CHAPTER III.

WOODCRAFT;

or,

Knowledge of Animals and Nature.

CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 8. STALKING.

As an aid to Observation--How to hide yourself--How to learn Stalking--Games--Book on Stalking.

At some manoeuvres lately, two hostile patrols of soldiers were approaching, looking for each other, till the ground between them became very open, and it seemed hopeless for a scout to cross it without being seen. However, a small ditch about two feet deep and overgrown with bushes ran across part of the open plain from the point where one patrol was lying hidden. They noticed two calves which came out on to the plain from the opposite side and walked across the open till they got to the end of this ditch, and here they stopped and separated and began browsing.

A scout now started to make use of this ditch by crawling along it till he should get to the far end near the calves, and there he hoped to find some way of getting on further, or of at least peeping out and getting a nearer view of the possible position of the enemy. When about half-way along the ditch he was suddenly fired at by an enemy's scout already there, in the ditch.

When the umpire rode up and asked him how he had got there without being seen, the hostile scout said that finding he could not reach the ditch without being seen if he went across the plain, he seized two calves which he had found among the bushes where his patrol were hiding, and stepping between them, he drove the pair of them, by holding their tails across the open ditch; here he let them go and slid himself into the ditch without being noticed.

HOW TO HIDE YOURSELF.

When you want to observe wild animals you have to stalk them, that is, to creep up to them without their seeing or smelling you.

A hunter when he is stalking wild animals keeps himself entirely hidden, so does the war scout when watching or looking for the enemy; a policeman does not catch pickpockets by standing about in uniform watching for them, he dresses like one of the crowd and as often as not gazes into a shop window and sees all that goes on behind him reflected as if in a looking-glass.

If a guilty person finds himself being watched it puts him on his guard, while an innocent person becomes annoyed. So when you are observing a person don't do so by openly staring at them but notice the details you want to at one glance or two, and if you want to study them more, walk behind them; you can learn just as much from a backview, in fact, more than you can from a frontview, and, unless they are scouts and look round frequently, they do not know that you are observing them.

War scouts and hunters stalking game always carry out two important things when they don't want to be seen.

One is--they take care that the ground behind them, or trees, or buildings, etc., are of the same colour as their clothes.

And the other is--if an enemy or a deer is seen looking for them they remain perfectly still without moving so long as he is there.

In that way a scout even though he is out in the open will often escape being noticed.

In choosing your background, consider the colour of your clothes; thus, if you are dressed in khaki, don't go and stand in front of a white-washed wall, or in front of a dark-shaded bush, but go where there is khaki-coloured sand or grass or rocks behind you--and remain perfectly still. It will be very difficult for an enemy to distinguish you even at a short distance.

If you are in dark clothes, get among dark bushes, or in the shadow of trees, or rocks, but be careful that the ground beyond you is also dark--if there is light-coloured ground beyond the trees under which you are standing, for instance, you will stand out clearly defined against it.

If you are in red, try and get against red brick buildings, or red earth or rocks, and so on.

In making use of hills as lookout places be very careful not to show yourself on the top or sky-line. That is the fault which a Tenderfoot generally makes.

It is quite a lesson to watch a Zulu scout making use of a hill-top or rising ground as a look-out place. He will crawl up on all fours, lying flat in the grass; on reaching the top he will very slowly raise his head, inch by inch, till he can see the view. If he sees the enemy on beyond, he will have a good look, and, if he thinks they are watching him, will keep his head perfectly steady for an immense time, hoping that he will be mistaken for a stump or a stone. If he is not detected he will very gradually lower his head, inch by inch, into the grass again, and crawl quietly away. Any quick or sudden movement of the head on the sky-line would be very liable to attract attention, even at a considerable distance.

At night keep as much as possible in low ground, ditches, etc., so that you are down in the dark while an enemy who comes near will be visible to you outlined against the stars on higher ground.

By squatting low in the shadow of the bush at night, and keeping quite still, I have let an enemy's scout come and stand within three feet of me, so that when he turned his back towards me I was able to stand up where I was and fling my arms round him.

A point also to remember in keeping hidden while moving, especially at night, is to walk quietly; the thump of an ordinary man's heel on the ground can be heard a good distance off, but a scout or hunter always walks lightly, on the ball of his foot not on his heels; and this you should practise whenever you are walking by day or by night, indoors as well as out, so that it becomes a habit with you--so as to walk as lightly and silently as possible. You will find that as you grow into it your power of walking long distances will grow, you will not tire so soon as you would if clumping along in the heavy footed manner of most people.

Remember always that to stalk a wild animal, or a good scout you must keep down wind of him even if the wind is so slight as to be merely a slight air.

Before starting to stalk your enemy then you should be sure which way the wind is blowing, and work up against it. To find this out you should wet your thumb all round with your tongue, and then hold it up and see which side feels coldest, or you can throw some light dust, or dry grass or leaves in the air, and see which way they drift.

The Red Indian Scouts when they wanted to reconnoitre an enemy's camp, used to tie a wolf's skin on their backs and walk on all fours, and, imitating the howl of a wolf, prowled round the camps at night.

In Australia the natives stalk emus--which are great birds something like an ostrich--by putting an emu's skin over themselves and walking with body bent and one hand held up to represent the bird's head and neck.

American scouts when peeping over a ridge or any place where their head might be seen against the sky line put on a cap made of wolf's head skin with ears on it--so that they may be mistaken for a wolf if seen.

