diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29349-8.txt | 8555 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29349-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 190692 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29349-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 733767 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29349-h/29349-h.htm | 13096 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29349-h/images/frontis.jpg | bin | 0 -> 60032 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29349-h/images/i001.jpg | bin | 0 -> 53317 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29349-h/images/i002.jpg | bin | 0 -> 53037 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29349-h/images/i003.jpg | bin | 0 -> 60320 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29349-h/images/i004.jpg | bin | 0 -> 61867 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29349-h/images/i005.jpg | bin | 0 -> 51952 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29349-h/images/i006.jpg | bin | 0 -> 57619 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29349-h/images/i007.jpg | bin | 0 -> 54405 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29349-h/images/i008.jpg | bin | 0 -> 24174 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29349-h/images/titlepage.jpg | bin | 0 -> 50569 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29349.txt | 8555 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29349.zip | bin | 0 -> 190674 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
19 files changed, 30222 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29349-8.txt b/29349-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..de85b2f --- /dev/null +++ b/29349-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8555 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Creatures of the Night, by Alfred W. Rees + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Creatures of the Night + A Book of Wild Life in Western Britain + +Author: Alfred W. Rees + +Release Date: July 8, 2009 [EBook #29349] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CREATURES OF THE NIGHT *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Marcia Brooks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + +CREATURES OF THE NIGHT + + +_By the same Author._ + +IANTO THE FISHERMAN + +AND OTHER SKETCHES OF COUNTRY LIFE. + +_Illustrated with Photogravures. Large Crown 8vo._ + +_The Times._--"The quality which perhaps most gives its individuality to +the book is distinctive of Celtic genius.... The characters ... are +touched with a reality that implies genuine literary skill." + +_The Standard._--"Mr Rees has taken a place which is all his own in the +great succession of writers who have made Nature their theme." + +_The Guardian._--"We can remember nothing in recent books on natural +history which can compare with the first part of this book ... +surprising insight into the life of field, and moor, and river." + +_The Outlook._--"This book--we speak in deliberate superlative--is the +best essay in what may be called natural history biography that we have +ever read." + +LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET + +[Illustration: "THE BROAD RIVER, IN WHICH SHE HAD SPENT HER EARLY LIFE." +(_See_ p. 50.) _Frontispiece._] + + + + +[Illustration: Decoration] + + CREATURES OF THE NIGHT + + A BOOK OF WILD LIFE IN + WESTERN BRITAIN + + BY ALFRED W. REES + + AUTHOR OF + "IANTO THE FISHERMAN" + + WITH ILLUSTRATIONS + + LONDON + JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET + 1905 + + + TO + + MYFANWY AND MORGAN + + + "All life is seed, dropped in Time's yawning furrow, + Which, with slow sprout and shoot, + In the revolving world's unfathomed morrow, + Will blossom and bear fruit." + + MATHILDE BLIND. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The Editors of _The Standard_ have kindly permitted me to republish the +contents of this book, and I tender them my thanks. + +The original form of these Studies of animal life has been extensively +altered, and, in some instances, the titles have been changed. + +I am again greatly indebted to my brother, R. Wilkins Rees. His wide and +accurate knowledge has been constantly at my disposal, and in the +preparation of these Studies he has given me much indispensable advice +and assistance. + +Similarity in the habits of some of the animals described has made a +slight similarity of treatment unavoidable in certain chapters. + +I may also remark that, in unfrequented districts where beasts and birds +of prey are not destroyed by gamekeepers, the hare is as much a creature +of the night as is the badger or the fox. + + ALFRED W. REES. + + +[Transcriber's Note: Obvious typographical errors have been corrected, +and standardized the hyphenations, otherwise the text has been left as +the original] + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + THE OTTER. + + I. + + THE HOLT AMONG THE ALDERS. + + PAGE + + Late fishing--A summer night--River voices--A master-fisher-- + The old mansion--Lingering beauty--The otters' "oven"--Observant + youngsters--Careful motherhood--The meadow playground--Falling + leaves--A swollen river--Dabchick's oar-like wings--Mysterious + proceedings--Migrating salmon--Hoar-fringed river-banks--An + adventure with a sheep-dog--Slip-shod builders--Signs of + spring--A change of diet--Fattening trout--The capture of a + "kelt"--"The otter's bite"--Lone wanderings. 1-23 + + II. + + THE POOL BENEATH THE FARMSTEAD. + + A song of autumn--The salmon pool--Angling difficulties--Bullying + a sportive fish--An absent-minded fisherman--At dawn and nightfall--A + deserted home--Practical joking--A moorhen's fate--Playfulness + of youth--The torrent below the fall--The garden ponds--Feasting + on frogs--A watcher of the night--Hounds and hunters--Lutra's + discretion--The spell of fear 24-40 + + III. + + THE GORGE OF ALLTYCAFN. + + The Hunt again--Fury of despair--A "strong place"--The terrier's + discomfiture--Lutra's widowhood--Summer drought--Life at the + estuary--Returning to the river--Scarce provender--A rare and + unexpected sight--The blacksmith's baited trap--The Rock of + Gwion--Peace 41-50 + + + THE WATER-VOLE. + + I. + + OUR VILLAGE HOUNDS. + + Quiet life--Leisure hours--A winter pastime--A miscellaneous + pack--The bobtail, and his fight with an otter--The terrier, + and his friendship with fishermen--A family party--Expert + diving--Hunt membership, and the landlord as huntsman--Fast + and furious fun--A rival Hunt--The bobtail's death--The terrier's + eccentricities--A pleasant study begins--Brown rats--Yellow + ants--Brighteye's peculiarities--Evening sport 51-67 + + II. + + THE BURROW IN THE RIVER BANK. + + At dusk--A picturesque home--Main roads and lanes of the riverside + people--A heron's alertness--A rabbit's danger signal--The + reed-bed--The vole in fear--The wildest of the wild--Tell-tale + footprints--The significance of a blood-stain--A weasel's + ferocity--Maternal warnings--A rat-hunting spaniel--An invaded + sanctuary--The terrier's opportunity--The water-vole chatters + and sings--A gladsome life--Dangers sharpen intellect 68-82 + + III. + + WILD HUNTING. + + An otter-hunt--Fading afterglow--Spiritual influence of night--Lutra + and Brighteye--Brighteye's song--Chill waters--A beacon in + the gloom--A squirrel's derision--A silvery phantom--An old, + lean trout--Restless salmon--Change of quarters--Brighteye's + encounter with a "red" fish 83-98 + + IV. + + SAVED BY AN ENEMY. + + The "redd" in the gravel--In company with a water-shrew--Ravenous + trout--The salmon's attack--An otter appears--Brighteye's + bewilderment--Increasing vigilance--Playful minnows--A new + water-entrance--The winter granary--Careful harvesting--The + dipper's winter carol--The robin and the wren at vespers--Unsafe + quarters--Rats on the move--A sequestered pool--Icebound + haunts 99-115 + + V. + + THE COURAGE OF FEAR. + + The dawn--Restlessness of spring--A bold adventurer--A sharp + fight--Cleared pathways--Differences of opinion--A tight + snuggery--In defence of home--A monster rat--Temporary refuge--The + voles and the cannibal trout--Family troubles--A winter evening + in the village 116-129 + + + THE FIELD-VOLE. + + I. + + HIDDEN PATHWAYS IN THE GRASS. + + A pleasant wilderness--Pitying Nature--Hedgerow sentinels--The + story of the day--Familiar signs--An unknown scent--The agony of + fear--A change of mood--The weasel's raid--A place of slaughter--Autumn + preparations--A general panic--Hibernation--Winter sunshine--The + red bank-voles--Owls and hawks 131-150 + + II. + + THE VALLEY OF OLWEN. + + The last of winter's stores--Renewed activity--The field-vole's + food--A lively widow vole--An unequal encounter--First fond + passion--Ominous sounds--A clumsy rabbit--An unimportant "affair"--An + elopement--Nesting time--A fussy parent--A fox pays a visit--Also + a carrion crow--Repairing damages 151-166 + + III. + + A BARREN HILLSIDE. + + A secluded pasture--Poachers and owls--An astute magpie--The + vole a sire of many families--Plague--Nature's caprice--Privation + and disease--Unexpected destroyers--A living skeleton--Starvation + and death--An owl once more 167-175 + + + THE FOX. + + I. + + THE LAST HUNT. + + A baffled marauder--The flesh of breeding creatures tough and + tasteless--An unsavoury rat--The arrival of the Hunt--The fox sees + his foes--The view-halloo--No respite, no mercy, no sanctuary--The + last hope--A fearless vixen--Defiant to the end 177-193 + + II. + + A NEW HOME. + + Life in an artificial "earth"--Longing and despair--Contentment + of maternity--Prisoners--A way of escape--Careless infancy--A + precocious cub--First lessons--An obedient family--A fox's + smile--Inborn passion for flesh--Favourite food of fox-cubs--The + huntsman's desire 194-209 + + III. + + THE CUB AND THE POLECAT. + + Patience and watchfulness--How to capture field-voles--Winding + trails--Ill-luck--A painful surprise--A fresh line of scent--Cost + of a struggle--A luckless fortnight--The old hound and the "young + entry"--A curiously shaped monster--Pursued by a lurcher-- + Desertion--A vagrant bachelor 210-223 + + IV. + + A CRY OF THE NIGHT. + + The hunting call--A recollection--A joyous greeting--A woodland + bride--The sting of a wasp--Preparation of a "breeding earth"--Meddlesome + jays and magpies--A rocky fastness on the wild west coast--Vulp's + retreat--The end of a long life--The fox's mask--Memories 224-240 + + + THE BROWN HARE. + + I. + + THE UPLAND CORNFIELD. + + Midsummer--The leveret's birth--First wanderings--Instinct and + teaching--The "creeps"--In the stubble--Habits change with + seasons--The "sweet joint" of the rye--Lessons from a net and a + lurcher--Rough methods--The man-scent--On the hills above the + river-mists 241-260 + + II. + + MARCH MADNESS. + + March winds--Reckless jack-hares--Courtship and rivalry--Motherhood--A + harmless conflict--An intruding fox--The faithless lover--Maternal + courage--The falcon's "stoop"--The "slit-eared" hare--Countryside + superstitions--On the river island--Patience rewarded--The hare + as a swimmer--Bloodless sport--Habits of the hare in wet weather--The + "form" in the root-field--Bereavements--Increasing caution-- + Productiveness in relation to food--A poacher's ruse 261-277 + + III. + + THE CHASE. + + The basset-hound--Mirthful and dignified--A method of protecting + hares--A suggestion--Formidable foes--"Fouling" the scent--A + cry of distress--The home in the snow-drift--The renegade cat--An + inoffensive life--A devastating storm 278-291 + + + THE BADGER. + + I. + + A WOODLAND SOLITUDE. + + Haunts of a naturalist--Why certain animals are unmolested--Means + of security--Fear of dogs and men--A place of interest--The + "nocturnal" instinct--Droll revelry--Serious pastimes--Teaching + by reward and punishment--Animals study the disposition of + their young--Voices of the wilderness 293-309 + + II. + + HOME DISCIPLINE. + + Unwelcome attentions--An old badger's watchfulness--A clever + trick--A presumptuous youngster--Instructions in selfishness--Harsh + measures--The badger and the stoat--A long ramble 310-324 + + III. + + FEAR OF THE TRAP. + + Wisdom in Nature's ways--The laggard of the family--A salutary + lesson--Hand-scent and foot-scent--An old Welsh law--The lesson + of a "double" scent--The sorrel as medicine--A wild bees' + nest--"In grease" 325-339 + + IV. + + THE WINTER "OVEN." + + The vixen and the hounds--The wounded rabbit--Old inhabitants + of the wood--In touch with enemies--Twilight romps--Brock's + quarrel with his sire--A bone of contention--Prompt chastisement--A + mournful chorus--Wild fancies of a bachelor--A big battle--The + terror of the flock--Unwarranted suspicion--Caught in the act 340-356 + + V. + + HILLSIDE TRAILS. + + The backward "drag"--Loyalty tested--A spiteful spouse--Spring + cleaning--Carrying litter to the "set"--A numerous family--An + eviction--Vulpicide--Important news--Old traditions of sport + revived--A long day's toil--The secret history of a "draw"--An + old burrow 357-373 + + + THE HEDGEHOG. + + I. + + A VAGABOND HUNTER. + + The nest in the "trash"--Quaint wildlings--Neighbours and + enemies--A feast--Spines and talons--The gipsy boy--A vagabond's + sport--The nest in the wild bees' ruined home--Insects killed + by frost--Winter quarters of the lizard and the snail 377-391 + + II. + + AN EXPERIENCE IN SNAKE-KILLING. + + An iron winter--March awakening--A coat of autumn leaves--The + Rip Van Winkle of the woods--Sunshine and strength--Faulty + eyesight--The hedgehog and the viper--Worsting an enemy--The + moorhen's nest--Antics of weasels and snakes--The hedgehog's + bleat--Odd and awkward courtship 392-406 + + + NIGHT IN THE WOODS. + + I. + + HAUNTS OF THE BADGER AND THE FOX. + + Wild life at night--Long watching--A "set" with numerous inhabitants--The + vixen and her cubs--Tolerant badgers--Vigilance--A moorland + episode--"Chalking the mark"--Fox-signs--A habit of voles and + rabbits--Patience, in vain--Sulky badgers--The vixen's lair--Foxes + at play 407-426 + + II. + + THE CRAG OF VORTIGERN. + + Difficulties of night watching--Powers of observation in wild + creatures--Night wanderers dislike rain--Eager helpers--A tempting + invitation--Cry of young owls--Philip, the silent watcher--The + fern-owl's rattle--The leaping places of the hare--Night gossip--The + meaning of the white and black markings on a badger's head--The + secrets of the cave 427-443 + + INDEX 445-448 + + + + +FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS + +From Drawings by + +Florence H. Laverock. + + + "THE BROAD RIVER, IN WHICH SHE HAD SPENT HER + EARLY LIFE." See p. 50 _Frontispiece._ + + "AN OPPORTUNITY CAME, WHICH, HAD SHE BEEN POISED + IN THE AIR, COULD SCARCELY HAVE BEEN MISSED." _To face p._ 88 + + "THE BIG TROUT, IN HIS TORPEDO-LIKE RUSH TO CUT OFF + BRIGHTEYE FROM SURE REFUGE." See p. 105 " " 104 + + "SHE WAS HOLDING ONE OF HER OFFSPRING BY THE NECK, + IN PREPARATION FOR FLIGHT." See p. 139 " " 138 + + "HE RETIRED TO A ROCKY FASTNESS ON THE WILD WEST + COAST." " " 238 + + "WHEN THE EARLY AUTUMN MOON ROSE OVER THE CORN." " " 290 + + "HE CLIMBED FROM HIS DOORWAY, AND STOOD MOTIONLESS, + WITH UPLIFTED NOSTRILS, INHALING EACH BREATH + OF SCENT." " " 364 + + "AS HE MEASURED HIS FULL LENGTH AGAINST THE TREE." + See p. 419 " " 418 + + + + +THE OTTER. + +I. + +THE HOLT AMONG THE ALDERS. + + +I first saw Lutra, the otter-cub, while I was fishing late one summer +night. Slow-moving clouds, breaking into fantastic shapes and spreading +out great, threatening arms into the dark, ascended from the horizon and +sailed northward under the moon and stars. Ever and anon, low down in +the sky, Venus, like a clear-cut diamond suspended from one of its many +twinkling points, glittered between the fringes of the clouds, or the +white moon diffused soft light among the wreathing vapours that twisted +and rolled athwart the heavens. In the shelter of the pines on the +margin of the river, a ringdove, awakened by a bickering mate, +fluttered from bough to bough; and his angry, muffled coo of defiance +marred the stillness of the night. The gurgling call of a moorhen, +mingling with the ripple of the stream over the ford, came from the +reeds at a distant bend of the river. Nearer, the river, with varying +cadence, rose and fell in uneven current over a rocky shelf, and then +came on to murmur around me while I waded towards the edge of a deep, +forbidding pool. In the smooth back-wash beyond the black cup of the +pool a mass of gathered foam gleamed weirdly in the dark; and, further +away, broad tangles of river-weed, dotted with the pale petals of +countless flowers, floated on the shallow trout-reach extending from the +village gardens to the cornfields below the old, grey church. + +In one of the terraced gardens behind me a cottager was burning garden +refuse; tongues of flame leaped up amid billows of smoke, and from the +crackling heap a myriad sparks shot out on every side. While the +cottager moved about by the fire, his shadow lengthened across the +river, which, reflecting the lurid glare, became strangely suggestive +of unfathomable depths. The moorhen called again from the reeds near the +ford, then flew away over the fire-flushed river and disappeared into +the gloom; and a water-vole dropped with a gentle plash into the pool. + +Casting a white moth quietly over the stream, I noticed beyond the +shadows a round mass rising from the centre of the current, moving +against the flood, and sinking noiselessly out of sight. There could be +no doubt that the shape and motion were those of an otter. To continue +my sport would have been in vain with such a master-fisher in the pool, +so I reeled in my line, and stood still among the ripples as they +circled, muttering, around my knees. Presently the dim form of the otter +reappeared a little further up-stream, and I caught sight of a +glistening trout in the creature's mouth. + +The otter swam, with head just above water, towards the alders skirting +the opposite bank, and then, turning sharply, was lost to sight near the +overhanging roots of a sycamore. Immediately afterwards, a strange, +flute-like whistle--as if some animal, having ascended from the depths +of the river, had blown water through its nostrils in a violent effort +to breathe--came from the whirlpool in the dense shadows of the pines: +the otter's mate was hunting in the quiet water beyond the shelf of +rock. Then a slight, rattling sound on the pebbly beach of a little bay +near the sycamore indicated that the animal had landed and was probably +devouring the captured fish. The leaping flames of the cottager's fire +had been succeeded by a fitful glow, but the moon glided from behind the +clouds and revealed a distinct picture of the parent otter standing on +the shingle, in company with Lutra, her little cub. + + * * * * * + +A deserted mansion--to whose history, like the aged ivy to its crumbling +walls, clung many a fateful legend--nestled under the precipitous woods +in the valley. Time, taking advantage of neglect, had made a wilderness +of the gardens, the lawns, and the orchards, which, less than a century +ago, surrounded with quiet beauty this home of a typical old country +squire. A few garden flowers still lingered near the porch; but the once +well tended borders were overgrown with grass, or occupied with wild +blossoms brought from the fields by the hundred agents employed by +Nature to scatter seed. Owls inhabited the outhouses, and bats the +chinks beneath the eaves. A fox had his "earth" in the shrubbery beyond +the moss-grown pathway leading from the door to the gate at the end of +the drive. A timid wood-pigeon often flew across from the pines and +walked about the steps before the long-closed door. Near the warped +window of the dismantled gun-room the end of a large water-pipe formed a +convenient burrow for some of the rabbits that played at dusk near the +margin of the shrubbery. This water-pipe led to the river's brink; and +there, having been broken by landslips resulting from the ingress of the +stream during flood, one of the severed parts of the tube formed, +beneath the surface of the water, an outlet to a natural chamber high +and dry in the bank. The upper portion of the pipe was choked with +earth and leaves washed down from the fields by the winter rains. + +In this hollow "oven," on a heap of hay, moss, and leaves, brought +hither by the parent otters through an opening they had tunnelled into +the meadow, Lutra was born. Her nursery was shared by two other cubs. +Blind, helpless, murmuring little balls of fur, they were tended +lovingly by the dam. + +Soon the thin membrane between their eyelids dried and parted, and they +awoke to a keen interest in their surroundings. Their chamber was dimly +lit by the hole above; and the cubs, directly they were able to crawl, +feebly climbed to a recess behind the shaft, where they blinked at the +clouds that sailed beneath the dome of June, and at the stars that +peeped out when night drew on, or watched the limpid water as, flowing +past the end of the pipe below, it bore along a twirling leaf or rolled +a pebble down the river-bed. Occasionally a salmon-pink wandered across +from the shallows; for a moment or two the play of its tiny fins was +seen at the edge of the pipe; and the cubs, excited by a sight of their +future prey, stretched their necks and knowingly held their heads +askew, so that no movement of the fish might escape their observation. + +Among flesh-eating mammals of many kinds, the females display signs of +intelligence earlier than the males. Lutra being the only female among +the cubs, she naturally grew to be the most keenly observant, and often +identified the finny visitor before her brothers ventured to decide that +it was not a moving twig. + +The dam spent most of the day asleep in the "holt," and most of the +night fishing in the pools. Inheriting the disposition of their kind, +the cubs also were more particularly lively by night than by day. +Directly the cold dew-mist wreathed the grass at the entrance of the +burrow, they commenced to sport and play, tumbling over each other, +grunting and fighting in mimic anger, or pretending to startle their +mother directly she entered the pipe on returning at intervals from +fishing. + +One night, while the cubs were rougher than ever in their fun, Lutra +slipped off the platform and fell headlong down the pipe into the +stream. But almost before she had time to be frightened she discovered +that to swim was as easy as to play; and she rose to the surface with a +faint, flute-like call. She splashed somewhat wildly, for her stroke was +not yet perfected by practice. Hearing the commotion and instantly +recognising its meaning, the dam dived quietly and swiftly right beneath +the cub, and bore her gently back to the platform, where the rest of the +family, having missed their companion, had for the moment ceased to romp +and fight. + +A few nights after this incident, the mother commenced in earnest to +educate her young. Tenderly taking each in turn, she carried the +nurslings into the water, and taught them, by a method and in language +known only to themselves, how to dive and swim with the least possible +exertion and disturbance. + +Henceforward, throughout the summer, and till the foliage on the trees +near the pool, chilled by the rapid fall of the temperature every +evening, became thinner in the breath of the early autumn wind, the +otter-cubs fished, and frolicked, and slept, or were suckled by their +dam. Sometimes the whole family, together with the old dog-otter, +adjourned to the middle of the meadow, and in the tall, dew-drenched +grass skipped like kittens, though with comical clumsiness rather than +with the agility they displayed in the water. Like kittens, too, the +cubs played with their mother, in spite of wholesome chastisement when +they nipped her muzzle rather more severely than even long-suffering +patience could allow. The dam was at all times loath to correct her +offspring, but the sire rarely endured the familiarity of the cubs for +long. Directly they became unduly presumptuous he lumbered off to the +river, as if he considered it much more becoming to fish than to join in +the sport of his progeny. Perhaps, indeed, he deemed a change of +surroundings essential that he might forget the liberties taken with him +by his disrespectful youngsters. + +When about three months old, Lutra began to show promise of that grace +of form and motion which in later life was to be one of her chief +distinctions. Her body, tail, and head gradually lengthened; and, as her +movements in the water became more sinuous and easy, she tired less +rapidly when fishing. + +Autumn passed on towards winter, the nights were long, the great harvest +of the leaves fell thickly on the meadow and the stream, the mountain +springs were loosed in muddy torrents, and the river roared, swollen and +turbid, past the "holt" under the trailing alder-twigs. The moorhens +came back from the ponds where they had nested in April and May; the +wild duck and the teal flew south from oversea, and in the night +descended circling to the pool; a dabchick from the wild gorge +down-river took up his abode in the sedges. + +The quick jerk of the dabchick's oar-like wings caused much wonder to +Lutra, when, walking on the river-bed, she looked up towards the moonlit +sky, and saw the little grebe dive like a dark phantom into the deep +hole beneath the rocky ledges of Penpwll. Once the otter-cub, acting +under an irresistible impulse, swam towards the bird and tried to seize +him. She managed to grip one of his feet, as they trailed behind him +while he dived, but the grebe escaped, leaving in the assailant's mouth +only a morsel of flesh torn from a claw. + +In the warm evenings of late summer and the first weeks of autumn, the +angler usually visited the shingle opposite the water-pipe, and waded +up-stream casting for trout. The otter-cubs, grown wiser than when the +angler saw them near the sycamore, discreetly stayed at home, for they +had been taught to regard this strange being, Man, known by his peculiar +footfall and upright walk, as a dreaded enemy scarcely less formidable +than the hounds and the terriers that at intervals accompanied him for +the express purpose of hunting such river-folk as otters and rats. + +As yet Lutra had never seen the hounds, nor, till the following summer, +was she to know the import of her instinctive timidity. Roaming, hungry, +and venturesome, she had chanced at nightfall to catch a glimpse, during +an occasional gleam of moonlight, of a large trout struggling +frantically on the surface of the water not far from the angler, had +heard the click of the reel and the swish of the landing net, and had +concluded that these mysterious proceedings gave cause for fear. + +The end of October drew nigh; and, when the last golden leaves began to +fall from the beeches, the angler ceased to frequent the riverside. +Henceforward, except when a sportsman passed with his gun, the otters' +haunt remained in peace. + +Always at break of day, however, when the pigeons left their roosting +places in the pines, an old, decrepit woman tottered down the steps from +the cottage door to the rock at the brim of the pool, and filled her +pails with water. But the creatures felt little alarm: they had become +accustomed to her presence in the dawn. Lonely and childless and poor, +she knew more than any one else of the otters; but she kept their +whereabouts a secret, for the creatures lent an interest to her +cheerless, forsaken life, and recalled to her halting memory the long +past days when her husband told her tales of hunting and fishing as she +sat, a young and pretty girl, at her spinning wheel in the light of the +flickering "tallow-dip." + +Warm, cloudy weather continued from the late autumn through the +winter--except for a few days of frost and snow in December--so that +food was never scarce, and Lutra thrived and grew. The great migration +of salmon took place, but she was not sufficiently big and strong to +grip and hold these monster fish. Her own weight hardly exceeded that of +the smallest of them, so she had to be content with a mixed diet of +salmon-fry and trout, varied with an occasional slug or snail that she +chanced to find in the meadow. For a brief period after the fall of snow +in December, the frost fettered the fields, and the moon shone nightly +on a white waste through which the river flowed, like a black, uneven +line, between its hoar-fringed banks. Then Lutra, bold in the unbroken +stillness of Nature's perfect sleep, climbed the steps leading to a +village garden, and searched the refuse heap for scraps discarded from +the cottager's meagre board. She even wandered further, crossed the +road, and passed under a gate into the fields near the outlying stables +of the inn. Here some birds had roosted in the hazels by the fence, and +the cub stood watching them, like the fox beneath the desired but +distant grapes. + +A rough, mongrel sheep-dog, having missed his master, who had been +carousing in the inn that evening, chanced to be trotting homeward to +the farm on the hill, and, sniffing at the gate, discovered the cub in +the hedgerow. With a mad yell the dog tore through the briars at the +side of the gate-post; but Lutra was equally quick, and by the time her +enemy was in the field she had dodged under the bars and was shuffling +away, as quickly as her short legs permitted, down the garden to the +river. The dog turned, crashed back through the briars, and gained +rapidly on the otter. He reached her just as she gained the top of the +wall that, on a level with the garden, formed a barrier against the +river-floods. Lutra felt a sharp nip on her flank, and was bowled over +by the impetuous rush of her foe; but she regained her feet in an +instant, and jumped without hesitation into the water. The river was +shallow where she fell; the dog followed her; and for a moment she was +in deadly peril. But before the sheep-dog recovered from his sudden +plunge, Lutra swam into the deep water and dived straight for home, +leaving the plucky mongrel standing in the ripples, with a look of +almost human disgust and astonishment on his intelligent face. He may +have reasoned thus: "Surely I caught that otter. But stay, I must have +been dreaming. 'Tis queer, though: I'm in the river instead of on the +road to the farm." This, for Lutra, was perhaps the only noteworthy +episode of her early life. + +The otter-cub was about nine months old when spring came to the valley. +The water-weed grew in long filaments from the gravelly shallows. The +angler, who had ceased to frequent the riverside at the approach of +winter, returned to the pool, but only by day, and then Lutra dozed in +her retreat. In the pines on the margin of the river the blue ringdoves +were busy constructing the rude makeshift that was to serve the purpose +of a nest. Instead of seeking how to construct a perfect dwelling place, +these slipshod builders spent most of their hours in courtship. +Sometimes, owing to the carelessness of the lackadaisical doves, a dry +stick released by bill or claw would fall pattering among the branches, +and drop, with a plash, into the river, where it would be borne by the +current past the otter's lair. From every bush and brake along the +sparkling stream the carols of joyous birds floated on the morning +mists. The first green leaves of the bean peeped in the gardens; the +first broods of the year's ducklings launched forth, like heartstrong +adventurers, into the shallows by the cottage walls. In the sunny glades +the big, fleshy buds of the chestnut and the light-green, tapering +sprouts of the sycamore expanded under the influence of increasing +warmth. Finches and sparrows, on the lookout for flies, hovered above +the ankle-deep drifts of leaf-mould in the lane below the trees, or +crossed and re-crossed between the budding boughs. Only a few of these +many signs were observed by Lutra, it is true, for she spent the day in +hiding. But at dusk she heard the bleating of the lambs, and the musical +note of a bell that had been slung round the neck of the patriarch of +the flock in order to deter foxes from meddling with the new-born +weaklings then under the big ram's care. She was made aware of the +presence of spring by the "scent in the shadow and sound in the light." +The hatching of countless flies in the leaf-mould was not watched by the +birds only: Lutra also knew that the swarms had arrived; and spring was +welcome if only for this. + +For months she had fed on lean and tasteless trout exhausted by +spawning. Now, instead of lying under stones or haunting the deep basin +of the pool, the trout rose to the surface and wandered abroad into the +shallows. There the languid fish became fit for food again, and more +capable of eluding the occasional long, stern chases of the otter. But +Lutra was never disconcerted by the fact that the fish were strong and +active; as with all carnivorous creatures, her sporting instincts were +so highly developed that she revelled in overcoming difficulties, +especially because she felt her own strength growing from day to day. +During winter the trout had fed on worms and "sundries." Now, their best +and heartiest meals were of flies. Daily, at noon, swarms of ephemerals +played over the water, and the trout rose from the river-bed to feed. At +first they "sported" ravenously, rising quick and sure to any insect +their marvellous vision might discern. Afterwards they fed daintily, +disabling and drowning with a flip of the tail many an insect that +fluttered at the surface, and choosing from their various victims some +unusually tasty morsel, such as a female "February red" about to lay her +eggs. At this time, also, the plump, cream-coloured larvę of the +stone-fly in the shallows were growing within their well cemented +caddis-cases and preparing for maturity. So the trout fattened on +caddis-grubs and flies, and the otter-cub, in corresponding measure, +became sleek, well-grown, and spirited. + +In the winter Lutra had imperceptibly acquired the habit of swimming and +diving across-stream, just as an old fox, when hunting in the woods, +quarters his ground systematically across-wind, and so detects the +slightest scent that may be wafted on the breeze. Nature had been +specially kind to her; she was fashioned perfectly, and in the river +reigned supreme. Her body was long, supple, and tapering; her brown fur +was close and short, so that the water never penetrated to her skin and +her movements were not retarded as they would have been had she +possessed the loose, draggling coat of an otter-hound. She seemed to +glide with extraordinary facility even against a rapid current. Her skin +was so tough that on one occasion when, by accident, she was carried +down a raging rapid and thrown against a jagged rock, a slight bruise +was the only result. Her legs were short and powerful, her toes webbed, +and her tail served the purpose of a rudder. Nostrils, eyes, and +ears--all were small and water-tight, and set so high on the skull that, +when she rose to breathe, little more than a speck could be seen on the +surface, unless she felt it safe to raise her head and body further for +the sake of ease in plunging deep. + +When Lutra was nine months old she caught her first salmon; and, though +the fish was only a small "kelt," returning, weak from spawning, to the +sea, the capture was a fair test of the cub's prowess and daring. It +happened thus. She was walking up the river-bed one boisterous night, +when she saw a dark form hovering close to the surface in the middle of +a deep pool. Her eyes, peculiarly fitted for watching objects +immediately above, quickly detected the almost motionless fish. The +eyes of the salmon were also formed for looking upwards, and so Lutra +remained unnoticed by her prey. She stole around the hovering fish, that +the bubbles caused by her breathing might make no noticeable disturbance +as they rose to the surface, and then, having judged to a nicety the +strength of the stream, paddled with almost imperceptible motion towards +the salmon. Before the fish had time to flee it was caught in Lutra's +vice-like jaws and borne, struggling desperately and threshing the water +into foam, to the bank. There the otter-cub killed her victim by +severing the vertebrę immediately behind its gills. + +Otters well nigh invariably destroy large-sized fish by attacking them +in this particular part. And, according to a similar method, stoats and +polecats, whenever possible, seize their victims near the base of the +brain. In yet another way Lutra proved her relationship to the weasel +tribe: just as our miniature land-otters eat only small portions of the +rabbits they kill, so the cub was content with a juicy morsel behind the +salmon's head--a morsel known among sportsmen as "the otter's bite." + +Soon after the cub had killed her first salmon she separated from her +parents and brothers, travelled far down-river, and wandered alone. In +the human character, development becomes especially marked directly +independence of action is assumed; henceforward parental guidance counts +for comparatively little. And so it was with Lutra. + + + + +II. + +THE POOL BENEATH THE FARMSTEAD. + + +Last year, in autumn mornings, when the big round clouds sailing swiftly +overhead reminded me of springtide days and joyous skylarks in the +heavens, but when all parent birds were silent, knowing how dark winter +soon would chill the world, a thrush, that not long since had been a +fledgling in his nest amid a shrubbery of box, came to the fruit-tree +near my window, and, in such low tones that only I could hear them, +warbled that all in earth and sky was beautiful. + +To Lutra, lonely like the thrush, and, like the thrush, not yet aware of +pain and hunger, the world seemed bright and filled with happiness. At +first, like a young fox that, till he learns the fear of dogs and men, +steals chickens from a coop near which an old, experienced fox would +never venture, she was, perhaps, a little too indifferent to danger. In +her perfect health and irresponsible freedom, she paid but slight +attention to the alarm signals of other creatures of the night. + +Up-river, at a bend below a hillside farmstead some distance from our +village, is a broad, deep salmon-pool, fringed with alders and willows. +Right across the upper end of this pool stretches a broken ledge of +rock, over which, in flood, the waters boom and crash into a seething +basin whence thin lines of vapour--blue and grey when the day is dull, +or gleaming with the colours of the rainbow when the sun, unclouded, +shines aslant the fall--ceaselessly arise, and quiver on the waves of +air that catch their movement from the restless swirls beneath. But in +dry summer weather the ledge is covered with green, slippery weed, the +curving fall is smooth as glass, and the rapid loses half its flood-time +strength. + +This pool, though containing some of the finest salmon "hovers" in the +river, is nowadays but seldom fished. Since the old generation of +village fishermen has passed away it seems to have gradually lost its +popularity. The right bank of the river above and below the pool is for +miles so thickly wooded that anglers prefer to pass up-country before +unpacking their rods. From the left bank it is useless for any angler +who has not made a study of the pool to attempt to reach the "hovers." +Under far more favourable conditions than these, the throw necessary to +place a fly on even the nearest of the "hovers" would be almost the +longest that could with accuracy be made. But the angler is baffled at +the outset by the presence of a steep slope behind him. + +I well remember two instances when I was tricked by the self-conceit +which led me to suppose that my skill in casting was of no mean order. +Once, while the river was bank-high after flood, I happened to be +throwing an unusually long line, with careless ease, over the lower end +of a pool, where, before, I had never seen a fish. I was, no doubt, +thinking of something quite unconnected with fishing, otherwise I should +not have wandered thus far from the spot where I generally reeled in my +line. A salmon effectually aroused me by a terrific rush at my fly. I +"struck" hard, and the fly, after a momentary check, flew up into the +air. I am not one of those anglers who give rest to a salmon in the +belief that, after rising, he requires time to recover from his +disappointment at having failed to catch the lure. I believe in +"sticking to" a fish, perhaps because the first I ever hooked was one I +had bullied ceaselessly during the whole of a spring evening. And so I +tried hard and often to tempt that sportive fish again; but after the +careless, easy casting which resulted in the rise, I could not by any +means throw satisfactorily over the tail of the pool. However I tried to +do so, the line would double awkwardly as it reached the water, or would +curl back into the rapid on the near side of the "hover," or the fly +would splash in a most provoking manner as it alighted on the stream. So +at last I left the riverside. + +Henceforth, I attempted the same long cast whenever I passed the pool. I +lost many flies, and never again rose a fish. But I was convinced that I +had discovered a "hover" new to the village fishermen, till my old +friend Ianto chaffed me into the belief that the salmon I had seen was a +"passenger," and, probably, a "spent kelt" in such a weak condition that +for it to stay in the rough water higher up the pool was impossible. + +On another occasion, in early days when my ignorance of the river and of +fishing sorely troubled both Ianto and myself, as I was wading +down-stream along the edge of a pool a grilse rose, "head and tail," +about twenty yards below my fly. Using my long gaff-handle as a staff, I +walked slowly towards the fish, casting carefully all the way. I was so +absorbed in my work that I did not know I was moving into deep water +till I found that my wading stockings had filled. I then stopped, and, +lengthening my line at each successive "throw," sent my fly nearer and +still nearer to the grilse. + +How I managed the long, straight cast that presently resulted in my fly +passing down the "hover," I do not know. The grilse rose sharply at the +lure, but I "struck" too late. I reeled in my line, and after a few +minutes began once more to cast. Now, however, try as I might, I could +not get the line out to the distance required; it would not fall +straight and true. In desperation I endeavoured to overcome the +difficulty by sheer strength. I swung my arms aloft; my old hickory rod +creaked and groaned with the increasing strain, then snapped immediately +the tension was released with the return of the line; and, a second +afterwards, the grilse took my fly and bolted away down-stream. + +All caution left me; I was "into a fish"--that was enough. In haste to +catch my rod-top as it slipped down the line from the butt, I made one +step forward, and fell over head and ears into a deep hole beneath the +shelf of rock on which I had been standing. When I recognised what had +happened I was clinging to an alder-root near the bank; thence, +breathless, I lifted myself till I was safe on a tree-trunk above the +pool. My rod and cap were drifting rapidly away; but, after divesting +myself of half my dripping garments, I recovered the rod in a backwater +below the neighbouring wood. All my line had been taken out, the gut +collar had been snapped, and the fly had undoubtedly been carried off +by the grilse. + +In those old days of which I have elsewhere written,[1] Ianto and I +often resorted to the wide, deep pool under the farm. Sometimes, during +summer, we were there before daybreak, fishing for the salmon that only +then or in the dusk would deign to inspect our "Dandy" fly. And there, +in the summer nights, we frequently captured, with the natural minnow, +the big trout that wandered from the rapids to feed in the quiet waters +by the alders. Ianto knew the pool so well that even in the darkest +night he would wade along the slippery, weed-grown shelf near