Of course, while his antlers are still growing, and are soft and tender, the elk cannot use them to fight another animal; so during that time he hides in the bushes. But as soon as his new antlers have become hard and strong, he is very brave again, and is ready to fight!
Does the elk fight much? He does! He fights most awfully when he has his new antlers. What he fights about, and with whom he fights, I shall tell you in another book.
There are a few other kinds of deer in America, but the funniest of them is called the _mule deer_, which lives along the Rocky Mountains.
He is called the mule deer because he has very long ears, like a mule"s ears. And perhaps you have seen a mule bucking--that is, jumping about while holding his legs quite stiff. Well, the mule deer can buck just like that.
And while he is running at a gallop, he will often jump off the ground with stiff legs, and then hop on and on many times like that, with stiff legs, finishing up with another gallop.
That makes him look very funny, and because he jumps like that people in Canada sometimes call him the _jumping deer_.
_Other Kinds of Deer_
I must now tell you about some other kinds of deer that live in jungles and forests in other countries.
The _fallow deer_ lives in Europe. When he is wild, he lives in a forest; but when he is tame, he lives in a park. He is a small deer, about the size of a donkey. His coat is very soft and glossy and beautiful. In winter his coat looks dark brown, and his legs and the under part of his body are light brown. But in summer his coat becomes a lovely light red in color, with white spots jotted all over it. Then he is very handsome.
In India also there is a handsome deer, which the people call the _lion deer_. He looks quite gentle and mild. Then why do the people call him the lion deer? Because he has a lovely coat, golden yellow in color. You could see him far across the open field, if he only stood there. But he is so timid that he does not often come out in the open.
And why has he a yellow coat? Because he lives in a place where there is plenty of yellow gra.s.s; and if he stood right in the middle of the gra.s.s, and did not move, n.o.body could see him. Even if a tiger were looking for him, and the deer stood quite still in the gra.s.s, the tiger could not find him.
In another chapter I shall tell you how other animals have on their bodies the _color of the place where they live, or where they want to hide_.
_Barking Deer--One of the Wonders of Nature_
Now I am coming to one of the nicest kinds of deer in the world, and I am sure you will just love him! He lives in India, and is called the _barking deer_; only, he is not exactly a deer, but an antelope. You remember what I have told you before, about an antelope having a different kind of horns? Still we must call him the barking deer, as people have already given him that name.
He is very small, about the size of a goat. If there is any danger from an enemy, the barking deer is small enough to hide in any little bush or behind a fallen tree or log; or else he can run away very quietly through the under bushes. And he runs so quickly that his enemy soon loses sight of him.
He is called the barking deer, because he can bark or yap almost like a dog. But, you may ask, why does he want to bark at all, if he is afraid of some enemy? Will not the enemy hear him, and then catch him?
Yes, that is quite true. And yet the fact that he does bark is one of the most wonderful things in the jungle. It is so wonderful that in another book I shall tell you more about it. But now I shall tell you just this:
There are some animals which are so deadly that they could kill off many, many other animals. So, as the only way to save the other animals from being all killed, _G.o.d has made some special animals to fight those deadly animals_.
There is the _cobra_, which is a snake, and which has such a deadly poison that it could kill almost all other animals in the jungle by just biting them. So, to save the other animals from being killed by the cobra, G.o.d made the _mongoose_. He is a plucky little creature, about the size of a cat. And he will fight and kill every cobra he sees! But really he is such a wonderful animal that I must keep him for another book, when you are old enough to know him better and to love him.
But sometimes the deadly animal is too strong to be killed himself.
There is the tiger. He can kill and eat many kinds of animals. But who can kill _him_? No animal! At least, the elephant and the buffalo could kill the tiger if the tiger should let them _catch_ him and trample on him. But the tiger does not let any animal catch him. Then how can the other animals be saved from the tiger?
G.o.d made two special animals to save the others from the tiger. The first is the buffalo, of which I have already told you, and which is the Knight of the Jungle. The second animal is the barking deer. How the barking deer saves the other animals from the tiger, I shall now tell you:
When the tiger is prowling about, all other kinds of deer and antelope just run away, and are glad enough if they escape being eaten. But not the plucky little barking deer! He too runs away, but as soon as he gets a little ahead of the tiger, he stops under a bush and lets out that bark or yap--then runs on at once to another bush.