Our scouts also when looking out among grass etc., tie a string or band round their head and stick a lot of grass in it, some upright some dropping over their face, so that their head is very invisible.

When hiding behind a big stone or mound, etc., they don't look over the top but round the side of it.

HOW TO TEACH STALKING.

_Demonstrate the value of adapting colour of clothes to background, by sending out one boy about 500 yards to stand against different backgrounds in turn, till he gets one similar in colour to his own clothes._

_The rest of the patrol to watch and to notice how invisible he becomes when he gets a suitable background, e.g. a boy in a grey suit standing in front of dark bushes, etc., is quite visible--but becomes less so if he stands in front of a grey rock or house; a boy in dark suit is very visible in a green field but not when he stands in an open door-way against dark interior shadow._

GAMES IN STALKING.

SCOUT HUNTING.

One scout is given time to go out and hide himself, the remainder then start to find him, he wins if he is not found, or if he can get back to the starting point within a given time without being touched.

DESPATCH RUNNING.

A scout is told to bring a note into a certain spot or house from a distance within a given time: other hostile scouts are told to prevent any message getting to this place and to hide themselves at different points to stop the despatch carrier getting in with it.

To count as a capture two scouts must touch the despatch runner before he reaches the spot for delivering the message.

STALKING.

Instructor acts as a deer--not hiding but standing, moving a little now and then if he likes.

Scouts go out to find and each in his own way tries to get up to him unseen.

Directly the instructor sees a scout he directs him to stand up as having failed. After a certain time the instructor calls "time," all stand up at the spot which they have reached and the nearest wins.

The same game may be played to test the scouts in stepping lightly--the umpire being blindfolded. The practice should preferably be carried out where there are dry twigs lying about, and gravel, etc. The scout may start to stalk the blind enemy at 100 yards distance, and he must do it fairly fast--say in one minute and a half--to touch the blind man before he hears him.

STALKING AND REPORTING.

The umpire places himself out in the open and sends each scout or pair of scouts away in different directions about half a mile off. When he waves a flag, which is the signal to begin, they all hide and then proceed to stalk him, creeping up and watching all he does. When he waves the flag again, they rise, come in, and report each in turn all that he did, either by handing in a written report or verbally as may be ordered. The umpire meantime has kept a look-out in each direction, and, every time he sees a scout, he takes two points off that scout's score. He, on his part, performs small actions, such as sitting down, kneeling up, and looking through glasses, using handkerchief, taking hat off for a bit, walking round in a circle a few times, to give scouts something to note and report about him. Scouts are given three points for each act reported correctly. It saves time if the umpire makes out a scoring card beforehand, giving the name of each scout, and a number of columns showing each act of his and what mark that scout wins, also a column of deducted marks for exposing themselves.

BOOK ON STALKING.

"Deer Stalking." Badminton Library Series.

CAMP FIRE YARN.--NO. 9. ANIMALS.

The calling of Wild Animals--Animals--Birds--Reptiles--Fish--Insects--Practical Instruction about Animals--Games--A Play about Animals--Books to read.

Scouts in many parts of the world use the calls of wild animals and birds for communicating with each other, especially at night or in thick bush, or in fog, etc., but it is also very useful to be able to imitate the calls if you want to watch the habits of the animals. You can begin by calling chickens; or by talking to dogs in dog language and you very soon find you can give the angry growl or the playing growl of a dog. Owls, woodpigeons, and curlews are very easily called.

In India I have seen a certain tribe of gipses who eat jackals. Now a jackal is one of the most suspicious animals that lives and is very difficult to catch in a trap, but these gipsies catch them by calling them in this way.

Several men with dogs hide themselves in a grass and bushes round a small field. In the middle of this open place one gipsy imitates the call of the jackals calling to each other; he gets louder and louder till they seem to come together; then they begin to growl and finally tackle each other with violent snapping, snarling and yelling, and at the same time he shakes a bundle of dried leaves which sounds like the animals dashing about among grass and reeds. Then he flings himself down on the ground and throws up dust in the air so that he is completely hidden in it, still growling and fighting. If any jackal is within sound of this he comes tearing out of the jungle and dashes into the dust to join in the fight. When he finds a man there he comes out again in a hurry; but meantime the dogs have been loosed from all sides, and they quickly catch him and kill him.

Mr. William Long in his very interesting book, called "Beasts of the Field," describes how he once called a moose. The moose is a very huge kind of stag with a ugly, bulging kind of nose. He lives in the forests of North America and Canada, and is very hard to get near; and is pretty dangerous when he is angry.

Mr. Long was in a canoe fishing when he heard a moose bull calling in the forest--so just for fun he went ashore and cut a strip of bark of a birch tree and rolled it up into a cone or trumpet shape so as to make a kind of megaphone (about fifteen inches long, five inches wide at the larger end, and about an inch or two at the mouth-piece). With this he proceeded to imitate the roaring grunt of the bull-moose. The effect was tremendous; the old moose came tearing down and even came into the water and tried to get at him--and it was only by hard paddling that in the end he got away.

One of the best things in scouting is the hunting of big game--that is going after elephants, lions, rhino, wild boar, deer, and those kind of animals; and a fellow has to be a pretty good scout if he hopes to succeed at it.

You get plenty of excitement and plenty of danger too; and all that I have told you about observation and tracking and hiding yourself comes in here. And in addition to these you must know all about animals and their habits and ways if you want to be successful.

