The Way of the Wild (Hawkes)

by Clarence Hawkes

For works with similar titles, see The Way of the Wild.

The Way of the Wild

Books by
Clarence Hawkes
Animal Biographies

Black Bruin.The Biography of a Bear.

King of the Flying Sledge.The Biography of a Reindeer.

King of the Thundering Herd.The Biography of an American Bison.

Piebald, King of Broncos.The Biography of a Wild Horse.

Shaggycoat.The Biography of a Beaver.

Shovelhorns.The Biography of a Moose.

A Wilderness Dog.The Biography of a Gray Wolf.

Nature Stories

Tenants of the Trees.

Trails to Woods and Waters.

The Way of the Wild.

 

---

 

Wanted a Mother.A Story for Children.

Slowly the Flock Circled

Frontispiece see page 170

The Way of the Wild

 

Stories of Field and Forest

 

By
Clarence Hawkes
Author of "Trails to Woods and Waters," "Shaggycoat," "A Wilderness Dog," "Wanted a Mother," etc.

 

Illustrated by
Charles Copeland

 

 

Philadelphia
George W. Jacobs & Company
Publishers

Copyright, 1923, by
George W. Jacobs & Company

 

All rights reserved
Printed in U. S. A.

Dedicated
to all those who love a winding
woodland path
and the great out of doors

Introduction

The animal story of to-day is as much a product of evolution as was the steam engine or the wireless telegraph, and it came in answer to a need.

With music and art made alluring in the public schools and many of the simpler studies taught by means of exciting games, woodcraft had to be put in a form that should appeal to the imagination of children.

Thus it was that Charles G. D. Roberts, Clarence Hawkes, and others came to the front, with their stories of wild life. Stories just as faithful to the facts as the nature essay, and much more interesting to the youthful mind. The result has been of general benefit, for where one person was reading nature books twenty-five years ago, a dozen are reading them now. Not only the animal story, but the nature essay, and even more scientific works are profiting by the increase of interest. So at the present time, children ten or twelve years of age know very much more about nature, the coming of the seasons, the wild flowers, and the migrations of the birds, than do their parents.

That about twenty volumes of these animal stories recently published should have come from the pen of one without eyesight seems at first thought a contradiction of facts, but with the reading of Clarence Hawkes' autobiography, "Hitting the Dark Trail," which has just found its way into French, this marvel is made plain.

Beethoven produced some of his best symphonies after he lost his sense of hearing. He was able to do this because the laws of music and harmony were firmly established in his soul while he could still hear. So it was with Clarence Hawkes.

For the first fourteen years of his life he not only was possessed of a pair of very keen eyes, that took in everything about him in the field and woods, but he also had the gift of remembering and correlating the things he saw. So minute and faithful were these boyhood observations that they furnished material for his first eight nature books.

Hunting, fishing, camping, tramping were his chief delight, and these early pictures of the out-of-doors were to stand him in good stead in after years.

I have read many of Clarence Hawkes' books and have always found them true to nature, and of gripping interest. Books that it would be safe and profitable to put in the hands of any young reader whom you wished to introduce to the denizens of field and forest. "Shaggycoat," "Shovelhorns," "A Wilderness Dog," and others are books that will give you the known facts about these animals, in a manner that will both entertain and instruct. While if you wish to know more of this author's life and struggles, read "Hitting the Dark Trail," which has been such an inspiration to the blinded soldiers of the United States, England and France.

Ernest Thompson Seton.

Contents

	The Winding Way to Woodcraft	15
I.	The Story of Bluie	23
II.	Blue Fox Goes Hunting	35
III.	The First Balloonist	45
IV.	What Puzzled the Robins	53
V.	A Ring-tailed Rogue	67
VI.	Bird Songs and Call Notes and What They Mean	79
VII.	The Red Rogue	89
VIII.	The Antics of an Ant Hill	103
IX.	Bunnyboy's Disobedience	113
X.	The Animal Sixth Sense	127
XI.	A Cradle in the Tree Top	135
XII.	Ruff	145
XIII.	Bright Eyes and How to See With Them	155
XIV.	The Gray Squadron	165
XV.	Joyous Autumn Days	179
XVI.	The Crow Convention	189
XVII.	Wise Little Heads	209
XVIII.	The Hunter Hunted	219
XIX.	Johnny Bear and Other Winter Sleepers	233
XX.	The Flight of Red Buck	243
XXI.	The Long Winter Sleep	271

ILLUSTRATIONS

 

Slowly the Flock Circled		Frontispiece
I Always Went to See That They Were Safe for the Night		Facing Page 74
I Discovered Another Red Squirrel		Facing„ Page„ 98
I Set Him Down on the Snow		Facing„ Page„ 152
The Woodchuck Is Not Particular		Facing„ Page„ 160
Even the Cubs Hunt Instinctively		Facing„ Page„ 222