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Cornell University Library 
 QL 49.B29 
 
 Animals at home, 
 
 3 1924 003 402 249 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
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 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003402249 
 
ECLECTIC SCHOOL READINGS 
 
 ANIMALS AT HOME 
 
 BY 
 LILLIAN L. BARTLETT 
 
 NEW YORK ■:• CINCINNATI •:• CHICAGO 
 
 AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 
 
Copyright, 1902, by 
 LILLIAN L. BARTLETT. 
 
 Entered at Stationers* Hall, London. 
 
 animals at home. 
 W. p. 4 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In writing these stories for children great pains 
 have been taken to make the subject-matter correct. 
 The author has gone only to the most reliable 
 sources for information and used the descriptions 
 of eyewitnesses for many of the incidents woven 
 into the stories. For facts referring to the Ameri- 
 can bison, the fur seal, the barn owl, the blue jay, 
 etc., the government publications have been used ; 
 for the account of the polar bears the narratives of 
 Peary, Nansen, and other Arctic explorers have 
 been consulted ; the story of the bald eagles is 
 founded upon an article by Captain Charles Ben- 
 dire in the Smithsonian Report, 1892; for that of 
 the cuckoo the book of Alexander H. Japp, LL.D., 
 Called " Our Common Cuckoo," was made use of ; 
 and for details in other bird stories the works of 
 Audubon, F. Chapman, Brehm, Brewer, Baird, Coues, 
 and Shriner have been examined. For the stories of 
 the moose and the giraffe such writers as Theodore 
 Roosevelt, John D. Caton, Sir Samuel Baker, Phil- 
 
 3 
 
lipps Wolley, Percy Selous, C. W. Baldwin, Richard 
 Lydekker, and Alfred M. Mayer have furnished in- 
 formation ; and for that of the elephant the author 
 is indebted to Hornaday's " Two Years in a 
 Jungle " and Sanderson's " Thirteen Years with the 
 Wild Beasts of India." The story of the salmon 
 is based upon the account of an eyewitness as 
 told in John P. Traherne's book, " The Habits of 
 the Salmon." The anecdote of the lions and 
 zebras was related by the Hon. W. H. Drummond 
 who, when in Zululand, actually saw the scene 
 described. 
 
 L. L. B. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Leo and his Family 7 
 
 furryfellow's summer in the north l6 
 
 The Polar Bears' Adventures 22 
 
 A Tunnel Maker 29 
 
 The King of the Plains ....... 34 
 
 MOUSWAH 40 
 
 Zarappa 49 
 
 Boomer and the Hounds 56 
 
 Mother Rightwhale and her Little One .... 65 
 
 The Kittens' Strange Home 72 
 
 Mrs. Gray Squirrel 75 
 
 TiMOOR 81 
 
 Seals in the Aquarium 93 
 
 Bob White and his Family . 97 
 
 The Bald Eagles 104 
 
 A Little Thief ......... 109 
 
 Madame Cuckoo and her Son 112 
 
 Robin Redbreast 119 
 
 Blue Jay 126 
 
 S 
 
PAGB 
 
 At Home in a Church Steeple ...... 132 
 
 The American Herring Gulls 136 
 
 The Story of a Salmon . 141 
 
 The Life History of a Honeybee 148 
 
 The Little Robber Caterpillar . . . . . .156 
 
 The Toad 166 
 
ANIMALS AT HOME 
 
 LEO AND HIS FAMILY 
 
 f -EO was a lion that once lived in South Africa. 
 ^ He was a large, handsome fellow, and very 
 savage. His great body, which was seven feet 
 long, was covered with a smooth, tawny-colored 
 coat of fur. A thick mane grew on his head and 
 neck, and at the end of his tail was a fine tuft of 
 hair. 
 
 He had short but very strong jaws, sharp teeth, 
 and a rough tongue which could wound a man by 
 merely licking any part of the body. On his fore 
 feet were five toes, on his hind feet four. These 
 toes had sharp-cutting, pointed claws, which, like 
 Pussy's, could be drawn back and hidden. 
 
 Leo lived in a dense thicket, where there were 
 leafy shrubs to shade him from the hot midday sun, 
 and heavy underbrush for him to hide in. Just 
 outside the thicket was a clear pool of water. 
 
 One day Leo stepped out from the .thicket in 
 which he lived, and stood for some time gazing off 
 
 7 
 
into the distant, open, level country. He seemed 
 to be looking for something. 
 
 At last he turned back into the thicket, and 
 pushed his way through shrubs and underbrush 
 till he came to an open place. He then climbed 
 up on some rocks and threw himself down to rest. 
 He yawned and stretched himself, laid his great 
 head on his crossed fore paws, and went to sleep. 
 
 The lion had been looking for his mate, Leona. 
 He could not understand what had become of her,, 
 for she had been in the habit of following him 
 everywhere he went. Indeed, for lions, these two 
 were very devoted to each other. Leo would get 
 the food, and sometimes even give Leona first 
 choice. On the other hand, the lioness was always 
 ready to defend her mate, and she would willingly 
 have given her life to save his. And now this fond 
 wife was nowhere to be found. 
 
 The facts were that the lioness had run away 
 from the lion, taking great pains to find a safe 
 hiding place. And to make sure that Mr. Leo 
 could not follow her footmarks she had made tracks 
 in a number of different directions. But why had 
 Leona done this? Because she now had three 
 dear little baby lions or cubs, and wished to hide 
 them. To hide them she must hide herself. She 
 knew that lions were not always kind to their little 
 
lO 
 
 ones; in fact, some had been known to kill them. 
 It certainly was wisest to hide these babies till they 
 were older. No wonder Leo could not find her. 
 
 The lioness was smaller than the lion and more 
 graceful. Her fur was of the same color and also 
 smooth, but she had no mane. 
 
 The cubs when a week old were about as big as 
 half-grown cats. They had short, frizzled hair. 
 Their manes would not grow till they were two or 
 three years old. 
 
 Although their bright, yellow eyes were open, 
 they were helpless, small things, and would hardly 
 stir from their niother's side. And what a fond 
 mother it was ! Woe to any one who tried to harm 
 those babies! 
 
 Some weeks later, when the lion was at last 
 allowed to join his family, he was much pleased 
 with his three fine children. 
 
 It was the kind, loving mother, however, who 
 nursed and tended the cubs ; and for months the 
 faithful creature left them only to get food and 
 water enough to keep her alive. 
 
 At two months of age the babies could walk and 
 were very frisky young things, jumping and tum- 
 bling over one another like kittens at play. 
 
 When the young ones had lived through the 
 painful and dangerous time of cutting their teeth 
 
II 
 
 their mother thought them old and strong enough 
 to learn to hunt and kill game for themselves. So 
 one evening, just as the last red rays of the setting 
 sun were coloring the sky with their soft afterglow, 
 Leona and her three cubs went together to the 
 edge of the thicket near which was the pool. 
 
 The lioness crouched down in the underbrush 
 and waited like a cat ready to spring. . A 
 beautiful young antelope had strayed away from 
 the herd and, thinking itself quite safe, gracefully 
 bounded down to the pool for a drink. Its head 
 was turned from the thicket, and before it had the 
 least thought of danger a fierce blow from behind 
 had broken its back. The lioness had pounced 
 upon it at one leap. Taking the pretty fellow in 
 her strong jaws she hurried back to her children 
 and was soon showing them how to tear the ante- 
 lope limb from limb. 
 
 This sort of lesson was given, at different times, 
 till the three cubs were a year old and about as big 
 as Newfoundland dogs. They were then almost as 
 savage as their parents and quite as skillful in 
 catching live prey. In fact, they loved their cruel 
 sport, and often killed for mere pastime and when 
 they were not at all hungry. Antelopes, gazelles, 
 young zebras, and even young buffaloes were never 
 safe near them. 
 
12 
 
 One evening the whole family went out in search 
 of food, the father lion going on ahead. Before 
 long, Leona heard a noise. It was made by a drove 
 of zebras. As soon as the lioness knew what the 
 noise was she began lashing her sides with her 
 tail. Then she hurried around to that side of the 
 herd from which the wind blew. It was not long 
 befgre the zebras smelt danger and, greatly fright- 
 ened, rushed away in the direction of Mr. Leo, who 
 was crouching in some tall grass. 
 
 A few moments later there came a loud roar. 
 The lioness answered, and then hurried to join her 
 mate. Her trick had been successful, and a dead 
 zebra lay at Leo's feet. 
 
 The cubs at once attacked what to them was a 
 very fine supper; but they could not tear open the 
 tough skin till their mother came and helped them. 
 
 The father permitted the young ones and Leona 
 to eat for a while and then motioned them away. 
 He wished to be alone while he took what he 
 wanted. The lioness went off a little distance 
 with the cubs and did not return till the lion had 
 eaten a hind leg and had walked away. When the 
 lioness came back to finish her meal she fairly 
 bolted ^reat mouthfuls of the rich flesh, and soon 
 she and her children had swallowed all that was 
 left of the animal. 
 
13 
 
 The young ones, while eating, were very cross. 
 They snarled and quarreled with one another, and 
 were so greedy that their mother had to rebuke 
 them by slapping them with her paw. 
 
 One stormy night, some weeks later, the lion 
 family went out again for a hunt. For several 
 hours they wandered here and there, but did not see 
 or hear a single creature of any kind. At last, the 
 lion lost his patience and made up his mind to go 
 to the encampment of some traveling Arabs, which 
 he had visited a few days before. Of course, Leo 
 did not know that the queer, tall creatures were 
 wandering Arabs nor that the place they lived in 
 was an encampment. All he knew, or indeed cared 
 about the matter, was that the poor, unhappy man 
 whom he had snatched from before the camp fire 
 had made an excellent meal. But he was very 
 much afraid of firearms, and never went near a 
 man except by accident or when he was very 
 hungry. 
 
 After telUng his family not to come with him, 
 Leo stole silently along the very path which he 
 had taken before when on a similar errand. 
 
 When within a short distance of the encamp- 
 ment, he saw something which made him stop. 
 There at the side of the path, a few feet in front 
 of him, was a live lamb, standing as if paralyzed 
 
H 
 
 with fear. What better supper could he wish for 
 than that? With one great spring he pounced 
 upon the soft, white creature and was just going to 
 break its neck when something strange happened. 
 He found himself going down, down, through turf 
 and branches, into a dark hole in the ground. He 
 was caught in a trap which had been set for him. 
 
 What did it mean ? He beat his head against 
 the sides of his prison, then tried to leap up out 
 of it. But no escape seemed possible. This made 
 him perfectly furious, and he shook his thick mane 
 and lashed his sides with his tail and roared till 
 the woods rang. 
 
 For several hours the captive walked back and 
 forth with quick, short steps. At last, tired out, 
 he threw himself down at the bottom of the pit 
 and went to sleep. 
 
 He was awakened by voices. It was broad day- 
 light and he could see, looking down at him from 
 the top of the hole, some of those very Arabs for 
 whom he had started out on this hunt. 
 
 If the lion had understood what they were saying 
 he would have been still more unhappy than he 
 was. " What a fine fellow ! " said one of the Arabs. 
 " I thought we'd catch him this time." 
 
 " Yes," answered another of the" men; "and the 
 cries in the night, which I took for those of an 
 
15 
 
 ostrich, must have been his. We'll have to keep 
 the fellow here till he's too weak to resist much, 
 and then we can sell him as a live specimen to be 
 taken to some European museum." 
 
 Leona and her cubs waited a long time in vain 
 for Leo's return. At last they went back to their 
 den, and cuddling together went to sleep. Let us 
 hope that the poor lioness's heart was not easily 
 broken, for she was never again to see her hand- 
 some mate. 
 
FURRYFELLOW'S SUMMER IN THE NORTH 
 
 CURRYFELLOW'S dark, round head came up 
 ^ out of the water, and his two bright eyes looked 
 about as if searching for something. Furryfellow 
 was a fine fur seal, such as seal-fishers prize. It 
 was May, and he was getting ready to land on the 
 shores of St. Paul's Island. He had come to this 
 northern summer home, in Bering Sea, because he 
 liked its cold climate and foggy weather. 
 
 Of the many islands in that sea, he always chose 
 either St. Paul's or St. George's; not that he knew 
 their names, but because they had such fine, low- 
 sloping, rocky shores, which were easy for him to 
 climb. 
 
 This season Furryfellow was among the very 
 first of his many thousands of companions to arrive 
 at the island, and so he did not fear to spend sev- 
 eral days in looking about before he settled down 
 for the summer. At last he saw a pleasant place 
 very close to the water's edge, and was soon awk- 
 wardly climbing toward it. He went forward with 
 short, jerking leaps, and seemed very glad when it 
 was time to He quietly down on the rocks. 
 
 i6 
 
17 
 
 He was a handsome fellow. His great, fat body 
 was seven feet long and covered with a very beauti- 
 ful double fur. The under fur, red-brown in color, 
 was woolly, and soft as silk. The upper one con- 
 sisted of long, gray-brown hairs. 
 
 He had two fore paws, or flippers, and two hind 
 feet between which was a very short tail. His 
 head was small, and on his neck and shoulders was 
 a kind of stiff, grizzled mane. His large, full, bright 
 eyes were of a hazel color, and he could see well 
 with them whether on land or in the water. 
 
 When Furryfellow had been a week on the island, 
 the weather became very foggy and damp, and he 
 was joined by thousands of other seals, who also 
 came there to find summer homes, and soon the 
 shores were covered with them. 
 
 Three weeks went by, and still our seal and his 
 neighbors had not once left their places on the 
 rocks. They seemed to be waiting for something. 
 
 One morning, as Furryfellow was looking out 
 toward the water, he saw something climbing up 
 on the shore. He was delighted ; for he knew at 
 once that the timid, dripping newcomer was far 
 too small to be a male seal, and since he was on 
 the lookout for a mate, — indeed, for as many mates 
 as he could get, — he was glad to see the first female 
 seal that had ventured to the island. 
 
 AN. AT HOME — 2 
 
i8 
 
 Hurriedly rising, he went down to meet the fair 
 stranger, and greeted her with a pleasant clucking 
 sound, which meant in seal language, " I'm very 
 pleased to see you. Madam." Then he politely 
 bowed to her, and coaxed her to come home with 
 him and be his mate. All this time he was slowly 
 getting between her and the water. Then, when 
 he knew she could not retreat, his manner suddenly 
 
 changed, and instead of soft words and gentle ways, 
 he growled harshly and began to drive her beforfe 
 him to his abode. 
 
 . Furryfellow need not have been so cross, for his 
 new mate was very gentle and never once objected 
 to living with him. 
 
 The following month was a busy and exciting 
 one with Furryfellow; for no sooner would he get 
 a new mate safely settled at home and go away to 
 look for another, than one of hia neighbors wkld 
 
19 
 
 come down from the higher ground and carry her 
 off to be his mate. 
 
 One day he caught one of these fellows in the very 
 act of taking away one of his mates. This was too 
 much for Furryfellow's hot temper, and he felt he 
 must fight. The thief-seal saw him coming, and 
 rushed forward to meet him. With hoarse, roaring, 
 shrill cries, heads darting out and back as quick as 
 a flash, their huge bodies swelling with rage, the 
 two seals grappled with each other and began to 
 fight. Nor did they stop till streams of blood were 
 running from both their mouths. 
 
 At last, quite tired out, Furryfellow quickly picked 
 up his poor, frightened, little mate, just as a cat would 
 take up her kitten, and carried her home. 
 
 After this, Furryfellow became so very cross that 
 during the rest of the season none but the bravest 
 seals dared come near him. Besides this, his posi- 
 tion near the water was such • a good one that the 
 female seals were quite easily persuaded to stay 
 ;with him, and before the end of spring he had 
 thirty mates safe in his home. This was a great 
 many, for some of his enemies had only five or six, 
 and those far back in the colony had none at all. 
 
 By the middle of June Furryfellow's family had 
 grown still larger, for now he had not only his mates 
 but forty babies to look after. These babies had 
 
20 
 
 been born on the island soon after their mothers 
 had landed, and were about a foot long, with jet 
 black fur, bright eyes, and odd little voices. 
 
 They were clever little creatures, too, and soon 
 learned to get along very well by themselves when 
 their mothers would leave them to go down to the 
 sea for food or for a swim. 
 
 When the babies were six weeks old, they, too, 
 found their way down to the water, but it took 
 many tides to teaqh them how to swim ; and their 
 mothers gave them many a ducking in shallow 
 pools before they would venture into deep water. 
 
 Near the end of July, Furryfellow began to think 
 that it was time to return to. the ocean. He felt 
 safe in leaving his family now, for most of his 
 enemies were already gone, and he was so hungry 
 that he could wait no longer. Not once during the 
 summer had he left his family a moment, and the 
 long watching and fasting had made him very 
 thin. 
 
 No sooner had Furryfellow plunged into the sea 
 than his mates and their little ones jumped up and 
 hurried down to the water. Indeed, there was great 
 confusion everywhere, and all the mothers, cubs, and 
 seals without mates wandered about on the shore 
 together. 
 
 A month later when Furryfellow came back to 
 
21 
 
 take his family south, he found a very merry party 
 enjoying themselves in the waves. The mother 
 seals were lazily rolling over in the water and 
 scratching themselves with their flippers; and the 
 babies, now good-sized little creatures, were frolick- 
 ing together in the refreshing salt sea. 
 
 Indeed, it was only once in a while that any of 
 the party had gone back on the shore, and then 
 only to bask in the sunlight for a short time. 
 
 Furryfellow came back with a much more bril- 
 liant coat of fur and altogether very much improved. 
 Even his temper was no longer bad, and he allowed 
 his family to do just what they liked. 
 
 And so they all splashed and played in the water 
 till the weather began to grow cold enough to start 
 the great shoals of fishes toward the south. Then 
 Furryfellow and his family made ready to be off, 
 too. They could not let their dinners run away 
 from them. So one bright autumn morning the 
 goodly company, with hundreds of companions, 
 started for the great Pacific Ocean, where they 
 would roam at will till spring came again and it 
 was time to return to their summer home. 
 
THE POLAR BEARS' ADVENTURES 
 
 A POLAR bear and her two little white cubs 
 ^"^ lay fast asleep in their cold, dark den, under 
 the frozen snows of Greenland. 
 
 The old bear had hidden herself some months 
 before, under a rocky wall, and gone fast asleep. 
 Then the many winter snows had come and covered 
 her up warm and snug, and in this strange home she 
 had stayed all winter. But now spring had come 
 and the warm sun was melting away the cold cover- 
 ing of her den, and it was time for her and her little 
 ones to come out and see the world. 
 
 The mother bear must, have been glad when she 
 awoke- and knew that she could soon break through 
 the icy door of her house ; for she was very, very 
 hungry and so thin and weak. Not once had she 
 had anything to eat or drink since she entered her 
 den several months before. If she had not been 
 very fat and strong then, she would surely have 
 died during the long winter. 
 
 At last, one fine morning, after working very hard, 
 the old bear made a hole through the icy covering 
 of her den and crawled out. Soon she and her cubs 
 
23 
 
 were wandering about in the strange light of an 
 early Arctic day. 
 
 Although she was very thin when she stepped out 
 from her narrow house, she was still a large, hand- 
 some creature. Her shaggy yellow-white fur was 
 
 
 thick and long and even covered the soles of her 
 feet, making it easy for her to walk without slipping 
 on the ice and snow. 
 
 The cubs were about as big as foxes and very 
 pretty. Thanks to their kind mother's care and 
 nursing, they were not only rolly-poly little fellows 
 with soft curly fur, but quite strong enough to begin 
 their new and trying life in the wild regions where 
 they were to live. 
 
24 
 
 Leaving the den, which was on the rocky banks 
 of a river, the bear began at once to look for some- 
 thing to eat. That snow-covered country seemed a 
 poor place to get food, and yet there was plenty for 
 her and she knew just where to find it. Nor was it 
 long before she was busily eating roots, mosses, and 
 berries, which grew on the shores of the river. Some 
 of these dainties were hidden under the snow which 
 she brushed away with her paw, but more were 
 already uncovered by the sun's warm rays. 
 
 But it was only when nothing better could be 
 found that the bear ate berries, roots, and mosses. 
 What she liked best were fishes, seals, whales, and 
 walruses ; but most of these creatures were to be 
 found only in or near the sea which was far away. 
 
 Mrs. Bear and her mate had left their favorite 
 hunting grounds the summer before to follow the 
 fish up the. river to its falls and shallows, and when 
 the short season was over they had found themselves 
 many miles inland. Then it was that Mrs. Bear had 
 decided to take her long nap, and Mr. Bear returned 
 alone to the seashore to hunt. He knew his mate 
 would join him when spring came again. 
 
 Nor was he wrong. Mrs. Bear remained near her 
 den only long enough for the cubs to get a little 
 stronger and wiser, and then started off for the coast, 
 a journey of forty miles. 
 
25 
 
 It took the bear and her cubs a long time to go 
 so far, for the cubs could not walk very fast, and 
 every now and again the bear would stop to give 
 them a lesson in swimming or in catching fish. 
 
 And what a wonderful journey it was for the young 
 bears, and how many new things they saw and heard ! 
 
 To be sure, some of the things were not pleasant. 
 The sun shining on the snow-capped mountains 
 would often dazzle their tiny eyes and make them 
 blink, and sometimes the great ice fields they crossed 
 would seem very long for their little short legs. But 
 they forgot about these things when they came to 
 some quiet cove by the river where they could rest 
 on the banks and find all sorts of good things to eat. 
 How they loved the crowberries and blueberries 
 which they found ; and even the bright yellow, red, 
 blue, or white flowers which grew there in such 
 numbers tasted very good. But best of all were 
 the things brought to them by their mother. These 
 were snow buntings, ivory gulls, guillemots, and once 
 m a while a young ptarmigan, and, last but not least, 
 some eider ducks and their fresh eggs. These 
 large greenish eggs even the young bears could 
 help themselves to, .for they lay snugly together, in 
 their soft nests, right on the ground. 
 
 At first the cubs were frightened at every icy 
 stream they heard, as it ran and dashed in foaming 
 
26 
 
 cascades over the cliffs. And the thundering noise 
 made by some great iceberg as it broke loose from 
 the glacier it belonged to and fell splashing into 
 the river below, made the young bears tremble and 
 hurry to their mother's side. But they grew used 
 to all these strange noises and sights, and even the 
 constant daylight of the Arctic summer ceased to 
 trouble them. They could lie down and sleep as 
 quietly with the midnight sun shining upon them 
 as they had slept in their dark, narrow birthplace. 
 
 Sometimes they would have to go several days 
 without food; but this was not often, for their 
 mother knew all sorts of ways of finding things for 
 them. She would roll away great stones to catch 
 lemmings, or break through the ice of some lake to 
 get fish from its clear waters. One day she caught 
 a large Arctic fox which the cubs enjoyed very 
 much. It was the first big game they had ever 
 tasted, and it made them long for more. 
 
 At last, one day in June, the bears came in sight 
 of the great broad sea. All about them were snow- 
 clad mountains, and around them were vast fields of 
 floating ice and snow. This was the place to find 
 the father bear, and the mother bear watched every 
 moving object till at last Mr. Bear was seen and 
 joined his family. He seemed glad to see his mate 
 again, and was very proud of his two fine children. 
 