the raging +fall, to troll in the shadows above him. Had the old man taken one false +step he would have entered on a struggle for life compared with which my +own adventure after hooking the grilse would have been insignificant. + +For several months free, happy Lutra made her daytime abode in a "holt" +among the alder-roots fringing this pool. She loved in the long winter +nights to hear the winnow-winnow of powerful wings as the wild ducks +circled down towards the pool, the whir of the grey lag-geese far in the +mysterious sky, and the whistle of the teal and the gurgle of the +moorhens among the weeds close by the river's brim. + +Crouched on a grassy mound beside the rapids, she could see each +movement on the surface of the pool. The wild ducks splattered and +quacked as they paddled busily hither and thither, visiting each little +bay and reed-clump at the water's edge. Sometimes, surrendering +themselves wholly to sport and play, they formed little groups of two or +three; and now one group, and then another, would race, half-swimming, +half-flying, from bank to bank or from the rock to the salmon "hover" at +the lower end of the pool. The otter remembered her experience with the +dabchick, and believed that to capture a full-grown duck would tax her +utmost strength and cause a general alarm. Once, however, excited by the +wild ducks' sport, she slipped quietly from the mound, dived deep, and +from the river-bed shot up in the midst of the birds just as they had +congregated to settle a point of difference in a recent event, and to +discuss a second part of their sports' programme for the night. + +As the birds, panic-stricken, scattered on every side, and, following +each other in two long lines that joined in the form of a wedge, flew up +into the starlit sky, Lutra watched them eagerly for a few moments; +then, without a ripple, she sank below the surface and returned to her +watch on the mound. For a while after the ducks had left the pool, +nothing could be heard but the ceaseless noise of falling water. But as +the night drew on, a moorhen ventured from the shelter of the alders, +and, like a tiny, buoyant boat, launched out into the pool. The otter, +with appetite whetted by recent sport among the ducks, again left her +hiding place and silently vanished into the stream. Borne by the +current, she reached, with scarcely an effort, a point in the swirling +depths from which she could catch a glimpse of the dim outline of the +floating bird. Then, rising swiftly, she gripped the moorhen from +beneath, dived across to the "hover," and, having killed and skinned her +prey, feasted at leisure. + +There were times in the second summer of her existence when Lutra, like +the wild ducks, seemed to abandon every thought of the possibility of +danger. Simply for the love of exercise and in enjoyment of the tranquil +night, she played about the pool till the dawn peeped over the hills; +then, tired of her frolic, she sought her secret "holt," and, curling +her tail about her face and holding her hind-paws closely between her +fore-paws, fell asleep. + +While she gambolled in the water, even her quickest movements were as +graceful as those of a salmon stemming the rapids and leaping into the +shallows above the rock. Diving into the depths, she avoided with +scarcely an effort the tangled roots and branches, that, washed thither +by the floods, had long been the dread of anglers when heavy fish were +hooked. Ceasing all exertion as she turned into the current, she floated +to the surface and was borne away down-stream. She swam at highest speed +from the tail to the throat of the pool, and drifted idly back to the +place from which she had started; then, changing her methods, she +skirted slowly the edge of the current, and with one long, straight +dive shot down from the head of the rapids to the still water near her +"holt." + +From playing thus about the pool, the otter learned the power of the +current, and how it hastened or retarded her while she pursued her prey. +But most of all, during the hours of the placid night, she delighted to +frolic in the torrent immediately below the rock, where, matching her +strength against that of the river, she leaped and dived and tumbled +through the foam, or, lying on her back amid a shower of spray, +stretched wide her limbs and suffered the whirlpool to draw her, +unresisting, into its vortex deep beneath the fall. + +Lutra sometimes noticed, while she drifted with the current, that the +scent of her kindred lay strong at the surface not far from her "holt." +One still, moonlit night the scent indicated that several full-grown +otters had at intervals come from the trout-reaches down-stream, and had +landed in a reed-bed at the lower end of the pool. It led away from the +river through the valley, along by a number of stagnant ponds in an old +garden near the farm, and thence to a point beyond a bend where the +river flowed almost parallel to its course at the pool. As the otter, +inquisitively following the line of the scent, came to the ponds, she +heard the croaking of countless frogs hidden in the duckweed that lay +over the entire surface of the water. Lutra made ample use of the +opportunity for a feast--frogs were the greatest delicacies known to +her, and she had never before found them to be so plentiful. Dawn was +breaking when, in her onward journey, she reached the river; so she +drifted around the bend, dived over the fall, and returned to her home +beneath the alder-roots. + +It happened that the otters whose "spur" (footprints) Lutra had followed +to the frog-ponds retraced their steps towards the pool, and in doing so +suddenly discovered that the scent of a man lay strong on the trodden +grass. A villager, knowing the eagerness with which otters seek for +frogs, and that they often cross a narrow neck of land at the bend of a +stream, had for a time kept watch at the lower end of the old farm +garden. He was anxious that the hounds, which, on the previous day, had +arrived at the village, should enjoy good sport during their stay in the +neighbourhood. But he saw nothing of the animals he had come to watch; +as soon as they detected his whereabouts they retreated hastily to the +pond at the upper end of the garden, gained the river, and, like Lutra, +swam homewards around the bend. But, less familiar than Lutra with the +strength of the current, they left the water as they approached the +fall, and crept through the deep shadows of the alder-roots till they +reached a point at some distance beyond the pool. + +These events of the night were of the utmost importance to the otters as +connected with the events of the morrow. During the early morning the +villager paid a second visit to the garden, and examined closely the +soft mud at the margin of the ponds. The remains of the otters' +feast--the skins and the eyes of frogs--lay in several places, and, near +the largest of the ponds, the otters' "spur" showed clearly that the +animals had for some time been busy there. Taking a straight course to +the river above the pools, the watcher again detected the marks of the +otters on the sloping bank. By the riverside below the garden, however, +he failed to observe any further sign, and so concluded that the animals +had probably left the water at the opposite bank. + +When, later, the Hunt crossed the bridge on its way up-stream, the +villager told his story to the Master, who immediately led his hounds +over the hill-top in the direction of the ponds. This unexpected +movement drew the followers of the Hunt away from the river; they +imagined that the hounds were to be taken across country to a well known +gorge where, during a previous season, good sport had been obtained. + +At the farm, the Master, leaving the hounds to the care of the +whippers-in, waited till the villagers and the farmers had congregated +in the yard. He then addressed the crowd, telling them that otters had +visited the garden during the night and probably were still in hiding +there, and that, if good sport were desired, it would be wise for his +followers to form two groups and watch the fords above and below the +river-bend, while he, alone, accompanied the hounds to the garden; his +chief reason, he said, for pointing out to them the advisability of +leaving him was that if an otter still remained near the pond it should +be given every chance of reaching the river without molestation. The +crowd, recognising the wisdom of the Master's remarks, moved off with +the whippers-in to the fords; and, when all was in readiness, the pack +was led into the garden. One, and another, and yet another of the "young +entry" soon gave tongue; then, after a minute's deliberation, an old, +experienced hound raised his head from the rushes, uttered a single +deep, clear note, climbed the garden hedge, and galloped across the +meadow towards the river. + +The rest of the hounds speedily found the line of the "drag," but all +came to a check at the water's edge. They were taken back to the ponds, +and thence to the pool by the farm, but the scent was weak above the +waterfall. They again "cast" to the upper end of the garden, and onward +to the river. Carefully searching every hole and corner in the bank, +they drew down-stream around the bend, and at last struck the scent of +the otters among the reeds below the pool. Lutra heard them tearing +madly past, heard also the dull thud of human footsteps above her +"holt," but she discreetly remained close-hidden in her sleeping +chamber. For hours, in a pool beyond the trout-reach, her visitors of +the previous night were hustled to and fro, and frequent cries of "Gaze! +gaze!" and "Bubble avent!" mingled with the clamour of the hounds. Then +the commotion seemed suddenly to subside. After an interval the hounds +splashed by once more among the alder-roots, and the thud of human +footsteps resounded in the "holt." In the silence that followed, Lutra, +reassured, dived from her "holt," and, paddling gently to the surface, +saw the last stragglers of the Hunt climbing the slope towards the farm. + +That night no otter from the down-stream trout-reach wandered to the +salmon-pool beneath the farm. The water-voles and the moorhens were +unusually alert as they swam hither and thither in the little bays along +the edge of the current. The fear of man and his loud-tongued hounds +rested, like a spell, on the creatures of the river. Even Lutra felt its +power; but when the scent of her foes became so faint as to be lost in +the fragrance of the meadow-sweet along the river-bank, she ventured +into the old garden, and, on returning to the pool, played again in the +raging water by the fall. + + + + +III. + +THE GORGE OF ALLTYCAFN. + + +When Lutra had attained her full size and strength she was wooed and won +by a young dog-otter of her own age, and lived with him in a "holt" +among the great rocks of Alltycafn. Now, again, the Hunt arrived in the +neighbourhood. It was a lovely morning in May. The sun shone brightly; +the leaves were breaking from their sheaths; the birds sang blithely in +the trees. Suddenly the otters, resting in their "holt," were awakened +by a loud commotion--the sounds of hurrying feet, reverberating in the +chamber among the boulders, and then the music of the shaggy hounds, +varied occasionally by the yap-yap of the terriers. The noise drew +rapidly nearer. Presently a man, in red stockings and vest, blue +breeches and coat, and a blue hunting cap bearing an otter's "pad" +mounted in silver, poked among the boulders with a steelshod pole. The +dog-otter was now thoroughly alarmed. He rushed from his lair, dived +straight into the stream, headed through the seething current, and rose +in the adjoining pool. Threatened by a hound, he dived again, walked +over the gravel, and swam under the gnarled roots of an oak. The members +of the Hunt stood watching the bubbles, filled by his breath, as they +floated up and broke. The hounds swam pell-mell in hot pursuit, and the +otter was forced to turn up-stream. Moving cautiously under the rocky +ledges, he regained the "holt," where his terrified mate awaited his +return. Sorely pressed, the dog-otter hid close, hoping to baffle his +relentless pursuers. But a bristling, snarling terrier soon came down +the shaft from the bank. Maddened, and courageous with the fury of +despair, Lutra seized the intruder by the muzzle, and, in the combat +that ensued, sorely mangled her assailant's lips and nostrils. Then, as +her mate dived out once more and swam down-stream, she also left the +chamber. She rose immediately among the surrounding boulders, and hid in +the furthest recess. With nostrils, eyes, and ears raised slightly above +the surface of the water, she stayed there, unseen and hardly daring to +breathe, and, with strained senses watched closely every movement of +hounds and hunters. + +Fortunately for Lutra, the arch of the boulders below was shaped so +peculiarly that the scent of her breath and body was sucked into a +cavity and carried down-stream, and, passing beneath the stone, mingled, +at the raging cataract near the rock, with air in the bubbles formed by +the tumult of the waters. These bubbles, instead of bursting, were drawn +into the vortex of a little whirlpool; and the keen-nosed hounds, though +suspicious, could form no definite opinion as to the presence of a +second otter among the rocks. The terrier knew the secret, but he had +been put out of action and sent off, post haste, to the nearest +veterinary surgeon. Lutra saw her tormentors--some of them of the pure +otter-hound breed, some half otter-hound, half fox-hound, and others, +again, fox-hounds trained for otter-hunting--rushing backwards and +forwards in the water and on the bank. Another terrier, led by a boy, +strained at his leash near the river's brink. Women, dressed, like the +men, in smart scarlet and blue, and as ready to wade into the stream as +the huntsman himself, stood leaning on their otter-poles not far away. +At the fords above and below the "pool," the dog-otter's egress was +barred by outposts of the enemy standing and splashing, in complete +lines, from bank to bank. Once, in despair, the otter actually tried to +break through the human chain; but a hunter "tailed" him for a moment, +and then dropped him into the deeper water beyond the ford. + +The sound of horn, the shouts of men, the deep-toned notes of great +hounds, the shrill yapping of eager terriers, and the splashing and the +plunging on every side, almost bewildered Lutra. Fearing to move from +her shelter, she floated in the deep basin of the hidden pool beside the +cataract, till at last the commotion gradually subsided, and hounds and +hunters passed out of sight down-stream. + +Lutra awaited her mate's return, but in vain. Not till night did she +venture from her hiding place. When, however, the stars appeared, she +swam wearily from pool to pool, calling, calling, calling. She explored +each little bay, each crevice in the rock. She walked up the dry bed of +a tributary brook, and searched among the gnarled roots and the dry, +brown grass fringing the gravelly watercourse. She skirted the meadows +and the rocks where the hunters had beaten down the gorse and the +brambles near her home; thence she returned to the pool. Hitherto she +had loved the placid night; to her the stillness was significant of +peace. But now that stillness was full of sadness, and weariness, and +monotony. The shadows were deep within the gorge; from the distant woods +the hoot of an owl mocked her loneliness. She heard no glad answering +cry. Still calling, calling, calling, she floated through the shadows, +and out into the moonlight shimmering on the placid water below the +gorge; but she sought and called in vain. + +Lutra spent the rest of that year in widowhood. In consequence of her +fight with the terrier, and also because of her grief, her two little +cubs were still-born. + +Midsummer came, and the shallows were almost choked with weeds. The +countryside experienced a phenomenal period of drought, and for weeks +the river seemed impure and almost fetid. Night after night, and +steadily travelling westward, Lutra took short cuts across country from +pool to pool. Late in July she reached the estuary of the river; and for +the remaining months of summer fished in the bay, finding there a +pleasant change in her surroundings. Once she was chased by some men in +a boat, who shot at her as she appeared for an instant to breathe. Quick +and watchful, she dived at the flash, and the pellets fell harmlessly +overhead. Again she rose, and again she dived just in time to avoid the +leaden hail. Then she doubled back towards the estuary, and the baffled +sportsmen sailed away across the bay. As autumn came once more she +returned to the river, and fed chiefly on the migrating eels that +swarmed in the hollows near the bank. Presently, by many a nightly +journey, she gained the upper reaches, where she lived, till the +following spring, close to her old home. + +The winter was long and severe. In January, the fields were buried in +snow, the roads were as smooth and hard as glass, and the +well-remembered pool beneath the pines was almost covered with a great +sheet of ice. At this time another young dog-otter began to show Lutra +considerable attention. The village children often saw the pairing +otters, for the animals, hard pressed, had perforce to fish by day +instead of by night. All night the trout lay dormant under the stones in +the bed of the river, and only at noon did they rise to the surface on +the lookout for hardy ephemerals that, in a short half hour of warmth, +were hatched at the margin of the stream. Lutra and her companion +followed the fish, and afforded a rare, unexpected sight as, bold with +hunger, they ascended to breathe between the sheets of ice in the pool +by the village gardens. At night the otters wandered over the snow, and +sometimes visited the hillside farms. There, among rotting refuse-heaps, +they discovered worms and insects sheltering in genial warmth. When +exceptionally hungry, Lutra and her mate would dig into the chambers of +the mole and the field-vole in the meadows, and search ravenously for +the inmates. Among the roots of the spreading oaks, the otters found, +also, such tit-bits as the larvę of moths and beetles. A starved pigeon +fallen from the pine-boughs; an occasional moorhen weak and almost +defenceless; a wild duck that Lutra had captured by darting from beneath +a root while the indiscreet bird was feeding, head downwards, at the +river's brink--these were among the varied items of the hungry otters' +food. Life was indeed hard to maintain. And, to crown the misfortunes of +the ice-bound winter, Lutra's matrimonial affairs were once more cruelly +disturbed: her mate was caught in a steel trap that Ned the blacksmith +had baited and laid in the meadows near the village bridge. He had +marked the otters' wanderings by their footprints in the snow, and had +then matured his plans. + +The calamity occurred one morning, just before daybreak, as the otters +were returning to the river from a visit to a hen-coop, where they had +found an open door and a solitary chicken. The trap was placed on the +grass by the verge of the stream. A light fall of snow had covered it, +but had left exposed the entrails of a chicken which, by coincidence, +formed the tempting bait. Distressed and perplexed, Lutra stayed by the +dog-otter, trying in vain to release him from his sufferings. The +trapped creature, beside himself with rage and fear and pain, attempted +to gnaw through his crunched and almost severed foot; but as the dawn +lightened the east, and before the limb could be freed, Ned the +blacksmith was to be seen hurrying to the spot. Lutra dived out of +sight, and, unable to interpose, watched, for a second time, a riverside +tragedy. Her attachment, however, had not been of so ardent a nature +that bereavement left her disconsolate. Before April she forgot her +trapped friend, and was mated again. + +Lutra's new spouse had his home in the tributary stream of a +neighbouring valley. So, when the snows had melted and the rime no +longer touched with fairy fingerprints the tracery of the leafless +boughs, and when Olwen the White-footed had come once more into the +valley called after her name, Lutra forsook the broad river in which she +had spent her early life, and, with her companion and a promising +family, lived contented under the frowning Rock of Gwion, secure in +peace and solitude, at least for a season, from the shaggy +otter-hounds. + + + + +THE WATER-VOLE. + +I. + +OUR VILLAGE HOUNDS. + + +Not many years ago the pleasures of life among my neighbours here in the +country were simpler and truer than they are to-day. Perhaps in that +bygone time money was more easily made, or daily need was met with +smaller expenditure. It may be, too, that family cares were then less +pressing, or that a prolonged period of general prosperity had been the +privilege of rich and poor alike in this green river-valley around my +home. In those days, to which I often look back with regretful yearning, +everybody seemed to have leisure; the ties of friendship were not +severed by malicious gossip; old and young seemed to realise how good it +was to have pleasant acquaintanceships and to be in the sunshine and the +open air. Fathers played with their children in the street: one winter +morning, when, after a heavy fall of snow and a subsequent frost, the +ground was as slippery as glass, I watched a white-haired shopkeeper, +lying prone on a home-made toboggan, with his feet sprawling behind for +rudder, steer a load of merry youngsters full tilt down a steep lane +behind his house. The sight was so exhilarating that I also forgot I was +not a child; and on the second journey I joined the sportive party, and +came to grief because the shopkeeper kicked too quickly at a turn in the +course and sent me with a double somersault into the ditch. + +It happened in those days that in the miscellaneous pack of mongrels our +village sportsmen gathered together when they went rabbit-shooting among +the dense coverts of the hillsides were two exceptionally clever dogs--a +big, shaggy, bobtail kind of animal, and a little, smooth-coated beast +resembling a black-and-tan terrier. + +The big dog, Joker, lived at a farm in the village, and, during the +leisure of summer, when rabbiting did not engage his attention, took to +wandering by the river, joining the bathers in their sport and poking +his nose inquisitively under the alder-roots along the bank. While, one +sultry noon, the fun in the bathing pool was at its height, Joker routed +an otter from a hiding place near which the bathers were swimming with +the current, and a terrific fight took place in the shallows before the +_dwrgu_ made good his escape. The dog was found to have been severely +worsted in the fray, and was taken home to be nursed till his wounds +were healed. Meanwhile, Joker's fame as an otter-hound was firmly +established in the village, and he was regarded as a hero. + +The little dog, Bob, lived at the inn, and for years his droll ways +endeared him to every villager, as well as to every angler who came to +"the house" for salmon-fishing. He loved nothing better than a +friendship with some unsuspecting fisherman whom he might afterwards use +to further his own ends. The sight of a rod placed by the door in the +early morning was sufficient promise of a day's continuous enjoyment; +the terrier assumed possession of the rod at once, and kept all other +curs at a distance. On the appearance of the sportsman, he manifested +such unmistakable delight, and pleaded so hard for permission to +follow, that, unless the sportsman happened to be one whose experiences +led him to dislike the presence of a fussy dog by the riverside, the +flattery rarely failed of its object. Once past the rustic swing-bridge +at the lower boundary of the waters belonging to the inn, Bob left the +sportsman to his own devices, and stole off into the woods to hunt +rabbits. Unfailingly, however, he rejoined his friend at lunch. + +On Sundays, knowing that the report of a gun was not likely then to +resound among the woods, and depressed by the quietness and disappointed +by the nervous manner with which everybody well dressed for church +resented his familiarities, he lingered about the street corners--as the +unemployed usually do, even in our village--till the delicious smells of +Sunday dinners pervaded the street. The savoury odours in no way +sharpened his appetite, for at the inn his fare was always of the best; +but they indicated that the time was approaching when the watchmaker and +the lawyer set out together for their long weekly ramble through the +woods. Bob knew what such a ramble meant for him. The watchmaker's dog, +Tip, was Bob's respected sire, and Tip's brother, Charlie, dwelt at a +house in "The Square." Bob, scenting the Sunday dinners, went at once to +call for Charlie, and in his company adjourned to the lane behind the +village gardens, till the watchmaker and the lawyer, with Tip, were +ready for their customary walk. + +When the water was low and anglers seldom visited the inn, Bob, during +the summer week-days, followed Joker's course of action, and attached +himself to a bathing party frequenting a pool below the ruined garden on +the outskirts of the village. There, like Joker, he searched beneath the +alder-roots, but without success as far as an otter was concerned. +However, he vastly enjoyed himself digging out the brown rats from their +holes along the bank not far from a rick-yard belonging to the inn, and +then hunting them about the pool with as much noise and bustle as if he +were close at the tail of a rabbit in the furze. He was so fond of the +water that he became a rapid, untiring swimmer; and the boys trained +him, in intervals of rat-hunting, to dive to the bottom of the river +and pick up a white pebble thrown from the bank. Like Joker, also, he +gained a name for pluck and ability; and one night the village +sportsmen, at an informal meeting in the "private room" of the inn, +decided to hunt in the river on Wednesday evenings, with Bob and Joker +at the head of a pack including nearly every game-dog in the near +neighbourhood, except certain aristocratic pointers and setters likely +to be spoiled by companionship with yelping and excited curs. + +A merrier hunting party was never in the world. They would foregather in +the meadow below the ruined garden: the landlord, whose home-brewed ale +was the best and strongest on the countryside; the curate, whose stern +admonitions were the terror of evil-doers; the farmer, whose skill in +ferreting was greater than in ploughing; the watchmaker, whose clocks +filled the village street with music when, simultaneously, they struck +the hour; the draper, whose white pigeons cooed and fluttered on the +bridge near his shop; the solicitor, whose law was for a time thrown to +the winds; and a small crowd of boys ready to assist, if required, in +"chaining" the fords. There they would "cry" the dogs across the stream +till the valley echoed and re-echoed with shouts and laughter. + +The first hunt was started in spirited fashion; the men walked along the +bank thrusting their sticks into crevices and holes; but only Joker and +Bob entered the water, and rats and otters for a while remained +discreetly out of view. Near a bend of the stream, however, Bob +surprised a rat secreted by a stone, and, forcing it to rush to the +river, followed with frantic speed. Here, at last, was a chase; the +other dogs all hurried to the spot, and the landlord, swinging his +otter-pole, waded out to perform the duties of huntsman with the now +uproarious pack. His action proved infectious--watchmaker, draper, +lawyer, and curate splashed into the shallows to help in keeping the rat +on the move; and fun was fast and furious till the prey, fleeing from a +smart attack by Bob, was captured by a spaniel swimming under a big +oak-root between the curate and the bank. + +I hardly think I have enjoyed any sport so well as those Wednesday +evening hunts in the bygone years, when life was unshadowed and each +sportsman of us felt within him the heart of a child. So great was our +amusement that the village urchins instituted a rival Hunt in the brooks +on Saturdays; they notched their sticks for every "kill," and boasted +that they beat us hollow with the number of their trophies. + +We had several adventures with otters, but the creatures always, in the +end, eluded us, and we soon were of opinion that smaller fry were +capable of affording better fun. Some seasons afterwards, when our Hunt +was disbanded, the shopkeepers' apprentices continued, with the +youngsters, to work our mongrel hounds; but eventually Joker's death +from the bite of an adder put an end to their pastime, for the bobtail +and the terrier were the only possible leaders of the nondescript pack. + +Bob, the terrier, was always the most interesting of our hounds. He +manifested a disposition to use the other dogs to serve his purposes, +just as he used the unsuspecting fishermen if he wished to go hunting in +the woods. When with me after game on the upland farms, he often seemed +to forget entirely that I had taken him to hunt, not for his own +amusement only, but also for mine. Directly he discovered a rabbit +squatting in a clump of grass or brambles, perhaps ten or a dozen yards +from a hedge, he signalled his find by barking so incessantly that my +spaniels hastened pell-mell to the spot. This was just as it should +be--for Bob. Dancing with excitement, he waited between the clump and +the hedge till the spaniels entered and bolted the rabbit; then he tore +madly in close pursuit of the fleeing creature, and my chance of a shot +was spoiled through the possibility of my hitting him instead of his +quarry. + +By the riverside, his tricks were precisely similar. Seeing a moorhen +dive, he would call the dogs around him, so that they might bring the +bird again to the surface and thus afford him sport. The moorhen, +meanwhile, invariably escaped; yet Bob failed to understand that he was +the only diver in the pack. + +His antics were comical in the extreme if a vole eluded him by diving to +the lower entrance of its burrow beneath the surface of a backwater. +Having missed his opportunity, but unable to comprehend how he had +missed it, the terrier left the water, stood on the roots of a tree over +the entrance to the vole's burrow, and furiously barked instructions to +his companions swimming in the pool. Disgusted at last by their +inattention to his orders, he plunged headlong into the stream and +vanished for a few moments; then he reappeared, proud of his superior +bravery, sneezing and coughing, and with a mouthful of stones and soil +torn from the bank in his desperate efforts to force his way to the spot +whither the object of the chase had gone from view. + +Bob long survived the big dog Joker, and in his old days loved as well +as ever the excitement of a hunt. His originality was preserved to the +end; stiffened by rheumatism and almost choked by asthma, he always, +when in search of rabbits, ran up-hill and walked down-hill, thus losing +both energy and breath that might with advantage have been kept in +reserve. + +With the passing of the years, many changes have occurred to sunder the +friendships formed during those boylike expeditions. I smile when I +think how impossible it would be, now that the veneer of town life has +been thinly spread over the life of our village, for the man of law to +go wading, with tucked-up trousers, after rats; how impossible, also, +for him to frequent with me the bathing pool, as was sometimes his wont, +and swim idly hither and thither, while the moon peered between the +trees and the vague witchery of the summer night filled his spirit and +my own. My youthful feelings, long preserved, have been irrevocably +lost; and yet, if only for memory's sake, I would willingly hunt with +him again, and, when night had fallen, swim with him once more in the +dim, mysterious pool below the garden. But the old hunting party could +never be complete. Death makes gaps that Time fails to fill. + +Those evenings were delightful, not only because of unrestrained mirth +and innocent sport, but also because we took a keen interest in our +surroundings, seeing the world of small things by the river-bank with +eyes such as belonged to anglers and hunters of the old-fashioned, +leisurely school. They marked for me the beginning of a pleasant study +of the water-voles that lived in their burrows on the brink of the +river, and were sometimes hunted as persistently as were the brown rats, +but far more frequently eluded our hounds than did the noxious little +brutes we particularly desired to destroy. + +Wherever they take up their quarters, about the farmstead during winter +or in the open fields during summer, brown rats are an insufferable +nuisance. There is no courtesy or kindness in the nature of the rat; no +nesting bird is safe from his attacks, unless her home is beyond his +reach in some cleft of a rock that he cannot scale or in some fork of a +tree that he cannot climb. He is a cannibal--even the young and the sick +of his own kind become the victims of his rapacious hunger--and he will +eat almost anything, living or dead, from the refuse in a garbage heap +to the dainty egg of a willow-wren in the tiny, domed nest amid the +briars at the margin of the river. + +The water-vole is often called, wrongly, the water-rat, but it is of +very different habits, and is well nigh entirely a vegetable feeder, and +one of the most charming and most inoffensive creatures in Britain. To +the close observer of Nature, differences in the character of +animals--even among the members of one species--soon become apparent. I +was struck with manifestations of such unlikeness when I kept small +communities of ants in artificial nests between slips of glass, so as +to watch their doings in my hours of leisure. One nest of yellow ants +contained at first a dozen workers and a queen; and when I began to +study them I used to mark with minute spots of white the bodies of the +particular ants under observation. These spots would remain till the +ants had time for their toilet and either licked themselves clean or +were licked clean by sympathetic companions. At the outset I found that +under a magnifying glass two of the dozen workers were readily +distinguishable from the others because of their size and shape. +Gradually, by detecting little peculiarities, I could single out the +ants, and so had no need to mark my tiny pets in order to follow their +movements, except on occasions when they clustered round the queen, or +rested, gossiping in little groups, here and there in the rooms and +passages of their dwelling. One ant was greedy, and, if she was the +first to find a fresh drop of honey I had placed outside the nest, would +feed to repletion without ever thinking of informing her friends of her +discovery. At such times she even became intoxicated, and I fancied +that, when she did at last get home, eager enquiries made as to the +whereabouts of the nectar met with incoherent replies, since the seekers +for information generally failed to profit by what they were told, and +had to cast about aimlessly for some time before finding the food. I +also observed that another ant was perfectly unselfish, and not only +would inform her companions directly she discovered honey, but would +assiduously feed the queen before attending to her own requirements. And +so my pets were separately known because of faults and failings or good +qualities that often seemed quite human. + +A certain vole, living in the river-bank near the place where the +villagers met to hunt, was not easily mistaken for one of his fellows. +Whereas the general colour of a water-vole's coat--except in the variety +known as the black vole--is greyish brown, which takes a reddish tinge +when the light glances on it between the leaves, his was uniformly of a +dark russet. In keeping with this shiny russet coat, his beady black +eyes seemed to glisten with unusual lustre; and so it happened that the +question, "I wonder if Brighteye is from home?" was often asked as we +sent our hounds to search among the willows on the further bank; and +later it became a custom for the Hunt, before the sport of the evening +was begun, to pass up-stream for a hundred yards or so in order that he +might be left in peace. + +He was quite a baby water-vole when first I made his acquaintance, but +the colour of his coat did not change with the succeeding months, and, +evening after evening, when the noisy hounds were safe at home or +strolling about the village street, I would quietly make my way back to +his haunt, and, hidden behind a convenient tree, carefully watch him. In +this way I learned many secrets of his life, noticed many traits in +which he differed from his companions, and could form a fairly accurate +idea of the dangers that beset him, and of the joys and the sorrows that +fell to his lot during the three years when his presence was familiar as +I fished in the calm summer twilight, or lay motionless in the long +grass near the place where he was wont to sit, silent and alert, before +dropping into the backwater and beginning the work and the play of the +night. + + + + +II. + +THE BURROW IN THE RIVER-BANK. + + +The first faint shadows of dusk were creeping over the river when +Brighteye, awakened by a movement on the part of his mother, stole from +his burrow into the tall grass at the edge of the gravel-bank by the +pool. His home was situated in a picturesque spot between the river and +a woodland path skirting the base of a cliff-like ascent clothed with +giant beeches and an under-garment of ferns and whinberry bushes. Alders +and willows grew along the gravel-bank, and through the moss-tangles +among the roots many a twisting, close-hidden run-way led upwards to +what might be called a main thoroughfare, in and out of the +grass-fringes and the ivy, above high-water mark. This road, extending +from the far-off tidal estuary to the river's source in the wild +mountains to the north, communicated with all the dwellings of the +riverside people, and had been kept clear for hundreds of years by +wandering voles and water-shrews, moorhens, water-rails, and coots, and, +in recent days, by those unwelcome invaders, the brown rats. Here and +there it merged into the wider trail of the otter. Sometimes, near a +hedge, it was joined by the track of rabbits, bank-voles, field-voles, +weasels, and stoats, and sometimes, where brooks and rills trickled over +the stones on their way to the river, by other main roads that had +followed the smaller water-courses from the crests of the hills. + +Brighteye's home might be likened to a cottage nestling among trees at +the end of an embowered lane well removed from busy traffic; it +contained four or five chambers wherein the members of his family dwelt; +and to Brighteye the tall reeds and the bramble thickets were as large +as shrubs and trees are to human beings. And, like a sequestered +cottager, he knew but little about the great road stretching, up-stream +and down-stream, away from his haunts; he was content with his +particular domain--the pool, the shallows beyond, a hundred yards of +intersected lanes, and the wide main road above the pool and the +shallows. + +For a time Brighteye sat at the edge of the stream, alert for any sign +of danger that might threaten his harmless existence. Then playfully he +dropped into the pool, dived, sought the water-entrance to his house, +climbed inside his sleeping chamber, and thence to the bank, where again +he sat intently listening as he sniffed the cool evening air. A +quick-eyed heron was standing motionless in a tranquil backwater thirty +yards up-stream; the scent of the bird was borne down by the water, and +the vole caught it as it passed beneath the bank. But he showed no trace +of terror; the heron was not near enough to give him any real cause for +alarm. The rabbits stole down through the woods, the undergrowth +crackled slightly as they passed, and one old buck "drummed" a danger +signal. Instantly the vole dived again, for he interpreted the sound to +mean that a weasel was on the prowl; and, as he vanished, the first +notes of a blackbird's rattling cry came to his ears. + +Brighteye stayed awhile in his burrow before climbing once more to the +upper entrance. Then cautiously he advanced through the passage, and +gained his lookout station. Not the slightest taint of a weasel was +noticeable on the bank; so, regaining confidence, he sat on his +haunches, brushed his long, bristly whiskers with his fore-feet, and +licked his russet body clean with his warm, red tongue. Then he dropped +once more into the pool, and swam across to a reed-bed on the further +margin. There he found several of his neighbours feeding on roots of +riverside plants. He, too, was hungry, so he bit off a juicy flag at the +spot marking the junction of the tender stalk with the tough, fibrous +stem; then, sitting upright, he took it in his fore-paws, and with his +incisor teeth--shaped perfectly like an adze for such a +purpose--stripped it of its outer covering, beginning at the severed +edge, and laying bare the white pith, on which he greedily fed. + +While thus engaged, he, as usual, watched and listened. The spot was +dangerous for him because of its distance from the stream, and because +the water immediately beyond was so shallow that he could not, by +diving, readily escape from determined pursuit. + +His meal was often interrupted for a few moments by some trifling +incident that caused alarm. A moorhen splattered out from the +willow-roots, and Brighteye crouched motionless, till he recognised that +the noise made by the clumsy bird was almost as familiar to him as the +rustle of the reeds in a breeze. The blue heron rose heavily from the +backwater, and winged his slow flight high above the trees. Here, +indeed, seemed reason for fear; but the great bird was not in the humour +for killing voles, and soon passed out of view. Now a kingfisher, then a +dipper, sped like an arrow past the near corner of the pool; and the +whiz of swift wings--unheard by all except little creatures living in +frequent danger, and listening with beating hearts to sounds unperceived +by our drowsy senses dulled by long immunity from fear--caused momentary +terror to the water-vole. Each trifling sight and sound contributed to +that invaluable stock of experience from which he would gradually learn +to distinguish without hesitation between friends and foes, and be freed +from the pain of needless anxiety which, to Nature's weaklings, is at +times almost as bitter as death. + +Brighteye was fated to meet with an unusual number of adventures, and +consequently to know much of the agony of fear. His russet coat was more +conspicuous than that of his soberly gowned companions, and he was on +several occasions marked for attack when they escaped detection. But he +became the wisest, shyest, most watchful vole along the wooded +river-reach, and in time his neighbours and offspring were so influenced +by his example and training that a strangely furtive kindred, the +wildest of the wild, living in secrecy--their presence revealed to +loitering anglers only by tell-tale footprints on the wet sand when the +torrent dwindled after a flood--seemed to have come to haunt the river +bank between the cottage gardens and the swinging bridge above the pool +where Brighteye dwelt. + +Though Brighteye's distinctive appearance attracted the notice of +numerous enemies, his marked individuality was not wholly a misfortune, +since it aroused my kindly interest, and thus caused him to be spared by +the village hunting party. + +As he sat in the first shadows of evening among the reeds and the +rushes, the kingfisher and the dipper, by which a few minutes before he +had been startled, flew back from the direction of the village gardens; +and he quickly decided, while watching their flight, that somehow it +must be connected with the dull, but now plainly audible, thud of +approaching footsteps on the