I have said the "hunting" or "going after big game is one of the best things in scouting." I did not say shooting or killing the game was the best part; for as you get to study animals you get to like them more and more, and you will soon find that you don't want to kill them for the mere sake of killing, and that the more you see of them the more you see the wonderful work of God in them.

All the fun of hunting lies in the adventurous life in the jungle, the chance in many cases of the animal hunting _you_ instead of you hunting the animal, the interest of tracking him up, stalking him and watching all that he does and learning his habits. The actual shooting the animal that follows is only a very small part of the fun.

No scout should ever kill an animal unless there is some real reason for doing so, and in that case he should kill it quickly and effectively, so as to give it as little pain as possible.

In fact many big-game hunters nowadays prefer to shoot their game with the camera instead of with the rifle--which gives just as interesting results--except when you and your natives are hungry, then you must, of course, kill your game.

My brother was lately big game shooting in East Africa and had very good sport with the camera, living in the wilds, and tracking and stalking and finally snap-shotting elephants, rhinoceros and other big animals.

One day he had crept up near to an elephant and had set up his camera and had got his head under the cloth focussing it, when his native cried, "Look out, sir!" and started to run. My brother poked his head out from under the cloth and found a great elephant coming for him, only a few yards off. So he just pressed the button, and then lit out and ran too. The elephant rushed up to the camera, stopped, and seemed to recognise that it was only a camera after all and smiling at his own irritability lurched off into the jungle again.

Mr. Schillings' book "With Flashlight and Rifle in Africa" is a most interesting collection of instantaneous photos of wild animals, most of them taken by night by means of flashlight, which was set going by the animals themselves striking against wires which he had put out for the purpose. He got splendid photos of lions, hyænas, deer of all sorts, zebras, and other beasts. There is one of a lion actually in the air springing on to a buck.

The boar is certainly the bravest of all animals; he is the real "King of Jungle," and the other animals all know it. If you watch a drinking pool in the jungle at night, you will see the animals that come to it all creeping down nervously, looking out in every direction for hidden enemies. But when the boar comes he simply swaggers down with his great head and its shiny tusks swinging from side to side: he cares for nobody, but everybody cares for him; even a tiger drinking at the pool will give a snarl and sneak quickly out of sight.

I have often lain out on moonlight nights to watch the animals, especially wild boars, in the jungle; and it is just as good fun as merely going after them to kill them.

And I have caught and kept a young wild boar and a young panther, and found them most amusing and interesting little beggars. The boar used to live in my garden, and he never became really tame though I got him as a baby.

He would come to me when I called him--but very warily; he would never come to a stranger, and a native he would "go for" and try and cut him with his little tusks.

He used to practise the use of his tusks while turning at full speed round on old tree stump in the garden, and he would gallop at this and round it in a figure-of-eight continuously for over five minutes at a time, and then fling himself down on his side, panting with his exertions.

My panther was also a beautiful and delightfully playful beast, and used to go about with me like a dog; but he was very uncertain with his dealings with strangers.

I think one gets to know more about animals and to understand them better by keeping them as pets at first, and then going and watching them in their wild natural life.

But before going to study big game in the jungles everybody must study all animals wild and tame at home. It would be a very good thing if every scout kept some kind of animal such as a pony or a dog, or even birds, rabbits, or even live butterflies.

Every boy scout ought to know all about the tame animals which he sees every day. You ought to know all about grooming, feeding, and watering a horse, about putting him into harness or taking him out of harness and putting him in the stable, and know when he is going lame and should not therefore be worked.

And when you harness a horse I hope you will show more knowledge of the animal and more kindness towards him than do half the carriage coachmen in London--by not putting bearing reins on him.

Prince Edward of Wales was reported a short time ago to have said as follows:--

"When I am King I shall make three laws:

1. That no one shall cut puppies' tails, because it must hurt them so.

2. That there shall be no more sin in the country.

3. That nobody shall use bearing-reins because they hurt the horses."

These laws not only show us that King Edward VIII. will be a kind and humane monarch, but that he is farseeing, for the last one at any rate might well be a law of the country now. It is much needed.

Bearing reins are small extra reins which are hooked on to the horse's collar to hold up his head. They are generally put on so tightly as to cause him pain the moment he droops his head at all; when put on loosely they do not cause him to hold up his head and therefore are not of any use.

There are no better drivers than the London cabbies and 'busmen, and they do not use bearing reins, and their horses are more handy than those usually seen in carriages.

Sometimes you see them used on horses in heavy carts; they are then called "Hame-reins"--but they are cruel on the horse if tightly tied. A horse when pulling a heavy cart wants to lean forward with his head down, just as you or I would do when pulling a garden roller--but this hame-rein pulls at the corners of his mouth and forces him to keep his head up.

I saw lately a man in charge of a loaded cart whose horse was thus tied up. He wanted to get the cart through some heavy mud (it was on the new Mall from Buckingham Palace to Charing Cross) and the horse tried to lean forward to pull but could not. The man beat him for not trying--the poor beast in his pain and terror reared up on his hind legs, and the man beat him again for "showing temper."

When I saw it I felt inclined to beat the man, but I went up and said I thought I could make the horse do it. The man grinned while I was undoing the hame-rein and said I should have to get another horse to do it then. But when the horse found his head free and I smacked him on the back, he flung the whole of his weight into the collar with his head well down, and with both hind toes dug into the ground he heaved the cart forward a few inches, and then again a few more, and not many seconds later had it all safe on the hard road.

