THE PROPERTY LAW AMONG ANIMALS
THAT was the year of the wonderful nut crop. It is commonly so; the year
of famine is followed by one of plenty. Red oaks and white were laden,
as well as the sweet shag hickories. And the Bannertail family in their
grove watched with a sort of owner pride the thick green hanging
clusters of their favorite food.
[Illustration]
Like small boys too eager to await the baking of their cake, nibbling at
the unsatisfactory half-done dough, they cut and opened many a growing
nut. Its kernel, very small as yet, was good; but the rind, oozing its
green-brown juices, stained their jaws and faces, yes,--their arms and
breasts, till it was hard to recognize each other in these dark-brown
masks. For the disfigurement they cared nothing. Only when the thick
sap, half drying, gummed his silvery plume, did Bannertail abandon other
pursuits to lick and clear and thoroughly comb that priceless tail; and
what he did, the others, by force of his energetic example, were soon
compelled to do.
The Hunting-moon, September, came. The nuts were fully grown but very
green. "Who owns the nuts?" is an old question in the woods. Usually
they are owned by the one who can possess them effectively, although
there are some restraining, unwritten laws.
[Illustration]
Squirrels have three well-marked ideas of property. First, of the
nesting-place which they have possessed, and the nest which they have
built; second, the food which they have found or stored; third, the
range which is their homeland--the boundaries of which are not
well-defined--but most jealously held against those of their own kind.
The Homeland is also held against all who eat their foods so that it is
part of the food-property sense. All three were strong in Bannertail;
and his growing pride in the coming nut yield was much like that of a
farmer who, by the luck of good weather, is blessed with a bumper crop
of corn.
It seemed as though word of the coming feast had spread to other and
far-off places, for many other nut-eaters kept drifting that way,
turning up in the hickory woods that the Graycoats thought their own.
[Illustration]
The Bluejay and the Redheaded Woodpecker came. They pecked long and hard
at the soggy husks to get at the soft, sweet, milk-white meat. They did
little damage, for their beaks were not strong enough to twist off the
nuts and carry them away, but the Graycoats felt that these were
poachers and drove them off. Of course it was easy for the birds to keep
out of reach, but they hovered about, stealing--yes, that was what the
Squirrels thought about it--stealing the hickory harvest when they
could.
[Illustration]
Then came other poachers, the Redsquirrel with his mate, cheeky,
brazen-fronted, aggressive as usual; they would come quietly, when the
Graycoats were asleep or elsewhere, and proceed to cut the nut bunches.
Many times the only notice of their presence was the sudden "thump,
thump" of the nut bunch striking the ground after the Red One had cut it
loose. His intention had been to go down quietly after it, split the
husks, and carry off the luscious, half-ripe nuts to his storehouse.
But the racket called the Graycoats' attention. Bannertail and Brownhead
would rush forth like settlers to fight off an Indian raid, or like
householders to save their stuff from burglars.
There was little actual fighting to do with the Red Ones, for they had
learned to fear and fly from the Graycoats, but they did not fly far.
Their safest refuge was a hole underground, where Graycoats could not or
would not follow, and after waiting for quiet the Red Robber would come
out again, and sometimes, at least, get away with a load of the prized
nuts.
New enemies approached one day, nothing less than other Graycoats, some
Squirrels of their own kind, travelling from some other land,
travelling, maybe, like Joseph and his brethren, away from a place of
famine, till now they found an Egypt, a land of plenty.
Against them Bannertail went vigorously to war. It is well known that
the lawful owner fights more valiantly, with more heart, with
indomitable courage indeed, while the invader is in doubt. He lacks the
backing of a righteous cause. He half expects to be put to flight, even
as he goes forth to battle. And the Bannertails were able to make good
their claims to the hickory grove. Yet it kept them ever alert, ever
watchful, ever ready to fight.
Partly because the nuts were already good food, and partly because it
kept others from stealing them, the Graycoats cut some of the crop in
September.
_GATHERING THE GREAT NUT HARVEST_