36 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



To our older readers I submit this as a parody,— yes, and in many re- 

 spects a parallel (!) to much scientific writing that buries simplicity and real 

 interest in a mass of words. If, from this point of view, our older readers 

 shall see a touch of sarcasm, I shall be glad; that is, if it tends to reform. 

 To our younger nature lovers, perhaps it will serve as an amusing puzzle to 

 be deciphered and told in common language what are all the animals and 

 plants referred to.— E. F. B. 





EARLESSLY I pushed on- 

 ward into the wilderness. 

 It had been a long and 

 weary tramp since 1 left 

 the haunts of men. I was 

 in a forest untamed and un- 

 touched by the hand of man, 



and there a faint sign in a 

 show that some other 



save here 

 broken shrub to 



explorer or Nature lover has been along 

 that way. Persistently I had followed a 

 trail now almost lost in the tangled shrub- 

 bery, now winding among huge trees, 

 down deep ravines and across great 

 stretches of lowlands. 



How came this trail here, I wondered. 

 I fancied that it might have been made 

 by the constant trampling of some huge 

 animal in his quest for water ; some crea- 

 ture whose ancestors had been remotely 

 related to the primitive bison. 



I was near to the heart of Nature. 

 Few from the crowded cities had dared 

 to venture into these weird and strangely 

 impressive shades. 



Wild beasts, fierce but beautiful, 

 peered at me from the bushes, or startled 

 me by a leap across the trail, as I pressed 

 onward through the jungle; brilliant 

 birds flitted before me, or darted from 

 limb to limb in the leafy arches above. 

 I was prepared to meet any of _ these 

 creatures. Indeed, even thus far in the 

 journey I had had many an exciting en- 

 counter. Creatures strange in name, im- 

 pressive and beautiful in appearance had 

 gathered to increase the accumulating 

 spoils of many a previous hunting trip. 

 It was a journey of attack, on my part. 

 It was a chase within the unknown, and 

 a preparation for the unexpected. In 

 addition to the usual weapons, I carried 

 my trustv camera. The land was a land 

 of wonders. On a huge Quercus alba, 

 a fierce Sciurus hudsonicus gymmcus, 

 chattered and bristled, and flashed light- 

 ning from his glowing eyes, till in 

 a very explosion of wrath he had leaped 



into the topmost branches of the 

 Quercus. And I said, "That's you! I 

 know you." From a Betula flitted 

 through the air Cyanocitta cristata 

 with defying taunts, while from an 

 Alnus came the terrifying rattle of 

 a Cyrele alcyon. But not in the 

 least daunted (though thrilled by all 

 these) I pursued a Spelerpes into a cav- 

 ern under an old log. The battle was 

 at all its exciting height. A Rana cat- 

 esbiana sounded forth its sepulchral 

 warning. But not even this could 



daunt me. I said to myself, "I have but 

 one life to live, let me live it here in 

 conquest. Give me the battle royal." 

 lust then a Neotoma darted from a se- 

 cluded part of the jungle and I started 

 in full chase. But here it was not for 

 me to conquer. He who had never 

 fought, but ran away lived to fight some 

 Megascops another day. 



At the edge of the densest jungle of 

 all I calmly collected trophies of this 

 strange land, among them Chelone, Ly- 

 simachia, Xvris, and just beyond the 

 water's brink a wonderful Utricularia. 

 And I thought, "How strange would be 

 all these beautiful objects to the gray 

 heads and ignorant eyes of yonder city." 

 Perhaps they had read of the Basilosau- 

 rus, of the Archaeopteryx, the Dinosau- 

 rus', the Thespesius of ancient days, 

 and said, "What wonderful animals in 

 those days. How I wish I had been on 

 earth to 'see them." The most wonder- 

 ful things are always supposed to be 

 distant in both time and space. 



Just then, to interrupt my meditations, 

 came a blood-curdling cry. 



"Yo-ho! Yo-ho! Yo-ho! Yo-ho-o-o! 



It was answered from the distance. 



"Ah hi! Ah-lu! ah lua lua loo." 



'Twas enough to strike terror into the 



heart of any exploring pale face. My 



heart beat quickly. That was the only 



sound I could hear except the cry of 



some strange Canis in the distant tangle, 



