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SCOUTING FOR BOYS

BY

LIEUT. GEN. BADEN POWELL C.B.

PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX, WINDSOR HOUSE,

BREAM'S BUILDINGS, LONDON, E.C.

[Illustration: Scout.]

Scouting for Boys.

A HANDBOOK FOR INSTRUCTION

IN

GOOD CITIZENSHIP.

BY

Lieut.-General R. S. S. BADEN-POWELL, C.B., F.R.G.S.

_All communications should be addressed to_--

LIEUT.-GENERAL BADEN-POWELL,

BOY SCOUTS' OFFICE,

GOSCHEN BUILDINGS,

HENRIETTA STREET,

LONDON, W.C.

_by whom Scouts will be enrolled, and from where

all further information can be obtained_.

Copyrighted by Lieut.-General R. S. S. BADEN-POWELL, C.B., F.R.G.S.

1908.

_All rights reserved._

PART II.

CONTENTS: CHAPTER II.

TRACKING;

or, Noticing and Reading the Meaning of Small Signs.

HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.

CAMP FIRE YARNS.

5.--OBSERVATION OF "SIGN" OR TRACKS: Details of People; "Sign" round a

Dead Body; Use of Eyes, Ears, and Nose; Night Scouting.

6.--SPOORING: Adventures; Value of Spooring, How to Learn.

7.--READING "SIGN": Sherlock Holmesism; Deduction, or putting this and

that together; Instances; How to Practice.

PRACTICES, GAMES, AND PLAYS IN TRACKING.

BOOKS ON TRACKING.

HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.

_Instruction in the art of observation and deduction is difficult to lay

down in black and white. It must be taught by practice. One can only

give a few instances and hints, the rest depends upon your own powers of

imagination and local circumstances._

_The importance of the power of observation and deduction to the young

citizen is great. Children are proverbially quick in observation, but it

dies out as they grow older, largely because first experiences catch

their attention, which they fail to do on repetition._

OBSERVATION _is, in fact, a habit to which a boy has to be trained_.

TRACKING _is an interesting step towards gaining it_. DEDUCTION _is the

art of subsequently reasoning out and extracting the meaning from the

points observed_.

_When once observation and deduction have been made habitual in the boy,

a great step in the development of "character" has been gained._

CONTENTS: CHAPTER III.

(_Commences on page 109._)

WOODCRAFT;

or, Knowledge of Animals and Nature.

HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.

CAMP FIRE YARNS.

8.--STALKING: As an Aid to Observation; How to Hide.

9.--ANIMALS: The Calling of Wild Animals. Animals; Birds; Reptiles;

Fish; Insects.

10.--PLANTS: Trees and How to Identify Them.

PRACTICES, GAMES, COMPETITIONS, AND PLAYS IN WOODCRAFT.

BOOKS ON WOODCRAFT.

HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.

_HOW TO TEACH NATURAL HISTORY._

_If in London take your scouts to the Zoological Gardens and to Natural

History Museum, South Kensington. Take them to certain animals on which

you are prepared to lecture to them. About half a dozen animals would be

quite enough for one day._

_If in the country, get leave from a farmer or carter to show the boys

how to put on harness, etc., and how to feed and water the horse; how he

is shod, etc. How to catch hold of a runaway horse in harness. How to

milk a cow._

_Study habits of cows, rabbits, birds, water-voles, trout, etc., by

stalking them and watching all that they do._

_Take your scouts to any menagerie, and explain the animals._

CHAPTER II.

TRACKING;

or,

Noticing and Reading the meaning of small Signs.--Camp Fire Yarns on

Observation--Spooring--Reading "Sign."

CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 5.

OBSERVATION OF "SIGN."

NOTICING "SIGN."--Details of People.--Sign round a dead

body--Details in the Country--Use of eyes, ears, and nose by

Scouts--Night Scouting--Hints to Instructors--Practices and Games in

Observation--Books on Observation.

NOTICING SIGN.

"Sign" is the word used by scouts to mean any little details such as

footprints, broken twigs, trampled grass, scraps of food, a drop of

blood, a hair, and so on; anything that may help as clues in getting the

information they are in search of.

Mrs. Smithson, when travelling in Kashmir last year, was following up

with some native Indian trackers the "pugs" of a panther which had

killed and carried off a young buck. He had crossed a wide bare slab of

rock which, of course, gave no mark of his soft feet. The tracker went

at once to the far side of the rock where it came to a sharp edge; he

wetted his finger, and just passed it along the edge till he found a few

buck's hairs sticking to it. This showed him where the panther had

passed down off the rock dragging the buck with him. Those few hairs

were what scouts call "sign."

Mrs. Smithson's tracker also found bears by noticing small "sign." On

one occasion he noticed a fresh scratch in the bark of a tree evidently

made by a bear's claw, and on the other he found a single black hair

sticking to the bark of a tree, which told him that a bear had rubbed

against it.

One of the most important things that a scout has to learn, whether he

is a war scout or a hunter or peace scout, is _to let nothing escape his

attention_; he must notice small points and signs, and then make out the

meaning of them: but it takes a good deal of practice before a

tenderfoot can get into the habit of really noting everything and

letting nothing escape his eye. It can be learnt just as well in a town

as in the country.

And in the same way you should notice any strange sound or any peculiar

smell and think for yourself what it may mean. Unless you learn to

notice "signs" you will have very little of "this and that" to put

together and so you will be no use as a scout; it comes by practice.

Remember, a scout always considers it a great disgrace if an outsider

discovers a thing before he has seen it for himself, whether that thing

is far away in the distance, or close by under his feet.

If you go out with a really trained scout you will see that his eyes are

constantly moving, looking out in every direction near and far, noticing

everything that is going on, just from habit, not because he wants to

show off how much he notices.

I was walking with one the other day in Hyde Park in London. He

presently remarked "that horse is going a little lame"--there was no

horse near us, but I found he was looking at one far away across the

Serpentine: the next moment he picked up a peculiar button lying by the

path. His eyes, you see, were looking both far away and near.

In the streets of a strange town a scout will notice his way by the

principal buildings, and side-streets, and in any case he will notice

what shops he passes and what is in their windows; also what vehicles

pass him and such details as whether the horses' harness and shoes are

all right; and most especially what people he passes, what their faces

are like, their dress, their boots, and their way of walking, so that

if, for instance, he should be asked by a policeman, "Have you seen a

man with dark over-hanging eyebrows dressed in a blue suit, going down

this street," he should be able to give some such answer as "Yes--he was

walking a little lame with the right foot, wore foreign looking boots,

was carrying a parcel in his hand, he turned down Gold Street, the

second turning on the left from here, about three minutes ago."

