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STORIES OF ANIMAL LIFE
ECLECTIC SCHOOL READINGS
BY CHARLES FREDERICK HOLDER, LL. D. Author of "Elements of Zoology"
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NEW YORK : CINCINNATI : CHICAGO AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY CHARLES FREDERICK HOLDER.
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PREFACE.
THESE stories of nature, derived mainly from personal experience with the various animal forms described, are presented in the hope that they may prove an incentive to the young student of zoology or animal life, either creating an interest in the subject or serving as supplementary reading to those who have followed a course in the field or the text-book.
To undertake the study of natural history successfully, enthusiastic interest is necessary, and to arouse such an interest may be considered one of the possible good offices of the volume. The young student who is confronted day after day with a frog, a crab, or a shell, and requested to note its peculiarities of structure as a first lesson, sometimes may assume that natural history is, after all, very dry and uninteresting, when, had he even a faint conception of the wonderful ways and habits of the animals, he would eagerly embrace the opportunity for closer investigation.
This volume is intended to present some of the remarkable phases of animal life, and it is hoped that the reader will find under the guise of stories many facts not generally available and covering a wide field.
The illustrations have been designed to carry out still further the idea of the book, and to present at once the more interesting and striking features of the various animals under consideration.
Some of the chapters, as "How the Whale Looked Pleasant," "The Famous Tortugas Bullfight," "Jack and Jill Reynard," and others, appeared originally in "St. Nicholas" (published by the Century Company), a few in the "Youth's Companion" and the "Outlook," and nearly all are based upon personal experiences of the author in many localities, from the coral lagoons of the Gulf of Mexico to the islands of the Pacific.
PASADENA, CAL. C. F. H.
CONTENTS.
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THE LITTLE BEAR'S STORY.
<!-- image -->"I AM a native of the state of California. I don't remember distinctly where I was born, but it was up in the Sierras, where the snow lies in great banks, and the giant trees stand like sentinels, and where you might travel for days and weeks and meet no one but bears.
"The first thing I recollect is finding myself in a big burrow covered with snow. Then my mother broke the way out, and led us (I had a brother) down the mountain. We soon left the snow; and I remember one day, at sunset, we stood on an overhanging rock, and my mother showed us the green valleys and dark forests where we could hide, and far off was the gleaming sea. She did not care very much for the water, I think.
"My mother was hungry after the long winter fast, and every day she took us lower and lower, until, one night, she led us into a sheep ranch. Then our troubles began, for she left us to catch a lamb, and never came back. We heard all about it afterward. Some ranchers had seen her, and rode out on horseback to enjoy the cruel sport of 'roping a bear.' As they rode around her, one threw his lariat about her neck, another caught her forefoot as she stood up, another her hind leg; and then they dragged her away to the ranch house—and so we became orphans.
"It was not long before the dogs found us, and a man carried me home in a basket to his wife, who treated me very kindly. I did not like it, but pretended I did, and ate all I could, always watching and hoping for a chance to run away to my mountain home. My mistress, however, soon thought I was too knowing, and put a chain about my neck. Finally, when I was about four months old, they sent me to a friend in San Francisco. I shall never forget how the people looked at me and laughed when I stood on my hind legs. As if there was anything laughable in that! But they gave me sugar and other good things, and I fared well.
"My new master was a butcher, and most of the time I passed in his shop. But some days, when I was very homesick, and longed for my mother and the little cub who had been carried off I did not know where, the butcher's wife would take me into her room back of the shop; and then I would go to sleep, cuddled up close upon a rug, with my paws on her hand, and dream that I was back in my mountain home.
"One day I heard my master say I was to be photographed, and I thought my time had come. You see, I had never heard the word before. There was no escape, as I was kept tied; and the next morning my master took me under his big coat in the cable cars. I could just peep through one of the buttonholes, and all at once I uttered a loud whine. You should have seen how the passengers stared at my master, who, I knew, looked embarrassed, as he gave me a tremendous squeeze. We soon got out, and I was carried up a flight of stairs, and placed on a table in a room, the walls of which were covered with pictures of people's faces, all of which seemed to keep their eyes fixed on me.
"My master petted me and gave me some sugar, and I began to think that being photographed was possibly not so bad, after all. Presently a man came in. He looked very much astonished, and said: 'Why, I thought you engaged a sitting for "a descendant of one of the early settlers"?'
