The Lubbock avalanche. (Lubbock, Tex.) 1909-1922, 1919-11-13
LITTLE TRAGEDIES OF FIELD AND
FOREST.

Though silence brOOdS over neld ana Forest
and at first blush nothing seems TO happen, or
seems possible to happen, yet Nature IS ex-
ceedinply dramatic In the placid wildwood
way you will suddenly chance upon swift and
inexorabe tragedy more thrilling than the ar
tficial dramas Of screen and stage and tne
screen but the dramas of Nature surprise you
constantly with their unexpected occurrence
'"The survival of the fittest," is the ancient
but ever-new slogan Of the beasts, birds ana
reptiles of the field and forest. When GER
tain animals meet il usually means sure ana
sudden death for one Of them. Fortunately
the fear of death endows even the lowest class
of life with swftness and cunning that
would put TO shame the ordinary man and
woman In times Of danger instinct often rises
superior to education and cold scientific cal
culation, which delights to tempt grim death.
The warning of instinct saves the weaker
animal and bird from danger. The rabbit is
soon aware Of the presence OF his old enemy,
the fox, while young partridges VIII conceal
themselves cunnngly amid the leaves ana
twes when danger threatens them and you can
walk directly By them and fail 10 see them
There are many combats between birds, ami
mails and reptiles The crow will attack the
hawk (as will also other birds). the chicken
hawk and the crow will invade the barnyard
for small chickens A hawk will catch pigeon
flying above her, suddenly swooping down
Red squirrels will fight with gray squirrels
ana drive them away, while black snake
often kills the deadly RATHER in a lively battle.
Even the little ants will engage IN lively
battle with a foreign or different species Of
ants Such combat Thoreau witnessed, and
his description Of il in Walden is now famous
natural history.
A fox is undoubtedly cunning, and can easily
outwit dog but the tmid rabbit viii often
escape Reynard The latter is sneak: once
he scents a rabbit he will creep up carefully 70
him. then pounce suddenly upon poor bunny.
However. bunny has sharp ears, and is seldom
caught mapping For a small animal he can
run quite rapidly He cannot run down hill
very we'll but he can go with surprising speed.
He will circle away from the fox. always gong
Nd hill or on a level, unless headed off. Then
occurs an interesting game Of hide and seek,
for a rabbit if he has any cover at all will con-
cea himself after running short distance.
or course the nature Of the land either helps
or binders his escape. On rocky land, or ln.the
thick underbrush, he has good chance Of max
ing his getaway" However, many rabbit
especially the young ones make toothsome
meal for sly Reynard
Speaking Of young rabbits, ! once found a
nest in a COW pasture containing SIX cute 1T
tie Dummies They we're quite young. and not
having their eyes open yet rabbits are born
blind, they we're very helpless. Fearing that
the cows might tread INTO tne nest, drove Il
number Of stakes about IL as protection. The
mother rabbit undoubtedly became alarmed at
my meddling. and removed the young ones.
A toad is very much afraid Of a snake. even
of a small one. II you push a stick at toad
he will promptly leap away, thinking II IS his
old enemy the snake, after him. i saw killed
a blacksnake not over three-feet long and It
had swallowed fu-grown toad.
Robin and Reptile
Once while was walking with friend down
a wood road we came to a pasture where a
robin was flying about in obvious excitement.
We approached and under chestnut tree saw
the robin flying about large blacksnake,
which crawled off as we came nearer.
"The snake was charming the robinv ex-
claimed my friend. Had we not frightened
the snake away the robin would have been
doomed. Il would have flown closer and closer
until it got directly into the snakes mouth. and
would have been swallowed alive'
This | doubt, though | have heard many
stories about snakes charming birds and even
men On this occasion the robin probably
excited because she had a nest in the chestnut
tree and tried TO drive the snake away from
the young birds.
ko l. c,raot ropt,ia Of nrav thouOh