The Burgess Animal Book for ChildrenBurgess, Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo)
General
The Burgess Animal Book for Children
Burgess, Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo)
Animal behavior -- Juvenile literature; Zoology -- Juvenile literature
“Reddy hunts both day and night, but I think he prefers night. I
guess it all depends on how hungry he is. More than once I've
seen him bringing home a Chicken, but I am told that he is smart
enough not to steal Chickens near his home, but always to go some
distance to get them. Also I've been told that he is too clever
to go to the same Chicken yard two nights in succession. So far
as I know, he isn't afraid of any one except a hunter with a
terrible gun. He doesn't seem to mind being chased by Bowser the
Hound at all.”
“I don't,” spoke up Reddy. “I rather enjoy it. It gives me good
exercise. Any time I can't fool Bowser by breaking my trail so he
can't find it again, I deserve to be caught. I am not even so
terribly afraid of a hunter with a gun. You see, usually I can
guess what a hunter will do better than he can what I will do.”
Old Mother Nature nodded. “That sounds like boasting,” said she,
“but it isn't. Reddy Fox is one of the few animals who has
succeeded in holding his own against man, and he has done it simply
by using his wits. There is no other animal as large as Reddy Fox
who has succeeded as he has in living close to the homes of men.
It is simply because he has made the most of the senses I have given
him. He has learned to use his eyes, ears and nose at all times and
to understand and make the most of the information they bring him.
Reddy has always been hunted by man, and it is this very thing which
has so sharpened his wits. It is seldom that he is guilty of making
the same mistake twice. All of you little people fear Reddy, and I
suspect some of you hate him. But always remember that he never
kills for the love of killing, and only when he must have food.
There would be something sadly missing in the Green Forest and on
the Green Meadows were there no Reddy Fox. Reddy, where do you and
Mrs. Reddy make your home? And how do you raise your babies?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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