Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-02

know that their manner Of feeding, play
ing or fighting have been impudently spied
in battered old note books. With such In
vestigators there is always the cheering
possibility if not probability, that they will
catch the rheumatism or fall out of a tree
and break a leg, along with the certainty
that they will be called ''molycoddles' by
strenuous direct students There is very
little to stir the blood in this sort of investi-
cation. 1t is not surprising that the picture
of live man spending years in studying
the little birds and beasts around one small
pond in New England causes the followers
of the direct method to curl their lips in
Scorn. Why, a direct investigator with a
gun and few traps could have cleaned the
neighborhood of Thoreau's pond out of ev-
erything worth studying in two weeks
Not, of course, in a spirit of congratula-
ton, it, however can be stated that there
comparatively few followers of the
sneaky method of studying animals. There
are some, of course, such as burroughs
and Thoreau and seton-Thompson and
Long and two more whom l have
forgotten, not that it matters.
Now. my children, in entirely unpreju-
diced way, l have shown you the difference
between the two schools of investigators.
1 WILL however, in order to make your
lesson clearer quote you a few paragraphs
from the note books of professors repre-
senting the different methods.
The direct. Hard luck today In
the morning the plain to the west OF US
was fairly black with buffalo Our bad
luck in being short of ammunition was
made more eNasperating by the fact that
although approached the herds from
different directions and shot as many car
tridges as we could spare, the foolish
beasts did not run any distance or show
any great fear After killing oil we were
obliged to stop. We cut the tongues from
lie h,,t II 4 mot hnt
with any other meat, as the buffalo are
in poor condition at this time of the year.
I'm the clump of woods we saw several
elk. Luckily the wind was in our direction
and succeeded in getting within range
without being discovered. My first shot
brought down big bull. was equally
successful. and as the animals were dis
appearing among the trees | took a snap
broke his leg. He, however, maraged to
disappear from sight. leaving an easily
followed trail of blood. We did not have
time to follow or even to do more with
the ones we had killed than to knock out
a few of the teeth from the bull
The sneaky method-"Spent the entire day
concealed in the bushes by the dam Watcn-
ing the beavers at work. Although ! took
my position with all possible precaunon, IL
was two hours before the beaver regained
confidence enough to resume their ordi-
nary occupation. Saw six or eight IN an.
Much work was put In on repairing tne
food One big fellow devoted the entire
afternoon to the telling of birch of con-
siderable size He girdled the tree, gnaW-
ing into the wood about foot from the
ground The tree finally fell over into the
pond, but whether this direction was good
Workmanship or accident | could not say
| am inclined to think that the fact that
most trees cut by beaver fall in the right
direction for their purposes is due to the
fact that trees along streams usually lean
toward the water rather than to any de-
sign.
Now, my children, you see the dlnerence
easily. You must remember, however, that
the direct method is for use only with
wild and dangerous animals, such as rab-
bits, bears, mice and deer. With tame, do
nestle animals, such as bloodhounds mules
and tomcats, you must always use the
sneaky method of study. If you don't you
will have trouble with the law. Nearly
all the investigators by the direct method