Often you can help a horse struggling with a load on a slippery road by scattering a few handfuls of sand or ashes. Miss Lisette Rest used to do this in London and when she died she left money for that purpose.

Other tame animals to understand are, of course, dogs. And a good dog is the very best companion for a scout, who need not think himself a really good scout till he has trained a young dog to do all he wants of him. It requires great patience and kindness, and genuine sympathy with the dog.

A dog is the most human of all animals and, therefore the best companion for a man. He is always courteous, and always ready for a game--full of humour, and very faithful and loving.

Of course a scout who lives in the country has much better chances of studying animals and birds than one who lives in a town.

Still if you live in London there are lots of different kinds of birds in the parks, ducks and waterfowl of every kind, pelicans, woodpigeons, woodpeckers, and most of the English birds; there is almost every animal under the sun to be seen alive in the Zoological Gardens, or stuffed and set up in the Natural History Museum at South Kensington--so that a Boy Scout in London ought to know as much about all animals as most people. And even in Leadenhall Market you can see a number of different kinds of live animals for sale, as well as in the many animal shops about London or any other big town.

In other towns it is perhaps a little more difficult, but most of them have their Natural History Museum where a fellow can learn the appearance and names of many animals; and you can do a lot of observing in the parks or by starting a feeding-box for birds at your own window. And, best of all, by going out into the country whenever you can get a few hours for it by train, or bicycle or on your own flat feet, and there to stalk such animals as rabbits, hares, water-rats, birds, fish, etc., and watch all they do, and get to know their different kinds and their names, and also what kind of tracks they make on the ground, their nests and eggs, and so on.

If you are lucky enough to own a camera you cannot possibly do better than start making a collection of photos of animals and birds taken from life. Such a collection is ten times more interesting than the ordinary boy's collection of stamps, or crests, or autographs, which any ass can accomplish by sitting at home and bothering other people to give.

And cameras can be got very cheaply now: it only means saving up money in a money-box for a short time.

The wild animals I shall talk of now are those which you find in Great Britain. Any scouts who live in the Colonies or elsewhere must make up their own lists for themselves.

As a scout you should study the habits of as many of these animals as you can:--

Red Deer Hares Rabbits Rats Badgers Foxes Mice Weasles Otters Fallow Deer Bats Moles Hedgehogs Voles Squirrels Polecats Stoats

Every animal is interesting to watch and it is just as difficult to stalk a weasel as it is to stalk a lion. Even the humble hedgehog can be a hero among animals. Here is a description of a fight between a hedgehog and a viper by Mr. Millais in his book on the "Mammals of Great Britain and Ireland." (Mammals mean animals that have "Mammas"--that is, they are born alive, not like chickens in eggs that have to be hatched--birds are not mammals.)

"Everyone knows that the hedgehog is a sworn enemy of reptiles in general and of the viper in particular; but few, perhaps, are aware in what way he overcomes so dangerous an enemy.

"My keeper was going his rounds this summer in a wood which was infested by vipers when he espied an enormous one asleep in the sun. He was on the point of killing it with a charge of shot, when he perceived a hedgehog coming cautiously over the moss and noiselessly approaching the reptile. He then witnessed a curious sight. As soon as the hedgehog was within reach of his prey, he seized it by the tail with his teeth and as quick as thought rolled himself into a ball. The viper, awakened by the pain, at once turned and made a terrific dart at him. The hedgehog did not wince. The viper, infuriated, extends itself, hisses and twists in fearful contortions. In five minutes it is covered with blood, its mouth one large wound (from the spines of the hedgehog), and it lies exhausted on the ground.

"A few more starts, and then a last convulsive agony, and it expires.

"When the hedgehog perceived that it was quite dead he let go his hold and quietly unrolled himself. He was just about to begin his meal and devour the reptile when the sight of my keeper, who had approached during the struggle, alarmed him, and he rolled himself up again till the man had retreated into the wood."

We are apt to think that all animals are guided in their conduct by instinct, that is by a sort of idea that is born in them. For instance, we imagine that a young otter swims naturally directly he is put into water, or that a young deer runs away from a man from a natural inborn fear of him.

Mr. W. Long in his book "School of the Woods" shows that animals largely owe their cleverness to their mothers who teach them while yet young. Thus he has seen an otter carry two of her young upon her back into the water, and after swimming about for a little while she suddenly dived from under them and left them struggling in the water. But she rose near them and helped them to swim back to the shore. In this way she gradually taught them to swim.

I once saw a lioness in East Africa sitting with her four little cubs all in a row watching me approaching her. She looked exactly as though she were teaching her young ones how to act in the case of a man coming.

She was evidently saying to them, "Now, cubbies, I want you all to notice what a white man is like. Then, one by one, you must jump up and skip away, with a whisk of your tail. The moment you are out of sight in the long grass you must creep and crawl till you have got to leeward (down-wind) of him; then follow him, always keeping him to windward, so that you can smell whereabouts he is and he cannot find you."

In "The School of the Woods," Long writes:

"Watch, say, a crow's nest. One day you will see the mother bird standing near the nest and stretching her wings over her little ones. Presently the young stand up and stretch their wings in imitation. That is the first lesson.

"Next day, perhaps, you will see the old bird lifting herself to tip-toe and holding herself there by vigorous flapping. Again the young imitate and soon learn that their wings are a power to sustain them. Next day you may see both parent birds passing from branch to branch about the nest aided by their wings in the long jumps. The little ones join and play and, lo! they have learned to fly without even knowing that they were being taught."