27 
 
 A few days later, the bear family were standing 
 on a large ice floe when the father bear discovered 
 some seals asleep on the opposite side of the floe. 
 Telling the cubs to remain perfectly still, he very 
 quietly slipped into the water, hind feet first. Then 
 he dived and, without noise, swam toward the seals. 
 It was a long distance around to where the seals 
 were lying, and the bear had to come up to the 
 surface of the water two or three times to breathe. 
 The last time he needed air he was quite close to 
 his prey. 
 
 One of the seals lazily opened his eyes and saw 
 the bear's white head in the water, but thinking it 
 was only a piece of floating ice, he went off to sleep 
 again. 
 
 When the bear got a little nearer to the seals, 
 he knew that all was well, and so took his time to 
 scramble out of the water' and shake the wet from 
 his shaggy fur. Then slowly he went up to one of 
 the poor sleepy creatures, who saw him only when it 
 was too late to escape. No sooner was the seal dead 
 than the mother bear and the cubs walked across 
 the ice floe, and all joined in eating a hearty supper. 
 
 On another day, the father bear saw a large wal- 
 rus lying on the ice a short distance away. When 
 he was quite sure that the walrus was sleeping, 
 he darted out from behind some ice where he 
 
28 
 
 had been hiding, and, seizing the huge animal in 
 his teeth, battered its skull with blows from his 
 enormous paws. 
 
 And so, many weeks came and went, and the short 
 Arctic summer was over. The bear family, however, 
 were still hunting and looking for food. It mattered 
 not to them — so long as they had plenty to eat — 
 how long and dark the winter might be, or that the 
 sky was only brightened once in a while by some 
 wonderful colors and flashes of light. They still 
 wandered on in the dreary cold country which was 
 their home, and were as happy as bears could be. 
 
A TUNNEL MAKER 
 
 A MOLE who, like all other moles, lived under- 
 ■'* ground, often came up out of the earth ; but 
 he did not like the bright, beautiful outside world 
 nearly so well as his 
 dark, gloomy home be- 
 low. It was well that 
 he felt this way, for he 
 was much safer and bet- 
 ter off in the ground. 
 
 His cylinder-shaped 
 body, short thick neck, 
 and pointed head were just suited to push their way 
 through the soil, and his brownish gray fur was so 
 fine, soft, and velvety that the earth never stuck to 
 it. Then, too, although he lived in the dark, his 
 movable nose or snout always told him where it 
 was best to go, and his tiny eyes were so hidden 
 in his fur that there was no danger of dirt falling 
 into them and blinding him. 
 
 Besides, he had two short fore legs, ending with 
 great, broad, strong claws, which turned backwards 
 and outwards and made as good shovels, or pickaxes 
 
 29 
 
30 
 
 for digging with, as one could wish. His hind 
 claws were also good tools for him. 
 
 This mole was a very busy little animal and 
 worked many hours both by day and by night. 
 He had made himself a great many galleries or tun- 
 nels, under the ground, so that he did not have to 
 dig his way every time he went abroad.' He had 
 plenty of extra 'digging to do in making new paths 
 when hunting for worms and insects, on which he 
 lived. 
 
 He had also built himself a wonderful fortress 
 under the roots of a tree. Here he had made a 
 
 The Tunnel Maker's Home 
 
 good-sized mound or hill, and had dug two tunnels 
 round the mound, the smaller one near the top, the 
 other near the bottom. "Next he had made five 
 passages from one of these tunnels to the other. 
 When these were finished, he dug a large, round 
 hole in the middle of the mound and then made 
 three passages out of it to the lower tunnel, and 
 one big passage down through the bottom of it. 
 Besides these many galleries he made others 
 
31 
 
 which led away in all directions. Some were to 
 carry of¥ the water which came through the ground 
 after a rain. Some led to a pond a short distance 
 away where the mole could get water, for he was 
 often very, very thirsty. Indeed, no matter where 
 he wished to go, he had a tunnel ready to take him 
 there. 
 
 When all his tunnels were ready, he put grasses 
 and leaves in the round 
 hole of his fortress and 
 made himself a soft 
 nest in which to sleep 
 
 Plan of the Tunnels 
 
 or rest, for a mole can 
 sleep like a dormouse. 
 During the summer 
 our mole was often 
 absent from his castle 
 for a long time. Indeed he seldom used it except 
 in winter. Every day and night he was very busy 
 getting food; for he was always hungry, except 
 when, asleep, and might even starve to death inside 
 of a few hours if he found nothing to eat. This 
 was why he worked so hard and also why he was 
 sometimes cross and ugly. 
 
 - Then, tod, he had a mate and a family of five 
 little ones to feed with insects, worms, and tender 
 roots. - They lived in a nest in one of the hillocks 
 
32 
 
 he had made. This summer home was Hned with 
 grasses, moss, and twisted blades of wheat, and 
 looked somewhat like a bird's nest. Out from this 
 home also ran many long and winding tunnels, for 
 the moles were afraid lest the weasels should find 
 their way to them and do them harm. 
 
 When the little moles were half grown they no 
 longer needed their father's care. Long before this 
 they spent their time running about, and were quite 
 able to hunt for themselves and to make little hil- 
 locks to rest in, or funny little tunnels, as they chased 
 after worms and burrowing insects. While they 
 were still very young, their mother had shown them 
 the way down the chief ' runs,' — as the larger 
 galleries are called, — and by and by each young 
 one went off alone and made journeys by himself. 
 
 One night the father mole started to go in 
 search of food. Like all moles he was fond of 
 earthworms, but he also liked beetles and other 
 kinds of insects. He had gone but a short way 
 down one of his many ' runs ' when he heard a 
 worm. With his nose he felt the soil at the side 
 of the tunnel he was in until he found a place soft 
 enough to make a groove. Then with the help of 
 his claws he began to dig with such haste and power 
 that he had soon gone far enough to catch a num- 
 ber of worms. Flying at one, he gave it a sharp 
 
33 
 
 bite. Then passing it through his claws to clean 
 off the soil, and pushing it into his mouth with his 
 fore legs, he began with a loud crunching sound to 
 eat it. Then he went on to catch more, and as 
 the soil was soft and light, he had burrowed over 
 one hundred feet before the night was over. 
 
 At another time when he was out in search of 
 worms, he chanced to meet a strange mole in one 
 of his galleries. He was so angry that he flew at 
 him, and a bloody fight ensued. Indeed, it was such 
 a bloody fight that the two moles were obliged to go 
 out of the tunnel into the open meadow above to 
 have it out. At last when the enemy was too weak 
 to fight any more, our mole, although faint and 
 hungry, fell fiercely upon him and killed him. 
 
 After this unpleasant adventure Mr. Mole went 
 back to his underground home to rest, and it was 
 a long time before he felt able to go to work again. 
 
 Thus, day after day, and month after month, the 
 furry little beast lived in his underground home, 
 and never wished for another. And not until he 
 was very old and feeble did he thoughtlessly creep 
 into the cruel trap which Farmer Brown had set for 
 him ; and that was the last of Mr. Mole. 
 
 AN. AT HOME — 3 
 
THE KING OF THE PLAINS 
 
 A^ 
 
 ,te-iv 
 
 S far as 
 the eye 
 could reach, 
 on all sides, 
 over the 
 Great Plains of Colo- 
 rado, thousands of 
 herds of bison could 
 be seen peacefully graz- 
 ing on the short grass. 
 
 In one of these herds 
 were about twenty ani- 
 mals of different ages and sizes, with the cows and 
 calves in the center of the group and the bulls on 
 the outside keeping guard. 
 
 One of tlicse bulls was very handsome. Being full 
 grown, he was nine feet long and five and a half feet 
 hioh. He was so larg-e and strong that no other 
 bison dared to withstand him. In not only his own 
 herd, but in all the herds that he met, he was 
 acknowledfrcd as the Kino- of the Plains. His lavre 
 head he carried low; and back of it, on his shoulders, 
 
 34 
 
35 
 
 was a huge hump. A thick, dark mane covered his 
 head and short neck and fell in heavy masses to 
 his knees. Under his chin was a long beard, and 
 his tail ended in a tuft of hair. 
 
 The rest of his body was covered with a short fur. 
 This hair was soft and woolly. It changed color 
 and most of it -fell off in the spring, while in the 
 autumn a fresh, darker coat grew in its place. 
 
 His black horns, at first straight, were now curved, 
 and ended in sharp points. His eyes were so very 
 piercing that they made him look cross and ugly; 
 but really he was gentle, mild, and timid. 
 
 He had been born on the Plains, four years 
 before ; and since that time he had traveled many 
 miles in search of food and water. The first year 
 of his life he had always kept close to his mother, 
 never going anywhere without her ; but as he grew 
 older, he learned to take care of himself, and often 
 wandered off with other young companions, or 
 joined some neighboring herd. 
 
 It was now summer and the weather was very 
 warm. King Bison stopped grazing and began to 
 lash his sides with his tail. Flies, gnats, and other 
 insects were biting him fiercely on those parts of his 
 body which had shed the short hair. 
 
 As he became more and more annoyed by the 
 pain which the small creatures were causing him, 
 
36 
 
 the bison looked about for a tree, rock, or bush 
 against which he could rub himself. 
 
 Seeing none, he threw himself down on the ground 
 and began to roll. As he did so, he was delighted 
 to feel some stagnant water among the grass roots. 
 Raising himself on one knee, he plunged his horns 
 into the moist earth, and brought up great pieces of 
 the soft soil. Soon he had a good-sized hole dug 
 out, and the water began to trickle into it. When 
 this nice cool bath was ready for him, he lay down 
 on one side in the hole, and using his horns, hump, 
 and shoulders, began turning round and round. 
 When the hole was large enough to hold his big 
 body, he had the great pleasure of " wallowing " in 
 the cool, soft mud. 
 
 When he got up, he was entirely covered with 
 the dark, dripping mixture, and looked like a French 
 poodle dog that had been in a bottle of ink. 
 
 The thick coat of mud soon dried and kept him 
 cool and comfortable for a long time, and free from 
 insect bites. 
 
 All summer King Bison and. his followers kept 
 slowly moving over the Plains ; for fresh pastures 
 were needed all the while for such a great company 
 as theirs. 
 
 Sometimes, as they wandered about, two or more 
 small herds would join and make one larger one ; or 
 
37 
 
 a large herd would break up into two or three small 
 ones. But these changes were made merely by 
 accident, and happened while the animals were 
 feeding. 
 
 When danger threatened, all the herds would rush 
 together, and with clumsy gait, gallop forward in one 
 great plunging mass. The calves kept close to their 
 mothers and often ran under them for safety. 
 
 At times, food became very scarce. This was 
 when there had been a prairie fire or when grass- 
 hoppers, by the millions, had devoured the grass 
 and left the ground bare for miles and miles. 
 
 In their long journeyings, the bisons often had 
 rivers to cross. Being good swimmers and not 
 very wise creatures, they would plunge into the 
 water no matter how deep it was or how swift the 
 current ; and so it often happened that many were 
 drowned. 
 
 One day, late in summer, they came to the South 
 Platte River. This river was not deep just there, 
 but it was very dangerous on account of the beds 
 of quicksand that lay on the bottom. 
 
 When our bison reached the river, hundreds of 
 
 his companions were already on their way across. 
 
 Being no wiser than the rest, he, too, was soon in 
 
 •the stream. He had not gone very far when he 
 
 found himself in a horrible plight. 
 
38 
 
 His companions ahead were stuck fast and grad- 
 ually sinking in the quicksand, while he was being 
 forced to walk over their bodies; for the bisons 
 behind him were using their horns and all their 
 strength to push him on. 
 
 In a few moments more, thousands of the huge 
 animals were struggling in the cruel river. Each 
 thought only of himself, and pushed and plunged 
 against his neighbors in a mad rush for land. 
 
 Sadly wounded and panting for breath, King 
 Bison at last felt solid ground under his feet. He 
 had reached the farther bank of the river and was 
 safe. Behind him, however, were hundreds of his 
 companions, dead or dying, and their bodies black- 
 ened the water from shore to shore. 
 
 When winter came, our friend had other adven- 
 tures, and suffered much from cold and hunger. 
 Often he would go for days, or even weeks, without 
 food. Once when he had wandered off alone, a long 
 distance from the herd, he was attacked by a pack 
 of white wolves. They teased him, snapped at him, 
 and tore pieces of skin and flesh from his body. 
 Indeed, he would certainly have been killed and 
 eaten by them had not a noise frightened them 
 away just long enough for him to hurry back to the 
 herd. 
 
 Spring and summer went by, and autumn came 
 
39 
 
 again. One clear September day King Bison and 
 his herd were startled by a great noise, and suddenly 
 they saw enemies on all sides of them. 
 
 Frightened almost to death, the bisons rushed to- 
 gether, each trying all the time to force his way to 
 the center of the group where was the most safety. 
 
 The enemies were a band of Indians, who had seen 
 the animals from a distance and had formed a circle 
 round them. Shouting and yelling to their ponies, 
 they galloped into the midst of the herd. The next 
 thing King Bison knew, he was fleeing over the plain 
 as fast as he could gallop, with an Indian horseman 
 close at his heels. Arrows began to prick his back 
 and sides, which made him very angry ; but there 
 was no time to turn, and he felt that he must hurry 
 on still faster. 
 
 Suddenly came a quick, sharp pain — worse than 
 any before. It fairly took his breath away. Did he 
 know that an arrow had pierced his heart ? 
 
 A moment more and the great animal could go 
 no farther. His knees gave way under him, one 
 horn buried itself deep in the earth, his huge body 
 rolled over. The King of the Plains was dead. 
 
MOUSWAH 
 
 A LARGE moose was standing on the shore of 
 ^* a beautiful lake in Maine. It was June, and 
 very early in the morning. The sun was just show- 
 ing its red foreglow in the east. 
 
 Looking down into the clear, deep water, the 
 great animal saw something that he wanted. He 
 dived in after it, and soon came up again with yel- 
 low pond-lily roots between his teeth. These he 
 stopped to eat while still knee-deep" in the lake, for 
 he found them very good. 
 
 Mouswah, for so the Indians called him, was an 
 interesting, although rather an old-fashioned look- 
 ing, animal. As he stood among his native haunts, 
 in the pale light of the early dawn, eating his break- 
 fast he presented a noble appearance. He was five 
 feet high at his shoulders (being the largest of all 
 deer), and measured seven feet from his nose to 
 his stub of a tail. His blackish gray hair was 
 short, fine, and soft. In winter it became darker 
 in color, and very coarse, and an extra thick coat 
 of short, fine wool grew next his skin. 
 
 Mouswah's legs were so long that he could go 
 
 40 
 
41 
 
 very fast ; and he could take wonderful strides and 
 leaps, although his usual gait was a fast walk. His 
 long legs also made him so tall that it was easy for 
 him to reach his favorite food, the leaves and tender 
 twigs of birch trees, poplars, and willows. 
 
 His narrow, odd-looking head was too large for 
 beauty; his face was much like that of a horse. 
 
 Mouswah at Home 
 
 His upper lip was much larger than the under 
 one, and was useful in getting food, as a moose's 
 front teeth are all on his lower jaw. His ears were 
 long and flapping, and always moving back and 
 forth to catch the faintest sounds. His dark e3.'es 
 were small, and their expression was soft, although 
 
42 
 
 at times they could twinkle and look very savage. 
 His neck was short and covered with a short, shaggy 
 mane. Beneath his throat hung a gland covered 
 with hair which looked like a beard. 
 
 But Mouswah's great beauty lay in his pair of 
 large, spreading horns or antlers, different from 
 those of any other deer. Every season, about 
 December, these antlers dropped off; but new ones 
 began to grow again in March or April. Those 
 which he had at present were already more than 
 half grown, and were broad and spreading, with 
 many points. They were, however, still ' in the 
 velvet,' that is, they were still covered with the soft, 
 downy skin called velvet, which protects them while 
 they are growing. This skin would become dry 
 and leathery, by and by, and then the moose would 
 get rid of it by rubbing his horns against the 
 branches and trunks of trees. 
 
 Mouswah was fourteen years old. He had been 
 born on one of the pretty islands out in the lake 
 in front of him, whither his mother had gone for 
 safety; for bears and wolves were not likely to 
 come there. He was one of twins, and both he 
 and his sister, when very young, had been odd-look- 
 ing little creatures, with large, long legs and funny 
 faces ; but they were very jolly indeed, as they gal- 
 loped to and fro, kicking and striking and butting. 
 
43 
 
 The two moose calves had a very pleasant life, 
 following their kind mother through the woods. 
 But in September, when they were about five 
 months old, the mother moose refused to let them 
 come near her, and would have nothing more to do 
 with them. She knew that they were old enough 
 to look after themselves. So, since that time, 
 Mouswah had taken care of himself, and always 
 lived in the same beautiful forests which he knew 
 and loved so well. 
 
 For some time he kept near the lake, feeding on 
 the water-plants or browsing on the tender branches 
 of the trees which overhung the water. Sometimes 
 he would stay neck-deep in the lake, with only nose 
 and horns above the surface, so as to get rid of the 
 tormenting flies and mosquitoes. When the sun 
 had risen, he came up out of the lake and went 
 back among the tall forest trees to lie down and 
 rest. 
 
 All summer he wandered about alone, and 
 seemed perfectly happy and contented; but when 
 September came, and his dark brown horns had 
 become hard and polished and free from velvet, he 
 grew restless and thought it time to make use of 
 them. Then, too, while he was looking his best, it 
 was a good time to seek a mate. So off he started 
 in search of adventures. 
 
44 
 
 Away lie went through the forests, swimming 
 rivers or lakes, and making the waters hiss and 
 foam. He looked very fierce and angry, and his 
 loud, hoarse calls were heard for miles through the 
 woods. " Who dare fight me .? " he seemed to ask 
 — "w^, a full-grown moose with strong antlers.? 
 Surely, there is no cow moose in the forest who 
 would not choose me for her mate. Look at my 
 size. Look at my antlers, and let any moose who 
 will, come and fight." 
 
 One day a young moose answered his call. No 
 sooner had Mouswah seen that his rival was small 
 and without antlers, than, with bowed head and 
 flashing eyes, he rushed at him and made the 
 younger animal run away as fast as he could. 
 
 On another day, a full-grown moose challenged 
 him to fight. This time the enemy had fine antlers 
 and was very powerful, but Mouswah was not 
 afraid to give him battle. It was a fierce struggle 
 with horns and feet, and both animals were severely 
 wounded before they would stop. At last our 
 moose was victorious, and his foe, with an angry 
 cry of pain, left him and fled. 
 
 It was several days before Mouswah recovered 
 from his bruises, and he still felt rather stiff and 
 sore when once more he started on his journey. 
 About a week later, his cry was answered by the 
 
45 
 
 strange, grunting roar of a cow moose, and he hur- 
 ried off to follow the sounds. Away he galloped, 
 leaping great distances at a single bound, and step- 
 ping with ease over bowlders four or five feet high. 
 Nothing seemed to stop him, and he glided along 
 as quickly and yet as silently as if his path was 
 always clear in front of him. Even his great horns 
 were not in his way, for he threw them back flat on 
 his shoulders as he ran. Now and, again, the snap- 
 ping of his cloven hoofs could be heard as they 
 separated to fall together again each time the foot 
 left the ground. 
 
 At last "he came to a pretty open place in the for- 
 est near a tiny brook, and there, sure enough, was 
 a handsome cow moose. 
 
 But he did not care to stay with her. He was 
 too fond of going about alone, and was soon off 
 again, tramping through the woods. 
 
 When, however, the weather became cold, and 
 snow began to fall, Mouswah no longer objected 
 to company. A number of companions, standing 
 or lying close together, would keep one another 
 warm ; and it was far easier to make good paths 
 through the snow when several traveled the same 
 way. 
 
 So as Mouswah went along, he allowed others 
 that he chanced to meet to follow him. When, at 
 
46 
 
 length, he found a good place to rest, he was one 
 of a party of six, two does and three young moose 
 having joined him. 
 
 He had chosen for his winter home a spot cov- 
 ered with moss, and where grew many hardwood 
 trees. Here he and his companions could browse 
 on the tender twigs of the maple, the poplar, the 
 white ash, the aspen, the balsam fir, or the juniper; 
 and here they could enjoy the mosses and lichens 
 which grew in great abundance on the trees and 
 rocks. 
 
 They pulled down the branches with their long 
 upper lips, and then rode over them. That is, they 
 held a branch between their fore legs and slowly 
 pushed along it till all the twigs were reached. 
 The bark they pulled off by placing the roof-pads 
 of their mouths against the trees, then scraping up- 
 ward with their lower sharp, white teeth. They 
 could reach seven or eight feet up the trunk, and if 
 the bark was not too thick they could get a good 
 long piece. 
 
 They stayed in one place just as long as there was 
 anything at all to eat ; and there they made them- 
 selves a 'yard.' To do this, one moose would travel 
 to and fro across the space they were in, perhaps for 
 half a mile both ways, sometimes going in straight 
 lines, sometimes going in irregular circles, accord- 
 
47 
 
 ing to the way the trees grew. The other moose 
 would follow him, single file, using his very tracks, 
 so that after a while there was a network of deep, 
 narrow paths in the snow. Even when the snow 
 was very deep on all sides, the moose kept these 
 paths open, for it would have been hard work to 
 plow through fresh snow every time they went in 
 search of food ; and no ice crust would hold them, 
 and their long legs, at each step, would sink down 
 to the solid ground below. 
 
 Spring came, and then another summer, and it 
 was September again. Mouswah had long since 
 left his friends of the winter and returned alone to 
 his former haunts. All summer he had been enjoy- 
 ing himself in his usual way and letting a new pair 
 of antlers grow. 
 
 Now for several days, he had been hearing dis- 
 tant sounds which made him prick up his ears and 
 listen. One morning, however, they seemed very 
 near indeed, and he was sure there was no mistake 
 this time; they were the calls of a cow moose. 
 
 He answered with a loud bellowing roar, and 
 then crushed through the forest, rattling his great 
 antlers against the trees as he went. Every little 
 while the sounds were heard again, and seemed to 
 be leading him down to a lake. 
 
 With a last push through a tangled thicket, he 
 
48 
 
 found himself at the water's edge. Then he raised 
 his great head to look about. Just as he did so, 
 the loud report of a gun echoed through the forest 
 and he felt himself hit with something small and 
 hard. The pain was sharp, but quickly over. 
 
 Alas ! It had been no cow moose that had called 
 him, but an Indian guide with his birchen trumpet, 
 as he lay hidden in his canoe near the shore of the 
 lake. 
 
 Mouswah was such a handsome fellow and his 
 antlers were so broad and beautiful, that the Indian 
 had no trouble in seUing him to a white man whom 
 he knew. 
 
 The great creature was afterwards stuffed and 
 put into a glass case in a museum, where he is 
 looked at every day and very much admired. 
 
