his nap. He is found from the East to the Far West, from ocean to ocean. Like the birds, he migrates when cold weather comes, returning in the early summer. Although, like all Bats, he sleeps all day as a rule, he does n't mind the sunlight, as you have just seen for yourselves. Sometimes on dull, dark days he does n't wait for evening, but flies in the afternoon. Usually he is the first of the Bat family to appear in the evening, often coming out while it is still light enough to show the color of his red coat. No other member of his family has a coat of this color. "Some people call him the Tree Bat. After seeing him hanging over there I think you can [189] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children guess why. He rarely goes to a cave for his day- time sleep, as most of his relatives do, but hangs by his toes from a twig of a tree or bush, fre- quently not far from the ground, just as he is right now. "As all of you who have watched him know. Flitter is a swift flier. This is because his wings are long and narrow. They are made for speed. I want you to know that the Bats are among the most wonderful of all my little people. Few if any birds can equal them in the air because of their wonderful ability to twist and turn. They are masters of the art of flying. Moreover, they make no sound with their wings, something which only the Owls among birds can boast of. "You all saw the three babies clinging to Mrs. Flitter. Most Bats have but two babies at a time, occasionally only one, but the Red Bat and his larger cousin, the Hoary Bat, have three or four. Mrs. Flitter carries her babies about with her until they are quite big. When they are too large to be carried she leaves them hanging in a tree while she hunts for her meals. "Flitter has many cousins. One of these is the Little Brown Bat, one of the smallest members of the family and found all over the country. He is brown all over. He is sometimes called the Cave Bat, because whenever a cave is to be [190] THE BLACK-FOOTED FERRET. Yap Yap the Prairie Dog fears no one more than this relative of Shadow the Weasel. Flitter the Bat and His Family found he sleeps there. Sometimes great numbers of these little Bats are found crowded together in a big cave. When there is no cave handy, a barn or hollow tree is used. Often he will creep behind the closed blinds of a house to spend the day. " Very like this little fellow in color is his cousin the Big Brown Bat, called the House Bat and the Carolina Bat. He is especially fond of the homes of men. He is a little bigger than the Red Bat. While the latter is one of the first Bats to appear in the evening, the former is one of the last, com- ing out only when it is quite dark. He also is found all over the country. "The Silvery Bat is of nearly the same size and in many places is more common than any of its cousins. The fur is dark brown or black with white tips, especially in the young. From this it gets its name. One of the largest and hand- somest of the Bat cousins, and one of the rarest, is the Hoary Bat. His fur is a mixture of dark and light brown tipped with white. He is very handsome. His wings are very long and narrow, and he is one of the most wonderful of all fliers. He is a lover of the Green Forest and does his hunting high above the tree-tops, making his appearance late in the evening. Like the Red Bat he spends the hours of daylight hanging in a tree. [191] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children "Down in the Southeast is a member of the family with ears so big that he is called the Big- eared Bat. He is a little chap, smaller than the Little Brown Bat, and his ears are half as long as his head and body together. What do you think of that? For his size he has the biggest ears of any animal in all this great country. A close relative in the Southwest is the Big-eared Desert Bat. "All members of the Bat family are great drinkers and usually the first thing they do when they start out at dusk is to seek water. All live wholly on insects, and for this reason they are among the very best friends of man. They eat great numbers of Mosquitoes. They do no harm whatever, which is more than can be said for some of the rest of you little folks. Now who shall we learn about next?" [192] CHAPTER XXII AN INDEPENDENT FAMILY Just as Old Mother Nature asked who they should learn about next, Happy Jack Squirrel spied some one coming down the Lone Little Path. "See who's coming!" cried Happy Jack. Everybody turned to look down the Lone Little Path. There, ambling along in the most matter- of-fact and unconcerned way imaginable, came a certain small person who was dressed wholly in black and white. "Hello, Jimmy Skunk," cried Chatterer the Red Squirrel. "What are you doing over here in the Green Forest?" Jimmy Skunk looked up and grinned. It was a slow, good-natured grin. "Hello, everybody," said he, "I thought I would just amble over here and see your school. I suppose all you fellows are getting so wise that pretty soon you will think you know all there is to know. Have any of you seen any fat Beetles around here?" Just then Jimmy noticed Old Mother Nature [193] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children and hastened to bow his head in a funny way. "Please excuse me, Mother Nature," he said, "I thought school was over. I don't want to inter- rupt." Old Mother Nature smiled. The fact is. Old Mother Nature is rather fond of Jimmy Skunk. "You aren't interrupting," said she. "The fact is, we had just ended the lesson about Flitter the Bat and his relatives, and were trying to decide who to study about next. I think you came along at just the right time. You belong to a large and rather important order, one that all these little folks here ought to know about. How many cousins have you, Jimmy.?" Jimmy Skunk looked a little surprised at the question. He scratched his head thoughtfully. "Let me see," said he, "I have several close cousins in the Skunk branch of the family, but I presume you want to know who my cousins are outside of the Skunk branch. They are Shadow the Weasel, Billy Mink and Little Joe Otter. These are the only ones I can think of now." "How about Digger the Badger?" asked Old Mother Nature. A look of surprise swept over Jimmy Skunk's face. "Digger the Badger!" he exclaimed. "Digger the Badger is no cousin of mine!" "Tut, tut, tut!" chided Old Mother Nature. [194] An Independent Family "Tut, tut, tut, Jimmy Skunk! It is high time you came to school. Digger the Badger is just as much a cousin of yours as is Shadow the Weasel. You are members of the same order and it is a rather large order. It is called the Car-niv-o-ra, which means 'flesh-eating.' Ypu are a member of the Marten or Weasel family, and that family is called the 'Mus-tel-i-dae.' Digger the Badger is also a member of that family. That means that you two are cousins. You and Digger and Glutton the Wolverine belong to the stout-bodied branch of the family. Billy Mink, Little Joe Otter, Shadow the Weasel, Pekan the Fisher and Spite the Marten belong to its slim-bodied branch. But all are members of the same family despite the difference in looks, and thus, of course, are cousins. Seeing that you are here, Jimmy, I think we will find out just how much these little folks know about you. "Peter Rabbit, tell us what you know about Jimmy Skunk." "I know one thing about hini," declared Peter, " and that 's that he is the most . independent fellow in the world. He is n't afraid of anybody. I saw Buster Bear actually step out of his way the other day." Jimmy Skunk grirmed. "Buster always treats me very politely," said Jimmy. [195] The Burgess Animal Book for Children "I have noticed that everybody does, even Farmer Brown's boy." spoke up Happy Jack Squirrel. "It is easy enough to be independent when everybody is afraid of you," sputtered Chatterer the Red Squirrel. "Just why is everybody afraid of Jimmy Skunk?" asked Old Mother Nature. "They are afraid of that little scent gun he carries," spoke up Peter Rabbit; "I wish I had one just like it." Old Mother Nature shook her head. "It would n't do, Peter, to trust you with a gun like Jimmy Skunk's," said she. "You are altogether too heedless and careless. If you had a scent gun like Jimmy's, I am afraid there would be trouble in the Green Forest and on the Green Meadow all the time. I suspect that you would drive everybody else away. Jimmy is never heedless or careless. He never uses that little scent gun unless he is in real danger or thinks he is. Usually he is pretty sure that he is before he uses it. I '11 venture to say that not one of you has seen Jimmy use that little scent gun." Peter looked at Jumper the Hare. Jumper looked at Chatterer. Chatterer looked at Happy Jack. Happy Jack looked at Danny Meadow Mouse. Danny looked at Striped Chipmunk. [196] An Independent Family Striped looked at Johnny Chuck. Johnny looked at Whitefoot the Wood Mouse. Then all looked at Old Mother Nature and shook their heads. "I thought as much," said she. "Jimmy is wonderfully well armed, but for defense only. He never makes the mistake of mis-using that little scent gun. But everybody knows he has it, so nobody interferes with him. Now, Peter, what more do you know about Jimmy?" "He 's lazy," replied Peter. "I 'm not lazy," retorted Jimmy Skunk. "I 'm no more lazy than you are. You call me lazy just because I don't hurry. I don't have to hurry, and I never can see any good in hurrying when one does n't have to." "That will do," interposed Old Mother Nature. " Go on, Peter, with what you know about Jimmy." "He is good-natiu*ed," said Peter, and grinned at Jimmy. Jimmy grinned back. "Thank you, Peter," said he. "He is one of the best-natured people I know," continued Peter. "I guess it is ^ lucky thing for the rest of us that he is. I have noticed that fat people are usually good-natured, and Jimmy is nearly always fat. In fact, I don't think I have seen him what you would call really thin excepting very early in the spring. He eats Beetles and [197] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children grubs and Grasshoppers and Crickets and insects of all sorts. I am told that he steals eggs when he can find them." "Yes, and he catches members of my family when he can," spoke up Danny Meadow Mouse. "I never feel safe with Jimmy Skunk very near." Jimmy didn't look at all put out. "I might as well confess that tender Mouse is rather to my liking," said he, "and I might add that I also enjoy a Frog now and then, or a Lizard or a fish." "Also you might mention that young birds don't come amiss when you can get them," spoke up Chatterer the Red Squirrel maliciously. Jimmy looked up at Chatterer. "That 's a case of the pot calling the kettle black," said he, and Chatterer made a face at him. But Chatterer said nothing more, for he knew that all the others knew that what Jimmy said was true: Chatterer had robbed many a nest of young birds. "Is that all you know about Jimmy?" asked Old Mother Nature of Peter. "I guess it is," replied Peter, "excepting that he lives in a hole in the ground, and I seldom see him out in winter. I rather think he sleeps all winter, the same as Johnny Chuck does." "You 've got another think coming, Peter," said Jimmy; "I sleep a lot during the winter, [198] /^mj CojiiJiit. ^i*rth GLUTTON THE WOLVERINE. He U the largest member of the Weasel family. PEKAN THE FISHER. One of the valuable fur-bearing animals. An Independent Family but I don't go into winter quarters until well after snow comes, and I don't sleep the way Johnny Chuck does. Sometimes I go out in winter and hunt around a little." "Do you dig your house?" asked Old Mother Nature. Jimmy shook his head. "Not when I can help myself," said he; "it is too much work. If I have to I do, but I would much rather use one of Johnny Chuck's old houses. His houses suit me first rate." "I want you all to look at Jimmy very closely," said Old Mother Nature. "You will notice that he is about the size of Black Pussy, the cat from Farmer Brown's, and that his coat is black with broad white stripes. But not all Skunks are marked alike. I dare say that no two of Jimmy's children would be exactly alike. I suspect that one or more might be all black, with perhaps a little bit of white on the tail. Notice that Jimmy's front feet have long, sharp claws. He uses these to dig out grubs and insects in the ground, and for pulling over sticks and stones in his search for beetles. Also notice that he places his feet on the ground very much as does Buster Bear. That big, bushy tail of his is for the purpose of warning folks. Jimmy never shoots that little scent gun without first giving warning. When [199] The Burgess Animal Book for Children that tail of his begins to go up in the air, wise people watch out. "A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that Jimmy Skunk and his family do a great deal of harm. The truth is, they dp a great deal of good to man. Once in a while they will make the mistake of stealing Chickens or eggs, but it is only once in a while. They make up for all they take in this way by the pests they destroy. Jimmy and Mrs. Skunk have a large family each year, usually from six to ten. Mrs. Skunk usually is living by herself when the babies are born, but when they are big enough to walk their father rejoins the family, and you may see them almost any pleasant evening starting out together to hunt for Grasshoppers, Beetles and other things. Often the whole family remains together the whole winter, not breaking up until spring. Jimmy is one of the neatest of all my little people and takes the best of care of his handsome coat. He is n't afraid of water and can swim if it is necessary. He does most of his hunting at night, sleeping during the day. He is one of the few little wild people who have n't been driven away by man, and often makes his home close to man's home. "Jimmy has