Nature-Study and Humaneness

GUY A. BAILEY

Professor of Biology and Nature-Study, State Normal School, Geneseo, N. Y.

What may one naturally expect of a boy or girl after having followed an average course in Nature-Study for eight years? This means a course where some time is devoted to the subject either directly under the name nature-study or in connection with other subjects like geography and in general topics that may be discussed in connection with boy scout's work, bird clubs and the like.

It seems to me that so far as the pupil's study of mammals is concerned that there are certain facts that should be studied and certain points of view that should be emphasized. The point of view is more important to society in my judgment than the facts studied.

Among the facts that he should have in mind are the general adaptive features of mammals, such as the feet and teeth of squirrels, the tail of the muskrat, the feet of the mole together with the small eyes, etc.-how these structures are serviceable to the animal? Of course the animals to be studied are those that the boy or girl knows about. In some cases domestic animals may be the only ones available and those will do just as well as long as the adaptation of parts is kept in mind.

The facts about how the young are cared for and where they are cared for. For example if foxes are familiar, where they care for the young and what time of year the young are born. Where the young squirrels are kept by the parents and how many litters they produce in a season, how many in a litter? Where do the rabbits keep their young and how many in a litter? How many litters may they produce in a year and in what months are they born? Information may come from those who know of the domesticated rabbits as well as the wild ones. In general facts about the life history of such animals as come under their observation whether domestic or wild.

For a third class of facts I would recommend those that have to do with the animals behavior towards our northern winter. As we know some hibernate. What ones hibernate and where do they hibernate and for how long? Can you show how the animal would fail if he attempted to survive our winter season by

remaining active? For example what would happen to a woodchuck if he attempted to get food when the snow was on the ground? What food would be available? Several questions to bring out the point that what the animal has done is the best for that particular animal. Chipmunks, and some kinds of bats hibernate also.

Grey squirrels have been known to migrate from one region where food was scarce to regions where it was plentiful, even swimming lakes and rivers. Few of our mammals are able to migrate like the birds when the food supply becomes reduced. Some animals like the weasel, mink and fox are active all winter. The weasel having white fur in winter and brown fur in summer. How does this give the weasel an advantage for survival? Skunks are dormant for short periods. What advantage is even a short period of hibernation to the skunk? In general a study of local animals to the end that pupils may know where they are and what they do during the winter season.

For a fourth class of facts to be considered I would prefer the study of the economic side of the mammals. Form personal observations and reliable authority classify the mammals into helpful and harmful groups.

Some care and considerable study is needed before an intelligent classification can be made. The food of the animal for a yearmonth by month-is necessary before we are sure where they belong. The fact that an animal eats small chickens at rare intervals need not be proof that the animal is harmful. For example the skunk does this rarely. But the most of the food of the skunk is insects and mice. If one skunk eats chickens it is

by no means true that all do. If one skunk is guilty it does not mean that the skunk family should be put down as harmful. The whole total of the work of skunks is beneficial rather than harmful. Some care should be exercised in forming opinions. either in favor of the animal or against it.

Then there is the esthetic side of animal study. It is the side that has no debit or credit. It is far removed from the "cash and comfort" side of our nature. Why is it that in some communities there may be seen squirrels in the tree tops and the parks? Boys and girls, men and women carry peanuts to feed the grey squirrels. People stop to watch them eat the nut or carry it away to be stored elsehwere. Why do people do that? What is the point of view

of the person who feeds the squirrels? What is the reaction on the community that tolerates squirrels within its borders? I leave that to any one who has lived in such a community. I know of no factor in nature-study more potent than the object lesson of squirrels running through the streets and on to the porches of the houses where these boys and girls are growing up. It takes several generations to get the squirrel proposition working right. There are at first complaints when they take fruit from the trees and run through the house early in the morning but there comes a time when people are willing to tolerate them just to see them about. Squirrels at large are so much more interesting than the caged ones. They are real. The delight of seeing the young ones come out and master the trick of sitting up on their hind legs for the first few times is worth waiting for. The whole story of the squirrel is interesting to any one whether he is a biologist, animal psychologist or an average observer. Few boys that are raised with the squirrels have the heart to go out and kill them in the fall. More than that they are out of sympathy with the whole slaughter movement of the hunting fraternity. If every chronic hunter could have had a dose of close-up squirirel acquaintancy with a brood of young squirrels and had fed them through a winter and had them eat from his shoulder or go hunting through his pockets for nuts there would be little need of a law to protect them.

After all our nature-study work absolutely fails if we bring up the boys so that they see no more in a squirrel than a pot-pie or a day's outing for his little bit of flesh. May we train him away from the ancient, primeval hunter towards the man who can see beauty in the living form and not hanker after the taste of the blood.

"Because of his tendency to grab things quickly one had to be careful in allowing him to take food from the hand." Because of this care, Mr. Knight seems to have only one hand.

Investigator in Entomology-Cornell University

My acquaintance with Sachet began on the 15th of July when we chanced to meet on the edge of a woodland. It was doubtless not far distant from the family den from whence he had strayed in search of food. Having heard that young skunks make interesting pets I quickly decided that here was my chance to learn something of this little known animal. Before he could get out of sight I had him safely caught in my insect net. He was frightened but emitted no odor so I let him crawl into the darkness under my coat. Sachet was perhaps six weeks old at the time I found him and after keeping him two weeks, I removed his scent glands. This was a fairly simple operation and was performed while the animal was under the influence of ether. After. this the prefix "De" was added to his name and I was able to rear my pet without fear of disagreeable odors. De Sachet soon learned to drink milk from a dish but only after many attempts spent in digging in the dish with front feet a performance followed by licking his paws dry of the milk. It appeared to be an instinctive habit with the animal that to acquire food he must first dig

for it. However, within a week he began to drink milk after the manner of a house cat.

One activity that furnished much amusement while he was still small was to give him an egg on the grassy lawn. He knew the egg contained food but all efforts to crush the shell were futile and this caused him much displeasure; his game of egg-ball afforded him more entertainment than enjoyment.

It is well known that skunks dig up lawns in search of white grubs but the manner in which these morsels are located was interesting to see. The front feet were used to part the grass and scratch the earth along a narrow path while the animal slowly backed up keeping his nose held close to the fresh earth thus exposed. In this manner three or four feet might be uncovered before finding the right spot to dig.

De Sachet's most comical activity was barbering woolly-bear caterpillars, for evidently skunks are fond of all caterpillars, but do not like their dainty morsel fur coated. When he found one of these little hurried travellers, he would seize it and knead it under his front paws, which he moved with great rapidity. Meanwhile he would look around as if interested in the scenery, like a boy nonchalantly twirling his thumbs, apparently giving no attention to his whirling paws or the unfortunate caterpillar, which was rolled over and over at a rate that must have made it die of dizziness rather than because it was crushed. One day we placed De Sachet on a newspaper while he rolled a caterpillar, and when he got through, the poor shorn insect was still squirming, though as bare as an earthworm; and the amount of hair and fuzz of various lengths left on the newspaper gave us a new respect for the furs worn by the woolly-bear. Sometimes De Sachet would make a slip and the caterpillar would be flung a few inches to one side, but would quickly be recovered. The closeness of the shave he gave his victims depended upon the degree of his hunger.

I was much surprised one afternoon when De Sachet found a bumblebee's nest at the foot of a fence post where he had been tied. What fears I had for my pet were shortly dispelled when he began to dig into the nest and seize the bees with avidity. The contents of the nest kept him busy for some time but later other bees returned to attack the intruder from the rear. As a safeguard De Sachet kept his tail waving over his back and it was this