The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-05-26
.hTTLE CARIBOU AT SCHOOL
A CURIOUS SPECTACLE Sem. IN
THE WILDERNESS.
KindergArteR at which tho Youngstera
We're TAGght 70 Jump So That They
Could Keep Out Of the Clutches Of tho
wolves In Winter -Curi0slty Of Caribou.
c0pvrleht. lso1. ~ wmlam y. L0ne.

.. "SA'Ne - INV tNeNNJ
Copyright. 1907. 81 Waifam J. Lone,
or all the curious things that l ever
stumbled upon Unexpectedly Ia the big
wilderness. the most interesting, to me,
was a school for little caribou. Tint sounds
odd, I know. put l am thinking OF u school,
not as u little red building at the cross
roads containing one willing teacher and
several unwilling pupils bending over their
books together, but az any place In this
big world where any one who knows a thing
or two shares his crumb Of knowledge
with any one else who 10 ignorant. II you
aocopt this definition you win find your
school everywhere In the woods, where.
each year careful mothers lead their ignor-
ant little cubs and nestlings out into the
world.
Do they teach their young. or is all the
sitnplo knowledge of birds and beasts
a matter Of mere blind INSTINCT That Is
one OF the questions which naturallsts
are debating now. promulgRtlng all sorts
Of interesting opinions from the background
OF the easy chair or the natural history
museum.
Meanwhile the animal world outside is
full Of suggestive object lessons. Here is
one, shown me by the caribou, from which
one might be justified In forming q modest
opinion OF his own.
The animals / am speaking Of now are
woodland oaribou-larger and moro inter
esting animals than the barren ground
caribou OF the unwooded regions nearer
the Arctic. In summer they live singly
and far apart, rearing their young In deep
forest seolusion,
There each one does az he pleases, having
no herd and no herd laws either 10 protect
or to hamper him. So when you meet a
caribou In summer he is q strange creature
and has more unknown and curious ways
than when he runs with the herd in mid
winter.
I remember a solitary old bull that lived
on the mountainslde opposite my camp
n summer. who was q most interesting
mixture Of fear and boldness. Of reserve
and intense curiosity. After ] had hunted
him a few timea and he found that my in
~tentions were as peaceable as his own, he
took to hunting me In the same way, just
to find out who l was and what queer thing
was doing.
Sometimes l would zee him at sunset
on a dizzy clif watching for the smoke
OF my campfire or the coming OF my canoe.
And when l dived In for a swim about the
island where my tent was. splashing to
attract his attention. he would walk about
in the greatest excitement and start a
dozen times to come down; but always he
ran back for another look, as II fascinated.
Again he would come down on a burned
point near where I was fishing in my canoe,
and, hiding his body in the upderbrush,
would push his antlers up into the bare
branches OF q withered shrub, 90 Us 10 make
them inoonspicuous, and stand watching
me. As long a. he was quiet, II was i'm
possible to see him there; but ! could always
make him start ~nervously by flashing a
pocket glGss, or Topping a fish in the water,
or whistling q jolly Irish jig.
When / tied q bright tomato can to a
string one day, and set 1t whirling around
my head, and set my handkerchief for a
flag on the end Of my trout rod, then he
| could not stand il another minute, but
came running down to the shore, TO stamp
and ndget nervously, and scare himself
with twenty alarms while trying to make
I'D his mind to swim out and satisfy his
burning desire TO know all about it. But
! am forgetting the caribou schools,
nlsinS in The midst of dense forest~the
caribou collect In small herds as winter
comes on, following the old gregarious
instinct. Then each n cannot do as he
pleaseS any more. for all greearious orea-
lures seem to have certain regulations
which ell must know and respect, but Of
which the young are manifestly ignorant;
and il is for this winter life together, when
laws must be known and the rights Of the
individual be laid aside for the good Of
the herd, that the young are trained.
One afternoon In late gumme l was
drifting silently down the Toiedi River in
the New Brunswick woods casting for trout
when a movement in the bushes ahead
caught my attention. 4 great swampy
low brush spread out on either side OF the
stream. From the I made out two or
three waving lines Of bushes, where some
animals were making their way through
the sT emp toward w i.5.S q f;t II r. OF m,6 6i6 timber
Pushing my canoe into the grass. l made
for a point just astern Of the nearest CULVER
ing line Of bushes. A glance at O bit Of
soft ground showed me the trail OF q mother
caribou and her calf. 1 followed stealthily,
| the wind being In my favor. They we're
not ~hurrying, and I o very good pains
not to alarm them.
When / reached the timber and orept
through the fringe Of underbrush there
were the caribou, 6va or six mother animals
and nearly twice as many little ones, which
| tious. They were gathered in a natural
opening, fairly clear Of bushes, With a
fallen tree or two which served a good
purpose later. The sunlight fell across
Il in golden bars, making light and shadow
TO play Ia; all around was the great marsh,
giving protection from enemies: dense
| undefbrush screened them from pryink
| eyes-Rud this was their sohoolroom.
The little ones were pushed out into tho
middle, away from the mothers, to whom
they chung inHtinotively, and were left to
get acquainted with one another. which
| they did very shyiy at first. like so many
strange children. II was oil new and
| curious, this meeting with their kind, for
| tin now they had lived In dense solitudes,
each one knowing no living creature save
| its W mother,
Some were timid and backed way as
far as possible into the shadow, looking
with wild, wide eyes from one 70 another
| Of the little caribou and boiling 10 their
| mothers sidos at every unusual movement.
Others woro bold and took TO butting at
| the first encounter.
But careful, kindly eyes watched over
them. Now and then a mother caribou
would oous from the shadows and push
n little one gently from his retreat under a
| bush out into the company. Another
would push her way between two stubborn