own cousins in nearly all parts of this great country. Way down in the Southwest [200] An Independent Family is one called the Hog-nosed Skunk, one of the largest of the family. He gets his name because of the shape of his nose and the fact that he roots in the ground the same as a hog. He is also called the Badger Skunk because of the big claws on his front feet and the fact that he is a great digger. His fur is not so fine as that of Jimmy Skunk, but is rather coarse and harsh. He is even more of an insect eater than is Jimmy. "The smallest of Jimmy's own cousins is the Little Spotted Skunk. He is only about half as big as Jimmy, and his coat, instead of being striped with white like Jimmy's, is covered with irregular white lines and spots, making it appear very handsome. He lives in the southern half of the coimtry and in habits is much like Jimmy, but, he is much livelier. Occasionally he climbs low trees. Like Jimmy he eats almost anything he can find. And it goes without saying that, like Jimmy, he carries a little scent gun. By the way, Jimmy, what do you do when you are angry? Show us." Jimmy began to growl, a queer-sounding little growl, and at the same time to stamp the ground with his front feet. Old Mother Nature laughed. "When you see Jimmy do that," said she, "it is best to pretend you don't see him and keep out of his way." [201] The Burgess Animal Booh Jor Children "Hasn't Jimmy any enemies at all?" asked Peter Rabbit. "That depends on how hungry some folks get," replied Old Mother Nature. "Hooty the Owl does n't seem to mind Jimmy's little scent gun, but this is the only one I can think of who does n't. Some of the bigger animals might take him if they were starving, but even then I think they would think twice. Who knows where Digger the Badger is living?" "I do," replied Peter Rabbit. "He is living out on the Green Meadows over near the Old Pasture." "All right, Peter," replied Old Mother Nature, "suppose you run over and pay him a visit and to-morrow morning you can tell us about it." [202] CHAPTER XXIII DIGGER AND HIS COUSIN GLUTTON "Well, Peter," said Old Mother Nature, "did you visit Digger the Badger yesterday?" "Yes 'm," replied Peter, "I visited him, but I did n't find out much. He 's a regular old grouch. He is n't the least bit neighborly. It took me a long time to find him. He has more holes than anybody I ever knew, and I could n't tell which one is his home. When I did find him, he gave me a terrible scare. I did n't see him until I was right on top of him, and if I had n't jumped, and jumped quickly, I guess I would n't be here this morning. He was lying flat down in the grass and he was so very flat that I just did n't see him. When I told him that I wanted to know all about him and his ways, he replied that it was none of my business how he lived or what he did, and that was all I could get out of him. "I sat around awhile and watched him, but he did n't do much except take a sun bath. He [203] The Burgess Animal Book for Children certainly is a queer-looking fellow to be a member of the Weasel family. There 's nothing about him that looks like a Weasel, that I could see. Of course, he is n't as broad as he is long, but he looks almost that when he is lying flat down and that long hair of his is spread out on both sides. He really has a handsome coat when you come to look at it. It is silvery gray and silky looking. It seems to be parted right down the middle of his back. His tail is rather short, but stout and hairy. His head and face are really handsome. His cheeks, chin and a broad stripe from his nose right straight back over his head are white. On each cheek is a bar of black. The back part of each ear is black, and so are his feet. He has rather a sharp nose. Somehow when he is walking he makes me think of a little, flattened-out Bear with very short legs. And such claws as he has on his front feet ! I don't know any one with such big strong claws for his size. I guesis that must be because he is such a digger." "That 's a very good guess, Peter," said Old Mother Nature. "Has any one here ever seen him dig?" "I did once," replied Peter. "I happened to be over near where he lives when Farmer Brown's boy came along and surprised Digger some dis- tance from one of his holes. Digger did n't try [304] Digger and His Cousin Glutton to get to one of those holes ; he sjmply began to dig. My gracious, how the sand did fly! He was out of sight in the ground before Farmer Brown's boy could get to him. Johnny Chuck is pretty good at digging, but he simply is n't in the same class with Digger the Badger. No one is that I know of, unless it is Miner the Mole. I guess this is all I know about him, excepting that he is a great fighter. Once I saw him whip a dog almost twice his size. I never heard such hissing and snarling and growling. He would n't tell me anything about how he lives." "Very good, Peter, very good," replied Old Mother Nature; "that's as much as I expected you would be able to find out. Digger is a queer fellow. His home is on the great plains and in the flat, open country of the Middle West and Far West, where Gophers and Ground Squirrels and Prairie Dogs live. They furnish him with the greater part of his food. All of them are good diggers, but they don't stand any chance when he sets out to dig them out. " Digger spends most of his time under ground during daylight, seldom coming out except for a sun bath. But as soon as jolly, round, red Mr. Sun goes to bed for the night, Digger appears and travels about in search of a dinner. His legs are so short and he is so stout and heavy that he is [205] The Burgess Animal Book for Children slow and rather clumsy, but he makes up for that by his ability to dig. He does n't expect to catch any one on the surface, unless he happens to sur- prise a Meadow Mouse within jumping distance. He goes hunting for the holes of Ground Squirrels and other burrowers, and when he finds one promptly digs. He eats Grasshoppers, Beetles and small Snakes, as well as such small animals as he catches. It was well for you, Peter, that you jumped when you did, for I suspect that Digger would have enjoyed a Rabbit dinner. "Very little is known of Digger's family life, but he is a good husband. In winter he sleeps as Johnny Chuck does, coming out soon after the snow disappears in the spring. Of all my little people, none has greater courage. When he is cornered he will fight as long as there is a breath of life in him. His skin is very tough and he is further protected by his long hair. His teeth are sharp and strong and he can always give a good account of himself in a fight. He is afraid of no one of his own size. "Man hunts him for his fur, but man is very stupid in many things and this is an example. You see, Digger is worth a great deal more alive than dead, because of the great number of de- structive Rodents he kills. The only thing that can be brought against him is the number of [206] SPITE THE MARTEN. He is found only in tne great forests of the North. LITTLE JOE OTTER. A famous fisherman and swimmer. ' :.(;. Digger and His Cousin Glutton holes he digs. Mr. and Mrs. Digger have two to five babies late in the spring or early in the summer. They are born under ground in a nest of grass. As you may guess just by looking at Digger, he is very strong. If he once gets well into the ground, a strong man pulling on his tail cannot budge him. As Peter has pointed out, he is n't at all sociable. Mr. and Mrs. Digger are quite satisfied to live by themselves and be left alone. So he is rarely seen in daytime, but probably is out oftener than is supposed. Peter has told how he nearly stepped on Digger before seeing him; it is Digger's wise habit to lie perfectly still until he is sure he has been seen, so people often pass him without seeing him at all, or if they see him they take him for a stone. " While Digger the Badger is a lover of the open country and does n't like the Green Forest at all, he has a cousin who is found only in the Green Forest and usually very deep in the Green Forest at that. This is Glutton the Wolverine, the largest and ugliest member of the family. None of you have seen him, because he lives almost wholly in the great forests of the North. He has n't a single friend that I know of, but that does n't trouble him in the least. "Glutton has several names. He is called 'Carcajou' in the Far North, and out in the Far [207] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children West is often called ' Skunkbear. ' The latter name probably is given him because in shape and color he looks a good deal as though he might be half Skunk and half Bear. He is about three feet long with a tail six inches long, and is thickset and heavy. His legs are short and very stout. His hair, including that on the tail, is long and shaggy. It is blackish-brown, becoming grayish on the upper part of his head and cheeks. His feet are black. When he walks he puts his feet flat on the ground as a Bear does. "Being so short of leg and heavy of body, he is slow in his movements. But what he lacks in this respect he makes up in strength and cunning. You think Reddy Fox and Old Man Coyote are smart, but neither begins to be as smart as Glutton the Wolverine. He is a great traveler, and in the Far North where the greater part of the fur of the world is trapped, he is a pest to the trappers. He will follow a trapper all day long, keeping just out of sight. No matter how carefully a trapper hides a trap. Glutton will find it and steal the bait without getting caught. Sometimes he even tears up the traps and takes them oflf and hides them in the woods. If he comes on a trap in which some other animal has been caught, he will eat the animal. His strength is so great that often he will tear his way into the cabins of hunters [208] Digger and His Cousin Glutton while they are absent and then eat or destroy all their food. His appetite is tremendous, and it is because of this that he is called Glutton. What he cannot eat or take away, he covers with filth so that no other animal will touch it. He is of ugly disposition and is hated alike by the animals and by man. His fur is of considerable value, but he is hunted more for the purpose of getting rid of him than for his fur. Sometimes when caught in a trap he will pick it up and carry it for miles. "Mrs. Glutton has two or three babies in the spring. They live in a cave, but if a cave cannot be found, they use a hole in the ground which Mrs. Glutton digs. It is usually well hidden and seldom has been found by man. Glutton wiU eat any kind of flesh and seems not to care whether it be freshly killed or so old that it is decayed. The only way that hunters can protect their supplies is by covering them with great logs. Even then Glutton will often tear the logs apart to get at the supplies. Because of his great cunning, the Indians think he is possessed of an evil spirit. "I think this will do for torday. To-morrow we will take up another branch of the family, some members of which all of you know. I wonder if it would n't be a good plan to have Shadow the Weasel here." [209] The Burgess Animal Book for Children Such a look of dismay as swept over the faces of all those little people, with the exception of Jimmy Skunk and Prickly Porky! "If — if — if you please, I don't think I '11 come to-morrow morning," said Danny Meadow Mouse. "I — I — I think I shall be too busy at home and will have to miss that lesson," said Striped Chipmunk. Old Mother Nature smiled. "Don't worry, little folks," said she. "You ought to know that if I had Shadow here I would n't let him hurt one of you. But I am afraid if he were here you would pay no attention to me, so I promise you that Shadow will not be anywhere near." [210] CHAPTER XXIV SHADOW AND HIS FAMILY Every one was on hand when school opened the next morning, despite the fear that the mere mention of Shadow the Weasel had aroused in all save Jimmy Skunk and Prickly Porky. You see, all felt they must be there so that they might learn all they possibly could about one they so feared. It might help them to escape should they discover Shadow hunting them sometime. "Striped Chipmunk," said Old Mother Nature, "you know something about Shadow the Weasel; tell us what you know." "I know I hate him!" declared Striped Chip- munk, and all the others nodded their heads in agreement. "I don't know a single good thing about him," he continued, "but I know plenty of bad things. He is the one enemy I fear more than any other because he is the one who can go wherever I can. Any hole I can get into he can. I 've seen him just twice in my life, and I hope I may never see him again." [211] The Burgess Animal Book for Children "What did he look like?" asked Old Mother Nature. "Like a snake on legs," declared Striped Chip- munk. "Anyway, that is what he made me think of, because his body was so long and slim and he twisted and turned so easily. He was about as long as Chatterer the Red Squirrel but looked longer because of his slim body and long neck. He was brown above and white below. His front feet were white, and his hind feet rather whitish, but not clear white. His short, round tail was black at the end. Somehow his small head and sharp face made me think of a Snake. Ugh ! I don't like to think about him !" "I saw him once, and he was n't brown at all. Striped Chipmunk is all wrong, excepting about the end of his tail," interrupted Jumper the Hare. "He was all white, every bit of him but the end of his tail ; that was black." "Striped Chipmunk is quite right and so are you," declared Old Mother Nature. "Striped Chipmunk saw him in summer and you saw him in winter. He changes his coat according to season, just as you do yourself. Jumper. In winter he is trapped for his fur and he is n't called Weasel then at all, but Ermine." "Oh," said Jumper and looked as if he felt a wee bit