Information of that kind has often been of greatest value in tracing out

a criminal, but so many people go along with their eyes shut and never

notice things.

In the story of "Kim," by Rudyard Kipling, there is an account of two

boys being taught "observation" in order to become detectives, or

scouts, by means of a game in which a trayful of small objects was shown

to them for a minute and was then covered over and they had to describe

all the things on it from memory.

We will have that game, as it is excellent practice for scouts.

There was a revolutionary society in Italy called the Camorra who used

to train their boys to be quick at noticing and remembering things. When

walking through the streets of the city, the Camorrist would suddenly

stop and ask his boy--"How was the woman dressed who sat at the door of

the fourth house on the right in the last street?" or, "What were the

two men talking about whom we met at the corner of the last street but

three?" or, "Where was the cab ordered to drive to, and what was its

number?" "What is the height of that house and what is the width of its

upper floor window?" and so on. Or the boy was given a minute to look in

a shop window and then he had to describe all that was in it. Captain

Cook, the great explorer and scout, was trained in the same way as a

boy, and so was Houdin the great conjurer.

Every town scout should know, as a matter of course, where is the

nearest chemist's shop (in case of accidents), the nearest police "fixed

point," police-station, hospital, fire alarm, telephone, ambulance

station, etc.

The scout must also have his eyes on the ground especially along the

edge of the pavement against the houses or in the gutter. I have often

found valuable trinkets that have been dropped, and which have been

walked over by numbers of people, and swept to one side by ladies'

dresses without being noticed.

[Illustration: How the wearing of a hat shows character.]

DETAILS OF PEOPLE.

When you are travelling by train or tram always notice every little

thing about your fellow travellers; notice their faces, dress, way of

talking and so on so that you could describe them each pretty accurately

afterwards; and also try and make out from their appearance and

behaviour whether they are rich or poor (which you can generally tell

from their boots), and what is their probable business, whether they are

happy, or ill, or in want of help.

But in doing this you must not let them see you are watching them, else

it puts them on their guard. Remember the shepherd-boy who noticed the

gipsy's boots, but did not look at him and so did not make the gipsy

suspicious of him.

Close observation of people and ability to read their character and

their thoughts is of immense value in trade and commerce, especially for

a shop-assistant or salesman in persuading people to buy goods, or in

detecting would-be swindlers.

It is said that you can tell a man's character from the way he wears his

hat. If it is slightly on one side, the wearer is good-natured: if it is

worn very much on one side, he is a swaggerer: if on the back of his

head, he is bad at paying his debts: if worn straight on the top, he is

probably honest but very dull.

The way a man (or a woman) walks is often a good guide to his

character--witness the fussy, swaggering little man paddling along with

short steps with much arm-action, the nervous man's hurried, jerky

stride, the slow slouch of the loafer, the smooth going and silent step

of the scout, and so on.

I was once accused of mistrusting men with waxed moustaches. Well, so,

to a certain extent, I do. It often means vanity and sometimes drink.

Certainly the "quiff" or lock of hair which some lads wear on their

forehead is a sure sign of silliness. The shape of the face gives a good

guide to the man's character.

Perhaps you can tell the character of these gentlemen?

[Illustration: Character of gentlemen.]

I was speaking with a detective not long ago about a gentleman we had

both been talking to, and we were trying to make out his character. I

remarked--"well, at any rate, he was a fisherman," but my companion

could not see why: but then he was not a fisherman himself. I had

noticed a lot of little tufts of cloth sticking upon the left cuff of

his coat.

A good many fishermen, when they take their flies off the line, stick

them into their cap to dry: others stick them into their sleeve. When

dry they pull them out, which often tears a thread or two of the cloth.

It is an amusing practice when you are in a railway carriage or omnibus

with other people to look only at their feet and guess without looking

any higher what sort of people they are, old or young, well to do or

poor, fat or thin, and so on, and then look up and see how near you have

been to the truth.

Mr. Nat Goodwin, the American actor, once described to me how he went to

see a balloon ascent at a time when he happened to be suffering from a

stiff neck. He was only able to look down instead of up--and he could

only see the feet of the people round him in the crowd so he chose among

the feet those that he felt sure belonged to an affable kind-hearted man

who would describe to him what the balloon was doing.

I once was able to be of service to a lady who was in poor

circumstances, as I had guessed it from noticing, while walking behind

her, that though she was well dressed the soles of her shoes were in the

last stage of disrepair. I don't suppose she ever knew how I guessed

that she was in a bad way.

But it is surprising how much of the sole of the boot you can see when

behind a person walking--and it is equally surprising how much meaning

you can read from that boot. It is said that to wear out soles and heels

equally is to give evidence of business capacity and honesty; to wear

your heels down on the outside means that you are a man of imagination

and love of adventure; but heels worn down on the inside signify

weakness and indecision of character, and this last sign is more

infallible in the case of man than in that of woman.

Remember how "Sherlock Holmes" met a stranger and noticed that he was

looking fairly well-to-do, in new clothes with a mourning band on his

sleeve, with a soldierly bearing, and a sailor's way of walking,

sunburnt, with tattoo marks on his hands, and he was carrying some

children's toys in his hand. What should you have supposed that man to

be? Well! Sherlock Holmes guessed, correctly, that he had lately retired

from the Royal Marines as a Sergeant, and his wife had died, and he had

some small children at home.

SIGNS ROUND A DEAD BODY.

It may happen to some of you that one day you will be the first to find

the dead body of a man, in which case you will remember that it is your

duty to examine and note down the smallest signs that are to be seen on

and near the body before it is moved or the ground disturbed and

trampled down. Besides noticing the exact position of the body (which

should if possible be photographed exactly as found) the ground all

round should be very carefully examined--without treading on it yourself

more than is absolutely necessary, for fear of spoiling existing tracks.

If you can also draw a little map of how the body lay and where the

signs round it were, it might be of value.

Twice lately bodies have been found which were at first supposed to be

those of people who had hanged themselves--but close examination of the

ground round them, in one case some torn twigs and trampled grass, and

in the other a crumpled carpet, showed that murder had been committed,

and that the bodies had been hung after death to make it appear as

though they had committed suicide.

