The Young Voyageurs: Boy Hunters in the North

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

  THE BLAIREAU, THE "TAWNIES," AND THE "LEOPARDS."

  Perhaps Lucien would have carried his account of the marmots stillfarther--for he had not told half what he knew of their habits--but hewas at that moment interrupted by the marmots themselves. Several ofthem appeared at the mouths of their holes; and, after looking out andreconnoitring for some moments, became bolder, and ran up to the tops oftheir mounds, and began to scatter along the little beaten paths thatled from one to the other. In a short while as many as a dozen could beseen moving about, jerking their tails, and at intervals uttering their"seek-seek."

  Our voyageurs saw that there were two kinds of them, entirely differentin colour, size, and other respects. The larger ones were of a greyishyellow above, with an orange tint upon the throat and belly. These werethe "tawny marmots," called sometimes "ground-squirrels," and by thevoyageurs, "siffleurs," or "whistlers." The other species seen were themost beautiful of all the marmots. They were very little smaller thanthe tawny marmots; but their tails were larger and more slender, whichrendered their appearance more graceful. Their chief beauty, however,lay in their colours and markings. They were striped from the nose tothe rump with bands of yellow and chocolate colour, which alternatedwith each other, while the chocolate bands were themselves variegated byrows of yellow spots regularly placed. These markings gave the animalsthat peculiar appearance so well-known as characterising the skin of theleopard, hence the name of these little creatures was "leopard-marmots."

  It was plain from their actions that both kinds were "at home" among themounds, and that both had their burrows there. This was the fact, andNorman told his companion that the two kinds are always found together,not living in the same houses, but only as neighbours in the same"settlement." The burrows of the "leopard" have much smaller entrancesthan those of their "tawny kin," and run down perpendicularly to agreater depth before branching off in a horizontal direction. Astraight stick may be thrust down one of these full five feet beforereaching an "elbow." The holes of the tawny marmots, on the contrary,branch off near the surface, and are not so deep under ground. Thisguides us to the explanation of a singular fact--which is, that the"tawnies" make their appearance three weeks earlier in spring than the"leopards," in consequence of the heat of the sun reaching them sooner,and waking them out of their torpid sleep.

  While these explanations were passing among the boys, the marmots hadcome out, to the number of a score, and were carrying on their gambolsalong the declivity of the hill. They were at too great a distance toheed the movements of the travellers by the camp-fire. Besides, aconsiderable valley lay between them and the camp, which, as theybelieved, rendered their position secure. They were not at such adistance but that many of their movements could be clearly made out bythe boys, who after a while noticed that several furious battles werebeing fought among them. It was not the "tawnies" against the others,but the males of each kind in single combats with one another. Theyfought like little cats, exhibiting the highest degree of boldness andfury; but it was noticed that in these conflicts the leopards were farmore active and spiteful than their kinsmen. In observing them throughhis glass Lucien noticed that they frequently seized each other by thetails, and he further noticed that several of them had their tails muchshorter than the rest. Norman said that these had been bitten off intheir battles; and, moreover, that it was a rare thing to find among themales, or "bucks," as he called them, one that had a perfect tail!

  While these observations were being made, the attention of our party wasattracted to a strange animal that was seen slowly crawling around thehill. It was a creature about as big as an ordinary setter dog, butmuch thicker in the body, shorter in the legs, and shaggier in the coat.Its head was flat, and its ears short and rounded. Its hair was long,rough, and of a mottled hoary grey colour, but dark-brown upon the legsand tail. The latter, though covered with long hair, was short, andcarried upright; and upon the broad feet of the animal could be seenlong and strong curving claws. Its snout was sharp as that of agreyhound--though not so prettily formed--and a white stripe, passingfrom its very tip over the crown, and bordered by two darker bands, gavea singular expression to the animal's countenance. It was altogether,both in form and feature, a strange and vicious-looking creature.Norman recognised it at once as the "blaireau," or American badger. Theothers had never seen such a creature before--as it is not an inhabitantof the South, nor of any part of the settled portion of the UnitedStates, for the animal there sometimes called a badger is theground-hog, or Maryland marmot (_Arctomys monax_). Indeed, it was for along time believed that no true badger inhabited the Continent ofAmerica. Now, however, it is known that such exists, although it is ofa species distinct from the badger of Europe. It is less in size thanthe latter, and its fur is longer, finer, and lighter in colour; but itis also more voracious in its habits, preying constantly upon mice,marmots, and other small animals, and feeding upon carcasses, wheneverit chances to meet with such. It is an inhabitant of the sandy andbarren districts, where it burrows the earth in such a manner thathorses frequently sink and snap their legs in the hollow ground made byit. These are not always the holes scraped out for its own residence,but the burrows of the marmots, which the blaireau has enlarged, so thatit may enter and prey upon them. In this way the creature obtains mostof its food, but as the marmots lie torpid during the winter months, andthe ground above them is frozen as hard as a rock, it is then impossiblefor the blaireau to effect an entrance. At this season it wouldundoubtedly starve had not Nature provided against such a result, bygiving it the power of sleeping throughout the winter months as well asthe marmots themselves, which it does. As soon as it wakes up and comesabroad, it begins its campaign against these little creatures; and itprefers, above all others, the "tawnies," and the beautiful "leopards,"both of which it persecutes incessantly.