foolish. [212] Shadow and His Family "What was he doing when you saw him?" asked Old Mother Nature, turning to Striped Chipmunk. "Hunting," replied Striped Chipmunk, and shivered. "He was hunting me. He had found my tracks where I had been gathering beechnuts, and he was following them with his nose just the way Bowser the Hound follows Reddy Fox. I nearly died of fright when I saw him." "You are lucky to be alive," declared Chatterer the Red Squirrel. "I know it," replied Striped Chipmimk and shivered again. "I know it. I guess I would n't be if Reddy Fox had n't happened along just then and frightened Shadow away. I 've had a kindlier feeling for Reddy Fox ever since." "I never ran harder in my life than the time I saw him," spoke up Jumper the Hare. "He was hunting me just the same way, running with his nose in the snow and following every twist and turn I had made. But for that black-tipped tail I would n't have seen him until too late." "Pooh!" exclaimed Jimmy Skunk. "The idea of a big feUow like you running from such a little fellow as my Cousin Shadow!" "I'm not ashamed of running," declared Jumper. "I may be ever so much bigger, but he is so quick I would n't stand the least chance in [213] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children the world. When I suspect Shadow is about, I go somewhere else, — the farther the better. If I could climb a tree like Chatterer, it would be different." "No, it wouldn't!" interrupted Chatterer. "No, it would n't. That fellow can climb almost as well as I can. The only thing that saved me from him once was the fact that I could make a long jump from one tree to another and he could n't. He had found a hole in a certain tree where I was living, and it was just luck that I was n't at home when he called. I was just returning when he popped out. I ran for my life." "He is the most awful fellow in all the Great World," declared Whitefoot the Wood Mouse. Jimmy Skunk chuckled right out. "A lot you know about the Great World," he said. "Why, you are farther from home now than you 've ever been in your life before, yet I could walk to it in a few minutes. How do you know Shadow is the most awful fellow in the Great World ?" "I just know, that 's all," retorted Whitefoot in a very positive though squeaky voice. "He hunts and kills just fpr the love of it, and no one, no matter how big he is, can do anything more awful than that. I have a lot of enemies. Some- times it seems as if almost every one of my neigh- bors is looking for a Mouse dinner. But all but [214] REDDY FOX. The familiar Red Fox who holds his own against man. THE GRAY FOX. In some places he is called the Tree Fox. Shadow and His Family Shadow the Weasel hunt me when they are hungry and need food. I can forgive them for that. Every one must eat to live. But Shadow hunts me even when his stomach is so full he cannot eat another mouthful. That fellow just loves to kill. He takes plea^ture in it. That is what makes him so awful." "Whitefoot is right," declared Old Mother Nature, and she spoke sadly. "If Shadow were as big as Buster Bear or Puma tlie Panther or even Tufty the Lynx, he would be the most ter- rible creature in all the Great World because of this awful desire to kill whicli fills him. He is hot-blooded, quick-tempered and fearless. Even when cornered by an enemy against whom he has no chance he will fight to the last gasp. I am Sorry to say that there is no kindness or gentleness in him towards any save his own family. Outside of that he has n't a friend in the world, not one." "Has n't he any enemies?" asked Peter Rabbit. " Oh, yes,' ' replied Old Mother Nature. ' ' Reddy Fox, Old Man Coyote, Hooty the Owl and various members of tlie Hawk family have to be watched for by him. But they do not worry him much. You see he moves so quicldy, dodging out of sight in a flash, that whoever catches him must be quick indeed. Then, too, he is almost always close to good cover. He delights in old stone [215] The Burgess Animal Book for Children walls, stone piles, brush-grown fences, piles of rubbish and barns and .^Id buildings, the places that Mice delight in. In such places there is always a hole to dart into in time of danger. He hunts whenever he feels like it, be it day or night, and often covers considerable ground, though nothing to compare with his big, brown, water- loving cousin, Billy Mink. It is because of his wonderful ability to disappear in an instant that he is called Shadow. "Shadow is known as the Common Weasel, Short-tailed Weasel, Brown Weasel, Bonaparte Weasel and Ermine, and is found all over the forested parts of the northern part of the country. A little farther south in the Eaat is a cousin very much like him called the New York Weasel. On the Great Plains of the West is a larger cousin with a longer tail called the Long-tailed Weasel, Large Ermine, or Yellow-bellied WeaSel. His smallest cousin is the Least Weasel. The latter is not much longer than a Mouse. In winter he is all white, even the tip of his tail. In summer he is a purer white underneath than his larger cousins. All of the Weasels are alike in habits. When running they bound over the ground much as Peter Rabbit does. "In that part of the West where Yap Yap the Prairie Dog lives is a relative called the Black- [216] Shadow and His Family footed Ferret who looks like a large Weasel. He is about the size of Billy Mink, but instead of the rich dark brown of Billy's coat his coat is a cream- yellow. His feet are black and so is the tip of his tail. His face is whitish with a dark band across the eyes. He is most frequently found in Prairie- dog towns and lives largely on Yap Yap and his friends. His ways are those of Shadow and his cousins. There is no one Yap Yap fears quite as much. "The one good thing Shadow the Weasel does is to kill Robber the Rat whenever they meet. Robber, as you know, is big and savage and always ready for a fight when cortiered. But all the fight goes out of him when Shadow appears. Perhaps it is because he knows how hopeless it is. When Shadow finds a barn overrun with Rats he will sometimes stay until he has killed or driven out the last one. Then perhaps he spoils it all by killing a dozen Chickens in a night. "It is a sad thing not to be able to speak well of any one, but Shadow the Weasel, like Robber the Rat, has by his ways made himself hated by all the little people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows and by man. There is not one to say a good word for him. Now to-morrow we will meet on the bank of the Smiling Pool instead of here." [217] CHAPTER XXV TWO FAMOUS SWIMMERS The bank of the Smiling Pool was a lovely place to hold school at that hour of the day, which you know was just after sun-up. Everybody who could get there was on hand, and there were several who had not been to school before. One of these was Grandfather Frog, who was fitting on his big, green, lily pad. Another was Jerry Muskrat, whose house was out in the Smiling Pool. Spotty the Turtle was also there, not to mention Longlegs the Heron. You see, they had n't come to school but the school had come to thenx, for that is where they live or spend most of their time. "Good morning, Jerry Muskrat," said Old Mother Nature pleasantly, as Jerry's brown head appeared in the Smiling Pool; "have you seen anything of Billy Mink or Little Joe Otter?" "Little Joe went down to the Big River last night," replied Jerry Muskrat. "I don't know when he is coming back, but I isvould n't be sur- [218] Two Famous Swimmers prised to see him any minute. Billy Mink was here last evening and said he Was going up the Laughing Brook fishing. He is likely to be back any time. One never can tell when that fellow will appear. He comes and goes continually. I don't believe he can keep still five minutes." "Who is that can't keep still five minutes?" demanded a new voice, and there was Billy Mink himself just climbing out on the Big Rock. "Jerry was speaking of you," replied Old Mother Nature. "This will be a good chance for you to show him that he is mistaken. I want you to stay here for a while and to stay right on the Big Rock. I may want to ask you a few questions." Just then Billy Mink dived into the Smiling Pool, and a second later his brown head popped out of the water and in his mouth was a fat fish. He scrambled back on the Big Rock and looked at Old Mother Nature a bit fearfully as he laid the fish down. "I — I did n't mean to disobey," he mumbled ; "I saw that fish and dived for him before I thought. I hope you will forgive me, Mother Nature. I won't do it again." "Acting before thinking gets people into trouble sometimes," replied Old Mother Nature. "How- ever, I will forgive you this time. The fact is, you have just shown your friends here something [219] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children I wanted them to see. Now, go ahead and eat that fish and be ready to answer questions." As Billy Mink sat there on the Big Rock every one had a good look at him. One glance would tell any one that he was a cousin of Shadow the Weasel. He was much larger than Shadow, but of the same general shape, being long and slender. His coat was a beautiful dark brown, darkest on the back. His chin was white. His tail was round, covered with fairly long hair which was so dark as to be almost black. His face was like that of Shadow the Weasel. His legs were rather short. As he sat eating that fish, his back was arched. Old Mother Nature waited until he had finished his feast. "Now then, Billy," said she, "I want you to answer a few questions. Which do you like best, night or day?" " It does n't make any particular difference to me," replied Billy; "I just sleep when I feel like it, whether it be night or day, and then when I wake up I can hunt. It all depends on how I feel." "When you go hunting, what do you hunt?" asked Old Mother Nature. Billy grinned. "Anything that promises a good meal," said he. "I'm not very particular. A fat Mouse, a tender young Rabbit, a Chipmunk, a Frog, Tadpoles, Chickens, eggs, birds, fish ; what- [220] Two Famous Svnmmers ever happens to be easiest to get suits me. I am rather fond of fish, and that 's one reason that I live along the Laughing Brook and around the Smiling Pool. But I like a change of fare, and so often I go hunting in the Green Forest. Some- times I go up to Farmer Brown's for a Chicken. In the spring I hunt for nests of birds on the ground. In winter, if Peter Rabbit should happen along here when I was hungry, I might be tempted to sample Peter." Billy snapped his bright eyes wickedly and Peter shivered. "If Jerry Muskrat were not my friend, I am afraid I might be tempted to sample him," con- tinued Billy Mink. "Pooh!" exclaimed Peter Rabbit. "You would n't dare tackle Jerry Muskrat." "Would n't I ?" replied Billy. "Just ask Jerry how he feels about it." One look at Jerry's face showed everybody that Jerry, big as he was, was afraid of Billy Mink. "How do you hunt when you are on land?" asked Old Mother Nature. "The way every good hunter should hunt, — with eyes, nose and ears," replied Billy. "There may be folks with better ears than I 've got, but I don't know who they are. I would n't swap noses with anybody. As for my eyes, well, they are plenty good enough for me." [ 221 ] The Burgess Animal Booh Jor Children "In other words, you hunt very much as does your cousin, Shadow the Weasel," said Old Mother Nature. Billy nodded. "I suppose I do," said he, "but there 's one thing he does which I don't do and that 's hunt just for the love of killing. Once in a while I may kill more than I can eat, but I don't mean to. I hunt for food, while he hunts just for the love of killing." " You all saw how Billy catches fish," said Old Mother Nature; "now, Billy, I want you to swim over to the farther bank and show us how you run." Billy obeyed. He slipped into the water, dived, swam under water for a distance, then swam with just his head out. When he reached the bank he climbed out and started along it. He went by a series of bounds, his back arched sharply between each leap. Then he disappeared before their very eyes, only to reappear as suddenly as he had gone. So quick were his movements that it was impossible for one of the little people watch- ing to keep their eyes on him. It seemed some- times as though he must have vanished into the air. Of course he did n't. He was simply show- ing them his wonderful ability to take advantage of every little stick, stone and bush. "Billy is a great traveler," ^aid Old Mother [222] THE ARCTIC FOX. His coat is all white in the winter months, Wr^i iifiiJfflir'r-'-fT" HIlE^^^^BI^^^I^^^Bfefe a^^e^M *'MkS wL [^^ i ,.:..,.■.,::■-. 