Polar BearPolar Bear
That is one of the wonderful things about many wild animals—they are of thesame color as the place where they live. You know that the color of a lion is yellow, like the color of sand; and the lion lives in countries where there are lots of sandy places. You know, too, that thecolor of a tiger is yellow, but with black stripes upon the yellow, so that if you looked at him from a distance, you might think he was made up of yellow and black stripes. And the tiger lives in the tall grass, which also looks like yellow and black stripes.
But now I shall tell you more about the polar bear. He has three other special things: thesolesof his feet arehairy; he has asmall head; and he has along neck.
First, about the soles of his feet. The soles of the feet of other bears are smooth, just like the feet of all other animals that have to walk on ordinary ground. But the soles of the polar bear are covered with long hair, just as is his body. Why? Because he has to walk on ice, which is very slippery, and he needs to have the soles of his feet covered with hair, or else he would slip on the ice, just as you must wear rubbers over your shoes when you have to walk on icy ground.
Now, my dear, just stop for a minute, and think. Among all the wonderful things that I have told you so far, you have always noticed that an animal always hasjust the very thing he needs! Wehave tomakerubbers, and warm coats, and gloves, and socks, and a dozen thingsthat we need. But to every animal God has given everything that he needs, right on his body.
But now let us go on with the polar bear. He has a smaller head than any other kind of bear. Why? To make it easier for him to put his head through the hole in the ice, when he is catching fish. Other kinds of bears do not have to put their heads into a hole to get anything to eat; so they do not need to have a small head.
The polar bear has also a longer neck than any other kind of bear. Why? To give him a longer reach in catching the fish with his jaws—without tumbling into the water himself. Other bears, who live on dry land, do not need to reach out like that, and so they have shorter necks.
I shall now tell you about these other kinds of bears.
First you shall hear about the bears that live in America. The biggest kind is called thegrizzly bear. In fact, he is the largest bear in the world. Some grizzly bears are ten feet tall when they stand up on their hind legs!
The color of a grizzly bear is yellow, but withmany shades; sometimes between brown and yellow, and sometimes between red and yellow. Teddy bears, with which you have played, are sometimes made of that color. Teddy bears of course are very nice, as they are toys; but I am sorry to say that the real grizzly bear is not nice; he is very fierce. In fact, he is the only kind of bear that is so fierce. Even grown-up men do not want to go near him.
The grizzly is found in many parts of North America, near the Rocky Mountains, from the United States right up to Alaska. He lives on berries and all kinds of fruits, and also on the soft roots of trees. But the grizzly bear eats meat also, if he can manage to catch deer or cattle. That is why cowboys in Colorado and Wyoming do not like the grizzly bear—he tries to kill and eat their cows.
Besides, he kills a lot of fish. In the Columbia River in Oregon there are lots of trout and shad, which people like to have for their dinner. But the grizzly bear gets to the river first, and eats a great many of the trout and the shad. How does he catch the fish? Why, he just lies down along the bank, and waits for the fish to rise to the top of the water. The trout and the shad like to rise to the top of the water nowand again, and swim there. So the grizzly just waits for a fish to rise—and then he pounces on it and catches it with his paw. He is so very quick that he hardly ever misses. All kinds of bears are very clever in catching fish.
Another kind of bear is called thebrown bear. He lives in Europe, Asia, and also in some parts of America, especially in Alaska. There he is rather big, though not quite so big as the grizzly bear. He too lives on berries, fruits, and roots, and he also catches fish. For in the rivers of Alaska there are lots of salmon.
But the brown bear is not at all fierce, like the grizzly bear. He is peace-loving, and sometimes quite friendly.
The nicest kind of bear is called theblack bear. He is found in all parts of the United States, and in many other countries. He is sometimes rather small, and is quite full of fun. Almost all the good stories you may hear about bears are about the black bear.
Many people mistake the black bear for the brown bear; so when you sometimes hear people talking about a "brown" bear, you may know that they really mean a "black" bear.
