428 LABRADOR 



stock. Black bear and woodchuck use this fat as food to 

 enable them to sleep through the discomforts of winter. 



Most of the mammals have their special senses developed 

 to an extraordinary degree. The wild goose and the eagle 

 can both see better than we can even with the aid of a 

 telescope, while huge owls prefer the dark for clear vision. 

 A wolf or a beaver can tell the scent of an old trail of a 

 man who has only passed once, and that hours before. A 

 fox will hear the feeble chirrup of a mouse all across a 

 marsh. Strangely enough, none of the mammals rely on 

 sight for protection. Scent is no use down wind and very 

 little over water. Hearing is an exceedingly unreliable 

 guide as to direction, while sight would appear to be 

 valuable under all circumstances. A seal often loses its 

 life through its inability to know what it is looking at. It 

 will put its head and shoulders out of water every minute 

 to try and make out a man, and will come close up to him. 

 I shall never forget my first caribou, and the "buck fever 7 ' 

 which made me fire nine times at him. I was lying in a 

 perfectly open marsh, and the animal, which was looking 

 straight at me, simply stood and sniffed the air and stared 

 helplessly. The powder was, of course, smokeless. A friend, 

 kneeling also in a perfectly exposed marsh, by simply stay- 

 ing still, tolled a fox so close to him, that when he eventually 

 fired, the shot, going like a bullet, nearly spoiled a valuable 

 pelt. But foxes differ all are not so foolish. A beaver 

 will look at you down wind from only a few yards away, 

 and yet not distinguish anything unusual. As shy an ani- 

 mal as a marten will show no fear so long as you keep still. 

 Slow, steady movement or stillness always inspires confi- 

 dence. 