'y'.f./> THE BLUE FOX. This is really a color phase of the Arctic Fox. Two Famous Svyimmers Nature. "He dearly loves to travel up and down the Laughing Brook, even for long distances. Wherever there is plenty of driftwood and rub- bish, Billy is quite at home, being so slender he can slip under all kinds of places and into all sorts of holes. Quick as he is on land, he is not so quick as his Cousin Shadow ; and good swimmer as he is, he is n't so good as his bigger cousin, Little Joe Otter. But being equally at home on land and in water, he has an advantage over his cousins. Billy is much hunted for his fur, and being hunted so much has made him very keen-witted. Mrs. Billy makes her home nest in a hole in the bank or under an old stump or under a pile of driftwood, and you may be sure it is well hidden. There the babies are born, and they stay with their mother all summer. Incidentally, Billy can climb readily. Billy is found all over this great country of ours. When he lives in the Far North his fur is finer and thicker than when he lives in the South. I wish Little Joe Otter were here. I hoped he would be." "Here he comes now," cried Jerry Muskrat. "I rather expected he would be back." Jerry pointed towards where the Laughing Brook left the Smiling Pool on its way to the Big River. A brown head was moving rapidly towards them. There was no mistaking that head. It could [223] The Burgess Animal Book for Children belong to no one but Little Joe Otter. Straight on to the Big Rock he came, and climbed up. He was big, being one of the largest members of his family. He was more than three feet long. But no one looking at him could mistake him for any one but a member of the Weasel family. His legs were short, very short for the length of his body. His tail was fairly long and broad. His coat was a rich brown all over, a little lighter underneath than on the back. "What's going on here?" asked Little Joe Otter, his eyes bright with interest. "We are holding a session of school here to- day," explained Old Mother Nature. "And we were just hoping that you would appear. Hold up one of your feet and spread the toes, Little Joe." Little Joe Otter obeyed, tho.ugh there was a funny, puzzled look on his face. "Whyee!" exclaimed Peter Rabbit. "His toes are webbed like those of Paddy the Beaver!" "Of course they're webbed,'' said Little Joe; "I never could swim the way I do if they were n't webbed." " Can you swim better than Paddy the Beaver ? " asked Peter. "I should say I can. If I could n't, I guess I would go hungry most of the time," replied Little Joe. [224] Two Famous Stoimmers "Why should you go hungry? Paddy does n't," retorted Peter. "Paddy does n't live on fish," replied Little Joe. " I do and that 's the difference. I can catch a fish in a tail-end race, and that 's going some." "You might show us how you can swim," suggested Old Mother Nature. Little Joe slipped into the water. The Smil- ing Pool was very still and the little people sitting on the bank could look right down and see nearly to the bottom. They saw Little Joe as he entered the water and then saw little ruore than a brown streak. A second later his head popped out on the other side of the Smiling Pool. "Phew, I'm glad I'm not a fish!" exclaimed Peter, and everybody laughed. "You may well be glad," said Old Mother Nature. "You wouldn't stand much chance with Little Joe around. Like Billy Mink, Little Joe is a great traveler, especially up and down the Laughing Brook and the Big River. Some- times he travels over land, but he is so heavy and his legs are so short that traveling on land is slow work. When he does cross from one stream or pond to another, he always picks out the smoothest going. Sometimes in winter he travels quite a bit. Then when he comes to a [225] The Burgess Animal Book for Children smooth hill, he slides down it on his stomach. By the way, Little Joe, have n't you a slippery slide somewhere around here?" Little Joe nodded. "I 've got one down the Laughing Brook where the bank is steep," said he. "Mrs. Otter and I and our children slide every day." "What do you mean by a slippery slide?" asked Happy Jack Squirrel, who was sitting in the Big Hickory-tree which grew oil the bank of the Smiling Pool. Old Mother Nature smiled. "Little Joe Otter and his family are quite as fond of play as any of my children," said she. "They get a lot of fun out of life. One of their ways of playing is to make a slippery slide where the bank is steep and the water deep. In winter it is made of snow, but in summer it is made of mud. There they slide down, splash into the water, then climb up the bank and do it all over again. In winter they make their slippery slide where the water does n't freeze, and they get just as much fun in winter as they do in summer." "I suppose that means that Little Joe does n't sleep in winter as Johnny Chuck does," said Peter. "I should say not," exclaimed Little Joe. "I like the winter, too. I have such a warm coat [326] Two Famous Swimmers that I never get cold. There are always places where the water does n't freeze. I can swim for long distances under ice and so I can always get plenty of food." "Do you eat anything but fish.?" asked Peter Rabbit. "Oh, sometimes/' replied Little Joe. "Once in a while I like a little fresh meat for a change, and sometimes when fish are scarce I eat Frogs, but I prefer fish, especially Salmon and Trout." "How many babies do you have at a time?" asked Happy Jack Squirrel. "Usually one to three," replied Little Joe, "and only one family a year. They are born in my comfortable house, which is a burrow in the bank. There Mrs. Otter makes a large, soft nest of leaves and grass. Now, if you don't mind, I think I will go on up the Laughing Brook. Mrs. Otter is waiting for me up there." Old Mother Nature told Little Joe to go ahead. As he disappeared, she sighed. "I 'm very fond of Little Joe Otter," said she, "and it distresses me greatly that he is hunted by man as he is. That fur coat of his is valuable, and ^an is for- ever hunting him for it. The Otters were once numerous all over this great country, but now they are very scarce, and I am afraid that the day is n't far away when there will be no Little Joe [227] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children Otter. I think this will do for to-day. There are two other members of the Weasel family and these, like Little Joe and Billy Mink, are con- tinually being hunted for their fur coats. I will tell you about them to-morrow." [228] CHAPTER XXVI SPITE THE MARTEN AND PEKAN THE FISHER "The two remaining members of the Weasel family none of you have ever seen," began Old Mother Nature, when she opened school at the old meeting place in the Green Forest the morn- ing after their visit to the Smiling Pool. "You have never seen them because they live in the deep forests of the Far North. But were you living up there, you would know them, and the dread of them would seldom be out of your mind. One is called Spite the Marten and the other Pekan the Fisher. "Spite the Marten is also called the Pine Mar- ten and the American Sable, and he is one of the handsomest members of the Weasel family. Shadow the Weasel can climb, but he spends most, of his time on the ground. Jimmy Skunk and Digger the Badger are not climbers at all. Little Joe Otter spends most of his time in the water. [229] The Burgess Animal Book for Children But Spite the Marten is a lover of the tree tops, aihd is quite as much at home there as Chatterer the Red Squirrel. "When he is moving about in the trees, he looks much like a very large Squirrel, while on the ground he might be mistaken for a young Fox. His coat is a rich, dark, yellowish-brown, becoming almost black on the tail and legs. His throat usually is yellow, though sometimes it is almost white. The sides of his face are grayish, and his good-sized ears are grayish-white on the inside. His tail is about half as long as his body and is covered with long hair, but is n't bushy like a Squirrel's. While his general shape is that of Shadow the Weasel, his body is much heavier jn proportion to his size. " Chatterer, you and your Cousin Happy Jack may well be thankful that Spite the Marten does n't live about here, for he is very fond of Squirrels and delights to hunt them. He can leap from tree to tree quite as easily as either of you, and the only possible means of escape for a Squirrel he is hunting is a hole too small for Spite to get into. No Squirrel is more graceful in the trees than is Spite. "But he by no means confines himself to the trees. He is quite at home on the ground, and there he moves with much of the quickness of [ 230 ] j^^*^^'""' v^efJei, ii-Mumt^iamau^i j^.. .^usiM^k HOWLER THE WOLF. The Timber or Gray Wolf, so long dreaded by man. OLD MAN COYOTE. The Praliie Wolf who U as clever as Reddy Fox. Spite the Marten and Pekan the Fisher Shadow the Weasel. He delights to hunt Rabbits and he covers great distances, being even more of a traveler than Billy Mink. He does n't kill for the love of killing, but merely for food. If he kills more than he can eat at a meal he buries it, and when he is hungry again he returns to it. Like all the other members of his family, he is a great hunter of Mice. Also he catches many birds, especially those birds which nest on the ground. Birds, eggs. Frogs, Toads, some insects and fish vary his bill of fare. But unlike his smaller cousins, he eats some other things be- sides flesh, including certain nuts, berries and honey. "He is n't in the least social with his own kind, but prefers to live alone and is always ready to fight if he meets another Marten. Being so great a traveler he has several dens. Mrs. Spite makes her nest of grass and moss in a hollow tree as a rule, occasionally in a hole in the ground. She has from one to five babies in the spring. Spite is not a good father, for he has nothing to do with his family. "As I told you in the beginning he is found only in the great forests of the North. The darker and deeper they are, the better it suits him. His own cousin, Pekan the Fisher, and Tufty the Lynx, are probably the only natural enemies he [231] The Burgess Animal Book for Children has much cause to fear. His one great enemy is man. His coat is one of the most highly prized of all furs and he is persistently hunted and trapped. In fact, his coat is one of the chief prizes of the fur trappers. "In this same deep, dark forest clear across the northern part of the country lives Pekan the Fisher, also called the Pennant Marten and Blackcat. He is larger and heavier than Spite the Marten and his coat is a brownish-black, light on the sides, and browner below. His nose, ears, feet and tail are black. He gets his name of Blackcat from his resemblance to a Cat with a bushy tail, though on the ground he looks more like a black Fox. Like his cousin. Spite the Marten, he lives in the pine and spruce forests and prefers to be near swamps. He is a splendid climber but spends quite as much time on the ground. However, he is even livelier in the trees than is Spite the Marten. Spite can catch a Squirrel in the tree tops, but Pekan can catch Spite, and often does. He is n't afraid of leaping to the ground from high up in a tree, and often when coming down a tree he comes down head- first. He is very fond of hunting the cousins of Jumper the Hare and is so tireless that he can run them down. He is very clever and, like his cousin. Glutton the Wolverine, makes no end of [232] Spite the Marten and Pekan the Fisher trouble for trappers by stealing the baits from their traps. "You all remember how frightened Prickly Porky was when I merely mentioned Pekan the Fisher. It was because Pekan is almost the only one Prickly Porky has reason to fear. If Pekan is hungry he does n't hesitate to dine on Porcupine. He has learned how to turn a Porcu- pine on his back, and, as you have already found out, the under part of the Porcupine is unpro- tected. "Just why Pekan should be called Fisher, I don't know. True, he eats fish when he can get them, but he is n't a water animal and does n't go fishing as do Billy Mink and Little Joe Otter. His food is much the same as that of Spite the Marten. He is especially fond of Rabbit and Hare. He is so strong and savage that he can kill a Fox and often does. Bobby Coon is a good fighter and much bigger and heavier than Pekan, but he is no match for Pekan. "Probably all of you have guessed that being a true Marten, Pekan's coat is highly prized by the fur trappers. He hates the presence of man and with good cause. "Now this ends the Weasel family, but that 's only one family of the order of Carnivora, or flesh eaters. There is one family you all know so [ 233 ] Ths Burgess Animal Booh for Children well that I think we will take that up next. It is the family to which Reddy Fox and Old Man Coyote belong, and it is called the Dog family. "To-morrow morning when you get here, I may have a surprise for you." [234] CHAPTER XXVII REDDY FOX JOINS THE SCHOOL When school was called to order the following morning not one was missing. You see, with the exception of Jimmy Skunk and Prickly Porky, there was not one in whose life Ileddy Fox did not have a most important part. Even Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel and Chatterer the Red Squirrel, tree folk though they were, had many times nar- rowly missed furnishing Reddy with a dinner. As for Johnny Chuck and Peter Rabbit and Jumper the Hare and Striped Chipmunk and Danny Meadow Mouse and Whitefoot the Wood Mouse, there were few hours of day or night when they did not have Reddy in mind, knowing that to forget him even for a few minutes might mean the end of them. Just imagine the feelings of these little people when, just as they had comfortably seated them- selves for the morning lesson, Reddy himself stepped out from behind a tree. Never before was a school so quickly broken up. In the wink- [235] The Burgess Animal Book for Children ing of an eye Old Mother Nature was alone, save for Reddy Fox, Jimmy Skunk, and in the trees Prickly Porky the Porcupine and Happy Jack and Chatterer. Reddy Fox looked as if he felt uncomfortable. "I did n't mean to break up your school," said he to Old Mother Nature. "J wouldn't have thought of coming if you had n't sent for me." Old Mother Nature smiled. "I didn't tell any one that I was going to send for you, Reddy," said she, "for I was afraid that if I did no one would come this morning. I promised them a surprise, but it is clear that no one guessed what that sur- prise was to be. Go over by that old stump near the Lone Little Path and sit there, Reddy." Then Old Mother Nature called each of the little people by name, commanding each to re- turn at once. She spoke sternly, very sternly indeed. One by one they appeared from all sorts of hiding places, glancing fearfully towards Reddy Fox, yet not daring to disobey Old Mother Nature. When at last all were crowded about her as closely as they could get. Old Mother Nature spoke and this time her voice was soft. "lam ashamed of you," said she. "Truly I am ashamed of you. How could you think that I would allow