him, creeping up and watching all he does. When he waves the flag again, they rise, come in, and report each in turn all that he did, either by handing in a written report or verbally, as may be ordered.
The umpire meantime has kept a look- out in each direction, and, every time he sees a Scout, he takes two points off that Scout’s score. He, on his part, performs small actions , such as sitting down, kneeling, looking through glasses, using handkerchief, taking hat off for a bit, walking round in a circle a few times, to give Scouts something to note and report about him. Scouts are given three points for each act reported correctly.
Try these stalking methods. Cling as close to the ground as possible.
It saves time if the umpire makes out a scoring card beforehand, giving the name of each Scout, and a number of columns showing each act of his, also a column for minus marks for Scouts who expose themselves.
Spider and Fly
A bit of country or section of the town about a mile square with its boundaries described is selected as the web, and an hour fixed at which operations are to cease.
One Patrol (or half-Patrol) is the “spider”, which goes out and selects a place to hide itself. The other Patrol (or half-Patrol) starts a quarter of an hour later as the “fly” to look for the “spider”. They can spread themselves about as they like, but must tell their leader anything that they discover.
An umpire goes with each party.
If within the given time (say, about two hours) the fly has not discovered the spider, the spider wins. The spiders write down the names of any of the fly Patrol that they may see. Similarly, the flies write down
the names of any spiders that they may see, and their exact hiding-place.
It takes much time and patience to stalk close enough to wild animals to be able to study their habits without disturbing them.
CAMP FIRE YARN NO. 15
ANIMALS
The Calling of Wild Animals - Animals - Birds
Reptiles - Fishing – Insects
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS
HOW TO TEACH NATURAL HISTORY
Scouts in many parts of the world use the calls of wild animals and birds for communicating with each other, especially at night or in thick bush, or in fog. But it is also very useful to be able to imitate the calls if you want to watch the habits of the animals. You can begin by calling chickens or by talking to dogs in dog language, and very soon find you can givc the angry growl or the playful growl of a dog. Owls, wood-pigeons, and curlews are very easily called.
In India, I have seen a tribe of gipsies who eat jackals. Now jackals are some of the most suspicious animals that live. It is very difficult to catch them in a trap, but these gipsies catch them by calling them in this way:
In India, they hunt jackals in a peculiar way: A man i mitates the calls of a whole flock of jackals, and shakes dr y leaves.
Several men with dogs hide themselves in the grass and bushes round a small field. In the middle of this open place one gipsy imitates the call of the jackals calling to each other. He gets louder and louder till he sounds like a whole pack of jackals coming together, growling and finally tackling each other with violent snapping, snarling, and yelling. At the same time he shakes a bundle of dried leaves, which sounds like the animals dashing about among grass and reeds. Then he flings himself down on the ground, and throws dust up in the air, so that he is completely hidden in it, still growling and fighting.
If any jackal is within sound of this , it comes tearing out of the jungle, and dashes into the dust to join in the fight. When it finds a man there, it comes out again in a hurry. But meantime the dogs have been loosed from all sides, and they quickly catch the jackal and kill it.
Big Game Hunting
William Long in his very interesting book, Beasts of the Field, describes how he once called a moose.