meadow-path. The buck "drummed" again, then +the rustling "pat, pat" of the rabbits ceased in the wood, and one by +one the adult voles feeding in the reed-bed slipped silently into the +shallows and disappeared. + +Brighteye was loath to relinquish the juicy rush that he held in his +fore-paws, but the signs of danger were insistent. After creeping +through the reeds to the water's edge, he proceeded a little way down +the bank till he came to a spot where the view of the meadow-path was +uninterrupted. His sight was not nearly so keen as his scent and hearing +were, but he discerned, in a blur of dim fields, and rippling water, and +evening light peering through the willow-stoles, a number of unfamiliar +moving objects. He heard quick, uneven footsteps, and, now and then, a +voice; and was aware of an unmistakable scent, such as he had already +often noticed in the shallows and amid the grass. + +On several occasions, at dusk, Brighteye, like Lutra the otter, had seen +a trout splashing and twisting convulsively in terror and pain. Each +time the trout had been irresistibly drawn through the shallows towards +a peculiar, upright object on the opposite bank, and after this object +had passed into the distance the vole had found that the familiar scent +of which he was now conscious was mingled, at the edge of the +river-bank, with fresh blood-stains and with the strong smell of fish. + +To all animals, whether wild or domesticated, fresh-spilt blood has a +significance that can never be disregarded. It indicates suffering and +death. Ever since, in far distant years, blood first welled from a +stricken creature's wounds, Nature has been haunted by the grim presence +of Fear. The hunting weasel, coming unexpectedly to a pool of blood, +whence a wounded rabbit has crawled away to die in the nearest burrow, +opens mouth and nostrils wide to inhale with fierce delight the pungent +odour. Once I caught sight of a weasel under such circumstances, and was +startled by the almost demon-like look of ferocity on the creature's +face. + +But the hunted weaklings of the fields and woods read the signs of death +with consternation. When the scent of the slayer is mingled with that of +the victim it is noted with care, and, if often detected in similar +conditions, is committed to memory as inseparable from danger. + +Brighteye had been repeatedly warned by his mother to avoid the presence +of man, and had also learned to fear it because of his experiences with +the angler and the trout. Alarmed at the approach of men and hounds, he +waded out, swam straight up-stream to a tiny bay, and hid beneath a +willow-root to wait till the danger had passed. He strained his ears to +catch each different sound as the "thud, thud" and the patter of feet +came nearer. Then the gravel rattled, a stone fell into the stream, and +a shaggy spaniel poked his nose into a hole between the willow-roots. +The dog drew a long, noisy breath, and barked so suddenly and loudly, +and so close to Brighteye's ear, that the vole involuntarily leaped +from his resting place. + +In full view of the spaniel, Brighteye passed deep down into the clear, +unruffled pool, hurriedly using every limb, instead of only his +hind-legs, and with quick strokes gained the edge of the current, where +for an instant he rose to breathe before plunging deep once more and +continuing his journey towards the willows on the opposite bank. As he +dived for the second time, Bob saw him among the ripples, and with +shrill voice headed the clamouring hounds, that, "harking forward" to +his cry, rushed headlong in pursuit through shallow and pool. A stout, +lichen-covered branch, weighed down at the river's edge by a mass of +herbage borne thither by a recent heavy flood, occupied a corner in the +dense shadow of an alder; and the vole, climbing out of the water, sat +on it, and was hidden completely by the darkness from the eager hounds. +But his sanctuary was soon invaded; the indefatigable terrier, guided by +the tiny bubbles of scent borne down by the stream, left the river, and +ran, whimpering with excitement, straight to the alder. Brighteye saw +him approach, dived silently, and, with a wisdom he had never gained +from experience, turned in a direction quite contrary to that in which +the terrier expected him to flee. The vole moved slowly, right beneath +the dark form of the terrier now swimming in the backwater. On, on, he +went, past the stakes at the outlet of the pool into the trout-reach, +and still on, by a series of dives, each following a brief interval for +breath and observation among the sheltering weeds, till he arrived at +the pool above the cottage gardens, where a wide fringe of brushwood +formed an impenetrable thicket and he was safe from his pursuers. + +Hardly, however, was this long journey needed. The dog was baffled at +the outset; and, casting about for the lost scent, he discovered, on the +pebbles, the strong smell of the weasel that had wandered thither to +quench his thirst while Brighteye was feeding in the reed-bed opposite. +Bob never by any chance neglected the opportunity of killing a stoat or +a weasel; so, abandoning all thoughts of rats and voles, he dashed +upward through the wood, and, almost immediately closing on his prey, +destroyed a bloodthirsty little tyrant that, unknown to Brighteye, had +just been planning a raid on the burrow by the willow-stoles. + +Water-voles, as a rule, are silent little creatures; unless attacked or +frightened they seldom squeak as they move in and out of the lush +herbage by the riverside. But Brighteye was undoubtedly different from +his fellows: he was almost as noisy as a shrew in the dead leaves of a +tangled hedgerow, and his voice was like a shrew's, high-pitched and +continuous, but louder, so that I could hear him at some distance from +his favourite resort in the reeds and the rushes by the willows. He +seemed to be always talking to himself or to the flowers and the river +as he wandered to and fro in search of tit-bits; always debating with +himself as to the chances of finding a tempting delicacy; always +querulous of danger from some ravenous tyrant that might surprise him in +his burrow, or pounce on him unawares from the evening sky, or rise, +swift, relentless, eager, from the depths beneath him as he swam across +the pool. + +When I got to know him well, my favourite method, in learning of his +ways, was to lie in wait at a spot commanding a view of one or other of +the narrow lanes joining the main road of the riverside folk, and there, +my face hidden by a convenient screen of interlacing grass-stems, to +listen intently for his approach. Generally, for five minutes or so +before he chose to reach my hiding place, I could hear his shrill +piping, now faint and intercepted by a mound, or indistinct and mingled +with the swirl of the water around the stakes, then full and clear as he +gained the summit of a stone or ridge and came down the winding path +towards me. Though in his talkative moments Brighteye usually reminded +me of the tiny shrew, there were times when he reminded me more forcibly +of an eccentric mouse that, a few years before, had taken up her +quarters in the wall of my study, and each night, for more than a week, +when the children's hour was over and I sat in silence by my shaded +lamp, had made her presence known by a bird-like solo interrupted only +when the singer stayed to pick up a crumb on her way across the room. + +The times when Brighteye wandered, singing, singing, down the lanes and +main road of the river-bank, were, however, infrequent; and the surest +sign of his approach, before he came in sight, was the continuous, +gossiping twitter I have already described. This habit of singing and +twittering was not connected with amorous sentiments towards any sleek +young female; Brighteye adopted it long before he was of an age to seek +a mate, and he ceased practising his solos before the first winter set +in and the morning sun glanced between leafless trees on a dark flood +swirling over the reed-bed where in summer was his favourite feeding +place. + +Whether or not the other voles frequenting the burrow by the willows had +shown their disapproval of such a habit I was never able to discover. +One fact, however, seemed significant: Brighteye parted from his parents +as soon as he was sufficiently alert and industrious to manage his own +affairs, and, having hollowed out a plain, one-roomed dwelling, with an +exit under the surface of the water and another near some primrose-roots +above the level of flood, lived there for months, timid and lonely, yet +withal, if his singing might be regarded as the sign of a gladsome life, +the happiest vole in the shadowed pool above the village gardens. + +It has been supposed by certain naturalists that the song of the +house-mouse is the result of a disease in its throat, and is therefore a +precursor of death. The mouse that came to my study ceased her visits +soon after the week had passed and was never seen again; and I was +unable to determine how her end was hastened. Brighteye could not, at +any rate, have suffered seriously, else he would have succumbed, either +to some enemy ever ready to prey on the young, the aged, the sick, and +the wounded of his tribe, or to starvation, the well-nigh inevitable +follower of disease in animals. He always seemed to me to be full of +vitality and happiness, as if the dangers besetting his life only +provided him with wholesome excitement, and sharpened his intellect far +more finely than that of the rest of his tribe. + + + + +III. + +WILD HUNTING. + + +Once, during the first summer of the water-vole's life, I saw as pretty +a bit of wild hunting as I have ever witnessed, and my pleasure was +enhanced by the fact that the quarry escaped unharmed. Early in the +afternoon, instead of during twilight, I, in company with the members of +the village Hunt and their mongrel pack, had searched the stream and its +banks for rats, and had enjoyed good sport. Suddenly, however, our +ragamuffin hounds struck the line of nobler game: Lutra, the otter, was +astir in the pool. + +I was not surprised, for on the previous night, long after the moon had +risen and sleep had descended on the village, I, with Ianto the +fisherman, had passed the spot on returning from an angling expedition +eight or ten miles up-stream, and had stayed awhile to watch the most +expert of all river-fishers, as she dived and swam from bank to bank, +and sometimes, turning swiftly into the backwater, landed on the shingle +close by Brighteye's reed-bed, to devour at leisure a captured trout. + +Lutra soon baffled our inexpert hounds, and gained refuge in a "strong +place" well behind a fringe of alder-roots, whence Bob, notwithstanding +his most strenuous efforts, failed to "bolt" her. I then drew off the +hounds, led them towards the throat of the pool, and for a half hour +assisted them to work the "stale drag," till I reached a bend of the +river where Lutra's footprints were still visible on the fine, wet sand +at the brink of a rapid. + +Later, when the dogs were quietly resting at their homes, I returned, +alone, to my hiding place not far from Lutra's "holt." As long as +daylight lasted I saw nothing of vole or otter, though several brown +rats, undeterred by the disturbance of the early afternoon, came from +their burrows and ran boldly hither and thither through the arched +pathways of the rank grass by the edge of the bank. The afterglow faded +in the western sky around the old church beyond the village gardens; and +the night, though one by one the stars were lighted overhead, became so +dark that I could see nothing plainly except the white froth, in large +round masses, floating idly down the pool. I waited impatiently for the +moon to rise, for I feared lest the faint, occasional plashes in the +pool indicated that the otter had left her "holt," and would probably be +fishing in a distant pool when an opportunity for observation arrived. + +The night was strangely impressive, as it always is to me while I roam +through the woodlands or lie in hiding to watch the creatures that haunt +the gloom-wrapt clearings among the oaks and the beeches. In the +darkness, long intervals, during which nothing will be seen or heard, +must of necessity be spent by the naturalist; and in such intervals the +mind is often filled with what may, perhaps, be best described as the +spiritual influence of night, when the eyes turn upward to the stars or +to the lights of a lone farmstead twinkling through the trees, and +imagination, wondering greatly at its own daring, links time with +eternity, and the destinies of this little world with the affairs of a +limitless universe. + +At length the rim of the full moon appeared above the crest of the hill +behind the village, and gradually, as the orb ascended, the night became +brighter, till the whole surface of the pool, except for a fleeting +shadow, was clear and white, and a broad silver bar lay across the +ripples between me and the reed-bed on the further side. For a time no +sign of a living creature was visible; then a brown rat crept along the +bank beneath my hiding place; a dim form, which from its size I +concluded was that of Lutra, the otter, crossed a spit of sand about a +dozen yards above the reed-bed, where a moonbeam glanced through the +alders; and a big brown owl, silhouetted against the sky, flew silently +up-stream, and perched on a low, bare branch of a Scotch fir beside the +grass-grown path. + +After another uneventful interval a slight movement was observable in +the reeds directly opposite. Straight in the line of the silver bar a +water-vole came towards me, only the head of the little swimmer being +visible at the apex of a V-shaped wake lengthening rapidly behind him. +More than half-way across the pool a large boulder stood out of the +water, but the vole was heading towards the bank above. Then, apparently +without cause, he turned quickly and made straight for the stone. He had +barely landed and run round to hide in a shallow depression of the stone +when the water seemed to swell and heave immediately beside the boulder, +and Lutra's head, with wide-open jaws, shot above the current. +Disappointed, the otter vanished under the shining surface of the +stream, came to sight once more in an eddy between the boulder and the +bank, and once more disappeared. I was keenly interested, for every +movement of the vole and the otter had been plainly discernible, so +bright was the night, and so close were the creatures to my hiding +place; and, raising myself slightly, I crawled a few inches nearer the +edge of the overhanging bank. + +[Illustration: "AN OPPORTUNITY CAME, WHICH, HAD SHE BEEN POISED IN THE +AIR, COULD SCARCELY HAVE BEEN MISSED."] + +For a long time the vole, not daring to move, remained in the shadow. I +had almost concluded that he had dived through some crevice into the +dark water on the other side of the boulder, when he cautiously lifted +his head to the light, and crept into a grass-clump on the top of the +stone. Thence, after a little hesitation, he moved to the edge, as if +contemplating a second swim. Fastidious as to his toilet, even in the +presence of danger, he rose on his haunches and washed his round, furry +face. The action was almost fatal. The brown owl, that had doubtless +seen him by the grass-clump and had therefore left her perch in the +fir-tree, dropped like a bolt and hovered, with wings nearly touching +the silver stream, above the spot where she had marked her prey. But she +was too late--the vole had dived. Yet, even while, having alighted on +the boulder, the owl stood baffled by the disappearance of the vole, an +opportunity came, which, had she been poised in the air, could scarcely +have been missed. Close to the near bank a wave rose above the surface +of the eddy as Lutra, having seen the vole dive from the stone, again +hurried in pursuit. So fast was the otter that the momentum carried her +well into the shallows. But for the third time the vole escaped. I +indistinctly saw him scramble out, and run, with a shrill squeak, across +a ridge of sand, offering a second chance to the listening owl; and, +from his flight in the direction of the well known burrow, I concluded +that the hunted creature was russet-coated little Brighteye. But the +bird knew that she could not rise and swoop in time; so, probably +disturbed by the presence of the otter, she flew away down-stream just +as Lutra, since the vole was out of reach, glided from the sand and +philosophically turned her attention to less evasive trout and eels. + +Then all was motionless and silent, but for an occasional faint whistle +as Lutra fished in the backwater at the throat of the pool, the wailing +cry of the owl from the garden on the crest of the slope behind me, and +the ceaseless, gentle ripple of the river. At last, when the voices of +the otter and the owl were still, and when the shadows were +foreshortened as the moon gazed coldly down between the branches of the +fir, Brighteye, having recovered from his recent fright, left his +sanctuary by the roots of the willow, and wandered, singing, singing, +down the white, winding run-way and out into the main road of the +riverside people, till he came to a jutting branch above the river's +brim, whence he dived into the placid pool, and swam away towards the +reed-bed. Then the crossed shadows of the flags and hemlocks screened +him from my sight. + +The first autumn in the water-vole's life was a season of wonderful +beauty. A few successive frosts chilled the sap in the trees and the +bushes near the river, but were succeeded by a long period when the air +was crisp yet balmy, and not a breath of wind was noticeable except by +the birds and the squirrels high among the giant beeches around the old +garden, and when the murmur of summer insects was never heard by night, +and only by day if a chance drone-fly or humble-bee visited a surviving +clump of yellow ragweed by the run-way close to Brighteye's burrow. The +elms and the sycamores glowed with purple and bronze, the ash-trees and +the willows paled to lemon yellow, the oaks arrayed themselves in rich +and glossy olive green; while the beeches in the glade, and the brambles +along the outskirts of the thickets, ruddy and golden and glittering in +the brief, delicious autumn days, seemed to filter and yet stain the +mellow sunshine, and to fill each nook with liquid shadow as pure and +glorious as the blue and amber lights on the undulating hills. Spread on +the bosom of the brimming river, and broken, here and there, by creamy +lines of passing foam, the reflections of this beauty seemed to well and +bubble, from unfathomable deeps, around the "sly, fat fishes sailing, +watching all." + +The water became much colder than in summer; but Brighteye, protected by +a warm covering of thick, soft fur through which the moisture could not +penetrate, as well as by an over-garment of longer, coarser hair from +which the drops were easily shaken when he left the stream, hardly +noticed the change of temperature. But he well knew there were changes +in the surroundings of his home. The flags in the reed-bed were not so +succulent as they had been in early summer; the branches that sometimes +guided him as he swam from place to place seemed strangely bare and +grey; the clump of may-weed that, growing near his burrow, had served as +a beacon in the gloom, was faded to a few short brown tufts; and +nightly in his wanderings he was startled by the withered leaves that, +like fluttering birds, descended near him on the littered run-ways or on +the glassy surface of the river-reach. It was long before he became +accustomed to the falling of the leaves, and up to the time when every +bough was bare the rustling flight of a great chestnut plume towards him +never failed to rouse the fear first wakened by the owl, and to send him +on a long, breathless dive to the bottom of the pool. + +Brighteye was a familiar figure to all the river-folk, while he, in +turn, knew most of them, and had learned to distinguish between friends +and foes. But occasionally he made a slight mistake. Though shy, he was +as curious as the squirrel that, one afternoon when Brighteye was early +abroad, hopped down the run-way to make his acquaintance, and frightened +him into a precipitate retreat, then ran out to a branch above the +stream and loudly derided the creature apparently drowning in the +stream. + +An object of ceaseless curiosity to Brighteye was a water-shrew, not +more than half the size of the vole, that had come to dwell in the +pool, and had tunnelled out a burrow in the bank above the reed-bed. +Nightly, after supper, Brighteye made a circuit of the pool to find the +shrew, and with his companion swam hither and thither, till, startled by +some real or imagined danger, each of the playmates hurried to refuge, +and was lost awhile to the other amid the darkness and the solitude of +the silent hours. + +Brighteye soon became aware of the fact that some of the habits of the +shrew were entirely different from his own. While the vole was almost +entirely a vegetable feeder, the shrew, diving to the bed of the river, +would thrust his long snout between the stones, and pick up grubs and +worms and leeches sheltering there. With Brighteye's curiosity was +mingled not a little wonderment, for the shrew's furry coat presented a +strange contrast of black above and white beneath, and, immediately +after the shrew had dived, a hundred little bubbles, adhering to the +ends of his hair, caused him to appear like a silvery grey phantom, +gliding gracefully, though erratically, from stone to stone, from patch +to patch of water-weed, from ripple to ripple near the surface of the +stream. The young brown trout, hovering harmlessly above the rocky +shelves and in the sandy shallows, far from being a source of terror to +Brighteye, fled at his approach, and seldom returned to their haunts +till he had reached the far side of the current. Emboldened by the +example of the shrew, that sometimes made a raid among the minnows, and +desirous of keeping all intruders away from the lower entrance to his +burrow, Brighteye habitually chased the trout if they ventured within +the little bay before his home. But there was one trout, old and lean, +whose haunt was behind a weed-covered stone at the throat of the pool, +and of this hook-beaked, carnivorous creature, by which he had once been +chased and bitten, Brighteye went in such constant fear that he avoided +the rapid, and, directly he caught a glimpse of the long, dark form +roving through the gloomy depths, paddled with utmost haste to his +nearest landing place. + +Since, under the care of his mother, he made his earliest visit to the +reed-bed, Brighteye had seen hundreds of giant salmon; the restless +fish, however, did not stay long in the pool, but after a brief sojourn +passed upward. Often at dusk the salmon would leap clear into the air +just as Brighteye came to the surface after his first dive, and once so +near was a sportive fish that the vole became confused for the moment by +the sudden turmoil of the "rise," and rocked on the swell of the +back-wash like a boat on the waves of a tossing sea. During the summer +Brighteye had suffered nothing, beyond this one sudden fright, from the +visits of the great silvery fish to the neighbourhood of his home; and, +notwithstanding his experience, he was accustomed to dive boldly into +the depths of the "hovers," and even to regard without fear the approach +of an unusually inquisitive salmon. Late in the autumn, however, +Brighteye noticed, with unaccountable misgiving, a distinct change in +the appearance of these passing visitors. The silvery sheen had died +away from their scales, and had been succeeded by a dark, dull red; and +the fish were sluggish and ill-tempered. Besides, they were so numerous, +especially after a heavy rainfall, that the stream seemed barely able +to afford them room in their favourite "hovers," and the old trout, +previously an easy master of the situation, found it almost beyond his +powers to keep trespassers from his particular haunt in mid-current at +the throat of the pool. So occupied was he with this duty that he seldom +roamed into the little bays beneath the alder-fringes; and Brighteye, so +long as he avoided the rapid, was fairly safe from his attack. The +reed-bed, though partly submerged, still yielded the vole sufficient +food; and to reach it straight from his home he had to pass through the +shallows, which extended for a considerable distance up-stream and +down-stream from the gravelly stretch immediately outside the reeds. + +About the beginning of winter, when the migration of the salmon had +become intermittent, and the sea-trout had all passed upward beyond the +pool, two of the big, ugly "red fish," late arrivals at the "hover" +nearest the burrow, made a close inspection of the pool; then, instead +of following their kindred to the further reaches, they fell back toward +the tail of the stream and there remained. After the first week of +their stay, Brighteye found them so ill-tempered that he dared not +venture anywhere near the tail of the stream; and, as the big trout at +the top of the pool showed irritation at the least disturbance, the vole +was forced to wander down the bank, to a spot below the salmon, before +crossing the river on his periodical journeys to the reed-bed. His +kindred, still living in the burrow where he had been born, were +similarly daunted; while the shrew became the object of such frequent +attack--especially from the bigger of the two salmon, an old male with a +sinister, pig-like countenance and a formidable array of teeth--that +escape from disaster was little short of miraculous. + +Having calculated to a nicety his chances of escape, and having decided +to avoid at all times the haunts of the pugnacious fish, Brighteye was +seldom inconvenienced, except that he had to pass further than hitherto +along the bank before taking to the water, and thus had to risk attack +from weasels and owls. But soon, to his dismay, he discovered that the +salmon had shifted their quarters to the shallow close by the reeds. He +was swimming one night as usual into the quiet water by the reed-bed, +and, indeed, had entered a narrow, lane-like opening among the stems, +when he felt a quick, powerful movement in the water, and saw a +mysterious form turn in pursuit of him, and glide swiftly away with a +mighty effort that caused a wave to ripple through the reeds, while the +outer stalks bent and recoiled as if from the force of a powerful blow. +On the following night he was chased almost to the end of the opening +among the reeds, and barely escaped; but this time he recognised his +pursuer. Afterwards, having unexpectedly met the shrew, he crept with +his companion along by the water's edge as far as the ford, and spent +the dark hours in a strange place, till at dawn he crossed the rough +water, and sought his home by a path the further part of which he had +not previously explored. + + + + +IV. + +SAVED BY AN ENEMY. + + +The days were dim and the nights long, and thick, drenching mists hung +over the gloomy river. The salmon's family affairs had reached an +important stage; and the "redd," furrowed in the gravel by the mated +fish, contained thousands of newly deposited eggs. And, as many of the +river-folk, from the big trout to the little water-shrew, continually +threatened a raid on the spawn, the salmon guarded each approach to the +shallows with unremitting vigilance. + +It happened, unfortunately for Brighteye, that, while the construction +of the "redd" was in progress, some of the eggs--unfertilised and +therefore not heavy enough to sink to the bottom of the water--were +borne slowly by the current to the ford below the pool, just as the +shrew was occupied there in vain attempts to teach the vole how to hunt +for insects among the pebbles. + +If Brighteye had been at all inclined to vary his diet, he would at that +moment have yielded to temptation. Everywhere around him the trout were +exhibiting great eagerness, snapping up the delicacies as they drew +near, and then moving forward on the scent in the direction of the +"redd." The shrew joined in the quest; and Brighteye, full of curiosity, +swam beside his playmate in the wake of the hungry trout. The vole found +quite a shoal of fish collected near the reeds; and for a few moments he +frolicked about the edge of the shallow. He could see nothing of the old +male salmon, though he caught a glimpse of the female busy with her +maternal duties at the top of the "redd." + +After diving up-stream and along by the line of the eager trout, he rose +to breathe at the surface, when, suddenly, the river seemed alive with +trout scattering in every direction, a great upheaval seemed to part the +water, and he himself was gripped by one of his hind-feet and dragged +violently down and across to the deep "hover" near his home. The salmon +had at last outwitted the vole. The current was strong, and beneath its +weight Brighteye's body was bent backwards till his fore-paws rested on +the salmon's head. Mad with rage and fright, he clawed and bit at the +neck of his captor. Gradually his strength was giving way, and for want +of air he was losing consciousness, when, like a living bolt, Lutra, the +otter, to save unwittingly a life that she had erstwhile threatened, +shot from the darkness of the river-bed, and fixed her teeth in the neck +of the salmon scarcely more than an inch from the spot to which the vole +held fast in desperation. In the struggle that ensued, and ended only +when Lutra had carried her prey to shore, Brighteye, half suffocated and +but faintly apprehending what had taken place, was released. Like a cork +he rose to the surface, where he lay outstretched and gasping, while the +current carried him swiftly to the ford, and thence to the pool beneath +the village gardens. Having recovered sufficiently to paddle feebly +ashore, he sat for a time in the safe shelter of a rocky ledge, +unnoticed by the brown rats as they wandered through the tall, withered +grass-clumps high above his hiding place. At last he got the better of +his sickness and fright; and, notwithstanding the continued pain of his +scarred limbs, he brushed his furry coat and limped homeward just as the +dawn was silvering the grey, silent pool where the lonely salmon guarded +the "redd" and waited in vain for the return of her absent mate. + +Brighteye took to heart his own escape from death, and for several +nights moped and pined, ate little, and frequented only a part of the +river-bank in proximity to his burrow. As soon, however, as the tiny +scars on his leg were healed, he ventured again to the river; and for a +period danger seldom threatened him. While he was unceasingly vigilant, +and always ready to seek with utmost haste the safety of his home, a new +desire to take precautions against the probability of attack possessed +him. When, at dusk, he stole out from the upper entrance of his +dwelling, he crouched on the grassy ledge at the river's brim and peered +into the little bay below. If nothing stirred between the salmon "hover" +and the bank, he dropped quietly into the pool, inhaled a long, deep +breath, dived beneath the willow-roots, and watched, through the clear +depths, each moving fish or swaying stem of river-weed within the range +of his vision. But not till, after several visits to his water-entrance, +he was perfectly convinced of the absence of danger, did he dare to +brave the passage of the pool. + +The water-entrance to the vole's burrow was situated about a foot below +the summer level of the river, and in a kind of buttress of gravel and +soil, which, at its base, sloped abruptly inwards like an arch. This +buttress jutted out at the lower corner of a little horse-shoe bay; and +hereabouts, during summer, a shoal of minnows had often played, +following each other in and out of every nook and cranny beneath the +bank, or floating up and flashing in sun-flecked ripples faintly stirred +by a breeze that wandered lightly from across the stream. + +Ordinarily, Brighteye found that the hole in the perpendicular bank +served its purpose well; at the slightest disturbance he could escape +thither, and, safe from pursuit, climb the irregular stairway to the +hollow chamber above high-water mark. But it was different in times of +flood. If he had to flee from the big trout, or from the otter, when the +stream rushed madly past his open doorway, he found that an interval, +which, however brief, was sufficient to imperil his life, must +necessarily elapse before he could secure a foothold in his doorway and +lift himself into the dark recess beyond. + +[Illustration: "THE BIG TROUT, IN HIS TORPEDO-LIKE RUSH TO CUT OFF +BRIGHTEYE FROM SURE REFUGE." (_See_ p. 105).] + +Lutra had almost caught him after his adventure with the owl. He had, +however, eluded the otter by diving, in the nick of time, from the stone +to which he clung before the entrance, and then seeking the land. If he +had been an instant later, she would have picked him off, as a bat picks +a moth from a lighted window-pane, and he would never have reached the +down-stream shallow. At that time the water, clearing after a summer +freshet, was fairly low. Brighteye's danger in some wild winter flood +would, therefore, be far greater; so, timorous from his recent +experiences, and sufficiently intelligent to devise and carry out plans +by which he would secure greater safety, he occupied his spare time in +the lengthening nights with driving a second shaft straight inward +from the chamber to a roomy natural hollow among the willow-roots, and +thence in devious course, to avoid embedded stones, downward to a tiny +haven in the angle of the buttress far inside the archway of the bank, +where the space was so confined that the otter could not possibly follow +him. Even the big trout, in his torpedo-like rush to cut off Brighteye +from sure refuge, utterly failed to turn, and then enter the narrow +archway, in time to catch the artful vole. + +The task of digging out the second tunnel was exceedingly arduous; yet, +on its completion, Brighteye, taught by the changes going on around him +that months of scarcity were impending, set to work again about half-way +between his sleeping chamber and the upper entrance of the burrow. Here +he scratched out a small, semicircular "pocket," which he filled with +miscellaneous supplies--seeds of many kinds, a few beech-nuts, +hazel-nuts, and acorns, as well as roots of horse-tail grass and fibrous +river-weed. + +He was careful, like his small relative the field-vole, and like the +squirrel in the woods above the river-bank, to harvest only ripe, +undamaged seeds and nuts; and in making his choice he was helped by his +exquisite sense of smell. He found some potatoes and carrots--so small +that they had been dropped as worthless by a passing labourer on the +river-path--and selected the best, leaving the others to rot among the +autumn leaves. As the "pocket" was inadequate to contain his various +stores, the vole used the chamber also as a granary, and slept in the +warm, dry hollow by the willow-roots. + +In the depth of winter, when the mist-wreaths on the stream were icy +cold and brought death to the sleeping birds among the branches of the +leafless alders, and when Lutra, ravenous with hunger, chased the great +grey trout from his "hover," but lost him in a crevice near the stakes, +Brighteye, saved from privation by his hoarded provender, seldom +ventured from his home. But if the night was mild and the stars were not +hidden by a cloud of mist, he would steal along his run-way to the main +road of the riverside people, strip the bark from the willow-stoles, and +feed contentedly on the juicy pith; while his friend, the shrew, busy in +the shallows near the reed-bed, searched for salmon-spawn washed from +the "redd" by the turbulent flood, or for newly hatched fry no longer +guarded by the lonely parent fish long since departed on her way to the +distant sea. + +The spirit of winter brooded over the river valley. The faint summer +music of the gold-crest in the fir-tops, the sweet, flute-like solo of +the meditative thrush in the darkness of the hawthorn, and the weird, +continuous rattle of the goatsucker perched moveless on an oak-bough +near the river-bend, were no longer heard when at dusk Brighteye left +his burrow and sat, watching and listening, on the little eminence above +the river's brink. Even the drone of the drowsy beetle, swinging over +the ripples of the shadowed stream or from tuft to tuft of grass beside +the woodland path, had ceased. But at times the cheery dipper still sang +from the boulder whence the vole had dived to escape the big brown owl; +and, when other birds had gone to sleep, the robin on the alder-spray +and the wren among the willow-stoles piped their glad vespers to assure +a saddened world that presently the winter's gloom would vanish before +the coming of another spring. + +Like a vision of glory, which, in the first hour of some poor wanderer's +sleep, serves but to mock awhile his awakened mind with recollections of +a happy past, so had the Indian summer shone on Nature's tired heart, +and mocked, and passed away. The last red roseleaf had fluttered +silently down; the last purple sloe had fallen from its sapless stem. + +A sharp November frost was succeeded by a depressing month of mist and +drizzling rain. Then the heavens opened, and for day after day, and +night after night, their torrents poured down the stony water-courses of +the hills. The river rose beyond the highest mark of summer freshets, +till the low-lying meadow above the village was converted into a lake, +and Brighteye's burrow disappeared beneath the surface of a raging +flood. + +Gifted with a mysterious knowledge of Nature's moods--which all wild +animals in some degree possess--the vole had made ready for the sudden +change. On the night preceding the storm, when in the mist even the +faintest sounds seemed to gain in clearness and intensity, he had +hollowed out for himself a temporary dwelling among the roots of a +moss-grown tree on the steep slope of the wood behind the river-path, +and had carried thither all his winter supplies from the granary where +first they had been stored. + +Brighteye was exposed to exceptional danger by his compulsory retirement +from the old burrow in the river-bank. Stoats and weasels were ever on +the prowl; no water-entrance afforded him immediate escape from their +relentless hostilities, and he was almost as liable to panic, if pursued +for any considerable distance on land, as were the rabbits living on the +fringe of the gravel-pit within the heart of the silent wood. If a +weasel or a stoat had entered the vole's new burrow during the period +when the flood was at its highest, only the most fortunate circumstances +could have saved its occupant. Even had he managed to flee to the river, +his plight would still have been pitiful. Unable to find security in his +former retreat, and effectually deterred by the lingering scent of his +pursuers from returning to his woodland haunts, Brighteye, a homeless, +hungry little vagabond, at first perplexed, then risking all in search +of food and rest, would inevitably have met his fate. + +But neither stoat nor weasel learned of his new abode. His burrow was +high and dry in the gravelly soil under the tree-trunk; and before his +doorway, as far as a hollow at the river's verge, stretched a natural +path of rain-washed stones on which the line of his scent could never +with certainty be followed. While many of his kindred perished, +Brighteye survived this period of flood; and when the waters, having +cleansed each riverside dwelling, abated to their ordinary winter level, +he returned to his burrow in the buttress by the stakes, and once more +felt the joy of living in safety among familiar scenes. + +Since the leaves had fallen, the brown rats had become fewer and still +fewer along the river, and, when the flood subsided, it might have been +found that none of these creatures remained in their summer haunts. They +had emigrated to the rick-yard near the village inn; many of the stoats +and weasels, finding provender scarce, had followed in their footsteps; +and Brighteye and his kindred, with the water-shrews, the moorhens, and +the coots, were unmolested in their wanderings both by night and day. + +The vole's favourite reed-bed was now seldom visited. Besides being +inundated, it was silted so completely with gravel that to cut through +the submerged stems would have been an arduous and almost impossible +task. Luckily, in his journeys along the edge of the shallows during the +flood, Brighteye had found a sequestered pond, near an old hedgerow +dividing the wood, where tender duckweed was plentiful, and, with +delicious roots of watercress, promised him abundant food. Every evening +he stole through the shadows, climbed the leaf-strewn rabbit-track by +the hedge, and swam across the pond from a dark spot beneath some +brambles to the shelter of a gorse-bush overhanging the weeds. There he +was well protected from the owl by an impenetrable prickly roof, while +he could readily elude, by diving, any stray creature attacking him from +land. + +Winter dragged slowly on its course, and, just as the first prophecy of +spring was breathed by the awakening woodlands, the warm west breezes +ceased to blow, and the bleak north wind moaned drearily among the +trees. Night after night a sheet of ice spread and thickened from the +shallows to the edge of the current, the wild ducks came down to the +river from the frost-bound moors, and great flocks of geese, whistling +loudly in the starlit sky, passed on their southward journey to the +coast. + +For the first few nights Brighteye left his chamber only when acute +hunger drove him to his storehouse in the wood. Directly he had fed, he +returned home, and settled once more to sleep. At last his supplies were +exhausted, and he was forced to subsist almost entirely on the pith +beneath the bark of the willows. The pond by the hedgerow was sealed +with ice, and he suffered much from the lack of his customary food. +Half-way between his sleeping chamber and its water-entrance, a floor of +ice prevented ready access to the river; and, under this floor, a +hollow, filled with air, was gradually formed as the river receded from +the level it had reached on the first night of frost. Brighteye's only +approach to the outer world was, therefore, through the upper doorway. +All along the margin of the pool, as far as the swift water beyond the +stakes, the ice-shelf was now so high above the river that even to a +large animal like the otter it offered no landing place. Only at the +stakes, where the dark, cold stream flowed rapidly between two blocks of +ice, could Brighteye enter or leave the river. Partly because, if he +should be pursued, the swiftness of the stream was likely to lessen his +chances of escape, and partly because of a vague but ever-present +apprehension of danger, he avoided this spot. It was fortunate that he +did so; Lutra, knowing well the ways of the riverside people, often +lurked in hiding under the shelf of ice beyond the stakes, and, when she +had gone from sight, the big, gaunt trout came slyly from his refuge by +the boulder and resumed his tireless scrutiny of everything that passed +his "hover." At last a thaw set in, and Brighteye, awakening on the +second day from his noontide sleep, heard the great ice-sheet crack, and +groan, and fall into the river. + +When darkness came he hurried to the water's brink, and, almost reckless +with delight, plunged headlong into the pool. He tucked his fore-paws +beneath his chin, and, with quick, free strokes of his hind-legs, dived +deep to the very bottom of the backwater. Thence he made a circle of the +little bay, and, floating up to the arch before his dwelling, sought the +inner entrance, where, however, the ice had not yet melted. He dived +once more, and gained the outer entrance in the front of the buttress, +but there, also, the ice was thick and firm. He breathed the cold, damp +air in