Roosevelt High School - Bwana Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

Page 21 text:

IN SEARCH OF WILD LIFE HE orthodox time to begin a earch for wild life is shortly after sunrise. The beauties and inspirations of sunrise have been described in prose and poetry for so many centuries that many people think little W can be said about them, yet it must also be admitted that each sunrise is different from every other and holds its own individuality. At the very start of this day of my search for beauty in nature, a great beam of yellow light shot up from behind the black outline of forest trees. It illuminated the lacy, early morning clouds. The brilliant edges of the clouds were reflected on the surface of dark river and showed where the green rafts of water plants were Hoating. I And the light awakened the little wood-folk, who greeted the new day with a loud whist- 1 ling, chirping, and chat- tering. ln a hop, skip, and jump one can reach the place on the road where l had wandered since breakfast. Old Sol was well on his way along the beaten path, and Mother Nature, like all good wives, once the master of the house has left, was busying herself with domestic duties. Two noisy dra- matists, Punch, the squirrel, and Judy, the blue jay, chattered and screeched at my clumsy stumbling and scraping over the rough road. A diminutive field-mouse scurried across the trail at my feet, while seemingly at the very zenith of the blue there slowly circled a great, red-shouldered hawk. l paid little attention to these creatures, but con- tinued at a brisk pace, hoping to see larger game. Alas, l was dis- appointed, and after three miles of fruitless search, turned towards a cool, inviting nook under the leafy boughs. It was a desolate shade such as Shakespeare had described, and its very desolation brought back my tranquility and the ambition to continue the search. But instead of heading toward the trail, l decided to strike off through the brush at a different Fifteen

Page 20 text:

The ducks are well represented in Missouri, but have been driven out of the state by spring shooting. The most common is the wood duck, which nests in all parts of the State. The turkey is another bird well represented in Missouri. He is about thirty inches long with a wing spread of about six feet. The male turkey is of a blackish-brown color with a wing lining of gray: the female is colored like the male except for her head, which is grayish brown. The song of the quail, or bob-white, is a clear ringing two or three-noted whistle which gives it its name. It is nine to ten inches long. The upper parts are chestnut brown Hecked with black, white, and tawny. The breast and under parts are white or buff crossed with irregular, narrow, black lines. The number of useful and necessary birds is constantly lessening through ignorant killingg however, Missouri is still well stocked. No state in the Union has a greater variety of birds nor those of finer song or more brilliant plumage than Missouri. No state has a greater number of insect-eating birds. There is no time of day, no season of the year, that Missouri's woods are silent. MARY ELLA PETERS Courtesy Auto Club of Missouri WILD TURKEYS AT SAM A. BAKER STATE PARK Fourteen

Page 22 text:

angle. When l emerged again, l was well scratched and covered with a nice collection of beggar lice, burs, and thorns. My reward was ample, however, for l found myself on a high, woody lookout with a river, 'way below on my left, and a rampart of bluffs across the valley on my right. Crystal-clear water spread out in its shining fullness below me. A tiny canoe darted out from the deep shadows and then gradually crossed the steadily-moving stream towards a bank of white sand on the opposite side. The two men, laboring with their paddles, seemed to be mere pygmies, while the steep banks were like the great jaws of some ancient mastodon slowly closing upon them. Up, up from the wooded banks, where their bases were hidden, towered the bluffs. The little White puffs of clouds that floated above appeared to sift through the boughs of the hundred-year-old oaks on the summit. On the gray limestone face were myriads of black cracks, red streaks of iron ore, yellow layers of clay, and green dabs of moss: all of which seemed to form gigantic, painted pictographs of a bygone race. A flock of bank swallows, which appeared to be the size of flies, circled and turned and circled again in front of the great bluff, thinking, perhaps, that they saw the image of a giant thunder bird. Having thus satisfied myself, l began cautiously to descend the mountain- side. But l started a miniature avalanche of small stones and branches which clatter- ed downward with a great noise, startling a gray, furry animal which l had not noticed. lt bounded fifteen feet seemingly in all direc- tions at once, and fi- nally shot down the mountain like a cannon- ball with hair. This was a lonely jackrabbit which had been crossing the mountain, but after that fright, l believe he decided to remain for the rest of his life in the valley from which he had come. At length l reached the valley and wandered down it for the remainder Sixteen