BIRDS.

A man who studies birds is called an ornithologist. Mark Twain, the amusing, yet kind-hearted, American writer, says: "There are fellows who write books about birds and love them so much that they'll go hungry and tired to find a new kind of bird--and kill it.

"They are called 'ornithologers.'

"I could have been an 'ornithologer' myself, because I always loved birds and creatures. And I started out to learn how to be one. I see a bird sitting on a dead limb of a high tree, singing away with his head tilted back and his mouth open--and before I thought I fired my gun at him; his song stopped all suddenly, and he fell from the branch, limp like a rag, and I ran and picked him up--and he was dead: his body was warm in my hand, and his head rolled about this way and that, like as if his neck was broke, and there was a white skin over his eyes, and one drop of red blood sparkled on the side of his head--and--laws! I couldn't see nothing for the tears. I haven't ever murdered no creature since then that warn't doing me no harm--and I ain' agoing to neither."

A good scout is generally a good "ornithologer" as Mark Twain calls him. That is to say he likes stalking birds and watching all that they do. He discovers by watching them where and how they build their nests.

He does not, like the ordinary boy, want to go and rob them of their eggs, but he likes to watch how they hatch out their young and teach them to feed themselves and to fly. He gets to know every species of bird by its call and by its way of flying; and he knows which birds remain all the year round and which only come at certain seasons; and what kind of food they like best, and how they change their plumage; what sort of nests they build, where they build them, and what the eggs are like.

There are 177 different kinds of birds in Great Britain. Here are some of the commoner birds which a scout should know by sight and sound:

Wood pigeon Heron Jackdaw Pheasant Wren Rook Partridge Wagtail Crow Grouse Swallow Raven Cuckoo Martin Thrush Skylark Woodpecker Blackbird Snipe Gull Tit Wild duck Tern Finch Plover Owl Woodcock Wild goose Hawk Curlew Robin Falcon Kingfisher Starling Moorhen

A good deal of natural history can even be studied by keeping birds in your houses, or watching them in your neighbourhood, especially if you feed them daily in winter. It is interesting to note, for instance, their different ways of singing, how some sing to make love to the hen birds, while others, like the barndoor cock, crow or sing to challenge another to fight. A herring gull makes an awful ass of himself, when he tries to sing and to show himself off to the ladies, and an old crow is not much better. Then it is interesting to watch how the young birds hatch out; some appear naked with no feathers and their eyes shut and their mouths open. Others, with fluffy kind of feathers all over them, are full of life and energy. Young moorhens, for instance, swim as soon as they come out of the egg; young chickens start running about and hunting flies within a very few minutes; while a young sparrow is useless for days, and has to be fed and coddled by his parents.

There are over forty different kinds of birds which visit England from abroad, especially from India and Africa, at certain times of the year, chiefly in April, such as the sand martin, swallow, house martin, nightingale, hobby falcon, cuckoo, corncrake, and swift.

A good many birds are almost dying out in Great Britain, because so many boys bag all their eggs when they find their nests.

Birds'-nesting is very like big game shooting--you look out in places that, as a hunter, you know are likely places for the birds you want; you watch the birds fly in and out and you find the nest. But do not then go and destroy the nest and take all the eggs. If you are actually a collector, take one egg and leave the rest, and, above all, don't pull the nest about, otherwise the parent birds will desert it, and all those eggs which might have developed into jolly young birds will be wasted.

Far better than taking the eggs is to take a photo or make a sketch of the hen sitting on her nest, or to make a collection of pictures of the different kinds of nests, made by the different kinds of birds.

Aberdeen in Scotland is supposed to be specially well off for skylarks, for the following reason.

A few years ago there came a very severe gale and snowstorm late in March--and all the high ground inland was so buried under snow and ice, that the birds were all driven to the lower land near the coast. The fields by the seashore were covered with them.

Numbers of people went out to catch them with bird-lime, nets, snares, and guns. Large numbers were taken alive to be sent to market in London and other towns.

One gentleman found a man selling a big cage full of them. They were crowded up to a fearful extent and all fluttering with terror at their imprisonment, struggling over each other in their frantic desire to escape. He felt so sorry for them that he bought the whole lot and took them to his warehouse where he was able to give them plenty of room and food and water.

Then he offered to buy all the larks that were being captured for the market at market prices. In this way he received over a thousand--and these he put in a big room where they had comparative freedom and plenty of food. It is said that the noise of their singing in the morning was almost deafening and crowds of birds used to gather over the house to hear them.

At last the bad weather passed off, the sun shone out again and the fields became green and bright, and then the kind man who had housed the birds opened the windows of the room and all the birds flew out in a happy crowd chirping and singing as they mounted into the bright warm air or fluttered off to the adjoining fields and woods. And there they build their nests and hatched out their young so that to-day the song of the lark is to be heard everywhere round Aberdeen.

Through ignorance of natural history many keepers and others see no difference between sparrow-hawks, merlins, and kestrels, and destroy all of them as mischievous to game. Sparrow-hawks and merlins do, no doubt, kill young game, but a kestrel hardly ever, if ever. He lives principally on field mice. You can tell him by his flight--he spends much of his time hovering in the air looking out with his sharp eyes for a mouse upon which to swoop down. The sparrow-hawk flits in and out round rocks and over fences hoping thus to come on prey by surprise. The merlin is a very small but very plucky little hawk and hunts down his prey by fast flying.

REPTILES AND FISHES.

