John Burroughs Quotes

The art of the bird is to conceal its nest both as to position and as to material, but now and then it is betrayed into weaving into its structure showy and bizarre bits of this or that, which give its secret away and which seem to violate all the traditions of its kind.

The lark that shuns on lofty boughs to build, Her humble nest, lies silent in the field.

It's sometimes better to pretend I don't hear the sound of somebody in the nearby woods with a shotgun.

There's something about the Pacific Northwest, the scale of it, and the fact that not so long ago people came here and died getting here, and then died the first winter they were here. There's this breathtaking beauty, just a little bit of moss on the tree, just this little thread of danger, and the sinister. And I really like that.

Never insult an alligator until after you have crossed the river.

Prostration is our natural position. A worm-like movement from a spot of sunlight to a spot of shade, and back, is the type of movement that is natural to men.

I can recall, as a young adult, running through the rain forest at the Forest Reserve, at times feeling a sense of fear when I felt I was in danger. In danger of confronting an ugly snake or a coral snake, which represented the greatest fear of someone in a rural area when you traverse the forest.

Octopus can fish for prey while deciding what color and pattern to turn, what shape to make their bodies, be on alert for predators and aware how far away their dens are.

Don't taunt the alligator until after you've crossed the creek.

One way to compensate for a tiny brain is to pretend to be dead.

Go to where the ducks are. Forget the duck calls. If you go where the ducks are coming, you're going to shoot more ducks.

There's a snake lurking in the grass.

If we choose to walk into a forest where a tiger lives, we are taking a chance. If we swim in a river where crocodiles live, we are taking a chance. If we visit the desert or climb a mountain or enter a swamp where snakes have managed to survive, we are taking a chance.

I saw a crow building a nest, I was watching him very carefully, I was kind of stalking him and he was aware of it. And you know what they do when they become aware of someone stalking them when they build a nest, which is a very vulnerable place to be? They build a decoy nest. It's just for you.

The swamp doesn’t want to be drained. You have to be careful not to be sucked in.

In the wild, those traits that are adaptive for survival and reproductive advantage are brought out through natural selection. So cats that were fierce, furtive hunters, alert to the snapping of every twig, with coats that gave them good camouflage, would have been favored by evolution.

When I was little, I was like a magpie, which is a bird that's attracted to shiny things. They'll build their nests with Christmas tree tinsel.

When you've been around a snake long enough, you learn how to crawl in the dirt.

I paint my face and travel at night. You don't know it's over until you're in a body bag.

The first time you see something that you have never seen before, you almost always know right away if you should eat it or run away from it.

The night swallowed him up like a thieving fox.

Hee that makes himself a sheep, shall be eat by the wolfe.

You show you care, you die.You show you fear, you die.You show nothing, maybe you live.

Adopt the character of the twisting octopus, which takes on the appearance of the nearby rock . Now follow in this direction, now turn a different hue.

Justin turned to give her one of his cool, unsmiling looks. Butterflies fluttered in her throat. She'd be very careful, Serena decided, as if she were walking through a minefield. "What are you thinking?" "About bombs," she answered blandly, "deadly camoflaged bombs." She gave him a quick,innocent grin. "Are we going to eat soon? I'm starving.