Finger-marks should especially be looked for on any likely articles and

if they do not correspond to those of the murdered man they may be those

of his murderer, who could then be identified by comparing the

impression with his fingers. Such a case occurred in India, where a man

was found murdered and a bloody finger-mark on his clothes. The owner of

the finger-mark was found, tried, and convicted.

In St. Petersburg in Russia a banker was found murdered. Near the body

was found a cigar-holder with an amber mouthpiece. This mouthpiece was

of peculiar shape and could only be held in the mouth in one position,

and it had two teeth marks in it. These marks showed that the two teeth

were of different lengths.

The teeth of the murdered man were quite regular, so the cigar-holder

was evidently not his. But his nephew had teeth which corresponded to

the marks on the mouthpiece, so he was arrested, and then further proof

came up and showed that he was the murderer.

[_Compare the story in "Sherlock Holmes' Memoirs" called "The Resident

Patient" in which a man was found hanging and was considered to be a

suicide till Sherlock Holmes came in and showed various signs such as

cigar ends bitten by different teeth, footprints, and that three men had

been in the room with the dead man for some time previous to his death

and had hanged him._]

DETAILS IN THE COUNTRY.

If you are in the country you should notice landmarks, that is objects

which help you to find your way or prevent you getting lost, such as

distant hills, church towers, and nearer objects such as peculiar

buildings, trees, gates, rocks, etc.

And remember in noticing such landmarks that you may want to use your

knowledge of them some day for telling someone else how to find his way,

so you must notice them pretty closely so as to be able to describe them

unmistakably and in their proper order. You must notice and remember

every by-road and footpath.

Then you must also notice smaller signs such as birds getting up and

flying hurriedly which means somebody or some animal is there; dust

shows animals, men, or vehicles moving.

Of course when in the country you should notice just as much as in town

all passers-by very carefully--how they are dressed, what their faces

are like, and their way of walking, and examine their footmarks--and jot

down a sketch of them in your notebook, so that you would know the

footmark again if you found it somewhere else--(as the shepherd boy did

in the story at the beginning of this book).

And notice all tracks--that is footmarks of men, animals, birds, wheels,

etc., for from these you can read the most important information, as

Captain d'Artagnan did in the story of the secret duel, of which I shall

tell you later.

This track-reading is of such importance that I shall give you a lecture

on that subject by itself.

USING YOUR EYES.

Let nothing be too small for your notice, a button, a match, a cigar

ash, a feather, or a leaf, might be of great importance.

A scout must not only look to his front but also to either side and

behind him, he must have "eyes at the back of his head" as the saying

is.

Often by suddenly looking back you will see an enemy's scout or a thief

showing himself in a way that he would not have done had he thought you

would look round.

There is an interesting story by Fenimore Cooper called "The Pathfinder"

in which the action of a Red Indian scout is well described. He had

"eyes at the back of his head," and after passing some bushes he caught

sight of a withered leaf or two among the fresh ones which made him

suspect that somebody might have put the leaves there to make a better

hiding place, and so he discovered some hidden fugitives.

NIGHT SCOUTING.

A scout has to be able to notice small details just as much by night as

by day and this he has to do chiefly by listening, occasionally by

feeling or smelling.

In the stillness of the night sounds carry further than by day. If you

put your ear to the ground or place it against a stick, or especially

against a drum, which is touching the ground, you will hear the shake of

horses' hoofs or the thud of a man's footfall a long way off. Another

way is to open a knife with a blade at each end, stick one blade into

the ground and hold the other between your teeth and you will hear all

the better. The human voice, even though talking low, carries to a great

distance and is not likely to be mistaken for any other sound.

I have often passed through outposts at night after having found where

the picquets were posted by hearing the low talking of the men or the

snoring of those asleep.

BOOKS TO READ ON OBSERVATION.

"Criminal Investigation" by Dr. Gross. Edited by John Adam. 30s.

"Aids to Scouting." 1s. (Gale and Polden.)

[Illustration: An Alarm Bell in Mafeking--"Look out for shells!"]

HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.

HOW TO TEACH OBSERVATION IN PRACTICE.

_PRACTICES._

IN TOWNS: Practise your boys first in walking down a street to notice

the different kinds of shops as they pass and to remember them in their

proper sequence at the end.

Then to notice and remember the names on the shops.

Then to notice and remember the contents of a shop window after two

minutes' gaze. Finally to notice the contents of several shop windows in

succession with half a minute at each.

The boys must also notice prominent buildings as landmarks; the number

of turnings off the street they are using; names of other streets;

details of horses and vehicles passing by; and--especially--details of

the people as to dress, features, gait; numbers on motor cars,

policemen, etc.

Take them the first time to show them how to do it; and after that send

them out and on their return question them, as below.

Make them learn for themselves to notice and remember the whereabouts of

all chemists' shops, fire alarms, police fixed points, ambulances, etc.,

etc.

IN THE COUNTRY: Take the patrol out for a walk and teach the boys to

notice distant prominent features as landmarks such as hills, church

steeples, and so on, and as nearer landmarks such things as peculiar

buildings, trees, rocks, gates, etc. By-roads or paths, nature of

fences, crops; different kinds of trees, birds, animals, tracks, etc.,

also people, vehicles, etc. Also any peculiar smells of plants, animals,

manure, etc.

Then send them out a certain walk, and on their return have them in one

by one and examine them verbally, or have them all in and let them write

their answers on, say, six questions which you give them with reference

to certain points which they should have noticed.

It adds to the value of the practice if you make a certain number of

small marks in the ground beforehand, or leave buttons or matches, etc.,

for the boys to notice or to pick up and bring in (as a means of making

them examine the ground close to them as well as distant objects).

TELLING CHARACTER: Send scouts out for half an hour to look for, say, a

brutish character, or a case of genteel poverty, etc.

The scout must on his return be able to describe the person accurately,

and give the reasons which made him think the person was of the

character he reports.

He should also state how many other characters he passed in his search,

such as silly, good-natured, deceitful swaggering, wax-moustached, and

so on, judging of course by their faces, their walk, their boots, hats,

and clothing, etc.

GAMES IN OBSERVATION.

THIMBLE FINDING (Indoors).

Send the patrol out of the room.

Take a thimble, ring, coin, bit of paper, or any small article, and

place it where it is perfectly visible but in a spot where it is not

likely to be noticed. Let the patrol come in and look for it. When one

of them sees it he should go and quietly sit down without indicating to

the others where it is.

After a fair time he should be told to point it out to those who have

not succeeded in finding it.

[This ensures his having really seen it.]

