34^ 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



Concerning Bears and Deer. 



BY JOSKPH W.LIPPINCOTT, BETHAYRES, PA. 



By far the strangest thing I noticed 

 about the wild bears in the Yellowstone 

 National Park was the fact that, when 

 they came to the hotel garbage piles to 

 feed, they paid no more attention to the 

 crowd of onlookers than if it did not 

 exist. 



Early in the evening a black bear or 

 two would drift quietly out of the woods 

 and begin to pick over the tin cans direct- 

 ly in front of the visitors. One feels a bit 

 queer when they appear, especially as 

 they nervously look up every moment or 

 two and often listen and perhaps scent 

 the evening breeze, but in spite of fears 

 you quickly see that they look only in the 

 direction of the woods, where they and 

 all the other bears must come from. 



I saw one bear dash almost into the 

 visitor's gallery just because he heard or 

 saw another bear coming out of the 

 woods a hundred yards away. At an- 

 other time two silver tips appeared in the 

 distance and three of the five black bears 

 already on the scene slunk towards the 

 people in very apparent fear and then left 

 the place entirely, \vith their attention 

 ever riveted upon the w^oods. This kind 

 of thing was noticeable every evening and 

 soon gave one the idea that it was some 

 member of their family and not man that 

 the bears felt uneasy about. 



Perhaps I would not have thought 

 about this after leaving the Park had I 

 not this spring observed the same habit 

 in wild deer that came to feed in a New 

 Jersey alfalfa field. The deer, particu- 

 larly in bright daylight, feared something 

 that they expected to come from the 

 woods behind them. The several people 

 watching from the next field scarcely in- 

 terested them. 



I watched on a number of afternoons 

 in April and found, just as with the bears, 

 that it was others of their kind that they 

 were so intently looking for. Once a doe 

 came far into the short alfalfa growth 

 and fed until her nervous ears caught the 

 sound of two approaching deer. Instantly 

 she became more agitated, trotted about 

 and finally ran to them, although they 

 were in another field beside the woods. 

 Then, instead of greeting them like 

 friends, the doe rose on her hind legs and 

 put them both to rout with furious jabs 

 of her front feet. The evening seemed 

 to be spoiled for her for she made no 

 further attempt to eat, preferring to gaze 



into the shadows of the woods. One or 

 two deer always were nervous until more 

 came out, but a herd of from six to ten — 

 the most seen at once — was nearly im- 

 mune from the woods gazing habit. 



Interested in Nature Study. 



Miss Smith, a teacher of biology in a 

 certain high school, relates this incident 

 in connection with an interest in nature 

 manifested by a teacher in the public 

 schools. This supposedly new convert to 

 the value of nature study came to Miss 

 Smith, an enthusiastic and thoroughly 

 proficient teacher of biology, to borrow 

 a book on nature study. 



"What do you wish to study?" 

 "Oh, never mind what. I just want 

 any book O'U nature study that you may 

 happen to have." 



Miss Smith, surprised at so general a 

 request, demanded more explicit informa- 

 tion. The reply was, "Oh, I am not par- 

 ticular as to what book, only a big, nice 

 looking book on any nature subject. I 

 want it to lie on my desk where it will 

 look well when the superintendent calls." 



Kansas has 80 species of wald mammals ; 

 N'ebraska 94: Colorado 152; Texas 182; 

 and California 369. 



A prominent American bacteriologist 

 has lately expressed the opinion that 

 fertilizers applied to the ground, though 

 they aid the crops directly, have at 

 least as much indirect effect by nourish- 

 ing the beneficent micro-organisms of 

 the soil. 



The Blizzard. 



BY CAROLINE CLARK HINTON, HARTFORD, 

 CONNECTICUT. 



Blinding' snow 

 And wind and cold; 

 Swaying branches tossed about 

 Like skeletons upon a string 



By childish hands. 

 Downy balls of snow 



Like nests 



•Deserted 

 In the twilight of the autumn's evening. 



Upon the vines 



The snow is spread, 

 White arms that curve and stretch, 



A shining octopus. 

 While through the mist 



A golden light 

 That glints and sways and lives; 



Snatched from the darkness, 



Concentrated. 

 God's gift to man. 