ZARAPPA 
 
 pvEEP within the upper part of the desert of Kal- 
 '-' ahari in South Africa lived a troop of giraffes. 
 It was perhaps a strange country to choose for a 
 home, and yet it suited the giraffes very well. 
 They could live many weeks without water, if nec- 
 essary, and with their long necks they could always 
 reach up to the branches of trees whose leaves were 
 good to eat even after the rainy season was over and 
 the grasses below were withered and dead. Then, 
 too, with their slender legs, they could go great dis- 
 tances over the desert country and search out all 
 the shady places where there might still be water. 
 
 In the troop were thirteen full-grown animals and 
 two young ones. Some were of a light fawn color, 
 some were dark orange-brown ; but all had dark 
 spots which were square in shape and separated by 
 lines of white. 
 
 One of the giraffes was particularly handsome 
 and well named ' Zarappa,' which in the Arab lan- 
 guage means graceful. He was nineteen feet high, 
 and his tall neck and large body were covered with 
 a very soft, glossy coat. His tail was nearly four 
 
 AN. AT HOME — 4 49 
 
50 
 
 feet long and ended in black hairs. His fore legs 
 looked to be longer than his hind ones, but really 
 were about the same length. On his knees were 
 
 -] thick, bristly caps which 
 made nice cushions for 
 him when kneeling. 
 
 On .the top of his head 
 and between his large 
 ears were two skin-covered 
 horns ; and his beautiful, 
 soft eyes, with their long 
 eyelashes,- were so placed 
 that he could see on all 
 sides, both backwards and 
 forwards. 
 
 It was noon time in the 
 desert, and the sun was 
 very hot. The giraffes 
 were headed for a cool 
 spot not far away where 
 all could rest and refresh 
 themselves. 
 
 They had been out 
 since early dawn, and had 
 stalked many miles over 
 the dry country. They had passed through flat, 
 waterless land covered with thick underbrush, and 
 
 Zarappa and his Mates 
 
SI 
 
 had crossed over plains carpeted with long, pale 
 yellow grass. They had had much hard traveling 
 to do, too, and had gone through thorns and thickets 
 of all kinds ; and many times they had been forced 
 to close their nostrils to. keep out the dust or sand 
 which came up in little whirlwinds from the ground. 
 Once in a while they stopped in some shady acacia 
 grove to browse on the juicy green leaves. As they 
 were feeding, their mottled coats looked so much 
 like some of the old weather-beaten trunks of the 
 acacias, that it would have been hard for an enemy 
 to tell one from the other. 
 
 In the course of their wandering, they often met 
 other creatures of the country. Now it was a small 
 antelope starting up from behind a bush. Now it 
 was a number of sand grouse feeding on the desert 
 seeds, now a brilliant blue bird flying out from a 
 tree, and now a number of butterflies, in reddish 
 dress, flickering about in the yellow grass. Once 
 in a while herds of large antelopes were seen, such 
 as the gembock, the eland, the hartebeest and koo- 
 doo; for these animals could also go a long time 
 without water. 
 
 The giraffes finally reached the place they had 
 started for, and it was indeed a delightful change 
 from the black ash dust and sandy soil they had 
 just been coming through. There they found a 
 
52 
 
 creek of refreshing water with many bubbhng 
 springs coming out to it. Groves of newly blos- 
 soming acacia trees and thickets of the evergreen 
 impala-bush were there in all their beauty. There, 
 too, was the mimosa, with its golden flowers; and 
 along the creek were reeds and long grasses which 
 bent and waved in every little breeze. 
 
 The giraffes at once made themselves at home. 
 Some stood perfectly still around a small thicket 
 of camel-thorns, content just to be in the shade. 
 Others lazily browsed on the tender, sweet leaves. 
 Some walked leisurely about, and others lay down 
 in the grass to sleep or to chew their cuds. 
 
 But the giraffes were not the only desert folk to 
 come to this garden-spot. It was fairly swarming 
 with all kinds of live things. The air was filled 
 with the sounds of millions of insects; great purple- 
 spotted butterflies fluttered here and there, swallows 
 darted about in the air, and larger animals were 
 there by the hundreds. 
 
 Near a bush-covered ant-hill lay an old wilde- 
 beest, with his flat muzzle buried in the grass. 
 Back of him, at a little distance, were two large 
 herds of wildebeests with their heavy brows and 
 floating manes. In each herd there were probably 
 a hundred animals. 
 
 Those of the first herd had just come, and were 
 
53 
 
 still moving about, or looking for places in which 
 to lie down. Some of the second herd were in the 
 creek, some were walking in and out of the long 
 grasses and reeds, and some were drinking or rolling 
 in the mud. 
 
 Still farther away, on a small ridge, were more 
 than two hundred richly-colored springboks, which 
 with graceful movements were going about and 
 feeding on the bushes called impalas. 
 
 Zarappa was one of the giraffes that were stand- 
 ing by the camel-thorn bushes and doing nothing. 
 Presently he raised his head a little and his horns 
 touched some leaves. This made him feel hungry, 
 and he put out his long tongue to get the sweet 
 morsels. The leaves were higher up than he at 
 first supposed, and obliged him to stretch his tongue 
 nearly a foot beyond his lips, in fact just as far as 
 he could, to reach them. He daintily pulled off one 
 leaf at a time and soon had gathered, enough for a 
 meal. While still browsing, he saw some of the 
 other giraffes go down to the creek and thought he 
 would go, too. When he reached the water's edge 
 he straddled his long fore legs far apart, and then 
 bending his neck into a half -circle he managed to 
 reach down to the water and get a good drink. 
 
 Hardly had he finished drinking when he was 
 startled by strange sounds. The place was no longer 
 
54 
 
 quiet and peaceful, for all at once every animal 
 seemed to be moving, and some appeared to be 
 badly frightened and ready to run away. What 
 was it that made them all so uneasy? 
 
 A moment later one of the zebras gave a warning 
 cry of danger, and two strange objects were seen 
 coming out of some distant brushwood. None of 
 the animals had ever before seen hunters on horse- 
 back, but they did not like their looks. The zebras 
 were the first to turn and flee. Then the wilde- 
 beests became alarmed too, and with heads down 
 and heels up, galloped off single file, closely followed 
 by the pretty springboks. 
 
 Indeed, but a moment or two had passed before 
 Zarappa found himself and his troop the only large 
 animals left. Then, too, the hunters were coming 
 nearer all the tirne. Zarappa began to think it 
 might be best to go away, too. So turning quickly 
 around, the huge fellow, with long, stately strides, 
 walked silently off, the whole troop following his 
 lead. 
 
 All at once the hunters fired their guns. It was 
 now, indeed, time to get away, and the giraffes 
 hurried off at full speed. With* great leaping bounds 
 they rushed along, their long necks rocking back 
 and forth, keeping time with each stride and their 
 pacing gait ; for they moved first both legs on one 
 
55 
 
 side and then both on the other, just like a racking- 
 horse. 
 
 The dust began to rise in clouds so thick as 
 almost to hide the giraffes from their pursuers, and 
 still they hurried on. Now down they went into 
 some hollow, now over some dry buffalo holes, or 
 across a dry watercourse and up on the other side, 
 — anywhere to escape. 
 
 At last they reached a thick, low forest. Here 
 in some places they pushed the slender, willowy 
 branches of the trees aside without pausing in their 
 flight ; in others they had to bow their long necks 
 in order to pass beneath such obstacles as were too 
 heavy to move. And no matter how close the 
 trees grew together, they could always see far 
 enough ahead to choose a path. 
 
 For an hour or two the giraffes continued their 
 wild retreat, and then finding that their enemies 
 were no longer in pursuit, they stopped to rest. 
 Before very long, as no new danger came to frighten 
 them, they once more began quietly browsing, as if 
 nothing had happened to disturb them. 
 
 Zarappa never permitted his herd to return to 
 their favorite feeding ground by the grove of acacias. 
 He knew that they would not be safe in a spot 
 which was known to hunters, especially to hunters 
 on horseback. 
 
BOOMER AND THE HOUNDS 
 
 DOOMER was a great gray kangaroo of the 
 *-^ species known as 'old men' or 'foresters,' 
 or sometimes merely as ' boomers.' These are 
 the largest of kangaroos. Boomer's body was five 
 
 feet long, and his 
 flattened tail three 
 feet long. His fur 
 was soft and gray- 
 brown, except on the 
 end of his tail where 
 it was black. His 
 head was long and 
 slender and rather 
 s m a 1 1, w i t h tall, 
 pointed ears and 
 W t/Mro^^^^^^^i/'-i '''^■'S^' soft eves. His 
 
 „ smaller than his hind 
 
 Boomer 
 
 legs, and each of his 
 fore feet had five toes with strong nails. His hind 
 legs were very long and j^owerful, but the feet had 
 only four toes. Although all these toes had sharp 
 
 5-6 
 
57 
 
 nails, there was on each third toe a specially strong 
 one, like a hoof, and these were the kangaroo's 
 chief weapons when fighting. 
 
 Boomer had been born in Australia, and there he. 
 had always lived. His first home had been in his 
 mother's pouch, a sort of bag made by a fold in her 
 fur. When he was a baby only a few hours old, his 
 mother had lifted him up with her lips, and with 
 her fore paws had placed him in this warm, safe 
 resting place. Then she had glued up the opening 
 to the pouch so that the baby should be very safe 
 till he was big and strong enough to come out. 
 
 It was well that the mother kangaroo was gentle 
 and kind with the baby, for he was a most delicate 
 wee thing, blind and helpless, and he would have 
 died at once if badly treated. 
 
 His tiny, transparent body was only about an 
 inch long and covered with a thin pink skin. 
 But by and by, as he had nothing to do but sleep 
 and be fed with the milk which the mother kangaroo 
 gave him in the pouch, he grew very fast, and 
 changed into a pretty-faced little creature about a 
 foot long, with soft, glossy fur. 
 
 When he was nearly two months old, he woke 
 up one day to think for the first time that he would 
 like to poke his head up out of his dark dwelling 
 place and look about him. 
 
58 
 
 At first he was frightened at the bright sunlight 
 and all the new objects he saw ; but soon he grew 
 braver, and once, when his mother had crouched 
 down to eat, he began also to nibble, and found the 
 green things very good. 
 
 A few days later, he had become so used to the 
 strange world about him that he even crawled 
 quite out from the pouch and browsed at his 
 mother's side. But after a few moments he 
 hopped back again, heels over head, to his safe 
 retreat. 
 
 And so day after day, he grew stronger and better 
 able to take care of himself, although he was nearly 
 seven months old before he would leave his mother 
 for good and all. During these months, he would 
 hop along by her side very contented until he be- 
 came tired, or something happened to frighten him, 
 and then he would hurry back to the pouch. Some- 
 times he was too badly scared .to get in alone, and 
 then his mother, no matter how fast she was going, 
 would pick up her little "Joey" (as baby kangaroos 
 are called) and put him safely back, always taking 
 care to keep his tiny face outside. 
 
 But that was long ago, and he was now a full- 
 grown kangaroo and could leap and bound as far 
 as any of his companions, and could take good care 
 of himself, too. 
 
Boomer was one day crouching down in some 
 grass, on a wide, open plain, and feeding on the 
 tender blades. Before long he raised his fore 
 paws from the ground, sat up on his hind legs like 
 a squirrel, and then with great bounds, sixteen feet 
 at a time, leaped off to join some companions in 
 the distance. 
 
 The other kangaroos had just reached the foot 
 of a low range of wooded hills which rose up from 
 the plain like an island. When Boomer overtook 
 them they were just making their way into one 
 of the gullies, or river beds, which wound in and 
 out between the grassy slopes. These gullies had 
 streams in them half the year, but now the water 
 was all dried up; for it was December — midsum- 
 mer in Australia — and there had been a drought 
 for two months. Still their bottoms were moist 
 enough for all sorts of green things to grow, and 
 they made very cool and pleasant resting places. 
 
 There were thick masses of shrubs with dark 
 green foliage, wild flowers, tall tree ferns on the 
 banks, and the ground was fairly carpeted with 
 smaller ferns and creeping vines with their pretty 
 purple or crimson blossoms. No wonder the kan- 
 garoos came to this charming place out of the heat 
 of the midday sun, and soon made themselves at 
 home. 
 
6o 
 
 In the 'mob' or herd were about thirty animals, 
 old and young. The young ones were all quite big 
 enough to look after themselves and to have a good 
 time playing together. Some of the kangaroos 
 would sit upright — their favorite position — and 
 nibble the young shrubs. Some would go on all 
 fours, like a hare, and eat the grass. Once in a 
 while one of the larger kangaroos would raise him- 
 self on his toes and tail till he stood six feet high, 
 and then look about on all sides to see if enemies 
 were near. Others of the kangaroos would keep so 
 perfectly still that they looked like fallen tree trunks, 
 or like the huge cone-shaped nests of the white ant. 
 
 After some hours of rest and refreshment, the 
 troop started out of the gully and began to go 
 slowly up the slopes near them. 
 
 As they neared the top of the hill, they came into 
 a young forest where the trees, growing quite far 
 apart, were so straight and alike in form and color 
 that they looked like columns. A little farther on 
 there was a piece of cleared land, partly overgrown 
 with shrubs and young trees. Here once more the 
 kangaroos stopped to browse. 
 
 They had been feeding but a short time when 
 a strange noise came to them from out of that part 
 of the forest which they had just left. Boomer, who 
 heard it first, at once thumped the ground with his 
 
6i 
 
 hind foot as a signal of alarm, and all the others 
 lifted their heads to listen and look about. 
 
 Hardly had they done so when a Scotch deer- 
 hound rushed out from the trees into the clearing 
 and made a dash for Boomer's throat. Not having 
 time to get away, the kangaroo caught the dog up 
 in his fore paws, and with a fierce stroke of one of 
 his sharp hind claws, ripped him open and killed 
 him. The other kangaroos had in the. meantime 
 rushed off down the farther side of the hill. 
 
 No sooner had Boomer freed himself of his enemy 
 than he, too, hurried away. First he took very high 
 jumps, with his head up, then he stooped forward 
 and shot away, taking leaps of twenty-five feet at a 
 time. He went so far at each jump, and took them 
 so quickly one after another, that he looked as if he 
 were flying. 
 
 Glancing back as he hurried along, he saw a 
 whole pack of hounds and two hunters on horse- 
 back. This fearful sight gave him new strength 
 and he bounded on faster than ever. He wished 
 to reach a pond or lake where he could take better 
 care of himself. 
 
 Over tree stumps and logs, over masses of ferns, 
 and shrubs, over young trees six feet in height he 
 leaped. Nothing seemed too high for him to go 
 over in one of his great jumps. On, on he went. 
 
62 
 
 through tangles of brushwood and thickets of young 
 trees and through coarse, long grass, until at last 
 the plain was reached and the waters of a pretty 
 little lagoon or lake were seen in the near distance. 
 
 All this time the enemy still followed, and often 
 the hounds would get fearfully close. Five miles 
 had been traveled when Boomer, still in the lead, 
 reached the lagoon and splashed into the water. 
 In his mad race he had lost sight of his companions 
 and now found himself quite alone. 
 
 Hardly had he gone more than fifty feet from the 
 shore, when three of the dogs reached the bank and 
 plunged in after him. But now the kangaroo had 
 the best of it, for with his long legs he could wade 
 in the water, whereas the dogs had to swim. 
 
 As the first hound came up to him, Boomer 
 caught him up in his fore paws and put him under 
 the water. Here he held him so long that the half- 
 drowned hound was only too glad to make for the 
 shore as soon as the kangaroo dropped him to 
 attack the second one who had come up behind 
 and was jumping up and biting him in the back. 
 
 Just as the kangaroo had succeeded in getting 
 hold of the second dog, and was holding him under 
 the water, a whistle was heard, at which the third 
 hound turned and swam back to the shore. 
 
 Luckily for Boomer, the hunters had followed 
 
63 
 
 his companions instead of him, and were calling the 
 dogs to attack them. So, although wounded, he 
 was now quite safe. Even the dog under the water 
 was ceasing to struggle, and would never be able to 
 harm any one again. 
 
 Two hours later the kangaroo lay quietly resting 
 on the bank of the lagoon. It was sunset, and the 
 soft light threw a pink haze over land and water. 
 The whole scene was one of peace and beauty, and 
 no one would have thought that a fierce battle for 
 life or death had been fought there such a short 
 time before. 
 
 Across the plain, in the distance, partly hidden 
 in the dim light, were the low hills from which 
 the kangaroos had fled, and the little lake was 
 giving back all the beautiful tints of the clouds and 
 sky. 
 
 But Boomer was not alone in his charming rest- 
 ing place. Near the shore stood a great giant crane 
 — as tall as a man — with black and white feathers. 
 Near him, in the mud and weeds, were some smaller 
 cranes and ibises wading about, some of which were 
 pure white, while others were bluish-gray, or black 
 and white. 
 
 In the center of the lagoon floated a beautiful 
 pelican with its plumage all spread out, and near 
 him a dozen black swans were lazily swimming. 
 
64 
 
 Farther away were black ducks and wood ducks 
 and pygmy geese, and all sorts of wild game. 
 
 And here in this lovely spot we will leave our' 
 kangaroo to rest and let his wounds heal, for he 
 was very tired and sore from the day's adventures. 
 Indeed, he had been too worn out even to wonder 
 what had become of his companions. Perhaps 
 when his troop came together again he would 
 wonder why so many were missing. 
 
MOTHER RIGHTWHALE AND HER 
 LITTLE ONE 
 
 lyi OTHER RIGHTWHALE made her home 
 ^ " * in Baffin's Bay. She was in the habit of swim- 
 ming many miles a day, in these cold, deep waters ; 
 but there came a time when she could not go so far 
 nor so fast as usual because at her side swam a pre- 
 cious baby whale who must not be tired out. 
 
 As she gracefully pushed her way through the 
 great waves, Mother Rightwhale was a wonderful 
 sight. Her fat, velvety, black body was sixty feet 
 long and nearly half as large round. It ended in 
 a broad, powerful tail which lay flat in the water, 
 and it had on each side a long, wide arm called a 
 flipper, with which she could hold herself straight. 
 
 Her head was one third as long as her body, and 
 in shape something like that of a fish. Her mouth 
 was a huge cavity, oddly shaped, and when wide 
 open was ten feet wide and seven feet across. Her 
 tongue, which was fastened tight in her mouth, was 
 like a great soft cushion. She had two small, white 
 eyes, and on top of her head were narrow openings 
 called ' blowholes.' 
 
 AN. AT HOME — S ^5 
 
66 
 
 The hal^y whale was much like his mother in shape 
 and color, and about ten feet long. He was a lively 
 
 young creature, and had been able to follow his 
 mother in her paths through the seas ever since 
 he first came into the woidd. 
 
67 
 
 One day when the baby was about a week old the 
 two whales were floating on the surface of the water 
 to rest. Suddenly the mother heard a strange 
 noise. A sea gull had alighted on her back and was 
 flapping its wings. Not knowing what the sound 
 was, and afraid it might mean danger (for she had 
 many enemies and dreaded the swordfish), she 
 quickly clasped her baby under a flipper and dived 
 down, down, down into the safe, dark regions below. 
 
 Nearly half an hour later, the mother whale with 
 her little one came up again to the surface, but a 
 long distance from the place she had gone down. 
 She needed fresh air, for she was not a fish after all, 
 and could only breathe when her ' blowholes ' were 
 well out of water. 
 
 Suddenly a huge column of vapor came rushing 
 out of Mother Rightwhale's nostrils making a noise 
 which might have been heard a long distance. This 
 strange way of breathing was gone through eight or 
 nine times in about as many minutes, and then the 
 great creature was quite herself again. 
 
 Indeed, she was feeling very happy with the little 
 one beside her and was almost as playful as he. To 
 show her good spirits, she had no sooner finished 
 'blowing' than she stood on her head in the water 
 and began to flap the waves with her tail. 
 
 How the little whale enjoyed the fun and noise, 
 
68 
 
 and how he frolicked about in the great mass of 
 foam and tried to do the same tricks himself ! For, 
 like his mother, he had no voice with which to tell his 
 joy. Indeed, the only way he could make himself 
 heard at all was by ' blowing ' or by doing some 
 such antic as this, and so, of course, he tried hard to 
 learn. 
 
 By and by, the mother whale became hungry and 
 seeing that the baby stayed near her, she started off 
 in search of food. Soon she came to a part of the 
 ocean where there was plenty to eat, for the water 
 was covered for miles and miles with the small living 
 creatures which float near its surface. 
 
 Swimming slowly along. Mother Rightwhale 
 opened her huge mouth. Instead of teeth she had 
 hundreds of whalebones or 'baleen,' of different 
 sizes, hanging down from the roof of her mouth 
 like fringes. Those in the middle were the longest 
 and measured ten or twelve feet. 
 
 As her great jaws separated, these elastic whale- 
 bones, which had been lying folded back, began to 
 straighten themselves and, being held in at the 
 bottom by the whale's fat lower lip, no matter 
 how wide she opened her mouth, they still covered 
 the opening. 
 
 As the whale's mouth opened, in rushed the water, 
 carrying with it millions and millions of such crea- 
 
69 
 
 tures as were not too large to get through the strainer 
 at the door and so just the right size to go down her 
 very narrow throat. In went shrimps, worms, crabs, 
 lobsters, jellyfish, sea nettles, and herrings, and scores 
 of other small animals. 
 
 When the whale's jaws closed again, the water 
 ran out at the sides, but the dinner so nicely caught 
 in the meshes of the whalebone sieve fell down on 
 the soft tongue inside to remain there till she was 
 ready to swallow it. 
 
 The baby whale had no whalebones in his mouth 
 with which to catch dinners, nor would any be fully 
 grown for a whole year. During those months, the 
 mother whale would have to look after him and ten- 
 derly see to his wants. 
 
 And thus, day after day and week after week, the 
 baby whale and his mother sported together and 
 swam hundreds of miles through the cold northern 
 seas. With sweeps of their great, strong tails they 
 could go as fast as they liked — or dive down far out 
 of sight, or jump quite out of the water. It was a 
 happy life they lived, and although it had many 
 dangers it had many joys, too. 
 
 But alas ! One day as the mother whale and the 
 baby were at the surface of the water, they were 
 suddenly surrounded by a number of large, dark 
 objects. 
 
70 
 
 These objects were small boats which had been 
 lowered from a whaling ship now a few hundred 
 rods away. The fishermen had sharp iron harpoons 
 with which to catch their prey, and spearlike lances 
 with which to kill them when they were too tired to 
 try to get away and were near enough to be reached. 
 
 Mother Rightwhale had seen fishermen's boats 
 only once before, and that was so long ago that 
 she had forgotten all about them ; and now she 
 mistook these for some new kind of fish. 
 
 Before she had time to find out her error, she 
 was hit in the side by one of the harpoons. This 
 frightened her so badly that she dived down into the 
 water with such a rush that she broke loose from 
 the harpoon. 
 
 Then she remembered her little one. Where was 
 he .'' She must go back and find him even if there 
 were enemies about. 
 