Like other bears, the black bear lives on berries, fruits, and roots, and also on nuts, if he can find any. But what he likes best is honey! It is quite amusing to see the bear hold a honeycomb in one paw, scoop out the honey with the other, and put it into his mouth. It looks just like a boy holding a pot of jam in one hand, and sticking his fingers into the jam and putting it on his tongue!
"But do not the bees get angry, and try to sting him?" you may ask.
Of course they do. The bees swarm around the bear and try to sting him all over. But they cannot! He istoo hairy! They cannot get through the hair to sting him on the skin. So he goes on licking the honey and smacking his lips!
The black bear is always a funny animal. Perhaps you have seen him in the zoo. He will squat on the ground like a man, and if he sees a crowd of people before him, he will swing his arms just as a man does when he talks to a friend. Perhaps the bear has seen some men do that, and has learned to do the same!
And sometimes he will sit on the ground, hold his tail in his mouth, and fumble head over heels, or roll over and over, or spin round andround—just for fun! In fact, the black bear is among thefew grown-up animals that love to play. Manyyounganimals of course, such as kittens, puppy dogs, calves, and many others, love to play. But most grown-up animals do not seem to care for play, except the black bear.
When he is caught and tamed, he is still very playful at times. He will do all sorts of funny tricks, all by himself; and if he sees anyone watching him, he will try to show how clever he is—just like a child playing "smarty!"
Once in a lumber camp in the West the men caught and tamed a black bear. After a time the bear was allowed to walk about the camp, quite free, as he did not think of running away. One day the men had stopped work to have their dinner. The bear walked by, and the men petted him and said nice things to him. Then what do you think happened! The bear felt so proud of being praised that he went to a sloping log, and walked along it right to the top. You must know that in a lumber camp there are lots and lots of huge logs, or trees which the men have cut down. And one of these logs happened to rest on a slope, that is, with one end higher than the other.
When the bear reached the top of the log, hesat across it. Then he held on to the log with his front paws, bent his body, and slid down the log—just as a boy slides down the banister! Of course the men laughed, and cheered him. Then just guess what that bear did!
He walked up to the top of the log again, and sat across it, as before. But now he held on to the log with his knees, not his paws, and sat straight up without bending, and slid down the log in that way—just as a boy might hold on to the banister with his knees, not using his hands at all, and slide down the banister in that way, just to show how smart he could be!
You may be sure those men cheered the bear, and gave him lots to eat.
There is another kind of black bear that is also funny, though in another way. He is called theHimalayan black bear, because he lives in India near some huge mountains called the Himalayas. In many ways he is very much like the black bear of America, but he has awhite chinandlong side-whiskers on his jaws. Some people think that of all kinds of bears he is the most handsome.
Although he often goes up very high on the side of the mountains, he sometimes comes down to the country below, where there aremany villages. But the bear is quite friendly, and never hurts the people in the villages, although he is strong enough to kill a man. So the people are also very kind and friendly to him, and never try to hurt him. When you grow up you may read that there are some people in India who are always kind toallanimals, tame or wild.[2]
[2]To the Teacher.—Please explain to the class that the sect called Jains do not hurt the smallest creature, and will suffer the sting of a wasp rather than kill it.
[2]To the Teacher.—Please explain to the class that the sect called Jains do not hurt the smallest creature, and will suffer the sting of a wasp rather than kill it.
Himalayan Black BearHimalayan Black Bear
I am telling you this because you will see very soon what we gain by being friendly even to awild animal. The Himalayan black bear, like the other black bear, is also very fond of honey, and of everything sweet. In the country where he lives there grows a berry called mawa, which is very sweet—even sweeter than the strawberry; and the people of the villages make jam from it.
These berries grow quite wild, on bushes here and there in the fields, and even in the jungles near by. When the berries are ripe, the people send out their children to gather them from the bushes in the fields; and the children carry baskets so as to bring back as many berries as they can.
But when the berries are ripe, the bears also want to eat them! So it sometimes happens that half a dozen children are picking the berries from a thick bush, when suddenly a bear comes round the bush and starts gobbling up the berries as fast as he can!
Do the children get frightened and run away? Not a bit! They wanttheirshare of the berries, too!
