Popular Adventure Tales

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER XVII.

  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 theirseek-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 the most beautiful of all the marmots. Theywere very little smaller than the tawny marmots; but their tails werelarger and more slender, which rendered their appearance more graceful.Their chief beauty, however, lay in their colours and markings. Theywere striped from the nose to the rump with bands of yellow andchocolate colour, which alternated with each other, while the chocolatebands were themselves variegated by rows of yellow spots regularlyplaced. These markings gave the animals that peculiar appearance so wellknown as characterising the skin of the leopard, hence the name of theselittle 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. A straightstick may be thrust down one of these full five feet before reaching an"elbow."

  The holes of the tawny marmots, on the contrary, branch off near thesurface, and are not so deep under ground. This guides us to theexplanation of a singular fact--which is, that the "tawnies" make theirappearance three weeks earlier in spring than the "leopards," inconsequence of the heat of the sun reaching them sooner, and waking themout 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.

  They fought like little cats, exhibiting the highest degree of boldnessand fury; but it was noticed that in these conflicts the leopards werefar more active and spiteful than their kinsmen. In observing themthrough his glass Lucien noticed that they frequently seized each otherby the tails, and he further noticed that several of them had theirtails much shorter than the rest. Norman said that these had been bittenoff in their battles; and, moreover, that it was a rare thing to findamong the males, or "bucks," as he called them, one that had a perfecttail!

  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, but muchthicker in the body, shorter in the legs, and shaggier in the coat. Itshead 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 legs andtail. The latter, though covered with long hair, was short, and carriedupright; and upon the broad feet of the animal could be seen long andstrong curving claws. Its snout was sharp as that of a greyhound--thoughnot so prettily formed--and a white stripe, passing from its very tipover the crown, and bordered by two darker bands, gave a singularexpression to the animal's countenance.

  It was altogether, both in form and feature, a strange andvicious-looking creature. Norman recognised it at once as the"blaireau," or American badger. The others had never seen such acreature before--as it is not an inhabitant of the South, nor of anypart of the settled portion of the United States.

  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 that hadbeen perched upon one of the mounds, rose up, and commenced hovering incircles above the intruder. This drew the attention of the marmotsentries to their well-known enemy, and their warning cry was followedby a general scamper of both tawnies and leopards towards theirrespective 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 hishind-quarters and tail alone remained above ground.

  THE BLAIREAU AND THE MARMOTS]

  He would soon have disappeared entirely, but at that moment the boys,directed and headed by Norman, ran up the hill, and, seizing him by thetail, endeavoured to jerk him back. That, however, was a task which theycould not accomplish, for first one and then another, and then Basil andNorman--who were both strong boys--pulled with all their might, andcould not move him. Norman cautioned them against letting him go, as ina moment's time he would burrow beyond their reach. So they held onuntil Francois had got his gun ready. This the latter soon did, and aload of small shot was fired into the blaireau's hips, which, althoughit did not quite kill him, caused him to back out of the hole, andbrought him into the clutches of Marengo.

  A desperate struggle ensued, which ended by the bloodhound doubling hisvast black muzzle upon the throat of the blaireau, and choking him todeath in less than a dozen seconds; and then his hide--the only partwhich was deemed of any value--was taken off and carried to the camp.The carcass was left upon the face of the hill, and the red shiningobject was soon espied by the buzzards and turkey vultures, so that in afew minutes' time several of these filthy birds were seen hoveringaround, 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. Of thesethere are several species in North America, but it is not to be supposedthat there is any resemblance between them and the buzzards justmentioned as having alighted by the carcass of the blaireau. The latter,commonly called "turkey buzzards," are true vultures, and feed mostly,thoug
h not exclusively, on carrion; while the "hawk buzzards" have allthe appearance and general habits of the rest of the falcon tribe.

  The one in question, Lucien said, was the "marsh-hawk," sometimes alsocalled the "hen-harrier." Norman stated that it was known among theIndians of these parts as the "snake-bird," because it preys upon aspecies of small green snake that is common on the plains of theSaskatchewan, and of which it is fonder than of any other food.

  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 circlings nearthe surface, _quartering_ the ground like a pointer dog. It flew solightly 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 it directly over the camp, and Francoishad got hold of his gun, with the intention of bringing it down, but oneach occasion it perceived his motions; and, soaring up like apaper-kite until out of reach, it passed over the camp, and then sankdown again upon the other side, and continued its "quarterings" asbefore. For nearly half-an-hour it went on manoevring in this way, whenall at once it was seen to make a sudden turning in the air as it fixedits eyes upon some object in the grass.

  The next moment it glided diagonally towards the earth, and poisingitself 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 a horizontalor diagonal direction, and pick it up in passing; while the truefalcons--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 thisadaption 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.