 Rising again to the surface of the water, she darted 
 here and there, within plain sight of the boats, and 
 at last found the baby swimming around in the very 
 midst of danger. Quicker than a flash she had him 
 under her flipper and was again diving down to the 
 safe places below, when she felt herself held back. 
 What was the matter.? The sailors had harpooned 
 the baby in the hopes of thus getting the mother 
 whale who, they thought, would be sure to come 
 
71 
 
 back for her little one. And of course the sailors 
 were right. She had come backhand in her struggles 
 to get the baby free she came near enough to her 
 enemies to be harpooned. It was not long before 
 she lay wounded and dying on the surface of the 
 great ocean where she had been so happy a few 
 hours before. 
 
THE KITTENS' STRANGE HOME 
 
 A TRUE STORY 
 
 T ITTLE Kate Drew had a number of pet gray 
 '-^ squirrels. These pretty creatures built their 
 nests in the tall trees around Kate's home and were 
 very tame. 
 
 A great willow, which stood just in front of the 
 house, and near which Kate and her papa always 
 kept plenty of nuts, had become the favorite place 
 for building homes, and at least three nests could 
 be seen in its huge branches. 
 
 The lowest of these nests had been deserted. It 
 lay in a notch formed by two enormous limbs and 
 was made of twigs, grasses, hay, and leaves, with an 
 entrance at the side. 
 
 One day, just as Kate and her papa had come 
 out to feed their pets, they heard several feeble 
 mews. " It must be Puss's kittens," said Mr. Drew. 
 "We've been wondering where they were." 
 
 " It sounds as if they were in the air," said Kate, 
 "but of course that can't be." 
 
 This remark made her papa look up, and hear- 
 ing the cries again, he felt sure they came from the 
 
 72 
 
73 
 
 willow tree. But what would kittens be doing up 
 there ! 
 
 Just then Kate caught hold of her papa's hand 
 and exclaimed in great distress, "Oh, papa, there's 
 Puss going up the wil- 
 low after my squirrels ! " 
 
 " I think, dear," was 
 his quiet reply, " that 
 Puss is only going to 
 her babies, for I begin 
 to suspect that she has 
 hidden her family in 
 the deserted squirrel 
 nest. Let us keep still 
 and watch." 
 
 Puss was some time 
 scrambling up the high 
 trunk of the willow, and 
 once or twice it was all she 
 could do to keep hold of the 
 rouo-h bark. But when she 
 reached the nest, she disappeared 
 inside and the mewing stopped. 
 
 Then Mr. Drew sent Tom, the gardener, after a 
 ladder, and had him climb up and look into the 
 nest. Sure enough, there were three tiny kittens 
 cuddled close to their mother. 
 
 "There's Puss going 
 the willow." 
 
 up 
 
74 
 
 Puss had actually discovered this high, safe, hid- 
 ing place herself, and here her babies had been born. 
 
 "We can't leave them here," said Mr. Drew, "for 
 fear of our squirrels." So he had the little helpless 
 creatures carefully taken down from the nest and 
 carried to the barn, where a soft place was made for 
 them in the hay. 
 
 Puss was very unhappy, at first, because her 
 babies were disturbed, but at last, finding no harm 
 had come to them, she settled down in her new 
 quarters and seemed as contented as ever. 
 
MRS. GRAY SQUIRREL 
 
 " IT'S time to begin my spring house cleaning," 
 * thouglnt Mrs. Gray Squirrel, as she frisked 
 about on the beautiful lawn of little Lou's home. 
 " Mr. and Mrs. Robin arrived this morning, and if 
 I don't look out, they'll be building in my tree." 
 
 Off she darted to a tall, graceful weeping willow 
 just in front of the great house in which little Lou 
 lived. With a hop, 
 skip, and jump, the 
 
 squirrel reached iaa^ X'^ 
 
 the huge tree. A 
 graceful scramble 
 and she was up the 
 high trunk and 
 away into the great 
 branches far over- 
 head. Soon her nest, in a notch about halfway 
 up the willow, was reached and found to be just as 
 she had left it a few days before. 
 
 " I must get to work at once," again thought the 
 squirrel, and she turned to go down the tree in 
 search of twigs and leaves. She had just reached 
 
 75 
 
76 
 
 one of the large, lower branches, when she espied a 
 queer, dark green object there, which she had not 
 seen before. " What can it be ? " she wondered. 
 " I must go and see." 
 
 It took the active little climber but a moment to 
 reach the new bird house (for such it was), which 
 little Lou's father had had placed there that very 
 morning. '' What an odd nest ! " was Mrs. Squirrel's 
 next thought, " and how does one get into it ? Oh, 
 I see ! " she cried with delight, as she discovered 
 the round hole in front. " What a nice home this 
 will make. I must see what's inside." 
 
 She put in her head. Alas ! The hole was so 
 small that her body, although very slim and delicate, 
 could not squeeze through. " Oh, dear ! " she sighed, 
 " what am I to do ? " But a thought came to her, 
 and she at once went to work to make the hole 
 larger. She nibbled and nibbled ; bit and bit round 
 and round the edges, only stopping every little while 
 to try if the opening were yet big enough. 
 
 At last she managed to get inside and eagerly 
 looked about. It was a very cozy place and the 
 floor was all covered with something soft and 
 sweet. 
 
 " I must tell Father Squirrel about this new nest, 
 and we need not trouble to make over our old one," 
 thought Mrs. Squirrel. It never once entered her 
 
tiny head that perhaps she was stealing the robin's 
 hqme. 
 
 For a few mornings, Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel 
 worked very hard to furnish their new home, and 
 soon had it in order. 
 
 All went well in ' Squirrel Nest ' till May came. 
 Then Mrs. Squirrel became very cross and would 
 no longer allow her mate to come near her or to 
 enter their new residence. At last, Mr. Squirrel 
 grew tired of being chased, teased, and scratched, 
 and went off to the deserted nest above, where he 
 made a home for himself. 
 
 But there was a reason for Mrs. Squirrel's bad 
 temper. Four tiny kitten squirrels had made their 
 appearance and now lay blind and' helpless on the 
 soft leaves and hay. Mrs. Squirrel was so jealous 
 of her offspring that she would allow no one to 
 come near them, not even their father. She thought 
 her poor little ugly nurslings the most beautiful 
 babies that had ever been born. 
 
 For a whole month, the faithful mother fed and 
 nursed her kittens and only left them when she 
 went out to get food and water. 
 
 One day, when the mother squirrel came back to 
 the nest, she found but three of her babies cuddled 
 together and fast asleep. Where was the other 
 one .'* The anxious parent scratched up the hay 
 
78 
 
 and leaves and searched in every corner of the 
 house, but not a sign of her missing darling could 
 she find. At last, tired out, she lay down beside 
 the remaining ones. 
 
 Some hours later, Mother Squirrel again left the 
 nest. She was hungry and knew she had only to 
 go to the foot of the willow to find all the nuts she 
 could eat, for she had heard the strange call of the 
 tall, odd creatures who came every day to feed her. 
 
 Mother Squirrel went carefully down the willow, 
 for although she was not afraid of the giants, she 
 was afraid of those four-footed animals with sharp 
 claws and bright eyes who were so often on the 
 watch for her. 
 
 Seeing nothing to fear, the squirrel was soon on 
 the ground. She was just going to take up a nut 
 when something strange- met her eyes. What was 
 that dark object lying there so still, and yet — she 
 went a little nearer. Her mother heart gave a 
 bound of joy. Her lost baby was just at her feet! 
 
 Quickly taking it in her mouth, by the nape of 
 the neck, — just as cats carry their kittens, — the 
 squirrel hastened toward the willow. 
 
 It was a heavy bundle for so small a mother to 
 carry, but Mrs. Squirrel never stopped till she had 
 placed her dear one once more in its bird-house 
 home. 
 
79 
 
 Strange to say, the little creature had not been 
 killed by its fall from the nest, although the dis- 
 tance was at least thirty feet, and it was soon as 
 lively as ever. Little Lou and her papa had seen 
 the helpless object, so like a young mouse, and had 
 put a circle of nuts around it so that its mother 
 would not fail to find it. , They feared if they 
 touched it themselves they might kill the delicate, 
 tiny thing. 
 
 When the babies were a month old, they began 
 to venture out of their home and would sit on the 
 veranda of the bird house and even go a short dis- 
 tance out on the branch, on which it rested. 
 
 It took them some time to learn to balance them- 
 selves and to use their fluffy tails ; and they were 
 still longer in learning to jump and climb easily, 
 although Mother Squirrel was an excellent teacher 
 and gave them lessons every fine day. 
 
 Mrs. Squirrel would run a short distance down 
 the trunk of the willow and then stop and wait for 
 the babies to follow. But the babies were timid, 
 and the patient mother had to show them -the way 
 many times before they would go the whole disr 
 tance to the ground. But when at last they had 
 learned the way, they scampered up and down, wild 
 with glee, and spent many merry hours on the lawn 
 below. At first, they would remain quite close to 
 
8o 
 
 the foot of the willow, and then, at the least sound, 
 would rush back up the trunk ; but by degrees 
 they grew more courageous, and would turn som- 
 ersaults in the grass or would run back and forth, 
 and up and down, and learn how to spring from 
 one bush to another. By the time they were old 
 enough to try such antics high up in the tall trees, 
 they were no longer afraid and were very skillful. 
 
 But the best time of all was in the very early 
 morning. How the little squirrels would run and 
 frisk about then. They would go to the sparkling 
 fountain close to the willow and drink of its pure, 
 fresh water. They would sometimes even follow 
 their mother to the vegetable garden at the back of 
 the great house and help themselves to the tender 
 young plants or to the juicy fruits growing there. 
 
 As they grew older their mother taught them 
 how to find nuts which she had buried weeks, even 
 months, before, and how to bury others for future 
 use. They became very busy and clever, as well as 
 graceful and pretty, animals. And when the time 
 arrived- — as before autumn it did — for them to go 
 out into the world alone and make homes for them- 
 selves, they were quite able to do all the useful 
 things which a gray squirrel has need to do. 
 
TIMOOR 
 
 O PLASH! Splash! Splash! A huge elephant 
 ^ whose name was Timoor was walking with 
 great strides into a deep, rushing river. As the 
 water came up higher and higher, and at last 
 covered his whole body, the elephant raised the tip 
 of his trunk well out of the water and began quietly 
 to swim. 
 
 Although deep, the river was not wide, and in a 
 few moments the large animal had reached the 
 shallows of the opposite banks. Wet and dripping, 
 he slowly waded out of the river again and silently 
 mounted the sloping shore. 
 
 It was June, and the rainy season was just begin- 
 ning in the hot country of southern India, where 
 the elephant made his home. He was traveling 
 with his herd in search of food and water, and had 
 come out of the dense forest jungles of the moun- 
 tains, where he spent the dry season, to range a 
 while in the lighter belt of forest in the country 
 below. 
 
 There were, indeed, many things to tempt the 
 herd out into the more open country, for there the 
 
 AN. AT HOME — 6 8l 
 
82 
 
 streams and marshes were full of water, the grass 
 was young, tender, and sweet, and every green 
 thing had put on its spring dress of beauty. 
 
 In the herd were about forty elephants, and all 
 near relatives, being grandfathers, grandmothers. 
 
 Timoor and his Brothers. 
 
 brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters. Some were 
 ' tuskers,' that is, male elephants with tusks ; some 
 were ' mucknas,' that is, male elephants without 
 tusks ; and there was a great number of mother 
 elephants with little calves at their sides, besides 
 young elephants of different ages and sizes. 
 
83 
 
 Timoor was one of the largest and handsomest 
 animals of the herd. His body was nine feet six 
 inches high at the shoulders and was covered with 
 a thick, hard, brown-gray skin. His legs were 
 short but very stout and strong. His tail was long 
 and well tufted at the end. His ears were large 
 and smooth, and his beautiful ivory tusks (over four 
 feet long) were gracefully curved and without a 
 single crack or blemish. Hanging down from his 
 great head, in front, was his wonderful trunk, use- 
 ful in many ways, and long enough to touch the 
 ground even when curled at the tip. 
 
 With this trunk Timoor could reach for his food 
 and then carry it to his mouth. He could draw 
 water into its lower end and then blow the water 
 into his mouth, over his back, or, indeed, anywhere 
 he might choose. Besides this, it was useful for 
 breathing, for smelling, for touching objects in the 
 dark as well as in the light, or for scenting enemies 
 too far away to be seen. Then, too, with it he could 
 talk. For the many sounds which came from his 
 trunk or from his throat all meant something in 
 elephant language. When angry or afraid he made 
 a loud or shrill trumpet sound with his trunk, or 
 else grumbled or roared from his throat or lungs. 
 When pleased, he used his trunk for a long, low, 
 squeaking sound like a soft purr. 
 
84 
 
 Timoor had been born one October day, twenty- 
 seven years before, far up in the dense forests of 
 the ' Elephant Mountains,' or as they are called in 
 India, the 'Animallai Hills,' for ' ani ' means ele- 
 phants and ' mallai ' means mountains. 
 
 He was a pretty little fellow from the day he 
 was born, having a smooth, shiny, dark brown skin. 
 He was then but three feet high and looked very . 
 small beside his huge mother, whom he followed 
 everywhere and imitated in every way he could. 
 At first his little trunk, ten inches long, was rather 
 stiff and he did not quite know how to use it, but 
 by the time he was a few months old he could 
 swing it from side to side almost as quickly and 
 often as his mother, who, like all wild elephants, 
 hardly kept hers still a moment. 
 
 For six months his kind mother fed him entirely 
 with milk, which he took with his little mouth, turn- 
 ing up his trunk as he did so. Then he began to 
 take a little tender green grass and soon liked it 
 very much. By and by, when his tiny tusks or 
 teeth were long enough to be proud of, he learned 
 to reach about more and more with his trunk, until 
 he was very skillful indeed in getting himself good 
 things to eat. 
 
 Ever since he was two days old he had been able 
 to walk, and although his mother had to push him 
 
8s 
 
 over steep places he could go, most of the time, 
 quite as fast as the rest of the herd. 
 
 He was but a few days old when his mother led 
 him into the first river he had ever seen. He was 
 following close at her heels, and before he knew 
 what the cold, dark water was it came up, far up, 
 above his fat little legs and frightened him almost 
 to death. Then, when he would go no farther, his 
 mother took him up in her trunk, and holding him 
 safe in front of her, swam with him thus across the 
 river. 
 
 After that, whenever there was a river to cross 
 he would scramble up on his mother's shoulders 
 and hold on with his stout little legs. This he 
 continued to do until he grew much older; but at 
 last he learned to swim and began to love the cool 
 water, and would splash about in it by the hour. 
 
 When he was nearly three years old a young 
 brother was born, and with this new companion he 
 had more fun than ever. 
 
 But those merry times were over many years ago, 
 and now he wis a full-grown elephant. As ele- 
 phants live to be one hundred years old, they are 
 not full grown before they are twenty-five. Timoor 
 had been over his native hills time and time again 
 and knew every part of them well. He knew where 
 to find marshes and rivers. He knew where grew 
 
86 
 
 the bamboos with their long, green, feathery stems, 
 and where to find delicious young trees with tender 
 leaves, roots, or bark. 
 
 The trail the elephants were now following was 
 one which Timoor and his companions had taken 
 before. It was leading them at present over a wild, 
 tangled, and hilly bit of country with a long stretch 
 of bamboo forest on both sides of the river which 
 had just been crossed. 
 
 A number of mother elephants, going Indian file 
 and taking the lead, as was the custom, were some 
 distance ahead with their calves at their sides. 
 They had left a broad, well-trampled path behind 
 them. Bamboos by the score, which they had pulled 
 up or broken, lay in piles here and there all over 
 the ground. 
 
 As Timoor was sauntering along, swinging his 
 great trunk from side to side and switching his tail 
 in all directions, he came to a clump of bamboos, 
 in the center of which he saw a soft, juicy young 
 shoot fully twenty feet high. 
 
 This was too tempting a morsel to pass by, and 
 the elephant stopped. Reaching forward and upward 
 with his trunk, he grasped the stem and then slowly 
 stepped backward, pulling as he went. The long, 
 graceful shoot tottered, cracked, and came down 
 with a crash. No sooner was it on the ground than 
 
87 
 
 down came Timoor's heavy fore feet, crushing it 
 into many small, juicy pieces which he carried to 
 his mouth and ate with a noisy champ ! champ ! 
 
 For several hours the elephants remained in the 
 bamboo forest, and when they departed they left 
 a forlorn-looking place behind. They had pulled 
 down and smashed to pieces more than two acres of 
 bamboos, and left hundreds of the long, green 
 stems lying about in ragged piles. 
 
 Thus, slowly and quietly, day after day, and week 
 after week, the herd went farther and farther, wan- 
 dering over broad grassy plains, up hill and down, 
 over mountains and through valleys, across marshes 
 and rivers, through open places and dense forests. 
 Nor did the elephants have these fair latids all to 
 themselves. Often a tiger, panther, or bear was 
 seen or heard as it prowled about in the heavy 
 forests or dense jungles. Sometimes a wild hog or 
 a spotted deer hurriedly disappeared in the distance. 
 Sometimes the rush of a jungle-fowl or of some bird 
 on the wing would be heard in the thickets. 
 
 The elephants seldom stayed more than two days 
 in one place, for by that time every green thing 
 within reach was eaten or destroyed. Young trees 
 would be broken down or uprooted for the sake of a 
 very few twigs or young shoots. Bushes would be 
 thrown on one side and left with scarcely a leaf. 
 
88 
 
 The branches of the larger trees would be torn off, 
 wisps of long grass would be torn up by the roots 
 and together with tangled, thorny vines trampled 
 under foot. 
 
 The herd often rested during the midnight hours, 
 but would be up again by three in the morning to 
 feed or march farther. If the weather was cool and 
 showery, and mists hung among the hills, they would 
 keep moving all day. But when a severe storm 
 came up, they would hide in the warm bamboo 
 covers and come out only during the breaks in the 
 tempest. Then they would gather in groups and 
 place themselves on some high, bare rocks where 
 they could bask in the sunlight and dry their great 
 bodies. 
 
 December came at length, and the rainy season 
 neared its end. The lower jungles were getting 
 dry, and food was scarce. The streams were low, 
 and in places the leaves were beginning to fall and 
 the tall grasses had gone to seed. It was indeed 
 time to go back to the high forests, and the elephants 
 turned their faces toward the mountains. 
 
 Two weeks later, as the herd was browsing on 
 the edge of a fine forest, Timoor began to smell 
 smoke and to hear the far away crackle of fire. He 
 knew what that meant, and gave out a shrill 
 trumpet sound of alarm. 
 
89 
 
 It was a fire which the jungle people had started 
 to get rid of the tall, dry grass and heavy under- 
 brush which had grown up during the rainy season 
 and which made the forests almost impassable. 
 These fires were lighted every year, and therefore 
 Timoor knew just what to do. So with his com- 
 panions he hurried off, at his fastest shuffle, and by 
 a circuitous route came to the farther side of the 
 rushing flames and blinding smoke which were soon 
 seen in the distance. 
 
 It was well that the elephants had not tried to go 
 ahead of the fire; they would surely have been 
 caught, for the wind was high, and the flames were 
 coming nearer and nearer at great speed. 
 
 For miles the country was aflame. The roaring 
 noise was terrible as the huge clouds of smoke 
 rolled along followed by buzzards and fly-catchers 
 busy getting the insects that were trying to escape 
 from the smoke. Sometimes the burning bamboos 
 or grass stalks would explode, and everywhere there 
 was confusion. Terror-stricken all the larger ani- 
 mals fled away as fast as they could, and the 
 snakes and land tortoises buried themselves in 
 holes in the ground. 
 
 At night the wind died down a little, and the 
 heavy dews made everything damp or wet so that 
 the fire did not travel quite so fast as by day. Still 
 
90 
 
 the sky was reddened for miles and miles by its 
 wonderful light ; and long after the elephants were 
 quite safe behind the track of the fire, the blackened 
 ground was warm where the flames had passed 
 over it. 
 
 Nor were their dangers yet over. One evening 
 while the elephants were resting in a part of the 
 forest where there was plenty to eat and many 
 streams of water, they were again alarmed. 
 
 This time the sounds were strange, and the ele- 
 phants turned their ears first in one direction and 
 then in another to listen. Soon the whole air 
 seemed full of noises, which kept coming nearer 
 and nearer and growing louder and louder. Then, 
 all at once, out of the darkness, came strange mov- 
 ing forms and waving flames of fire. 
 
 The herd was surrounded by hundreds of native 
 elephant catchers, who were trying to drive it into 
 a great trap or 'keddah.' This trap was simply a 
 part of the forest inclosed by a fence of stout posts 
 and logs. It had an opening at one end, over 
 which hung a gate ready to be dropped down as 
 soon as the poor captives should all have passed 
 under it. The men had been many weeks in build- 
 ing this trap. 
 
 Of course Timoor and his companions did not 
 understand what was happening to them, but the 
 
91 
 
 noises and the lights made them mad with terror, 
 and it was no wonder that they did the very thing 
 they ought not to have done, and were soon 
 caught. 
 
 When Timoor found himself shut inside the ked- 
 dah and enemies all about it, he became very angry 
 and made up his mind to get out. What were those 
 queer-looking things which stood up so straight and 
 barred his way ? Surely he could break through 
 them. But when he tried to push them to one side 
 he was forced to go back. The yells and cries of 
 the men and the noise of their tom-toms and blank 
 cartridges were indeed unearthly sounds to him, 
 and the hot burning torches were enough to frighten 
 any wild beast. 
 
 At last Timoor could do nothing but join his 
 companions who were huddled together in the cen- 
 ter of the keddah, too tired and hopeless to fight 
 any more. 
 
 The next thing he knew, two of his legs were tied 
 together and he was being led between two strange 
 elephants, away from his companions, into the dark 
 forest outside. 
 
 Two years later, Timoor was again walking along 
 in his slow, stately way, but this time he was not in 
 the lonely path of the forest, or among the high 
 grasses of the jungle. A fine, broad city street lay 
 
92 
 
 ahead of him now, and people instead of ti'ees stood 
 on all sides of him. 
 
 Following the commands of his ' mahout ' or 
 driver, who, with silver goad in his hand, walked at 
 his head, Timoor was leading a great procession 
 of more than a hundred elephants, and, like all the 
 rest, was decked in the brightest and costliest trap- 
 pings. On his back was a golden ' howdah,' in 
 which sat his royal master, one of the rich, dark- 
 skinned princes of Pndia. On his sides were bright 
 red silk cloths heavily embroidered in gold, as were 
 also his headpiece and his forehead lap. From his 
 tusks hung silver bells. 
 
 Timoor's beauty had saved him from hard work. 
 Instead of being kept in his native forests to 
 haul and pile timber, as were most of his compan- 
 ions, he had been purchased at once and taken to 
 his present elegant home. Ever since, he had been 
 carefully cared for and trained, and was now the 
 favorite ' Koomeriah ' (thoroughbred elephant) of his 
 royal master. 
 
