The 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.