the hollow beneath the ice, then glided out and swam to land. The +tiny specks of dirt, which, since the frost kept him from the river, had +matted his glossy fur, seemed now completely washed away, and he felt +delightfully fresh and vigorous as he sat on the grass, and licked and +brushed each hair into place. His toilet completed, he ran gaily up the +bank to his storehouse under the tree, but only to find it empty. Not in +the least disheartened, he climbed the rabbit-track, rustled over the +hedge-bank to the margin of the pond, and there, as in the nights before +the frost, feasted eagerly on duckweed and watercress. On the following +day the ice melted in the shaft below his chamber, and he was thus saved +the trouble of tunnelling a third water-passage--as a ready means of +escape from the otter and the big trout, as well as from a chance weasel +or stoat--which, if the ice had not disappeared, he surely would have +made as soon as his vigour was fully restored. + + + + +V. + +THE COURAGE OF FEAR. + + +The dawn, with easy movement, comes across the eastern hills; the mists +roll up from steaming hollows to a cloudless sky; the windows of a +farm-house in the dingle gleam and sparkle with the light. So came the +fair, unhesitating spring; so rolled the veil of winter's gloom away; so +gleamed and sparkled with responsive greeting every tree and bush and +flower in the awakened river valley. The springs and summers of our life +are few, yet in each radiant dawn and sunrise they may, in brief, be +found. + +Filled with the restlessness of springtide life--a restlessness felt by +all wild creatures, and inherited by man from far distant ages when, +depending on the hunt for his sustenance, he followed the migrations of +the beasts--Brighteye often left his retreat much earlier in the +afternoon than had been his wont, and stole along the river-paths even +while the sunshine lingered on the crest of the hill and on the ripples +by the stakes below the pool. + +Prompted by an increasing feeling of loneliness and a strong desire that +one of his kindred should share with him his comfortable home, he +occupied much of his time in enlarging the upper chamber of the burrow +till it formed a snug, commodious sleeping place ceiled by the twisted +willow-roots; and, throwing the soil behind him down the shaft, he +cleared the floor till it was smooth and level. Then he boldly sallied +forth, determined to wander far in search of a mate rather than remain a +bachelor. He proceeded down-stream beside the trout-reach, and for a +long time his journey was in vain. He heard a faint plash on the surface +of the water, and at once his little heart beat fast with mingled hope +and fear; but the sound merely indicated that the last of winter's +withered oak-leaves, pushed gently aside by a swelling bud, had fallen +from the bough. Suddenly, from the ruined garden above him on the brow +of the slope, came the dread hunting cry of his old enemy, the tawny +owl. Even as the first weird note struck with far-spreading resonance on +the silence of the night, all longing and hope forsook the vole. +Realising only that he was in a strange place far from home, and exposed +to many unknown dangers, he sat as moveless as the pebbles around him, +till, from a repetition of the cry, he learned that the owl was +departing into the heart of the wood. Then, silently, he journeyed +onward. Further and still further--past the rocky shelf where he had +landed after his escape from the salmon, and into a region honeycombed +with old, deserted rat-burrows, and arched with prostrate trees and +refuse borne by flood--he ventured, his fear forgotten in the strength +of his desire. + +Close beside the river's brink, as the shadows darkened, he found the +fresh scent of a female vole. He followed it eagerly, through shallow +and whirlpool and stream, to a spit of sand among some boulders, where +he met, not the reward of his labour and longing, but a jealous admirer +of the dainty lady he had sought to woo. After the manner of their kind +in such affairs, the rivals ruffled with rage, kicked and squealed as +if to declare their reckless bravery, and closed in desperate battle. +Their polished teeth cut deeply, and the sand was furrowed and pitted by +their straining feet. Several times they paused for breath, but only to +resume the fight with renewed energy. The issue was, however, at last +decided. Brighteye, lying on his back, used his powerful hind-claws with +such effect that, when he regained his footing, he was able, almost +unresisted, to get firm hold of his tired opponent, and to thrust him, +screaming with pain and baffled rage, into the pool. + +The female vole had watched the combat from a recess in the bank; and, +when the victor returned from the river, she crept out trustfully to +meet him, and licked his soiled and ruffled fur. But for the moment +Brighteye was not in a responsive mood. Though his body thrilled at the +touch of her warm, soft tongue, he recognised that his first duty was to +make his conquest sure. His strength had been taxed to the utmost, and, +since his rage was expended and his tiny wounds were beginning to smart, +he feared a second encounter and the possible loss of his lady-love. +So, with simulated anger, he drove her before him along the up-stream +path and into the network of deserted run-ways by the trout-reach. There +his mood entirely changed; and soon, in simple, happy comradeship, he +led her to his home. + +Brighteye was a handsome little fellow. At all times he had been careful +in his toilet, but now, pardonably vain, he fastidiously occupied every +moment of leisure in brushing and combing his long, fine, soft fur. Both +in appearance and habits he was altogether different from the +garbage-loving rat. His head was rounder and blunter than the rat's, his +feet were larger and softer, and his limbs and his tail were shorter. On +the under side his feet were of a pale pink colour, but on the upper +side they were covered, like the field-vole's, with close, stiff hair +set in regular lines from the toes to the elbows of the front limbs and +to the ankles of the hind-legs, where the long, fine fur of the body +took its place. A slight webbing crossed the toes of his hind-feet--so +slight, indeed, that it assisted him but little in swimming--and his +tiny, polished claws were plum-coloured. Except when he was listening +intently for some sign of danger, his small, round ears were almost +concealed in his thick fur. His mate was of smaller and more delicate +build--this was especially noticeable when once I saw her swim with +Brighteye through the clear water beneath the bank--and she was clad in +sombre brown and grey. + +Household and similar duties soon began to claim attention in and around +the riverside dwelling. The green grass was growing rapidly under the +withered blades that arched the run-ways between the river's brink and +the woodland path; and, as the voles desired to keep these run-ways +clear, they assiduously cut off all encroaching stems and brushed them +aside. The stems dried, and in several places formed a screen beneath +which the movements of the voles were not easily discernible. Selecting +the best of the dry grass-stalks, the voles carried them home, and, +after much labour, varied with much consultation in which small +differences of opinion evidently occurred, completed, in the sleeping +chamber beneath the willow-roots, a large, round nest. The magnitude of +their labour could be easily inferred from the appearance of the nest: +each grass-blade carried thither had been bitten into dozens of +fragments, and the structure filled the entire space beyond the first of +the exposed roots, though its interior, till from frequent use it +changed its form, seemed hardly able to accommodate the female vole. + +In this tight snuggery, at a time when the corncrake's nocturnal music +was first heard in the meadow by the pool, five midget water-voles, +naked and blind, were born. Brighteye listened intently to the faint, +unmistakable family noises issuing therefrom, and then, like a +thoughtful dry-nurse, went off to find for his mate a tender white root +of horse-tail grass. For several nights he was assiduous in his +attentions to the mother vole; and afterwards, his house-keeping duties +being suspended, he became a vigilant sentinel, maintaining constant +watch over the precious family within his home. + +When the baby voles were about a week old, a large brown rat, that on +several occasions in the previous year had annoyed the youthful +Brighteye, returned to the pool. Wandering through the run-ways, the +monster chanced to discover the opening from the bank to Brighteye's +chamber, and, thinking that here was a place admirably suited for a +summer resort, proceeded to investigate. The vole scented him +immediately, and, though the weaker animal, climbed quickly out and with +tooth and nail fell upon the intruder. An instant later, the mother vole +appeared, and with even greater ferocity than that of her mate joined in +the keen affray in order to defend her home and family to the utmost of +her powers. But the rat possessed great strength and cruel teeth, and +his size and weight were such that for several minutes he successfully +maintained his position. With desperate efforts, the voles endeavoured +to pull the rat into the water, where, as they knew, their advantage +would be greater than on land. They succeeded at last in forcing him +over the bank, and in the pool proceeded to punish him to such an +extent--clinging to his neck by their teeth and fore-feet, while they +used their hind-claws with painful effect on his body--that, dazed by +their drastic methods and almost suffocated, he reluctantly gave up the +struggle, and floated, gasping, down the stream. + +The mother vole, though she and her spouse had proved victorious, was so +unsettled by the rat's incursion, that, as a cat carries her kittens, +she carried each of her young in turn from their nest to a temporary +refuge in a clump of brambles. Still dissatisfied, she removed them +thence to a shallow depression beside one of the run-ways, where, +throughout the night, she nursed them tenderly. At daybreak she took +them back to the warmth and the comfort of the nest. Shortly afterwards, +when their eyes were opened and they were following the parent voles on +one of their customary night excursions, the mother found herself face +to face with a far more formidable antagonist than the rat. + +The baby voles, like the offspring of nearly all land animals that have +gradually become aquatic in their habits, were at first strangely averse +from entering the water, and had to be taken by their parents into the +pool. There the anxious mother, firm yet gentle in her system of +education, watched their every movement, and encouraged them to follow +her about the backwaters and shallows near their home. But if either of +them showed the faintest sign of fatigue, the mother dived quietly and +lifted the tired nursling to the surface. + +Late one evening, while the parent voles were busy with their work of +family training, the old cannibal trout suddenly appeared, rose quickly +at one of the youngsters swimming near the edge of the current, but, +through a slight miscalculation, failed to clutch his prize. The mother +vole, ever on the alert, plunged down, and, heedless of danger, darted +towards her enemy. For a second or two she manoeuvred to obtain a grip, +then, as she turned to avoid attack, the jaws of the trout opened wide, +and, like a steel trap, closed firmly on her tail. Maddened with rage +and pain, she raised herself quickly, clutched at the back of her +assailant, and buried her sharp, adze-shaped teeth--that could strip a +piece of willow-bark as neatly as could a highly tempered tool of +steel--in the flesh behind his gills. So sure and speedy was her action, +that she showed no sign of fatigue when she reached the surface of the +water, and the trout, his spinal column severed just behind his gills, +drifted lifelessly away. + +Though the young voles, in the tunnelled buttress of the river-bank, +lived under the care of experienced parents ever ready and resolute in +their defence, and became as shy and furtive as the wood-mice dwelling +in the hollows of the hedge beside the pond, they were not always +favoured by fortune. The weakling of the family died of disease; another +of the youngsters, foraging alone in the wood, was killed by a +bloodthirsty weasel; while a third, diving to pick up a root of +water-weed, was caught by the neck in the fork of a submerged branch, +and drowned. + +During the autumn and the winter the survivors remained with their +parents; the burrow was enlarged and improved by the addition of new +granaries for winter supplies, new water-entrances to facilitate escape +in times of panic, and a new, commodious sleeping chamber, strewn with +hay and withered reeds, at the end of a long tunnel extending almost +directly beneath the river-path. The supplies in the granaries were, +however, hardly needed: the winter was exceptionally mild, and the voles +were generally able to obtain duckweed and watercress for food. Often, +on my way to the ruined garden, I noticed their footprints--indistinctly +outlined on the gravel, but deep and triangular where the creatures +climbed through soft and yielding soil--along the path leading to the +pond in the pasture near the wood. + +When spring came once more, and the scented primroses gleamed faintly in +the gloom beside the upper entrance to the burrow, and the corncrake, +babbling loudly, wandered through the growing grass at the foot of the +meadow-hedge, the household of the voles was broken up. The young ones +found partners, and, in homes not far from the burrow by the +willow-stoles, settled down to the usual life of the vole, a life of +happiness and yet of peril. + +For still another year Brighteye's presence was familiar to me. I often +watched him as he sat at the water's edge above the buttress, or on the +stone in mid-stream, or on the half-submerged root of a tree washed into +an angle of the pool above the stakes, and as, after his usual toilet +observances, he swam thence across the reed-bed opposite the "hover" +where, in autumn, the breeding salmon lurked. + +Then, for many months, I lived far from the well loved village. But one +winter evening, after a long journey, I returned. The snow, falling +rapidly, blotted out the prospect of the silent hills. The village +seemed asleep; the shops were closed for the weekly holiday; not a +footfall could be heard, not even a dog could be seen, down the long +vista of the straggling street. The white walls of the cottages, and the +white snow-drifts banked beside the irregular pavements, were in +complete contrast to the radiant summer scene on which my eyes had +lingered when I left the village. My feeling of cheerlessness was not +dispelled even by the warmth and comfort of the little inn. Oppressed by +the evidences of change, which in my disappointment were, no doubt, much +exaggerated, I left the inn, and, heedless of the piercing cold and the +driving snow, made my way towards the river. As I approached the stakes +below the pool, a golden-eye duck rose from beside the bank, and on +whistling wings flew swiftly into the gloom. I crouched in the shelter +of a holly tree, and waited and watched till the cold became +unendurable; but no other sign of life was visible; the pool was +deserted. + +In summer I returned home to stay, and then, as of old, I often wandered +by the river. Evening after evening, till long after the last red glow +had faded from the western hill-tops, I lingered by the pool. The owl +sailed slowly past; the goatsucker hawked for moths about the oaks; the +trout rose to the incautious flies; the corncrake babbled loudly in the +long, lush meadow grass. A family of voles swam in and out of the +shallows opposite my hiding place; but none of the little animals +approached the buttress near the stakes. Frequently I saw their +footprints on the sandy margin, but never the footprints of Brighteye. +Somehow, somewhere, he had met relentless fate. + + + + +THE FIELD-VOLE. + +I. + +HIDDEN PATHWAYS IN THE GRASS. + + +The sun had set, the evening was calm, and a mist hung over the +countryside when a field-vole appeared at the mouth of his burrow in a +mossy pasture. The little grey creature was one of the most timorous of +the feeble folk dwelling in the pleasant wilderness of the Valley of +Olwen. His life, like that of Brighteye, the water-vole, was beset with +enemies; but Nature had given to him, as to the water-vole, acute senses +of sight, and smell, and hearing, and a great power of quick and +intelligent action. He had lived four years, survived a hundred dangers, +and reared twenty healthy families; and his wits were so finely +sharpened that he was recognised by a flourishing colony, which had +gradually increased around his moss-roofed home, as the wisest and most +wide-awake field-vole that ever nibbled a turnip or harvested a seed. + +For a moment the vole sat in the mouth of the burrow, with nothing of +himself visible but a blunt little snout twitching as he sniffed the +air, and two beady eyes moving restlessly as he peered into the sky. +Suddenly he leaped out and squatted beside the nearest stone. A robin, +disturbed in his roosting place by another of his kind, flew from the +hedge in furious pursuit of the intruder, and passed within a few inches +of the burrow. The vole, alarmed by the rush of wings, instantly +vanished; but soon, convinced that no cause for fear existed, he again +left his burrow and for several minutes sat motionless by the stone. + +He was not, however, idle--a field-vole is never idle save when he +sleeps--but he was puzzled by the different sounds and scents and sights +around him; they had become entangled, and while he watched and listened +his mind was trying to pick out a thread of meaning here and there. What +was the cause of that angry chatter, loud, prolonged, insistent, in the +fir plantation at the bottom of the field? Some unwelcome creature, bent +on mischief--perhaps a weasel or a cat--was wandering through the +undergrowth, and the blackbirds, joined by the finches, the wrens, and +the tits, were endeavouring to drive it from the neighbourhood. +Gradually the noisy birds followed the intruder to the far end of the +slope; then, returning to their roosting places, they squabbled for the +choice of sheltered perches among the ivied boughs. Silence fell on +upland and valley; and the creatures of the night crept forth from bank +and hedgerow, and the thickets of the wood, to play and feed under the +friendly protection of the fast-gathering gloom. But the field-vole +would not venture from his lair beside the stone. + +A convenient tunnel, arched with grass-bents, led thither from the +burrow, the post of observation being shaped through frequent use into +an oval "form." The vole, though anxious to begin his search for food, +was not satisfied that the way was clear to the margin of the fir +plantation, for the air was infused with many odours, some so strong and +new that he could easily have followed their lines, but others so faint +and old that their direction and identity were alike uncertain. From the +signs that were fresh the vole learned the story of field-life for the +day. Horses, men, and hounds had hurried by in the early morning, and +with their scent was mingled that of a fleeing fox. Later, the farmer +and his dog had passed along the hedge, a carrion crow had fed on a +scrap of refuse not a yard from the stone, and a covey of partridges had +"dusted" in the soft soil before leaving the pasture by a gap beside a +clump of furze. Blackbirds, thrushes, yellow-hammers, and larks had +wandered by in the grass, a wood-pigeon and a squirrel had loitered +among the acorns under the oak, and a hedgehog had led her young through +the briars. Rabbits, too, had left their trails in the clover, and a red +bank-vole had strayed near the boundaries of the field-vole's colony. +Their signs were familiar to the vole from experience; he detected them +and singled them out from the old trails with a sense even truer than +that of the hounds as they galloped past in the morning's chase. + +There was one distinct scent, however, that baffled him. At first he +believed it to be that of a weasel, but it lacked the pungent strength +inseparable from the scent of a full-grown "vear." + +Gathering courage as the darkness deepened, the field-vole rustled from +his lair, ran quickly down the slope, and crept through a wattled +opening into the wood. He found some fallen hawthorn berries among the +hyacinth leaves that carpeted the ground, and of these he made a hasty +meal, sitting on his haunches, and holding his food in his fore-paws as +he gnawed the firm, succulent flesh about the kernel of the seed. Then, +with a swift patter of tiny feet on the leaf-mould, he ran down to a +rill trickling over a gravelly bed towards the brook, stooped at the +edge of a dark pool in the shadow of a stone, and lapped the cool, clear +water. Thence he made for the edge of the wood, to visit a colony of his +tribe which in spring had migrated from the burrows in the uplands. +Half-way on his journey, he again suddenly crossed the line of the +unknown scent, now mingled with the almost overpowering smell of a +full-grown weasel. The mystery was explained: the strange trail in the +upland meadow had evidently been that of a young "vear" passing by the +hedge to join its parent in the wood. + +For a moment the vole stood petrified with terror; then he sank to the +earth, and lay as still as the dead leaves beneath him. But there was no +time to be lost; the "vears" were returning on their trail. In an agony +of fear the mouse turned back towards his home. He ran slowly, for his +limbs almost refused their office of bearing him from danger. Reaching +the mouth of his burrow with great difficulty, he dropped headlong down +a shallow shaft leading to one of the numerous galleries. Then, lo! his +mood immediately changed; his reasoning powers became strong and clear; +his parental instincts whispered that his family, like himself, was in +peril. Squeaking all the while, he raced down one tunnel, then down +another, turned a sharp corner beneath an archway formed by the roots of +a tree that had long ago been felled; and there, in a dry nest of hay +and straw, he found his mate with her helpless little family of six +blind, semi-transparent sucklings only three days old. He heard on every +side the quick scamper of feet as, alarmed by his cries, the voles +inhabiting the side passages of the burrow scurried hither and thither +in wild efforts to remove their young to some imagined place of safety. + +[Illustration: "SHE WAS HOLDING ONE OF HER OFFSPRING BY THE NECK, IN +PREPARATION FOR FLIGHT." (_See_ p. 139).] + +His mate, like her neighbours, had already taken alarm. At the moment of +his arrival she was holding one of her offspring by the neck, in +preparation for flight. The next instant an ominous hiss reverberated +along the hollow passages; the mother vole, with her suckling, vanished +in the darkness of the winding gallery; and the weasels descended into +the labyrinth of tunnels hollowed out beneath the moss. + +Again an almost overwhelming fear possessed the hunted vole, his limbs +stiffened, his condition seemed helpless. He crawled slowly hither and +thither, now passing some fellow-creature huddled in the corner of a +blind alley; now lifting himself above ground to seek refuge in another +part of the burrow; now pausing to listen to cries of pain which +indicated how thoroughly the "vears" were fulfilling their gruesome +work. It seemed that the whole colony of voles was being exterminated. + +Bewildered, after an hour of unmitigated dread, he quitted the place of +slaughter, where every nook and corner reeked of blood or of the +weasels' scent, and limped through the grass towards the hedge. In a +hollow among the scattered stones he stayed till terror no longer +benumbed him, and he could summon courage to seek an early meal in the +root-field beyond the pasture. Directly the day began to dawn, he +cautiously returned to his burrow. Though numerous traces of the havoc +of the night remained, he knew, from the staleness of the weasels' +scent, that his foes had departed. + +At noon his mate came again to her nest, and searched for her missing +offspring. But the taint of blood on the floor of the chamber told her +only too well that henceforth her mothering care would be needed solely +by the young mouse that she had rescued in her flight. The day passed +uneventfully; the weasels did not repeat their visit. At nightfall the +mother mouse, stealing into the wood, found both her enemies caught in +rabbit-traps set beside the "runs" among the hawthorns. + +For a while peace reigned in the underground dwellings of the mossy +pasture, and the young field-vole thrived amazingly; from the very +outset fortune favoured him above the rest of his species. After the +wholesale destruction that had taken place, little risk of overcrowding +and its attendant evils remained, and, for the lucky mice surviving the +raid, food was plentiful, even when later, in winter, they were awakened +by some warm, bright day, and hunger, long sustained, had made them +ravenous. Kweek, having no brother or sister to share his birthright, +was fed and trained in a manner that otherwise would have been +impossible, while his parents were particularly strong and healthy. +These circumstances undoubtedly combined to make him what he eventually +became--quick to form an opinion and to act, and able, once he was fully +grown, to meet in fight all rivals for the possession of any sleek young +she-vole he happened to have chosen for his mate. + +Soon after his eyes were open, the adult voles of the colony began to +harvest their winter supplies. Seeds of all kinds were stored in +shallow hiding places--under stones, or under fallen branches--or in +certain chambers of the burrow set apart for that especial purpose; and +as each granary was filled its entrance was securely stopped by a mound +of earth thrown up by the busy harvesters. + +The first solid food Kweek tasted was the black, glossy seed of a +columbine, which his mother, busily collecting provender, chanced to +drop near him as she hurried to her storehouse. Earlier in the night, +just outside the burrow, he had watched her with great curiosity as she +daintily nibbled a grain of wheat brought from a gateway where the laden +waggons had passed. He had loitered near, searching among the +grass-roots for some fragment he supposed his mother to have left +behind, but he found only a rough, prickly husk, that stuck beneath his +tongue, nearly choked him, and drove him frantic with irritation, till, +after much violent shaking and twitching, and rubbing his throat and +muzzle with his fore-paws, he managed to get rid of the objectionable +morsel. Something, however, in the taste of the husk so aroused his +appetite for solid food, that when his mother dropped the columbine seed +he at once picked it up in his fore-paws, and, stripping off the hard, +glossy covering, devoured it with the keen relish of a new hunger that +as yet he could not entirely understand. His growth, directly he learned +to feed on the seeds his mother showed him, and to forage a little for +himself, was more rapid than before. Nature seemed in a hurry to make +him strong and fat, that he might be able to endure the cold and +privation of winter. + +By the end of November, when at night the first rime-frosts lay on the +fallow, and the voles, disliking the chill mists, seldom left their +burrow, Kweek was already bigger than his dam. He was, in fact, the +equal of his sire in bone and length, but he was loose-limbed and had +not filled out to those exact proportions which, among voles as among +all other wildlings of the field, make for perfect symmetry, grace, and +stamina, and come only with maturity and the first love season. + +When about two months old, Kweek, for the first time since the weasels +had visited the burrow, experienced a narrow escape from death. The +night was mild and bright, and the vole was busy in the littered loam of +the hedgerow, where, during the afternoon, a blackbird had scratched the +leaves away and left some ripe haws exposed to view. Suddenly he heard a +loud, mocking call, apparently coming from the direction of the moon: +"Whoo-hoo! Whoo-hoo-o-o-o!" It was a strangely bewildering sound; so the +vole squatted among the leaves and listened anxiously, every sense alert +to catch the meaning of the weird, foreboding voice. "Whoo-hoo! +Whoo-hoo-o-o-o!"--again, from directly overhead, the cry rang out into +the night. A low squeak of warning, uttered by the father vole as he +dived into his burrow, caused the young mice foraging in the undergrowth +to bolt helter-skelter towards home. Kweek, joining in the general +panic, rushed across the field, and had almost disappeared underground +when he felt the earth and the loose pebbles falling over him, and at +the same time experienced a sharp thrill of pain. Fortunately, his speed +saved him--but only by an inch. The claws of the great brown owl, +shutting like a vice as the bird "stooped" on her prey, laid hold of +nothing but earth and grass, though one keen talon cut the vole's tail +as with a knife, so that the little creature squealed lustily as he ran +along the gallery to seek solace from his mother's companionship in the +central chamber beyond. Yet even there he was not allowed to remain in +peace. Maddened by the scent of a few drops of blood coming from his +wound, the adult voles chased him from the burrow, and drove him out +into the field. Luckily for him the brown owl had meanwhile flown away +with another young vole in her claws. Kweek remained in safety under the +hawthorns till the grey dawn flushed the south-east sky; then, his +injured tail having ceased to bleed, he ventured without fear among his +kindred as they lay huddled asleep in the recesses of their underground +abode. + +The year drew to its close, the weather became colder, and an +irresistible desire for long-continued rest took possession of Kweek. +His appetite was more easily satisfied than hitherto; hour after hour, +by night as well as by day, he drowsed in the snug corner where lay the +remains of the nest in which he had been born. Winter, weary and +monotonous to most of the wildlings of the field, passed quickly over +his head. Scarce-broken sleep and forgetfulness, when skies are grey and +tempests rage--such are Nature's gifts to the snake, the bee, and the +flower, as well as to the squirrel in the wood and the vole in the +burrow beneath the moss. Occasionally, it is true, when at noon the sun +was bright and spring seemed to have come to the Valley of Olwen, the +snake would stir in his retreat beneath the leaves, the bee would crawl +to and fro in her hidden nest, the flower would feel the stir of rising +sap, the squirrel would venture forth to stretch cramped limbs by a +visit to some particular storehouse--the existence of which, as one +among many filled with nuts and acorns, he happened to remember--and the +vole would creep to the entrance of his burrow, and sit in the welcome +warmth till the sun declined and hunger sent him to his granary for a +hearty meal. These brief, spring-like hours, when the golden furze +blossomed in the hedge-bank near the field-vole's home, and the lark, +exultant, rose from the barren stubble, were, however, full of danger to +Kweek if he but dared to lift his head above the opening of his burrow. + +On the outskirts of the wood, in a rough, ivy-grown ridge where, years +ago, some trees had been felled, a flourishing colony of +bank-voles--little creatures nearly akin, and almost similar in shape +and size, to the field-voles--dwelt among the roots and the undergrowth. +These bank-voles, probably because they lived in a sheltered place +screened from the bitter wind by a wall of gorse and pines, moved abroad +in the winter days far more frequently than did the field-voles. For +several years a pair of kestrels had lived in the valley, and had reared +their young in a nest built on a ledge of rock above the Cerdyn brook +and safe beyond the reach of marauding schoolboys. The hen-kestrel, when +provender became scarce, would regularly at noon beat her way across the +hill-top to the ridge where the red voles lived, and, watching and +waiting, with keen eyes and ready talons, would remain in the air above +the burrow as if poised at the end of an invisible thread. Chiefly she +was the terror of the bank-voles; but often, impatient of failure, she +would slant her fans and drift towards the burrows in the mossy pasture, +hoping to find that the grey voles had awakened for an hour from their +winter sleep. + +Once, when the breeze blew gently from the south and the sun was bright, +Kweek, sitting on a grassy mound, saw a shadow rapidly approaching, and +heard a sharp swish of powerful wings. Though drowsy and stiff from his +winter sleep, he was roused for the moment by the imminence of danger, +and, barely in time, scurried to his hole. A fortnight afterwards, when, +again tempted out of doors by the mildness of the weather, the vole was +peeping through an archway of matted grass, the hawk, with even greater +rapidity than before, shot down from the sky. Had it not been that the +long grass screened an entrance on the outskirts of the burrow, Kweek +would then have met his fate. He fell, almost without knowing what was +happening, straight down the shaft; and the sharp talons of the hawk +touched nothing but grass and earth, and the end of a tail already +scarred by the claws of the owl. Next day, as, moving along the +galleries to his favourite exit, the vole passed beneath the shaft, he +saw, straight overhead, the shadowy wings outstretched, quivering, +lifting, gliding, pausing, while beneath those spreading fans the +baleful eyes gleamed yellow in the slant of the south-west sun, and the +cruel claws, indrawn against the keel-shaped breast, were clenched in +readiness for the deadly "stoop." Fascinated, the vole stayed awhile to +look at the hovering hawk. Then, as the bird passed from the line of +sight, he continued his way along the underground passage to the spot +where he usually left his home by one of the narrow, clean-cut holes +which, in a field-vole's burrow, seem to serve a somewhat similar +purpose to that of the "bolts" in a rabbit's warren; and there he again +looked out. The hawk still hovered in the calm winter air, so Kweek did +not venture that day to bask in the sun outside his door. As soon as he +had fed, and shaken every speck of loose loam from his fur, and washed +himself clean with his tiny red tongue, he once more sought his cosy +corner and fell asleep. + +Presently a pink and purple sunset faded in the gloom of night, and a +heavy frost, beginning a month of bitter cold, lay over the fields. In +continuous slumber Kweek passed that dreary month, till the daisies +peeped in the grass, the snowdrops and the daffodils thrust forth their +sword-shaped leaves above the water-meadows, and the earliest violet +unfolded its petals by the pathway in the woods. + + + + +II. + +THE VALLEY OF OLWEN. + + +Eastward, the sky was covered with pale cobalt; and in the midst of the +far-spreading blue hung a white and crimson cloud, like a puff of +bright-stained vapour blown up above the rim of the world. Westward, the +sky was coloured with brilliant primrose; and on the edge of the distant +moorlands lay a great bank of mist, rainbow-tinted with deep violet, and +rose, and orange. For a space immediately on each side of the mist the +primrose deepened into daffodil--a chaste yet intense splendour that +seemed to stretch into infinite distances and overlap the sharply +defined ridges of the dark horizon. The green of the upland pasture and +the brown of the ploughland beyond were veiled by a shimmering twilight +haze, in which the varied tints of the sky harmoniously blended, till +the umber and indigo shadows of night loomed over the hills, and the +daffodil flame flickered and vanished over the last red ember of the +afterglow. Thus the first calm day of early spring drew to its close. + +Kweek, the little field-vole, asleep in his hidden nest beneath the +moss, was roused by the promise that Olwen, the White-footed, who had +come to her own beautiful valley among our western hills, whispered as +she passed along the slope above the mill-dam in the glen. He uncurled +himself on the litter of withered grass-bents that formed his winter +couch, crept towards the nearest bolt-hole of his burrow, and peeped at +the fleecy clouds as they wandered idly overhead. He inhaled long, deep +breaths of the fresh, warm air; then, conscious of new, increasing +strength, he continued his way underground to the granary in which, some +months ago, his mother had stored the columbine seeds. But the earth had +been scratched away from the storehouse door, and nothing remained of +the winter supplies. Hungry and thirsty, yet not daring to roam abroad +while the sun was high, the vole moved from chamber to chamber of his +burrow, washed himself thoroughly from the tip of his nose to the tip of +his tail, then, feeling lonely, awakened his parents from their heavy +sleep, and spent the afternoon thinking and dreaming, till the sun sank +low in the glory of the aureolin sky, and the robin's vesper trilled +wistfully from the hawthorns on the fringe of the shadowed wood. +Becoming venturesome with the near approach of night, but still +remembering the danger that had threatened him before the last period of +his winter sleep, he lifted himself warily above the ground, and for a +little while stayed near the mound of earth beside the door of his +burrow. Cramped from long disuse, every muscle in his body seemed in +need of vigorous exertion, while with each succeeding breath of the cool +twilight air his hunger and thirst increased. + +Determined to find food and water, Kweek started towards the copse. No +beaten pathway guided his footsteps; wind and rain, frost and thaw, and +the new, slow growth of the grass, had obliterated every trail. But by +following the scent of the parent voles that had already stolen into +the wood, he reached in safety the banks of the rill. Having quenched +his thirst, he scratched the soft soil from beneath a stone and +satisfied his hunger with some succulent sprouts of herbage there +exposed to sight. Soon, tired from his unwonted exertion, and feeling +great pain through having torn the pads of his feet--which, like those +of all hibernating animals, had become extremely tender from want of +exercise--he crept home to his burrow, and rested till the soreness had +gone from his limbs, and he felt active and hungry again. + +For the vole, guided as he was by his appetite, the most wholesome +vegetable food was a ripe, well-flavoured seed. It contained all that +the plant could give; leaf and stalk were tasteless compared with it, +and were accepted only as a change of diet, or as a medicine, or as a +last resource. Next to a seed, he loved a tender root, or a stem that +had not yet thrust itself through the soil, and was therefore crisp and +dainty to the taste. But the vole did not subsist entirely on vegetable +food. Occasionally, when the nights were warm, he surprised some little +insect hiding in the moss, and pounced on his prey almost as greedily +as the trout in the stream below the hill rose to a passing fly. And +just as the cattle in the distant farm throve on grain and oil-cake, and +the pheasant in the copse near by on wood-ants' "eggs," and the trout in +the Cerdyn brook on ephemerals hatched at the margin of the pool, so +Kweek, the field-vole, abroad in the nights of summer, grew sleek and +well conditioned on good supplies of seeds and grubs. But now, worn out +by long privation, he was tired and weak. + +Gradually, from the bed of winter death, from the rotting leaf-mould and +the cold, damp earth, the fresh, bright forms of spring arose. The +purple and crimson trails of the periwinkle lengthened over the stones; +then the spear-shaped buds, prompted by the flow of pulsing sap, lifted +themselves above the glossy leaves and burst into flowers. The dandelion +and the celandine peeped from the grass; the primrose garlanded each +sunny mound on the margin of the wood; and the willow catkins, clothed +with silver and pearly grey, waved in the moist, warm breeze as it +wandered by the brook. The queen-ant, aroused by the increasing warmth, +carried her offspring from the deep recess where, in her tunnelled nest, +she had brooded over them while the north-east wind blew through the +leafless boughs, and laid them side by side in a roomy chamber +immediately beneath the stone that screened the spot to which, in the +autumn dusk, the father vole resorted that he might watch and wait +before the darkness deepened on the fields and woods. The bees from the +hives in the farm garden, and innumerable flies from their winter +retreats in the hedgerows, came eagerly to the golden blossoms of the +furze near the bank-voles' colony. The bees alighted with care on the +lower petals of the flowers, and thence climbed quickly to the hidden +sweets; but the flies, heedless adventurers, dropped haphazard among the +sprays, and were content to filch the specks of pollen dust and the tiny +drops of nectar scattered by the honey-bees. A spirit of restlessness, +of strife, of strange, unsatisfied desire, possessed all Nature's +children; it raised the primrose from amid the deep-veined leaves +close-pressed on the carpet of the grass, it tuned the carols of the +robin and the thrush, it caused the wild jack-hare to roam by daylight +along paths which hitherto he had not followed save by night. Kweek felt +the subtle influence; long before dark he would venture from his home, +steal through the "creeps," which had now become evident because of +frequent "traffic," and visit the distant colonies of his kindred beyond +the wood. + +Of the flourishing community living in the burrow before the weasels' +raid none survived but Kweek and his parents. One night, however, the +father vole, while foraging near the hedgerow, was snapped up and eaten +by the big brown owl from the beech-wood across the valley. In the +woodlands the greatest expert on the ways of voles was the brown owl. +His noiseless wings never gave the slightest alarm, and never interfered +with his sense of hearing--so acute that the faint rustle of a leaf or a +grass-blade brought him, like a bolt, from the sky, to hover close to +the earth, eager, inquisitive, merciless, till a movement on the part +of his quarry sealed its doom. + +The mother vole, feeling lonely and more than ever afraid, wandered far +away, and found another mate in a sleek, bright-eyed little creature +inhabiting a roomy chamber excavated in the loose soil around a heap of +stones on the crest of the hill. Kweek, nevertheless, remained faithful +to the place of his birth. Though most of his time was spent near the +colony beyond the wood, he invariably returned to sleep on the shapeless +litter which was all that now remained of the neat, round nest in which +he had been nursed. + +Kweek's frequent visits to his kindred beyond the wood led to numerous +adventures. Every member of the colony seemed suddenly to have turned to +the consideration of household affairs, and a lively widow-vole flirted +so outrageously with bachelor Kweek that, having at last fallen a victim +to her persistent attentions, he was never happy save in her company. +Unfortunately a big ruffian mouse also succumbed to the widow's wiles, +and Kweek found himself awkwardly placed. He fought long and stubbornly +against his rival, but, unequally matched and sorely scratched and +bitten, was at last forced to rustle away in the direction of his burrow +as quickly as his little feet could carry him. He slept off the effects +of his exhaustion and the loss of a little blood and fur, then returned, +stealthily, to his well-known trysting place, but found, alas! that