  The badger when first seen was creeping along with its belly almostdragging the ground, and its long snout projected horizontally in thedirection of the marmot "village." It was evidently meditating asurprise of the inhabitants. Now and then it would stop, like a pointerdog when close to a partridge, reconnoitre a moment, and then go onagain. Its design appeared to be to get between the marmots and theirburrows, intercept some of them, and get a hold of them without thetrouble of digging them up--although that would be no great affair toit, for so strong are its fore-arms and claws that in loose soil it canmake its way under the ground as fast as a mole.

  Slowly and cautiously it stole along, its hind-feet resting all theirlength upon the ground, its hideous snout thrown forward, and its eyesglaring with a voracious and hungry expression. It had got within fiftypaces of the marmots, and would, no doubt, have succeeded in cutting offthe retreat of some of them, but at that moment a burrowing owl (_Strixcunicularia_), that had been perched upon one of the mounds, rose up,and commenced hovering in circles above the intruder. This drew theattention of the marmot sentries to their well-known enemy, and theirwarning cry was followed by a general scamper of both tawnies andleopards towards their respective burrows.

  The blaireau, seeing that further concealment was no longer of any use,raised himself higher upon his limbs, and sprang forward in pursuit. Hewas too late, however, as the marmots had all got into their holes, andtheir angry "seek-seek," was heard proceeding from various quarters outof the bowels of the earth. The blaireau only hesitated long enough toselect one of the burrows into which he was sure a marmot had entered;and then, setting himself to his work, he commenced throwing out themould like a terrier. In a few seconds he was half buried, and hishindquarters and tail alone remained above ground. He would soon havedisappeared entirely, but at that moment the boys, directed and headedby Norman, ran up the hill, and seizing him by the tail, endeavoured tojerk him back. That, however, was a task which they could notaccomplish, for first one and then another, and then Basil and Norman--who were both strong boys--pulled with all their might, and could notmove him. Norman ca
utioned them against letting him go, as in amoment's time he would burrow beyond their reach. So they held on untilFrancois had got his gun ready. This the latter soon did, and a load ofsmall shot was fired into the blaireau's hips, which, although it didnot quite kill him, caused him to back out of the hole, and brought himinto the clutches of Marengo. A desperate struggle ensued, which endedby the bloodhound doubling his vast black muzzle upon the throat of theblaireau, and choking him to death in less than a dozen seconds; andthen his hide--the only part which was deemed of any value--was takenoff and carried to the camp. The carcass was left upon the face of thehill, and the red shining object was soon espied by the buzzards andturkey vultures, so that in a few minutes' time several of these filthybirds were seen hovering around, and alighting upon the hill.

  But this was no new sight to our young voyageurs, and soon ceased to benoticed by them. Another bird, of a different kind, for a short timeengaged their attention. It was a large hawk, which Lucien, as soon ashe saw it, pronounced to be one of the kind known as buzzards (_Buteo_).Of these there are several species in North America, but it is not tobe supposed that there is any resemblance between them and the buzzardsjust mentioned as having alighted by the carcass of the blaireau. Thelatter, commonly called "turkey buzzards," are true vultures, and feedmostly, though not exclusively, on carrion; while the "hawk buzzards"have all the appearance and general habits of the rest of the falcontribe.

  The one in question, Lucien said, was the "marsh-hawk," sometimes alsocalled the "hen-harrier" (_Falco uliginosus_). Norman stated that itwas known among the Indians of these parts as the "snake-bird," becauseit preys upon a species of small green snake that is common on theplains of the Saskatchewan, and of which it is fonder than of any otherfood.

  The voyageurs were not long in having evidence of the appropriateness ofthe Indian appellation; for these people, like other savages, have thegood habit of giving names that express some quality or characteristicof the thing itself. The bird in question was on the wing, and from itsmovements evidently searching for game. It sailed in easy circlingsnear the surface, _quartering_ the ground like a pointer dog. It flewso lightly that its wings were not seen to move, and throughout all itswheelings and turnings it appeared to be carried onwards or upwards bythe power of mere volition. Once or twice its course brought itdirectly over the camp, and Francois had got hold of his gun, with theintention of bringing it down, but on each occasion it perceived hismotions; and, soaring up like a paper-kite until out of reach, it passedover the camp, and then sank down again upon the other side, andcontinued its "quarterings" as before. For nearly half-an-hour it wenton manoeuvring in this way, when all at once it was seen to make asudden turning in the air as it fixed its eyes upon some object in thegrass. The next moment it glided diagonally towards the earth, andpoising itself for a moment above the surface, rose again with a smallgreen-coloured snake struggling in its talons. After ascending to someheight, it directed its flight towards a clump of trees, and was soonlost to the view of our travellers.

  Lucien now pointed out to his companions a characteristic of the hawkand buzzard tribe, by which these birds can always be distinguished fromthe true falcon. That peculiarity lay in the manner of seizing theirprey. The former skim forward upon it sideways--that is, in ahorizontal or diagonal direction, and pick it up in passing; while thetrue falcons--as the merlin, the peregrine, the gerfalcon, and the greateagle-falcons--shoot down upon their prey _perpendicularly_ like anarrow, or a piece of falling lead.

  He pointed out, moreover, how the structure of the different kinds ofpreying birds, such as the size and form of the wings and tail, as wellas other parts, were in each kind adapted to its peculiar mode ofpursuing its prey; and then there arose a discussion as to whether thisadaptation should be considered a _cause_ or an _effect_. Luciensucceeded in convincing his companions that the structure was the effectand not the cause of the habit, for the young naturalist was a firmbeliever in the changing and progressive system of nature.