The tiger is furious, and jumps on the bush where he heard the bark--but the deer is not there now! The deer barks from that second bush--and runs to another one. In this way the barking deer leads the tiger on and on through the jungle from bush to bush.
And why does he bark like that? To tell the other animals in good time that the tiger is coming, and then to tell them exactly _where_ the tiger is.
"Look out, here"s a tiger!" That is the meaning of his first bark.
"Here he is! He is coming after me--this way!" That is what he means by the next bark.
"He is chasing me this way! You run the other way!" And that is what the barking deer keeps on saying, as he runs from bush to bush, so that all the other animals know exactly where the tiger is at each minute.
In this way the barking deer runs through the jungle, _warning all the other animals_, and so spoiling the tiger"s dinner all the way.
CHAPTER X
Deer and Antelope: Their Special Gifts
You have learned by this time that _every animal has some special gift_, that is, he can do one thing better than most other animals.
The deer and the antelope have their special gifts.
First, there is their gift of _hearing_. I have already told you that the wild buffaloes can hear a long way; but the deer and the antelope can hear still farther.
Let us suppose that a tiger is trying to creep up to a deer through the jungle, as quietly as he can. The tiger is still a long way off, and quite hidden by the bushes, so the deer cannot _see_ him at all.
But the deer can _hear_ him coming, even if the tiger takes each step very lightly. Why? Because the deer"s ears are so sharp that he can hear even a leaf rustling under the tiger"s foot, a long way off. So the deer can run away in good time.
To make him hear still better, the deer can turn or bend his ears to the side from which the sound is coming. You have seen an ordinary cow p.r.i.c.k up her ears when she heard somebody coming; and many other animals--even a dog--can do the same.
But the deer can do that best. The shape of his ear is like that of a funnel, so as to _pour_ the sound into his ear, as it were. Then even if there is only a single drop of sound, it gets right into his ear.
And by turning or bending his ear, the deer knows which way the sound is coming. You also can tell which way a sound is coming, if it is loud enough; but the deer can do that even when the sound is very faint. That is very useful to him, as he then knows exactly _which way_ a sneaking tiger is coming, and can run the _other way_.
I must now tell you that the tiger himself, tries to come so quietly that the deer may not hear him at all; and to help him to do so, his feet are padded with muscles, just like cushions. So it is a kind of trial between the tiger and the deer as to which is the more clever.
If the tiger can come so quietly that the deer cannot hear him, then the tiger is more clever than the deer. But if the deer can hear the tiger, even if the tiger comes most quietly, then the deer is more clever than the tiger.
That kind of trial between two different animals as to which is the more clever, goes on in the jungle all the time: and _the more clever one wins every time_. If the tiger is more clever than the deer, the tiger eats the deer; but if the deer is more clever than the tiger, the deer escapes being eaten. And that is true of all other animals.
In fact, one of the great wonders of the jungle is that the animal which is _the fittest wins the oftenest_; and so he goes on living, whatever may happen to the others.[1]
[Footnote 1: _To the Teacher._--Please give the cla.s.s other examples of the "Survival of the Fittest" among other creatures--birds, insects, fish, etc.]
Now I come to the second special gift of the deer and the antelope. If by any chance a deer cannot hear a sneaking tiger, he can still _smell_ the tiger.
Most animals can smell their enemy a long way off, even if they do not hear him or see him; but _the deer and the antelope can smell the farthest_. Even if a sneaking tiger is so cunning that he stops in a thicket and stands quite still for a minute, so that he does not make any sound at all,--and so the deer cannot hear him,--even then the deer can smell him when he is still a long way off.
I must tell you now that the tiger himself can smell the deer. But he cannot do that very far off,--so the deer always smells him _first_!
Also, the tiger can hear the deer, if the deer happens to be moving.
But the tiger cannot hear quite so far as the deer can. So the deer always hears him _first_!
But in one thing the tiger is better off than the deer: _the tiger can see farther than the deer_. In the night most animals can see a little, but the tiger can see a little better and farther than the others. And in the daytime, if a deer were feeding in a very big level field, and a tiger came to the field from the other side, the tiger would see the deer before the deer could see him. Then the tiger would come round to the nearest thicket, and try to creep up to the deer from thicket to thicket.