SHOP WINDOW (Outdoors in town).

Umpire takes a patrol down a street past six shops. Gives them half a

minute at each shop, then, after moving them off to some distance, he

gives each boy a pencil and card, and tells him to write from memory, or

himself takes down what they noticed in, say, the third and fifth shops.

The one who sets down most articles correctly wins. It is useful

practice to match one boy against another in heats--the loser competing

again, till you arrive at the worst. This gives the worst scouts the

most practice.

SIMILAR GAME (Indoors).

Send each scout in turn into a room for half a minute; when he comes out

take down a list of furniture and articles which he noticed. The boy who

noticed most wins.

The simplest way of scoring is to make a list of the articles in the

room on your scoring paper with a column for marks for each scout

against them, which can then easily be totalled up at foot.

SPOTTING THE SPOT (Indoors--town or country).

Show a series of photos or sketches of objects, in the neighbourhood

such as would be known to all the scouts if they kept their eyes

open--such, for instance, as cross-roads, curious window, gargoyle or

weathercock, tree, reflection in the water (guess the building causing

it), and so on.

A pair of scouts can play most of the above competitions off between

themselves, if they like, as a matter of practice.

Patrol leaders can match one pair of their scouts against another pair

in the game, and thus get them really practised at it, and when they

become really good he can challenge other patrols to compete against

his.

FOLLOW THE TRAIL.

Send out a "hare," either walking or cycling, with a pocketful of corn,

nutshells, confetti paper or buttons, etc., and drop a few here and

there to give a trail for the patrol to follow.

Or go out with a piece of chalk and draw the patrol sign on walls,

gateposts, pavements, lamp-posts, trees, etc., every here and there, and

let the patrol hunt you by these marks. Patrols should wipe out all

these marks as they pass them for tidiness, and so as not to mislead

them for another day's practice.

The other road signs should also be used, such as closing up certain

roads as not used, and hiding a letter at some point, giving directions

as to the next turn.

SCOUTS' NOSE (Indoors).

Prepare a number of paper-bags, all alike, and put in each a different

smelling article such as chopped onion in one, tan in another,

roseleaves, leather, aniseed, violet powder, orange-peel, etc. Put these

packets in a row a couple of feet apart and let each competitor walk

down the line and have five seconds' sniff at each. At the end he has

one minute in which to write down or to state to the umpire the names of

the different objects smelled, from memory, in their correct order.

FAR AND NEAR. (For town or country.)

Umpire goes along a given road or line of country with a patrol in

patrol formation. He carries a scoring card with the name of each scout

on it.

Each scout looks out for the details required and directly he notices

one he runs to the umpire and informs him or hands in the article if it

is an article he finds. The umpire enters a mark accordingly against his

name. The scout who gains most marks in the walk, wins.

Details like the following should be chosen, to develop the scout's

observation and to encourage him to look far and near, up and down, etc.

The details should be varied every time the game is played; and about 8

or 10 should be given at a time.

Every match found 1 mark.

Every button found 1 mark.

Birds' foot tracks 2 marks.

Patch noticed on stranger's clothing or boots. 2 marks.

Grey horse seen 2 marks.

Pigeon flying 2 marks.

Sparrow sitting 1 mark.

Ash-tree 2 marks.

Broken chimney pot 2 marks.

Broken window 1 mark.

CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 6.

SPOORING.

Men's Tracks--Animals' Tracks--How to Learn Spooring.--Hints to

Instructor--Tracking Games--Books on Spooring.

MEN'S TRACKS.

General Dodge, of the American Army, describes how he once had to pursue

a party of Red Indians who had been murdering some people.

The murderers had nearly a week's start and had gone away on horseback.

But General Dodge got a splendid tracking-scout named Espinosa to help

him. The Indians were all riding unshod horses, except one, and after

Espinosa had been tracking them for many miles he suddenly got off his

horse and pulled four horseshoes out of a hidden crevice in the rocks.

The Indian had evidently pulled them off so that they should not leave a

track.

For six days they pursued the band, and for a great part of the time

there was so sign visible to an ordinary eye, and after going for 150

miles they eventually overtook and captured the whole party. But it was

all entirely due to Espinosa's good tracking.

On another occasion some American troops were following up a number of

Indians, who had been raiding and murdering whites, and they had some

other Red Indian scouts to assist them in tracking. In order to make a

successful attack, they marched by night, and the trackers found the way

in the darkness by feeling the tracks of the enemy with their hands, and

they went at a fairly good pace for many miles, merely touching the

track with their fingers; but suddenly they halted and reported that the

track they had been following had been crossed by a fresh track, and on

the commanding officer going up, he found the Indians still holding the

track with their hands, so that there should be no mistake. A light was

brought and it was found that the new track was that of a bear which had

walked across the trail of the enemy! So the march continued without

further incident, and the enemy were surprised, and caught in the early

hours of the morning.

The scout, Burnham, in South Africa, who was with Wilson's party when

they were massacred on the Shangani River in Matabeleland, was sent away

with a dispatch shortly before they were surrounded. He travelled during

the night to escape observation of the enemy. He found his way by

feeling for the tracks left in the mud by the column when it marched up

there in the morning.

I myself led a column through an intricate part of the Matopo Mountains

in Rhodesia by night to attack the enemy's stronghold which I had

reconnoitred the previous day. I found the way by feeling my own tracks,

sometimes with my hands and sometimes through the soles of my shoes

which had worn very thin; and I never had any difficulty in finding the

line.

Tracking, or following up tracks, is called by different names in

different countries. Thus, in South Africa you would talk only of

"spooring," that is, following up the "spoor"; in India it would be

following the "pugs," or "pugging"; in America it is "trailing."

It is one of the principal ways by which scouts gain information, and

hunters find their game. But to become a good tracker you must begin

young, and practise it at all times when you are out walking, whether in

town or country.

If at first you constantly remind yourself to do it you will soon find

that you do it as a habit without having to remind yourself. And it is a

very useful habit, and makes the dullest walk interesting.

Hunters when they are looking about in a country to find game first look

for any tracks, old or new, to see if there are any animals in the

country; then they study the newer marks to find out where the animals

are hiding themselves; then, after they have found a fresh track, they

follow it up till they find the animal and kill him; and afterwards they

often have to retrace their own tracks to find their way back to camp.

And war scouts do much the same as regards their enemies.

First of all you must be able to distinguish one man's footmark from

that of another, by its size, shape, and nails, etc. And similarly the

prints of horses and other animals.

