Tl8 NEW BORN GAME ANIMALS. 



Colonel Dodge, U.S.A., another officer of lifelong- 

 experience in all such matters, some 20 years later 

 writes to the same effect in what is certainly one of 

 the best books that have ever been written upon American 

 hunting and prairie experiences. 



" It is a curious fact (he says) and an admirable example 

 of the universal providence of Nature, that the young of 

 game animals have no scent. In some mysterious way the 

 dam communicates her instructions to her newly born offspring,, 

 which in quiet obedience lies motionless in the hiding place 

 selected for it, never moving except to escape the most 

 imminent danger. A hungry cougar, or half famished wolf, 

 may pass or repass within a few feet of the little one, which 

 had it the slightest scent would at once fall a victim to these 

 keen-nosed gluttons. But for this admirable provision of 

 Nature, in with-holding scent from the young of game animals,, 

 the races would soon be extinct." : 



These facts, which were well known to, and doubtless 

 first heard of, from those acute observers of Nature, 

 the Indians, to say nothing of experienced white hunters 

 who have likewise noted them, convey even to the 

 most unthinking a wonderful illustration of the Divine 

 goodness and mercy, so plentifully displayed through- 

 out creation, finely expressed in the Scriptural text 

 " Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing ? and not 

 one of them shall fall to the ground without your 

 Father." f 



There are, moreover, other facts that can be cited, 

 which in the strongest manner corroborate those stated 

 by these American officers ; in the case however which 

 we have selected, they have reference to bird life and 



* The Hunting Grounds of the Great West, by Lt.-Col. Richd 

 Dodge, U.S.A., 1877, p. 9. 

 f Matt, x, v. 29. 



