“I wish I might have pockets,” said Tiny, wistfully. “We squirrels don’t have them, you know. I believe I am the only squirrel that carries a hunting bag. It was made for me by a tailor bird. She is a rare and curious bird who makes a nest that looks like a bag. She selects tough leaves and sews them together with long, firm strips of growing plants. She uses her bill as a needle.”
“How remarkable!” exclaimed the gopher. “I think it would be nicer to carry a hunting bag than to have pockets in my cheeks. Sometimes my pockets are so full I can’t get inside my house.”
“The bee also has pockets—six little pockets,” said Tiny, reflectively.
“And the opossum and several other animals have pockets in which they carry their children,” added the gopher wisely.
“You seem to observe things as much as I do,” said Tiny, admiringly.
“Yes, I travel a great deal and have seen many queer things,” replied the gopher, proudly.
SHE IS ABOUT THE ONLY ANIMAL THAT DOES NOT FEAR THE STING OF A BEE.
“Once I burrowed down into a badger’s home,” he went on. “I saw the nursery with the little badgers playing about in their bed of moss and grass. The mother badger was very civil to me. She is about the only animal that does not fear the sting of a bee, because her skin is so tough and her hair is so thick. It seems to me that of all animals, the badger is treated with the greatest cruelty. When the hunters catch her, they permit their dogs to torture her to death. The harder the poor creature fights to get away, the worse they abuse her, and the greater it pleases the cruel hunters. Sometimes the poor animal endures this brutal treatment for a full day.”