From a man's track, that is, from the size of his foot and the length of

his stride, you can tell, to a certain extent, his height.

In taking notes of a track you should pick out a well-marked print, very

carefully measure its length, length of heel, with widest point of

tread, width at waist, width of heel, number of rows of nails, and

number of nails in each row, heel and toe-plates or nails, shape of

nail-heads, etc.

It is best to make a diagram of the foot-print thus--nails missing.

You should also measure very carefully the length of the man's stride

from the toe of one foot to the heel of the other.

NOTE TO INSTRUCTOR: _Make each scout take off his own boot and draw a

diagram of it on paper, putting in all nails and other points. Or, out

of doors, give each scout the outline ready drawn of a foot-mark, and

then let him find a foot-mark (or make his own) and fill in the details

of nail-marks, etc._

_Also, he should note down the length of stride taken, and how much the

feet point outwards from the straight direction of their path._

A man was once found drowned in a river. It was supposed that he must

have fallen in accidentally, and that the cuts on his head were caused

by stones, etc., in the river. But some one took a drawing of his boots,

and after searching the river bank came on his tracks, and followed them

up to a spot where there had evidently been a struggle, the ground being

much trampled and bushes broken down to the water's edge, and the track

of two other men's feet. And though these men were never found, it

showed the case to be one of probable murder, which would not otherwise

have been suspected.

A scout must learn to recognise at a glance at what pace the maker of

the tracks was going, and so on.

A man walking puts the whole flat of his foot on the ground, each foot a

little under a yard from the other. In running the toes are more deeply

dug into the ground, and a little dirt is kicked up, and the feet are

more than a yard apart. Sometimes men walk backwards in order to deceive

anyone who may be tracking, but a good scout can generally tell this at

once by the stride being shorter, the toes more turned in, and the heels

being tightly impressed.

With animals, if they are moving fast, their toes are more deeply dug

into the ground, and they kick up the dirt, and their paces are longer

than when going slowly.

You ought to be able to tell the pace at which a horse has been going

directly you see the tracks.

At a walk the horse makes two pairs of hoof prints--the near (left) hind

foot close in front of near forefoot mark, and the off (right) forefoot

similarly just behind the print of the off hindfoot.

At a trot the track is similar but the stride is longer.

The hind feet are generally longer and narrower in shape than the

forefeet.

HORSES' TRACKS.

[Illustration: Walking.]

[Illustration: Trotting.]

[Illustration: Canter.]

[Illustration: Galloping.]

[Illustration: Lame Horse Walking.]

[Illustration: Bird tracks.]

These are the tracks of two birds on the ground. One lives generally on

the ground, the other in bushes and trees. Which track belongs to which

bird?

Native trackers boast that not only can they tell a person's sex and age

by their tracks, but also their characters. They say that people who

turn out their toes much are generally "liars."

It was a trick with highwaymen of old, and with horse stealers more

recently, to put their horses' shoes on wrong way round in order to

deceive trackers who might try to follow them up, but a good tracker

would not be taken in. Similarly, thieves often walk backwards for the

same reason, but a clever tracker will very soon recognise the

deception.

[Illustration: Track of (1) Bicycle and (2) Motor.]

Wheel tracks should also be studied till you can tell the difference

between the track of a gun, a carriage, a country cart, motor-car, or a

bicycle, _and the direction they were going in_. [_See diagram._]

In addition to learning to recognise the pace of tracks, you must get to

know how old they are. This is a most important point, and requires a

very great amount of practice and experience before you can judge it

really well.

So much depends on the state of the ground and weather, and its effects

on the "spoor." If you follow one track, say on a dry, windy day, over

varying ground, you will find that when it is on light, sandy soil it

will look old in a very short time, because any damp earth that it may

kick up from under the surface will dry very rapidly to the same colour

as the surface dust, and the sharp edges of the footmark will soon be

rounded off by the breeze playing over the dry dust in which they are

formed. When it gets into damp ground, the same track will look much

fresher, because the sun will have only partially dried up the upturned

soil, and the wind will not, therefore, have bevelled off the sharp

edges of the impression, and if it gets into damp clay, under shade of

trees, etc., where the sun does not get at it, the same track, which may

have looked a day old in the sand, will here look quite fresh.

Of course, a great clue to the age of tracks will often be found in

spots of rain having fallen on them since they were made (if you know at

what time the rain fell), dust or grass seeds blown into them (if you

noticed at what time the wind was blowing), or the crossing of other

tracks over the original ones, or where the grass has been trodden down,

the extent to which it has since dried or withered. In following a

horse, the length of time since it passed can also be judged by the

freshness, or otherwise, of the droppings--due allowance being made for

the effect of sun, rain, or birds, etc., upon them.

Having learnt to distinguish the pace and age of spoor, you must next

learn to follow it over all kinds of ground. This is an accomplishment

that you can practice all you life, and you will still find yourself

learning at the end of it--you will find yourself continually improving.

Then there is a great deal to learn from the ashes of fires--whether

they are still warm or cold, scraps showing what kind of food the people

were eating, whether plentiful or scarce.

You must not only keep a sharp look out for scout signs made by your own

scouts, but also for those made by hostile scouts. Foreign scouts also

have their private signs--as also do tramps. The following are some of

the signs made by tramps on walls or fences near houses where they have

been begging which they chalk up to warn others of their class:

[Illustration: Very bad: they give you in charge here.]

[Illustration: Too many tramps been here already.]

[Illustration: No good.]

[Illustration: Bad people.]

There are very good native trackers in the Soudan and Egypt, and I saw

some of their work there.

The Colonel of the Egyptian Cavalry had had some things stolen out of

his house, so a tracker was sent for from the neighbouring Jaalin tribe.

He soon found the footprints of the thief and followed them a long way

out on to the desert, and found the spot where he had buried the stolen

goods. His tracks then came back to the barracks.

So the whole of the regiment was paraded without shoes on for the

tracker to examine. And at the end when he had seen every man walk, he

said, "No the thief is not there." Just then the Colonel's native

servant came up to him with a message, and the tracker who was standing

by said to the Colonel "That is the man who buried the stolen things."

The servant, surprised at being found out, then confessed that it was he

who had stolen his master's property, thinking that he would be the last

man to be suspected.

Mr. Deakin, the Premier of Australia, told me how he travelled on board

ship with a number of natives of Australia who were on the sea for the

first time in their lives.