By this time the bush may be getting empty, and the children have not quite filled their baskets. The bear keeps on gobbling up the berries, and even pushing past the children toget at a bunch. What then? Why, the children raise their hands, andjust spank the wild bear!
"Go away, you have had enough!" they say. "Can't you go to another bush? There must be others right in the jungle, wherewecan't go!"
And, can you imagine it, a wild bear there has never hurt a child! When the children spank him and push him away, telling him that he has had enough from that bush, hedoesgo away to some other bush. Of course, the spanking does not really hurt him.
I have told this to you, my dear, just to show you that there is never any real reason for quarreling and fighting, among children, or even among men.If children and wild bears can get along together, why cannot children and children, or men and men, or nations and nations? Surely there are enough berries and other good things for all, if we only look around!
Remember this always, even when you grow up, if you want to be good men and women, and good citizens of your country.
Now I am going to tell you something funny about the bear. You have seen lots of wild animals in the zoo, and you may sometimes have wondered how these animals were caught. In another book I shall tell you all about the different ways of catching different kinds of wild animals; but now I shall only tell you how a wild bear is caught. Of course, there are two or three ways of catching him alive, but I shall describe to you now just one way.
You must know by this time that everybody in the world—whether man, woman, or child—hassome fault. Some have a bad temper, others are rude, and still others are obstinate; and many, especially children, are too greedy! And so it is among animals: they all have one fault or another.
So the people who want to catch a wild animal find out first what fault that kind of animal has—whether he is greedy, or obstinate, or bad tempered. And theycatch the animal because of that very fault!
A bear is very obstinate; in fact the bear, the pig, the donkey, and the mule are among the most obstinate of animals. So, because the bear is very obstinate, he will never give up when he meets anything that blocks his way; and if he has made up his mind to do anything, he will never give up, even if he finds hecannotdo it and that it is very foolish to try to do it.
So the people remember the bear's obstinacy, and catch him in this way:
They find a large tree which has a bough fifteen or twenty feet from the ground; then they tie a pot of honey on the bough, quite two or three yards away from the fork where the bough joins the trunk. So, if a bear wants to get at the honey, he will have to climb up the trunk, and then walk along the bough to the place where the pot is tied.
But the people also take a heavy stone, tie a stout rope around it, and hang up the stone by the rope from another bough higher up. They place the stone in such a way that it swings right in front of the honey and a little above it. Then the people hide in thickets near by.
Presently a bear smells the honey from a distance, and comes to find it. On reaching the place he sees the pot of honey on the tree.As the bear is a good climber, he soon scrambles up the trunk of the tree and walks along the bough toward the honey.
But just as he is coming to it, he sees something right before his path. It is the block of stone! And he cannot get at the honey without pushing the stone aside. So, what does he do? Why, quite naturally he pushes the stone aside with his paw. But, as I have told you, the stone is hung up by a rope; and so itswingsany way you may push it.
Then what happens? Why, as soon as the bear pushes the stone aside with his paw, the stoneswings backand hits him on the paw. The bear gives a growl, and again pushes the stone aside, and this time harder than before.
Then what happens? The stone swings back and hits the bear harder than before! In fact, the stone will always swing back just as hard as it is pushed.
But the bear does not know that! So with another growl he pushes the stone again—and now much harder than before. Then of course the stone comes back much harder, and whacks him again.
This makes the bear really angry. He hits at the stone, and sends it flying through the airin a big curve. But when the stone has gone up and up in that curve, it begins to come down, down, the same way—and gives the bear a thumping whack on the jaw.
A Bear Fighting a Block of StoneA Bear Fighting a Block of Stone
Now, if the bear were not such an obstinate animal, he would go away after that third blow, and try to forget the honey. But the bear will never, never, give in! Instead, he gets quite mad with rage. He thinks some enemy is hiding behind the stone!
"Who is hitting me?" he growls. "Come out of that, and fight fair!"
With that he hits a frantic blow at the stone; for the bear is a good boxer. He sends the stone swinging through the air again, and farther than before. Again the stone swings back and gives the bear a hard whack.