any harm to come to you? Reddy Fox is here because I sent for him, but he is going to sit [236] Reddy Fox Joins the School right where he is until I tell him he can go, and not one of you will be harmed by him. To begin with, I am going to tell you one or two facts about Reddy, and then I am going to find out just how much you have learned about him yourselves. "It may seem queer to you that Reddy Fox belongs to the same family as Bowser the Hound, but it is true. Both are members of the Dog family and thus are quite closely related. Howler the Wolf and Old Man Coyote are also members of the family, so all are cousins. Look closely at Reddy and you will see at once that he looks very much like a small Dog with a beautiful red coat, white waistcoat, black feet and bushy tail. Now, Peter, you probably know as much about Reddy as any one here. At least you should. Tell us what you have learned in your efforts to keep out of his clutches." Peter scratched a long ear thoughtfully and glanced sideways at Reddy Fox. "I certainly ought to know something about him," he began. "He was the very first person my mother warned me to watch for, because she said he was espe- cially fond of young Rabbits and was the sliest, smartest and most to be feared of all my enemies. Since then I have found out that she knew just what she was talking about." Johnny Chuck, Danny Meadow Mouse and [237] The Burgess Animal Book for Children Whitefoot the Wood Mouse nodded as if the; quite agreed. Then Peter continued, "Reddy live chiefly by hunting, and in his turn he is hunted so he needs to have sharp wits. When he is n' hunting me he is hunting Danny Meadow Mous or Whitefoot or Striped Chipmunk or Mrs. Grousi or Bob White, or is trying to steal one of Farme Brown's Chickens, or is catching Frogs along th edge of the Smiling Pool, or grasshoppers out ii the Green Meadows. So far as I can make out anything Reddy can catch furnishes him witl food. I guess he does n't eat anything but sucl things as these." "Your guess is wrong, Peter," spoke up Reddi Fox, who had been listening with a grin on hii crafty face. "I am rather fond of certain kindi of fruits. You did n't know that, did you, Peter ?' "No, I didn't," replied Peter; "I'm glad t( know it. I think it is dreadful to live entirely by killing others." "You might add," remarked Reddy, "that ] like a meal of fish occasionally, and eggs an always welcome. I am not particular what ] eat so long as I can get my stomach full." "Reddy Fox hunts with ears, eyes and nose,' continued Peter. "Many a time I 've watchec him listening for the squeak of Danny Meado\n Mouse or watching for the grass to move anc [ 238 ] TUFTY THE LYNX. This is the Canada Lynx, also called Lucivee. YOWLER THE BOB CAT. The Bay Lynx or common Wild Cat. Reddy Fox Joins the School show where Danny was hiding; and many a time he has found my scent with his wonderful nose and followed me just as Bowser the Hound follows him. I guess there is n't much going on that Reddy's eyes, ears and nose don't tell him. But it is Reddy's quick wits that the rest of us fear most. We never know what new trick he will try. Lots of enemies are easy to fool, but Reddy is n't one of them. Sometimes I think he knows more about me than I know about my- self. I guess it is just pure luck that he has n't caught me with some of those smart tricks of his. "Reddy hunts both day and night, but I think he prefers night. I guess it all depends on how hungry he is. More than once I 've seen him bringing home a Chicken, but I am told that he is smart enough not to steal Chickens near his home, but always to go some distance to get them. Also I 've been told that he is too clever to go to the same Chicken yard two nights in succession. So far as I know, he is n't afraid of any one except a hunter with a terrible gun. He does n't seem to mind being chased by Bowser the Hound at all." "I don't," spoke up Reddy; "I rather enjoy it. It gives me good exercise. Any time I can't fool Bowser by breaking my trail so he can't find it again, I deserve to be caught. I am not even so terribly afraid of a hunter with a gun. [239] The Burgess Animal Book for Children You see, usually I can guess what a hunter will do better than he can what I will do." Old Mother Nature nodded. "That sounds like boasting," said she, "but it isn't. Reddy Fox is one of the few animals who has succeeded in holding his own against man, and he has done it simply by using his wits. There is no other animal as large as Reddy Fox who has succeeded as he has in living close to the homes of men. It is simply because he has made the most of the senses I have given him. He has learned to use his eyes, ears and nose at all times and to under- stand and make the most of the information they bring him. Reddy has always been hunted by man, and it is this very thing which has so sharp- ened his wits. It is seldom that he is guilty of making the same mistake twice. All of you little people fear Reddy, and I suspect some of you hate him. But always remember that he never kills for the love of killing, and only when he must have food. There would be something sadly missing in the Green Forest and on the Green Meadows were there no Reddy Fox. Reddy, where do you and Mrs. Reddy make your home ? And how do you raise your babies .''" "This year our home is up in the Old Pasture," replied Reddy. "We have the nicest kind of a house dug in the ground underneath a big rock. [240] Reddy Fox Jains the School It has only one entrance, but this is because there is no need of any other. No one could possibly dig us out there. Last year our home was on the Green Meadows and there were three doorways to that. The year before we dug our house in a gravelly bank just within the edge of the Green Forest. The babies are born in a comfortable bedroom deep underground. Sometimes we have a storeroom in addition to the bedroom; there Mrs. Reddy and I can keep food when there is more than can be eaten at one ineal. When the babies are first born in the spring and Mrs. Reddy cannot leave them, I take food to her. When the youngsters are big enough to use their sharp little teeth, we take turns himtiiig food for them. Usually we hunt separately, but sometimes we hunt together. You know often two can do what one cannot. If Bowser the Hound happens to find the trail of Mrs. Reddy when there are babies at home, she leads him far away from our home. Then I join her, and take her place so that she can slip away and go back to the babies. Bowser never knows the difference. "Our children are well trained if I do say it. We teach them how to hunt, how to fool their enemies, and aU the tricks we have learned. No one has a better training than a young Fox." "Here is a conundrum for you little folks," [241] The Burgess Animal Book for Children said Old Mother Nature. "When is a Red Fox not a Red Fox ? " Everybody blinked. Most of them looked as if they thought Old Mother Nature must be joking. But suddenly Chatterer the Red Squirrel, whose wits are naturally quick, remembered how Old Mother Nature had told them that there were black Gray Squirrels. "When he is some other color," cried Chatterer. "That 's the answer," said Old Mother Nature. " Once in a while a pair of Red Foxes will have a baby who has n't a red hair on him. He will be all black, with perhaps just the tip of his tail white. Or his fur will be all black just tipped with white. Then he is called a Black Fox or Silver Fox. He is still a Red Fox, yet there is nothing red about him. Sometimes the fur is only partly marked with black and then he is called a Cross Fox. A great many people have supposed that the Black or Silver Fox and the Cross Fox were distinct kinds. They are not. They are simply Red Foxes with different coats. The fur of the Silver Fox is considered by man to be one of the choicest of all furs and tremendous prices are paid for it. This means, of course, that a young Fox whose coat is black will need to be very smart indeed if he would live to old age, for once he has been seen by man he will be hunted unceasingly." [2421 Reddy Fox Joins the School Reddy Fox had been listening intently and now Mother Nature noticed a worried look on his face. "What is it, Reddy?" said she. "You look anxious." "I am anxious," said he. "What you have just said has worried me. You see, one of my cubs at home is all black. Now that I have learned that his fur is so valuable, Mrs. Reddy and I will have to take special pains to teach him all we know." "I want you all to know that Reddy Fox and Mrs. Reddy mate for life," said Old Mother Nature. "Reddy is the best of fathers and the best of mates." "There 's one thing I do envy Reddy," spoke up Peter Rabbit, "and that is that big tail of his. It is a wonderful tail. I wish I had one like it." How everybody laughed as they tried to pic- ture Peter Rabbit with a big tail like that of Reddy Fox. " I am afraid you would n't get far if you had to carry that around," said Old Mother Nature. "Even Reddy finds it rather a burden in wet weather when it becomes heavy with water. That is one reason you do not find him abroad much when it is raining or in winter when the snow is soft and wet. Reddy Fox is at home all over the northern half of this country, and everywhere he is the same sly, clever fellow whom you all know so well. [243] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children "In the South and some parts of the East and West, Reddy has a cousin of about his own size whose coat is gray with red on the sides of his neck, ears and across his breast. The under part >f his body is reddish, his throat and the middle of his breast are white. He is called the Gray Fox. He prefers the Green Forest to the open country, for he is not nearly as smart as his Cousin Reddy. He is, if anything, a better runner, but his wits are slower and he cannot so well hold his own against man. Instead of making his home in a hole in the ground, he usually chooses a hollow tree-trunk or hollow log. The babies are born in a nest of leaves in the bottom of a hollow tree. In some parts of the West this Fox is called the Tree Fox, because often he climbs up in low trees. "The Gray Fox of the South is not the only cousin of Reddy's," continued Old Mother Nature. "In certain parts of the Great West, on the plains, lives one of the smallest of Reddy's cousins, called the Kit Fox or Swift. He is no larger than Black Pussy, Farmer Brown's Cat, and gets his name of Swift from his great speed in running. He is a prairie animal and lives in burrows in the ground as most prairie animals do. His back is of a grayish color, while his sides are yellowish- red. Beneath he is white. The upper side of his [344] Reddy Fox Joins th& School tail is yellowish-gray, below it is yellowish, and the tip is black. In general appearance he is more like the Gray Fox than Reddy. He lacks the quick wit of Reddy Fox and is easily trapped. "In the hot, dry regions of the Southwest, where the Kangaroo Rats and Pocket Mice live, is another cousin, closely related to the Kit Fox. This is called the Desert Fox. Like most of the little people who live on the desert, he is seldom seen by day. He is very swift of foot. He digs a burrow with several entrances and his food consists largely of Pocket Mice, Kangaroo Rats, Ground squirrels and such other small animals as are foimd in that part of the country. Like his cousin, the Kit Fox, he is not especially quick- witted. Neither the Kit Fox nor the Desert Fox are considered very valuable for their coats, and so are not hunted and trapped as much as are Reddy Fox and his two cousins of the Great North, the Arctic Fox and the Blue Fox. "The Arctic, or White Fox, lives in the Far North, in the land of snow and ice. He is a little fellow, bigger than the Kit Fox, but only about two thirds the size of Reddy Fox, and very beau- tiful. Way up in the Far North his entire coat is snowy white the year round. The fur is long, very thick and soft. His tail is very large and hand- some. When he lives a little farther south, he [245] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children changes his coat in the summer to one of a bluish- brown. But just as soon as winter approaches, he resumes his white coat. The young are born in a burrow in the ground, if the parents happen to be living far enough south for the ground to be free of snow. In the Far North, their home is a burrow in a snow bank, and there the babies are born. The white coats of the Arctic Foxes, who live in a world of white, are of great help to them when hunting, or when trying to escape from enemies. It is difficult to see them against their white surroundings. In summer their food consists very largely of ducks and other wild fowl which nest in great numbers in the Far North. In the winter they hunt for Lemmings, Arctic Hares and a cousin of Mrs. Grouse called the Ptarmigan, who lives up there. They pick the bones left by Polar Bears and Wolves. Getting a living in winter is not easy, and so the Arctic Fox is a great traveler. "The Blue Fox is really only a colored White Fox, just as the Black Fox is a black Red Fox, and his habits are, of course, just the same as the habits of the White Fox. There are some islands in the Far North, called the Pribilof Islands, and on them live many Blue Foxes. Both the White and the Blue Foxes are much hunted for their coats, which are considered very valuable by man. Cer- [246] PUMA THE PANTHER. This is the Mountain Lion or Cougar, next to the largest o( the Cat family in America. Reddy Fox Joins the School tainly they are very beautiful. While these cousins of Reddy's are clever hunters they do not begin to be as quick-witted as Reddy, and so are much more easily trapped. "Now I think this will do for Reddy Fox and his relatives. Reddy is going to stay right here with me, until the rest of you have had a chance to giet home. After that you