"'So I did,' replied my master; 'there it is'—pointing to where I stood up, blinking with all my might.
"'Why, it's a cub bear!' exclaimed the man.
"'Well, it is a relative of some early settlers, all the same,' my master answered.
"At this the man smiled good-humoredly; then he went into another room, while my master petted me and gave me so much sugar that I had the toothache from it. After a while the man came back and said he was ready, and I was taken into a room where there was a big thing like a gun on three legs, with a cloth over it. My master sat down in a chair and held me in his lap, while the man pointed the gun at us.
"I thought I was to be shot, and tried to get away; and this made the man so cross that he came out from under the cloth and said he couldn't do it. Then my master put me up in a child's chair, and propped something tight against my head, at which they both laughed so loud you could have heard them in the street, and I jumped down.
"Finally the man tapped his forehead and said: 'I have it.' He put a screen before the gun, and my master set me on top of it, holding my chain, while the man crept under the cloth. I did not dare move, as I was astride of the screen, my hind feet hanging in the air. I prepared for the worst. Then the man came out again, looked at me sharply, and turned my head a little, telling me to look pleasant—at which my master laughed. The man next shook a tambourine at me, and as I turned to see what the noise meant, I heard a click! and just then my master took me down and carried me home, much to my relief.
"I wondered what it was all about until, one day, my master took me on his knee, and, holding up a card, said: 'Well, here you are!' And what do you suppose it was? Nothing more or less than my picture, just as I was perched astride the screen the day when I thought I was going to be killed!"
THE FESTIVAL OF EGGS.
KAITAE was just sixteen years old. It was his birthday, and he rose bright and early, and was abroad before any of his companions; for, exhausted with the games and contests of the previous day, they were sleeping heavily in the curious caves or stone houses that even to this day mark the location of Orongo.
Kaitae was a prince, the lineal descendant of King Kaitae of Waihu, the strange volcanic island in the Pacific, better known as Easter Island.
The young prince, stepping lightly over two sleeping comrades, stole out of the cave, and with a joyful heart bounded away. For some distance he ran quickly; then, coming to a large platform of stone, he stopped near a group of curious objects.
The sun was just rising over the sea, seeming to Kaitae to illumine the scene with a mysterious radiance. He stood upon the side of an ancient volcano, the steep slope of which fell precipitously a thousand feet to the sea; and before him were many gaunt, staring faces of gigantic size, rudely carved in lifeless stone, their enormous eyes turned to the north. The great heads alone appeared, as if the bodies were embedded in the hardened lava that formed the base of the outer slope of the famous volcano Rana Roraka. The youth gazed long and wonderingly at them, as in his mind they were associated with the gods, and he reverently touched one, being able just to reach its huge lips.
"He reverently touched one."
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Kaitae was a bright boy, with long, dark hair, and brilliant, piercing eyes, and he presented a strange contrast to the wonderful old face that looked so steadfastly to the north. What was it looking at? what did it see? he asked himself; and climbing up to the brink of Rana Roraka, he gazed steadily to the north, then, turning, peered down into the vast crater of the volcano. The great abyss was nearly circular, a mile across, and its sides were deeply jagged. On the slopes, halfway down, were other faces, lying in confusion, as if they had been hurriedly left, or had been thrown down by some convulsion of nature.
Kaitae had heard from his father that in ancient times Tro Kaiho, a son of King Mohuta Ariiki, had made the first of these images. Here they had been for ages, for all he knew, marking the spot where the remains of his ancestors lay.
Kaitae, however, was not abroad so early in the morning to study these strange monuments of his ancestors. It was a famous holiday time, the Festival of the Sea Birds' Eggs, and the entire male population of Waihu had gathered at Orongo to celebrate it. The festival was an ancient custom, and the stone houses of Orongo had been built long in the past by these people to shelter them during this season.
The festival consisted of a race for the first gull's egg deposited upon the islands of Motu Raukan and Motu Nui, mere volcanic rocks, which peered above the surface a few hundred yards from the rocky shore of the island of Orongo. The object was to reach the island first, secure an egg, and bring it back in safety. The one who accomplished this was greeted by the entire community as a hero; and, more important yet, the return with the unbroken egg was supposed to bring with it the approval of the great spirit Meke Meke, and the fortunate one was the recipient of many gifts from his fellows throughout the ensuing year.