The more usual reptiles in Great Britain are:

Grass Snake. Viper. Frog. Toad. Lizard.

The commoner fishes are:

Trout. Grayling. Perch. Roach. Dace. Chub. Bream. Pike. Minnow. Salmon.

and a number of sea fish.

Every scout ought to be able to fish in order to get food for himself. A tenderfoot who starved on the bank of a river full of fish would look very silly, yet it might happen to one who had never learnt to catch fish.

And fishing brings out a lot of the points in scouting, especially if you fish with a fly. To be successful you must know a lot about the habits and ways of the fish, what kind of haunt he frequents, in what kind of weather he feeds, and at what time of day, which kind of food he likes best, how far off he can see you, and so on. Without knowing these you can fish away until you are blue in the face and never catch one.

A fish generally has his own particular haunt in the stream and when once you discover a fish at home you can go and creep near and watch all that he does.

Then you have to be able to tie very special knots with delicate gut--which is a bit of a puzzler to any boy whose fingers are all thumbs.

And you have to have infinite patience; your line gets caught up in bushes and reeds, or your clothes--or when it can't find any other body it ties itself up in a knot round itself. Well, it's no use getting angry with it. There are only two things to do--the first is to grin a smile, and the second is to set to work, very leisurely, to undo it. Then you will have loads of disappointments in losing fish through the line breaking, or other mishaps; but remember those are what happen to everybody when they begin fishing and are the troubles that in the end make it so very enjoyable when you have got over them.

And when you catch your fish, do as I do--only keep those you specially want for food or as specimens; put back the others the moment you have landed them. The prick of the hook in their leathery mouth does not hurt them permanently, and they swim off quite happily to enjoy life in their water again.

If you use a dry fly, that is keeping your fly sitting on top of the water instead of sunk under the surface, you have to really stalk your fish just as you would deer or any other game, for a trout is very sharp-eyed and shy.

You can also catch fish by netting, or, as scouts often have to do, by spearing them with a very sharp three-pronged spear. I have done it many a time, but it requires practice to be successful.

A scout, of course, has to look at animals of all sorts, partly with an eye to their being useful to him sometime or another for food. Reptiles don't look tempting as food but, once you have tasted frogs legs nicely cooked, you will want more of them.

I believe that fried snake, like fried eel, is not half bad.

I have eaten the huge kind of lizard called an iguana. He had his head and tail cut off to enable him to go into the cooking pot, and when he was boiled and put on the table he looked exactly like a headless baby with his arms and legs and little hands. And when we ate him he tasted just like a baby too. Well--you know what a baby tastes like--sort of soft chicken flavoured with violet-powder!

As far as snakes go, there are not, fortunately, many poisonous ones in England--only the viper is poisonous. It is differently marked from other snakes having a black V or arrow-head mark on its head and a dark zig-zag line along its back. It is generally dark brown in colour. The viper is sometimes called adder.

Of course a scout ought to know about snakes because in almost all wild countries you come across plenty of them and many of them dangerous.

They have a horrid knack of creeping into tents and under blankets, or into boots. You will always notice an old hand in camp before he turns in at night look very carefully through his blankets, and in the morning before putting on his boots he will carefully shake them out. I even find myself doing it now in my bedroom at home, just from habit.

Snakes don't like crawling over anything rough as a rule; so in India you often construct a kind of path made of sharp jagged stones all round a house to prevent snakes crawling into it from the garden.

And on the prairie hunters sometimes lay a hair rope on the ground in a circle round their blankets.

A hair rope has so many tiny spikes sticking out of it that it tickles the snake's tummy to such an extent he cannot go over it.

I used to catch snakes when I was at school, by using a long stick with a small fork at the end of it. When I saw a snake I stalked him, jammed the fork down on his neck, and then tied him up the stick with strips of old handkerchief, and carried him back to sell to anybody who wanted a pet. But they are not good things to make pets of as a rule because so many people have a horror of them, and it is not fair, therefore, to have them about in a house where servants or others might get frightened by them.

Poisonous snakes carry their poison in a small kind of bag inside their mouths. They have two fangs or long pointed teeth, which are on a kind of hinge; they lie flat along the snake's gums till he gets angry and wants to kill something; then they stand on end, and he dives his head forward and strikes them into his enemy. As he does so the poison passes out of the poison bag, or gland as it is called, into the two holes in your skin made by the fangs. This poison then gets into the veins of the man who has been bitten and is carried by the blood all over the body in a few seconds, unless steps are at once taken to stop it by sucking the wound and binding the veins up very tightly.

INSECTS.

Insects are very interesting animals to collect, or to watch, or to photograph.

Also for a scout who fishes, or studies birds, or reptiles, it is most important that he should know a certain amount about the insects which are their favourite food at different times of the year or different hours of the day.

The usual insects about which a scout ought to know something, are:

Moths. Gnats. Beetles. Grasshoppers. Ants. Spiders. Glow-worms. Butterflies. Lice. Bees and wasps.

About bees alone whole books have been written--for they have wonderful powers in making their honeycomb, in finding their way for miles--sometimes as far as six miles--to find the right kind of flowers for giving them the sugary juice for making honey, and getting back with it to the hive.

They are quite a model community, for they respect their Queen and kill their unemployed.

Then some insects are useful as food. Ants make a substitute for salt. Locusts--a big kind of grasshopper--are eaten in India and South Africa. We were very glad to get a flight or two of them over Mafeking. When they settled on the ground we went, and with empty sacks, beat them down as they tried to rise. They were then dried in the sun and pounded up and eaten.

