In the open : $b intimate studies and appreciations of natureKirkham, Stanton Davis
History
In the open : $b intimate studies and appreciations of nature
Kirkham, Stanton Davis
Natural history -- Outdoor books
Save for his nose, which wobbled slightly, he was motionless as a
stone. After some time his ear moved gently, much as a leaf is turned
over by the wind, but his eye never winked and its expression was one
of extreme alertness. On too near an approach he made off in haste.
Noting his direction, I followed to see if I could again locate him.
For some time no rabbit was visible, when I chanced again upon a little
gray stump covered with buff-tinted fungi, which appeared this time on
the pine-needles and just within the charmed precincts of the briers.
I produced an apple as a peace offering and in token of my good-will
and desire to be of service to the tribe of gray rabbits. He remained
like a stone while the bits of apple descended about him and lay at a
tempting distance. At last there was a more vigorous wobbling of the
nose, the long ears moved--as a leaf turns--and with two little hops he
approached and accepted the token, and we were brought together in
amity in the silent woods. A humble offering, indeed, but it served for
the moment to bring me in touch with the wild and to strike a common
chord. The seemingly impassable barrier of caste, which lies between
man and the wild things, was crossed, and we broke bread together.
After a light fall of snow it is instructive to read what the rabbit
has written in his diary. Such scattered notes as he leaves are wholly
personal and do not seem to imply interest in anything but himself. You
may see where he has hopped through his runways and stopped now and
then when the necessity appealed to him of removing certain briers to
keep the passageway clear. Sometimes it is a stem of the catbrier;
again a rose or blackberry. In every case it is cut obliquely and as
sharply and neatly as with a knife. Frequently stems are severed
thickly set with thorns and prickers, and the wonder is how he closed
his teeth upon them without getting an unpleasant mouthful. Hundreds of
cuts reveal never a slip or break, but each is sharply defined as if
done by one stroke of a razor. His track shows places where he sat upon
his haunches, and where he stood up to reach the buds of a stunted wild
apple; again he followed the shore of the pond and nibbled the small
willows and clethra. Occasionally he appears to have cut a large brier
merely for practice in using his teeth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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