When the ship got out to sea he noticed all these natives had got into

the bows and were lying flat on the deck with their heads over the side

staring intently into the water ahead of the ship. So interested were

they in the water that for some time he could not get any reply to his

question as to what they were looking at, till at length one of them

said: "We cannot understand how the ship is finding its way across the

sea; we cannot see the trail that it is following; we know that our eyes

are sharp enough on shore and often when we are guiding white men along

a trail they say they cannot see the tracks which to us are clear

enough--their eyes are different to ours. But here at sea the English

sailors evidently can see tracks ahead of them, otherwise they would not

know which way to send the ship, and yet we, who are so good at seeing

on shore, cannot see any sign of a track or mark on the water."

When getting on to very fresh spoor of man or beast, the old scout will

generally avoid following it closely because the hunted animal will

frequently look back to see if it is being followed. The tracker

therefore makes a circle, and comes back on to where he would expect to

find the spoor again. If he finds it, he makes another circle further

ahead till he finds no spoor. Then he knows he is ahead of his game, so

he gradually circles nearer and nearer till he finds it. See diagram.

HINTS TO SPOORING.

Some trackers of Scinde followed up a stolen camel from Karachi to

Sehwan, 150 miles over sand and bare rock. The thieves, to escape

detection, drove the camel up and down a crowded street, in order to get

the trail mixed up with others--but the trackers foresaw this and made a

"cast" round the town, and hit on the outgoing spoor on the far side,

which they successfully followed up.

[Illustration: Tracking.]

In tracking where the spoor is difficult to see, such as on hard ground,

or in grass, note the direction of the last foot-print that you can see,

then look on in the same direction, but well ahead of you, say 20 or 30

yards, and in grass you will generally see the blades bent or trodden,

and on hard ground, possibly stones displaced or scratched, and so on,

small signs which, seen in a line one behind the other, give a kind of

track that otherwise would not be noticed. I once tracked a bicycle on a

hard macadam road where it really made no impression at all, but by

looking along the surface of the road for a long distance ahead of me,

under the rising sun as it happened, the line it had taken was quite

visible through the almost invisible coating of dew upon the ground.

Standing on the track and looking upon it close to my feet I could not

see the slightest sign of it. The great thing is to look for a difficult

track _against_ the sun, so that the slightest dent in the ground throws

a shadow.

If you lose sight of the track you must make a "cast" to find it again.

To do this put your handkerchief, staff, or other mark at the first

footmark that you noticed, then work round it in a wide circle, say 30,

50 or 100 yards away from it as a centre--choosing the most favourable

ground, soft ground if possible, to find signs of the outward track. If

you are with a patrol it is generally best for the patrol to halt while

one or perhaps two men make the cast. If everybody starts trying to find

the spoor they very soon defeat their object by treading it out or

confusing it with their own footmarks--too many cooks easily spoil the

broth in such a case.

In making a cast use your common-sense as to which direction the enemy

has probably taken, and try it there. I remember an instance of tracking

a boar which illustrates what I mean. The boar had been running through

some muddy inundated fields, and was easy enough to follow until he

turned off over some very hard and stony ground, where after a little

while not a sign of his spoor was to be seen. A cast had accordingly to

be made. The last footmark was marked, and the tracker moved round a

wide circle, examining the ground most carefully, but not a sign was

found. Then the tracker took a look round the country, and, putting

himself in place of the pig, said "Now which direction would I have gone

in?" Some distance to the front of him, as the original track led, stood

a long hedge of prickly cactus; in it were two gaps. The tracker went to

one of these as being the line the boar would probably take. Here the

ground was still very hard, and no footmark was visible, but on a leaf

of the cactus in the gap was a pellet of wet mud; and this gave the

desired clue; there was no mud on this hard ground, but the pig had

evidently brought some on his feet from the wet ground he had been

travelling through. This one little sign enabled the tracker to work on

in the right direction to another and another, until eventually he got

on to the spoor again in favourable ground, and was able to follow up

the boar to his resting place.

I have watched a tracker in the Soudan following tracks, where for a

time they were quite invisible to the ordinary eye in this way. While

the track was clear he made his own stride exactly to fit that of the

track, so that he walked step for step with it, and he tapped the ground

with his staff as he walked along--ticking off each footprint as it

were. When the footprints disappeared on hard ground, or had been buried

by drifting sand he still walked on at the same place tap-tapping the

ground with his staff at the spot where there ought to have been a

footprint. Occasionally one saw a slight depression or mark which showed

that there had been a footprint there, and thus he knew he was still on

the right line.

HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.

PRACTICES IN TRACKING.

1. _The Instructor should make his scouts prepare a well-rolled or

flattened piece of ground (about ten or fifteen yards square) and make

one boy walk across it, then run, and then bicycle across it. Part of

the ground should be wet as if by rain, the other part dry._

_He can then explain the difference in the tracks so that scouts can

tell at once from any tracks they may see afterwards whether a person

was walking or running._

_If possible, a day later make fresh tracks alongside the old and notice

the difference in appearance so that the scouts can learn to judge the

age of tracks._

_Then make tracks of various kinds overrunning each other such as a

bicycle meeting a boy on foot, each going over the other's tracks, and

let the scouts read the meaning._

2. _Send out a boy with "Tracking Irons" on and let the patrol track him

and notice when any other tracks override his, showing what people or

animals have passed since._

_N.B. Tracking irons are an invention of Mr. Thompson Seton's and can be

strapped on to soles of scout's boots (like a pair of skates) so that

wherever he goes he leaves a track similar to that of a deer._

TRACKING GAMES.

PRACTICES AND GAMES IN SPOORING.

TRACK MEMORY.

Make a patrol sit with their feet up so that other scouts can study

them. Give the scouts, say, three minutes to study the boots. Then

leaving the scouts in a room or out of sight let one of the patrol make

some footmarks in a good bit of ground. Call up the scouts one by one

and let them see the track and say who made it.

TRACK DRAWING

Take out a patrol; set them on to one foot-track. Award a prize to the

scout who makes the most accurate drawing of one of the footprints of

the track. The scouts should be allowed to follow up the track till they

get to a bit of ground where a good impression of it can be found.

FOR HONOURS.

SPOT THE THIEF.

Get a stranger to make a track unseen by the scouts. The scouts study

his track so as to know it again.

Then put the stranger among eight or ten others and let them all make

their tracks for the boys to see, going by in rotation. Each scout then

in turn whispers to the umpire which man made the original

track--describing him by his number in filing past. The scout who

answers correctly wins; if more than one answers correctly, the one who

then draws the best diagram, from memory, of the foot-print wins.

