UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 



this life of fear. I don't know that the crow is ever 

 preyed upon by any other creature, so he apparently 

 has a pretty good time. He is social and noisy and 

 in the picnicking mood all the day long. Hawks 

 apparently are afraid of man only. Hence their lives 

 must be comparatively free from harassing fear. 

 Even fish in the streams are not exempt from fear. 

 They are preyed upon by large fish, and by minks 

 and otters, and by the fish hawk. If the weasel has a 

 natural enemy, I don't know what it is. He is the 

 boldest of the bold. He might be captured by a 

 hawk or an eagle, but such occurrences are probably 

 very rare, as a weasel can dodge almost anything 

 but a gun. 



Of all our wild creatures the rabbit has the most 

 enemies; weasels, minks, foxes, wildcats, and owls 

 are hovering about poor Bunnie at all times. No 

 wonder she never closes her eyes, even in sleep. 

 To compensate in a measure for all this, nature has 

 made her very fleet of foot and very prolific, so that 

 the race of rabbits is in full tide, notwithstanding 

 its many enemies. 



Such animals as the skunk and the porcupine show 

 little fear, because their natural enemies, if they 

 have any, would go by on the other side. There is 

 evidence that the skunk is sometimes preyed upon 

 by the fox and the eagle and the horned owl, and the 

 porcupine by the lynx and the wolf, but these must 

 be exceptional occurrences. The lion probably fears 



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