School of the Woods: Some Life Studies of Animal Instincts and Animal Training |
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School of the Woods: Some Life Studies of Animal Instincts and Animal ... William Joseph Long No preview available - 2014 |
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alders animal antlers big hawk big woods birds blue heron brush bull bushes Canada lynx canoe catch circles croaking curious danger dark deer ears Eyed Quoskh Keen eyes Fawns Must Know fear feet fish Fishhawk followed frogs Gladsome glided grunt hawk head heard heron hiding hungry instant instantly instinct Ismaques jumped Keen Eyed Quoskh knew kwit lake legs light lily pads listen Little Fishermen looking mate Mighty moose Mooween neck nest never night nose Partridges path plunge porcupine prowlers prut quiet quietly quills Quoskh Keen Eyed Quoskh the Keen ridge rock Roll Call rush rustle salmon shadow shore side sight silent Simmo sound spruce stood straight swift swing swoop tail tell things thought trail tree trout Trumpet turned twig twilight Umquenawis underbrush Uniquenawis Unk Wunk watching whistling wigwagging wild creatures wild things wilderness wind wings wonder WOOD WARBLER
Popular passages
Page 6 - I am convinced that instinct plays a much smaller part than we have supposed ; that an animal's success or failure in the ceaseless struggle for life depends, not upon instinct, but upon the kind of training which the' animal receives from its mother.
Page 149 - bout half-way down de bee tree, en den he turn eve'ything loose en hit de groun' kerbiff. Look like 't wuz nuff ter jolt de life out'n 'im." Somehow it never does jolt the life out of him, notwithstanding his great weight; nor does it interfere in any way with his speed of action, which is like lightning, the instant he touches the ground. Like the coon, who can fall from an...
Page 136 - ... deeper and deeper, as if the wilderness itself were in sympathy and ceased its cries to listen. Once, at the first glimpse of the group, I had raised my rifle and covered the head of the largest bird ; but curiosity to know what they were doing held me back. Now a deeper feeling had taken its place ; the rifle slid from my hand and lay unnoticed among the fallen leaves. " Again the leader called. The flock drew itself up, like a row of...
Page 138 - I raised my head and gave the clear whit-kwit of a running partridge. Instantly the leader answered; the flock sprang to the log again and turned their heads in my direction to listen. Another call, and now the flock dropped to the ground and lay close, while the leader drew himself up straight on the log and became part of a dead stub beside him. Something was wrong in my call; the birds were suspicious, knowing not what danger had kept their fellows silent so long, and now threatened them out of...
Page 16 - the summer wilderness is one vast schoolroom in which a multitude of wise, patient mothers are teaching their little ones the things they must know in order to hold their place in the world and escape unharmed from a hundred dangers.
Page 137 - The flock drew itself up, like a row of gray-brown statues, every eye bright, every ear listening, till some vague sense of fear and danger drew them together; and they huddled on the ground in a close group, all but the leader, who stood above them, counting them over and over, apparently, and anon sending his cry out into the darkening woods.
Page 157 - ... next fish. Getting back would be harder; but salmon are worth some trouble; so I left my rod and started back to camp. It was late afternoon, and I was hurrying along the path, giving chief heed to my feet in the ticklish walking, with the cliff above and the river ~. ., uiuiiu ^ / u CLthen YouMeef below, when a loud Hoowuff ! brought me up with a shock.
Page 159 - Some slight confusion came with the motion, though I would certainly have gone over the cliff and taken my chances in the current, rather than have closed with him, with all his enormous strength, in that narrow place. Suddenly his eyes wavered from mine ; he swung his head to look down and up ; and I knew that I had won the first move — and the path also, if I could keep my nerve. I advanced a step or two very quietly, still looking at him steadily. There was a suggestion of white teeth under...
Page 29 - They were timid at -first, lying close, without motion of any kind. The instinct of obedience — the first and strongest instinct of every creature born into this world — kept them loyal to the mother's command to stay where they were and be still till she came back. So even after the hemlock curtain was brushed aside, and my eyes saw and my hand touched them, they kept their heads flat to the ground and pretended that they were only parts of the brown forest floor, and that the spots on their...
Page 162 - ... speaking however quietly. There is in it something deep, unknown, mysterious beyond all their powers of comprehension; and they go away from it quickly when they can. I have a theory also that all animals, wild and domestic, understand more of our mental attitude than we give them credit for; and the theory gains rather than loses strength whenever I think of Mooween on that narrow pass. I can see him now, turning, twisting uneasily, and the half-timid look in his eyes as they met mine furtively,...