TEAM WORK
As the three bears crossed the shallow head of the river, whose course
they had been following up the mountainsides, from the grass almost
under their feet leapt what at first glimpse they took to be a mammoth
mouse.
Of course they chased it. Soon they noticed that it ran very differently
from the mice they had known. Instead of scuttling along on all fours,
with its long tail streaming out behind, this one gave mammoth leaps,
and its tail was just a bunch of brown fur. Then they noticed what long
ears it had, and what broad hind feet. “It’s a hare,” signalled Mother
Brown Bear, “a ‘snowshoe rabbit.’”
The big brown hare raced so fast that it was soon out of sight; then
instead of staying safely away, back it came circling, to stand on its
hind legs with its long ears pointed forward to catch the sounds these
strange newcomers were making, and its paws folded on its furry chest.
The minute it caught sight of the pursuing cubs, it leapt away again
with such great bounds that the bears again lost sight of it.
“You’d never catch it that way in a million years,” Mother Brown Bear
laughed, her black eyes twinkling as the cubs returned.
“Why not?” Chinook demanded. “Let’s wait until it comes back, and have
another try.”
“I don’t mind resting here a while,” said Mother Brown Bear, seating
herself with her back to a rock and her legs straight out in front of
her, while the cubs sprawled out in the sunshine. Up here so high above
their woods, where the wind was cool, the sun felt good on their fur.
“In chasing a hare,” Mother Brown Bear told them, “you never want to
follow right along in its tracks, because it can generally outrun you.”
“I thought you said it was a rabbit,” said Snookie.
“They call this one a snowshoe rabbit,” her mother explained, “but it’s
really a hare, a snowshoe hare. You see how broad its feet are. In
winter when there is snow on the mountainsides, its wide furry feet keep
it on the tops of the drifts, where an animal with slender feet sinks
in. In creeping up on a hare, you can sometimes pounce the way a bobcat
pounces on a mouse, but that is only possible when the wind’s in your
face (blowing from the hare to you) and it’s curled up asleep and
doesn’t see you. If the wind blows from you to the hare, it gets your
scent, and takes warning. Then remember, you can’t make the teeniest,
weeniest sound or it catches it with those great, funnel-like ears. But
where a thing is hard to catch in a straightaway race for it, that is
the time to try strategy, and where one pursuer cannot catch a supper
that runs so fast, it is sometimes possible for partners to work it
between them. I have seen a family of bobcats bring down a ‘snowshoe
rabbit’ by careful teamwork.”
“Tell us about it,” begged the cubs, who did not see the hare looking at
them from behind the stump, to which it had circled in its foolish
curiosity to find out more about its enemies. It was wriggling its nose
this way and that, for the wind was in its face, and for the moment it
was safe.
“It was a cold moonlight night,” began Mother Brown Bear, “when
Paddy-paws and his mate went ‘rabbit’ hunting and took their five
half-grown kittens along. The kittens were handsome, bright-eyed little
fellows anxious to learn how to do everything their parents did. Well,
first Paddy himself gave chase to a big brown hare, who went hopping
away so fast that the heavy cat was all out of breath before he had come
anywhere near his quarry. But Mrs. Paddy-paws had stationed the kittens
around every here and there through the woods, and just as the old cat
had to give it up for the time, she was right there ready to take his
place. They made a regular relay race of it. When Mrs. Paddy-paws had
chased the hare around in a circle and got so winded that _she_ had to
stop, the nearest kitten took up the race, and by that time Paddy had
his breath back and cut straight across the circle to take the kitten’s
place. All this time, of course, the hare was getting more and more worn
out, but it still kept leaping ahead so fast that it nearly got away
after all. Yes, sir, it took every one of those seven cats to catch that
hare. They certainly worked hard for the quick lunch that they got out
of it, and they had to work harder still before they had caught enough
to satisfy those hungry kittens. But teamwork finally did it.”
At that, the hare, whose eyes had been nearly popping out of his head
with surprise, leapt away as fast as he could go.
“Hey, Snookie,” Chinook gave his sister a resounding slap, “Let’s try a
relay race the next time we see a hare.”
“All right, but you needn’t hit so hard,” and Snookie landed him a biff
that sent them tumbling downhill in a wrestling match.
Mother Brown Bear yawned and stretched. “Come, children,” she bade them,
as she rose to her feet, “we have a long way to go if we are to have
supper in Rat Town.”
At the word, the cubs went racing after her, and a little further on,
their eyes brightened when they came to a footprint that looked almost
like a squirrel’s but which smelled distinctly mousy. It was the track
of a mountain pack-rat. The cubs sniffed curiously. It was a part of
their schooling to learn the meaning of every odor, for next year, when
they had to earn their own livings, they would have to know where to
find enough to eat, and then their noses would be a bigger help than
eyes and ears put together.
For a few minutes they followed the trail of the pack-rat, which smelled
stronger and stronger. Of a sudden, the rat himself darted off to the
right. Mother Brown Bear watched to see if the cubs would profit by what
she had just been telling them. Quick as thought, Snookie was after that
rat. Quick as thought, Chinook saved his breath and watched to see where
the race would lead, and when the rat began circling further to the
right, so that the wind was in his face, Chinook made a dash across the
circle and took Snookie’s place. “Good work!” thought Mother Brown Bear,
proud that her children were so quick to learn. For a couple of minutes
Chinook raced with all his might, but the rat ran faster. Then Snookie
came leaping downhill to take his place as the rat darted past her, and
just as she lost her balance and went tumbling head over ears, her
brother had taken a short cut and was ready to take her place; and the
next thing that old rat knew, he was flattened out under Chinook’s paw.
“You see,” Mother Brown Bear told them, “there is nothing like team
work. The reason a bear is so brainy is because he is always watching
other forest folk to see what he can learn from them; and when cubs are
too little to make their way alone, they want to stand by each other.”
“How Mother does love to preach,” thought Chinook, but he didn’t dare
say so, and the time was coming when he was glad to remember what she
had told him. But if his nose was any judge, they were nearing the Rat
Town she had promised to show them.