. Familiar wild animals . ere whistling on all sides, whilemyriads of insects added their murmuring music tothe general symphony. The mother knew that all of these sounds wereonly a part of her world and meant no harm, butshe listened very attentively for any unusual sound be-fore she ventured from the entrance. When satisfiedthat there was no danger lurking in the fair cloverfields or in the blossoming apple trees above, sheled the way into the grass, followed by her little brood,which tumbled frantically along in their haste tokeep close to her. They tried to imitate her in every-thing, and
. Familiar wild animals . ere whistling on all sides, whilemyriads of insects added their murmuring music tothe general symphony. The mother knew that all of these sounds wereonly a part of her world and meant no harm, butshe listened very attentively for any unusual sound be-fore she ventured from the entrance. When satisfiedthat there was no danger lurking in the fair cloverfields or in the blossoming apple trees above, sheled the way into the grass, followed by her little brood,which tumbled frantically along in their haste tokeep close to her. They tried to imitate her in every-thing, and when she nibbled a clover leaf they fol-lowed her example, and soon the sharp little teethhad learned to cut the juicy leaves. The real object of their first outing, that of fillingtheir little stomachs, was soon accomplished, andthen they began playing about in the grass verymuch like puppies; but the watchful mother wascareful not to let them wander far from the entranceof their home. Suddenly her trained ear caught the. The Woodchuck 9 sound of something approaching and she lost notime in hustling the little ones into the burrow, forit might be old Rover racing across the meadow, andpossibly he would turn their way or wdnd them ifhe came close. Sure enough! they were scarcely safewhen the dog appeared in full sight over a knoll,making straight for them! The cubs could havetraveled only a part of the tunnel before they heardthe deep breathing of the dog at the mouth of theburrow. The exertion and the excitement must havemade their tiny hearts beat fast, as for the first timein their lives they learned what it is to be frightened. This was only the beginning of their education, forday after day they came out of their burrow andwhen they scrambled back, something had beenadded to their little stock of woodchuck part of this wisdom came through copying theirmother, but by far the greater part came throughinstinct and through experiences of their own. Theylearned whic
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