The Heart of the Wild: Nature Studies from Near and Far

He wore a brown coat well oiled, and carried a black tail with a white tip, of which he was absurdly proud, for such a decoration in water-rat land denotes that the wearer is of...

The Swan looked on admiringly. "You're a funny fellow," he said; "when I saw one of your family for the first time I thought your body and your head were fixed up on stilts. Now...

"I've been about since early April," replied the Cuckoo. "I've taken up my summer quarters here, and I don't mind telling you that there is no room for any other male cuckoo in...

"Fool," cried Abd el Karim, staggering from his tent, the haschish dreams still clouding his brain; "art thou too among the sick? Shall I kill thee, or wilt thou eat, O thrice c...

With September, another change of colour came to the seals. Their coat became rather darker than before, and the black spots, that began on the head and spread in ever growing p...

The lantern was lighted now and the pipe was out; the poacher, flabby and out of condition, was deaf to the call of his tired limbs. Passion sustained him in the pursuit of a ta...

So the little party went out to the gardens that lie round the great green-tiled palace of the Sultan, and when they came to the marsh by the orchard of pomegranates Tsamani cri...

When they were three months old, Hob's brothers and sisters were taken away and sent in a neat box to another county in response to an advertisement, and Hob owed his immunity f...

With the beginning of June, full leaf came to the plantation, but never a human foot disturbed the fresh thick undergrowth, and save for the subdued note of birds the silence wa...

The movement was timed to perfection; no eye save the giraffe's could have calculated the aim to such a nicety, and the lion fell as though stunned, his lower jaw broken, his hu...

"Not perhaps before the gun began to be used," replied the eagle, "but my memory goes back to times when there was very little shooting indeed. The moors were all undrained, the...

Ten minutes later, he slowed down and allowed the foremost among the pack to reach him. Most were scratched and torn by the thorns that could not penetrate Tusker's hide, but th...

For El Cuchillo and the chosen companions of his year, life took a new and agreeable form when the first test had been withstood. They were kept by themselves in the lowest and...

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"Follow me, O slaves," said the Moor, when they were all ready to return. He led them unresisting through the heart of the city, through the bazaars with their roofs of palm bra...

This volume is sure of a warm welcome from Mr. Becke's numerous readers. The descriptions of life in the South Seas are told with his own particular charm, and the stories of "T...