On Getting Acquainted 



but as you value his life don't pet him or leave 

 the scent of you on his delicate skin. A wild 

 mother knows her own by the sense of smell chiefly ; 

 if she finds the startling man-scent where she 

 expected a familiar odor, she becomes instantly 

 alarmed, and then the little one is a stranger to 

 her or a source of violent anger. 



Once, before I learned better than to handle any 

 helpless cub, I saw a doe drive her own fawn 

 roughly away from her, out of my sight and hear- 

 ing. I had petted the fawn a little (a very little, 

 I am glad to remember) and looked with wonder 

 on the mother's anger, not understanding it till 

 some time later, when I learned of a similar incident 

 with a sadder ending. Not far from my camp a 

 sportsman with his guide found a fawn hidden 

 near the stream where they were fishing, and being 

 completely won by the beautiful innocent, as most 

 men are, they petted him to their hearts' content. 

 When an old doe, the mother presumably, ap- 

 peared heading in their direction they thought- 

 fully withdrew, hiding at a distance to watch the 

 family reunion. The doe seemed to hasten her 

 steps when she saw that the fawn was on his feet, 

 instead of lying close where she had left him; 

 but when near him she suddenly stiffened, with the 

 hair bristling on her neck. Two or three times 

 she thrust out her nose, only to back away, and 



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