his +fickle lady-love had already regarded with favour the charms of the +enemy. Kweek caught a glimpse of her as she carried wisps of withered +grass to a hole in the middle of the burrow, and at once recognised that +his first fond passion had hopelessly ended. + +Fortune continued to treat him unkindly: that night, while returning +homewards, he was almost frightened out of his wits by the shrieks of +some little creature captured by the cruel owl, and, immediately +afterwards, a rabbit, alarmed by the same ominous sounds and bolting to +her warren in the wood, knocked him topsy-turvy as he crouched in hiding +among the leaves. These adventures taught him salutary lessons, and +henceforth the confidence of youth gave place to extreme caution; he +avoided the risk of lying near a rabbit's "creep," and was quick to +discern the slightest sign, such as a shadowy form above the moonlit +field, which might indicate the approach of the slow-winged tyrant of +the night. + +Among animals living in communities it is a frequent custom for a young +male, if badly beaten in his first love episode by a rival, to elope +with a new spouse, and seek a home at some distance from the scene of +his defeat. Kweek suffered exceedingly from his disappointment; it was a +shock to him that he should be bullied and hustled at the very time when +his passion was strongest and every prospect in his little life seemed +fair and bright. + +For a time he dared not match himself against another of the older +voles. But in an unimportant squabble with a mouse of his own age, he +soon proved the victor, and, finding his reward in the favour of a young +she-vole that had watched the quarrel from behind a grass-tuft, ran off +with her at midnight to his old, deserted burrow in the pasture. After +thoroughly examining the various galleries in the underground +labyrinth, the fastidious little pair dug out a clean, fresh chamber at +right angles to the main tunnel, and, contented, began in earnest the +duties of the year. + +April came; and often, as he sat by his door, Kweek watched the gentle +showers sweep by in tall pillars of vapour through the moonbeams falling +aslant from the illumined edges of an overhanging cloud, and through the +shadows stretching in long, irregular lines between the fallow and the +copse; and night after night the shadows near the copse grew deeper, and +still deeper, as the hawthorn leaf-buds opened to the warmth of spring. + +The grass-spears lengthened; the moss spread in new, rain-jewelled +velvet-pile over the pasture floor; the woodbine and the bramble trailed +their tender shoots above the hedge; a leafy screen sheltered each +woodland home; and even the narrow path from the field-voles' burrow to +the corner of the copse led through a perfect bower of half-transparent +greenery. The birds were everywhere busy with their nests in the +thickets; sometimes, in the quiet evening, long after the moon had +risen and Kweek had ventured forth to feed, the robin and the thrush, +perched on a bare ash-tree, sang their sweet solos to the sleepy fields; +and, with the earliest peep of dawn, the clear, wild notes of the +missel-thrush rang out over the valley from the beech-tree near the +river. The rabbits extended their galleries and dug new "breeding +earths" in their warren by the wood; and often, in the deep stillness of +the night, the call-note of an awakened bird echoed, murmuring, among +the rocks opposite the pines far down the slope. + +During the past few weeks great events had happened in the new-made +chamber of the field-voles' burrow. Hundreds of dry grass-bents, +bleached and seasoned by the winter frosts and rains, had been collected +there, with tufts of withered moss, a stray feather or two dropped from +the ruined nest of a long-tailed titmouse in the furze, and a few fine, +hair-like roots of polypody fern from the neighbouring thicket. And now, +their nursery complete, four tiny, hairless voles, with disproportionate +heads, round black eyes beneath unopened lids, wrinkled muzzles, and +abbreviated tails--helpless midgets in form suggestive of diminutive +bull-dog puppies--lay huddled in their tight, warm bed. It was a time of +great anxiety for Kweek. While his mate with maternal pride went +leisurely about her duties, doing all things in order, as if she had +nursed much larger families and foes were never known, he moved fussily +hither and thither, visiting his offspring at frequent intervals during +the night, creeping into the wood and back along his bowered path, +scampering noisily down the shaft if the brown owl but happened to hoot +far up in the glen, and doing a hundred things for which there was not +the slightest need, and which only served to irritate and alarm the +careful mother-vole. + +Kweek inherited his timorous disposition from countless generations of +voles that by their ceaseless watchfulness, had survived when others had +been killed by birds and beasts of prey; and though, in his zeal for the +welfare of his family, he often gave a false alarm, it was far better +that he should be at all times prepared for the worst than that, in some +unguarded instant, death should drop swiftly from the sky or crawl +stealthily into his hidden home. + +During spring, more frequently than at any other season, death waited +for him and his kindred--in the grass, in the air, in the trees along +the hedge-banks, and on the summit of the rock that towered above the +glen. Vermin had become unusually numerous in the valley, partly because +in the mild winter their food had been sufficient, and partly because +the keeper, feeble with old age, could no longer shoot and trap them +with the deadly certainty that had made him famous in his younger days. +Bold in the care of their young, the vermin ravaged the countryside, +preying everywhere on the weak and ailing little children of Nature. But +fate was indulgent to Kweek; though his kindred in the colony beyond the +wood, and the bank-voles in the sheltered hollow near the pines, +suffered greatly from all kinds of enemies, he and his mate still +managed to escape unhurt. + +One night a fox, prowling across the pasture, caught sight of Kweek as +he hurried to his lair. Suspicious and crafty, Reynard paused at one of +the entrances to the burrow, thrust his sharp nose as far as possible +down the shaft, drew a long, deep breath, and commenced to dig away the +soil from the mouth of the hole. Suddenly changing his mind--perhaps +because the scent was faint and he concluded that his labour would not +be sufficiently repaid--he ceased his exertions and wandered off towards +the hedge. Next day a carrion crow, seeing the heap of earth that lay +around the hole, and shrewdly guessing it to mean a treat in store, flew +down from an oak-tree, and hopped sideways towards the spot. He peered +inquisitively at the opening, waddled over to another entrance, +returned, and listened eagerly. Convinced that a sound of breathing came +from midway between the two holes he had examined, he moved towards the +spot directly above the nest, tapped it sharply with his beak, and again +returned to listen near the entrance. But all his artifice was quite in +vain; the voles would not bolt; they were not even inquisitive; so +presently, baffled in his hopes of plunder, he moved clumsily away, +stooped for an instant, and lifted himself on slow, sable pinions into +the air. + +The mother vole, assisted in questionable fashion by meddlesome Kweek, +spent several hours of the following night in repairing the damage done +by the fox. She drew most of the soil back into the shaft, and then, +where it accumulated in the passage beneath, made the opening towards +the inner chamber slightly narrower than before. Soon, moistened and +hardened by the constant "traffic" of tiny feet nearly always damp with +dew, the mound of earth formed a barrier so artfully contrived that even +a weasel might find it difficult to enter the gallery from the bottom of +the shaft. + + + + +III. + +A BARREN HILLSIDE. + + +Living a secluded life in the pasture with his little mate, Kweek +escaped the close attention paid by the "vermin" to his kindred in the +colony beyond the wood. The brown owl still remembered where he dwelt, +but, loath to make a special nightly journey to the spot, seldom caused +him the least anxiety. She seemed to content herself with a strict watch +over the bank inhabited by the red voles, and over the fields on the far +side of the copse, where the grey voles, notwithstanding that they +supplied her with many a delicious supper, were becoming numerous. She +awaited an almost certain increase among the "small deer" of the +pasture, before commencing her raids on the grey voles there. As events +proved, however, her patience was unrewarded. + +Kweek's first experience in rearing a family ended disastrously. Two of +the nurslings died a few hours after birth; one, venturing from the nest +too soon in the evening, was killed by a magpie; and two, while sitting +out near the hedge, were trampled to death by a flock of sheep rushing, +panic-stricken, at the sight of a wandering fox. By the middle of May, +when another vole family of six had arrived, the number of vermin in the +valley had perceptibly diminished. The old, asthmatic keeper in charge +of the Cerdyn valley died, and a younger and more energetic man from a +neighbouring estate came to take his place. Eager to gain the favour of +his master by providing him good sport in the coming autumn, the new +keeper ranged the woods from dawn till dusk, setting pole-traps in the +trees, or baiting rabbit-traps in the "creeps" of stoat or weasel, and +destroying nests, as well as shooting any furred or feathered creature +of questionable character. The big brown owl from the beech-grove, the +kestrel from the rock on the far side of the brook, the sparrow-hawk +from the spinney up-stream, together with the weasels, the stoats, the +cats, the jays, and the magpies--all in turn met their doom. + +A pair of barn-owls from the loft in the farm suffered next. These owls +were great pets at the old homestead. For many years they had lived +unmolested in their gloomy retreat under the tiles, and regularly at +nightfall had flown fearlessly to and fro among the outbuildings, or +perched on the ruined pigeon-cote watching for the rats to leave their +holes. + +The farmer, less ignorant than the keeper, recognised the owls as +friends, and treated them accordingly. They were his winged cats, and +assisted to check the increase of a plague. Like the brown owl, they +knew well the habits of the voles; but their attention was diverted by +the rats and the mice at the farm, and they seldom wandered far afield +except for a change of diet or to stretch wings cramped by a long summer +day's seclusion. The rats, however, were far from being exterminated; +and so, when a little child who was all sunshine to his parents in the +lonely homestead died from typhoid fever, the village doctor, fearing an +epidemic, advised that the pests should be utterly destroyed. Loath to +use strychnine, since he knew that in a neighbouring valley some owls +had died from eating poisoned rats, the farmer sought the aid of the +village poachers, who, with their terriers and ferrets, thoroughly +searched the stacks and the buildings. During the hunt it was noticed +that about a score of rats took refuge in a narrow chamber under the +eaves. The farmer, directing operations in another part of the yard, was +unaware of what had occurred. The poachers, knowing nothing of the +presence of the owls, pushed a terrier through the opening beneath the +rafters of the loft, and blocked the hole with the rusty blade of a +disused shovel. For a few moments the quick patter of tiny feet +indicated that the terrier was busily engaged with his task; then cries +of rage and terror came from the imprisoned dog, while with these cries +were mingled the sounds of flapping wings. When at last the poachers +unstopped the hole and dragged the terrier out, they found that every +rat had been killed, and that the place was thickly strewn with the +feathers of two dying owls. + +During the rest of the summer, Kweek led a strangely peaceful life, +having little to fear beyond an occasional visit from Reynard, or from +an astute old magpie that, evading with apparent ease the keeper's gun +and pole-traps, lived on till the late autumn, when, before a line of +beaters, he broke cover over some sportsmen waiting for their driven +game. As soon as the leaves began to fall and exhausted Nature longed +for winter's rest, the burrow in the pasture became the scene of +feverish activity. Kweek was now the proud sire of five or six healthy +families, and the grand-sire of many more. Even the youngest voles were +growing fat and strong; and, when the numerous members of the colony set +about harvesting their winter stores, ripe, delicious seeds were +plentiful everywhere along the margin of the wood. + +The winter was uniformly mild, with exception of one short period of +great cold which brought a thorough, healthful sleep to the voles; and +in the earliest days of spring, when the love-calls of chaffinches and +tits were heard from almost every tree, Kweek and his tribe resumed +their work and throve amazingly. Every circumstance appeared to favour +their well-being. But for the fox, that sometimes crouched beside an +opening to the burrow and snapped up an incautious venturer peeping +above ground, a young sheep-dog, whose greatest pleasure in life seemed +to be found in digging a large round hole in the centre of the burrow, +and an adder, that stung a few of the weaklings to death, but found them +inconveniently big for swallowing, the voles were seldom troubled. Their +numbers, and those of every similar colony in the neighbourhood, +increased in such a fashion that, before the following autumn, both the +pasture and the near ploughland were barren wastes completely +honeycombed with their dwellings. Every grass-root in the pasture was +eaten up; every stalk in the cornfield was nibbled through so +that the grain might be easily reached and devoured; and the +root-crops--potatoes, turnips, and mangolds--on the far side of the +cornfield were utterly spoiled; and in the hedgerows and the copse the +leaves dropped from the lifeless trees, each of which was marked by a +complete ring where the bark was gnawed away close to the ground. + +But capricious Nature, as if regretting the haste with which she had +brought into the world her destructive little children, and desiring, +even at the cost of untold suffering and the loss of countless lives, to +restore the pleasant Cerdyn valley to its beauty of green fields and +leafy woods, sent her twin plagues of disease and starvation among the +voles, till, like the sapless leaves, they withered and died. And from +far and near the hawks and the owls, the weasels, the stoats, and the +foxes hastened to the scene. The keeper, at a loss to know whence they +came, and not understanding the lesson he was being taught, bewailed his +misfortune, but dared not stay their advent. At almost any hour of the +day, five or six kestrels might be seen quartering the fields or +hovering here and there among the burrows. And, long before dark, the +stoats and the weasels, as if knowing that, fulfilling a special +mission, they were now safe from their arch-enemy, the keeper, hunted +their prey through the "trash" of the hedge-banks, or in and out of the +passages underground. + +The farm labourers, in desperate haste, dug numerous pitfalls, wide at +the bottom but narrow at the mouth, and trapped hundreds of the voles, +which, maddened by hunger but unable to climb the sloping sides, +attacked one another--all at last dying a miserable death. Not only did +the customary enemies of the voles arrive on the scene: Nature called to +her great task a number of unexpected destroyers--sea-gulls from the +distant coast, a kite from a wooded island on a desolate, far-off mere, +and a buzzard from a rocky fastness, rarely visited save by keepers and +shepherds, near the up-country lakes. Food had gradually become scarce +even for the few hundred voles that yet remained. No longer were they to +be seen at play together, in little groups, during the cool, hazy +twilight, that, earlier in the year, shimmered like a wonderful +afterglow on the mossy pasture-floor. Now their only desire was for +food and sleep. + +Unnoticed by a passing owl, Kweek, worn to a skeleton by sickness and +privation, crawled from his burrow into the moonlight of a calm, clear +autumn night, and lay in the shadow of the stone where the old male vole +had watched and listened for the cruel "vear." A big blow-fly, +attracted, with countless thousands of his kind, to the place of +slaughter and decay, had gone to sleep on the side of the stone, and +Kweek, in a last desperate effort to obtain a little food, moved forward +to secure his prize; but at that moment his strength failed him, his +weary limbs relaxed, and the dull, grey film of death overspread his +half-closed eyes. + +The owl, hearing a faint sound like the rustle of a dry grass-bent, +quickly turned in her flight; then, slanting her wings, dropped to the +ground, and presently, with her defenceless quarry in her talons, flew +away towards the woods. + + + + +THE FOX. + +I. + +THE LAST HUNT. + + +A dark and wind-swept night had fallen over the countryside when Reynard +left the steep slope above the keeper's cottage, and stole through gorse +and brambles towards the outskirts of the covert, where a narrow dingle, +intersected by a noisy rill and thickly matted with brown bracken, +divided the furze from some neighbouring pine-woods. + +For months nothing had occurred to disturb the peace of his woodland +home. Once, about a year ago, he had fled for his life before the +hounds; and again, during the last autumn, while lying hidden in the +ditch of the root-crop field above the pines, he had been surprised by +two sheep-dogs that nipped him sorely before he could make good his +escape. But at no other time had he been in evident peril, and so, +though naturally cunning and suspicious, he had grown bolder, and better +acquainted with the neighbourhood of cottage and farmstead than were +certain members of his family living on the opposite side of the valley, +among thickets hunted regularly, where guns and spaniels might be heard +from early morning till close of day. + +Here and there, as the fox crept stealthily among the blackthorns and +the gorse-bushes, he stopped for a moment on the scent of a rabbit; but +the night was not such as to induce Bunny to remain outside her cosy +burrow in the bank. He examined each "creep" in the tangled clumps along +his way, and sometimes, resting on his haunches, sniffed the air and +listened intently for any sign to indicate the presence of a feeding +coney; but even the strongest taint was "stale," and no sound could be +detected that might betray the whereabouts of any creature feeding in +the grass. Disappointed, the fox turned towards the uplands and crossed +the hedgerow into the nearest stubble. Louping leisurely along, he +surprised and killed a sleeping lark. Further on he crossed the scent +of a hare, but Puss was doubtless some distance away, feeding in a quiet +corner of the root-crop field. Reynard now instinctively made for the +farmyard among the pines, trusting meanwhile that luck would befriend +him. Across the gap, by the side of the hedgerow, and through an open +gateway, he went, seeking spoil everywhere, but finding none. With all +his senses alert, he climbed the low wall around the yard, peeped into +the empty cart-house, and stealthily approached an open shed. There, +unluckily, the dogs were sleeping on a load of hay in the furthest +corner. Careful not to arouse his foes, the fox retreated, and, passing +the pond at the bottom of the yard, moved silently towards another shed, +in which, as he knew from a former visit, the poultry roosted. Though +the door was shut, an opening for the use of the fowls seemed to afford +the possibility of success. With difficulty Reynard managed to squeeze +himself in, only, however, to no purpose. Just beyond the door lay a +loose coil of wire, brought home by the labourers after fencing and +thrown here out of the way. The fox, fearing a trap, reluctantly +abandoned his project, returned to the bank by the pond, and crept down +the lane to a spot where the ducks were housed in a neat shelter built +in the wall. But here he found everything securely fastened. At this +moment a door of the farmstead creaked loudly, the light of a lantern +flooded the yard, and the baffled marauder sprang over the wall and +trotted across the field towards the wood. + +His pace soon slackened when he found himself free from pursuit; and +before he reached the end of the meadow he had regained all his cool +audacity and was busily planning a visit to the cottage at the foot of +the dingle. Hardly had his thoughts turned once more to hunting when +fortune favoured him. A hen from the farmyard had laid her eggs in the +hedgerow bordering the wood, and was brooding over them in proud +anticipation of one day leading home a healthy family, thus causing an +agreeable surprise to the farmer's wife. The fox almost brushed against +her as he sprang over the hedge, and she paid to the utmost the penalty +of indiscretion. + +After feasting royally on the eggs, the fox took up the dead bird, and +moved slowly away through the trees towards his home. Re-entering the +covert, he was met by a prowling vixen that, in company with her four +young cubs, inhabited an "earth" not many yards away. Reckless through +hunger and maddened by the scent of blood, she attacked him savagely, +bullied him out of the possession of the dead fowl, and bore her prize +away in triumph to her den. The fox endured his ill-treatment with the +submission of a Stoic--he happened to be the pugnacious vixen's mate, +and the sire of her family. Soon recovering from the chastisement, he +set off, and skirted the covert as far as the cottage garden. Finding +the gate of the hen-coop closed, he sprang on the water-butt, climbed to +the roof of the shed, and tried to enter the coop from above; but there, +as at the farm, he feared a trap, and dared not creep beneath the loose +wire netting overhanging the shed. As he jumped from the coop to the +wall of the stye, he caught sight of several rats scampering to their +holes. Lying flat on the wall, he awaited patiently their re-appearance. +At last one of them ventured out beneath the door of the cot, and was +instantly killed. But, much to his chagrin, Reynard found the carcass a +decidedly doubtful tit-bit, and so, having conveyed it gingerly to the +margin of the covert, he scratched a shallow hole among the rotting +leaves, and buried his prey, that, perhaps, its flavour might improve +with keeping. Afterwards, till the sky lightened almost imperceptibly, +and a steel-blue bar, low down beneath the clouds, first signalled the +coming of day, he lay motionless among the undergrowth near a warren in +the dingle. Then an unsuspecting rabbit hopped out into the grass, and +Reynard, his watch rewarded, disappeared with his spoil into the +wilderness of the gorse. + +Dawn was breaking over the hills. Blue smoke curled up into the sky from +the lodge cottage at the foot of the tree-clad slope. The door of the +cottage stood wide open, and the scent of the wood-fire hung on the +chill, damp air filling the narrow lane. A blackbird flew into the +apple-tree overlooking the thatch, shook the moisture from his wings, +and cleaned his bright orange bill on a bough. Then his full, reed-like +music floated over the fields. The skylarks soared above the upland +pastures, and a shower of song descended to the valley out of the +pearl-blue haze just lifting in a cloud from the hill-top. Presently the +blackbird flew from the apple-tree to feed beside the hedge, and the +larks dropped from the mist into the grass. But for the crackle of the +cottage fire as the keeper busied himself with the preparation of his +morning meal, and the rustle of a withered leaf as the blackbird moved +to and fro in the ditch, not a sound disturbed the silence of the dawn. +Soon the haze lifted, leaving the dew thick on the grass by the ditch, +and on the moss and the ivy in the hedgerow bank. The larks soared once +more into the sky; a robin sang wistfully in the ash; a brown wren, with +many a flick of her tiny wings and many a merry curtsy, hopped in and +out among the trees, trilling loudly a gleeful carol. The tits flew +hither and thither, twittering to each other as they flew. The +hedge-sparrows' metallic notes sounded clear amid all the varied music, +as the birds, moving among the hazels and gently flirting their wings, +pursued their coy mates from bough to bough. Through the raised curtain +of the mist the sun--a white globe hardly too brilliant to be boldly +looked at--illumined the dewy fields with its faint beams, till the +cloud-streaked sky became a clear expanse, and the blue and brown +countryside glowed with the splendour of a perfect morning. The wind +changed and freshened, so that the call of a farm labourer to his team +and the constant voice of the river were distinctly heard in the level +valley below the wood. + +As the morning advanced, signs of unusual stir and bustle were apparent +in the neighbourhood of the lodge. Messengers came and went between the +cottage and the mansion at the bend of the river, or between the mansion +and the distant village. The keeper appeared at his door, and, after +satisfying himself that the lane seemed clean and well-kept, walked off +briskly in the direction of the "big house." Scarlet-coated horsemen, +and high-born maids and matrons, with all the medley of the Hunt in +their train, cantered along the winding road--a mirthful, +laughter-loving company. There were the General, stout and inelegant, +wont to take his fences carefully, who changed his weight-carrying +mount thrice during the day, and liked a gateway better than a thorny +hedge, and for the last fifteen years had never been in at the death; +and his wife, the leader of fashion, but not yet the leader of the Hunt; +the Major, an old shekarry from India, who still could ride as straight +and fast as any man in the west; and his niece, the belle of the +countryside, whose mettlesome hunter occasionally showed a sudden +fondness for taking the bit between his teeth, and carrying his +mistress, with reckless abandon, over furrow and five-barred gate and +through the thickest hedgerow--anywhere, so long as he had breath and +the music of the hounds allured him onward in his impetuous career. The +sun glanced between the trees as they passed the cottage door. Then came +the Magistrate's Clerk, faultlessly attired, with florid face and +glittering eyeglass, who, in an ambitious youth, finding his name too +suggestive of plebeian blood, changed a vowel in it, and thereby gave an +aristocratic flavour to the title of his partnership, and who acquired, +with this new dignity, the taste for a monocle, a horse, and a good +cigar. Following were the members of the medley--the big butcher on his +sturdy pony, the "dealer" on his black, raw-boned half-bred, the +publican on his stolid old mare, farmers, drovers, after-riders, on +cropped and uncropped mounts more accustomed to the slow drudgery of +labour than to the rollicking, hard-going hunt; and after them the crowd +on foot--village children, farm labourers, and apprentices from forge +and counter. Riding side by side, and earnestly conversing, were the +"vet," whose horse at the last hunt bolted and left him clinging to a +bough, and the shopkeeper, whose grave attire and sober mien seemed +strangely out of keeping with the bright, hilarious throng. These were +soon met by the main party from the meet, and hounds and hunters sped +away in the direction of the hillside covert, while the onlookers +adjourned to the uplands, whence an almost uninterrupted view of the +valleys for miles around might be enjoyed, and the movements of the fox +and his enemies followed more closely than from the hollows beneath the +woods. + +Reynard, abundantly satisfied with his supper of eggs and early +breakfast of rabbit, was lying asleep in a tuft of grass at the top of +the thicket when the huntsman passed down the dingle after the meet. +Awakened by the noise that reached him from below, he arose, stretched +his limbs, and listened anxiously--the clatter of hoofs seemed to fill +the valley. Suddenly, from the outskirts of the wood, came the deep, +sonorous note of a hound, followed by the sharp rebuke of the +whipper-in; Jollity, the keen-nosed puppy, was "rioting" on the cold +scent near the stream. Peering between the bushes, the fox could as yet +see nothing moving in the covert, but a few minutes afterwards his sharp +eye caught a glimpse of a hound leaping over the bank above the gorse, +followed by another, and another, and yet another, till the place seemed +alive with his foes. + +Whither should he flee? The dingle was occupied; men and horses were +everywhere in the lane; and the hounds were closing in above the gorse. +The far side of the covert offered the only chance of escape, and +thither he must hie, else the hounds, now pouring down the slope, would +cut off his retreat. Quickly he threaded his way through the gorse, by +paths familiar only to himself and the rabbits, till he reached the +bank by the willows; but, even while he ran, the full chorus of the +hounds echoed from hillside to hillside, as, having "struck the line," +they tore madly in pursuit. He reached the edge of the covert at a point +furthest from his foes--then, as he crossed the meadow, a single +red-coated horseman, standing sentinel far up the hillside, gave the +"view-halloo," and over the brow of the slope streamed the main body of +the Hunt. + +It was at once evident to Reynard that by skirting the margin of the +covert he could not for the present escape, so he headed down-wind +towards the opposite hill, hoping to find refuge in a well-known "earth" +amid the thickets. To his surprise he found the entrance "stopped" with +clods and prickly branches of gorse, and had perforce to continue his +flight. Having well out-distanced his pursuers, he stayed to rest for a +while near the stream that trickled by the hedgerow; then, with the +horrid music of the hounds again in his ears, he turned, by a long +backward cast, in the direction of his home. + +But he was wholly unable to shake off his pursuers. For four long hours +he was hustled from covert to covert, and hillside to hillside, finding +no respite, no mercy, no sanctuary. Breathless, mud-stained, footsore, +and sick with fright, his draggling "brush" and lolling tongue betraying +his distress, he sought at last the place he had long avoided, and, +entering the mouth of the den where the vixen and her cubs were hiding, +lay there, almost utterly exhausted. Some minutes elapsed, during which +no sound but that of his laboured breathing, and of the tiny sucklings +busy by the side of the dam, disturbed the stillness. + +Suddenly, a deep-voiced hound broke through the bushes and bayed loudly +before the entrance. His fellow joined him, and their foreboding clamour +reverberated in the chamber. Terrified, the fox crawled slowly into the +recess of the den. Presently a shaggy terrier came down the tunnel, and +bit him sorely on the flank. He scarcely had the courage to turn on the +aggressor; but the enraged vixen, thrusting her mate aside, quickly +routed the daring intruder, and followed his retreat to the very mouth +of the "earth," where she turned back, threatened by the great hounds +that stood without. But even the reckless courage of maternity was +unavailing. Soon the noise of blows and of falling earth was heard, as +the passage was gradually opened by brawny farm labourers, working with +spade and pick, and assisted in their task by the eager huntsman, who +ever and anon thrust a long bramble-spray into the tunnel and thus +ascertained the direction of its devious course. + +At last the tip of the fox's "brush" was seen amid the soil and pebbles +that had fallen into the chamber. The huntsman had cut two stout hazel +rods; these he now thrust into the hollow, one along either flank of the +fox; then, grasping their ends firmly about the exposed tail, he drew +poor Reynard from his hiding place, and thrust him, defiant to the last, +and with his teeth close-locked on one of the hazel rods, into an old +sack requisitioned at the nearest farm. The vixen met a similar fate, +while the sleek, furry little cubs, treated with the utmost gentleness, +were wrapped together in the Master's handkerchief and given to the care +of an attendant. + +Reynard's life was nearing its close. In the meadow behind the keeper's +cottage the hounds were summoned by the huntsman's horn, and the bag was +opened. The scene that followed marred, for some of us at least, the +beauty of the bright March morning. The vixen and her cubs were carried +away, and found a new home in an artificial "earth" prepared for their +reception near a distant mansion. + + + + +II. + +A NEW HOME. + + +When the vixen recovered from the excitement and distress consequent on +her capture, she found herself in a commodious, well ventilated chamber, +circular in shape and slightly above the level of two low and narrow +passages leading into the covert. The sack had been opened at the +entrance of one of these passages, and the vixen had crawled through the +darkness till, finding further retreat impossible, she had lain down, +with wildly beating heart, on the floor of her hiding place. + +Her senses seemed to have forsaken her. Had she dreamed? Often, during +the warm, quiet days of a bygone summer, while lying curled in a cosy +litter of dry grass-bents--which she had neatly arranged by turning +round and round, and with her sensitive black muzzle pressing or lifting +into shape each refractory twig--she had dreamed of mouse-hunting and +rabbit-catching; her body had moved, her limbs twitched, her ears +pricked forward, and her nostrils quivered as the delightful incidents +of past expeditions were recalled. And when, with a start, she had +awakened, as some venturesome rabbit frisked by her lair, or a nervous +blackbird, startled by her movements, made the woodlands ring with news +of his discovery, she had retained for a moment the impressions of her +vivid dreams. But never in her sleep had she been haunted by such a +bewildering sense of mingled dread and anger, such an awful apprehension +of the presence of men and hounds, as that which had recently possessed +her. Now, however, all was mysteriously tranquil; the full-toned clamour +of the hounds and the sharp, snarling bark of the terriers had ceased; +no longer was she confined and jostled in the stuffy, evil-smelling sack +that yielded to, and yet restrained, her every frantic effort to regain +liberty. Her heart still beat violently, as though at any moment it +might break; and she crept back towards the entrance, where she might +breathe the free, fresh air. + +Suddenly she realised, to the full, that the day's bitter experiences +were not a dream--the scent of the human hand remained on her brush, her +fur was damp and matted with meal-dust, and, alas! her little ones were +missing from her side. She was furious now; at all risks she would +venture forth on the long, straight journey back towards home; her +helpless cubs might still be somewhere under the bushes--perchance in +sore need of warmth and food, and whining for their dam. + +With every mothering instinct quickened, the vixen crept down the +slanting passages in the direction of a faint moonlight glimmer beyond. +Reaching the end of the tunnel, she, in her impetuosity, thrust her +muzzle into a mass of prickles--the "earth" had been stopped with a +branch of gorse. Baffled for the time, she returned to the central +chamber; then cautiously, for her eyes and nostrils were smarting with +pain, she tried the other outlet, but here, too, a gorse-bush baulked +her exit. Now, however, a faint, familiar scent seemed to fill the +passage, some tiny creatures moved and whimpered, and, with almost +savage joy, the vixen discovered her cubs, alive and unharmed, huddled +together near the furze. Quickly she carried them, one by one, into the +chamber; then, lying beside the little creatures, which, though blind +and helpless, eagerly recognised the presence of their mother, she +gathered them between her limbs, covered them with her soft, warm brush, +and, in a language used only amid the woodlands, soothed and comforted +them, while they nestled once more beneath her sheltering care. When she +had fed them and licked them clean from every taint of human touch, and +when she had shaken herself free from dust and removed from her brush +the man-scent left by the huntsman's right hand while "drawing" her, she +became more collected in her mind and more contented with her strange, +new situation. + +Leaving her cubs asleep, she moved along the passage, determined, if +possible, to explore the thickets in hope of finding a young rabbit or a +few field-voles wherewith to satisfy her increasing hunger. The +entrance was still blocked with furze, but just in the spot where she +had found her cubs a couple of dead rabbits lay, and from one of these, +though after much misgiving, she made a hearty meal. She endeavoured, +but vainly, to dig a shallow trench in which to hide the rest of her +provisions; the floor of the artificial "earth" was tiled, and only +lightly covered with soil. Her efforts to scratch out a tunnel around +the furze-bush proved alike unavailing, so she returned to her cubs, lay +down between them and the narrow opening from the chamber, and slept. + +That night and the following day were spent in drowsy imprisonment, +till, towards the afternoon, the vixen began to feel the pangs of thirst +and made fresh efforts to escape. As she was endeavouring to dislodge +the tile nearest the furze, she heard the tramp of heavy feet and the +sound of human voices. + +"They be nice cubs," said the "whip" to the huntsman; "as nice a little +lot as ever I clapped eyes on. If only they can give us such a doing as +the old vixen gave us twice last December, they'll pass muster. Them +Gwyddyl Valley foxes be always reg'lar fliers. Their meat ain't got too +easy-like; that's why, maybe, they're always in working order. Any road, +their flags o' distress (tongues) don't flop over their grinders without +the hounds trim 'em hard on a straight, burning scent." "Well, we'll +give 'em a good start, whatever happens," replied the huntsman; "here's +two more bunnies for the larder. If the old girl shifts her quarters, +find out her new "earth," and feed her well. I shouldn't like to be near +the guv'nor if the young uns turn out mangy when we hustle 'em about a +bit in the autumn." + +The voices ceased, the furze-bushes were removed from the tunnel +entrances, a cold, steady current of air filled the chamber and the +passages, and the vixen knew that a way had been made for her escape. +She was not, however, so foolhardy as to venture forth while the scent +of her foes remained strong in the thicket; she lingered, in spite of +extreme thirst, till the shadows of evening deepened perceptibly in her +underground abode. + +When the vixen stole out into the grass, the pale moon was brightening +in the southern sky, and a solitary star glimmered faintly above the +tree-tops. A thrush sang his vesper from the bare branch of an oak near +by, and a blackbird, startled by the sight of a strange form squatting +beside the brambles, sounded his shrill alarm and dipped across the +clearing towards a clump of blackthorn bushes. As soon as she heard the +blackbird's warning, the vixen vanished; but, presently reappearing, she +trotted across the open space and sat beneath the thorns. For some +minutes she remained motionless in the dark patch of shadow, listening +intently; then, passing slowly down a narrow path, she reached a +trickling streamlet that fell with constant music from stone to stone +between luxuriant masses of moss and lichen; and there, at a gravelly +pool among the boulders, she cautiously stooped to drink. With exceeding +care, she now proceeded to make a thorough inspection of the covert. The +night was so calm and bright that the rabbits were feeding everywhere on +the margin of the thickets, but the vixen passed them by with nothing +but a casual glance; her mind, for the present, was not concerned with +hunting. After skirting the covert, she turned homewards by a pathway +through the trees. + +At the end of the path she paused, with head bent low and hackles +ruffled along the spine--the scent of another vixen lay fresh on the +ground. The peculiar taint told her a complete story. The strange vixen +was soon to become a mother, and probably, in anticipation of the event, +inhabited an "earth" close by. Casting about like an experienced hound, +she picked up the trail, and followed it into a great tangle of heather, +brambles, and fern, where the scent led, by many a devious turn, to the +spreading roots of a beech, beneath which a disused rabbit warren had +been prepared for the little strangers presently to be brought into the +world. The dwelling place was empty. + +Retracing her steps as far as the spot where first she had struck the +trail, then turning sharply towards the clearing, the crafty creature +hastened back to the "earth," determined to remove her cubs without +delay to the newly discovered abode. One by one she bore her offspring +thither, holding them gently by the loose skin about their necks, and +housed them all before the dispossessed tenant returned from a slow and +wearisome night's hunting. The evicted vixen, seeking to enter her home, +speedily recognised that in her distressed condition she was no match +for her savage, active enemy, and so, reluctantly retiring, took up her +quarters in the artificial "earth." + +Henceforth, through all the careless hours of infancy, till summer ended +and the nights gradually lengthened towards the time of the Hunter's +Moon, the stillness of the woodlands was never broken by the ominous +note of the horn, or by the dread, fascinating music of the hounds in +full cry. Three of the cubs grew stout and strong, but the fourth was a +weakling--whether from injury at the hands of the huntsman or from some +natural ailment was not to be determined. He died, and mysteriously +disappeared, on the very day when the rest of the cubs first opened +their eyes in the dim chamber among the roots of the beech. + +Vulp was the only male member of the happy woodland family. His +indulgent sisters tolerated his bouncing, familiar manners as if they +were born to be his playthings--he was so serious and yet so droll, so +stupidly self-assertive and yet so irresistibly affectionate! He seemed +to take his pleasures sadly, wearing, if such be possible to a fox, an +air of melancholy disdain; and yet his beady eyes were ever on the +lookout for mischief, and for the chance of a helter-skelter romp with +his sisters round and round the chamber, or to the entrance of the +"earth," where the sprouts of the green grass and the flowers of the +golden celandine sparkled as the sunlight of the fresh spring morning +flickered between the trees. + +As yet, Vulp was unacquainted with the wide, free world. It seemed very +wonderful and awe-inspiring, as he sat by the mouth of the tunnel in the +shadow of an arching spray of polypody and, for sheer lack of something +better to do, half lifted himself on his hind-legs to rub his lips +against the edge of a fern, or to peep, with a feeling that his +whereabouts were a secret, between the drooping fronds. His mother +restrained his rashness; once, when he actually thrust his head beyond +the ferns, she with a stern admonition warned him of his mistake; and +he promptly withdrew to her side, frightened at his own boldness, but +grunting in well assumed defiance of the imagined danger from which he +had fled. + +This, in fact, was the first lesson learned--that a certain sign from +the vixen meant "No," and that disobedience