The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-04-20

kY 1FNAh e > - ~ fNCbNfN 90
II was the hungry year. for all the
flesh eating kindred of the northern
wilds a year Of ccaselcss ambush. of
strained vigilance. of unprecodcutcdly
savage fued. In this year every truce
was broken. For it was the year of
no rabbits
As happens once in awhile, mystcri.
ously, the swarming hordes Of them
had vanished. as if wiped out by a
pestlence. or eNled in a mass, in
exorably, by some caprice of the un-
seen Powers. And so, red anarchy
in the wild. For the rabbit is the
great reconciler, the great keeper Of
the peace. II is he that keeps life
more or less regulated for the fiercely
/ individual and ungovernable hunters
and prowlers for to his ineXhaustible
fertility, and to the food supply af-
forded by him myriads, are all their
. lives attuned Their wants satisfied
10y this facile chase, they can afford
to save themselves trouble by avoid
. ing one another at times, by respect
ing. to a certain extent, one another's
ranges, and so escaping the risk of
dangerous and doubtful encounters
Few of the wild creatures. with the
exception of certain males in the mat
ing season, care to fight for fightings
safe, or to join battle, unless IN de
Tense of their young, with an antagon-
Isl Of anything like equal powers. a
victory too costly is almost as bad
for them as defeat; for it leaves them
weakened, so that they fan a prey
to the next foe that chances along.
In these circumstances it is not
strange that there should be signs
among the greater beasts of some
thing like a truce where their help
less young are concerned. It is no
matter of good WILL by any means,
but of common prudence merely; for
when their young are threatened,
even the weak are dangerous, and the
strong become inplacable in their
vengeance. In general, therefore,
among equals, the raiding of nurseries
is not regarded as COON hunting The
peril is too great for the profit
But when the rabbits were gone all
that was changed Then any hunting
was good hunting.
1t is hard to realize that little, pal
plating bulging eyed Bunny could
exert so vast an influence on the
economy of the Wilderness; but there
was none to strong or so naughty as
to rest Indifferent to his going. Even
man himself was touched; for the
foxes and the wildcats drew in about
the settlements and harried the hen
| roosts and pastures of the outlying
! farms. The great herb eaters-She
led deer, the caribou, and the gigah-
| tic moose himself-are not exempt
from the sudden anarchy; for the
moose and the caribou had to guard
their young with a vigilance hitherto
undreamed of, and the weaker deer
discovered that enemies he had been
wont to despise had all at once grown
formidable.
Of all the wilderness dwellers the
bears, perhaps, were least affected.
They had never taken more than a
chance interest in quarry so elu-
sive as the nimble rabbit; and
flesh food was never essential
to them so long as roots and
ants and honey, were to be found in
the forest. And when the craving for
flesh was not to be denied, it was big
same they hunted, such as deer, or
the settlers sheep, or some strayed
heifer that had lost her bell. But, for
all their loneliness of independence,
the bears were forced to take count
of Master Rabbits departure. They
were afraid to go any distance from
their dens, lest in their absence some
/ greatly daring lynx or fox or fisher
should slip in and kill the cubs.
1t was perhaps, on the other hand,
the lynxes that suffered most. They,
with the weasels, were the most as
siduous hunters of the rabbit; and
/ they somewhat lacked the weasel's
adaptability and craft. They are rath-
er set in their ways, the lynxes; and,
though more savage and vastly more
formidable than their smaller cous-
ms, the wildcats, they are at the same
time far shyer of man and all his
works. Instead of following the foxes
and wildcats into the fringes of the
settlements, they stayed where they
were, and went hungry or hunted dan
gerous game.
Near the top of steep and rocky
knoll at the heart of a cedar swamp
wise old mother lynx had her lair
The knoll was an upthrust of broken