Watched by Wild Animals

WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS
©1905, by John M. Phillips
The Rocky Mountain Goat
BY ENOS A. MILLS
ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS AND FROM DRAWINGS BY WILL JAMES
GARDEN CITY, N.Y., AND TORONTO DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 1922
COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN COPYRIGHT, 1915, 1917, 1918, 1919, BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY IN THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN COPYRIGHT, 1920, 1921, BY THE SPRAGUE PUBLISHING COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY SUBURBAN PRESS COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY FIELD AND STREAM PUBLISHING COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY THE FRANK A. MUNSEY COMPANY PRINTED AT GARDEN CITY, N. Y., U. S. A. First Edition
TO ESTHER and ENDA
In the wilds, moving or standing, I was the observed of all observers. Although the animals did not know I was coming, generally they were watching for me and observed me without showing themselves.
As I sat on a log watching two black bears playing in a woods opening, a faint crack of a stick caused me to look behind. A flock of mountain sheep were watching me only a few steps distant. A little farther away a wildcat sat on a log, also watching me. There probably were other watchers that I did not see.
Animals use instinct and reason and also have curiosity—the desire to know. Many of the more wide-awake species do not run panic-stricken from the sight or the scent of man. When it is safe they linger to watch him. They also go forth seeking him. Their keen, automatic, constant senses detect him afar, and stealthily, sometimes for hours, they stalk, follow and watch him.
In the wilderness the enthusiastic, painstaking and skillful observer will see many wild folks following their daily routine. But, however fortunate he may be, numerous animals will watch him whose presence he never suspects.