Wild Animals I Have Known

the old forest still stood in it and a few of the still older trunks were lying about as dead logs in the brushwood. The land about the pond was o

needles in air and dead ones on earth offer so delicious an odor to the nostrils of the passer-by, and

wild tracks that ever crossed these fields were those of a

re far away, and their nearest kin were dead. This was their home, and here they

to lie low and say nothing. His adventure with the snake taught him the wisdom of this. Rag never

ze.' It grows out of the first, and Ra

ies chance together, the one who first sees the other can keep himself unseen by 'freezing' and thus have all the advantage of choosing the time for attack or escape. Only those who live in the woods know the importance of this; every wild creature and every hunter must learn it; all learn to do it well, but not one

cret of the Brierbrush. It is a very old secret now, and to make it pl

off with his long tail, and the Deer, with his sharp hoofs, would break them down. So the Brierbrush armed itself with spikes to protect its roses and declared eternal war on all creatures that cl

the Rabbit into especial friendship, and when dangers are threatening poor Bunny he flies to the

d from his mother was, "The B

nd brier mazes. And Rag learned them so well that he could go all around the swamp by two

skin was torn by it. Each year there was more of it and each year it became a more serious matter to the wild creatures. But Molly Cottontail had no fear of it. She was not brought up in the briers for nothing. Dogs and foxes, cattle and sheep, and even m