HINTS FOR INSTRUCTOR.

_PRACTICES._

_Set your scouts to find out by observation, and to report on such points as these:_

IN COUNTRY: _How does a wild rabbit dig his hole? When a lot of rabbits are alarmed does a rabbit merely run because the others do, or does he look round and see what is the danger before he goes, too?_

_Does a woodpecker break the bark away to get at insects on a tree trunk, or does he pick them out of holes, or how does he get at them?_

_Does a trout when disturbed by people passing along the bank, go up or down stream? Does he go away altogether, or return to his place? How long does he stay away? etc._

IN TOWN: _Make your scouts go out and report if they see a lame horse or one with collar gall or sore mouth or tight bearing-rein._

_Patrol to make a beehive or two, and put in queen bees or swarms, and start bee-farming for profit._

_Scouts make lures, traps, snares, etc., and set them (not on preserved ground) to catch birds and animals for food._

HONOURS.

The following marks can be gained in this section by First Class Scouts towards Badge of Honour.

For drawing correctly the foot-tracks of twelve different animals or birds, 3 marks.

Name twelve different kinds of fish and describe the points by which they may be recognised, up to 2 marks. The same illustrated by drawings, or models in clay, up to 4 marks.

Photos or sketches from life of twelve wild animals, birds, reptiles, &c., with short description of about twenty words each. Taken and developed, or drawn by the scout himself, up to 5 marks.

LION HUNTING.

A lion is represented by one scout who goes out with tracking irons on his feet, and a pocketful of corn or peas, and six tennis balls. He is allowed half an hour's start, and then the patrol go after him, following his spoor, each armed with one tennis ball with which to shoot him, when they find him. The lion may hide or creep about or run just as he feels inclined, but whenever the ground is hard or very grassy, he must drop a few grains of corn, every few yards to show the trail.

If the hunters fail to come up to him neither wins the game. When they come near to his lair the lion fires at them with his tennis balls, and the moment a hunter is hit he must fall out dead and cannot throw his tennis ball. If the lion gets hit by a hunting tennis ball he is wounded, and if he gets wounded three times he is killed.

Tennis balls may only be fired once; they cannot be picked up and fired again in the same fight.

Each scout must collect and hand in his tennis balls after the game. In winter if there is snow, this game can be played without tracking irons, and using snowballs instead of tennis balls.

BOOKS TO READ.

"Every Boy's Book of British Natural History." by W. P. Westall. (Pub. Religious Tract Society, London.)

"With Flashlight and Rifle in East Africa," by Schilling.

"Duty," by S. Smiles. (Chap. XIII., XIV.) 2s. 6d.

"A Year with Nature," by Westall. Giving the habits of animals and birds of the British Isles according to the months.

"Beasts of the Field" by William J. Luy. (Pub. Ginn & Co.).

"Countryside," weekly, Illustrated, 1d.

"Wild Sports of the Highlands," by C. St. John. (Murray.)

"I Go A-walking Through Lanes and Meadows." Photos and short accounts of English birds. Rev. C. Johns. (Foulis.)

* "The Jungle Book," by Rudyard Kipling.

"Jock of the Bushveld," by Sir Percy Fitz Patrick. A story of big game hunting in S. Africa, and the active part that "Jock" the terrier played in it.

PLAY.

"The Wild Animal Play." By Mrs. E. Thompson Seton. A musical play in which the parts of Lobo, Waahb, and Vixen are taken by boys and girls. Price 6d. Published by Doubleday, Page & Co., 133 East 16th Street, New York City, U.S.A.

CAMP-FIRE YARN.--No. 10. PLANTS.

Trees and their leaves--Eatable Plants--Practices and games connected with Plants--Books about Plants.

TREES.

Although they are not animals, trees are things about which scouts should know something. Very often a scout has to describe country which he has seen, and if he says it is "well-wooded" it would often be of great importance that the reader of his report should know what kind of trees the woods were composed of.

For instance, if the wood were of fir or larch trees it would mean you could get poles for building bridges; if it were palm trees you know you could get cocoa-nuts (or dates if they were date palms), and the palm juice for drinking. Willow trees mean water close by.

Or if pine woods or sugar bush or gum-trees it would mean lots of good fuel. And he must know a poplar tree by sight, so as not to use poplar wood in camp if there are any old scouts present--they have a superstition that poplar brings bad luck.

A scout should, therefore, make a point of learning the names and appearances of the trees in his country.

He should get hold of a leaf of each kind and compare it with the leaf on the tree.

Horse chestnut is not so called because horses like the chestnuts, but because it has on the bark of its smaller branches small marks like horse-shoes with all the nails in them; and then get to know the general shape and appearance of each kind of tree, so as to be able to recognise it at a distance, and not only in summer, but also in winter.

The common trees in Great Britain which a scout should know by sight are:

Oak Poplar Holly Beech Elm Pine Horse Birch Plane Sycamore Chestnut Spanish Cedar Larch Ash Chestnut Fir Willow Lime Walnut

PLANTS.

But especially you ought to know which kinds of plants are useful to you in providing you with food. Supposing you were out in a jungle without any food, as very often happens; if you knew nothing about plants you would probably die of starvation, or of poisoning, from not knowing which fruit or roots were wholesome and which dangerous to eat.

There are numbers of berries, nuts, roots, barks, and leaves that are good to eat.