will have to watch out for yourselves as usual. Just remember that Reddy has become the quick-witted person he is because he has been so much hunted. If you are as smart as Reddy, you will understand that the more he hunts you, the quicker-witted you also will become. To-morrow we will take up Reddy's big cousins, the Wolves." [247] CHAPTER XXVIII OLD MAN COYOTE AND HOWIiEK THE WOLF "Of course, you all know to what branch of the Dog family Old Man Coyote belongs," said Old Mother Nature, and looked expectantly at the circle of little folks gathered around her. No one answered. "Well, well, well !" exclaimed Old Mother Nature, "I am surprised. I am very much surprised. I supposed that all of you knew that Old Man Coyote is a member of the Wolf branch of the family." "Do you mean that he is really a true Wolf?" asked Striped Chipmunk timidly. "Of course," replied Old Mother Nature. "He is all WoK and nothing but Wolf. He is the Prairie Wolf, so called because he is a lover of the great open plains and not of the deep forests like his big cousin. Howler the Timber Wolf. Reddy Fox is smart, but sometimes I believe Old Man Coyote is smarter. You have got to [248] Old Man Coyote, and Howler the Wolf get up very early indeed to get ahead of Old Man Coyote. "Old Man Coyote varies in size from not so very much bigger than Reddy Fox to almost the size of his big cousin, Howler the Timber Wolf. Also he varies in color from a general brownish-gray to a yellowish-brown, being whitish underneath. His face is rather longer than that of Reddy Fox. He has a brushy tail, but it is not as thick as Reddy's. "In his habits. Old Man Coyote is much like Reddy, but being larger and stronger he is able to kill larger animals, and has won the hate of man by killing young Pigs, Lambs, newly born Calves and poultry. Because of this, he has been and is continually hunted and trapped. But like Reddy Fox the more he is hunted the smarter he becomes, and he is quite capable of taking care of himself. He is one of the swiftest of aU runners. Many people think him cowardly because he is always ready to run away at the least hint of danger. He is n't cowardly, however ; he is simply smart, — too smart to run any unnecessary risk. Old Man Coyote believes absolutely in safety first, a very wise rule for everybody. The result is that he is seldom led into the mistake of simply think- ing a thing is all right. He makes sure that it is all right. Because of this he is very hard to [249] The Burgess Animal Book for Children trap. No matter how hungry he may be, he will turn his back on a baited trap, even when the trap is so cunningly hidden that he cannot see it. "Old Man Coyote is a good father and hus- band and a good provider for his family. He and Mrs. Coyote have a large family every year, sometimes as many as ten babies. Their home is in the ground and is very similar to that of Reddy Fox. They eat almost everything eatable, including such animals and birds as they can catch, Frogs, Toads, Snakes and insects, dead bodies they may find, and even some fruits. Mr. and Mrs. Coyote often hunt together. Some- times, when the children are full-grown, they all hunt together. When they do this they can puU down Lightfoot the Deer. "Old Man Coyote has one of the strangest voices to be heard anywhere, and he delights to use it, especially at night. It is like many voices shouting together, and one who hears it for the first time cannot believe that all that sound comes from one throat, "His big cousin, Howler the Gray Wolf, — sometimes called Timber Wolf, — is found now only in the forests of the North and the mountains of the Great West. Once he roamed over the greater part of this great country. Howler is as [250] Old Man Coyote and Howler the Wolf keen-witted as, and perhaps keener-witted than, Reddy Fox or Old Man Coyote, and added to this he has great strength and courage. He is one of the most feared of all the people of the Green Forest. In summer when food is plentiful, Howler and Mrs. Wolf devote themselves to the bringing up of their family and are careful not to be over- bold. But when winter comes, Howler and his friends get together and hunt in packs. With their wonderful noses they can follow Lightfoot the Deer and run him down. They kill Sheep and young Cattle. The harder the winter the bolder they becorue, and they have been known to attack man himself. In the Far North they grow especially large, and because of the scarcity of food there in winter, they become exceedingly fierce. They can go an astonishingly long time without food and still retain their strength. But hunger makes them merciless. They will not attack each other, but if one in the pack becomes injured, the others will turn upon him, and kill and eat him at once. "Howler and Mrs. Wolf mate for life, and each is at all times loyal to the other. They are the best of parents, and the httle Wolves are care- fully trained in all that a Wolf should know. Always the hand of man has been against them, and this fact has developed their wits and cunning [ 251 ] The Burgess Animal Book for Children to a wonderful degree. Man in his effort to destroy them has used poison, cleverly hiding it in pieces of meat left where Howler and his friends could find them. Howler soon found out that there was something wrong with pieces of meat left about, and now it is seldom that any of his family come to harm in that way. He is equally cunning in discovering traps, even traps buried in one of his trails. Sometimes he will dig them up and spring them without being caught. " When Wolves hunt in packs they have a leader, usually the strongest or the smartest among them, and this leader they obey. In all the great forests there is no more dreadful sound than the howling of a pack of Wolves. There is something in it that strikes terror to the hearts of all who hear it. "The color of Howler's coat usually is brown- ish-gray and that is why he is called the Gray WoH; but sometimes it is almost black, and in the Far North it becomes snowy white. Howler is very closely related to the Dogs which men keep as pets. They are really first cousins. Few Dogs dare meet Howler in battle. "My!" exclaimed Peter Rabbit, "I am glad Howler does n't live around here." "You well may be," said Old Mother Nature. "He would make just about one bite of you, Peter." [252] Old Man Coyote and Howler the Wolf Peter shivered. "Are Old Man Coyote and Howler friends?" asked Peter, "I would n't call them exactly friends," replied Old Mother Nature. "Old Man Coyote takes pains to keep out of Howler's way, but he is clever enough to know that when Howler has made a good kill there may be some left after Howler has filled his own stomach. So when Howler is hunting in Old Man Coyote's neighbor- hood, the latter keeps an eye and ear open to what is going on. In the long-ago days, when Thunderfoot the Bison was lord of the prairies. Howler's family lived on the prairies as well as in the forests, but now Howler sticks pretty closely to the forests and mountains, leav- ing the prairies and brushy plains to Old Man Coyote. "All branches of the Dog family are alike in. one thing : they walk on their toes. They never put the whole foot down flat as does Buster Bear. And, as you have already discovered, all branches of the Dog family are very smart. They are intelligent. Hello, there is Black Pussy, the cat from Farmer Brown's, coming down the Lone Little Path ! I suspect it will be well for some of you smallest ones to get out of sight before she arrives. She does n't belong over here in the Green Forest, but she has a cousin who does, [253] The Burgess Animal Book for Children Yowler the Bob Cat. Shall I tell you about Yowler and his cousins to-morrow?" "We 'd love to have you !" cried Happy Jack, speaking for all. Then, as Black Pussy was drawing near, they separated and went their several ways. [254] THE JAGUAR. The largest and handsomest of the cats of America. CHAPTER XXIX YOWLER AND HIS COUSIN TUFTY Jumper the Hare arrived at school a little late and quite out of breath from hurrying. His big soft eyes were shining with excitement. "You look as though you had ha:d an adventure. Jumper," said Old Mother Nature. "I have," replied Jumper. "It is a wonder I am here at all ; I came so near furnishing Yowler the Bob Cat a breakfast that it makes me shiver just to think of it. I guess if I had n't been thinking about him, he would have caught me." "Tell us all about it," demanded Old Mother Nature. "Seeing Black Pussy over here yesterday, and knowing that to-day's lesson was to be about Yowler, I couldn't get cats out of my mind all day yesterday," began Jumper. "Black Pussy does n't worry me, but I must confess that if there is any one I fear, it is Yowler the Bob Cat. Just thinking about him made me nervous. The [255] The Burgess Animal Book for Children more I tried not to think about him, the more I did think about him, and the more I thought about him, the more nervous I got. Then just before dark, on the bank of the Laughing Brook, I found some tracks in the mud. Those tracks were ahnost round, and that fact was enough to tell me who had made them. They were Yowler's footprints, and they had n't been made very long. "Of course, seeing those footprints made me more nervous than ever, and every time I saw a leaf move I jumped inside. My heart felt as if it were up in my throat most of the time. I had a feeling that Yowler was n't far away. I hate that Cat ! I hate the way he hunts ! He goes Sneaking about, without making a sound, or else he lies in wait, ready to spring without warning on the first one who happens along. A fellow never knows where to watch out for Yowler. "I spent nearly all night sitting under a little hemlock tree with branches very close to the ground. I sat there because I did n't dare do anything else. As long as I stayed there I felt reasonably safe, because Yowler would have to find me, and to do that he would have to cross an open place where I could see him. I knew that if I went roaming about I might walk right into his clutches. "It was lucky I had sense enough to stay there. [256] Yowler and His Cousin Tufty Ycu know the moon was very bright last night. It made that open place in front of where I was hiding almost as light as day. Once I closed my eyes for just a minute. When I opened them, there was Yowler sneaking across that open place. Where he had come from, I don't know. He had n't made a sound. Not a leaf rustled under his big feet. Right in the middle of that open place, where the moonlight was brightest, he stopped to listen, and I simply held my breath." "Tell us how he looked," prompted Old Mother Nature. "He looked just like what he is, — a big Cat with a short tail," replied Jumper. "Just to look at him any one would know he was own cousin to Black Pussy. He had a round head, rather long legs, and was about twice as big as Black Pussy. His feet looked big, even for him. On the tips of his ears were a few long black hairs. His coat was yellowish to reddish-brown, with dark spots on it. His chin and throat were white, and underneath he was white spotted with black. There were spots all down his legs. He did n't have enough of a tail to call it a tail. It was whitish on the under side and had black stripes on the upper side, and all the time he kept twitch- ing it just the way Black Pussy twitches her tail when she is out hunting. All of a sudden he [257] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children opened his mouth and gave such a yell that it is a wonder I did n't jump out of my skin. It frightened me so that I could n't have moved if I had wanted to, which was a lucky thing for me. The instant he yelled he cocked his head on one side and listened. That yell must have wakened somebody and caused them to move, for Yowler turned suddenly Oiud crept swiftly and without a sound out of sight. A minute later I heard a jump, and then I heard a fluttering. I think he caught one of the Grouse family." "Yelling that way is one of Yowler's tricks," explained Old Mother Nature. "He does it for the same reason Hooty the Owl hoots. He hopes that it will startle some sleeper so that they will move. If they do, his keen ears are sure to hear it. Was that all of your adventure. Jumper?" " No," replied Jumper ; " I remained right where I was for the rest of the night. Just as daylight was beginning to steal through the Green Forest, I decided that it was safe to leave my hiding place and come over here. Half-way here I stopped for a few minutes in a thick clump of ferns. I was just about to start on again when I caught sight of something moving just back of an old stump. It was that foolish looking tail of Yowler's. Had he kept it still I would n't have seen him at all ; but he was twitching it back [258] Yowler and His Cousin Tufty and forth. He was crouched down close to the ground with all four feet drawn close together under him. There he crouched, and there I sat for the longest time. I did n't move, and he did n't move, save that foolish looking tail of his. I had begun to think that I would have to stay in that clump of ferns all day when suddenly Yowler sprang like a flash. There was a little squeak, and then I saw Yowler trot away with a Mouse in his mouth. I guess he must have seen that Mouse go in a hole and knew that if he waited long enough it would come out again. As soon as Yowler disappeared I hurried over here. That 's all." "That was a splendid account of Yowler and his way of hunting," said Old Mother Nature. "He does most of his hunting in just that way, sneak- ing about on the chance of surprising a Rabbit, Bird or Mouse, or else patiently watching and waiting beside a hole in which he knows some one has taken refuge. He hunts in the Green Forest exactly as Black Pussy, Farmer Brown's Cat, hunts Mice in the barn or Birds in the Old Orchard. In the spring Yowler destroys