In this way the fight goes on. Of course the stone cannot get hurt; so it is the bear that gets hurt, every time. And as he will never give in, he goes on fighting with the stone, and gets hurt more and more, till at last he is knocked right off the tree, and falls stunned to the ground.
Then the clever people rush in from their hiding place, throw a net over the bear, and carry him away. And that is how the zoo gets some of its bears.
Now I shall tell you something about birds; not ordinary birds, but a special sort.
Of course, birds are not exactly animals of the kind that I have been telling you about, as they have only two legs, instead of four. But they have two wings, which are more useful to them than two more legs.
If they had four legs they could run fast; but with the two wings they can fly, which is ever so much faster and better than running. And they still have two legs with which to stand on the ground, when they have to come down to rest or to feed.
The birds that I am going to tell you about live wild in the jungle, and are free to build their nests where they like.
Among the birds we like best, some cansing, and some havebright feathers. Those that sing may live near your own homes in the country—the lark, the thrush, the nightingale, and someothers. But the birds that have bright feathers live generally in other countries.
Most birds that have lovely voices do not have bright feathers; andmost birds that have lovely feathers cannot sing.
So among animals everything is very fair and just. With us it sometimesseemsdifferent. Some children appear to have all the good luck, and others all the bad luck. Some children can sing well, and are also very pretty; others cannot sing at all, and are also plain to look at. But really things are not quite so unfair; for a child who is plain, and cannot sing, may still havesome other gift.
Among birds, those that can sing you may have seen often enough near your own homes in the country; so I shall now tell you about the birds that have bright feathers.
Most birds with bright feathers live in hot countries, where it issunnyalmost the whole year. In fact, it is the bright light of the sun in those countries that gives the colors to the feathers of the birds, which are as lovely as the colors of the rainbow.
Among the bright birds that live quite wild in the jungles of hot countries, the most beautiful are theflamingo, theparrot, thecockatoo, thepeacock, thegolden pheasant, theegret, and a few others.
I shall tell you first about the flamingos, as theylive together in flocks. They were once found in America, and only a few years ago there were many flocks of them in Florida, but now there are very few left in this country. They are now found in Africa and in the countries of southern Asia; a few are found also in Europe.
This is the way the flamingos live. They choose a place in the jungle where there is a lake or a river, and build their nests all around the lake, or by the bank of the river. The nest is just a heap of mud raised up from the ground, with a hollow at the top where the mother bird lays her eggs. Sometimes many thousands of flamingos are found together around one place, which is then called aflamingo colony.
A Flamingo ColonyA Flamingo ColonyPhotograph of a group in the American Museum of Natural History, New York
The flamingo is a very tall bird, taller than a man when standing up. The flamingo's legs are long and thin, and the neck is also long. The long neck and the long legs are very useful to him. He stands in the water on his legs, which look almost like a pair of stilts; then he bends down his long neck, dips his beak into the water, and catches a fish or any other small creature that he can find there. And although the fish or the small creature sees the flamingo's legs in the water, it does not run away. Why? Because it mistakes the legs for reeds growing in the water!
When thousands of flamingos in a colony are standing around the lake or by the river, where they live, it is a very grand sight from a distance. The flamingo's feathers are a bright red in color, with white or pink at the edges; so the thousands of flamingos look like an army of soldiers with red coats.
In former years, when soldiers sometimes wore red coats, travelers who happened to come toward a lake in Africa would suddenly see at a distance an army of soldiers, as they thought, standing by the lake. What they really saw were the flamingos fishing!
But no traveler could get very near the flamingos, for they havesentinels! I have told you that the wild buffaloes have sentinels to warn them when an enemy is coming. The flamingos have the same. Their sentinels stand here and there just outside the place where the others are fishing; and they keep alookout all the time. If any enemy comes, they cry out,
"Honk! Honk! Honk!" That means, "Enemy coming! Fly away!"
And of course all the flamingos rise up in the air and fly away to a safe place, till the enemy goes away.
To see a whole flock of flamingos flying in the sky far above one's head is a most wonderful sight. You have seen a cloud at sunset shining with lovely tints of red and pink and orange: well, the flock of flamingos flying in the sky looks something like that. And they allkeep levelat the same great height, inrows and ranks, just like an army, as there are thousands and thousands of flamingos in the flock.