The same with crops of different kinds of corn and seed, vegetable roots, and even grasses and vetches. Seaweed is much eaten in Ireland (Sloke) and Scotland. Certain kinds of moss are also used as food.

HINTS FOR INSTRUCTOR.

_PRACTICES._

_Take out scouts to get specimens of leaves, fruits, or blossoms of various trees, shrubs, etc., and observe the shape and nature of the tree both in summer and in winter._

_Collect leaves of different trees; let scouts make tracings of them and write the name of the tree on each._

_In the country make scouts examine crops in all stages of their growth so that they know pretty well by sight what kind of crop is coming up._

_Start gardens, if possible, either a patrol garden or individual scout's garden. Let them grow flowers and vegetables for profit to pay for their equipment, etc._

_Show all the wild plants which may be made use of for food._

_COMPETITIONS AND GAMES._

_Marks towards a Badge of Honour may be awarded to first-class scouts for collection of not less than twenty-five kinds of leaf--pressed, with names neatly written against them. Marks, 3; or the leaves may be drawn on paper. Marks awardable, 4._

_Prize for best window-box of flowers planted and grown by the scout himself._

GAMES.

PLANT RACE.

Start off your scouts, either cycling or on foot, to go in any direction they like, to get a specimen of any ordered plant, say a sprig of yew, a shoot of ilex, a horseshoe mark from a chestnut-tree, a briar rose, or something of that kind, whichever you may order, such as will tax their knowledge of plants and will test their memory as to where they noticed one of the kind required, and will also make them quick in getting there and back.

BOOKS TO READ.

"School Gardening," by W. E. Watkins, 2s. (Philip & Son.)

PLAY. THE DIAMOND THIEF.

(Best performed in the open air and in dumbshow.)

A party of prospectors have been out into the wild country in South Africa, and have found a magnificent diamond. They are now making their way back to civilization with it. Horse-sickness has killed off their horses, and so they are doing the journey on foot, carrying their blankets, food, and cooking pots.

As the heat of the day comes on they camp for the day, meaning to push on again at night. They rig up blanket-tents and light fires and cook their food, weave mattresses, sing songs of home, play cards, etc. The diamond is taken out of the sardine tin in which it is kept for all to look at and admire. It is then put carefully back. The box is placed out in the open where it can be seen and one man is told off as a sentry to guard it. The remainder have their food, and then gradually lie down to sleep. When the camp is all still, the sentry gets tired of standing and presently sits down and begins to nod.

While he is dozing the diamond thief sneaks into sight, creeps near to the camp, and crouches, watching the sleeping man; when the sentry wakes up for a moment with a start the thief crouches flat.

Eventually the sentry reclines and goes to sleep. Inch by inch the thief creeps up, till he stealthily removes the sentry's gun (or pistol) out of his reach; then he swiftly glides up to the diamond-box, seizes it, and sneaks quickly away, without being discovered, dodges about, walks backward, and wipes out his tracks as he goes in order to confuse pursuers.

The leader wakes with a yawn, and, when looking round, starts when he sees there is no sentry standing about. He springs up, rushes to the sleeping sentry, shakes him up, and asks him where is the diamond. Sentry wakes up confused and scared. Remainder wake and crowd angrily together threatening and questioning the sentry.

When one suddenly sees the footprints of the thief he follows in jerks of a few paces; along the trail the rest follow and help to pick it up, first one and then another finding it till they go off the scene. The leader is about to follow them when he stops, and waves them onward, and then turns back to the sentry who is standing stupefied. He hands him a pistol and hints to him that having ruined his friends by his faithlessness, he may as well shoot himself. The leader then turns to follow the rest, looking about for them. A shout is heard in the distance just as the guilty sentry is putting the pistol to his head--the leader stops him from shooting himself. And both stand listening to shouts in the distance.

Remainder of the men return bringing in with them the thief and the diamond all safe.

They then sit round in a semicircle, the leader on a mound or box in the centre with the diamond in front of him. The thief standing with arms bound, is tried and condemned to be shot. He goes away a few paces and sits down with his back to the rest and thinks over his past life.

They then try the sentry, and condemn him as a punishment for his carelessness to shoot the thief.

All get up. They start to dig a grave. When ready, the thief is made to stand up, his eyes are bound. The sentry takes a pistol and shoots him. Remainder then bring a blanket and lift the dead man into it and carry him to the grave--to the opposite side from the audience so that everyone can see the "body" lowered into the grave. They then withdraw the blanket, fill in the grave, and trample the earth down. All shake hands with the sentry to show that they forgive him.

Pack up camp, put out fire, and continue their journey with the diamond.

N.B.--The grave is managed thus: A hole must be previously prepared rather near to the edge of the scena. Then a tunnel must be made by which the "corpse" can creep out of the grave and get away underground. This is done by digging a trench and roofing it with boards or hurdles and covering it over with earth and turf again, so that the audience will not notice it. The grave, too, is made in the same way, but shallower and partly filled up with sods; the diggers remove the top earth, then, hidden by the rest crowding round, they remove the board and pile up the sods on the surface. As soon as the corpse is lowered into the grave he creeps away down the tunnel, and so goes off the scene The diggers throw in some earth, jump down and trample it, then pile up the sods on top till they make a nice, looking grave.

The whole thing wants careful rehearsing beforehand, but is most effective when well done, especially if accompanied by sympathetic music.

It is a good thing to use for an open air show to attract a crowd when raising funds for your troop.

SCOUTING FOR BOYS.