was afterwards punishable +according to the unwritten laws of woodland life. Another sign that he +learned to obey meant "Come." It was a low, deep note, gentle and +persuasive; and directly Vulp heard it he would hasten to his mother to +be not only fed but also cleansed from every particle of dirt. Such +toilet operations were not always welcome to the youngsters, and were +sometimes vigorously resented. But the vixen had a convincing method of +dealing with any refractory member of her family; she would hold the cub +firmly between her fore-feet while she continued her treatment, or +administered slight, well-judged chastisement by nipping her wayward +offspring in some tender spot, where, however, little harm could be the +result. + +The cubs were ten days old when they opened their eyes, but more than +three weeks passed before they were allowed beyond the threshold of +their home. Then, one starlight night, their mother, having returned +from hunting, awoke them, and, withholding their usual nourishment, gave +the signal "Come." The obedient little family followed her along the +dark passage, and ventured, close at her heels, into the grass-patch in +the middle of the briar-brake. Vulp was slightly more timid than his +sisters were; even at that early age he showed signs of independence and +distrust. While the other cubs played "follow-my-leader" with the dam, +he hung back, hesitating and afraid. Even an unusual show of affection +by his mother failed to reassure him. A rabbit dodged quickly across a +path, and immediately he stood rigid with fright. Hardly had he +recovered before an owl flew slowly overhead. Enough! He paused, +motionless, till the awful presence had disappeared; then darted, with +astonishing speed, straight towards the "earth," and vanished, with a +ridiculously feeble "yap" of make-believe bravado, into the darkness of +the den. Confidence, however, came and increased as the days and the +nights went by, till, at the close of a week's experiences, Vulp was as +bold in danger as either of his playmates. He learned to trust his +mother implicitly, and, in her absence, became the guardian of the +family when some fancied alarm brought fear. He was always last in +learning his lessons; but, as if to make amends, he always profited most +by the teaching. + +Happy, indeed, were those hours of innocence--filled with sleep, and +love, and play. Till Vulp was six weeks old, he was wholly unconscious +of that ravenous hunger for flesh which was fated to make him the +scourge of the woodlands. Nevertheless, his instincts were slowly +developing, and so, when on a second occasion the old buck rabbit that +had frightened him in the thicket bolted before his eyes across the +path, the little fox bristled with rage and, but for his mother's +presence, would doubtless have tried to pursue the exasperating coney. +Invariably, when the night was fine, the cubs gambolled about the vixen +on the close-cropped sward beyond the den, climbing over her body, +pinching her ears, growling and grunting, tugging at each other's +brushes, and in general behaving just as healthy, happy fox-cubs might +be expected to behave; while the patient, careful mother looked on +approvingly--save when, uniting in one strong effort, they endeavoured +to disjoint her tail by pulling it over her back--and smiled, as only a +fox can smile, with eyes asquint and a single out-turned fang showing +white beside the half-closed lip. + +A great event occurred when the mother first brought home her prey that +she might educate her youngsters in the matter of appetite and prepare +them for an independent existence. The victim was an almost full-grown +rabbit. Laying it down close to the entrance of the "earth," the vixen +called her cubs, and instantly they rushed from the den, tumbling over +each other in their haste, till they gained the spot where she was +waiting. At that moment, however, they caught sight of the strange grey +object in the grass, and, leaping back, bolted round to their mother's +side. Then, feeling safe under her care, they cautiously advanced in a +row to sniff the rabbit, and wondered, yet instinctively guessed, at the +meaning of the situation. The vixen growled, and, picking up her prey, +carried it to the bramble-clump. The cubs followed, making all sorts of +curious noises in mimicking their dam, and evincing the utmost +inquisitiveness as to the reason of her unexpected conduct. Presently, +having succeeded in arousing their inborn passion for flesh, the vixen +resorted to a neighbouring mound, and left her offspring in possession +of the dead animal, on which they immediately pounced, tooth and nail. +How terribly in earnest they became, how bold and reckless in their vain +attempt to demolish the subject of their wrath! Vulp fastened his +needle-like teeth in the throat, and each of his sisters gripped a leg, +while together they jerked, strained, scolded, and threatened, till the +mother, fearing lest the commotion would betray their whereabouts to +some lurking foe, rated her noisy progeny and in anger drove them away. +But as soon as she had gone back to her seat among the grass-bents, the +youngsters returned to their work. Anyhow, anywhere, they hurled +themselves on the dead creature, sometimes biting each other for sheer +lack of knowing exactly what else they should bite, and sometimes simply +for the excitement of a family squabble. + +At last, their unwonted exertions began to tire them; then the careful +vixen, desirous of bringing the lesson to its close, "broke up" her +prey and divided it among her hungry children. They fed daintily, +choosing from each portion no more than a morsel, and soon afterwards, +exhausted by excitement and fatigue, and forgetful of their differences, +were fast asleep, huddled together as usual in the roomy recess of the +den. For a while the vixen remained to satisfy her hunger; then, having +buried a few tit-bits of her provender, she also retired to rest; and +silence brooded over the woodlands till the break of day set every +nesting bird atune. + +The vixen proved to be an untiring teacher, and the education of the +cubs occupied a part, at least, of every night. The young foxes were +growing rapidly, and accompanied their dam in her wanderings about the +thickets. She never went far afield, food being easily procured at that +time of year, particularly as in a certain spot additional supplies for +the larder were frequently forthcoming because of the vigilance of the +huntsman, whose one desire was to fit the cubs to match his hounds in +the first "runs" of the coming season. + + + + +III. + +THE CUB AND THE POLECAT. + + +The young fox's education, varied and thorough, steadily proceeded. +Though the vixen-cubs were slightly quicker to learn, they were more +excitable, and consequently did not benefit fully by each lesson. Vulp +soon began to hunt for his own sport and profit. In the meadow above the +wood he would sit motionless, his eyes fixed on the ground, till the +voles came from their burrows to play beneath the grass-bents; then, +with a quick rush, he would secure a victim directly its presence was +betrayed by a waving stalk. With the same patience he would watch near a +rabbit warren, till one of the inhabitants, hopping out to the mound +before her door, gave him the sure chance of a kill. But in the +wheat-fields on the slope his methods were altogether different. To +capture partridges required unusual cunning and skill, and such +importance did the vixen attach to this branch of her field-craft, that, +before initiating her youngsters into the sport of hunting these birds +at night, she instructed them diligently in the methods of following by +scent, training them how to pursue the winding trail left by the larks +that fed at evening near their sleeping places, or by the corncrakes +that wandered babbling through the green wheat. Vulp's first attempt to +capture a partridge chick resulted in failure. The vixen-cubs "fouled" +the line he had patiently picked out in the ditch around the cornfield, +and, "casting" haphazard through the herbage, alarmed the sleeping +birds, and sent them away to a secure hiding place in the clover. But +his second attempt was crowned with success, and he proudly carried his +prey into a sequestered nook amid the gorse, where he enjoyed a quiet +meal. + +The cub was fully six months old before he knew the precise difference +between stale and fresh scent, or between the scent of one creature and +that of another, and how to hunt accordingly; and several years, with +many dangers and hair-breadth escapes, were destined to pass before he +became expert in avoiding or baffling the numerous enemies--chiefly +dogs, and men, and traps--that threatened his life. And yet, during the +first few months of his existence, he gained sufficient knowledge for +the needs of the moment; and when August drew on towards the close of +the summer, and he was three parts grown, he had so extended his nightly +rambles that the "lay of the land" was familiar for miles around the +covert. His outdoor existence--for now he was wont to sleep in a lair +among the gorse and the bracken, instead of in the stuffy "earth"--gave +him strength in abundant measure, while his scrupulously clean habits, +the care with which he removed even the slightest trace of a burr from +his sleek, brown coat, and the plentiful supplies of fresh food which he +was able to obtain, naturally preserved him from mange and similar +ailments to which carnivorous animals are always prone. For the present, +indeed, life meant nothing more to him than the sheer enjoyment of +vigorous health, at home by day amid the grateful shadows of the bushes +and the trees, or basking in the sun, and abroad at night in the cold, +clear air of the dewy uplands. + +Just as sportsmen occasionally meet with a run of ill-luck, when for +some apparently unaccountable reason they either fail to find game, or +fail to kill it, and, to intensify the annoyance, an accident occurs +that leaves a bitter memory, so Vulp, during one of his long rambles +over the countryside, failed entirely to find sport, and gained a +decidedly unpleasant experience. If only his mother had not taught him +that in a season of scarcity a weasel might reasonably be considered an +article of food! One summer night, as he started on his usual prowl, the +covert seemed strangely silent. With the exception of a solitary rabbit +that bolted to its burrow when the young fox crossed the clearing, and +another that disappeared in similar fashion when nothing more than a +slight crackle of a leaf betrayed Vulp's whereabouts near a +bramble-clump, every animal had apparently deserted the thickets. So, +leaving his accustomed haunts, he crossed the furze-clad dingle, and +watched near a large warren in the open. But there, again, not a rabbit +could be seen. A field-vole rustled by over the leaves; the cub made a +futile effort to capture it, stood for an instant listening to its +movements, then thrust his nose into the herbage in another vigorous but +vain attempt; the vole, like the rabbits, had sought refuge underground. +An owl, that had frightened the cub about five months before when first +he ventured outside his home, rose from the hedge, and flew slowly down +the valley with a little squealing creature in her talons; she, at any +rate, had not hunted in vain. + +At last Vulp struck a fresh line of scent which, though particularly +strong and uninviting, he took to be that of a weasel. It was mingled +with the faint odour of a field-vole that, doubtless, had been pursued +and carried away by its persistent enemy. The cub followed the trail, +hoping to secure both hunter and victim, but it soon led him to a hole +in the hedgerow, and there abruptly ceased. He was about to turn from +the spot, when the eyes of the supposed weasel suddenly gleamed at the +mouth of the hole, but disappeared when the presence of the cub was +recognised. The fox, retreating to a convenient post of observation +behind a tuft of grass, settled down to await his opportunity. A few +minutes elapsed, and the pursued creature came once more in sight. It +appeared like a shadow against the sky, lifted its nose inquiringly, +quitted the burrow, sat bolt upright for a moment, then, reassured, +proceeded towards the covert on the opposite side of the path. With a +single bound, the cub cleared the grass-tuft, reached out at his prey, +missed his grip, bowled the animal over, and, turning rapidly, caught it +across the loins instead of by the throat. Unfortunately for himself, +the fox had made a slight miscalculation. With a scream of rage and +pain, the polecat--for such the creature proved to be--turned on the +aggressor, and instantly fastened its formidable teeth, like a steel +trap, on his muzzle. Vulp had been taught that his fangs, also, were a +trap from which there should be no escape, and so he held on firmly, +trying meanwhile to shake the life from his victim. He pressed the +polecat to the ground, and frantically endeavoured to disengage its hold +by thrusting his fore-paws beneath its muzzle; but every effort alike +was useless. A scalding, acrid fluid emitted by the polecat caused the +lips and one of the eyes of the cub to smart unbearably, and the +offensive odour of the fluid grew stronger and stronger, till it became +almost suffocating. At last the polecat convulsively trembled as its +ribs and spine were crushed in the fox's tightening jaws, its teeth +relaxed their hold, and the fight was over. + +Sickened by the pungent smell, and with muzzle, lips, and right eye +burning horribly from his wounds and the irritant poison, Vulp hastily +dropped his prey, and ignominiously bolted from the scene of the +encounter. Soon, however, he stopped; the pain in his eye seemed beyond +endurance. He tried to rub away the noxious fluid with his paws, but his +frantic efforts only increased the irritation by conveying the poison to +his other eye and to his wounds. He rolled and sneezed and grunted in +torment; he drew his muzzle and cheeks to and fro on the ground, +wrestling with the great Earth-Mother for help in direst agony. He could +not open his eyes; he stumbled blindly against a tree-trunk, and at last +became entangled in the prickly undergrowth. This was Nature's method +of succour--she forced her wildling to remain quiet, in helpless +exhaustion, till the pain subsided and life could once again be endured. +Panting and sick, the cub lay outstretched among the thorns, while the +tears flowed from his eyes and the froth hung on his lips. Presently, +however, relieved by the copious discharge, he recovered his senses, +and, miserably cowed, with head and brush hanging low, returned before +dawn to the covert. But the vixen in fury drove the cub away; the scent +still clung to him, and rendered him obnoxious even to his mother. In +shame he retired to a dense "double" hedge of hawthorn, where he hid +throughout the day, till he could summon sufficient courage at dusk to +hunt for some dainty morsel wherewith to tempt his sickened appetite. +But before taking up his position above the entrance to a rabbit warren, +he drank at the brook, dipped his tainted fore-paws in the running +water, and, sitting by the margin, removed from his face, as far as +possible, the traces left by the previous night's conflict. Repeatedly, +at all hours of the day and the night, he licked his paws and with them +washed his wounded muzzle and inflamed eyes; but so obstinately did the +offensive odour cling to him that a fortnight elapsed before the last +vestige of the nuisance disappeared. Meanwhile, he narrowly escaped the +mange; and, to add to the discomfort of his wounds, he experienced, now +that his mother's aid was lacking, some difficulty in obtaining +sufficient fresh food. + +At length he recovered, and new, downy hair clothed the wounds and the +scratches on his muzzle and throat. Sleek and strong once more, he was +welcomed as a penitent prodigal by the relenting vixen, and, having in +the period of his solitary wanderings learned much about the habits of +the woodland folk, was doubtless able to assist his mother in the future +training of the vixen-cubs. + +In that luckless fortnight he had acquired a taste for young pheasants, +had picked up a few fat pigeon-squabs belonging to the last broods of +the year, and had sampled sundry articles of diet--frogs, slugs, snails, +a young hedgehog or two, and a squirrel that, overcome with +inquisitiveness, descended from the tree-tops to inspect the young fox +as he dozed among the bilberries carpeting the forest floor. + +Another incident occurred, to which, at the time, the cub attached +considerable importance. He had killed what seemed to be a large, heavy +rabbit, which, though evidently possessed of a healthy appetite, was +almost scentless, and differed in taste from any he had hitherto +captured. He was not particularly hungry, so he buried the insipid +flesh, and resolved never to destroy another rabbit that did not yield a +full, strong scent. Shortly afterwards, when, under the eye of the +bright August moon, Vulp and the vixen were hunting in the wheat-fields, +he detected a similarly weak scent along the hedgerow, and learned from +his wise mother it was that of a doe-hare about to give birth to her +young, and therefore hardly worth the trouble of following. The vixen +further explained that, except when other food was scarce, creatures +occupied, or about to be occupied, with maternal cares--even the lark in +the furrow and the willow-warbler in the hole by the brook--were far +less palatable than at other times. The cub was also told how, just +before he came into the world, the hounds had chased his mother from the +thicket, and how old Reveller, the leader of the pack, had headed the +reckless puppies, and, rating them for their discourtesy, had led them +away to scour another part of the covert. + +With the advance of autumn, a great change passed over the countryside. +The young fox now found it necessary to choose his paths with care as he +wandered through the darkness, lest the rabbits should be warned of his +approach by the crisp rustle of his "pads" on the leaves that had fallen +in showers on the grass. Hitherto he had associated the presence of man +with that of something good for food. An occasional dead rabbit was +still to be found near the old "earth," and, strange to relate, the +man-scent leading to the place was never fresher or staler than that of +the rabbit. In another spot--a wood-clearing not far from the keeper's +lodge--the strong scent of pheasants always seemed to indicate that the +birds had ventured thither in numbers to feed, and there, too, the +man-scent was strong on the grass. The tracks of innumerable little +creatures intersected the clearing in all directions, and, if but for +the sport of watching the pheasants, the pigeons, the sparrows, and the +voles playing and quarrelling in the undergrowth or partaking of the +food provided by the keeper, the fox loved to lurk in the gorse near by. +He evinced little real alarm even at the sight of man, though he felt a +misgiving and instinctively knew that he must hide or keep at a distance +till the curiously shaped monster had gone. The vixen warned him +repeatedly; and she herself, after giving the signal "Hide!" would slink +away, and wander for miles before returning to her family, if only the +measured footfall of a poacher or a farm labourer sounded faintly +through the covert. + +But soon the young fox learned, in a way not to be misunderstood, that +the presence of man meant undoubted danger. One day in October, as he +was intently watching the movements of a sportsman in the copse, a big +cock pheasant rose with a great clatter from the brambles, a loud report +rang through the covert, and a shaggy brown and white spaniel dashed +yelping into the bushes. Darting impetuously from his lair, the cub +easily out-distanced the dog, and quickly found refuge in an adjoining +thicket, where he remained in safety during the rest of the day. Night +brought him another adventure. While crossing a pasture towards a wooded +belt on the hillside, he discovered, to his surprise, that a man was +creeping stealthily towards him through the shadows. A moment later, a +great lurcher came bounding over the field. The fox turned, made for the +hedgerow, and gained the friendly shelter of the hawthorns just as the +dog crashed into the ditch. The frightened creature now ran along the +opposite side of the hedge in a straight line towards the wood, and for +a second time narrowly escaped the lurcher's teeth; but, by keeping +close to the ditch and among the prickly bushes on the top of the +hedge-bank, he at last succeeded in baffling his long-legged foe and +reached the wood unharmed. + +Vulp had thus awakened to the dangers which, during winter and the +earliest days of spring, were always to beset him. But the apprehensions +caused by his little affair with the spaniel, and even by his narrow +escape from the lurcher, were trifling compared with the dread and +distress of being driven for hours before the hounds. And so full of +perils was the first winter of his life that nothing but a combination +of sheer luck with great endurance could then have sufficed to save him +from destruction. Quickly, one after the other, the young vixens were +missing from the thickets; soon afterwards, three of the cubs belonging +to the litter that had been reared in the artificial "earth" +disappeared; and an old fox, the sire of that litter, was killed after a +long, wearisome chase almost to the cliffs on the distant coast. + +One dark and dismal night in December, Vulp, on returning to the home +thickets, failed to find his dam. Her trail was fresh; she had evidently +escaped the day's hunt; but all his efforts to follow her met with no +sort of success. Nature had brought about a separation; in the company +of an adult fox, whose scent lay also on the woodland path, the vixen +had departed from her haunts. The fox-cub remained, however, among the +woodlands where he had learned his earliest lessons, and, for another +year, hunted and was hunted--a vagrant bachelor. + + + + +IV. + +A CRY OF THE NIGHT. + + +One starlit night, when in early winter the snow lay thick on the +ground, Vulp heard the hunting call of a vixen prowling through the +pines. A similar call had often reached his ears. Not long after his dam +deserted him, the cry had come from a furze-brake on a neighbouring +hill-top, and, hastening thither, he had wandered long and wearily, +recognising, though with misgiving, his mother's voice. But the exact +meaning of the call, not being a matter for his mother's teaching, was +unknown to him at the time. Now, however, he was a strong, well fed, +fully developed fox, able to hold his own against all rivals, and the +cry possessed for him a strange, new significance: "The night is white; +man is asleep; I hunt alone!" Almost like a big brown leaf he seemed to +drift across the moonlit snow, nearer and nearer to the pines. He paused +for a moment to sniff the trail; then, with a joyous "yap" of greeting, +he bounded over the hedge, reached the aisles of the wood, and +gambolled--again like a big, wind-blown leaf--about the sleek, handsome +creature whose call he had heard. The happy pair trotted off to hunt the +thickets, till, just before dawn, Vulp, eager to show his skill and +training, surprised two young rabbits sitting beneath a snow-laden +tangle of briar and gorse, and gallantly shared the spoil with his +woodland bride. They feasted long and heartily, afterwards journeying to +the banks of a rill, that, like a black ribbon, flowed through the glen; +and there, crouching together at the margin, they lapped the water with +eager, thirsty tongues. + +Presently, happening to glance behind along the line of the trail, Vulp +caught sight of another fox, a rival for the vixen's affections, +crouching in some bracken scarcely a dozen yards away. With a low grunt +of rage, he dashed into the fern, but the watchful stranger simply +moved aside, and frisked towards the vixen as she still crouched at the +edge of the stream. In response to this insulting defiance, Vulp hurled +himself on the intruder, and bowled him over into the snow. The fight +was fast and furious; now one gained the advantage, then the other. The +grass beneath them became gradually bared of snow by their frantic +struggles, and marked here and there by a bunch of fur or a spot of +blood. At last the rival fox, his cheek torn badly beneath the eye, +showed signs of exhaustion; his breath came in quick, loud gasps; and +Vulp, pressing the attack, forced him to flee for life to a thicket on +the brow of the slope. There he dwelt and nursed his wounds, till, when +the snow melted, the huntsman's "In-hoick, in-hoick, loo-loo-in-hoick!" +resounded in the coverts, and he was routed from his lair for a last, +half-hearted chase, that ended as Melody pulled him down at a ford of +the river below the woods. + +During the period of their comradeship--a period of privation for most +of Nature's wildlings--Vulp taught the vixen much of the lore he had +learned from his mother, while the vixen imparted to him the knowledge +she herself had gained when a cub. He taught her how to steal away from +the covert along the rough, rarely trodden paths between the +farm-labourers' cottages--where the scent lay so badly that the hounds +were unable to follow--directly the first faint notes of a horn, or the +dull thud of galloping hoofs, or the excited whimper of a "rioting" +puppy, indicated the approach of enemies. She taught him to baffle his +foes by chasing sheep across the stubbles, and then passing through a +line of strong scent where his own trail could not readily be +distinguished; also that to cross the river by leaping from stone to +stone in the ford was as sure a means of eluding pursuit as to swim the +pools and the shallows. He taught her, when hard pressed, to leap +suddenly aside from her path, run along the top rail of a fence, return +sharply on her line of scent, and follow, with a wide cast, a +loop-shaped trail, which, with a tangent through a ploughed field or dry +fallow, was usually sufficient to check pursuit till the scent became +faint and cold. And gradually each of these woodland rovers grew +acquainted with the peculiar whims and habits of the other. Vulp loved +to follow stealthily the trail of the rabbit, and then to lie in wait +till some imagined cause of alarm sent Bunny back through the "creep" +and almost straight into her enemy's open jaws. The vixen preferred to +hide in the brambles to leeward of a burrow till an unsuspecting rabbit +crept out into the open. Vulp, since his adventure with the polecat, +bristled with rage whenever he crossed the track of a weasel, but never +dreamed of following; polecat and weasel were the same animal for aught +he knew to the contrary. The vixen, however, was not daunted by the +unpleasant memory of any such adventure; having chanced to see a weasel +in the act of killing a vole, she had recognised a rival and acted +accordingly. And so Vulp's repeated warnings to his mate on this matter +produced no effect beyond making her slightly more careful than she had +hitherto been to obtain a proper grip when she pounced on her savage +little quarry. The vixen was exceedingly fond of snails, and would +eagerly thrust a fore-paw into the crannies of any old wall or bank +where they hibernated; but Vulp much preferred to scratch up the moss +in a deserted gravel-pit, and grub in the loosened soil for the drowsy +blow-flies and beetles that had chosen the spot for their winter abode. +This was the reason for such different tastes: the vixen, when a cub, +had often basked in the sun near a snails' favourite resort, and had +there acquired a liking for the snails; while the fox, on the other +hand, had times out of number amused himself, in the first summer of his +life, by leaping and snapping at the flies as they buzzed among the +leaves when the mid-day sun was hot, and at the beetles as they boomed +along the narrow paths in the thicket near the "earth" when the moon +rolled up above the hedge, and the dark, mysterious shadows of +intersecting boughs foreshortened on the grass. But Vulp knew well, from +an unpleasant experience, the difference between a fly and a wasp. + +One day in August, as he lay in his outdoor lair, the brightness and +heat of the sunshine were such that his eyes, blinking in the drowsiness +of half-awakened slumber, appeared like mere slits of black across +streaked orbs of yellow, and gave no indication of the fiery glow that +lit the round, distended pupils when he peered at nightfall through the +tangled undergrowth. His tongue lolled out, and he panted like a tired +hound, but from thirst rather than weariness. The flies annoyed him +greatly, now settling on his brush, till with a flick of his paw he +drove them away, then, nothing daunted, alighting on his back, his ears, +his haunches, till his fur wrinkled and straightened in numberless +uneasy movements from the tormenting tickling of the little pests. +Presently, with a shrill bizz of rapid wings, a large, yellow-striped +fly passed close to his ears. He struck down the tormenting insect with +a random flip of his paws, snapped at it to complete the work of +destruction, and proceeded leisurely to eat his victim. To his utter +surprise, he seemed to have captured a living, angry thorn, which, +despite his most violent efforts to tear it away with his paws, stuck in +his lip, and produced a smarting, burning sensation that was +intolerable. He rolled on the ground and rubbed his muzzle in the grass, +but to no purpose. No wonder, then, that subsequently his manner +towards an occasional hibernating wasp among the moss-roots in the +gravel-pit was deferential in the extreme! + +Vulp and his mate soon learned that in rabbit-hunting it was exceedingly +profitable to co-operate. Thus, while the vixen "lay up" near a warren, +Vulp skirted the copse and chased the conies home towards his waiting +spouse. After considerable practice, the trick paid handsomely, and food +was seldom lacking. The vixen possessed, perhaps, a slightly more +delicate sense of smell than the fox. Frequently she scented a rabbit in +a clump of fern or gorse after Vulp had passed it by; suddenly stopping, +she would tell her lord of her discovery by signs he readily understood, +and then, while he kept outside the tangle, would pounce on the coney in +its retreat, or start it helter-skelter into his very jaws. But of all +the tricks and the devices she taught him, the chief, undoubtedly, were +those concerned with the capture of hens and ducks from a neighbouring +farmstead. An adult fox, as a rule, does not pay frequent visits to a +farmstead; but Vulp, like his sire, was passionately fond of poultry, +and so, in after years, the vixen's instructions caused him to become +the dread of every henwife in the district. Undoubtedly he would have +been shot had he not been the prize most sought for by the Master of the +Hounds, who cared little for the frequent demands made on his purse by +the cottagers, so long as the fox that slaughtered the poultry gave +abundant sport when running fast and straight before the pack. + +The months drifted by, and signs of spring became more and more abundant +in the valley. About the beginning of March, Vulp deserted the "earth" +prepared by himself and the vixen for their prospective family, and took +up his abode among the hazels and the hawthorns in a thick-set hedge +bounding the woods. + +In preparing the "breeding earth," Vulp and the vixen observed the +utmost care in order that its whereabouts should not be discovered. The +chosen site was a shallow depression, scratched in the soil by a +fickle-minded rabbit that had ultimately fixed on another spot for her +abiding place. This depression was enlarged; a long tunnel was +excavated as far as the roots of an oak, and there broadened. Then +another long tunnel was hollowed out towards the surface, where it +opened in the middle of a briar-brake. The foxes worked systematically, +digging away the soil with their fore-paws, loosening an occasional +stubborn stone or root with their teeth, and thrusting the rubbish +behind them with their powerful hind-legs. As it accumulated, they +turned and pushed it towards the mouth of the den, where at last a +fair-sized mound was formed. When the burrow had been opened into the +thicket, the crafty creatures securely "stopped" the original entrance, +so that, when the grass sprouted and the briar sprays lengthened in the +woodlands, the "earth" would escape all notice, unless a prying visitor +penetrated the thicket and discovered the second opening--then, of +course, the only one--leading to the den. + +When summer came, and the undergrowth renewed its foliage, and the grass +and the corn grew so tall and thick that Vulp could roam unseen through +the fields, he left his haunts amid the woodlands at the first peep of +dawn, and as long as daylight lasted lay quiet in a snug retreat amid +the gorse. There all was silent; no patter of summer rain from leaves +far overhead, no rustle of summer wind through laden boughs, prevented +him hearing the approach of a soft-footed enemy; no harsh, mocking cry +of jay or magpie, bent on betraying his whereabouts, gave him cause for +uneasiness and fear. Of all wild creatures in the fields and woods, he +detested most the meddlesome jay and magpie. If he but ventured by day +to cross an open spot, one of these birds would surely detect and follow +him, hopping from branch to branch, or swooping with ungainly flight +almost on his head, meanwhile hurling at him a thousand abuses. Unless +he quickly regained his refuge in the gorse, the blackbirds and the +thrushes would join in the tantalising mockery, till it seemed that the +whole countryside was aroused by the cry of "Fox! fox!" After such an +adventure, it needed the quiet and solitude of night to restore his +peace of mind; and even when he had escaped the din, and lay in his +couch among the bleached grass and withered leaves, his ears were +continually strained in every direction to catch the least sound of dog +or man. When in the winter he ran for life before the hounds, and tried +by every artifice to baffle his pursuers, these "clap-cats" of the woods +would jeer him on his way. Once, when he ventured into the river, and +headed down-stream, thinking that the current would bear his scent below +the point where he would land on the opposite bank, the magpie's clatter +caused him the utmost fear that his ruse might not succeed. But luckily +the hounds and the huntsman were far away. The birds, however, were not +the only advertisers of his presence; the squirrel, directly she caught +sight of him, would hurry from her seat aloft in fir or beach, to the +lowest bough, and thence--though more wary of Vulp than of Brighteye, +the water-vole--fling at him the choicest assortment of names her varied +vocabulary could supply. Still, for all this irritating abuse Vulp had +only himself and his ancestry to blame. The fox loved--as an article of +diet--a plump young fledgling that had fallen from its nest, or a tasty +squirrel, with flesh daintily flavoured by many a feast of nuts, or +beech-mast, or eggs. It was but natural that his sins, and those of his +forefathers, should be accounted to him for punishment, and that it +should become the custom, in season and out of season, when he was known +to be about, for all the woodland folk to hiss and scream, and +expostulate and threaten, and to compel his return to hiding with the +least possible delay. Thus it happened that he scarcely ventured, during +the day, to attack even a young rabbit that frisked near his lair, lest, +screaming to its dam for help, it should bring a very bedlam about his +ears. + +While roaming abroad in the summer night, Vulp gradually became +acquainted with all sorts of vermin-traps used by the keepers. Once, +treading on a soft spot near a rabbit "creep," he suddenly felt a slight +movement beneath his feet. Springing back, he almost managed to clear +the trap; but the sharp steel teeth caught him by a single claw and for +a moment held him fast. He wrenched himself loose, and retired for a +while to examine his damaged toe-nail. Then, reassured, he again +approached the trap, so that he might store up in memory the +circumstances of his near escape. He learned his lesson thoroughly, and +never afterwards did the smell of iron, or the slightest taint of the +trapper's hand, escape him. He even walked around molehills; they +reminded him too much of the soft soil about the trap. And, for the same +reason, he avoided treading on freshly excavated earth before the holes +of a rabbit warren. + +The succeeding years of Vulp's eventful life were in many respects +similar to the year that began with his courtship of the sleek young +vixen in the white wilderness of the winter fields. His fear of men and +hounds increased, while his cunning became greater with every passing +day. He never slept on a straight trail, but cast about, returned on the +line of his scent, and leaped aside, before retiring to sleep in his +retreat amid the bracken. Often he heard the wild, ominous cry of the +huntsman, "Eloa-in-hoick, hoick--hoick, cover--hoick!" as the hounds +dashed into the furze; and the loud "Tally-ho!" as he himself, or, +perchance, a less fortunate neighbour, broke into sight before the +loud-tongued pack. And more than once, from a safe distance, he heard +the awful "Whoop!" that proclaimed the death of one of his kindred. + +As the years wore on, Vulp gradually wandered far from his old home. The +countryside, for twenty or thirty miles around, was known as intimately +to him as a little garden, nestling between sunny fruit-tree walls, is +known to the cottager who makes it the object of his daily care. His +ears were torn by thorns and fighting; his russet coat was streaked with +grey along the spine. At last, when age demanded ease and comparative +safety from the long, hard chase over hill and dale, he retired to a +rocky fastness on the wild west coast, and there, far above the leaping +waves and dashing spray, lived his free, lonely life. And there he died. + +[Illustration: "HE RETIRED TO A ROCKY FASTNESS ON THE WILD WEST COAST."] + +It was a bright, hot day in July. Lying among the boulders on the shore, +I watched through a field-glass the antics of some birds that wheeled +and soared above the cliffs, when, to my surprise, I saw Vulp crawl +slowly along a shelf of rock above a deep, dark cavern. His movements, +somehow, appeared unnatural. Instead of crouching, with legs bent under +him and brush curled gracefully about his "pads," to bask, his eyelids +half-closed, in the sun, he lay on his side. Guided by a companion, who, +with waving hand, directed my course as I climbed, I gradually mounted +the steep ascent, and peeped over the edge of the rock on which the fox +lay. Despite my excessive caution, he was aware of my presence. Slowly +and drowsily he lifted his head, uttered a feeble half-grunt, half-whine +of alarm, and for a moment bared his teeth defiantly. I remained +absolutely still. Then his head fell back, and with a tremor of pain he +stretched a stiffened limb. I crawled across the ledge to a rugged path +among the cliffs, and descended to the shore. Next day I found him on +the rock again, lying in the same position, but dead, while far up in +the blue the sea-birds circled and called, and far below, at the edge of +the flowing tide, the crested billows leaped and sang. + +His "mask" hangs above my study door. It has been placed there--not as +a thing of beauty. The hard, set pose devoid of grace, the bent, dried +ears once ever on the alert, the glassy, artificial eyes in sockets once +tenanted by living balls of fire that glowed in the darkness of the +night--all are unreal and expressionless. Yet the "mask" suggests a +hundred pictures, and when I turn aside and forget for a moment the +unreality of this poor image of death, I wander, led by fancy, among the +moonlit woods, where the red mouse rustles past, and the mournful cry of +the brown owl floats through the beeches' shadowed aisles. Then I hear a +sudden wail, that echoes from hillside to hillside, as the vixen calls +to Vulp: "The night is white; man is asleep; I hunt alone!" And the fox, +standing at the edge of the clearing, sends back his sharp, glad answer, +"I come!" + + + + +THE BROWN HARE. + +I. + +THE UPLAND CORNFIELD. + + +In midsummer, when the sun rises over the hillside opposite my home its +first bright beams glance between the branches of a giant oak in the +hedgerow of a cornfield above the wooded slope, and sparkle on my study +window. And when at evening the valley is deeply shadowed, the light +seems to linger in benediction on the same cornfield, where the great +oak-tree, no longer silhouetted darkly against a golden dawn, shines +faintly, with a radiance borrowed from the west, against the pearl-blue +curtain of the waning day. Except during the early morning or at dusk, +the cornfield does not stand out conspicuously in the landscape. The eye +is attracted by the striking picture of the woodland wall stretching +across the slope from the brink of the river, or by the lower prospect +of peaceful meadows and orchards through which the murmuring stream +wanders towards the village bridge; but the peaceful uplands beyond +rarely greet the vision. For many years I was wont to look from my +window only at the woods and the meadows, and somehow I was accustomed +to imagine that the line of my vision was bounded by the top of the +wood. It was not till more than usual interest had been awakened in me +concerning the wild life inhabiting the cornfield, that my eyes were +daily turned in the direction of the uplands, where, every evening, the +rooks disappear from sight on their way to the tall elms in a +neighbouring valley. + +Except during harvest, the cornfield is seldom visited by the country +folk. It lies away from the main road, and the nearest approach to it is +by a grass-grown lane leading from some ruined cottages to a farmstead +in the middle of the estate. Many years ago, it was a wilderness of +furze and briar, one of the thickest coverts on the countryside, +affording safe sanctuary for fox and badger. But gradually it has been +reclaimed, till now only a belt of undergrowth, scarcely twenty yards +wide, stretches along the horizon between the upper hedgerow and the +wheat. + +Here, one starry April night, in a snug "form" prepared by the mother +hare, a leveret was born. The "form" was hardly more than a depression +in the rank grass, to which, for some time past, the doe had been in the +habit of resorting at dawn, that she might hide secure through the day, +till the dusk brought with it renewed confidence, and tempted her away +into the open meadows beyond the cornfield, where the young clover grew +green and succulent. A thick gorse-bush, decked with a wealth of yellow +bloom, grew by the side of the "form," and, all around, the matted grass +and brambles made a labyrinth, pathless, save for the winding "run" by +which the hare approached or left her home. + +Unlike the offspring of the rabbit--born blind and naked in an +underground nest lined with its parent's fur--the leveret was covered +with down, and her eyes were open, from the hour of birth. Nature had +fitted her for an existence in the open air. At first she was suckled by +day as well as by night, but as she grew older she seldom felt the want +of food till dark. While light remained, she squatted motionless by her +mother's side in the "form," protected by the resemblance in colour +between her coat and the surrounding herbage, where the browns and greys +of last autumn might still be seen among the brambles, with here and +there a weather-worn stone or the fresh castings from a field-vole's +burrow. In the gloaming, she followed her mother through the "creeps" +amid the furze-brake, and sometimes to the edge of the thicket as far as +the gap, where she learned to nibble the tastiest leaves in the grass. +But soon after nightfall, she