But he
never learns wisdom by mistakes; for, spite of his grave appearance,
he is excitable as a Frenchman; and so, whenever anything stirs in the
bushes and a bit of fur appears, he cries out to himself, _A rat,
Kookoo! a rabbit!_ and swoops on the instant.
Rats and rabbits are his favorite food, by the way, and he never lets
a chance go by of taking them into camp. I think I never climbed to
his nest without finding plenty of the fur of both animals to tell of
his skill in hunting.
One evening in the twilight, as I came home from hunting in the big
woods, I heard the sound of deer feeding just ahead. I stole forward
to the edge of a thicket and stood there motionless, looking and
listening intently. My cap was in my pocket, and only my head appeared
above the low firs that sheltered me. Suddenly, without noise or
warning of any kind, I received a sharp blow on the head from behind,
as if some one had struck me with a thorny stick. I turned quickly,
surprised and a good bit startled; for I thought myself utterly alone
in the woods--and I was.
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