SEALS IN THE AQUARIUM 
 
 /^N one of the six large oblong tanks in the 
 ^^ New York Aquarium is a sign which reads, 
 ' West Indian Seals.' The name attracts the visitor 
 who, having never seen a West Indian seal, goes 
 nearer to watch _ 
 
 and study the 3-, 
 
 odd little animals. 
 To his surprise, he 
 finds but one speci- 
 men — and that a 
 small one — swim- 
 ming about in his 
 narrow quarters. 
 As the curious 
 creature swims 
 about in his three 
 feet of salt water, 
 his movements are 
 
 graceful, as well as quick and vigorous. Sometimes 
 he remains upright, but oftener deftly turns himself 
 and with as much ease swims along on his back. 
 The many curious faces gazing at him from over 
 
 93 
 
94 
 
 the railing of his tank do not seem to trouble him 
 in the least, and on he hurries and on, always round 
 and round, till the looker-on gets dizzy watching, and 
 wonders if he will never stop. 
 
 A keeper touches him with a cane, and the seal 
 stops a moment to make sure it is in fun, then raises 
 his sm?.li, rounded head with its short neck, opens 
 his mick fleshy lips, and makes a dash at the stick. 
 By jumping partly out of the water, the seal is suc- 
 cessful in getting the prize, and the keeper has all 
 he can do to get his cane loose again. 
 
 Then the playful, intelligent, if odd-looking, ani- 
 mal is off once more. Round and round his tank 
 he swims, only stopping now and again to puff and 
 blow when he comes to the surface for air. 
 
 The visitor becomes more and more interested 
 in the strange creature and wishes to learn some- 
 thing about his life history. The guide-book tells 
 too little to satisfy, and so information is sought 
 elsewhere. 
 
 It seems that about ten years ago, a Mexican 
 explorer, while making explorations, came to the 
 ' Triangle Reefs,' off the coast of Yucatan, where he 
 saw a number of these seals basking in the sunlight 
 along the shore. The explorer was at once much 
 interested in his discovery, for he supposed that this 
 particular kind of seal had long since ceased to be. 
 
95 
 
 He had read that Christopher Columbus, in one of 
 his voyages to the West Indies, had seen these 
 creatures, of which at that time there were large 
 numbers to be had for the mere taking. But he 
 had also read that by 1520 not another one was to 
 be found anywhere. The Spaniards had killed all 
 they could find for the sake of the tough, water- 
 tight skins which were so useful for 'doublet and 
 hose.' 
 
 The explorer took two sealskins and a live seal 
 back with him to the City of Mexico. He must 
 have found other and better things to absorb his 
 attention, for he seems to have soon forgotten all 
 about his wonderful find. 
 
 The seals were then left in peace and quiet on 
 their sunny banks, until one fine day a full-rigged 
 schooner sailed into those unfrequented waters and 
 the captain and crew landed on the reefs. 
 
 Not knowing the dangers of boats and sailors, the 
 seals were not at all afraid of the newcomers, and 
 some even went on with their slumbers. It was not 
 till the captain touched one of the older seals that a 
 snappish growl was heard. Even then the younger 
 animals, as they lazily opened their eyes, showed 
 nothing more than a little curiosity. They seemed 
 to ask, " What strange creatures are you, and what 
 do you want } " 
 
96 
 
 At last the captain took, one of the snialler seals 
 under his arm and, getting a sailor to carry its mate, 
 went with them to his vessel. 
 
 The two seals did not seem to mind in the least 
 that they were being taken from home. In fact, 
 they were quite content on their voyage to Pensa- 
 cola, Florida, to which place the vessel was bound. 
 
 Finding his new pets well received, the captain 
 returned again to the island and carried away ten 
 more of the creatures. Two of these were sent to 
 the National Zoological Park in Washington, three 
 to the New York Aquarium, one to Philadelphia, 
 and the rest to the Nashville Exposition. 
 
 The journey to New York was long and tiring for 
 the seals, for although they were offered all sorts of 
 dainties to eat, they would take nothing. One was 
 really ill when it arrived at the Aquarium, and lived 
 only a little while in spite of tender care and nurs- 
 ing. One of the others lived several months, and 
 then it too died. These two exiles are now stuffed 
 and mounted in glass cases at the Natural History 
 Museum in New York. 
 
 And so the one remaining swims on alone. Let 
 us hope that the good care and excellent food he 
 gets — for he is fed with the very best his sealship 
 desires — may keep him alive and strong for many 
 years to come. 
 
Bureau Nature Study, 
 
 Cornell University, Ithaca, N. K 
 
 BOB WHITE AND HIS FAMILY 
 
 A QUAIL seemed very merry indeed, as he sat 
 -'* on Farmer Brown's stone fence and whistled 
 his cheery musical notes. " Bob White, Bob White," 
 he seemed to say. Was 
 he thinking of his 
 pretty brown wife 
 and his dear baby 
 birds who had < 
 made their ap- 
 pearance that 
 
 very morning .? 
 " Bob White, 
 Bob White," again 
 he called, and away 
 he flew to his nest. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Bob White 
 had worked very hard to make them a comfortable, 
 warm home. They had been lucky enough to find 
 in the stubble of Farmer Brown's cornfield, a tuft 
 of grass, the tall blades of which met overhead. 
 Here they brought leaves and grasses. Then 
 they made a door at the side and soon had 
 
 AN. AT HOME — 7 97 
 
98 
 
 a safe and cozy nest. They had not begun to 
 build till May. Did they know that Mr. and Mrs. 
 Woodcock had been caught in the snow, the March 
 before .'' 
 
 When their dwelling was furnished and ready, 
 Mrs. Bob White laid a pretty white egg every day 
 till eighteen were carefully packed together, pointed 
 end down. 
 
 Then for twenty-four days, Mr. and Mrs. Bob 
 White took' turns keeping these precious shell 
 houses warjn, for they knew they held their dear 
 baby birds," who would die if the eggs were left to 
 get cold. 
 
 At last this lovely June morning, fifteen little ones 
 had broken open their ' pretty white prisons, and 
 were now running with their mother through tangled 
 brake, and cultivated fields, after food. 
 
 Mr. Bob White joined his family, and he and his 
 wife showed the children all the nice things they 
 could get for breakfast. There were grubs, worms, 
 and many other tempting insects, which the little 
 quails would never have found without help. 
 
 The fluffy-dressed babies were very small, soft, 
 pretty things, and one tiny downy fellow still had 
 part of his shell sticking to his back. They were 
 bright little birdies too, and soon learned the mean- 
 ing of all the calls used by the parent birds. A 
 
99 
 
 shrill ' wee-teeh, wee-teeh,' meant danger, and the 
 fledglings would rush at once, half flying, half run- 
 ning to their mother's side. A gentle, low clucking 
 meant ' all's well ' or ' come under mother's wings 
 and get warm,' and was often used when the north 
 wind sprang up and the little birds might get cold. 
 
 As the birdies grew older, they were too big to 
 be longer hidden by their mother's short wings, and 
 so when danger came each ran away by itself and 
 hid in the long grass. If there was not time to 
 hide, the mother bird would pretend she was lame, 
 and so get the hunter to follow her. And she 
 always took care to lead him away from the little 
 ones. Then when the hunter was far enough away, 
 she would suddenly become quite well again, rise 
 high in the air, and return, by a roundabout way, 
 to her little family. And a few ' quoi-hees ' would 
 call them together again. 
 
 Five months went by, and it was late October. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Bob White had twenty-five children 
 now. Some were fine large birds and able to fly ; 
 others were just out of their little shell houses and 
 not yet strong enough to leave the ground. 
 
 It had tired the parent birds very much to raise 
 two families of children, and so they were only too 
 glad to have the older ones help in the care of the 
 others. Fortunately there had been plenty of food 
 
100 
 
 all the season. There had been wild pease, tick 
 trefoil, partridge and wintergreen berries, acorns, 
 smartweed, sunflowers, and plenty of grass seed, 
 besides beechnuts and all kinds of grains. 
 
 Another month passed; November was nearly 
 over. All of Mr. and Mrs. Bob White's family 
 were now able to fly, but they were no longer in 
 their first cozy home. They had been obliged to 
 wander here and there for safety, and leaving the 
 open, cultivated fields they had hidden in the 
 thickets, bottom lands, and alder swamps. Not 
 daring to fly, they had gone from place to place on 
 foot. They had now been for a number of days in 
 a place where the ground was low and the grass 
 long. 
 
 At night they would keep away from thickets, 
 where foxes and weasels might be prowling about, 
 and choose some open, sheltered place to sleep in. 
 Then all but the father bird (who acted as guard) 
 would arrange themselves into a circle, shoulder to 
 shoulder, with heads out, so that in case of danger 
 they could escape at once. In the morning, if the 
 weather was cold or stormy, they would often 
 remain in this cozy circle till the frost had time 
 to melt, or the rain to stop falling. 
 
 One clear, mild morning, soon after arriving in 
 this last new home, the whole family was awakened 
 
toi 
 
 by father bird, wbo seemed to think it was time for 
 breakfast. This made every one else think so, too, 
 and in a few moments all were on the wing. A 
 short distance away was a stubble field and near it 
 a fine copse, just the kind of place the birds were 
 looking for. They stopped and were soon busy at 
 work. One of the birds found some delicious dew, 
 and each took a sip or two of the sparkling drink. 
 
 It was late in the forenoon and their hearty 
 breakfast was barely over when suddenly Bob 
 White heard a hunter's dog in the stubble. " Fol- 
 low me ! Quick, follow me ! " he seemed to say. 
 Then off he rushed at breakneck speed, the others 
 following as best they could. Reaching a dry oak 
 wood, he stopped a moment to let his family catch 
 up to him. When all had taken breath, he gave 
 them a signal and away they flew across a little 
 valley below theni. 
 
 They alighted on a dry, sandy bank, not far from 
 a pretty, bubbling brook. Here they settled them- 
 selves down for a cozy time. Some scratched out 
 hollows in the soft sand. Some preened their 
 feathers. Others simply fell into a quiet doze, for- 
 getting all their troubles in pleasant dreams. 
 
 A few hours later they were again startled by a 
 cry of alarm from Bob White. A hawk was seen 
 coming toward them. A moment more and all 
 
102 
 
 had squatted down and were keeping perfectly still, 
 hardly daring to breathe till the enemy passed by. 
 The color of their plumage was so like the color of 
 the ground that even the sharp eyes of the hawk 
 had not seen them. 
 
 This adventure made Bob White think it best to 
 go home again. Then, too, it was growing very cold. 
 
 It was almost dark, and snow was falling before 
 the party reached their nest. They had been 
 obliged to go out of their way to avoid the dreaded 
 hunter and his dog. This time, however, the 
 enemy had been so close that the birds had to fly. 
 To frighten the dog, they all arose from the ground 
 at the same moment, so as to make a great whir-r-r. 
 Then seeing a wood near by in which they could 
 hide, they fairly rushed through the air to get to it, 
 and took pains to form a long strung-out line, as if 
 they wished to make it as hard as possible for the 
 hunter to shoot them. 
 
 No sooner had they reached cover than they 
 dropped quickly to the ground, and, pressing their 
 wings close to their sides, waited a second time 
 that day for an enemy to pass. 
 
 At last, tired out with their day's adventures, 
 the birds reached home, and arranged themselves 
 shoulder to shoulder for their night's rest. Nor 
 was it long before all were fast asleep. 
 
103 
 
 For some reason the mother bird did not rest 
 well and awakened to find herself stiff and cold. 
 As she opened her eyes all about her was darkness. 
 When she tried to move she seemed fast in some 
 great frozen sea. The snow had been falling while 
 they slept, and an icy covering had formed on the 
 snow. It was some time before the poor, distressed 
 bird could free herself from her cold bed, and no 
 sooner was she able than she gave out her shrill 
 notes of alarm. 
 
 Hearing these cries, the whole family awoke at 
 once and began to shake off the cold covering 
 which lay over them. 
 
 The snow was no longer falling and the moon 
 shone out clear and full. The birds, now free from 
 ice and snow, formed themselves once more into a 
 circle, shoulder to shoulder, and were soon fast 
 asleep. 
 
 This time all went well with the pretty creatures, 
 and next day they were fresh and rested and ready 
 to seek a warmer home. 
 
THE BALD EAGLES 
 
 "VAT' HEN first mated, eight years before, two 
 ' ' eagles had chosen a ledge of a cliff over- 
 looking a lovely river, for their home, and being 
 eagles, had never changed it for any other. They 
 were now perched on the branches of an old tree, 
 near their huge, flat nest which was about fifty 
 feet above the river. 
 
 The framework of this nest was made of large 
 sticks, many of them three or four feet long and 
 one or two inches thick. Among the sticks were 
 mingled sods, weeds, and mosses, without any 
 pretense of order. The nest had just been put in 
 order for the season. As it was mended once 
 every year, it had grown to be very large, and was 
 now five feet across ahd four feet thick. 
 
 Both eagles were fine big birds with dusky 
 brown plumage, white heads, necks, and tails, and 
 yellow feet and bills. They had been out look- 
 ing for food and were now resting awhile before 
 beginning the hard duties of raising a family. 
 
 The mother eagle was the first to begin work, 
 and in a short time the nest was ready for use. 
 
 104 
 
I05 
 
 Twelve days later three rough, dull white eggs were 
 lying in the nest, where they were carefully watched 
 over by both parents who for nearly a month took 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■'il'L 
 
 
 ->'. 
 
 
 ^''^. ^^ 
 
 turns in keeping them warm. Then, at last, from 
 two of the eggs two small eaglets were hatched. 
 The little birds were covered with a cottony kind 
 
io6 
 
 of down, and had bills and legs which looked far 
 too big for their thin little bodies. And what 
 appetites they had ! They kept both parents busy 
 the whole time. Even then they did not seem to 
 have enough to eat, and would greedily gorge 
 themselves with fish, rabbits, squirrels, or anything 
 else that was brought to them. 
 
 For four months the eaglets were very helpless 
 and were taken care of by their good parents. 
 One day it was the father eagle's turn to get food. 
 Spreading his great broad wings, he rose noise- 
 lessly into the air, making large circles as he did 
 so, and was soon far away. Then closing his wings, 
 he glided down again to the earth with a loud 
 rustling sound, and alighted on a high rock near 
 the river. 
 
 He had been resting but a short time, when he 
 spied a fishhawk rising from the water with a fish 
 in its talons. In a moment he rushed after the 
 hawk, which was so badly frightened that it dropped 
 the fish and made off as fast as its wings would 
 take it. This was just what the eagle had hoped 
 the hawk would do, and as quick as a flash he 
 darted under the falling fish, and turning on his 
 back, caught it with his claws and bill. , 
 
 But the eagle did not always have so good 
 fortune as this. Often no fishhawk came that way, 
 
107 
 
 and he would have to look elsewhere for his dinner. 
 Sometimes also the fishhawk would escape and the 
 eagle could find no other bird of any kind to rob. 
 When he became very, very hungry, he would some- 
 times wade out into the shallow water and try to catch 
 fish himself, by striking at them with his bill. On 
 other days he would steal a young pig, a lamb, or 
 a chicken from a farmyard near by. Then, again 
 he was often lucky enough to find things to eat 
 floating on the water — for eagles are not very 
 choice of their food. 
 
 At times, as the eaglets grew older, the mother 
 eagle joined her mate, and then fine prizes would 
 be brought back. 
 
 One day they discovered a beautiful swan. 
 Knowing that this bird could dive and get out of 
 their way, the eagles planned a way to catch it. 
 First they rose in the air, taking care to have the 
 swan between them. Then one of them shot down 
 toward the water bird, which at once dived. But no 
 sooner had the poor swan come again for air than 
 the other shot down after it too. 
 
 And so this game of hide and seek was kept up 
 till the poor swan was so tired out that, with a last 
 effort, it struggled to the shore to hide among the 
 weeds and bushes. But hardly was it on land, 
 where no diving could be done, than both eagles 
 
io8 
 
 swooped -down and captured it without the least 
 trouble. 
 
 And so time went on, and the eaglets grew older 
 and stronger, and slowly learned to fly. At first 
 they would only try their wings near home, rest- 
 ing every little while. But at last, when they were 
 quite well grown, the parents would no longer allow 
 them to come into the nest, but would beat them 
 off when they tried to return. The old eagles must 
 have some rest before it was time to bring up 
 another family. 
 
 In spite of punishments, the eaglets were so home- 
 sick that fof several weeks, although not allowed 
 in the nest, they would come back to it and roost 
 or sleep in the branches near by. It was not till 
 they were well able to take care of themselves 
 that they flew away, never to come back again. 
 Each went off alone, but with the coming of spring 
 he would choose a charming young mate and build 
 a home of his own. 
 
 The eaglets were a year old before they were 
 fully grown. Their plumage was beautiful, and 
 of a dark brown color; for it would take two or 
 three moltings to grow white heads and tails. 
 The feathers on their bodies and wings were so 
 long that they looked to be larger than their 
 parents. 
 
A LITTLE THIEF 
 
 /^NE beautiful morning in July, little Nellie and 
 ^-^ her papa were standing on the broad veranda 
 of a hotel in the Adirondack woods. While look- 
 ing around, Nellie 
 saw a new wooden 
 sign fastened to one 
 of the tall white 
 birches which grew 
 about the hotel. 
 
 " What does the 
 sign say, papa ? " she 
 asked. 
 
 " I can't see the 
 words from here," 
 was her papa's reply, 
 " but I feel sure it is 
 to tell boys and girls 
 not to peel off the 
 bark. Mr. Re id 
 thinks so much of 
 his fine trees that he does not wish them de- 
 stroyed." 
 
 109 
 
no 
 
 Just as her papa was speaking, Nellie saw a small 
 bird alight on one of the branches of the white 
 birch tree, just above the sign. A moment later 
 the little fellow flew down to the trunk of the tree, 
 and giving a good pull with his bill, succeeded in 
 tearing off a strip of the bark, some two or three 
 inches long. He then flew away with his prize. 
 
 " Oh, papa ! did you see that ? " cried Nellie, her 
 eyes bright with excitement. 
 
 " See what ? " asked her papa. 
 
 " Oh, a little bird was stealing some of Mr. Reid's 
 birch bark, and from the very tree where it says 
 not to." 
 
 Then Nellie's papa became interested, too, and 
 seeing the hotel proprietor through the windows, 
 beckoned to him to come out. " What's the mat- 
 ter .? " asked Mr. Reid. 
 
 " There's some one stealing your birch bark. 
 He'll probably be back again in a minute." 
 
 " What ! After seeing my sign ! " exclaimed Mr. 
 Reid, somewhat angrily. " I'll just watch and catch 
 the thief." 
 
 Little Nellie's eyes danced with fun, for she un- 
 derstood the joke her papa was going to play on 
 Mr. Reid. 
 
 " There he is ! " called her papa a few moments 
 later. Sure enough, little Cedar Waxwing, for 
 
Ill 
 
 such he proved to be, was again helping himself to 
 the forbidden pro'perty. 
 
 " Oh, I see," said Mr. Reid, laughing ; " it's a dif- 
 ferent kind of thief from the one I had in mind. 
 I fear this one cannot read my sign, and so does 
 not know what a naughty fellow he is." 
 
 Certainly the little waxwing did not act as if 
 he felt giiilty, for he made a number of trips to 
 the tree, and quietly carried off all the bark he 
 wanted for his bulky nest, in a distant cedar. 
 
 Mr. Reid had to return to his office, but Nellie 
 and her papa watched the busy nest builder till his 
 thieving visits to the birch tree ceased. During 
 this time, with the help of her papa's opera-glasses, 
 Nellie had several good views of the pretty bird. 
 
 He was of a rich grayish-brown color, had a crest 
 on his dainty head and a yellow band on the end of 
 his tail. On his wings were bits of red color, just 
 like sealing wax, which gave him his name of ' wax- 
 wing.' 
 
 When Nellie saw a stuffed cedar waxwing in the 
 museum at home, she studied him very carefully, 
 for she had not forgotten her acquaintance in the 
 Adirondack woods, nor how he helped himself to 
 Mr. Raid's birch bark. 
 
MADAM CUCKOO AND HER SON 
 
 M- 
 
 ADAM CUCKOO was in a great hurry and 
 rather uneasy. She had just picked up a 
 small reddish-gray object from the ground, and 
 with it safe and snug in her mouth, was seeking a 
 
 place to put it down. 
 
 Presently she spied 
 the nest of a hedge 
 sparrow, near the foot 
 of a low shrub, and at 
 once alighted on a 
 branch near it. 
 
 Making sure that 
 no mother bird was 
 near. Madam Cuckoo 
 peeped into the nest, 
 and to her joy saw that 
 it contained four eggs. Next sItc quickly opened 
 her beak, and let lier precious burden drop into the 
 nest. It was one of her own s)iiall but heavy eggs. 
 When this egg was safe at the bottom of the nest, 
 she pecked open one of the otiiers and scattered its 
 shell in all directions. I^id she wi^h the hcdcre 
 
"3 
 
 sparrow to think that the four eggs now in the nest 
 were all her own ? 
 
 It had taken the cuckoo but a very short time to 
 finish this strange performance, but it had tired her, 
 and she was glad to fly to a branch near by to rest. 
 And there, without being seen, she watched to 
 see what the hedge sparrow would do when she 
 returned. 
 
 Hardly had Madam Cuckoo settled herself among 
 the leaves, when back came the hedge sparrow, who 
 quickly glanced into her nest to see that all there 
 was safe, and then, perfectly satisfied, flapped her 
 wings and settled down on the eggs. 
 
 The cuckoo was still afraid that her trick might 
 be- found out, and waited about for a while longer. 
 Then, thinking that things looked well for that day 
 at least, she flew away. It was very hard for the 
 restless bird to stay long in any one place. She 
 came back several times, however, during the next 
 few weeks to make sure that her egg was getting 
 good care. 
 
 She had come since March, and alone, all the 
 way from sunny Africa, where she had spent the 
 winter. She had crossed the Mediterranean Sea, 
 and was now in England for the summer. 
 
 On her way from the south, she had often trav- 
 eled all night. Sometimes she had seen a few 
 
 AN. AT HOME — 8 
 
"4 
 
 other cuckoos, also journeying northwards, and had 
 joined them for a time as they paused here and 
 there for rest or to find food. But whether in com- 
 pany or alone, she always kept away from the open 
 country as much as was possible. 
 
 By the middle of June Madam Cuckoo had placed 
 ten eggs in as many safe homes, for she never built 
 herself a nest. She would have found it of little 
 use, for her eggs were laid so many days apart that 
 the first one would have to be hatched out long 
 before the last one had been laid. Had she had a 
 nest of her own she would have had to lay eggs, keep 
 eggs warm, and feed young birds all at the same 
 time. This would be hard work, and so she found 
 an easier way to have her family brought up. . 
 
 She put her eggs, one at a time, in the nest of 
 some other bird, just as we have seen, and left each 
 to be taken care of by other birds who had all they 
 could do, when the egg hatched out, to feed even 
 one hungry cuckoo. 
 
 The hedge sparrow never found out that there 
 was a strange egg in her nest, but kept it just as 
 warm and safe as her own three. And so, on the 
 same day that two young hedge sparrows hatched 
 out, a young cuckoo also broke open his shell. 
 
 Two hours after the three young birds had come 
 out of their eggs, the mother hedge sparrow left 
 
115 
 
 them for a little while to get something for them 
 and herself to eat. 
 
 •At once the young cuckoo became very restless, 
 and, beating his funny little stumps of wings about, 
 tried to get under any object he touched in the 
 nest. 
 
