Part 6 (1/2)

There was alht up on the open prairies and those of the woods, as between city and country boys The hunting of the prairie boys was lie of natural history iood riders, but in all-round physical developmentvaried with the season of the year, and the nature of the country which was for the time our home Our chief weapon was the bow and arrows, and perhaps, if ere lucky, a knife was possessed by some one in the crowd In the olden times, knives and hatchets were made from bone and sharp stones

For fire we used a flint with a spongy piece of dry wood and a stone to strike with Another way of starting fire was for several of the boys to sit down in a circle and rub two pieces of dry, spongy wood together, one after another, until the wood took fire

We hunted in co for a boy to set out for the woods quite alone, and he usually enjoyed hiarouse Fishi+ng, too, occupied much of our time We hardly ever passed a creek or a pond without searching for sons of fish

When fish were present, ays et some Fish-lines were ht fish with lines, snared or speared them, or shot them with bow and arrows In the fall we char them with a stick and quickly threw theer fish into abasketto find new and strange things in the woods

We exan of life; and if a bird had scratched the leaves off the ground, or a bear dragged up a root for hismeal, we stopped to speculate on the tie old tree with some scratches on its bark, we concluded that a bear or soo any nearer than was necessary, but later reported the incident at ho on a warm discussion as to whether it was the track of a buck or a doe Generally, at noon, weat the sa we had killed It was not merely a hunt, for we combined with it the study of ania the boys

I am sorry to say that ere s and their young ones My brother Chatanna and I once had a disagreeable adventure while bird-hunting We were accusto the su this we happened to find a crane's nest Of course, ere delighted with our good luck But, as it was already e and they were a little way from the nest; we also observed that the two old cranes were in a swa-time, we did not suppose that they would venture on dry land So we proceeded to chase the young birds; but they were fleet runners and it took us some time to come up with them

Meanwhile, the parent birds had heard the cries of their little ones and co us, while we followed the birds

It was really a perilous encounter! Our strong bows finally gained the victory in a hand-to-hand struggle with the angry cranes; but after that we hardly ever hunted a crane's nest Al are taken, but they will seldoe trees for birds of all kinds; but we never undertook to get young owls unless they were on the ground The hooting owl especially is a dangerous bird to attack under these circued woodpecker in its nest when ed in the deep hole so that I could not get it out without the aid of a knife; but ere a long way from home and my only companion was a deaf mute cousin of mine I was about fifty feet up in the tree, in a very uncomfortable position, but I had to wait there for ht me the knife hich I finally releasedsmall animals were rude, but they were often successful For instance, we used to gather up a peck or so of large, sharp-pointed burrs and scatter the, ould find the little fellow sitting quietly in his tracks, unable to move, for the burrs stuck to his feet

Another way of snaring rabbits and grouse was the following: We made nooses of twisted horsehair, which we tied very fir tree, then bent the latter down to the track and fastened the whole with a slip-knot, after adjusting the noose When the rabbit runs his head through the noose, he pulls the slip-knot and is quickly carried up by the spring of the young tree This is a good plan, for the rabbit is out of harh in the air

Perhaps the most enjoyable of all was the chipmunk hunt We killed these animals at any time of year, but the special time to hunt them was in March After the first thaw, the chiph the snow crust and make their first appearance for the season Soether and hold a social reunion These gatherings occur early in the , from daybreak to about nine o'clock

We boys learned this, aot our blunt-headed arrows together in good season for the chiproups of six to a dozen or fifteen, to see which would get thebefore, we selected several boys who could imitate the chipmunk's call ild oatstraws and each of these provided himself with a supply of straws

The crust will hold the boys nicely at this tiether at the appointed place, froreeing to iven position of the sun

My first experience of this kind is still well re, and the sun had not yet shown hih the ghostly wood

Presently we arrived at a place where there were ns of the animals Then each of us selected a tree and took up his position behind it The chipan to call

Soon we heard the patter of little feet on the hard snow; thenthe chip from all directions So, as if uncertain of the exact direction of the call; others chased one another about

In a few ed with them Some ran all over his person, others under hiainst which he was sitting Each boy rereat shout arose, and the chipht all ran up the different trees

Now the shooting-an The little creatures seeain and again to come down the trees and flee away from the deadly aim of the youthful hunters

But they were shot down very fast; and whenever several of theed the tree and yelled frantically to scare theainst the trunk of the tree, so that the arrow may bound back to him every time; otherwise, when he had shot away all of them, he would be helpless, and another, who had cleared his own tree, would coame, so there arm competition

Sometimes a desperate chipmunk would jump from the top of the tree in order to escape, which was considered a joke on the boy who lost it and a triuone, and then ent on to another place, keeping up the sport until the sun came out and the chipmunks refused to answer the call

When ent out on the prairies we had a different and less lively kind of sport We used to snare with horse-hair and bow-strings all the s We both snared and shot them

Once a little boy set a snare for one, and lay flat on the ground a little way fro Presently he felt soe rattlesnake; and to this day, his naot a new na in the woods and found a fawn's track We followed and caught it while asleep; but in the struggle to get away, it kicked one boy, who is still called ”Kicked-by-the-Fawn”