This game may also be carried out as a test for marks towards a badge of

honour. Correct detection of the thief counts two marks; if good diagram

is also drawn another mark may be added.

"SMUGGLERS OVER THE BORDER."

The "Border" is a certain line of country about four hundred yards long,

preferably a road or wide path or bit of sand, on which foot-tracks can

easily be seen. One patrol watches the border with sentries posted along

this road, with a reserve posted further inland. This should be about

half-way between the "border" and the "town," the "town" would be a base

marked by trees, buildings, or flags, etc., about half a mile distant

from the border. A hostile patrol of smugglers assembles about half a

mile on the other side of the border. They will all cross the border, in

any formation they please, either singly or together or scattered, and

make for the town, either walking or running, or at scout's pace. Only

one among them is supposed to be smuggling, and he wears tracking irons,

so that the sentries walk up and down their beat (they may not run till

after the 'alarm'), waiting for the tracks of the smuggler. Directly a

sentry sees the track, he gives the alarm signal to the reserve and

starts himself to follow up the track as fast as he can. The reserve

thereupon co-operate with them and try to catch the smuggler before he

can reach the town. Once within the boundary of the town he is safe and

wins the game.

BOOKS TO READ ON SPOORING.

"Lectures on Tracking": _Cavalry Journal_ Office, Whitehall, S.W.

"Scouting and reconnaissance in Savage Countries": Captain. Stigand.

"Tracks of Wild Animals."

CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 7.

READING "SIGN" OR DEDUCTION.

Putting this and that together--Sherlock-Holmesism--Instances of

Deduction--Hints to Instructors--Practice in Deduction--Books on

Deduction.

When a scout has learned to notice "sign," he must then learn to "put

this and that together," and so read a _meaning_ from what he has seen.

This is called "deduction." Here is an example of what I mean which was

lately given in the "Forest and Stream," which shows how the young scout

can read the meaning from "sign" when he has been trained to it.

A cavalry soldier had got lost and some of his comrades were hunting all

over the country to find him, when they came across a native boy, and

asked him if he had seen the lost man. He immediately said: "Do you mean

a very tall soldier, riding a roan horse that was slightly lame?"

They said, "Yes; that was the man. Where did you see him?"

The boy replied "I have not seen him, but I know where he has gone."

Thereupon they arrested him, thinking that probably the man had been

murdered and made away with, and that the boy had heard about it.

But eventually he explained that he had seen tracks of the man which he

could point out to them.

Finally he brought them to a place where the signs showed that the man

had made a halt. The horse had rubbed itself against a tree, and had

left some of its hairs sticking to the bark which showed that it was a

roan horse; its hoof marks showed that it was lame, that is, one foot

was not so deeply indented on the ground and did not take so long a pace

as the other feet. That the rider was a soldier was shown by the imprint

of his boot which was an army boot. Then they asked the boy "How could

you tell that he was a tall man?" and the boy pointed out to where the

soldier had broken a branch from the tree which would have been out of

reach of a man of ordinary height. Deduction exactly like reading a

book.

A boy who has never been taught to read and who sees you reading from a

book would ask "How do you do it?" and you would point out to him that a

number of small signs on a page are letters; these letters when grouped

form words; and words form sentences; and sentences give information.

Similarly a trained scout will see little signs and tracks, he puts them

together in his mind and quickly reads a meaning from them such as an

untrained man would never arrive at.

And from frequent practice he gets to read the meaning at a glance just

as you do a book without the delay of spelling out each word, letter by

letter.

I was one day, during the Matabele war [_Show on map_] with a native out

scouting near to the Matopo Hills over a wide grassy plain. Suddenly we

crossed a track freshly made in grass, where the blades of grass were

still green and damp though pressed down; all were bending one way which

showed the direction in which the people had been travelling; following

up the track for a bit it got on to a patch of sand, and we then saw

that it was the spoor of several women (small feet with straight edge,

and short steps), and boys (small feet, curved edge and longer strides)

walking not running, towards the hills, about five miles away; where we

believed the enemy to be hiding.

Then we saw a leaf lying about ten yards off the track--There were no

trees for miles, but we knew that trees having this kind of leaf grew at

a village fifteen miles away, in the direction from which the footmarks

were coming. It seemed likely therefore that the women had come from

that village, bringing the leaf with them, and had gone to the hills.

[Illustration: From "Sketches in Mafeking and East Africa." By

permission of Messrs. Smith & Elder.]

On picking up the leaf we found it was damp, and smelled of native beer.

The short steps showed that the women were carrying loads. So we guessed

that according to the custom they had been carrying pots of native beer

on their heads, the mouths of the pots being stopped up with bunches of

leaves. One of these leaves had fallen out; but we found it ten yards

off the track, which showed that at the time it fell a wind was blowing.

There was no wind now, _i.e._, seven o'clock, but there had been one

about five o'clock.

So we guessed from all these little signs that a party of women and boys

had brought beer during the night from the village 15 miles away and had

taken it to the enemy on the hills, arriving there soon after six

o'clock.

The men would probably start to drink the beer at once (as it goes sour

in a few hours), and would, by the time we could get there, be getting

sleepy and keeping a bad look-out, so we should have a favourable chance

of looking at their position.

We accordingly followed the women's track, found the enemy, made our

observations and got away with our information without any difficulty.

And it was chiefly done on the evidence of that one leaf. So you see the

importance of noticing even a little thing like that.

INSTANCES OF DEDUCTION.

Mr. Tighe Hopkins writing in "World's Work" describes how by noticing

very small signs detectives have discovered crimes.

In one case a crime had been committed and a stranger's coat was found

which gave no clue to the owner. The coat was put into a stout bag and

beaten with a stick. The dust was collected from the bag and examined

under a powerful magnifying glass and was found to consist of fine

sawdust which showed that the owner of the coat was probably a

carpenter, or sawyer, or joiner. The dust was then put under a more

powerful magnifying glass--called a microscope--and it was then seen

that it also contained some tiny grains of gelatine and powdered glue.

These things are not used by carpenters or sawyers, so the coat was

shown to belong to a joiner, and the police got on the track of the

criminal.

Dust out of pockets, or in the recesses of a pocket-knife, and so on, if

closely examined, tells a great deal.