 He was an odd little fellow, and there was not a 
 single feather on the whole of his naked, tiny body. 
 His neck was too weak to hold up his head, 
 which hung down, and his eyes were still tight 
 shut. His shoulders, however, were very strong, 
 and his wings looked like arms with queer hands. 
 His legs were long, and in his back, behind his 
 shoulders, there was a hollow or hole. 
 
 After moving about in the nest a few moments, 
 he touched the egg which was not yet hatched out, 
 and at once tried to put it on his back. When he 
 had it safe in the hollow, he fixed his feet in the 
 sides of the nest, and with head down, eyes shut, 
 and legs sprawling, he began to work his way back- 
 ward toward the top of the nest. What was he 
 going to do ? 
 
 When about halfway up, he was so tired out 
 that he could go no farther. He fell back to the 
 bottom of the nest, and the egg rolled off. This 
 made him very angry and, had he been able, he 
 would at once have begun his climbing again. 
 
Ii6 
 
 It took him some hours to rest, and all the time 
 he kept his wings going as if hoping they would 
 give him strength to get up. At last, when about 
 seven hours old, he again got the egg on his back 
 and started for the top of the nest. This time he 
 reached the edge of the nest. He gave his body a 
 queer little twist, and the egg fell over on the 
 ground. 
 
 He was delighted, and although he was so tired 
 that he tumbled back to the bottom of the nest, he 
 lay there very happy and full of excitement. 
 
 It took him only about twenty minutes to get up 
 again, and then, instead of putting an egg on his 
 back, he pushed his wings under one of his young 
 companions and put him in the hollow. The little 
 sparrow was too weak to get away from his enemy 
 and was carried, just as the egg had been, up to the 
 edge of the nest. The cuckoo raised the shoulder 
 farthest from the edge of the nest, gave a push 
 with his armlike wings, and threw his foster brother 
 out of his home. 
 
 Now the only thing left in the nest was the sec- 
 ond young sparrow, and the cuckoo was never con- 
 tent till he had thrown this one out, too. Probably 
 had there been others, they would have shared the 
 same fate. 
 
 The mother hedge sparrow did not seem to 
 
117 
 
 understand what the naughty fellow was doing, for 
 although she saw him throwing one of her own 
 little ones out of the nest she did nothing to stop 
 him. Indeed, she seemed very proud of this great, 
 strong birdling, and of course thought he was her 
 very own. Both she and the father hedge sparrow 
 took great pleasure in bringing him caterpillars and 
 insects. And how busy he kept them ! They 
 could never have found time to feed him if they had 
 had their own three little ones as well. 
 
 When the cuckoo was twelve days old the hollow 
 in his back began to fill up, and he became gentle 
 and well behaved. In fact, ever since he found him- 
 self alone in his stolen home, he had been quiet and 
 peaceful. 
 
 Still, it was not till he was full grown that he 
 would get food for himself, and his foster parents 
 had no little trouble in feeding their giant son. 
 They had to perch on his shoulders in order to put 
 the good things they brought him into his mouth. 
 He was far too lazy to take anything from, their 
 bills. 
 
 When September came, he gave up being waited 
 on, and one day, seeing some older cuckoos, he 
 went away and joined them on their journey to the 
 south. 
 
 He grew up to be a fine, handsome bird, fourteen 
 
ii8 
 
 inches long, with wings which when spread out 
 measured twenty-five inches from tip to tip. His 
 feathers were of a deep bluish-gray on top, and 
 white with black bars underneath. His wings were 
 pointed, his tail was even, and his bill was broad, 
 curved, and sharp-pointed. As he grew older he 
 had a fine voice, and every spring his loud, joyous 
 song, ' cuckoo ! cuckoo ! cuckoo ! ' filled the woods 
 with their clear, sweet notes. 
 
 " In April come he will, 
 In May he sings all day, 
 In June he alters his tune, 
 In July prepares to fly, 
 In August go he must." 
 
ROBIN REDBREAST 
 
 |T was late in March when Robin Redbreast arrived 
 ^ in Massachusetts. He had just come from the 
 south where, with thousands of companions, he had 
 been spending the 
 winter months. 
 
 He had traveled in 
 many states, but had 
 stayed longest in love- 
 ly Florida where he 
 feasted on all sorts of 
 juicy fru'ts and many 
 kinds of berries, such 
 as the holly, the 
 sweet gum, the gall, 
 the pokeberry, the 
 berries of the China-tree, and, later on, of the wild 
 orange and of the Pride of India. Indeed, once he had 
 been almost choked to death trying to eat one of this 
 last kind of berry which is very large. 
 
 But by February most of these good things were 
 gone, and it was time to find new hunting grounds. 
 So Robin, with flock after flock of friends, began to 
 
 119 
 
I20 
 
 journey slowly toward the north, stopping on the 
 way to feed where there was anything to eat. 
 
 While on the wing, the robins flew very swiftly 
 and at a good height from the ground. But the 
 different flocks spread themselves out so loosely that 
 they covered a distance of several miles at once. If 
 the weather was good, the birds would often fly all 
 night. 
 
 When heavy snowstorms came up or severe gales 
 of wind or rain, they would fly nearer the ground, 
 or stop altogether and go into some woods for shel- 
 ter till the weather was better again. 
 
 At length, however, the long, tiring journey was 
 ended, and our Robin, happy and full of new life, 
 chose a pretty meadow near a farmhouse for his 
 summer home. Every day after that, his sweet songs 
 could be heard very often, giving out their joyous 
 message that spring had come. 
 
 By the middle of April, Robin had chosen a mate, 
 and although he left the nest building to his wife., 
 yet he took good care of her and carefully watched 
 over the eggs which she afterwards laid in her 
 nest. 
 
 He had first seen his handsome mate very early 
 one morning, as she was on the ground seeking her 
 breakfast. Thinking how very lovely she was, he did 
 his best to win her. He puffed out his throat, shook 
 
121 
 
 his wings, spread his tail as far as he could, and then 
 strutted proudly about. 
 
 He thought if she would but look at him, her heart 
 must be touched. When he saw that she was look- 
 ing, he ran many times back and forth over the 
 grass, brushing it with his tail as he ran, and making 
 himself just as handsome as he could. Indeed, his 
 reddish-brown breast seemed to be richer and deeper 
 in color than ever before. 
 
 And the pretty stranger did think him a very fine 
 fellow, and willingly became his mate. When she 
 began building she placed her nest in a notch of a 
 tall maple tree, about twenty feet from the ground. 
 The nest was made of coarse grasses and rootlets. 
 It had an inside wall of mud, and was lined with 
 fine grasses. To mold it into shape, Mrs. Robin 
 pushed it with her breast as she turned round and 
 round, and held her tail close down on the outer rim. 
 She had already made it safe by patting it down 
 against the tree with her feet. It took about four 
 days to finish the nest, and then its builder rested 
 and got ready to lay her greenish-blue eggs. 
 
 When the eggs had been kept warm for eleven 
 days, three little robins broke open their shells and 
 came out. They were not very pretty, indeed, they 
 were almost ugly, and so helpless that thjey were not 
 even able to open their eyes till they were eight days 
 
122 
 
 old. Still, after all, they grew very fast, and before 
 three weeks had passed they were strong enough to 
 leave the nest. 
 
 As soon as the young robins were hatched, the 
 father bird began his part of the family cares by 
 feeding these hungry little ones. He brought them 
 great numbers of worms and insects every day. 
 Then, too, it was he who kept the nest clean, throw- 
 ing out every ugly object or bit of litter which came 
 into it. 
 
 When the mother bird wished to leave the nest 
 for a while and get food for herself, he would take 
 her place and wait there patiently till she came back. 
 But more even than all this, when the little ones 
 were old enough to leave their mother, the father 
 bird took entire care of them. 
 
 He did this because he and his mate raised at 
 least two families in a season, and his mate had 
 most of the work to do. She always built a new 
 nest for each new brood ; for in spite of the best of 
 care, the old nest would get full of troublesome little 
 insects. 
 
 One day while the mother robin was getting grasses 
 for her second nest, she turned and saw one of her 
 little ones standing at her side begging for food. 
 He was very pretty now, and looked very sweet as 
 he stood in the green grass and piped away for his 
 
123 
 
 dinner. But she was too busy even to attend to a 
 loved one, and she gave him a gentle peck to tell 
 him to be quiet. 
 
 He did not understand what she meant, or if he 
 understood he did not care, and cried all the louder. 
 Then the mother bird became a little angry and half 
 in play, half to punish her naughty boy, she turned 
 to him and stuffed the grass which she held in her 
 bill down his throat. She seemed to say : " There ! 
 don't you see it's nothing but grass. I've no worms 
 for you and no time to hunt for any." 
 
 While the birdling was getting the grass out of 
 his mouth, the mother bird flew away ; but before he 
 had left the place, she was back again. This time 
 she held a nice long, worm in her beak, and as if 
 rather sorry for the trick she had just played, she 
 fed her little one in a very tender manner and then 
 called her mate to come and take care of him. 
 
 By the beginning of July the second nest was not 
 only finished but held a new family of little ones 
 already half grown. 
 
 While the mother bird was sitting on her second 
 set of eggs, Robin Redbreast visited her many times 
 a day. But when evening came, and she was settled 
 for the night, he felt that he might go away and 
 leave her. Xhen he took his first little family and 
 flew away to a favorite roosting place about a mile 
 
124 
 
 from the nest. This roosting place was in a low, 
 rather swampy wood, through which ran a little 
 brook, and where grew tall maples, oaks, and chest- 
 nuts. Here hundreds of birds, robins, swallows, 
 cow buntings, red-winged blackbirds, and grackles 
 would gather together every night for companion- 
 ship and safety. 
 
 Robin fed his second family just as the first, and 
 was kept so busy that he hardly knew what to do. 
 For the little ones needed food every few minutes, 
 and if they got none for half an hour, they might 
 die. 
 
 Not till about seven o'clock in the evening, when 
 the little birds went to sleep for the night, did he 
 feel that he dared to leave them to go to the roost. 
 Sometimes he would then hurry off to join his com- 
 panions, but once in a while he would stop first, on 
 some tree near his home, and sing a good-night 
 song. 
 
 Then early in the morning, often an hour before 
 sunrise, he would be up and away from the roost 
 and getting breakfast for his helpless little ones. 
 
 And so the summer went by and all the young 
 robins were grown up and able to go anywhere with 
 the parent birds. When September came they all 
 joined a flock of other robins, and went about the 
 country in search of the many wild cherries, cedar 
 
I2S 
 
 and dogwood berries, blueberries, and other good 
 things that were then in season. 
 
 Not till December did the supply give out, and 
 then the robin family with their many comrades flew 
 away to the sunny south. 
 
BLUE JAY 
 
 WITH much noise and flapping of his wings, 
 Blue Jay aUghted on the branch of a tall 
 oak tree. He could not keep quiet even then, but 
 he kept moving his wings and tail, and making his 
 head go from side to side, and 
 raising his crest and putting it 
 down again. 
 
 He was a fine, handsome fel- 
 low. His soft feathers of many 
 shades of blue, with some black 
 and some wliite, looked very 
 pretty among the green leaves 
 of the oak, and his light blue 
 crest was very becoming. 
 Soon he began to give out a number of different 
 notes. All were harsh and disagreeable, but most 
 of them were nothing more than shrill screams of 
 " Jay ! Jay ! " Then, suddenly, as if he had some new 
 and happy thought, he stopped short, and when he 
 once more opened his mouth, it was to warble a soft, 
 low, sweet song. 
 
 126 
 
12/ 
 
 Was he thinking of his pretty mate and her little 
 family, in their nest in the beech tree, on the other 
 side of the field ? It certainly must have been so, 
 for when the song was ended he left the oak and by 
 a roundabout journey returned to his home. He 
 had not dared go there directly for fear some enemy 
 might see him and so know where his mate and 
 little ones were hidden. Blue Jay was a very kind 
 mate and father ; and all the time the mother bird 
 had been sitting on her nest, he had kept near her 
 and guarded her from harm. He could not forget the 
 time when once he had come back to his home to 
 find another mate in the jaws of a snake and his 
 nest upset and all the eggs gone. 
 
 A month had gone by, for it was now the middle 
 of June, since he and his present mate had built 
 their home. It was in the fork made by two large, 
 straight limbs, just where, a number of small, up- 
 right branches were growing that would hold the 
 nest in place. It had taken the birds about three 
 days to finish this fine, comfortable nest which was 
 made of coarse twigs loosely woven together and 
 lined with fine thread-like roots. 
 
 After Blue Jay's mate had sat for seventeen days 
 on her four pale, brown-green, spotted eggs, they all 
 hatched out, and the birdlings were now just six 
 days old. 
 
128 
 
 When Blue Jay found himself in his home tree, his 
 whole manner changed. Instead of the noisy, rest- 
 less bird of a short time before, he became as silent, 
 gentle, and dignified as any bird could be. 
 
 Looking again about him to be sure there were 
 no enemies near, he slowly and without a sound 
 made his way to the nest. And he was very wel- 
 come there, for a nice long worm was hanging from 
 his bill. 
 
 While Blue Jay was feeding the birdlings his mate 
 took her turn to leave the nest and flew away to 
 get more food for the little ones and some for her- 
 self. All the time she was gone the father bird 
 stayed at home and kept house. 
 
 The jays were very proud of their little ones, 
 although they were as yet blind and had no feathers 
 at all on their thin little dusky-colored bodies. 
 Then too, they were so weak that all they could do 
 was to open their little mouths for the worms and 
 insects which the parent birds put into them, or 
 clasp and unclasp their little toes among the fine 
 roots that lined the nest. Both these things they 
 kept doing all the time, except when asleep. 
 
 Every day the birdlings grew larger and stronger, 
 and their parents fed them and kept their nest as 
 clean as clean could be. And a busy time they 
 had, getting earthworms, grasshoppers, caterpillars, 
 
129 
 
 moths, and beetles for the hungry little creatures, 
 who seemed always able to eat more. It was no 
 wonder that the young jays grew very fast and 
 became stronger every day. 
 
 When ten days old they opened their little eyes 
 and were able to hold themselves up for a very 
 short time on their weak little legs. A soft down 
 had come to cover their little naked bodies and 
 their tiny wing feathers were beginning to show. 
 
 When two weeks old a still greater change had 
 taken place. They were now covered with beautiful 
 feathers, and were so lively that they kept moving 
 here and there in the nest. Next they learned to 
 walk, and by flapping their wings, many, many times 
 a day, they learned to fly. At last, when just seven- 
 teen days old, they were able to leave the nest and 
 fly about near it from one branch to another. 
 Twelve days later they were quite large birds, and 
 were able to fly away. Their feathers were fully 
 grown, although of a grayer blue than they would 
 be by and by. Still they did not leave their parents 
 till the following spring. 
 
 No sooner were Blue Jay's cares over for the 
 season than he once more became the noisy, dash- 
 ing, reckless fellow he had been before ; and taking 
 his family with him he joined a flock of other 
 jays who were living in the same woods. 
 
 AN. AT HOME — Q 
 
I30 
 
 Then there were very good times. Not liking 
 any birds but themselves, the jays did everything 
 they could to annoy those which happened to come 
 their way. Sometimes it was a poor owl who, half 
 asleep, sat perched in the darkest part of some tree. 
 There was no more rest for him till, worn out with 
 the noise and excitement made by his enemies, he 
 would flutter away to some other and safer hiding 
 place. 
 
 Again, they would imitate the cries of a hawk 
 and make all the smaller birds tremble with fear. 
 Everything was fun to the jays. Indeed, some of 
 the older ones among them went so far as to suck 
 the eggs and even destroy the young of other birds 
 smaller than themselves. 
 
 But the jays were not always at play or in mis- 
 chief. They were often busy laying up food for 
 their winter store ; although, alas ! it was often for- 
 gotten, and the heaps of nuts they put into holes 
 or hollows were left to decay or to spring up into 
 young trees. Their favorite food was chestnuts; 
 but when these were gone they would eat almost 
 anything which the autumn brought, such as acorns, 
 beechnuts, apples, pears, or green corn. 
 
 When eating corn the birds would take up a 
 grain and, placing it between their feet, hammer it 
 open with their bills. Then they would pick out 
 
131 
 
 the kernel. The noise made by many birds ham- 
 mering together could be heard for some distance. 
 
 One day Blue Jay saw a fox skulking among the 
 bushes, and then what a time there was ! Calling 
 numbers of his companions to join him, he followed 
 the animal till even this large fellow was frightened 
 at the shrill screams and the flapping of so many 
 wings and hurried away into some safe hiding 
 place. 
 
 But cold weather was coming, and food was get- 
 ting very scarce. The jays thought it time to find 
 a better hunting ground. Taking the daylight for 
 traveling — for by night they could not see the 
 wild nuts and fruits — they started for the south. 
 As they could fly great distances each day it was 
 not very long before they arrived at a beautiful 
 plantation in Georgia. There they spent the winter 
 months, in company with cardinals, grosbeaks, bun- 
 tings, starlings, grackles, and all sorts of other birds. 
 And they became so bold that they often went near 
 the barns and houses and helped themselves to the 
 grains that were thrown out for the poultry. 
 
AT HOME IN A CHURCH STEEPLE 
 
 "T^WO barn owls began housekeeping in the steeple 
 •^ of an old church and grew so fond of their 
 high, safe home that every spring, when it was time 
 to raise a family, they came back and lived there. 
 
 They were very 
 '"'"''"' odd - looking birds, 
 
 and both were alike, 
 except that the 
 mother owl, who 
 was eighteen inches 
 lone, was a little 
 larger than her mate. 
 The feathers on the 
 upper part of their 
 bodies were of a 
 yellowish color, while those beneath were whitish 
 and dotted with black spots. Their wings were 
 pointed and longer than their tails. Their head 
 feathers were such that their faces were pure white, 
 and appeared to be heart-shaped. Indeed they 
 looked like two old women with hooked noses, as 
 they peered about with their small, round, black eyes, 
 
 132 
 
133 
 
 In April there were seven dull white eggs in the 
 nest — if the heap of rubbish on the floor could be 
 called a nest — and both parents were kept busy 
 watching them and keeping them warm. 
 
 As the mother owl had only laid one egg every 
 other day, the little birds did not hatch out at the 
 same time. One downy little fellow was two weeks 
 old before the seventh and last had broken open his 
 shell. 
 
 While the owlets were too weak and small to get 
 themselves food, the parent birds brought them all 
 sorts of good things to eat ; and many delicious 
 beetles, moths, bats, frogs, grasshoppers, rats, and 
 mice were carried to the nest. 
 
 No sooner was it twilight than the two owls 
 would wake from their daylight doze and sail off in 
 search of prey. They well knew this was the time 
 that timid rats and mice were venturing out of their 
 holes. 
 
 Spreading their long wings, they would glide 
 silently through the air, about thirty feet from the 
 ground, and would make so little movement with 
 their wings that they seemed almost like spirits 
 flitting from tree to tree. 
 
 Their favorite hunting grounds were low mead- 
 ows of marsh land, which were overgrown with 
 briers and rank grasses ; for here they were almost 
 
134 
 
 sure to find many sorts of small creatures which 
 their birdlings would enjoy. 
 
 Seating themselves on the low branch of a tree, 
 they would watch and wait till some animal which 
 they wanted came along, and then down they would 
 swoop like a hawk, catch it in their claws, and fly 
 off with it to their nest. Sometimes it was a 
 meadow mouse, or a rat ; and once in a while a fish 
 would be snatched from some pond. 
 
 Often the owls would return to the nest twenty 
 times in a single hour. The mice, which were the 
 owlets' favorite food, would be eaten almost at one 
 gulp. The owlets would, however, first eat the 
 head, the part they thought the sweetest, before 
 they took the body. 
 
 The bones and skin were too hard for the little 
 ones to digest, or even for the parent birds who ate 
 in the same greedy fashion, and so they were formed 
 into little balls in their stomachs, and then thrown 
 up out of their throats. The owls ate so much that 
 they threw out many such balls, and the floor all 
 about the nest was covered with these funny look- 
 ing, little round objects. 
 
 The parent owls were not tidy housekeepers, for 
 they were not in the least troubled by all sorts of 
 rubbish that lay about ; and if the owlets did not 
 eat the food that was brought them, it was left lying 
 
I3S 
 
 just where it fell. Long before the young owls were 
 big enough to follow their parents away from their 
 home they had a very dirty house to live in. There 
 were dead rats, mice, moles, muskrats, indeed, any- 
 thing and everything that had been brought to the 
 nest and not eaten because no one was hungry. 
 
 At length the owlets were full grown and able 
 to, take care of themselves. But they did not leave 
 their good parents till they were old enough to mate 
 and make homes for themselves. 
 
 When the day was bright, the owl family would 
 perch in groups near together in some shady tree, 
 or hide under some dark bridge or in some nook or 
 corner where the sun did not come. 
 
 There they would sit hour after hour, straight 
 and still, huddled close together, and, if not fast 
 asleep, with half-closed eyes, looking rather forlorn. 
 
 But when evening came they all awoke and were 
 as lively as owls could be ; and their wild, startling, 
 sudden screams of ' cr-r-ree ! cr-r-ree ! ' would ring 
 through the woods time after time. 
 
THE AMERICAN HERRING GULLS 
 
 [T was May and low tide in the Bay of Fundy. 
 ^ Great flocks of herring gulls had landed on some 
 sand bars off the coast of Nova Scotia, and were 
 cackling away at the top of their voices, "Hac! 
 
 Hac! Hac! Cah! 
 :.-■-:,. , ,:; Cah! Cah!" 
 
 Among these 
 noisy but graceful 
 birds was a very 
 fine looking fel- 
 low, who was 
 strutting proudly 
 about on the wet sand. His throat was sw^elled out, 
 his head was thrown upward, and he was giving 
 out his loudest, sweetest notes, saying in gull 
 fashion: "Am I not handsome? Who will be my 
 mate ? " 
 
 Two weeks later these same gulls, thinking it 
 time to begin their spring housekeeping, had chosen 
 some islands a little way from shore, as safe and 
 pleasant places on which to build their homes. 
 Thousands of the beautiful white creatures, like 
 
 136 
 
137 
 
 great butterflies, were fluttering about near the rocky 
 shores, and filling the air with their shrill cries. 
 
 Although some of the gulls were building their 
 nests on the open ground, most of them preferred to 
 place them in the tall fir trees which grew on the 
 islands, and some were content with repairing the old 
 nests that were found here and there among the 
 high branches. The birds did not know much about 
 sailors, except that these strangers often stole their 
 eggs ; and so the more careful ones put their nests 
 out of reach, thirty or forty feet from the ground. 
 
 Among those who came to one of the smaller 
 islands was the fine looking fellow we have already 
 noticed. He had with him a handsome mate almost 
 exactly like himself. The body of each gull was 
 almost two feet long, and its soft, full, beautiful 
 plumage was of a pale pearl-gray, or, as this color is 
 sometimes called, ' gull blue.' Their heads, necks, 
 and tails, however, were pure white, and the tips of 
 their great, broad, pointed wings were black. Their 
 eyes were silvery white, with yellow rings around 
 them, and their bills were yellow with an orange-red 
 spot on the lower one. Their feet were flesh color, 
 and their claws brownish black. 
 
