HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Fox And The Rabbitocus on nature
by Paul Stoutenburgh
the Fox And the Rabbit
For
two days we'd had rain out of the east and
we became castaways in our cottage by the
sea. How wonderful it was to laze around and
just do whatever came into our mind. Old
paper work got caught up, books once started
now were completed and set aside with
a sigh. We wallowed in our primitive luxury.
On the evening of the second day the sun
broke through and dazzled the world in an
after -glow of brilliant yellow. The sight of the
sun lured us to the deck above that ad- joins
the cottage. Here we could view the vast
areas behind the dunes with our binoculars
and await darkness. We'd often do
this in hopes of seeing some of the varied wildlife
found on Fire Island. One
evening we were lucky enough to pick up
the soft, light brown color of a mother deer
and her fawn. With our old TO 'k 50 Navy glasses
we could pick these animals out easily
in the closing darkness. After all Uncle
Sam had developed these glasses and thousands
used them for just this reason of observing
in subdued light. We were amazed to
see the doe and little one still with white spots
in August but there was no mistaking it
as it trotted along behind mimicking its mother
by nibbling first here and then there. We
chuckled at those big ears and white tails
as they continually twitched. We know they
too had problems with the mosquitoes. My
mind flashed back a few weeks ago when
we were eating on the back porch and three
deer lazily came down the "Burma Road ".
They stopped occasionally and nibbled
a bit and then moved on. Soon they were
100 feet away and we could see plainly what
they were eating. You'd never believe it —
they were eating poison ivy. I guess they'
ve developed an immunity to it and were
thoroughly enjoying the tender new shoots
that seemed to be overtaking some parts
of the island. Our
greatest show, though, was tonight when
I happened to see far off a flash of reddish
brown in the lowering sun. Sure enough
Mr. Fox was on the prowl. I'd see him
and then lose him in the binoculars. Then
we saw some fast action: jumping, running,
stopping, etc. It looked like he had gone
a bit mad. Luck was on our side and the fox
moved right into a clear spot and we now could
see what it was all about. He'
d caught a half -grown rabbit and was playing
with it just like a cat plays with a mouse.
He'd let it go, run after it, flip it in the
air, chase it, crawl up on it or jump on it. Why
this long drawn out performance I could
only speculate. Could it be that is how an
animal in the wild plays or was it a more subtle
action? Perhaps he was sharpening up
his hunting tactics —I'll never know. Soon the
show was over Off Mr. Fox trotted straight
as a bee line. I followed him for half a
mile in the glasses. Down this ridge, up, under,
around bushes —soon I lost him. Again
I can only speculate but I'm pretty sure
a pack of hungry cubs were waiting for dinner
and tonight they faired well. To
some this true life adventure might sound
cruel, particularly if we have been brought
up in the world of fairy tales. It's too bad
our make - believe bubbles must be broken
but the truth is the natural world is not
half as cruel as man's world. It is a world
that exists by one thing living off another.
There's no other way. perhaps it's difficult
to understand at first, but once the lesson
is learned the pieces fall into place and
the whole scheme of things makes sense.