Then on another occasion a murder was committed, and close by a cap was

found which did not belong to the victim, so probably it belonged to the

murderer. Two hairs were found sticking to the lining of the cap; they

were carefully taken to Dr. Emile Pfaff, a celebrated observer. He

examined the hairs under a microscope and was able to read from them

that the owner of the cap was "A man of middle age, strong, inclined to

be fat; black hair with some grey among it, getting bald; lately had his

hair cut."

In this way a clue was got to the appearance of the murderer.

Dr. Bell of Edinburgh is said to be the original from whom Sir Conan

Doyle drew his idea of Sherlock Holmes.

The doctor was once teaching a class of medical students at a hospital

how to doctor people. A patient was brought in, so that the doctor might

show how an injured man should be treated. The patient in this case came

limping in, and the doctor turned to one of the students and asked him:

"What is the matter with this man?"

The student replied, "I don't know, sir. I haven't asked him yet."

The doctor said, "Well, there is no need to ask him, you should see for

yourself--he has injured his right knee; he is limping on that leg: he

injured it by burning it in the fire; you see how his trouser is burnt

away at the knee. This is Monday morning. Yesterday was fine; Saturday

was wet and muddy. The man's trousers are muddy all over. He had a fall

in the mud on Saturday night."

Then he turned to the man and said, "You drew your wages on Saturday and

got drunk, and in trying to get your clothes dry by the fire when you

got home you fell on the fire and burnt your knee--Isn't that so?"

"Yes, sir," replied the man.

I saw a case in the paper last week where a judge at the county court

used his powers of "noticing little things," and "putting this and that

together." He was trying a man as a debtor.

The man pleaded that he was out of work, and could get no employment.

The judge said--"Then what are you doing with that pencil behind your

ear if you are not in business?"

The man had to admit that he had been helping his wife in her business,

which, it turned out, was a very profitable one, and the judge thereupon

ordered him to pay his debt.

Dr. Reiss, of the Police Department of the University of Lausanne,

records how the police read the spoor.

A burglary had taken place in a house, and the thief's footprints were

found in the garden. Those going towards the house were not so deeply

impressed as those coming away from it nor were they so close together;

from this the police gathered that the burglar had carried away with him

a heavy load which made him take short steps and he was fully weighted

down so that they sank deeply in the ground.

HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.

HOW TO TEACH DEDUCTION IN PRACTICE.

_Read aloud a story in which a good amount of observation of details

occur, with consequent deductions, such as in either the "Memoirs" or

the "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes."_

_Then question the boys afterwards as to which details suggested certain

solutions, to see that they really have grasped the method._

_Follow up ordinary tracks and deduce their meaning. For examples of

daily practice see my book of "Aids to Scouting."_

EXAMPLE OF PRACTICE IN DEDUCTION.

A simple deduction from signs noticed in my walk one morning on a stony

mountain path in Kashmir.

_Sign Observed_--Tree-stump, about three feet high, by the path. A stone

about the size of a cocoanut lying near it, to which were sticking some

bits of bruised walnut rind, dried up. Some walnut rind also lying on

the stump. Further along the path, 30 yards to the south of the stump,

were lying bits of walnut shell of four walnuts. Close by was a high

sloping rock, alongside the path. The only walnut tree in sight was 150

yards north of the stump.

At the foot of the stump was a cake of hardened mud which showed the

impression of a grass shoe.

What would you make out from those signs? My solution of it was this:

A man had gone southward on a long journey along the path two days ago,

carrying a load; and had rested at the rock while he ate walnuts.

My deductions were these:

It was a man carrying a load, because carriers when they want to rest do

not sit down, but rest their load against a sloping rock and lean back.

Had he had no load he would probably have sat down on the stump, but he

preferred to go 30 yards further to where the rock was. Women do not

carry loads there, so it was a man. But he first broke the shells of his

walnuts on the tree-stump with the stone, having brought them from the

tree 150 yards north. So he was travelling south, and he was on a long

journey, as he was wearing shoes, and not going barefooted as he would

be if only strolling near his home. Three days ago there was rain, the

cake of mud had been picked up while the ground was still wet--but it

had not been since rained upon and was now dry. The walnut rind was also

dry and confirmed the time that had elapsed.

There is no important story attached to this, but it is just an example

of everyday practice which should be carried out by scouts.

_GAMES AND COMPETITIONS IN DEDUCTION._

_Get some people who are strangers to the boys to come along as

passers-by in the street or road, and let the boys separately notice all

about them; and after an interval ask each for a full description of

each of the passers-by as to appearance, peculiar recognisable points,

and what he guesses his business to be; or let each boy have two

minutes' conversation with your friend and try to find out what he can

about him in that time by questioning and observation._

_Set a room or prepare a piece of ground with small signs, tracks, etc.,

read aloud the story of the crime up to that point and let each boy or

each patrol in turn examine the scene for a given time and then

privately give each his solution of it._

_The very simplest, most elementary schemes should be given at first,

and they can gradually be elaborated. For instance take a number of

footmarks and spent matches by a tree showing where a man had difficulty

in lighting his pipe, etc._

_For a more finished theme take a mystery like that in "Memoirs of

Sherlock Holmes" called "The Resident Patient." Set a room to represent

the patient's room where he was found hanging, with footprints of muddy

boots on the carpet, cigar ends bitten or cut in the fireplace, cigar

ashes, screw-driver and screws, etc. Put down a strip or "stepping

stones" of stuff, handkerchiefs, or paper on which the competitors shall

walk (so as not to confuse existing tracks). Let each scout (or patrol)

come in separately and have three minutes in which to investigate. Then

to go out and give in his solution, written or verbal, half an hour

later._

_Let one patrol make tracks by carrying out such a series as that which

D'Atagnan elucidated. The other patrol then acts as detectives and

endeavours to unravel the mystery from the tracks and other sign._

PLAY.

Any one of Sherlock Holmes stories makes a good play.

BOOKS TO READ.

"Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes."

"Adventures of Sherlock Holmes."

"The Thinking Machine" which contains a number of stories like Sherlock

Holmes.

"Criminal Investigation" by Dr. Gross. Edited by J. Adam. (Published by

Specialist Press, London.)

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.

[Illustration: Stalking Attitudes.]

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.

[Illustration: From "Sketches in Mafeking and East Africa." By

permission of Messrs. Smith & Elder.]

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.

[Illustration: Indian Gipsy calling Jackals.]

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.

[Illustration: Torture.]

[Illustration: Comfort.]

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."

[Illustration: Teaching the Youngsters.]

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!

[Illustration: A Viper (or Adder) has this marking on his head and neck;

other snakes have none--in Great Britain.]

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.