 The two gulls went to work at once to build them 
 a nest, and were soon as busy as any one else. They 
 placed their nest right on the ground, but near a 
 
138 
 
 little heap of drift. It was not a very pretty nest, 
 but it was warm and comfortable. When it was 
 finished it was four inches deep and fifteen inches 
 across. It was lined with moss, lichens, and sea- 
 weeds, and it made a very snug place for the 
 three rough, earthy-colored, spotted eggs that were 
 laid there in June. 
 
 No sooner were these eggs laid in the nest than 
 the parent birds found they had much to do to keep 
 them safe as well as warm ; for there were many 
 enemies about, such as jays, crows, ravens, and 
 hawks that wished to steal these precious tidbits. 
 The father bird was kept busy chasing these pirates 
 and he often had to go long distances after them 
 before they would stay away. 
 
 When at length three pretty, downy, baby gulls 
 were hatched, the watchful parents were very happy 
 indeed, and only too glad to protect and feed them. 
 Sometimes they would search for hours on the 
 mudflats or sandy beaches for some dainty food 
 which the birdlings would enjoy ; and they brought 
 back great numbers of shrimps, and other nice, 
 small creatures of the sea. The little gulls grew 
 fast, and their soft rusty-colored down soon changed 
 into rusty-colored feathers edged with light gray. 
 
 The young gulls were very lively little birds, and 
 when only a few days old they scrambled out of 
 
139 
 
 their nest. It was lucky for them that it was on 
 the ground. The parent birds were away after food 
 and the little ones, getting hungry, had thought to 
 get something for themselves. They had gone but 
 a few steps when they heard a noise, and were so 
 badly frightened that they hid themselves in small 
 cracks between some rocks. The noise was made 
 by a wave breaking on the beach, and the gulls, 
 soon forgetting all about their fright, came out 
 from their hiding places and strutted about. They 
 walked very well for such tiny birds, but then, their 
 little legs were right in the middle of their bodies 
 and so it was easy for them to balance themselves. 
 
 The young gulls enjoyed their first outing so 
 much that they left their nest every fine day, and 
 when only a few weeks old they even ventured to 
 the water, and in no time at all learned to swim. 
 
 They were not full grown till the next spring, 
 and did not get their pearl -gray plumage till they 
 were nearly three years old; and yet, even before 
 summer was over, they could go about on land and 
 water or sail around in the air with as much ease as 
 their parents. They could tuck their little heads 
 under their wings and sleep on the waves, or be out 
 in the fiercest gale. 
 
 And what merry times they had together flitting 
 about, mile after mile, over the great blue sea. For 
 
140 
 
 they were just as much at home in the air as on the 
 water. 
 
 Sometimes it was only a game of tag near shore, 
 where they would glide along the surface of the 
 water or soar far away in the sky. Or again, a 
 whole flock together might be seen floating on the 
 water to rest ; but oftener, it was a search after some- 
 thing to eat. Sometimes it was their fortune to 
 watch and follow a shoal of herrings or other small 
 fish, and dart down suddenly, and with flapping of 
 wings and splashing of water, to bring up one in 
 their bills. Nor did they mind a small fight now 
 and then, when these prizes were snatched away by 
 some companion or larger bird and carried off. 
 
 At other times they busied themselves getting 
 such water animals as came to light on the beach 
 at low tide. There were sea urchins, which with 
 their greenish spines looked like balls of moss, and 
 crabs and other shellfish into whose shells they 
 pushed their bills and sucked out the dainty food 
 inside. 
 
 Once in a while they would follow some vessel 
 far out to sea, and feast on the many good things 
 which the sailors threw overboard. 
 
 And so the young gulls and the old ones lived 
 on, always busy, always happy in their wandering, 
 roving life on the great, broad ocean. 
 
THE STORY OF A SALMON 
 
 CAR up the beautiful Penobscot River, where the 
 ^ water was shallow, a strange little creature sud- 
 denly wriggled, out from a heap of gravel. It was 
 an ugly, tiny object, about half an inch long, with a 
 slender, transparent body. The head was of an 
 u^ly shape, the huge eyes were staring, and the 
 mouth was ill-formed. Fastened to the body be- 
 neath was a cone-shaped little bag, in which was 
 the creature's food. Who would have thought that 
 this small oddity, if it lived, would become a lovely, 
 silvery salmon ? 
 
 The little fish had been lying, for days, coiled up 
 in an egg about as big as a pea. There it had 
 remained till the warm sun shining through the 
 shallow water and on the gravel , had helped to 
 open the walls of the tiny house and let the little 
 prisoner free. 
 
 No sooner had the young salmon escaped from 
 her shell than she struggled to get out of the 
 gravel. Such a timid, delicate little being! No 
 wonder she hurried to hide herself under the pro- 
 tecting shadow of a large rock near by, and that she 
 
 141 
 
142 
 
 quietly remained in this safe resting-place for two 
 or three weeks. Indeed, all this time, the tiny fish 
 was too small and too weak to go about, and she 
 had no need to search for food as there was plenty 
 In her little bag. 
 
 When this goodly supply gave out, Small Fry 
 began to get hungry and had to pluck up courage 
 and go after some of the dainty things she saw 
 floating about in the clear water. 
 
 When that happened, she was a perfectly formed 
 fish, a whole inch long. Her body was a pretty 
 light-brown color, crossed with darker bars, and her 
 tail was nicely forked at the end. 
 
 Numbers of small salmon had joined her by this 
 time, and like them, she darted here and there in 
 the pure, fresh water and caught many delicious 
 tidbits. She was no longer afraid of the strange 
 place to which she had come, but was as happy as 
 a salmon could be. One of her great pleasures was 
 to go to a sparkling brook, which bubbled into the 
 river near her birthplace, and let its cool water run 
 over her back. 
 
 For a whole year the young salmon lived this 
 happy, careless life, and grew into a beautiful fish. 
 Over her barred coat had come lovely, silvery scales, 
 which the river kept very bright for her and the sun 
 fairly made glisten when its rays fell upon them. 
 
143 
 
 But one day a strong May flood began to swell 
 the river. What did it mean ? Where was all the 
 water going ? The young salmon grew restless, 
 then curious, as day after day the waters rose 
 higher and higher. At last she could resist their 
 power no longer, and with myriads of graceful com- 
 panions started down stream. 
 
 As the young salmon journeyed farther and 
 farther down the river she felt happier and hap- 
 pier. How good it was to be in the great rushing 
 stream, and how many different kinds of nice things 
 she found to eat ! There were worms, prawns, flies, 
 and all sorts of tempting insects. In fact, the little 
 fish ate so heartily that she grew veryfast indeed. 
 
 By and by the water began to have a strange 
 taste. Was it good or bad? The young salmon 
 drank it in without further thought. But now 
 there were dangers on all sides, and many, many 
 enemies were ready to devour her. 
 
 Little did she know that her very companions 
 would prove dangerous, for the large salmon are 
 only too glad to make m£als of the little ones. 
 What would she have thought had she known that 
 the fine salmon near her had eaten forty young 
 fishes that very day? 
 
 But there were still other enemies. Trout, pike, 
 and even herons and gulls were on the watch for 
 
144 
 
 them. It almost seemed as if the young fish could 
 never escape them and reach the sea, and yet she 
 did. One sunshiny morning she came to the great 
 ocean. It had been a long, delightful journey to 
 the young salmon, for not knowing of any dangers 
 she had feared none. She was tired but could 
 rest now in a quiet pool she had found. She had 
 quite forgotten why she had come, but she enjoyed 
 her new home none the less. 
 
 During the time the young salmon remained in 
 the great sea she saw all sorts of wonderful sights 
 and strange creatures. She had several thrilling 
 adventures, too, for in the ocean, as in the river, 
 enemies abounded. Besides sea gulls and divers, 
 there were double-crested cormorants from whose 
 sharp, hooked bills even slippery fish could not 
 hope to escape. There were also hungry larger 
 fish and sea monsters of all kinds. 
 
 One day a large porpoise opened his huge jaws 
 to swallow her when, frightened by the shadow 
 of a fisherman's boat, he dived and she escaped. 
 At another time she saw a number of her com- 
 panions devoured by seals. 
 
 But spring came again and with it great floods 
 which swelled the river and carried its waters far out 
 into the sea. Was it the taste of the freshened water 
 that sent such a strange, new feeling over the young 
 
145 
 
 salmon ? A strong desire came to her to return to 
 her home river, and for the first time she knew she 
 had work to do ; so, while the river was still high, 
 she started back up the great swollen stream. 
 
 How she had changed since her visit to the sea! 
 She was now a strong, active fish, and her slender, 
 spindle-shaped body had become a bright steel-blue 
 color on the back, lighter on the sides, and a pearly 
 
 white beneath. Her silvery scales showed all sorts 
 of gay hues, and her forked tail was growing square. 
 With graceful, powerful movements the salmon hur- 
 ried along against the current, jumping dams, water- 
 falls, even cascades. On, on she swam, sometimes 
 twenty miles in a single day. 
 
 Every now and then she rested in some clear, 
 deep pool, but her journey would not be ended till 
 she came to a place in the river like the one in which 
 she had been born. The water must be shallow, 
 pure, and the stream rapid for the work she had 
 before her. 
 
 AN. AT HOME — 10 
 
146 
 
 At length, finding just such a place, the young 
 salmon stopped. She was very tired, almost worn 
 out. Her tender body was bruised and scarred, and 
 its brilliant colors were changed to ugly, muddy 
 blacks. 
 
 The weather grew colder; the nights became 
 frosty; and she knew that it was time to begin 
 work. Her precious eggs must be put in a safe 
 resting-place. 
 
 Choosing a place where the stones were quite 
 large and well mixed with gravel, the salmon turned 
 on her side, and by wriggling her body and digging 
 with her tail she scooped out places in the gravel, 
 some ten or twelve inches deep. In these she de- 
 posited her eggs, and having covered them carefully, 
 she began, in the same way, to work on upstream. 
 
 Although the weather was fine, it took the salmon 
 nearly two weeks to place all her eggs, and even 
 then hundreds were carried away by the swift cur- 
 rent. When she had finished, the eggs were con- 
 cealed in an odd-looking mound about nine feet 
 long. She generally worked all the afternoon and 
 evening; and not till midnight would the industri- 
 ous fish fall back into the quiet water and rest. 
 
 Did the fish know that the little salmon could 
 live only in fresh water ? And was it for that rea- 
 son that she had made such a long journey to deposit 
 
147 
 
 her eggs ? Did she know that floods might carry 
 them away if they were not firmly fixed among the 
 stones and gravel in the mound she had built? 
 Could she guess that all sorts of hungry fish, water 
 worms, and waterfowl were ever on. the lookout for 
 just such dainty morsels as these, and only needed 
 to see them in order to gobble them up ? Certain 
 it is that the wise salmon placed her eggs just deep 
 enough in the mound to be safe from enemies, and 
 yet the sun's warm rays could reach them when it 
 was time to hatch out in spring. 
 
 Her hard work had changed the salmon's appear- 
 ance very much. Her body was very, very thin, it 
 was still of an ugly dark color, and all her bright 
 scales had come off. 
 
 But time and quiet did much for her, and when 
 her companions made their next journey to the sea, 
 she went with them. New silvery scales had grown 
 where the old ones had been, but it was not till she 
 had been for some time in the ocean that all her 
 former loveliness of form and color returned and she 
 was once more her brilliant steel-blue self. 
 
 The salmon lived to become a great fifty-pound 
 fish, but she came back every year to her dear home 
 river, and cheerfully performed her life work as long 
 as she was able. 
 
THE LIFE HISTORY OF A HONEYBEE 
 
 A HONEYBEE'S egg lay in one of the comb 
 ^~^ cells of farmer Smith's beehive. It was a tiny, 
 soft, smooth, oval, bluish white thing, and had been 
 quietly resting on its soft bed ever since the queen 
 bee had put it there, a few days before. 
 
 At length the egg began to move, and out of it 
 came a very small, white worm, with two white eyes, 
 a caterpillar mouth, and ten tiny air holes on the 
 sides of its body with which to breathe. 
 
 The little worm was very weak, scarcely able to 
 move ; yet it soon learned to eat of the delicious, 
 whitish beebread which it found in its little room. 
 Indeed it was very greedy, and its one object seemed 
 to be merely to eat, eat, eat, and grow fat, fat, fat. 
 Did it know that in a very few days the nurse bees 
 would stop bringing it food, and that it must then 
 be strong enough and big enough to spin the silken 
 blanket, in which it was to take a long, strange 
 nap.? 
 
 The odd-looking worm grew very fast, and when 
 it was long enough to touch the other side of its 
 little room, it began to coil itself up. As it grew 
 
 148 
 
149 
 
 larger, it coiled itself 
 more and more, till it made 
 a ring and nearly filled the 
 whole cell. 
 
 Then it was that the nurse 
 bees, instead of feeding it any 
 longer, set to work to close 
 up its little room door. The 
 worm must be left alone 
 while at work on its silken 
 cocoon, and it must not be 
 disturbed while taking its 
 long sleep. 
 
 So the nurse bees brought 
 a soft kind of light-brown wax 
 and made a tiny dome-shaped 
 door which could be easily 
 pushed off at the proper time. 
 
150 
 
 In this waxy roof were plenty of tiny holes for air, 
 so that the little creature inside should not be 
 smothered. 
 
 When it was quite dark and very still in its room, 
 the little worm began to spin a silken thread. After 
 many hours of good hard work, it had spun enough 
 for a silken wrapping. It had kept winding the 
 thread around itself, and now rested warm and snug 
 in the fine blanket it had made. What a soft, com- 
 fortable place it was to sleep in, and how safe from 
 danger outside or in ! 
 
 For nearly three weeks the worm remained in 
 its silken coverings, and during all that time it 
 was slowly changing into a beautiful winged 
 honeybee. 
 
 As the worm changed its form, it changed its 
 feelings too — for no sooner did it awake in the 
 form of a honeybee than it began to have new 
 wishes and new thoughts. Instead of being a 
 greedy little crawling worm, with no thought but 
 to stuff itself with food, it was now an eager worker 
 bee wishing for something to do, although it did 
 not quite know what that something might be. 
 
 One thing it did know, however ; it must get 
 out from its little room. The little room seemed 
 a prison, and it did not take long to break open 
 the tiny wax door. 
 
As the bee put her dainty head through the hole 
 she had made, she saw a number of winged crea- 
 tures very much Uke herself. They were the 
 nurse bees who had come again to take care of 
 her. 
 
 Slowly she crawled quite out from the cell and 
 stood at last, before the nurse bee, a beautiful, soft, 
 gray little creature. She was very helpless and 
 timid, however; for her six little legs were quite 
 weak, and her four gauzy wings hung damp and 
 
 A Worker A Queen A Drone 
 
 heavy at her sides. She was only too glad to be 
 fed and nursed by her kind friends. 
 
 After two days of tender care, the young bee 
 was quite strong and ready to begin her life 
 work. She was now a little more than half an 
 inch long. Her body was smooth and glossy, 
 and crossed by yellow rings. She carried a sharp 
 sting for protection. Her four wings were ready 
 for flying, the two upper ones being the larger. 
 She could fold them close to her body to get them 
 
152 
 
 out of her way, and yet she could open them wide, 
 when tiny hooks held them together. Of her six 
 legs, the hindmost pair was the longest and per- 
 haps the most useful. In each leg was a tiny spoon- 
 shaped basket, in which the bee could carry her 
 food ; and for honey, there was a special little bag 
 (a kind of stomach) inside of her body. She had five 
 eyes : two large oblong ones, one on each side of her 
 head, and three small ones between. On her fore- 
 head were two ' feelers ' used, for inany useful pur- 
 poses, as, for instance, to examine objects, to taste 
 with, to smell with, and perhaps to hear with. With 
 her wonderful proboscis — a strange kind of long 
 under lip — she could suck up honey and other 
 sweets, and her strong jaws were useful in drawing 
 out the waxy ribbons with which the combs were 
 built. 
 
 All the time that the young bee was being cared 
 for by the nurses, she had not left the hive, but 
 had been walking, about on the combs. A time 
 came, however, when, without knowing why, she 
 found herself following some companions to the 
 door of her home. There, for the first time, she 
 saw the warm, bright sunshine. 
 
 What was it that made her feel like a new being ? 
 The fresh air filled her with joy, and a great desire 
 came to her to fly out, far out into the wonderful 
 
IS3 
 
 open space before her. Nor was it many minutes 
 before she was off, flying in a straight line, to a 
 clover field, half a mile away. How had the nod- 
 ding, sweet pink blossoms told her where to find 
 them ? How did she know that they held honey 
 for her, and that all she had to do was to go to 
 work to gather it ? 
 
 From this time on, the bee needed no more help, 
 nor did she ever again seem at a loss to know what 
 to do or how to do it. She was one of the busiest 
 bees in the hive. 
 
 On sunshiny days, she would go out in search 
 of honey and pollen, the two things which bees 
 like best for food ; and all summer long there 
 were blossoms on tree or plant, ready to offer one 
 or both of these delicacies. The flowers of the 
 willow, maple, cherry, peach, tulip, linden, locust, 
 and many other trees, gave the little gatherer their 
 sweet holdings. Then, besides the sweet clover, 
 there were the dandelion, the buckwheat, the 
 Canada thistle, the raspberry, and later the golden- 
 rod and the aster. 
 
 For a distance of three miles, on all sides of the 
 hive, the bee would go out on her wanderings. 
 Sometimes she would return home so tired that 
 she had to rest outside the hive before she was 
 strong enough to go on with her work inside. 
 
154 
 
 When filling her little leg baskets with the pow- 
 dery pollen, she usually gathered but one kind at a 
 time ; arid so both balls she brought back would be 
 of the same color, and from the same kind of blos- 
 som. Often she would come back with her whole 
 body covered with the pollen. Then the nurse bees 
 would take it from her and feed it to the young bees. 
 
 The honey she would store away, just as she did 
 the pollen, and when the little closet was quite full, 
 she would help to put over it an air-tight wax cover, 
 so that it might keep fresh and sweet till winter time. 
 
 Sometimes she gathered the golden-colored pro- 
 polis, a sticky gum found in the buds and branches 
 of trees. This the bees used to fill up holes and 
 cracks and keep out the cold. Or else they put it 
 over ugly objects which they found in the hive, and 
 which were too big to carry away. 
 
 On rainy days and nights our bee worked in- 
 doors. Then it was that, with thousands of com- 
 panions, she would hang in a cluster from the ceil- 
 ing of the hive, and let the wax collect on her small 
 body. This wax she afterward used to make 
 combs. 
 
 What a skillful little builder she was ! Surely no 
 one could have made prettier or more useful rooms 
 or cells than those she helped to make. The cells 
 in which worker bees were reared had six sides to 
 
155 
 
 them, as did also those for the drones; but the 
 drone cells were a little the larger. Then there 
 was a third kind of cell, the largest of all, and very 
 different from the others in shape. It looked like 
 a small peanut. It was the royal cell, and only for 
 eggs which were to produce queen bees. 
 
 One of the worker bee's greatest pleasures was to 
 attend to the wants of the queen whom every one 
 in the hive loved so dearly and cared for so will- 
 ingly. Sometimes our worker bee would go with 
 the queen from cell to cell when her majesty was 
 laying eggs, and keep her supplied with food. Or 
 if any harm came to the queen, the worker bee 
 would help nurse her and bind up her wounds. 
 
 And so the summer passed, and our worker bee's 
 short but happy life was nearly ended. One day, 
 just as she was about to leave the hive, a noise at 
 the door frightened her and made her wait to see 
 what was the matter. What did that great crea- 
 ture want so near their home ? Did he mean to 
 harm their queen or destroy their hive.? There 
 was an angry buzzing sound, followed by a quick 
 dart from the hive, and our little worker bee's sting 
 was deep in Farmer Smith's hand. The little worker 
 bee had given her life in defense of her queen. 
 
THE LITTLE ROBBER CATERPILLAR 
 
 ALL winter long a pretty apple tree, in a fine 
 old orchard, had stood leafless and bare. But 
 now April had come and the warmth of the sun 
 and the moisture of the gentle spring showers had 
 
 put new life into its many 
 branches, and the tender 
 buds were beginning to 
 swell and to open. Surely 
 the little apple tree would 
 soon be full of leaves and 
 beautiful once more ! 
 
 But alas ! the same bright 
 sunlight which was swelling; 
 and opening the apple buds, 
 was shining on something 
 else on the tree, and awaken- 
 ing into life other things 
 besides the tender buds. What could they be.? 
 There seemed to be nothing on the bare branches 
 except the knobs and buds, and vet, when the sun 
 shone brightly, a something on one of the smaller 
 branches glistened and had a luster like bronze. 
 
 156 
 
157 
 
 This strange object was a mass of apple tent 
 caterpillar eggs which a moth had placed there the 
 July before. The shining coat was the jellylike 
 varnish which she had put around and over the eggs 
 to keep them dry and safe from winter storms. 
 
 Indeed the moth had made the mass, both in 
 color and shape, so like a part of the tree that birds 
 and others of her enemies who happened to see it, 
 mistook it for a bud, and never once suspected that 
 dainty food lay hidden under the dark wrappings. 
 The varnish had neither dried up nor scaled off till 
 it was time for the eggs to be hatched out by the 
 spring sun. 
 
 Thus it was that the same warmth which was 
 swelling and opening the apple buds fell on the 
 tiny, thimble-shaped, white eggs as well, and brought 
 to life the little creatures inside of them. 
 
 So one bright morning dozens and dozens and 
 dozens of the tiniest little black caterpillars one 
 ever saw slowly nibbled off the tops of their small 
 shell houses and found their way out into the light, 
 where they gathered in dark masses along one of 
 the branches. 
 
 They were very small, only about one sixteenth 
 of an inch long. Their heads were large and their 
 little black bodies were covered with fine, grayish 
 hairs. 
 
158 
 
 One of these little creatures was very lively in- 
 deed, and seemed in a great hurry to get something 
 to eat. And strange to say, she began at once to 
 devour the little shell house out of which she had 
 just come, finding it so delicious that she ate it all. 
 Once in a while, for a change, she tasted of the 
 bronze glue which had been over the eggs all 
 winter and still lay near them. 
 
 When these nice things were gone, the little 
 caterpillar crawled down the branch and made a 
 
 dinner of apple buds, 
 which as yet, how- 
 ever, were but partly 
 opened and rather 
 tough. The cater- 
 pillar did not mind 
 this, for she was a very hardy little creature, and, if 
 necessary, could have lived for some time on still 
 less tempting food. 
 
 When at last the apple leaves were out, the 
 caterpillar ate of them and thought she had never 
 tasted anything half so good before. Nor did it 
 once enter her tiny head that these tasty green 
 things were not growing for her use at all, and 
 that to eat them would destroy the pretty apple 
 tree. And so, instead of being sorry and not 
 taking an\- more leaves, she went on stufifing her 
 
159 
 
 little self with them, and growing larger and longer 
 every day. 
 