many eggs and young birds, not only those found in nests on the ground, but also those in nests in trees, for he is a splendid climber. "Ybwler is found in nearly all of the swampy, [259] The Burgess Animal Book for Children brushy and wooded parts of the whole country, excepting in the great forests of the Far North, where his cousin Tufty the Lynx lives. Yowler is himself a Lynx, the Bay Lynx. In some places he is called simply Wild Cat. In others he is called the Catamount. He is not so fond of the thick forests as he is of swamps, brush-grown hillsides, old pastures and places where there are great masses of briars. Rocky ledges where there are caves in which to hide and plenty of brush also suit him. He is a coward, but when cornered will fight, though he will run from a little Dog half his size and take to a tree. In the South he is quite common and there often steals Chickens and Turkeys, even young Pigs. He prefers to hunt at night, but sometimes is seen in broad daylight. Mrs. Yowler's kittens are born in a cave or in a hollow tree. Despite the fact that he is an expert climber, Yowler spends most of his time on the ground and is one of the worst enemies of Rabbits, Mice, Squirrels and ground Birds. "In the great forests of the Far North lives Yowler's cousin. Tufty the Canada Lynx, also called Loup Cervier and Lucivee. He is nearly a third larger than Yowler. From the tip of each ear long tufts of black hair stand up. On each side of his face is a ruff of long hair. His tail is [260] Yowler and His Cousin Tufty even shorter than Yowler's, and the tip of it is always wholly black.' His general color is gray, mottled with brown. His face ruflf is white with black border. Yowler's feet are large, but Tufty's are immense for his size. This is be- cause Tufty lives where the snow lies deep for many months, and these big, broad feet enable him to travel about on the snow without break- ing through. He can travel with ease where Reddy Fox, not half his size and weight, would break through at every step. Tufty's ways are much like those of his cousin, Yowler, save that he is a dweller in the deep woods. Anything he can catch is food for Tufty, but his principal food is the Northern Hare. The color of his coat blends with the shadows so that he seems like a living shadow himself. In summer food is plentiful, and Tufty lives well, but in winter Tufty has hard work to get enough. Rarely does he know what a full stomach means then. Like Howler he can go a surprising length of time without food and still retain his strength. At that time of year he is a great traveler. He has to be, in order to live. "There is no fiercer looking animal in all the Green Forest than Tufty the Lynx, but despite this he is, like most Cats, cowardly. Only when cornered will he fight. He is possessed of a [261] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children lively curiosity, and often he will stealthily follow a hunter or trapper for miles. The fur of his coat is very long and handsome, and he is hunted and trapped for this. As he lives for the most part far from the homes of men, he does less dam- age to man than does his cousin, Yowler the Bob Cat. Tufty must depend wholly for his living onsthe little people of the Green Forest. Some- times he will attack a Fox. The pretty little spotted babies of Lightfoot the Deer are victims whenever he can find them. "The darker and deeper the Green Forest, the better Tufty likes it. He makes his den under great tangles of fallen trees or similar places. Mr. and Mrs. Tufty often hunt together, and in early winter the whole family often join in the hunt. "Yowler and Tufty are the only members of the Cat family now found in the eastern part of the country. Formerly, their big cousin. Puma the Panther, lived in the East, but he has been so hunted by man that now he is found only in the mountains of the Far West and in a few of the wildest places in the South- I will tell you about him to-morrow." [262] THE RING-TAILED OR CIVET CAT. a Bassaris. He is Deithei a Cat nor a Civet but CHAPTER XXX SOME BIG AND LITTLE CAT COUSINS "Puma the Panther," began Old Mother Na- ture, "is the largest member of the Cat family in this country, with the exception of one which is found only in the extreme Southwest. Puma is also called Mountain Lion, Cougar and Painter. You all know how Black Pussy looks. If Black Pussy could grow to be over eight feet long and be given a yellowish-brown coat, whitish under- neath, she would look very much like Puma the Panther. Unlike Yowler the Bob Cat and Tufty the Lynx, Puma has a long tail, — just such a round tail as Black Pussy has. Being so large. Puma is of great strength, and he has all the grace and quickness in movement of a true Cat. As I told you yesterday, there was a time when Puma lived in the East. In fact, he was once in nearly all parts of this great country where there were forests. But as the country became settled by man, Puma was driven out, and now his [263] The Burgess Animal Book for Children home is chiefly in the great mountains of the Far West. "Being so big, he must have much food. In- stead of depending for his living on small animals and birds, Puma hunts the large animals. He is so big and so strong that he can kill Lightfoot the Deer without trouble, and there is no one Lightfoot dreads more than Puma. He is espe- cially fond of Horse flesh, and in certain sections where herds of Horses are pastured, he has killed so many young Horses that he has won the undy- ing hate of man. "Big as he is, he is a coward and will run from a barking Dog. When desperate with hunger, he has been known to attack man, but such oc- casions have been very, very rare. The fact is, he fears man and will slink away at his approach. Like the true Cat that he is, he is wonderfully soft-footed and, despite his great size, moves silently. He makes his home among the ledges high up in the mountains. At night he goes forth to hunt. Once in a while he is seen hunting in daytime, but not often. Sometimes he may be seen basking in the sun, high up on the ledges. He is a good climber, like most Cats. He never shows himself boldly, but slinks about through the forest and among the rocks, the picture of stealth. This habit has won for him another [264] Some Big and Little Cat Cousins name, — that of Sneak Cat. Sometimes he sneaks up on his prey to within jumping distance. Again he Hes in wait beside a path which certain animals are in the habit of using. He is capable of leaping a long distance, and when he strikes his prey his great weight, added to the force of his spring, is almost certain to knock it down, even though it be much bigger than Puma himself. "Men hunt him with Dogs, for as I have already told you he will run from a barking Dog. Usually he does n't run far before taking to a tree. The hunters follow and shoot him there. Were it not that he can be hunted in this way with Dogs, he woidd have little to fear from man, for he is so keen of sight and hearing and can move so swiftly and silently, that it is rarely man can surprise him. Sometimes he will follow a man just as Tufty the Lynx does, but usually for the same reason, — curiosity. Despite the fact that he is a sneak and coward, he is so big and fierce-looking that he is feared by most men. Only those who reaUy know him do not fear him. "There is one other member of the Cat family in all this great land larger than Puma, and this is Jaguar, also called El Tigre. He is foimd only in a small part of the extreme Southwest, for he really belongs in the hot country to the [265] The Burgess Animal Book for Children south of this. Not only is he the largest, but he is the handsomest of all the Cat family. His coat is a beautiful deep yellow, covered with spots and rosettes of black. Beneath he is white with large black spots. He also has a fairly long tail. He is thick and heavy, and is not as long as Puma, but is stouter and heavier. He can kill Horses, Mules and Cattle with ease, but of course the principal part of his food consists of the wild animals about him. He is so savage in appear- ance that the mere sight of him always awakens fear. His method of hunting is much the same as that of the other members of the Cat family. Most of his hunting is done at night. While Puma the Panther sometimes screams. Jaguar roars, and it is a very terrifying sound. All the little people and most of the big ones within hear- ing shiver when they hear it. Jaguar's head is large, and he is tremendously strong in the jaws. Occa- sionally Jaguar is all black instead of being yellow and spotted. "In this same part of the great Southwest lives a smaller cousin named Ocelot, often called Tiger Cat. Ocelot is only a little bigger than Black Pussy, whom you all know, and in shape is very like her. He also has a lovely coat. It is yellow, not a deep, rich yellow like Jaguar's, but a light yellow, thickly covered with black [ 266 1 Some Big and Little Cat Cousins spots. On his cheeks and the back of his neck are black lines, and his tail is ringed with black. He likes best country where the brush is very thick and thorny, for there he can hunt in safety, with little fear of being hunted by man. Be- cause of his smaller size, he lives chiefly on small animals, birds and reptiles. He sometimes kills and eats big Snakes. When he happens to live near man, he robs the Hen roosts just as Yowler does. In all his ways he is like the other mem- bers of the Cat family. "A neighbor of his in that same country is the queerest looking member of the Cat family. He is called the Jaguarundi Cat or Eyra. Some- times he is dressed in dull gray and sometimes in rusty red. His body is shaped more like that of Little Joe Otter than of any one else, and he has short legs and a long tail. He is a little larger than Little Joe, and his head i^ rather small and somewhat flattened, not so round as the heads of most of the other members of the Cat family. He likes to be in the vicinity of water and is a good swimmer. Not very much is known by man about his habits, but he is a true Cat, and the habits of all Cats are much the same. [267] CHAPTER XXXI BOBBY COON AREIVES Old Mother Nature was just about to open school when a slight noise up the Lone Little Path drew all eyes in that direction. There, shuffling down the Lone Little Path, was a queer- looking fellow. No one needed more than one look at that funny, sharp, blacTc and white face of his to recognize him. " Bobby Coon ! " shouted Peter Rabbit. " Are you coming to join our school, Bobby?" Bobby shuffled along a little nearer, then sat up and blinked at them sleepily. No one needed to be told that Bobby had been out all night. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. " Hello, every- body," said he ; "I wish I felt as bright and lively as all of you look. I 'd like to join your school, but I 'm afraid if I did I would go to sleep right in the middle of the lesson. I ought to have been home an hour ago. So I guess I '11 have to be excused." [268] Bobby Coon Arrives Old Mother Nature pointed an accusing finger at Bobby Coon. " Bobby," said she, " You Ve been getting in mischief. Now own up ; you 've been steahng some of that sweet, milky corn from Farmer Brown's cornfield." Bobby Coon hung his head. "I — I — I don't think it was stealing," he mumbled. "That corn just grows, and I don't see why I should n't have my share of it. I help myself to other things, so why should n't I help myself to that?" "I '11 tell you why," replied Old Mother Nature. "Farmer Brown planted that corn and took care of it. If he had n't planted it, there would n't have been any corn there. That makes it his corn. If it grew wild, you would have a perfect right to it. As it is, you have n't any right to it at all. Now take my advice, Bobby, and keep away from that cornfield. If you don't, you will get in trouble. One of these fine nights Bowser the Hound will find you there and you will have to run for your life. Keep away from temptation." " But that corn is so good," sighed Bobby Coon, smacking his lips. " There is nothing I like better than sweet, milky corn, and if I don't get it from Farmer Brown's cornfield, I can't get it at all, for it does n't grow wild. He '11 never miss the little I take." Old Mother Nature shook her head and looked [269] The Burgess Animal Book for Children very grave. " Bobby," said she, " that is no ex- cuse at all. Mark what I say : If you keep on you certainly will get in trouble. If you would be satisfied to take just an ear or two, I don't believe Farmer Brown would care, but you know very well that you spoil many times what you eat. You sample one ear, then think that probably the next ear will be better and sweeter and you try that. By the time you get through you have spoiled a lot, and eaten only a little. I think I '11 punish you a little myself by keeping you here a while. If you think you can't keep awake, just go over and sit down there by Prickly Porky; he '11 keep you awake." "I — I think I can keep awake," stammered Bobby and opened his eyes very wide as if he were trying to stretch his eyelids so as to make them stay open. " I '11 help you by asking you a few questions," replied Old Mother Nature. "Who is it that people sometimes call you the little cousin of?" Bobby grinned. " Buster Bear," said he. "That's right," replied Old Mother Nature. " Of course, being a Raccoon, you are not a Bear, but you are related to the Bear family, I want you all to notice Bobby's footprints over yonder. You will see that the print of his hind foot shows the whole foot, heels and toes, and is a lot like [270] BOBBY COON. The Raccoon has the neat habit of washing his food. itMiijhuiJk UNC BILLY POSSUM. The Opossum is the only Marsupial in North America. Bobby Coon Arrives Buster Bear's foot print on a small scale. Bobby shuffles along in much the same way that Buster walks. No one ever mistakes Bobby Coon for any one else. There is no danger that any one ever will as long as he carries that big, bushy tail with its broad black and gray rings. There is only one other in all this great country with a tail so marked, and that is a relative of Bobby's of whom I will tell you later. And there is no other face like Bobby's with its black cheeks. You will notice that Bobby is rather small around the shoulders, but is big and heavy around the hips. That gives him a clumsy look, but he is anything but clumsy. Despite the fact that his legs are not very long Bobby is a very good runner. However, he does n't do any running unless he has to. Bobby, where were you before you went over to Farmer Brown's cornfield? " Once more Bobby hung his head. It was quite clear that Bobby did n't want to answer that question. But Old Mother Nature insisted, and finally Bobby blurted it out. "I was up to Farmer Brown's hen house," said he.