XX 



RECREATION. 



LIFE BEHIND THE CABIN. 



W. H. NELSON. 



One summer I lived in a cabin in the 

 mountains of Colorado, where I had fre- 

 quent opportunities to observe the domestic 

 habits of a few of the feathered and furry 

 tenants of the wood. I planted a garden 

 near my temporary home, and took much 

 pride in the prospect of fresh peas and 

 beets, greens and potatoes, with lettuce 

 galore, when the summer rains and suns 

 should have ripened them, aided, of course, 

 by "the man with the hoe." Not a weed 

 marred the smooth level of the earth ; not 

 a root was left to show that it was newly 

 worked. The potatoes sprouted, the beets 

 peeped up, the lettuce stole through the 

 soil, and I was happy. Then came the 

 magpies or chipmunks and left me not one 

 stalk of lettuce. Followed a frost; and lo ! 

 I, the lord of the garden, found myself 

 the victim of a night. My beautiful gar- 

 den was gone. 



Out near the farther end of the desolate 

 garden my daughter threw scraps left from 

 the table. The birds were on the watch 

 and before she had reached the interior of 

 the cabin, the scrap pile was undergoing 

 inspection. Jays ! It seems they were all 

 married and had large families. They 

 were fearless, saucy little beggars, and 

 came to the trees beside the house, flitting 

 from branch to branch, cocking their heads 

 sidewise, and tilting their crests at all 

 sorts of angles to see in at the window, or 

 to examine the ground. No sooner was 

 the scrap plate emptied, out by the little 

 stump, tnan a jay alighted there and se- 

 lected the choicest morsel. Flying into a 

 tree with it, he ate enough from it to re- 

 duce it to the swallow size of his son, or 

 daughter. That young person, quite as big 

 as the mamma or papa, usually sat at a 

 little distance, with gaping mouth and flut- 

 tering wings, begging for a bite. That his 

 parents deftly put into his mouth at last 

 and flew back to the stump for more, while 

 the overgrown child waited and watched, 

 with wings a-flutter and throat a-yawp. 



Sometimes the parent's patience wore 

 out and I caught a querulous note, as the 

 weary provider flew away from the in- 

 satiable babe, plainly saying: 



"You lazy thing ! You're as big as I am. 

 Hunt your own grub." 



I saw a mother, or father — I can not tell 

 them apart — trying to teach a youngster to 

 catch grasshoppers, but it was not a suc- 

 cess. The lazy lout easily kept abreast of 

 his parent, but made no effort to catch the 

 grasshopper. He knew a trick worth 2 of 

 that. He waited till his parent had caught 

 the insect, then squatted with fluttering 

 wings and gaping throat begging to be fed. 

 "Pity me ! I am starving !" 



A squirrel frequently shared a meal with 

 the jays, and it was interesting to watch 

 the performance. The furry gentleman is 

 at perfect ease among his feathered friends, 

 not seeming to be disturbed by them, nor to 



wish to molest them; but if I move he 

 seems to consider it a signal to break 

 camp, and off he goes, his tail a wriggling 

 wake in his rear. 



One evening I saw a rabbit which had 

 invaded the sacred territory. He nibbled 

 along, here and there stopping to taste a 

 bite, not at all disturbed by my presence, 

 though I stood erect within 20 feet of 

 him. For the time the jays were absent. 

 However, just as Bunny stopped by the 

 scrap stump a jay came from the woods on 

 cleaving wing and alighted on the stump 

 within 8 inches of the long eared invader's 

 nose. It was amusing to see the look of 

 surprise on the jay's face. He stood aghast, 

 looking on while Bunny ate; then hopped 

 down beside him and chipped in. 



While crossing a meadow I came one 

 day on a chipmunk which seemed so fear- 

 less that I stopped to examine him closely. 

 He stood erect on the edge of his home, 

 paws curved across his breast, and eyed me 

 without a tremor. I slowly approached till 

 within 3 feet of him. I could have hit* 

 him with my walking stick. After regard- 

 ing me fixedly 2 or 3 minutes, he went 

 down stairs to tell Mrs. Chipmunk, and 

 the children about it; then came up again 

 and went across to another hole 40 yards 

 away, probably to tell his mother-in-law. 



I found a coyote, a few evenings later, 

 trying to catch young magpies. I do not 

 know if he succeeded. As he sat down to 

 take _ a rest, 150 yards away, I tried my 

 Remington on him, off-hand, but missed. 

 It was an easy shot, and I reproved my- 

 self back into the house. I had pulled too 

 quickly. I scared him, however, as badly 

 as if I had hit him between the eyes. He 

 jerked the throttle wide open and burned 

 half a mile of airhole into a cinder getting 

 away. 



Not long afterwaru me same Remington, 

 in other hands, killed a mother coyote, 

 which, I found on skinning her, had a fam- 

 ily of children somewhere that waited long 

 for the footfall which never came, and died 

 of starvation. She was only a wolf, and 

 her children would have been thieves had 

 they lived. A ranchman would have been 

 glad, perhaps ; but I could not help feeling 

 a keen sorrow for the helpless, hungry 

 babies, dying so miserably, and regret that 

 I should have borne a share in her killing. 

 How little mercy has man shown the other 

 animals ! 



Quails have wintered well, and are un- 

 usually plentiful. When plowing stubble, 

 it is not uncommon to have a covey of 10 

 or so fly up all around the horses. Rab- 

 bits are scarce. Can some reader of Rec- 

 reation inform me where I can get good 

 deer and grouse shooting near here? 



Thos. P. Neet, Versailles, Ky. 



IF YOU WOULD LIVE NEXT TO 

 NATURE READ RECREATION. 