 Whenever she was obliged to go any distance in 
 search of food, she would spin a silken thread and 
 leave a trail of it behind. It was a very, very fine 
 silk thread, more like a fairy's than anything else, 
 and unless many strands of it were woven together, 
 her enemies could not see it at all. What was it 
 for, though ? Was it to guide her back to her 
 friends, perhaps, or was she learning to spin so that 
 when it was time to make her silken tent palace she 
 would know just how ? 
 
 In any case, when she and her companions were 
 a few days old, they slowly found their way down 
 the branch, crawled toward the trunk of the tree, 
 and did not stop till they came to a place where 
 two large branches made a fork. This spot they 
 chose because there they could stretch the silken 
 thread of their cobweb home from branch to branch, 
 and also have two easy roads to follow when going 
 out for food. 
 
 Now that the caterpillar had begun to make her 
 silken palace she found much to do every day, and, 
 like her companions, was as busy as busy could be. 
 She would spin and spin, and then rest, and then 
 spin once more. No wonder that soon the tent 
 house was large enough to hold her and her friends, 
 
i6o 
 
 and strong enough to shelter them both from ene- 
 mies and from storms. 
 
 During these busy days our caterpillar had not 
 only grown larger but had also changed much in 
 appearance. When about four days old her first 
 coat had become very tight. Indeed, so much so 
 that she was hardly able to move, and had to rest 
 for a day or two in her silken palace. 
 
 Then finally, to her great joy, this coat suddenly 
 popped open down the back, and in a moment she 
 was free. She came out of her old skin so easily, 
 in fact, that she left it as perfect as ever, and with 
 every little hair and spine in place. 
 
 Fortunately for the caterpillar, who had no bones 
 to hold her together, a soft, new, stretchy skin or 
 coat had already formed under the old one, and so 
 now for several days she would have room to grow, 
 although by that time this skin, too, would have 
 become hard and tight. 
 
 When June came she was quite grown and 
 very handsome. She was nearly two inches long, 
 and had a black, soft, glossy skin, with a line of 
 white down the center and blue spots and yellow 
 stripes on the sides. 
 
 She had changed her coat five times (or molted, 
 as it is called), and had had as many different kinds 
 of dress. On each of these new coats the markings 
 
i6i 
 
 were much the same, but the colors grew brighter 
 and prettier and the spines became larger and 
 fuller each time. 
 
 Then, too, she had been busy spinning her tent, 
 which was now more than two feet long and cov- 
 ered several branches. It was made of layers of 
 silk with room enough between for her and her 
 companions to lie side by side while resting or 
 when the weather was too bad to tempt them 
 out. 
 
 Twice every day the caterpillars would leave their 
 silken palace, and in a procession go out to look for 
 food, — once in the morning soon after nine o'clock, 
 and once again in the early afternoon. They had 
 now some distance to go to find the green things 
 they liked so well, having already stripped the near 
 branches of both bud and leaf. 
 
 Shortly after our caterpillar was quite grown up 
 she became tired of company and began to wish to 
 be alone. So, dropping to the ground by means 
 of her silken thread, she started off in search of a 
 lonely and quiet place. 
 
 For some time she wandered about on the ground, 
 always leaving a trail of silk behind. She was 
 lucky enough not to meet any enemies, for spiders, 
 toads, and birds would gladly have made a meal of 
 her. Then she climbed up on a fence and in a cozy 
 
 AN. AT HOME — II 
 
1 62 
 
 corner, under a rail, she stopped and made ready to 
 build herself a new home. 
 
 When rested, she began again to spin, but this 
 time instead of trailing her thread after her, she 
 began to wind it about her body. At first she 
 wound the thread but loosely, then tighter and 
 tighter, until she had a lovely, soft cocoon house in 
 which to lie and sleep. 
 
 When she was quite safe in this new house, she 
 covered its walls with a watery stuff which, drying 
 into a yellow powder, helped to keep her warm and 
 snug. 
 
 But -to be perfectly comfortable while taking her 
 long nap, she had still one more thing to do. She 
 must get rid of the tight and hard coat which still 
 covered her body. So she lay quite still and then, 
 as usual, open it came and she was free to come out. 
 But this time instead of being a lively caterpillar, 
 with a brilliant new coat, she found herself a strange 
 little reddish brown creature without any legs, and 
 able to move only by wriggling her whole body. 
 Her name was now no longer Caterpillar, but 
 Chrysalis. 
 
 But the little chrysalis did not mind this. Indeed 
 she was too sleepy to care much about anything. 
 Possibly, too, she had guessed that all would come 
 right by and by. 
 
i63 
 
 For two weeks more the chrj'salis lay fast asleep, 
 and as no flies or tiger beetles, or other enemies 
 came to harm her, she slowly changed into a pretty 
 winged moth. 
 
 Then she awoke 
 
 again, and making 
 
 a 
 
 hole in the end of her 
 cocoon house just 
 where her little head 
 had been lying, slowly 
 found her way out for 
 the second time into 
 the light. 
 
 For some reason 
 she did not like the 
 bright sunshine as 
 she once had done, 
 but thought she 
 would fold her wings 
 roof fashion over her 
 soft little velvety body and settle down and rest for a 
 while. Besides, as yet she did not feel very strong, 
 and had all she could do to fan her new wings dr;y 
 and get them ready for use. 
 
 But pretty soon, as the soft twilight came creep- 
 ine in, the little moth felt more and more at her ease, 
 and began to walk about on the branch on which 
 
1 64 
 
 she was resting. Then getting very brave indeed, 
 she suddenly spread her four rosy-brown wings 
 and flew away across the meadow and into the 
 wood. 
 
 For a day or two more, when it was not too light, 
 she fluttered about from bush to bush or from tree 
 to tree, and was as happy and free as the air ; and 
 not once did she have any wish to eat. Then one 
 evening, as she was resting on a wild cherry tree, it 
 came to her that she had something important to 
 do and that here was the place to do it. 
 
 So choosing one of the smaller branches near 
 her she was soon busy at work placing her eggs 
 upon it. Beginning with the bottom row, she stood, 
 head downward, and slowly walked around the twig, 
 laying her eggs in a circle about it and gluing them 
 down as she went. When one tier was finished 
 she began on another, and at last had two hundred 
 or more tiny white eggs neatly packed away. It 
 had not been easy work for the moth to place her 
 eggs as she wished, and she often had to push 
 them together with all her strength. When all 
 was done she was very weary, and again ready to 
 fold her wings and rest. 
 
 A few evenings later, the moth, after flying here 
 and there, alighted on a tall grass stalk. A gentle 
 breeze was blowing, and the stalk waved and bent on 
 
i6s 
 
 its stem, and rocked the moth to and fro till she 
 grew drowsy and fell fast asleep. 
 
 All next day the tall grass stalk still bent and 
 waved as the wind blew about it, but the moth did 
 not wake up. Was anything wrong that she needed 
 so long a nap ? Alas ! she would never wake again 
 to flutter about in the twilight ; for her short life 
 had ended. 
 
THE TOAD 
 
 A T the bottom of a small pond just off the shore, 
 ■'*■ there was a strange looking, glasslike string, a 
 yard long and one eighth of an inch thick. Through 
 
 the middle of it ran 
 a chain of small, 
 round, jet-black toad 
 eggs. 
 
 This string, with 
 many others like it, 
 was tangled and 
 
 wound about the 
 
 1 ■ ■ '- 
 
 water plants in the 
 pond, and it looked much like a glass tube filled 
 with black beads. 
 
 On a bright April morning, one of these tiny black 
 eggs began to move. In two days something inside 
 had grown long enough to wriggle out from the jelly- 
 like string, which was its way of being hatched. It 
 was a cjuecr little object, not a bit like a toad, and 
 yet, by and by, it would become one. 
 
 Swimming near it were many little brother and 
 sister tadpoles, as young toads are called, which had 
 
 166 
 
i67 
 
 come out from the little beads in the jellylike strings. 
 They were so many that the water was darkened 
 with their black little bodies. 
 
 For some time our tadpole found plenty to eat in 
 what remained of the egg from which it had hatched. 
 When this gave out, there were all sorts of good 
 things at the bottom of the pond. There were ten- 
 der green plants growing on the stones or in the 
 mud, or on the outside of other plants which were 
 themselves too big to be eaten. 
 
 Indeed the tadpole ate so often and so much that 
 it grew very fast and changed almost hourly in size 
 and form. At first its body was wormlike in shape, 
 and only half an inch long, with a mouth at one end 
 and a tail at the other. But soon little gills, some- 
 thing like a fish's, began to grow, making it easy for 
 the tadpole to breathe in the water. Its tail grew 
 longer and longer. By and by came two hind legs ; 
 then two fore legs. The tadpole's head was getting 
 more and more like a toad's. Its gills finally began 
 slowly to go away, and lungs began to grow instead. 
 While its lungs were growing, the tadpole would 
 swim now and again to the surface of the water, a 
 thing it had never done before. Then down it would 
 dart to the bottom of the pond. 
 
 At length the tadpole had become a perfect Uttle 
 toad, except that it still had a stub tail. 
 
1 68 
 
 It now ventured not only to the surface of the 
 water, but to the dry shore of the pond; and 
 sometimes it would stay on land for a while. 
 
 It required two months for the tadpole to become 
 a toad, and during that time it had had much enjoy- 
 ment in the cool water. Once there had been no 
 rain for a long time, and the pond was nearly dried 
 up. If this had happened the tadpole would have 
 died. At another time scores of its relatives were 
 eaten by hungry newts, and had our tadpole not 
 happened to hide behind a water plant, it too would 
 have shared this fate. 
 
 When June came the tadpole, although very tiny 
 and smooth-skinned, was a perfect little toad, and 
 ready to make her home on land. Choosing a time, 
 just after a nice warm shower, she hopped away 
 from the pond in search of a new home. 
 
 She went so fast that in a few days she was a 
 whole mile away from her birthplace. Always in 
 the warm part of the day, she had hidden in some 
 shady place, under a stone or beneath some grass oi 
 leaves. She seemed to know that it was not safe 
 for her skin to get quite dry. 
 
 For two or three years, while the little toad was 
 growing to be a big one, she lived on land and found 
 many new things to eat. She no longer liked vege- 
 table food. Indeed she would now eat only living 
 
169 
 
 creatures, such as caterpillars, flies, worms, spiders, 
 hornets, and centipedes. Her appetite was good, 
 and she could easily eat twenty-four caterpillars in 
 ten minutes. She often made away with several 
 hundred insects in a day. 
 
 Each winter she took a long nap. As soon as 
 the weather' grew cold, she would find some nice 
 warm place, in a hole or between large stones, where 
 the earth was moist and soft, and then go into it. 
 Instead of going in head first, she backed into her 
 hiding place. Digging with her hind legs, she 
 pushed her body with her fore legs until she was far 
 enough in to feel safe and comfortable. As she 
 moved, the soft soil kept falling down over her head, 
 and so both the toad and her new home were always 
 hidden from view. 
 
 When finally she had gone far enough the toad 
 moved about a little and made herself a small room, 
 a little bigger than her body. Then she drew up 
 her legs, shut her eyes, put her head down on her 
 fore legs, and went fast asleep, not to awaken till 
 spring. 
 
 One mild March morning the young toad came 
 out of her third winter's nap, and began at once to 
 look about for food. She was now full grown, and 
 three inches long. Her body was thick and heavy, 
 with a moist skin which was whitish underneath. 
 
I/O 
 
 and brownish gray on top. She had no teeth, but a 
 useful tongue, which was fastened only at the front 
 part of her mouth, and could be thrown out very 
 quickly and for a long distance by turning it upside 
 down. 
 
 Presently the young toad saw an angleworm, and 
 at once got ready to capture it. Bending her head 
 a little to one side and fixing her sharp eyes on the 
 worm, she waited till the proper moment, and then 
 threw out her tongue on which was a sticky flui^. 
 With a stroke quick as lightning, she caught the 
 worm and began to pull it into her mouth, using her 
 fore legs to help her ; in a very short time she had 
 swallowed the entire worm. 
 
 A few evenings later the young toad was hunting 
 insects which are found only after dusk, when she 
 heard a sound of distant voices, ' Bu-rr-rr, Bu-rr-rr ' 
 they were calling. What was it they were saying ? 
 She must go and find out. And away she hopped 
 toward the sounds. 
 
 Some other toads had come together on the edge 
 of a pond and were singing their spring songs, and 
 what a funny way they had of singing ! Instead of 
 opening their mouths, they puffed out their throat 
 sacks and burr-rr-ed into them. ' Better join us,' 
 they seemed to say. ' It's so beau-ti-ful ! Better 
 come 1 ' 
 
171 
 
 When the young toad reached the pond where 
 the other toads were singing, she saw water again 
 for the first time since she had left her native pond. 
 At once, at sight of its smooth surface, she wished 
 to get in ; and in she hopped. She seemed to know 
 that this was the place in which to deposit her glass- 
 like egg strings. It was not till she had laid as many 
 as two thousand eggs in a nice warm place that she 
 was willing to leave the pond. 
 
 One afternoon, the following August, Mrs. Toad 
 was sitting under a tall, bright scarlet toadstool 
 which was growing at the foot of a pine tree in a 
 shady "wjood. Mrs. Toad looked very handsome, for 
 she had just shed her old skin — a thing which 
 toads sometimes do four times in a season — and 
 her new one was glossy and as soft as velvet. 
 
 When her old skin had become dry and cracked 
 down the back and in front, she had wriggled her 
 body till the skin had come off on both sides. 
 Then, just as one would pull off a stocking, she 
 took it off her hind legs by using her fore legs, and 
 off her fore legs by using her mouth. And when it 
 was all off she had swallowed it whole at a single 
 gulp. 
 
 Mrs. Toad had not been long under the toadstool 
 when suddenly, in front of her, rose up a great giant. 
 Frightened almost to death, Mrs. Toad puffed out 
 
172 
 
 her .body as far as she could, and then sat quite 
 still. 
 
 The next thing she knew, the giant was lifting 
 her from the ground and smoothing her back; and, 
 strange to say, she was not hurt at all. 
 
 The giant was a little girl, who with her father 
 was walking in the woods. Seeing the pretty toad, 
 she thought she would take it home for a pet. The 
 little girl was not afraid of toads. Her father had 
 too often told her how harmless they were, and how 
 very useful too in killing insects, which did harm to 
 the grain, the fruits, and the flowers. 
 
 When Mrs. Toad found herself carried in a soft 
 hand and carefully put on the ground again in a 
 quiet, cool, moist place, she was no longer afraid. 
 
 Indeed she grew so fond of her new home that 
 she lived in it all the rest of her life, and only left it 
 each spring for a while when it was time to place 
 her eggs in a pond near by.- 
 
 Even when the weather grew cold and Mrs. Toad 
 had to go into a winter hiding place, she always 
 chose one in the garden. She was sure to be seen 
 again by her giant friend, as soon as the spring was 
 warm enough for her to come out. 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY READING 
 
 FAMOUS STORIES AND LITERATURE 
 
 ^ This grading, which is simply suggestive, represents the 
 earliest years in which these books can be read to advantage. 
 
 YEAR 
 
 7 Arnold's Sohrab and Rustum ^0.20 
 
 2 Baldwin's Fifty Famous Stories Retold ' . . . -35 
 
 4 Golden Fleece -5° 
 
 i Nine Choice Poems *S 
 
 3 Old Greek Stories 45 
 
 3 Old Stories of the East 45 
 
 a Robinson Crusoe for Children -35 
 
 3 Thirty More Famous Stories Retold .... . -5° 
 
 3 Bradish's Old Norse Stories 45 
 
 4 Clarke's Arabian Nights ^° 
 
 6 Story of Troy *° 
 
 6 Story of Ulysses ^° 
 
 6 Story of Aeneas 45 
 
 4 Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (Stephens) 5° 
 
 4 Dickens's Child's Oliver Twist and DavidCopperfield{Severance), .40 
 
 5 Story of Little Nell (Gordon) S° 
 
 6 Taleof Two Cities (Kirk) 5° 
 
 6 Twelve Christmas Stories (Gordon) 5° 
 
 7 Franklin's Autobiography 35 
 
 7 Guerber's Myths of Greece and Rome . . . . . . . • i-5° 
 
 7 Myths of Northern Lands »-5° 
 
 7 Legends of the Middle Ages '-5° 
 
 4 Hall's Homeric Stories 4° 
 
 8 Irving's Sketch Book. Selections *° 
 
 8 Tales of a Traveler 5° 
 
 3 Johnson's Waste Not, Want Not Stories 5° 
 
 3 Kupfer's Lives and Stories Worth Remembering 45 
 
 8 Lambs' Tales from Shakespeare. Comedies (Rolfe) ... .50 
 
 8 Tales from Shakespeare. Tragedies (Rolfe) 5° 
 
 8 Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome (Rolfe) 5° 
 
 8 Scott's Ivanhoe S° 
 
 6 Kenilworth (Norris) 5° 
 
 8 Lady of the Lake (Gateway) 4° 
 
 6 JJuentin Durward (Norris) 5° 
 
 6 Talisman (Dewey) • • -5° 
 
 Shakespeare's Julius Caesar 
 
 20 
 
 8 Merchant of Venice *° 
 
 8 As You Like It *° 
 
 I Smythe's Reynard the Fox . 3° 
 
 11 
 
 (20) 
 
 AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY READING 
 
 ^ This grading, which is simply suggestive, represents the 
 earliest years in which these books can be read to advantage. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY 
 
 YEAR 
 
 5 Carpenter's Geographical Reader — North America . . ^ , $0.60 
 
 5 Geographical Reader — South America .,, = .. .60 
 
 6 Geographical Reader — Europe 70 
 
 6 Geographical Reader — Asia 60 
 
 6 Geographical Reader — Australia, Our Colonies, and 
 
 Other Islands of the Sea ... 60 
 
 6 Geographical Reader — Africa 60 
 
 1 Dutton's Fishing and Hunting (World at Work Series) . , .30 
 
 2 In Field and Pasture (World at Work Series) 35 
 
 5 Guyot Geographical Reader (Pratt) 60 
 
 4 Krout's Alice's Visit to the Hawaiian Islands 45 
 
 4 Two Girls in China 4c 
 
 3 Long's Home Geography 2,5 
 
 4 MacClintock's The Philippines 40 
 
 3 Payne's Geographical Nature Studies 25 
 
 2 Schwartz's Five Little Strangers , 40 
 
 X Shaw's Big People and Little People of Other Lands , . . ,30 
 
 NATURE STUDY 
 
 3 Abbott*B A Boy on a Farm (Johnson) a , » ^5 
 
 3 Bartlett's Animals at Home 45 
 
 I Beebe and Kingsley's First Year Nature Reader 35 
 
 3 Bradish's Stories of Country Life 40 
 
 4 Dana^s Plants and Their Children 65 
 
 5 Holder's Half Hours with the Lower Animals 60 
 
 5 Half Hours with Fishes, Reptiles, and Birds 60 
 
 4 Stories of Animal Life 60 
 
 3 Kelly's Short Stories of Our Shy Neighbors 50 
 
 3 Monteith*s Some Useful Animals ro 
 
 3 Familiar Animals and Their Wild Kindred 50 
 
 4 Living Creatures of Water, Land, and Air eo 
 
 6 Popular Science Reader 75 
 
 5 Needham's Outdoor Studies 40 
 
 3 Pyle'fl Stories of Humble Friends eo 
 
 3 Stokes's Ten Common Trees 40 
 
 5 Wallcer's Our Birds and Their Nestlings 60 
 
 AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 
 
 OO 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY READING 
 
 HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY 
 
 ^ This grading, which is simply suggestive, represents the 
 earliest years in which these books can be read to advantage. 
 
 YEAR 
 
 5 Arnold's Stories of Ancient Peoples $0.50 
 
 5 Baldwin's Abraham Lincoln c6o 
 
 5 Conquest of the Old Northwest 60 
 
 5 Discovery of the Old Northwest 60 
 
 4 Four Great Americans 50 
 
 4 Beebe's Four American Naval Heroes 50 
 
 4 Burton's Four American Patriots 5^ 
 
 5 Story of La&yette 35 
 
 6 Clarke's Story of Caesar 45 
 
 8 Cody's Four American Poets 5° 
 
 8 Four American Writers 5^ 
 
 3 Dutton's Little Stories of France 40 
 
 2 Eggleston's Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans . .40 
 
 3 Stories of American Life and Adventure 50 
 
 5 Gfuerber's Story of the Thirteen Colonies 65 
 
 5 Story of the Great Republic 65 
 
 5 Story of the English 65 
 
 6 Story of the Greeks 60 ' 
 
 6 Story of the Romans 60 
 
 6 Story of the Chosen People 60 
 
 3 Home and Scobey's Stories of Great Artists 40 
 
 5 Kingsiey's Four American Explorers 5° 
 
 5 Story of Lewis and Clark ZS 
 
 5 Perry's Four American Inventors 5° 
 
 5 Perry and Beebe's Four American Pioneers 5° 
 
 6 Pitman's Stories of Old France 60 
 
 3 Scobey and Home's Stories of Great Musicians 40 
 
 3 Shaw's Discoverers and Explorers 35 
 
 7 Van Bergen's Story of China 60 
 
 7 Story of Japan 65 
 
 7 Story of Russia 65 
 
 5 Wallach's Historical and Biographical Narratives 35 
 
 5 Whitney and Perry's Four American Indians 50 
 
 5 Winterburn's Spanish in the Southwest 55 
 
 AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 
 
 (2J) 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY READING 
 
 ^ This grading, which is simply suggestive, represents the 
 earliest years in which these books can be read to advantage. 
 
 FAIRY TALES AND STORIES 
 
 YEAR 
 
 I Baker's Action Primer I°-2S 
 
 2 
 
 Bakewell's True Fairy Stories 35 
 
 1 Baldwin's Fairy Reader 35 
 
 2 Fairy Stories and Fables 35 
 
 I Fox's Indian Primer 25 
 
 4 Holbrook's 'Round the Year in Myth and Song, .60 
 
 1 Lane's Stories for Children 25 
 
 Lakeside Literature Series (Adams) : 
 
 2 Book I. Fables and Rhymes 30 
 
 3 Book II. Folk-Story and Verse ... .40 
 
 4 Book III. Myths of Old Greece ... .50 
 
 2 Logie and Uecke's Story Reader 30 
 
 I McCuUough's Little Stories for Little People . .25 
 
 3 Pratt's Legends of the Red Children 30 
 
 3 Pyle's Prose and Verse for Children 40 
 
 4 Rolfe's Fairy Tales 50 
 
 1 Simms's Child Literature 30 
 
 2 Smythe's Old Time Stories Retold 40 
 
 I Wood's Children's First Story Book 25 
 
 PATRIOTISM AND ETHICS 
 
 3 Johnson's Waste Not, Want Not Stories . 
 
 5 Marden's Stories from Life 
 
 7 Marwick and Smith's The True Citizen . 
 
 8 NordhofF's Politics for Young Americans . 
 5 Persons' s Our Country in Poem and Prose 
 8 Smiles's Self-Help (Bower) .... 
 
 50 
 45 
 60 
 
 75 
 50 
 60 
 
 AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 
 
 (23)