was generally alone for some hours while +the doe wandered in search of food. + +Before daybreak, the doe always returned to suckle her little one. Often +in the quiet night, the leveret, feeling lonely or afraid, would call in +a low, tremulous voice for help. If the doe was within hearing she +immediately responded; but frequently the cry, "leek, leek," did not +reach the roaming hare, and the leveret, crouching in the undergrowth, +had to wait till she heard her mother's welcome call. Soon the little +home in the thicket was deserted, and the leveret accompanied her +mother on her nightly journeys till the fields and the woods for miles +around became familiar. + +About a month after her birth, the leveret, having grown so rapidly that +she was able to take care of herself, parted from her mother, and, +crossing the boundary hedge of the estate, took up her quarters on the +opposite side of the valley. The doe and her leveret had lived happily +in the cornfield and the meadows above the wood. The mother had attended +with utmost solicitude to the wants of her offspring, allowing no +intruder among her kindred to trespass on her own particular haunts, and +careful to select for each day's hiding place some sequestered spot +where a human footstep was seldom heard, and the noise of the farmyard +sounded faint and remote. + +The leveret had learned, partly through a wonderful instinct and partly +through her mother's teaching, how to act when there was cause for +alarm. Immediately on detecting the presence of an intruder, she lay as +still as the stone beside the ant-heap near, trusting that she would not +be distinguished from her surroundings. But if flight was absolutely +necessary, she sped away towards the nearest gap, and thence over +pasture and cornfield, always up-hill if possible, out-distancing any +probable pursuer by the marvellous power of her long hind-limbs. + +During the late summer and the early autumn, nothing occurred to +endanger the leveret's life. The corn grew tall and slowly ripened. Amid +its cool shadows the leveret dwelt in solitude. Her "creeps" were out of +sight beneath the arching stalks. A gutter for winter drainage, dry and +overgrown with grass, formed a tunnel in the hedge-bank between the corn +and the root-crop field beyond; and through this gutter the leveret, +when at night she grew hungry, could steal into the dense tangle of +thistles and nettles fringing the turnips, thence, between the ridges +under the wide-spreading leaves, to the narrow pathway dividing the rape +from the root-crop, and across the field to a furrow where sweet red +carrots, topped with dew-sprinkled plumes, tempted her dainty appetite. + +When the calm night was illumined, but not too brightly, by the moon and +stars, the leveret would venture far away from her retreat to visit a +cottage garden where the young lettuces were crisp and tender. Her +depredations among the carrots and lettuces were scarcely such as to +deserve punishment. She ate only enough of the lettuces to make a slight +difference in the number of seeding plants ultimately devoured by the +cottager's pig, or thrown to the refuse-heap; and from the great pile of +carrots, to be gathered and stored in the peat-mound by the farmstead, +the few she destroyed could never by any chance be missed. On all the +countryside she was the most inoffensive creature--the harmless gipsy of +the animal world, having no fixed abode, her tent-roof being the dome of +the sky. + +As autumn advanced, the reapers came to the corn. She heard them enter +by the gate; and presently, along the broad path cut by the scythe +around the field, the great machine clanked and whirred. All day the +strange, disturbing noise continued, drawing gradually nearer the spot +where the leveret lay. Through the spaces between the stalks she watched +the whirling arms swinging over, and the horses plodding leisurely by +the edge of the standing wheat. At last, but almost too late, she +leaped from her "form" as the cruel teeth cut through the stalks at her +side; and, taking the direction of her "creep," rushed off towards the +nearest gap and disappeared over the brow of the hill. + +In the middle of the night she wandered back to the wheat-field. The +scene before her eyes revealed a startling change. The corn stood in +"stooks" on the stubble; no winding paths led here and there through a +silent sanctuary, where countless waving, nodding plumes, bent and +released by a gentle-flowing wind, had shimmered in the bright radiance +of the harvest moon, when, coming home late at night from the marsh +across the hill, she had stayed for a while on the mound by the gate, +and tiptoe, with black-fringed ears moving restlessly, had listened to +some ominous sound in the farmyard. The prickly stubble felt strange to +her feet, so, carefully picking her way by the ditch, she crossed to the +nearest gate and ambled down the lane. But the change noticed in the +wheat-field seemed to have passed over the whole countryside. It was +more and more pronounced during the following week, till, in October, +the late harvest had all been cleared. The habits of the hare altered +with the season. Having at last grown accustomed to the varied +conditions of her life, she sometimes frequented the old tracks over the +upland, but rarely resorted to the "forms" in which she had lain amid +the summer wheat. + +October brought her an experience which might have proved disastrous, +but which, fortunately, resulted in nothing more than a passing fright. +In the stalk of the rye occurs a knot, forming a slight bulge known to +the peasantry as the "sweet joint." Rabbits and hares are extremely fond +of this succulent morsel, and, in consequence, the rye-crop, if near a +large warren, is in danger of being totally destroyed. Puss one night +had wandered far to a field, where, some time before, she had discovered +a patch of standing rye. The few remaining stalks were hard and +uninviting, but there were some delicious parsnips among the root-crops. +At dawn she settled down to hide between the rows of swedes close by, +and remained secreted for the day; but towards evening a sportsman came +in at the gate, and, with a low word of command and a wave of the arm, +"threw off" his brace of red setters to range the field. Working +systematically to right and left, the dogs sought eagerly for game. Soon +the hare was scented, and while Juno, with stiffened "stern" and +uplifted paw, stood almost over her, Random, "backing" his companion, +set towards the furrow where Puss, perfectly rigid, and with ears well +over her shoulders, crouched low, prepared for instant flight. Step by +step the sportsman, with gun in readiness, moved towards Juno, +cautioning her against excitement; while Random, sinking on his +haunches, awaited patiently the issue of events. Suddenly, convinced +that in flight lay her surest chance of escape, the hare leaped from her +"seat," and with the utmost speed, though from the ease of her motions +appearing to run slowly, made her way towards the hedgerow. There was a +quick rush behind her as she started from the furrow, and then a loud, +rasping exclamation from the sportsman, but nothing more; no shot was +fired. She owed her life to several circumstances. The dogs were young, +and in strict training; their master, knowing the natural fondness of +"first season" setters for "chasing fur," had purposely refrained from +killing the hare, and had turned his attention to the behaviour of his +dogs. Then, again, he cherished a certain fondness for Puss, believing +her to be the most persecuted, as well as the most innocent and +interesting, of Nature's wildlings in the wind-swept upland fields. + +Henceforward, but for one other incident, the life of the hare was +singularly uneventful till the early spring. That incident occurred +within a week of her escape from the setters, and once more her luck was +due to the humanity of him who had found her among the turnips. The +farm-lands frequented by the leveret were a favourite resort of many of +her kind, and when moving about in the darkness of the night she often +found signs of their presence near the gaps and gateways. The sportsman, +knowing well that after harvest the poaching instincts of the peasantry +and of the professional village "mouchers" would receive fresh stimulus, +determined to forestall his enemies, and render futile some, at least, +of their endeavours. So it came about that one night a keeper, assisted +by several of the guests at the "big house" in the valley, and having +previously made every preparation for the event, placed a net near each +gate and before each likely gap within a radius of half a mile from the +heart of the estate. + +Unless hard pressed, a hare seldom leaves a field except by certain +well-known openings in the hedgerow. Unlike the rabbit, she will not +readily leap over any obstacle beneath which she can crawl; and whereas +the "creep" of a rabbit through a gateway or a hedgerow is well-nigh +invariably at right angles to the line of that gateway or hedgerow, the +"creep" of a hare tends sideways and is sometimes slightly curved. To +net hares successfully it is necessary to know their habits; and the +keeper, having served a lifelong apprenticeship in field-craft, was +prepared for every emergency. His object at this time was not to kill +the hares, but simply to educate them, to warn them thoroughly once for +all against the wiles of their worst enemy, the poacher. + +As Puss was busily feeding in the dewy clover, she heard the quick, +continuous gallop of a dog. This time, however, she had not to deal with +Juno, the setter, but with a trained lurcher, borrowed for the occasion +from a keeper who had captured the animal during a poaching affray. The +leveret, peeping over the grass-tops, saw the dog coming rapidly on. He +was over and past her in an instant. As he turned, she started off +straight towards an opening where some sheep had partly broken down the +hedge. The lurcher closed in, and drove her thither at tremendous speed. +She strained every nerve, and, gaining the ditch, blundered blindly +through the gap, and fell, helpless and inert, entangled completely +within the treacherous folds of the unseen net. Her piteous cries, +tremulous, wailing, heart-rending--similar to the cries of a suffering +infant--were borne far and wide on the wind. The keeper soon reached the +spot, and, placing his hand over her mouth to stop the cries, tenderly +extricated the frightened creature from the treacherous meshes and +allowed her to go free. For a few seconds, she lay in abject fright, +panting and unable to move. Then, hearing the cries of another hare +entangled in a bag-net some distance away, she bounded to her feet, and +darted off--somewhere, anywhere, so long as she might leave the awful +peril behind. Bewildered, but with every instinct assisting her in the +desire for life, she ran along by the hedgerow, and, unexpectedly +catching sight of a familiar gate, crouched and passed quickly through +the "creep" beneath the lowest bar. But here, again, a net was spread; +again the hare fell screaming and struggling into the meshes; and again +the keeper released her. Exhausted by intense excitement and fear, she +crawled into the "trash" in the ditch, and kept in hiding, not daring +the risk of another capture. Luckily for Puss, the lurcher had already +hunted the field in which she was now secreted, and so the timid +creature remained undisturbed beneath the fern. When her wildly +throbbing heart had been quieted by rest and solitude, she stole from +her hiding place to nibble the clover at the side of the path. Towards +dawn, she journeyed to a wide stretch of moorland on the opposite hills, +and there made a new "form" on a rough bank that separated a reedy +hollow from the undulating wilderness of heather and fern. + +The leveret's adventures were destined to effect a considerable change +in her habits. She was being roughly taught that to preserve her life +she must be ever cautious and vigilant. Though danger threatened her by +day and by night, she lived beyond the usual period of a hare's +existence, partly because her early education was thorough and severe. +Thus taught, she would pause for an instant at every gap and gateway +before she passed through, and, if she found a net in her path, would +turn aside, creep along by the hedge, and seek an exit at another place. + +The perils to which she had been exposed created a feeling of intense +restlessness, which harassed her throughout the winter months, and +caused her to travel long distances, by the loneliest lanes and fields, +to and from the moorland where now she had made her home. She remembered +the scent of a human being since her experiences with the keeper, and, +her powers of smell being wonderfully acute, was able to detect even the +faintest signs which indicated that her dread enemy--man--had crossed +her path. One night she smelt the touch of a hand on the grass-bents +near her "form," and found also that the herbage had been moved aside. +Though the scent was faint--the intruder having visited the spot soon +after the leveret had set out in quest of food--the cautious creature +forsook her lair, and spent the day in a sheltered retreat beside a heap +of dry and withered leaves near the outskirts of a copse on the slope +overlooking the moor. + +Gradually she grew big and strong, becoming unusually fat as the autumn +advanced, so that she would be able, if required, to withstand the +rigour and the waste of a severe winter. Her coat was thick and +beautifully soft, for protection against cold and damp. But while she +increased in weight, she remained in hard condition because of her long +journeys and frequent change of quarters. + +It happened, however, that her first winter was helpful to the welfare +of animal life in general. The heavy rains, it is true, greatly +distressed the leveret. The nights were so dark, and the constant patter +of the rain so interfered with even her highly trained powers of +hearing, that, while the wet weather lasted, she seldom dared to leave +the neighbourhood of her favourite resort, but crouched in the grass at +the margin of the copse, and tried to obtain a meal as best she could +from the sodden herbage. + +Though on certain occasions Puss might have been discovered in hiding +on the marsh, yet there, whenever possible, she chose a dry spot for her +"seat." She loved, best of all, the undulating hills far above the +river-mists, which, chilled at nightfall by an occasional frost, +descended on the fields like crystal dust, and almost choked her if she +chanced to pass within these wreathing drifts that brought discomfort +and disease to man and beast alike. + +But the want of exercise so affected her, that, when again the weather +was fine and she ventured from her lair, she found herself unable to +cover the usual distance of her nightly rambles. As the first cold +glimmer of the dawn appeared in the south-eastern sky, she started back, +in alarm at her fatigue, to complete the remaining mile of her journey +home. Her weakness soon became apparent. Then, finding herself powerless +to proceed, she turned reluctantly aside, and crouched, with Nature's +mimicry for her protection, on the brown ploughland where the winter +wheat was thrusting up its first green sprouts above the soil. But after +a few days she was well and strong again. She suffered far less from +the short, sharp frost that bound the countryside with its icy fetters, +than from the rains. The frost scarcely interfered with her movements; +indeed, it made exercise more than ever necessary. Forced to seek +diligently for her food, she found it in a deserted stubble; there, when +the sheep lay sleeping in the bright winter moonlight, she would squat +beside them, nibbling the turnips scattered over the field as provender +for the flock. + + + + +II. + +MARCH MADNESS. + + +March came in "like a lion." The wind whistled round the farmstead on +the hill, and through the doorway of the great kitchen, and down the +open chimney. It woke up the old, grey-haired farmer who dozed on the +"skew" in the ingle-nook by the crackling wood-fire; it almost made him +feel young again with the vigour of the boisterous spring. It sang in +the key-hole of the door between the passage and the best parlour; the +mat at the threshold flapped with a sound as of pattering feet; and the +gaudy calendars on the wall flew up like banners streaming in the +breeze. The old man turned, and eagerly watched the hailstones, as they +dropped tinkling on the roofs of the outhouses, or, driven aslant by +the wind, crashed hissing against the ground, and, rebounding, rolled +across the pebbled yard. The labourers came home to the mid-day meal, +and, pausing at the door, shook the hail from their garments. + +"Lads," said the farmer, "I've been spared to hear the whisper of +another spring." + +"God be thanked!" said the hind, "for seasonable weather at last. Every +man to his trencher! the broth is in the bowls." + +Out on the marsh the reeds beat in the wind. Every grass-fibre twisted +and swung; the matted tussocks, drooping over stagnant pools near which +the snipe, with ruffled feathers, probed the soil in search of food, +were shaken and disentangled, so that the bleached blades of last year's +growth fell apart, and exposed the fresh young sprouts rising from the +bed of winter's death. Over the wide waste the March wind drove +furiously, with blessing in the guise of chastisement, while, far above, +the grey-blue clouds whirled fast across a steely sky, till the ashen +moon gazed coldly on the waning day, as one by one the stars flashed +overhead, the clouds rolled down into the pink and silver west, and the +song of the wind became only a murmur in the leafless willows by the +brook. + +With the advent of March, a great change passed over the wild life of +the uplands. The jack-hares threw aside their timidity, and wandered, +reckless of danger, over the marsh, across the stubbles, and through the +woods. Even in broad daylight, they frisked and quarrelled, in courtship +and rivalry. + +The leveret was now full-grown, and Nature's mothering instincts were +strong within her. One evening, as she louped along her accustomed trail +towards the turnip-field, she discovered a suitor following in her wake. +Half in misgiving, half in wantonness, she turned aside and hid in the +ditch. Presently she felt a soft touch on her neck: the jack-hare was +pushing his way through the undergrowth. For a moment she stopped to +admire him as the moonlight gleamed on a white star in the centre of his +forehead. Then away she jumped, dodging round the bushes and hither and +thither among the grassy tangles, while her admirer followed, frisking +and leaping in sportive gaiety. Another jack-hare now came along the +hedgerow. In utter mischief, Puss called "leek, leek, leek," as if +pretending to be in distress and in need of help. "Leek, leek," came the +low response, as, quickening his pace, the second hare sprang into the +fern. But his audacity was not to go unchallenged. The first suitor +immediately showed himself, and, making a great pretence of reckless +bravery, prepared to give the second a warm reception. The doe-leveret, +apparently indifferent, but nevertheless keenly interested in the +combat, crouched on a little knoll by the path, while the jack-hares, +sitting on their haunches, boxed and scratched, and rolled over each +other in a singularly harmless conflict, neither suffering more than the +loss of a few tufts of fur. The comedy might, however, have had a tragic +ending. Presently one of the combatants--the hare that had come late on +the scene--became slightly exhausted, and, ignominiously yielding to his +rival's superior dexterity, ran back towards the distant hedge. Almost +at once a fox crept out from the furze at the corner of the field, and +trotted away on the scent of the fleeing hare, while Puss and her mate +made off in the direction of a more secluded pasture. + +A month passed--a month of general hilarity and indiscriminate fighting +among all the hares in the district--and then, within a neat, dry +"form," that Puss, with a mother's solicitude, had made in a carefully +selected spot on a mound where the grass was tall and thick, her little +leveret was "kittled." The doe-hare tended her offspring as carefully as +she herself had been tended a year before. Her faithless lover had gone +his own way. But Puss cared little for his desertion: she wished to live +alone, under no monopoly as far as her affections were concerned, though +for the time her leveret wholly engaged her mothering love. + +So strong was her strange new passion that she was ready, if needs be, +to brave death in defence of her young. And, not long after the +leveret's birth, the mother's courage was tested to the utmost. A +peregrine falcon, from the wild, rocky coast to the west, came sailing +on wide-reaching wings across the April sky. Puss was resting in a clump +of brambles not far from her "form," and saw the big hawk flying swiftly +above. Any movement on her part would have instantly attracted the +attention of her foe, so she squatted motionless, while her leveret +also instinctively lay still in its "form." But the keen eyes of the +falcon detected the young hare, and the bird descended like a stone on +his helpless victim. Instantly, the doe rushed to the rescue, and, +effectually warding the attack, received the full force of the "stoop" +on her shoulders. As the hawk rose into the air, the doe felt a sharp +pain in one of her ears--the big talons, closing in their grasp, had +ripped it as with the edge of a knife. She screamed, then, grunting +savagely, leaped hither and thither around the leveret, meanwhile urging +it to escape into the adjacent thicket. The bird, aloft in the air, +seemed perplexed, and eventually prepared to "stoop" again. In the nick +of time, Puss vanished with her little one beneath an impenetrable +tangle of friendly thorns, while the baffled peregrine proceeded on his +way. + +For some weeks, the hare languished under the effects of the falcon's +blow. When her leveret was old enough to find food for itself, she +rested, forced by the wound to live quietly in hiding, till the scar +healed and life once more became enjoyable. But she always bore the +marks of the talons, and so was spoken of by the country folk as "the +slit-eared hare." + +The superstitious recalled the tales of a bygone century, and half +believed the hare to be a witch in disguise, for she seemed to bear a +charmed life, and, though known everywhere in the parish, successfully +eluded to the end all the devices that threatened her. No matter how +artfully the wire noose was set above the level of the ground in her +"run," she brushed it by and never blundered into the treacherous loop. +A net failed even to alarm her: it might almost be imagined that she +became an experienced judge of any such contrivance, and knew every +individual poacher by the method with which his toils were spread across +her path. + +Not having bred during the year in which she was born, Puss had thrived, +and weighed about nine pounds in the late autumn of her second season. +But according to popular opinion she was much heavier. Will, the +cobbler, who was fond of coursing, stoutly maintained, to a group of +interested listeners in the bar-parlour of the village inn, that she +seemed like a donkey when she escaped from his greyhound into the wood. + +Family cares again claimed the hare's attention in July; and, having +taken to heart her experience with the peregrine, she left the uplands +and made her home in the thickets of a river-island. At that time the +river was low, and, on one side of the island, the bed of the stream had +become a dry, pebbly hollow, save for a large pool fed by the backwater +at the lower end, where the minnows played, and whither the big trout +wandered from the rapids to feed during the hot summer nights. + +Late one afternoon, when long shadows lay across the mossy bank of the +river beyond the tall beeches standing at the entrance to the island +thickets, Puss was waiting for the dusk, and dozing meanwhile, but with +wide-open eyes, beside her leveret. Since there was another little mouth +besides her own requiring food, she generally felt hungry long before +nightfall, and so, when the afterglow began to fade in the west, was +wont to steal away to the clover above the woods that fringed the long, +still pool up-stream. + +As the day wore on, the hare heard the unmistakable tread of human feet +approaching through the woods. The sounds became increasingly distinct; +then a pebble rattled and splashed into the water as the intruder walked +across the river-bed. He passed close to the "form," and, turning +down-stream, was lost to sight amid the bushes. At intervals, the hare +imagined that the faint, muffled sounds of footsteps came from the +distance; but again the sounds drew near, ceasing, however, when the man +was a few yards from the nest. + +I can complete the story. Since spring I had been studying the wild life +of this lonely island below the rocky gorge extending hither from the +village bridge. The wood-wren, the willow-wren, and the garden-warbler +had nested in the thickets, and every evening I had visited the place to +pry on their doings, and to note how the flowers in glad succession +blossomed and faded--their presence in this lonely sanctuary known only +to myself, and to the birds, bees, and butterflies, and to the little +shrews that rustled over the dry leaves beneath. But now the +garden-warblers had left for the copse on the far side of the river, and +the wood-wrens and the willow-wrens had retreated to the inner recesses +of the thickets, where, amid the luxuriant verdure of midsummer, their +movements baffled my observation. + +On the July evening, as I lay in the matted grass at the edge of the +copse by the pebbles, watching a whitethroat among the bushes opposite, +my eye happened to rest for an instant on a patch of bare mud +immediately before me. There, to my surprise, I discovered the +footprints of the hare. The five toes of the fore-feet, and the four +toes of the hind-feet, were as clearly outlined as if each impression +had been taken in plaster. And yet, when I stood up to look at the spot, +the marks seemed to have wholly disappeared. On nearer examination I +found that the track of the hare was in the direction of the island. +From their shape, and the distance between each, the footprints +indicated that the movements of the hare had not been hurried. Similar +footprints were visible in a straight line between the bank and the +island. Only one conclusion seemed possible--the hare had crossed to the +island early that morning, after the heavy shower that had fallen just +before dawn. It would have been contrary to her habits had she crossed +later; and, had she passed the place at any time before, the rain would +have washed away the marks in such an open spot, or, at any rate, would +have blurred them beyond recognition. + +After placing a white stone by the footprints to indicate their +whereabouts, I searched along the river-bed for signs that would show a +track towards the bank; but not a single mark could be found pointing in +that direction. It was obvious that the hare had not left the island +till, at any rate, some hours after the rain. Then, however, the sun +would have been so high that Puss would have been loath to leave her +lair. Faintly discernible beside a large pebble, one other footprint +appeared, leading like the rest towards the island. The mark was old, +and had been saved from obliteration by the sheltering stone; but it +suggested that the hare had made her home not far away. Taught by +experience, I decided not to penetrate the copse and risk disturbing its +probable tenant. I approached it only so far as to examine another bare +place in a line with the footprints on the mud, where, to my delight, I +found fresh footprints similar to those at the dried-up ford, together +with other and much smaller marks undoubtedly made by a tiny leveret. + +I now re-crossed the ford and went home. But before nightfall I +returned, and, hiding behind the hedgerow on the bank, watched, unseen, +the approach to the island. My patience was soon rewarded. Just as the +dusk was deepening over the woodlands, "the slit-eared hare" left her +"form" and stood in full view by the ford. There, having lazily +stretched her long, supple limbs, she played awhile with her leveret, +sometimes pausing to nibble a few clover-leaves as if to direct the +little one's attention towards its suitable food. Then she ambled +leisurely across the river-bed, and, with graceful, swinging gait, +passed through the meadow beyond--while her offspring disappeared within +the thickets of the island. + +The hot weather broke up in July, and henceforth, till late September, +rain descended almost every day. The shower that had revealed the +whereabouts of the hare was the first sign of the change. On the +following night, a thunderstorm broke over the countryside, washed down +the soil from the pastures, and sent the river roaring in flood through +the gorge. While on the far side of the island the main torrent raged +past beneath the willows, the divided stream under the near bank formed +salmon-pools and trout-reaches, where, before, the pebbles had been bare +and dry. + +Anxious to know how the flood would interfere with the movements of the +hare, I came back on the following evening to my hiding place by the +hedgerow. In the dusk, Puss appeared at the margin of the copse, and +moved down the bank to the edge of the stream. There she paused, +apparently perplexed, and called to her leveret. Presently the young +hare joined her mother at the water's edge, and both hopped along the +brink, seeking a dry place by which they might reach the field on the +slope. Finding none, they adjourned to the mossy bank where I had seen +the leveret's footprints. Then the doe went down boldly to the stream, +called to her companion, waded in, and swam across. Ascending into the +field, she shook the water from her fur, and again called repeatedly. +The young one hesitated, and ran to and fro crying piteously, +"leek--leek." Suddenly, in the excitement, it missed its footfall and +fell into the river. Bewildered, but hearing its mother's call, it swam +down the pool through the still water below the little rapid, and landed +on the opposite bank, where it joined its parent, and, following her +example, shook the water from its downy limbs. Soon both disappeared +within the wood; and, satisfied with my evening's sport, I turned +homewards across the fields. + +During the rest of the summer, the hare frequented the rough pastures +skirting the ploughlands, and visited the cornfields only when the +weather was dry. Hares suffer little discomfort in rainy weather, if +only the fine fur beneath the surface of the coat remains dry--after a +shower they can easily shake off any outside moisture. But they dislike +entering damp places where the vegetation is tall and their fur may get +matted and soaked by the raindrops collected on the herbage. In wet +weather hares may often be found in cover, especially near thick +furze-brakes on a well drained hillside, but their presence in such a +situation may imply that they sought shelter before the rain began to +fall. + +In September, for the third time during the year, Puss was occupied with +family affairs. Now, three tiny leverets were "kittled," and the nest +occupied an almost bare place on the top of a ridge in the root-field +where last season the succulent carrots grew. The hare had been greatly +distressed by the unusually wet summer, and one of her leverets was in +consequence a weakling; another leveret was killed by a prowling polecat +while the mother wandered from the "form"; and only the third grew up +robust and strong. + +The approach of winter brought Puss many strange experiences, from some +of which she barely emerged with her life. When the season was passed, +it had become more than ever difficult to approach her; she would slip +away to cover directly her keen senses detected the presence of a +stranger in the field where she lay in her "form." As she grew older, +her leverets sometimes numbered four or five, but as a rule she gave +birth to three only, her productiveness being probably dependent on the +ease with which she obtained food. + +One day in February, just before bringing an early little family into +the world, she almost met her death. A village poacher, ferreting on the +hillside, chanced to see her, as she lay not far off in a patch of +clover. Without waste of time, he proceeded to attempt the capture of +the hare by a well-known trick. Thrusting a stake into the ground, he +placed his hat on it, and strolled unconcernedly away. Then, as though +he had changed his mind, he walked round the clump, in ever narrowing +circles, gradually closing on his prey. Meanwhile, the hare, her +attention wholly diverted by the improvised scarecrow, remained +motionless, baffled by the artifice. Suddenly she felt the touch of the +man's hand. The poacher had thrown himself down on the tuft, hoping to +clutch the hare before she could move. But in endeavouring to look away +from the spot, and, at the same time, measure the distance of his fall, +he had miscalculated the hare's position. She sprang up, and with ears +held low sped away towards the wood, leaving the poacher wild with rage +at the failure of his ruse, and vowing vengeance on the timid creature, +whose life, at such a time, would hardly, even to him, have been worth +an effort. + + + + +III. + +THE CHASE. + + +Of all the hounds employed in the chase of the hare, the basset promises +to become the prime favourite among some true-hearted sportsmen who love +sport for its own sake, and not from a desire to kill. He is a loose, +lumbering little fellow--resembling his relative, the dachshund--low and +long, with out-turned legs, sickle-shaped "flag," and features which, in +repose, seem to suggest that he has borne the grief and the care of a +hundred years, but which, when the huntsman comes to open the kennel +doors, are radiant with delight. Mirthfulness and dignity seem to seek +expression in every movement of the quaint, old-fashioned little hound, +and in every line of his face. As for his music--who would expect such a +deep, bell-like note from this queer midget among hunters, standing not +much higher than the second button of the huntsman's legging? Withal, he +is a merry, lively little fellow, with a good nose for the scent of a +rabbit or a hare, and, when in fit condition, is able to follow, follow, +follow, if needed, from earliest dawn till the coming of night. The +chase being ended, he with his companions, Harlequin and Columbine, and +all the stragglers of the panting pack, will surround the tired hare, +and will wait, bellowing lustily, but without molesting the quarry, till +the Master appears and calls them to heel. + +If the ten to twenty sportsmen often to be found in a village would +combine, each keeping a basset for the common Hunt, they might derive +the utmost pleasure from following their pets afield, and incidentally +would assist to prevent the extermination of an innocent wildling of our +fields and woodlands. For the sake of the sport shown by the +basset-hounds, many of the farmers near the villages, who dearly love to +hear the deep music of a pack in full cry, would protect Puss from those +more cunning and powerful enemies of hers, who, lurcher in leash or gun +in hand, steal along the hedgerows at nightfall, so that, from a secret +transaction thereafter with some local game-dealer, they may get the +wherewithal for a carouse in the kitchen of the "Blossom" or the "Bunch +of Grapes." + +One morning in December, when the rime lay thick on the fields, and the +unclouded sun, rising in the steel-blue sky, cast a radiance over the +glittering countryside, our village basset-hounds found the "cold" scent +of the hare in the woods above the church, where Puss had sheltered +beside a prostrate pine-trunk before returning to her "form" at dawn. +After endeavouring in vain for some time to discover the direction of +her "run," they set off, "checking" occasionally, across the stubble, +through the root-crop field, and down over the fallow to the bottom of +the dingle. There, near a bubbling spring, Puss had hidden since +daybreak. Hearing the far-off music, she slipped out of the field +unobserved, till, reaching the uplands, she was seen to pass leisurely +by in the direction of the furze-brake. + +Directly the bassets came to the spring, a chorus of deep sounds +announced that the quarry had been tracked to her recent lair. All +through the morning they continued their quest; they streamed in a long, +irregular line up the hillside, their black and tan and white coats +gaily conspicuous in the sunlight; they trickled over the hedgerows, and +dotted the furrows of the deserted ploughlands; they moved in "open +order" through the copse, and plodded along by the furze-brakes or +through the undergrowth where the sharp-thorned brambles continually +annoyed and impeded them; they worked as if time needed not to be taken +into the slightest account. The least scent met with loud and hearty +recognition; fancy ran riot with the excited puppies; the atmosphere at +every turn seemed to betray the near presence of Puss. But every +condition of weather and fortune was against good sport. The ground was +steadily thawing in the warmth of the sun, and the rising vapour, +trembling in the light, seemed to carry the scent too high for accurate +hunting. + +So the hare ambled along her line of flight--a wide, horse-shoe curve +that began and ended in the fallow on the slope. When a considerable +distance had been placed between herself and her pursuers, she ceased +to hurry. Indeed, the music of horn and hounds seemed almost to +fascinate the creature, and frequently she lingered for a few moments to +listen intently to the clamour of her enemies. A farm labourer, who +tried to "grab" her as she passed down the grassy lane, said that she +"was coming along as cool as a cucumber. Sometimes she'd sit down to +tickle her neck with her hind-feet. Then she'd give a big jump, +casual-like, to one side of the path, and sit down again, with her ears +twitching and turning as if she thought there was mischief in every +flutter of a leaf or creak of a bough." + +Frightened almost out of her wits by the labourer's sudden and well-nigh +successful endeavour to secure her, Puss rushed back along the lane, +crossed a gap, and sped over the uplands once more, leaving her usual +horse-shoe line of flight, and taking a much greater curve towards the +fallow. But gradually her pace slackened as she discovered she was no +longer followed; and then, not far from her lair by the spring, she +paused to rest. The music of the hounds was faint, distant, and +intermittent; and at last it entirely ceased. Somewhat exhausted +towards the end of her journey, she had withheld her scent, and had thus +completely outwitted her slow but patient pursuers. + +Once, and once only, towards the end of January, she found herself +chased by her more formidable foes, the beagles. At first she eluded +them by stealing off without yielding the faintest scent; but she was +"viewed" in crossing the meadow, and the hounds, making a long, wide +cast, "picked up" as soon as a slight, increasing taint in the air was +perceptible, then followed for several miles. But, ultimately, they were +baffled, and Puss made good her escape. + +It had happened that, after creeping through a gutter in the hedgerow of +a stubble, she had come in sight of a flock of sheep grazing on the +opposite side. Like Vulp, the fox, she knew how to hinder the chase by +mingling her scent with that of other animals; so without hesitation she +passed through the flock, and made straight for an open gateway in the +far corner of the field. When the beagles, in hot pursuit, appeared on +the scene, the startled sheep, rushing away, took the line of the hunted +hare through the opening, and thus "fouled" the scent so thoroughly +that the hunt came to a "check." After the hare had left the fields +frequented by the sheep, she took the direction of a path leading over a +wide bog towards the woodland. On the damp ground the scent lay so +badly, that when, some time later, the beagles crossed her line, they +were unable, even after repeated "casts," to follow her track. Presently +the impatient huntsman, with hounds at heel, moved away to the nearest +road and relinquished his quest. + +Luckily for Puss, the harriers never visited her neighbourhood, and only +on special occasions was coursing permitted on the estate. If at night a +lurcher entered the field in which she grazed amid the clover, her +knowledge of the poacher's artifices immediately prompted her to slip +over the hedge and past the treacherous nets. Her life, beset with +hidden dangers, was preserved by a chain of wonderfully favourable +circumstances, that befriended her even when the utmost caution and +vigilance had been unavailing. + +Once, so mild was the winter that the hare's first family for the year +came into the world in January. A few weeks afterwards, when she was +about to separate from her leverets, an incident occurred that might +have been attended with fatal results. A poacher, prowling along the far +side of the hedgerow, and occasionally stopping to peep through the +bushes for partridges "jugging" in the grass-field, caught sight of the +leverets nibbling the clover near a small blackthorn. In the feeble +afterglow, he was uncertain that the objects before him were worth the +risk of a shot, so he crawled towards a gap to obtain a nearer view. To +his astonishment, when he reached the gap nothing was visible by the +thorn-bush; the leverets had vanished in the ferns. But the poacher was +artful and experienced. He hid in the undergrowth of the ditch, where, +after waiting awhile, and seeing no sign of movement in the grass, he +gave utterance to a shrill cry like that of a young hare in distress. +Five minutes passed, and the cry was repeated--tremulous, prolonged, +eloquent of helpless suffering. At intervals, the same artifice was +employed, but apparently without success. + +The poacher was about to crawl from his hiding place, when suddenly, +close beside the hedgerow, the head of the doe hare came into sight. +Startled, in spite of expectation, by her sudden appearance, and excited +as he recognised the "slit-eared hare," the poacher involuntarily moved +to grasp his gun. He looked down for an instant to make sure that his +gun was in readiness, but when he lifted his eyes again the hare was +gone. Do what he might, not another glimpse of his quarry was to be +obtained, and so, half believing that he had seen a witch or that he had +dreamed, he stole away into the darkening night. + +Deceived by the poacher's cries, the doe-hare had hurried home, but had +found her young alive and well. Then, scenting danger, she had vanished +with her offspring into the nearest bramble-clump, and in the deep +shadow of the hedgerow had led them safely away. + +During the last year of her life, she frequented the hawthorn hedges and +the furze brakes of an estate diligently "preserved" by a lover of +Nature as a sanctuary whither the furred and feathered denizens of the +countryside might resort without fear of hounds or poachers, and where a +gun was never fired except at vermin. The winter was severe; on two +occasions snow lay thick on the ground for more than a week. But Puss +was fairly comfortable; she had her "form" on a dry, rough heap of +stones, gathered from the fields and thrown into a disused quarry near +the woods; and for four or five nights she remained at home, the snow +covering her completely but for a breathing hole in the white walls of +her tiny hut. At last, impatient of confinement, and desperately hungry, +she broke through the snow-drift, and sought the nearest root-crop +field, where, after scratching the snow from a turnip, she was