- " What for ? " asked Old Mother Nature. " Oh, just to look around," replied Bobby. " To look around for what ? " insisted Old Mother Nature. " Well," said Bobby, " I thought one of those [271] The Burgess Animal Book for Children Hens up there might have dropped an egg that she did n't really care about." "Bobby," said Old Mother Nature sternly, " why don't you own up that you went over there to try to steal eggs ? Or did you think you might catch a tender young Chicken ? Where were you night before last ? " "Over at the Laughing Brook and the Smiling Pool," replied Bobby promptly, evidently glad the subject had been changed. " Well, you did n't find sweet corn or eggs or Chickens over there, did you ? " said Old Mother Nature. " No, but I caught three of the sweetest tasting little fish in a little pool in the Laughing Brook, and I got some of the tenderest Clams I 've ever eaten," replied Bobby, smacking his lips. "I raked them out of the mud and opened them. Down at the Smiling Pool I had a lot of fun catch- ing young Frogs. I certainly do like Frogs. It is great sport to catch them, and they are fine eat- ing." " I suppose you have had an eye on the beech trees and the wild grape-vines," said Old Mother Nature slyly. Bobby's face brightened. " Indeed I have," said he. " There will be splendid crops of beechnuts and grapes this fall. My, but they will taste good ! " [372] Bobby Coon Arrives Old Mother Nature laughed. " There is small danger that you will go hungry," said she. " When you can't find enough to eat times must be very hard indeed. For the benefit of the others you might add that in addition to the things men- tioned you eat other fruits, including berries, insects of various kinds, birds when you can catch them. Mice, Turtles, in fact almost anything that can be eaten. You are not at all fussy about the kind of food. But you have one habit in regard to your food which it would be well if some of these other little folks followed. Do you know what it is ? " Bobby shook his head. "No," said he, "not unless you mean the habit I have of washing my food. If there is any water near, I always like to take what I am going to eat over to it and wash it ; somehow it tastes better." " Just so," replied Old Mother Nature. " More than once I 've seen you in the moonlight beside the Laughing Brook washing your food, and it has always pleased me, for there is nothing like cleanliness and neatness. Did you raise a family this year, Bobby ? " "Mrs. Coon did. We had four of the finest youngsters you have ever seen over in a certain big hollow tree. They are getting big and lively now, and go out with their mother every night. [273] The Burgess Animal Book for Children I do hope the hunters will leave them alone this fall. I hate to think of anything happening to them. If they can just get through the hunting season safely, I '11 enjoy my winter sleep better, and I know Mrs. Coon will." At this Johnny Chuck pricked up his ears. "Do you sleep all winter, BQbby?" he asked eagerly. " Not all winter, but a good part of it," replied Bobby. "I don't turn in until the weather gets pretty cold, and it is hard to find anything to eat. But after the first snow I 'm usually ready to sleep. Then I curl up in a warm bed of leaves in a certain big hollow tree, and don't care how cold or stormy the weather is. Sometimes I wake up once or twice, when the weather is mild, and take a little walk around for exercise. But I don't go far and soon return to sleep." " What dp you do when Bowser the Hound gets after you ? " asked Peter Rabbit. " Run till I get out of breath," replied Bobby. " And if by that time I have n't been able to fool him so that he loses my trail, I take to a tree. Thank goodness, he can't climt) a tree. Some- times I climb from the top of one tree into the top of another, and sometimes into a third and then a fourth, when they are near enough together. That fools the hunters, if they follow Bowser." [274] Bobby Coon Arrives " Have you any relatives, Bobby ? " asked Old Mother Nature. " I did n't know I had until you mentioned that fellow with the ringed tail you said you would tell us about. I did n't know there was anybody with a tail like mine, and I would like to know about it," replied Bobby. " He is n't exactly a Raccoon, but he is more nearly related to you than any one else," replied Old Mother Nature. " His tail shows that. Aside from this, he is nothing like you at all. He is called the Ring-tailed Cat. But he does n't look any more like a cat than he does like you, and he is n't related to the Cat family at all. He has several names. He is called the Bassaris, the Civet Cat, Ring-tailed Cat, Coon Cat and Caco- mixtle. Instead of being thick and clumsy-look- ing, as is Bobby here, he is long and rather slender, with a yellowish-brown coat, somewhat grayish on the back and whitish underneath. His head is rather small, long and beautifully shaped. His ears are of good size and very pretty. In some ways he looks like Reddy Fox. But the really beautiful thing about him is his tail. It is nearly as long as his body, thick and beautifully marked with black and white bands. "He is quick and graceful in his movements, and, like Bobby, prefers to be abroad at night. [276] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children Also, like Bobby, he eats about everything that he can find, — flesh, reptiles, fruit, nuts and insects. He lives in the Far Southwest, and also in some of the mountains of the Far West. Why he should be called Civet Cat is more than I can guess, for he is neither a Civet nor a Cat. He is very clever at catching Mice, and sometimes he is kept as a pet, just as Farmer Brown keeps Black Pussy, to catch the Mice about the homes of men. " Now, Bobby, you can trot along home, and I hope all that green corn you have eaten will not give you the stomach ache. To-morrow we will see what we can find out about Buster Bear." [276] CHAPTER XXXII BUSTER BEAR NEARLY BREAKS UP SCHOOL "Has Buster Bear a tail?" asked Old Mother Nature, and her eyes twinkled. "No," declared Whitefoot the Wood Mouse promptly. " Yes," contradicted Chatterer the Red Squirrel. "What do you say, Prickly Porky?" Old Mother Nature asked. " I don't think he has any ; if he has, I 've never seen it," said Prickly Porky. " That 's because you 've got poor eyes," spoke up Jumper the Hare. " He certainly has a tail. It is n't much of a one, but it is a tail. I know because I 've seen it many times." "Woof, woof," said a deep, rumbly, grumbly voice. " What 's going on here ? Who is it has n't any tail ? " At the sound of that deep, rumbly, grumbly voice it looked for a few minutes as if school would be broken up for that day. There was the same [277] The Burgess Animal Book for Children mad scrambling to get away that there had been the morning Reddy Fox unexpectedly appeared. However, there was this difference : When Reddy appeared, most of the little people sought safe hiding places, but now they merely ran to safe distances, and there turned to stare with awe and great respect at the owner of that deep, rumbly, grumbly voice. It was great, big Buster Bear himself. Buster stood up on his hind legs, like a man, and his small eyes, for they are small for his size, twinkled with fun as he looked around that awe- filled circle. "Don't let me interrupt," said he; " I heard about this school and I thought I would just pay a friendly visit. There is nothing for you to fear. I have just had my breakfast and J could n't eat another mouthful to save me, not even such a tender morsel as Whitefoot the Wood Mouse." Whitefoot hurriedly ran a little farther away, and Buster Bear chuckled. Then he looked over at Old Mother Nature. " Won't you tell them that I 'm the best-natured and most harmless fellow in all the Great World ? " he asked. Old Mother Nature smiled. "That depends on the condition of your stomach," said she. "K it is as full as you say it is, and I know you would n't tell me an untruth, not even timid Whitefoot has [278] BUSTER BEAR THE BLACK BEAR. This is the most familiar of our American Bears. He is not always black, sometimes being light brown or cmnamon. Buster Bear Nearly Breaks Up School anything to fear from you." Then she told all the little people to put aside tiieir fears and re- turn. Buster, seeing that some of the more timid were still fearful, backed off a short distance and sat down on his haunches. "What was that about a tail I overheard as I came up ?" he asked. "It was a little discussion as to whether or not you have a tail," replied Old Mother Nature. " Some say you have, and some say you have n't. Whitefoot thinks you have n't." Once more Buster Bear chuckled way down deep in his throat. " Whitefoot never in. his life looked at me long enough to know whether I 've got a tail or not," said he. " I never yet have seen him, until now, when he was n't running away as fast as his legs could take him. So with me always behind him, how could he tell whether or not I have a tail?" " Well, have you ? " demanded Peter Rabbit bluntly. " What do you think ? " asked Buster. " I think you have," said Peter. " But if you have you are sitting down on it and I can't tell. It can't be much of a one, anyhow." Again Buster chuckled. "Quite right, Peter; quite right," said he. " I 've got a tail, but hardly enough of a one to really call it a tail." [279] The Burgess Animal Book for Children As Buster sat there, every one had a splendid chance to see just how he looked. His coat was all black; in fact he was black all over, with the exception of his nose, which was brown. His fur was long and rather shaggy. His ears were round. His paws were big and armed with strong, wicked- looking claws. " You all see what a black coat Buster has," said Old Mother Nature. " Now I 'm going to tell you something which may surprise you. Just as there are Red Foxes that are black, so there are Black Bears that are brown." "What's that.?" grunted Buster, with the funniest look of surprise on his face. " It 's a fact. Buster," said Old Mother Nature. "A great many of your family live out in the moun- tains of the Far West, and there quite often there will be one who is all brown. People used to think that these brown Bears were a different kind of Bear, and called them Cinnamon Bears. It was a long, long time before it was found out that those brown Bears are really black Bears. Some- times one of the twin babies will be all black and the other all brown. Sometimes one of Buster's family will have a white spot on his breast. Buster's branch of the family is found in nearly all of the wooded parts of the entire country. In the Sunny South they live in [280] Blister Bear Nearly Breaks Up School the swamps and do not grow as big as in the North. Buster, there is a soft spot on the ground ; I want you to walk across it so that these little folks can see your footprints." Good-naturedly Buster dropped on all fours and walked across the soft spot. Right away every one understood why Old Mother Nature had asked Buster to do this. The prints of his hind feet were very like the prints of Farmer Brown's boy when barefooted, only of course very much larger. You see, they showed the print of the heel as well as the rest of the foot. " You see," said Old Mother Nature, " Buster puts his whole foot on the ground, while aU members of the Dog and Cat families walk wholly on their toes. Animals that put the whole foot down are called plantigrade. How big do you think Buster was when he was born ?" " Of course I 'm only guessing," said Chatterer the Red Squirrel, "but he is such a big fellow that I think he must have been a bouncing big baby." Old Mother Nature smiled. " I don't wonder you think so," said she. " The fact is, however, Buster was a very tiny and very helpless little chap. He was just about the size of one of Prickly Porky's babies. He was no bigger than a Rat. He was born in the middle of winter, and he [281] The Burgess Animal Booh for Children did n't get his eyes open for forty days. It was two months before he poked his head outside the den in which he was born, to find out what thi? Great World was like. At that time he was n't much bigger than Peter Rabbit, and he and his twin sister were as lively a pair :of youngsters and as full of mischief as any Bears the Green Forest has ever seen. You might tell us, Buster, what you live on." Buster's eyes snapped. " 1 live on anything I can eat, and I can eat most everything. I sup- pose a lot of people think I live almost wholly on the little people who are my neighbors, but that is a mistake. I do catch Mice ;when I am lucky enough to find them where I can dig them out, and they certainly are good eating." At this Whitefoot the Wood Mouse and Danny Meadow Mouse hastily scurried farther away, and Buster's eyes twinkled with mischief. " Of course I don't mind a Rabbit cillior, if I am lucky enough to catch one," said he, and Peter Rabbit quickly backed off a few .sL