By Julia Augusta Schwartz Illustrated from Drawings by John Huybers and from Photographs School Edition Boston Little, Brown, and Company Copyright, 1905, 1906 , By Little, Brown, and Company . All rights reserved Printers S. J. Parkhill & Co., Boston, U. S. A....

This book tells the stories of some of the baby mammals of the wilderness,—how they grow and learn day by day to take care of themselves. In hollow trees or down under water among the lily leaves, in the cool sea or on the rugged mountains, on the grassy plains or among the waving tree-tops, in the dark caves and burrows or hidden in the tangles underfoot,—all the world is alive with young creatures. Bright eyes glitter and small paws patter, little noses sniff the air and sharp ears twitch. The

Wilderness Babies THE ONE WITH A POCKET For days and days the new baby opossums lay crowded close together in their mother’s furry pocket. They slept and drank milk, and grew and grew till their eyes began to open. It was dark all around them, but up above their heads a faint gray line showed where light was stealing in over the edge of the pocket. The biggest baby opossum looked and looked with his little bright eyes. He wanted to see more. So up he crawled, clambering over the soft, tiny bodie

THE ONE THAT EATS GRASS IN THE SEA The Manatee. “The old mother manatee held him close to her.” Page 19. Down among the lily-leaves, under the river, the baby manatee was being rocked to sleep on his mother’s breast. He looked like a roly-poly fish, with a puffy dog-face. He was covered all over from his broad tail to his round head with thick and wrinkly gray skin. His tiny eyes were shut, and his flippers were folded together as he slept. The old mother manatee held him close to her, bending h

THE BIGGEST ONE He was the very biggest baby in all the world. He looked like a monstrous fish as he lay beside his mother in the middle of the bay. But he was not a fish. He breathed with lungs instead of gills. On his thick skin he had a few bristly hairs instead of scales such as fishes have. The blood rushing through the great veins in his body was warm instead of cold. And finally he was drinking milk in mighty gulps that sent gallons and gallons down his baby throat at every swallow. He wa

ONE OF THE FLEETEST It was the most interesting thing! The big brother elk, who was just a year old, peered in through the branches, his ears pointed forward. His great soft eyes were shining, and his nostrils were quivering with excitement. There, on a bed of leaves in the mountain-thicket, lay a new little baby elk. He looked like the big brother, except for the white spots on his satiny brown coat. With his slender legs doubled under him he lay perfectly still, not even twitching his ears, as

THE BEST BUILDER Out in the woods rain was pouring down steadily from the black sky. It beat against the leaves and trickled over the trunks of the trees and spattered into the pond. Now and then a flash of lightning glimmered over the water and twinkled in through the hole at the top of the little round house where the beavers lived. From the outside this house looked like a heap of old brush-wood on a tiny island in the middle of the pond. But inside of it there was a little room, like a cave,

THE TIMID ONE The nest was a small hole scooped out of the turf and lined with bits of fur from the mother bunny’s breast. The five baby bunnies lay packed close together. Their long ears were pressed flat on their furry backs, and their hind-legs were doubled up under their round, little soft bodies. Over them rested a blanket of dry grass and fur matted together. The sunlight outside shone through tiny holes here and there. Once the bravest bunny poked up the cover and tried to look out. All h

THE ONE WITH THE PRETTIEST TAIL The four baby squirrels were tired of staying in their soft nest in the hollow tree. They wanted to find out what was going on in the world outside. As they cuddled together in the shadowy hole they could hear the queerest sounds. They cocked their heads curiously at the rustling and whispering of the wind among the leaves. They heard chirping and singing and a silvery tinkle, tinkle from the brook. Once a bee flew buzzing right over their heads, and made them clu

ONE THAT SLEEPS ALL WINTER Out in the woods the snow fell deeper and deeper. It piled higher and higher around the hollow tree in which the mother bear and her two little bears were sleeping. The snow had drifted over the opening and made it all dark inside. Once in a while the two babies woke up and whimpered for more milk, as they tumbled clumsily about on the bed of leaves. Then the old bear opened her sleepy eyes and licked their glossy little black bodies while she nursed them. After that t

THE WISEST ONE Almost the first thing that the smallest baby fox remembered was being carried in his mother’s mouth from one den to another. His woolly little red body hung limp between her long white teeth. That was the safest way; for if he had held stiff or wriggled she might have closed her jaws tighter and pinched him. It was very early in the morning, and the rising sun was just lighting up the tops of the trees. The birds were singing their gayest May songs. Here and there dewdrops sparkl

THE FIERCEST ONE The Wolf. “It was the father wolf coming in.” Page 137. The old mother wolf came home from her hunting, licking her black lips. Her four woolly babies scrambled out of the den among the rocks, and ran to meet her. They wagged their little tails, and barked joyous baby barks. They rubbed against her legs, and reached up their little faces to kiss her on her cool nose. After smelling them all over the old wolf lay down beside them in the den to give them their dinner. The stronges

THE ONE THAT DIGS THE BEST Deep down in their dark room underground the five mole babies lay fast asleep on a soft bed of leaves and grasses. The bed was not much bigger than a robin’s nest. The little moles cuddled together, with their pointed pink snouts resting on one another’s satiny bodies. Their little hind-feet sprawled behind them, and their big flat hands, with the pink palms turned outward, were spread close to their necks. Presently the fattest little mole opened his black specks of e

CONCLUSION Countless years have passed since that day, long, long ago, when the first tiny living creature began to grow in the new world of rocks and water. All this time things have been moving and changing. The earth keeps whizzing around the sun, while the sun itself rushes blazing through space. Brooks are rippling; rivers are flowing; seas are rolling their waves against the shores. Now the trees toss their branches in the wind; now the rain sprinkles down from gray clouds, or snow drifts