New-York tribune., 1909-02-06
WOOD-LORE.
CapitaI Stories of WiId animals IN
Their Homes.

THE HOUSE IN THE WATER 4 Book Of AM AMI
nal Stories by Charles G. p Roberts, @ IIns,
sui ie and d'F Frank Vining Smith, limo pD. So1
Boston: L c, Page & Co
Professor Roberts's fund of original wood-lore
appears 10 be inexhaustible. and we hope that II
will prove So or at least that It will hold out Tor
long time He has keen faculty Of ohserva-
ton reverence for facts; yet he has in no wise
stunted his poetical sensibilities Unlike many
fact gatherers. he feels as well as sees. Here
for instance is the background he provides Tor
his story of the wolverine The GIutton Of the
Great Snow:
Northward interminaby. and beneath a whitish.
desoats sky. stretched the white empty league ~ Ta
straight menacing horizon: Green-black ana
Spon their branches. along the southward limits Of
the barren crowded down the serred ranks & OF @ 9Ie
guards long silent aisles of whiteness led back
and gently upward into the heart or the forest
An effective stage setting this for the drama
Of cunning and retribution that follows. The
protagonist is the "Injun Devil crafty as the
wisest fox. fearless, pertinacIous, cruel. a rob-
Der of traps. a foe of all the beasts Of the for
est Vividly yet minutely the author gives us
the portrait making habit, disposition. manner
all living elements in the figure. This Is no
stuffed museum specimen. 1t IS the 'Glutton
on the trail:
Out across one OF these pale corridors Of silence
moving very deliberately a DARK squat SiIdLe
with blunt rnuzZle close to the snow. It's Keen
fierce eyes and keener nostrils were scrutlnlzing
the white surface for the scent or tran o. some
forest yyauderer. Less than three
Ise Ft b Ie-Setb hut Of peci,ary massive build this
dark onlinous looking animal walked fat-footed.
like bear. and with a surly heavineSs worthy o[
q bears stature. Its fur, coarse and long, was OF
a sooty gray-brovvn streaked coarsely down each
flank with a broad yellOwtsh splash meeting over
the hindQuarters- Its powerful, heavy-clawed feet
were black. Its short muzZle and massive Jaw ana
the fur came down thickly, were black also.
Professor Roberts has the faculty of record
ing things seen so that others can see them.
Doubtless many OF his own particular readings
in" of motive and intention would be challenged
bv biologists, for their appears TO be no possi-
bility of agreement on the much vexed question
of animal reason, but, as nature writer's go, he
is 10 be reckoned among the conservatives. His
opening chapers. which carry the title Of the
volume The House IN the Water" fascinating
" describe the life of a community Of beavers
their methods of telling trees constructing and
repairing DAMS accumulating food supplies,
digging canals, dealing with enemies, and so on;
and they leave an Irresistible impression Of au-
tbenticity Elsewhere In the volume are tales
of how the bears went s-bueberrying on Bald
Mountain; of how q mother bear, caught on
mud fat when the Fundy tide came in. saved
her cub and herself from watery grave; OF
how two bull moose fought It out "at the wal
low and the victor was compelled straightway
10 try conclusions with a savage bear that had
slain the contested cow Capital stories. all Of
them told with spirit.