Sometimes the rows and ranks widen out for a few minutes, and fill a large portion of the sky; then they close up again, and look like one long banner of red floating in the sky.
And all the time they have sentinels that fly outside the rows and ranks. They make the pattern in the sky still more beautiful.
My dear children, the more you think of these wonders of the jungle and of the world, the more you will understand how great and wise is God, Who made all these things.
Another bright bird that lives in the jungle in a flock is theparrot. You know all about him, as you must have often seen him caged, or chained by the leg to a stand. But he is different in his happy home in the jungle. He lives in almost every sunny country, and flies about in flocks.
Wild parrots also make their nests in flocks. In India there is a deserted city called Amber. Once upon a time a great King lived there in a lovely marble palace; and the nobles and courtiers also had lovely marble palaces and mansions.
But one day the King said that they must all leave that city, and go and build another city. So everybody left the city of Amber, and to-day it still stands perfect—lovely marble palaces and mansions, with hundreds of bushes of wild roses growing all around them.
Nobody lives there, except thousands and thousands of wild parrots, that have made their nests upon the roofs of the palaces, in the porticoes and balconies, and upon the tops of the marble pillars and columns.
Just think of that lovely sight! The blue sky above, the red roses on the ground below,and the white marble palaces between the blue sky and the red roses; and many thousands of green parrots flitting across the sky, and from palace to rose bush. Broad bands of red, white, and blue, with bright flashes of green between them!
Another lovely sight is a flock of wild parrots in the jungle, going home to roost at sunset. I once saw that sight. Their beautiful green wings and the patches of yellow on their heads shone amidst the gorgeous colors of the sunset. And as the parrots flew on and on, many thousands of them, their own colors mingled with the colors of the sunset in ever-changing bands. They flew toward the setting sun, and passed out of sight right into the sun, as it were.
After seeing a sight like that—seeing God's lovely creatures flying about like happy children at play—who wants to see a bird boxed up in a cage?
Another bright bird which you may have seen in a cage, or chained to a stand, is thecockatoo. He is a cousin of the parrot, but much larger, and far more gorgeous. He has a beautifulcrestof red and orange feathers on his head. Hiswings are a rosy pink in color; and he has a long pink and white tail.
In other ways he is very much like the parrot. He lives chiefly in the countries of southern Asia, and in the islands between Asia and Australia.
And now I come to the most beautiful bird of all, thepeacock. When he spreads out his long tail, it looks just like a lady's fan, only far lovelier than any fan made by men. In color the tail is a kind of blue and green, with touches of gold and violet, and with "eyes" dotted all over it in shades of many other colors.
The peacock can also close up his tail like a fan. Then the long feathers of the tail all come together in many folds, and stand out a yard long behind him.
The peacock is found wild in India and in countries near there, but has now been brought into America and Europe. You may even have seen the peacock in the parks and gardens of some cities, where he lives quite peacefully, at least in the summer months. In the winter, of course, he must have a warm place indoors.
The peacock is really the Papa bird, and the Mamma bird is called thepeahen. She has not the gorgeous tail and the lovely feathers that he has; so she looks quite plain. You will find thatamong animals the Papas are often much prettier than the Mammas.
That seems very strange, does it not? Among us, of course, the Mammas are always prettier than the Papas!
But in another book I shall explainwhythe Papas among animals are often prettier than the Mammas.
There is another beautiful bird which has been brought to America, and now lives here; it is thegolden pheasant. Once upon a time he lived only in China; but a few years ago people brought a number of golden pheasants to America, and put them in the forests of Oregon and Washington. So now there are many thousands of golden pheasants flying about and making their nests there.
There are other kinds of pheasants in England and in some parts of Europe, and these the people shoot and eat. But the golden pheasant is much too beautiful to eat. His feathers are aslovely as the sunset—gold and yellow and orange, with blue and deep crimson; and all these colors are laid out on his feathers in such a beautiful pattern that to look at him you would think you were dreaming, and not looking at a real bird.
Man, who toils with his hands, cannot make such lovely colors as those of the birds of the air, and of the flowers in the fields, which do not toil.
And now, my dear children, I shall finish this chapter by telling you about a beautiful bird that once lived quite wild in great numbers in the United States. This bird has lovely soft feathers, which are pure white; so it is called thesnowy egret. The feathers are as soft as silk. They are also long, with a gentle droop at the end.
Because these feathers are so lovely, rich women want to wear them in their hats; and these rich women are willing to pay a great deal of money for the egret feathers. So, for the sake of the money, hunters go wherever these lovely birds are to be found, and catch and kill them, and get the feathers. In fact, they havekilled off so many of these lovely birds, to get feathers for rich women's hats, that to-day there are hardly any snowy egrets left in the United States.
Worse than that, the hunters killed the Papa and Mamma egrets just when their babies were born, because at that time the feathers of the snowy egrets were the softest and loveliest. And so, for each Papa and Mamma egret which the cruel hunters killed, they left a dozenbaby birds in their nests to starve and die. Think of that!
Now, my dear children, I want the little girls among you to remember this, especially the little girls who are lucky enough to have rich Papas and Mammas. You can grow up to be beautiful, and look beautiful, without wearing these egret feathers. There are women who try to look beautiful, but who do not think of the pain they give to God's innocent creatures.
So, if ever you want to wear egret feathers, think of the dozen baby egrets who must starve and die if you are to have them.
Snowy EgretsSnowy EgretsPhotograph of a group in the American Museum of Natural History, New York
I shall finish this book by telling you a story—a true story, which, I hope, will make you think.
Many years ago a sea captain returned to his home in the north of Scotland, after sailing the sea for a long time. He brought with him a parrot. The parrot had lived in South America, where the people speak the Spanish language. So all the words the parrot knew were in Spanish.
The captain knew Spanish quite well, and often talked to the parrot in that language. But after a time the captain died, and there was nobody in that part of Scotland who could talk to the parrot.
The parrot grew silent, and never opened his mouth to say a word. But he was thinking of his friend who was dead, and whose words in Spanish had reminded him of his sunny home. The people around him did not know that,and thought nothing of his silence. So the parrot in his cold and bleak cage pined and pined for his sunny home land, but never a word did he say.
Forty years passed, and a new set of people came to live there. They took no notice of the silent old parrot. They put food and drink in the cage, but knew nothing about him except that he had been in the cage for many years. For a parrot lives much longer than a man—sometimes one hundred years.
One day a sailor came to the house. He had lived in South America, and knew Spanish. He saw the parrot sitting in his cage, all alone and silent, with his head bent down, and his beak on his breast. Then the sailor spoke to the parrot in Spanish.
The parrot looked up, as if he had awakened from a long, long dream. Something reminded him of the days of his youth, when he was a happy bird flying about over the sunny fields of South America. Then he remembered the language of his youth, which he had not spoken for forty years.
Suddenly he flapped his wings in joy, and spoke again. He spoke all the Spanish words he knew, one after another. He spoke to thatsailor as to a friend come to him from his own home land. He flapped his wings against the bars, and finally dropped to the floor of the cage, dead. He had died in the thought of his bygone happy days.
My dear children, I am closing this book with this story, because I want you to learn a great lesson from it:be kind to all animals.
I know that you would never willfully hurt any animal. But that is not enough. You may think that you are very kind to some creature, because you feed it and pet it; but all the same you may be very cruel, though you do not mean to be so.
You may think it is great fun to have a pretty bird in a cage. But is it any funfor the bird? How wouldyoulike to be shut up in a cage all your life, instead of playing about in God's free air and living in your own home? The bird wants to fly about and live in his nest in his own home land. Think of that when you wish to put a bird in a cage.
Children who are kind to all animals grow up to be men and women who are kind to other people. And it is only by being kind to others that we ourselvesdeserveto be happy andarehappy.
Remember all that I have said, till I come back and talk to you again in the next book. Then I shall tell you many more Wonders of the Jungle.
Till then, as they say in the Orient, God and His peace be with you!