able to +make a hearty meal. While returning slowly towards the wood through the +soft, yielding snow that rendered her journey difficult and tiresome, +she unexpectedly discovered, near the hedge beyond the furrows, a tasty +leaf or two of the rest-harrow, together with a few yellow sprouts of +young grass where a stone had been kicked aside by a passing +sheep--these were the tit-bits of her provender. + +In the early morning, the hare, too cautious to re-enter the "form," +which, now that its surroundings were torn asunder, had become a +conspicuous rent in the white mantle of the old quarry, crept over the +hedge into the woods, and, moving leisurely beneath the snow-laden +undergrowth, where her deep footprints could not easily be tracked, +selected a suitable spot for a new "form" in the friendly shelter of a +fallen pine. + +But even in this woodland sanctuary she encountered an enemy. A cat from +the farm on the hill, having acquired poaching habits, had strayed, and +taken up her abode among the boulders at the foot of a wooded precipice +adjoining the lower pastures of the estate. In a gallery between these +boulders, she had made her nest of withered grass and oak-leaves, where, +at the time of which I write, she was occupied with a family of kittens. +The wants of the kittens taxed the mother's utmost powers; she prowled +far and wide in search of food, and was as much a creature of the night +as were the fox and the polecat that also lived among the rocks. + +There is no greater enemy of game than the renegade cat. She is far more +destructive than a fox. Many animals that can evade Reynard are helpless +in the grip of a foe armed so completely as to seem all fangs and +talons. The special method of slaughter adopted by the cat towards a +victim of her own size is cruel and repulsive in the extreme. Grasping +it with her fore-claws and holding it with her teeth, she lies on her +back and uses her hind-claws with such effect that often her prey is +lacerated to death. + +Roaming at night in the shadow, the cat came unexpectedly on the scent +of the hare and traced it to the "form," but the desired victim was not +at home. The cat returned to the spot before dawn, and lurked in hiding +beneath the hawthorns. The hare, however, was not to be easily trapped. +Coming into the wood against the wind, she fortunately detected the +enemy's presence quite as readily as the cat had discovered her "form" +amid the grass-bents. With ears set close, and limbs and tail twitching +with excitement, the cat crouched ready for the deadly leap. But the +hare suddenly sprang aside from her path, climbed the hedgerow, and +disappeared, outpacing with ease the cat's half-hearted attempt at +pursuit. + +At length the "slit-eared hare" met her death, in a manner befitting the +wild, free existence she had led among the hills and the valleys. Her +dead body was brought me by the head keeper of the woodland estate, and, +as it rested on my study table, I gazed at it almost in wonder. The +russet coat, turning grey with age, was eloquent of the brown earth, the +sere leaf, and the colourless calm of twilight, and told me of the +creature's times and seasons. The big, dark eyes, their marvellous +beauty and expressiveness dimmed by death, and the long, sensitive ears, +one ripped by the falcon's talon and both slightly bent at the tip with +age, were suggestive of persecution, and of a haunting fear banished +only with the coming of night, when, perchance, the early autumn moon +rose over the corn, and the hare played with her leverets among the +shadowy "creeps." My hands rested on the fine, white down that took the +place of the russet coat where Nature's mimicry was needed not; it was +pure and stainless, like the lonely wildling's inoffensive life. + +[Illustration: "WHEN THE EARLY AUTUMN MOON ROSE OVER THE CORN."] + +A terrible thunderstorm had raged over the countryside all the evening +and throughout the night. Ben, the carter, coming home to the farm with +his team, had dropped at the very threshold of the stable, blasted in +a lurid furnace of sudden fire. A labourer's cottage had been +wrecked; many a stately forest tree had been rent or blighted; the +withering havoc had spread far and wide over the hills. On the following +morning, the keeper, going his rounds, had found the dead hare beside a +riven oak. + + + + +THE BADGER. + +I. + +A WOODLAND SOLITUDE. + + +Even in our own densely peopled land, there are out of the way districts +in which human footsteps are seldom heard and many rare wild creatures +flourish unmolested. Near such parts the naturalist delights to dwell, +in touch, on one side, with subjects that deserve his patient study, +and, on the other side, with kindly country folk, who, perhaps, supply +him with food, and are the means of communication between him and the +strenuous world. In this western county, however, the naturalist, in +order to gain expert knowledge, does not need to live on the fringe of +civilisation. Here, among the scattered upland farms around the old +village, creatures that would elsewhere be in daily danger because of +their supposed attacks on game are almost entirely free from +persecution. In several of our woods, polecats seem to be more numerous +than stoats, and badgers are known, but only to the persistent observer, +to be more common than foxes; and both polecats and badgers are seldom +disturbed, though the farmers may regularly pass their burrows. + +The immunity of such animals from harm is, to some extent, the result of +the farmer's lack of interest in their doings. He strongly resents the +presence of too many rabbits on his land, "scratching" the soil, +spoiling the hedges, and devouring the young crops, and, therefore, +cherishes no grudge against their enemies so long as his stock is +unmolested. He is no ardent protector of game, and, if a clutch of eggs +disappears from the pheasant's nest he has chanced to discover in the +woods, thinks little about the incident, and concludes that Ned the +blacksmith's broody hen has probably been requisitioned as a +foster-mother, and that some day he will know more of the true state of +affairs when he visits the smithy at the cross-roads. + +Another circumstance to which the badger hereabouts is indebted for +security is that terriers are not the favourite dogs of the countryside. +When shooting, the sportsman prefers spaniels, particularly certain +"strains" of black and brown cockers--untiring little workers with a +keen, true power of scent--which for many years have been common in the +neighbourhood; and the farmer's sheep-dog is unfitted for any sport +except rabbiting. Here and there, among the poaching fraternity, may be +found a mongrel fondly imagined by its owner to be a terrier--a good +rabbit "marker," and wonderfully quick in killing rats, but no more +suited than the sportman's spaniel for "lying up" with a badger. + +Undoubtedly, however, the security of some of our most interesting wild +animals, and especially of the badger, is to be accounted for by their +extreme shyness. They venture abroad only when the shadows of night lie +over the woods. For countless years, dogs and men have been their +greatest foes, and their fear of them is found to be almost as strong in +remote districts as where, near towns, their existence is continually +threatened. Wild life in our quiet valley will be deemed of unusual +interest when I say that less than six hours before writing these lines +I visited a badger's "set"--a deep underground hollow with several main +passages and upper galleries, where, as I have good reason to believe, a +fox also dwells--an otter's "holt" beneath gnarled alder-roots fringing +the river-bank, and another fox's "earth," all on the outskirts of a +wooded belt not more than a mile from my home, and all showing signs of +having long been inhabited. + +Unless systematically persecuted, the fox, the otter, and the badger +cling to their respective haunts with such tenacity that, season after +season, they prowl along the same familiar paths through the woods or by +the river, and rear their young in the same retreats. This is the case +especially with the badger; from the traditions of the countryside, as +well as from the careful observation of sporting landowners, it may be +learned that for generations certain inaccessible "sets" have seldom, if +ever, been uninhabited. Always at nightfall the "little man in grey" has +climbed the slanting passage from his cave-like chamber, ten or--if +among the boulders of some ancient cairn--even from twenty to thirty +feet below the level of the soil, and sniffed the cool evening air, and +listened intently for the slightest sound of danger, before departing on +his well worn trail to hunt and forage in the silent upland pastures. +And with the first glimpse of light, when the hare stole past towards +her "form," and the fox, a shadowy figure drifting through the haze of +early dawn, returned to the dense darkness of the lonely wood, he has +sought his daytime snuggery of leaves and grass industriously gathered +from the littered glades. + +In a deep burrow at the foot of a hill, about a quarter of a mile from a +farmstead built on a declivity at a bend of the broad river, Brock, the +badger, was born, one morning about the middle of spring. Three other +sucklings, like himself blind and wholly dependent on their parents' +care, shared his couch of hay and leaves. Day by day, the mother badger, +devoted to their welfare, fed and tended her unusually numerous +offspring, lying beside them on the comfortable litter, while the sire, +occupying a snug corner of the ample bed, dozed the lazy hours away; and +evening after evening, when twilight deepened into darkness as night +descended on the woods, she arose, shook a few seed-husks from her coat, +and with her mate adjourned to an upper gallery leading to the main +opening of the "set," whence, assured that no danger lurked in the +neighbourhood of their home, both stole out to forage in the clearings +and among the thickets on the brow of the hill. + +Just as with Lutra, the little otter-cub in the "holt" above the river's +brim, the first weeks of babyhood passed uneventfully, so with Brock, +the badger, nothing of interest occurred till his eyes gradually opened, +and he could enjoy with careless freedom the real beginning of his +woodland life. Even thus early, what may be called the nocturnal +instinct was strong within him. He was alert and playful chiefly at +night, when, deep in the underground hollow, nothing could be heard of +the outer world but the indistinct, monotonous wail of the wind in the +upper passages of the "set." Droll, indeed, were the revels of the young +badgers when the parents were hunting far away. The little creatures, +awakened from a heavy sleep that had followed the last fond attentions +of their mother, were loath to frolic at once with each other in the +lonely, silent chamber. In their parents' absence they felt unsafe; that +mysterious whisper of admonition, unheard but felt, which is the voice +of the all-pervading spirit of the woods forever warning the kindred of +the wild, bade them be quiet till the dawn should bring the mother +badger to the lair once more. So, huddled close, they were for a time +satisfied with a strangely deliberate game of "King of the Castle," the +castle being an imaginary place in the middle of their bed. Towards that +spot each player pushed quietly, but vigorously, one or other gaining a +slight advantage now and again by grunting an unexpected threat into the +ear of a near companion, or by bestowing an unexpected nip on the flank +of the cub that held for the moment the coveted position of king. Withal +this was a sober pastime, unless Brock, the strongest and most +determined member of the family, chanced to provoke his playmates +beyond endurance, and caused a general, reckless scramble, in which tiny +white teeth were bared and tempers were uncontrolled. + +As the night wore on, it almost invariably happened, however, that the +"Castle" game gave place to a livelier diversion akin to "Puss in the +Corner," when, on feeble, unsteady legs, the "earth-pigs" romped in +pursuit of each other, or squatted, grunting with excitement, in +different spots near the wall of their nursery. But, tired at last, they +ceased their gambols an hour or so before dawn, lay together in a warm, +panting heap, and slept, till, on the return of their mother to the +"set," they were gathered to the soft comfort of her folded limbs, and +fed and fondled to their hearts' content. + +Though Brock grew as rapidly as any young badger might be expected to +grow, a comparatively long time passed by before he and the other small +members of the family ventured out of doors. Repeatedly they were +warned, in a language which soon they perfectly understood, that, except +under the care of their parents, a visit to the outer world would end +disastrously; so, while the old ones were abroad, the little creatures +dared not move beyond the opening to the dark passage between the +chamber and the gallery above. Sometimes, following their dam when she +climbed the steep passage to her favourite lookout corner within a mouth +of the burrow, they caught a glimpse of the sky, and of the trees and +the bracken around their home; but a journey along the gallery was never +made before the twilight deepened. + +The purpose of such close confinement was, that the young badgers should +be taught, thoroughly and without risk, the first principles of +wood-craft, and thus be enabled to hold their own in that struggle for +existence, the stress of which is known even to the strong. Obedience, +ever of vital importance in the training of the forest folk, was +impartially exacted by the mother from her offspring. It was also taught +by a system of immediate reward. The old badger invariably uttered a low +but not unmusical greeting when she returned to her family at dawn. +Almost before their eyes were open, the sucklings learned to connect +this sound with food and comfort, and at once turned to the spot from +which it proceeded. Later, when the same note was used as a call, they +recognised that its meaning was varied; in turn it became, with subtle +differences of inflection, an entreaty, a command, and a warning that it +would be folly to ignore; but, whatever it might indicate, they +instinctively remembered its first happy associations, and hurried to +their mother's side. Hardly different from the call, when it conveyed +the idea of warning, was a note of definite dissent, directing the +youngsters to cease from squabbling, and to become less noisy in their +rough-and-tumble play. After they had learned each minute difference in +the call notes, their progress in education was largely determined by +that love of mimicry which always prompts the young to imitate the old; +and in time they acquired the tastes, the passions, and the experiences +of their watchful teachers. + +While prevented from wandering abroad, they nevertheless were not +entirely ignorant of what was happening in the woods. They were not +quickly weaned; it was necessary, before the dam denied them Nature's +first nourishment, that they should have ready access to the brook that +trickled down the hillside hollow not far from the "set." But +meanwhile, young rabbits, dug from the breeding "stops" of the does, +were frequently brought to them, and the badgers were encouraged to +gratify a love for solid food which nightly became stronger. + +In this part of the education of their young, the parent badgers adopted +methods similar to those of the fox and other carnivorous animals. When +first the mother badger brought a rabbit home, she placed it close +beside her cubs, so that they could not fail to be attracted by its +scent. For a moment, aware of something new and strange, they showed +signs of timidity, and crouched together in the middle of the nest; but +the presence of their mother reassured them, and they sniffed at the +warm body with increasing delight. The dam seemed to know each trifling +thought passing through their minds; and, observing their eager +interest, she dragged the rabbit into a corner of the bed, making great +show of savagery, as if guarding it from their attacks. Time after time, +she alternately surrendered and withdrew her victim, till the tempers of +the little animals, irritated beyond control by her tantalising methods, +blazed out in a free fight among themselves for possession of the +prize. The mother now retired to a corner of the "set," and listened +attentively to all that happened, till they had finished their quarrel, +and Brock, the middle figure in a group of tired youngsters, lay fast +asleep with his head on the rabbit's neck. Then she turned, climbed +quietly to the upper galleries, and, stealing out among the shadows of +the wood, came again to the breeding "stop," where she unearthed and +devoured a young rabbit that had been suffocated in the loose soil +thrown up during her former visit. After quenching her thirst at the +brook in the hollow, she journeyed to the upland fields, crossed the +scent of her mate in the gorse, and then "cast" back across the +hillside, making a leisurely examination of each woodland sign, to +satisfy herself that no danger lurked in the neighbourhood of her home. + +For the badger, as for the tiny field-vole in the rough pastures of the +Cerdyn valley, the various scents and sounds were full of meaning, and +constituted a record of the night such as only the woodland folk have +learned fully to understand. The smell of the fox lay strong on a path +between the oaks; with it was mingled the scent of a bird; and a white +feather, caught by a puff of wind, fluttered in the grass: young +Reynard, boldest of an early family in the "earth," had stolen a fowl +from a neighbouring farmyard near the river, and had carried it--not +slung over his shoulders, as fanciful writers declare, but with its tail +almost touching the soil--into the thicket beyond the wood. Rabbits had +wandered in the undergrowth; and, near a large warren, the stale, +peculiar odour of a stoat that had evidently prowled at dusk lingered on +the dewy soil. The signs of blackbirds and pigeons among the loose +leaf-mould were also faint; as soon as night had fallen, the birds had +flown to roost in the branches overhead. The short, coughing bark of an +old fox came from the edge of the wood; and then for some time all was +quiet, till the musical cry of an otter sounded low and clear from the +river beneath the steep. + +These familiar voices of the wilderness caused the badger no anxiety; +they told her of freedom from danger; they were to her assuring signals +from the watchers of the night. But the howl of a dog in a distant +farmstead, and the bleat of a restless sheep in the pasture on the far +side of the hill, told her a different story; they reminded her, as the +smell of the fowl had done, that man, arch-enemy of the woodland people, +might in any capricious moment threaten her existence, seeking to +destroy her even while by day she slumbered in her chamber under the +roots of the forest trees. + +She crossed the gap, where the river-path joined the down-stream +boundary of the wood, then, with awkward, shambling stride, climbed the +steep pasture, and for a few moments paused to watch and listen in the +deep shadows of the hedge on the brow of the slope. A rabbit, that had +lain out all night in her "seat" beneath the briars, rushed quickly from +the undergrowth, and fled for safety to a burrow in the middle of the +field. A small, dim form appeared for a moment by a wattled opening +between the pasture and the cornfield above, then, with a rustle of dry +leaves, vanished on the further side--a polecat was returning to her +home in a pile of stones that occupied a hollow on the edge of the wood. + +Day was slowly breaking. A cool wind, blowing straight from the +direction of a homestead indistinctly outlined against the dawn, stirred +the leaves in the ditch, and brought to the badger's nostrils the +pungent scent of burning wood--the milkmaid was already at work +preparing a frugal breakfast in the kitchen of a lonely farm. Fearing +that with the day the birds would mock her as she passed, and thus +reveal her whereabouts to some inquisitive foe, the badger sought the +loneliest pathway through the wood, and returned, silently but hastily, +to her home. + + + + +II. + +HOME DISCIPLINE. + + +During the mother badger's absence from home, an unlooked-for +event--almost the exact repetition of an incident in the training of +Vulp, the young fox--had happened in the education of her cubs. Her +mate, hunting in an upland fallow, had been surprised by a poacher, and, +long before daybreak, had discreetly returned to the "set." The success +he had met with had enabled him to feed to repletion, so he was not +tempted by the dead rabbit carried home by the mother and left in the +chamber. Fearing to leave his hiding place, he wisely determined to +devote the time at his disposal, before settling to sleep, to his +children's instruction. With a grunt like that of the mother when she +greeted her offspring, he at once aroused the slumbering youngsters, +and then, heedless of their attentions, as, mistaking him for the dam, +they pressed at his side, he laid hold of the rabbit and dragged it into +a far corner. Full of curiosity, the cubs followed, but with well +assumed anger he drove them away. As if in keen anticipation of a feast, +he tore the dead animal into small pieces which he placed together on +the floor of the chamber. This task complete, he retired to his +accustomed resting place, and listened while the cubs, overcoming their +timidity, ventured nearer and nearer to the dismembered rabbit, till, +suddenly smelling the fresh blood, they gave way to inborn passion, and +buried their teeth in the lifeless flesh. An inevitable quarrel ensued; +Brock and his companions could not agree on the choice of tit-bits, and +a medley of discordant grunts and squeals seemed to fill the chamber, +though now and again it partly subsided, as two or three of the cubs, +having fixed on the same portion of the rabbit, tugged and strained for +its possession--so intent on the struggle that they dared not waste +their breath in useless wrangling. + +The old badger, satisfied that his progeny gave excellent promise of +pluck and strength, was almost dropping off contentedly to sleep, when +one of the excited combatants, retreating from the fray, backed +unceremoniously, and awoke him with an accidental blow on the ribs. This +was more than the crusty sire could endure, and he administered such +prompt and indiscriminate chastisement to the youngsters, that, in a +subdued frame of mind, they forgot their differences, forgot also the +toothsome remnants of their feast, and nestled together in bed, desiring +much that their patient dam would come to console them for the ill-usage +just received. + +On returning to the "set," the mother badger stayed for a few minutes at +the edge of the mound before the main entrance, and, rearing herself on +her hind-legs, rubbed her cheek against a tree-trunk, and sniffed the +air for the scent of a lurking enemy. Then, satisfied that all was safe, +she entered the deep chamber, and was greeted by the little creatures +that for an hour had expectantly awaited her arrival. Unusually +boisterous in their welcome, they instantly disregarded the presence of +their sire; and such, already, was the magic effect of the meal of raw +flesh on their tempers, that, with an eagerness hitherto unknown, they +followed every movement of their dam, till, submitting to their +importunities, she lay beside them, and fed and fondled them to sleep. + +Almost nightly, she brought something new with which to tempt their +appetites--young bank-voles dug from their burrows on the margin of the +wood, weakling pigeons dropped from late nests among the leafy boughs, +snakes, and lizards, and, chiefly, suckling rabbits unearthed from the +shallow holes which the does had "stopped" with soil thrown back into +the entrance when they left to feed amid the clover. + +Though young rabbits, in breeding "stops" barely a foot below the level +of the ground, were never safe from the badger's attack, a flourishing +colony dwelt within the precincts of the "set." Early in spring, when +the badgers were preparing for their expected family, a doe rabbit, +attracted by the great commotion caused by their efforts to remove the +big heap of soil thrown up at the entrance to their dwelling, hopped +quietly out of the fern, and sat for a long time watching from between +the bushes the occasional showers of loam which indicated the progress +of the work. Judged by the standard of a rabbit, Bunny was a fairly +clever little creature, and the plans she formed as she hid in the +undergrowth seemed to show that she possessed unusual forethought. She +waited and watched for several nights, till the badgers had ceased to +labour, and the mound before the "set" remained apparently untouched. +Then, one evening, after she had seen the badgers go off together into +the heart of the wood, she entered, and moved along the gallery, pausing +here and there to touch the walls with her sensitive muzzle. Coming to a +place where a stone was slightly loosened, she began to dig a shaft +almost at right angles to the roomy gallery, and for a time continued +her work undisturbed; but an hour or so before dawn she retired to sleep +in a thicket, some distance beyond the plain, wide trail marking the +badger's movements to and from the nearest fields. + +The badgers, on returning home, were sorely puzzled at the change that +had taken place during their absence. To all appearance, a trick had +been played on them, for, whereas their house had been left neat and +tidy at dusk, there was now a pile of earth obstructing the main +passage. However, they accepted the situation philosophically, and +completed the rabbit's work by clearing the gallery and adding to the +heap beyond the entrance. + +Night after night, the wily rabbit watched for the badgers' departure, +carried on her work, and gave them a fresh task for the early morning, +till a short but winding burrow, some depth below the level of the +ground, formed an antechamber where the little family to which she +presently gave birth was reared in safety. + +Though the badgers, aware that the shallow "stops" in the woods were +more easily unearthed than this deeper burrow near the mouth of the +"set," did not seek to disturb their neighbours, the mother rabbit, +directly her family grew old enough to leave the nest, became +increasingly vigilant, and, when about to lead them to or from their +dwelling, was ever careful to be satisfied that all was quiet in the +chambers and the galleries below. Generally she ventured abroad before +the badgers awoke from the day's sleep, came back during their absence, +and once more stole out to feed when they had returned and were resting +in their snuggery. The danger that lurked in her surroundings supplied a +special excitement to life, and she never heard without fear the ominous +sounds that vibrated clearly through every crack and cranny when the +badgers occasionally arose from their couch, stretched their cramped +limbs, shook their rough grey coats, and grunted with satisfaction at +the feeling of health and strength which nearly all wild animals delight +occasionally to express. + +The forest trees had donned their verdure; the tall bracken had lifted +its fronds so far above the grass that the mother rabbit no longer found +them a convenient screen through which to peer at the strange antics of +the old badgers as they came from their lair and sat in the twilight on +the mound by the entrance of their home; and the rill in the dingle, +which, during winter and early spring, leaped, a clear, rushing torrent, +on its way to the river below the steep, had dwindled to a few drops of +water, collected in tiny pools among the stones, or trickling +reluctantly down the dank, green water-weed. The young badger family +had grown so strong and high-spirited that their dam, weakened by +motherhood, and at a loss to restrain their increasing desire for +outdoor air and exercise, determined to wean them, and to teach them +many lessons, concerning the ways of the woodland people, which she had +learned long ago from her parents, or, more recently, from her own +experiences as a creature of the dark, mysterious night. + +Brock, in particular, was the source of considerable anxiety to her. He +was the leader in every scene of noisy festivity; she was repeatedly +forced to punish him for following her at dusk to the mound outside the +upper gallery, and for disobedience when she condescended to take part +in a midnight romp in the underground nursery. He tormented the other +members of the family by awakening them from sleep when he desired to +play, also by appropriating, till his appetite was fully appeased, all +the food his dam brought home from her hunting expeditions, and, again, +by picking quarrels over such a trifling matter as the choice of a place +when he and his little companions wished to rest. + +Nature's children are wilful and selfish; and in their struggle for +existence they live, if independent of their parents, only so long as +they can take care of themselves. Among adult animals, however, +selfishness seems to become inoperative in the care they take of their +offspring. But though the mother badger was unselfish towards her little +ones, she spared no effort to instruct them in the ways of selfishness. + +The night of Brock's first visit to the woods was warm and unclouded. +For an hour after sunset, he played about the gallery by the door, while +his mother, a vigilant sentinel, remained motionless and unseen in the +darkness behind. Now and again, he heard the rabbits moving in the +burrow, but they, aware of his presence, stayed discreetly out of view. +Under his mother's guidance, or even if his playmates had been bold +enough to accompany him, he would at once have been ready to explore the +furthest corner of the rabbit-hole. But the old badger was too big, and +the youngsters were too timid, to go with him into the mysterious +antechamber; so, after repeated attempts to explore the passage as far +as the bend, and finding to his discomfort that there the space became +narrower, he gave up the idea of prying on the doings of his neighbours, +and contented himself with droll, clumsy antics, such as those by which +wild children often seek to convince indulgent parents that they are +eager and fearless. + +As the darkness deepened, the dog-badger, after hunting near the +outskirts of the wood, returned to the "set." His manner indicated that +he was the bearer of an important message. He touched his mate on the +shoulder; then, as she responded to his greeting, he thrust his head +forward so that she could scent a drop of blood clinging to his lip; +and, while she sniffed enquiringly along the fringe of his muzzle, he +seemed to be assuring her that his message was of the utmost +consequence. As soon as she understood his meaning, he vanished into the +gallery, and for a few moments was evidently busy. Faint squeals and +grunts, which gradually became louder and louder, proceeded from the +central chamber, and, again, from the inner passages; and presently the +big badger appeared in sight, driving his family before him, and +threatening them with direst punishment if they attempted to double past +him and thus regain their dark retreat. + +Wholly unable to appreciate the real position of affairs, Brock, +perplexed and frightened, found himself hiding among the ferns and +brambles outside the "set," while the sire, standing in full view on the +mound, and grunting loudly, forbade the return of his evicted family. +Unexpectedly, too, the mother badger, when the little ones looked to her +for sympathy in their extraordinary treatment, took the part of the +crusty old sire, and snapped and snarled directly they attempted to move +back towards the mound. Utterly bewildered and much in fear, since their +dam, hitherto the object of implicit trust, had suddenly deserted their +cause, the young badgers crouched together under the bushes, and watched +distrustfully each movement of their parents. The sire stuck to his post +on the mound, and, with hoarse grunts, varied occasionally by thin, +piping squeals that did not seem in the least to accord with his +wrathful demeanour, continued to keep them at a distance. + +Soon the dam moved slowly away, climbed the track towards the top of the +wood, and then called to the cubs as they sat peering after her into the +darkness. Released from discipline, and eagerly responsive to her cry, +they lurched after her, and followed closely as she led them further and +still further from home. Presently, the dog-badger overtook his family. +His manner, as well as the dam's, had changed; and though great caution +was exercised as they journeyed along paths well trodden, and free from +twigs that might snap, or leaves that might rustle, and though silence +was the order of the march, the little family--proud parents and shy, +inquisitive children--seemed as happy as the summer night was calm. The +distant sound of a prowling creature, heard at times from the margin of +the wood, caused not the slightest alarm to the cubs: the intense +nervousness always apparent in young foxes was not evinced by the little +badgers. + +In comparison with the fox-cubs, they were not easily frightened; they +already gave promise of the presence of mind which, later, was often +displayed when they were threatened by powerful foes. Brock, +nevertheless, betrayed astonishment when a dusky form bolted through the +whinberry bushes close by; and several moments passed before he was +able, by his undeveloped methods of reasoning, to connect the scent of +the flying creature with that of the rabbits often carried home by his +mother, and, therefore, with something good for food. + +At the top of the wood, the old badgers turned aside and led the way +through a thicket, where, in obedience to their mother, the youngsters +came to a halt, while their sire, proceeding a few yards in advance, +sniffed the ground, like a beagle picking up the line of the hunt. +Having found the object of his search, he called his family to him, that +they might learn the meaning of the various signs around. But the doings +of the woodland folk could not yet be learnt by the little badgers, as +by the experienced parents, from trifling details, such as the altered +position of a leaf or twig, the ringing alarm-cry of a bird, the fresh +earth-smell near an upturned stone, or the taint of a moving creature +in the grass. Beside them lay a small brown and white stoat, its head +almost severed from its body by a quick, powerful bite, and, just +beyond, the motionless form of a half-grown rabbit, unmarked, save by a +small, clean-cut wound between the ears. The scent of both creatures was +noticeable everywhere around, and with it, quite as strong and fresh, +the scent of the big male badger. Walking up the path, soon after +nightfall, the badger had arrived on the scene of a woodland tragedy, +and had found the stoat so engrossed with its victim that to kill the +bloodthirsty little tyrant was the easy work of an instant. Afterwards, +mindful of the education of his progeny, he had hurried home to arrange +with his mate a timely object lesson in wood-craft. + +The stoat was left untasted, but the rabbit was speedily devoured; and +then the badger family resorted to the riverside below the "set," where +the cubs were taught to lap the cool, clear water. Thence, before +returning home, they were taken to a clearing in the middle of the wood, +and, while the sire went off alone to scout and hunt, the mother badger +showed them how to find grubs and beetles under the rotting bark of the +tree-butts, in the crevices among the stones, and in the soft, damp +litter of the decaying leaves. + + + + +III. + +FEAR OF THE TRAP. + + +Night after night, the cubs, sometimes under the protection of both +their parents, and sometimes under the protection of only the dam, +roamed through the by-ways of the countryside. From each expedition they +gleaned something of new and unexpected interest, till they grew wise in +the ways of Nature's folk that haunt the gloom--the strong, for ever +seeking opportunities of attack; the weak, for ever dreading even a +chance shadow on the moonlit trail. + +A strange performance, which, for quite a month, seemed devoid of +meaning to the cubs, but which, nevertheless, Brock soon learned to +imitate, took place whenever the tainted flesh of a dead creature was +found in the way. The old badgers at once became alert, moved with the +utmost caution, smelt but did not touch the offensive morsel, and, +instead of seizing it, rolled over it again and yet again, as if the +scent proved irresistibly attractive. One of the cubs, that had always +shown an inclination to act differently from the way in which her +companions acted, and often became lazy and stupid when lesson-time +arrived, was destined to pay dearly for neglecting to imitate her +parents. Lagging behind the rest of the family, as in single file they +moved homeward after a long night's hunting in the fallow, she chanced +to scent some carrion in the ditch, turned aside to taste it, and +immediately was held fast in the teeth of an iron trap. Hearing her +cries of pain and terror, the mother hastened to the spot, and, for a +moment, was so bewildered with disappointment and anger that she +chastised the cub unmercifully, though the little creature was enduring +extreme agony. But directly the old badger recovered from her fit of +temper, she sought to make amends by petting and soothing the frightened +cub, and trying to remove the trap. Finally, after half an hour's +continuous effort, she accidentally found that the trap was connected +by a chain with a stake thrust into the ground. Quickly, with all the +strength of her muscular fore-paws, she dug up the soil at the end of +the chain, and then, with powerful teeth, wrenched the stake from its +position. Dragging the cruel trap, the young badger slowly followed her +dam homeward, but when she had gone about a hundred yards pain overcame +her, and she rolled down a slight incline near the hedge. For a few +minutes, she lay helpless; then, grunting hoarsely, she climbed the +ditch, and continued her way in the direction of a gap leading into the +wood. There, as she gained the top of the hedge, the trap was firmly +caught in the stout fork of a thorn-bush. Further progress was +impossible; all her frantic struggles failed to give her freedom. The +dam stayed near, vainly endeavouring to release her, till at dawn a +rustle was heard in the hedge, and a labourer on his way to the farm +came in sight above a hurdle in the gap. Reluctantly, the old badger +stole away into the wood, leaving the cub to her fate. It came--a single +blow on the nostrils from a stout cudgel--and all was over. + +The lesson thus taught left a salutary impression on the minds of the +other cubs. From it they learned that the presence of stale flesh was +somehow associated with the peculiar scent of oiled and rusty iron, or +with the taint of a human hand, and was fraught with the utmost danger. +They somehow felt that their dam acted wisely in rolling over any +decaying refuse she happened to find on her way; and later, when Brock, +seizing an opportunity to imitate his mother, sprang another trap, +which, closing suddenly beneath his back, did no more harm than to rob +him of a bunch of fur, they recognised how a menace to their safety +might be easily and completely removed by the simple expedient taught +them by their careful parent. + +Though she invariably took the utmost precaution against danger from +baited traps, the old she-badger was nevertheless surprised, almost as +much as were the cubs, at the incidents just described. At various times +she had sprung more than a dozen traps, but in each case her attention +had been directed to the trap only by the scent of iron, or of the human +hand. However faint that scent might be, and however mingled with the +smell of newly turned earth or of sap from bruised stalks of woodland +plants, she immediately detected it, rolled on the spot, and then noted +the signs around--the disturbed leaf-mould, and the foot-scent of man +leading back among the bilberry bushes, or down the winding paths +between the oaks, where, occasionally, she also found faint traces of +the hand-scent on bits of lichen, or on rotten twigs, fallen from the +grasp of her enemy as he clutched the tree-trunks in his steep descent +towards the riverside. But never before had she seen a baited trap. Her +dam had never seen one; her grand-dam had been equally ignorant; and yet +both, like herself, had always rolled on any tainted flesh they chanced +to come across on their many journeys. + +For generations, in this far county of the west, the creatures of the +woods, except the fox, had never been systematically hunted. The +vicissitudes of history had directly affected the welfare of wild +animals. The old professional hunting and fighting classes had become +unambitious tenant farmers; and, partly through the operations of an old +Welsh law regarding the equal division of property, the land beyond the +feudal tracts of the Norman Marches were, in many instances, broken up +into small freeholds owned by descendants of the princely families of +bygone ages. But hard, incessant work was the lot of tenant and +freeholder alike. When the aims and the experiences of the old fighting +and sporting days had passed away, and nothing was left but ceaseless +toil, these essentially combative people, to whom violent and continuous +excitement was the very breath of life, became, for a while at least, +knavish and immoral, sunk almost to one dead social level, and totally +uninteresting because, in their new life of peaceful tillage--a life far +more suited to their English law-givers than to themselves--they were +apparently incapable of maintaining that complete, vigilant interest in +their ordinary surroundings which makes for enlightenment and success. + +Having lost the love of "venerie" possessed by their forefathers, the +farmers cared little about any wild creatures but hares and rabbits; a +badger's ham was to them an unknown article of food. The fear of a +baited trap had, therefore, probably descended from one badger to +another since days when the green-gowned forester came to the farm, from +the lodge down-river, and sought assistance in the capture of an animal +for the sport of an otherwise dull Sunday afternoon in the courtyard of +the nearest castle; or even since ages far remote, when a badger's flesh +was esteemed a luxury by the earliest Celts. + +Unbaited traps, in the "runs" of the rabbits, had at intervals been +common for centuries; but now the carefully prepared baits and the +unusually strong traps seemed to indicate nothing less than an organised +attack on other and more powerful night hunters. The badger's fears, +however, were hardly warranted. Five traps had been placed in the wood +by a curious visitor staying at the village inn. In one of these, +Brock's sister had been caught; but the owner of the trap knew nothing +beyond the fact that it had mysteriously disappeared from the spot where +he had seen it fixed. Another was sprung by Brock; two at the far end of +the wood were so completely fouled by a fox that every prowling creature +carefully avoided the spot; while in the fifth was found a single +blood-stained claw, left to prove the visit of a renegade cat. + +It may well be imagined that a large and interesting animal like the +badger, keeping for many years to an underground abode so spacious that +the mound at its principal entrance is often a quite conspicuous +landmark for some distance in the woods, would be subject to frequent +and varied attacks from man, and thus be speedily exterminated. It may +also be imagined that the habits of following the same well worn paths +night after night, of never ranging further than a few miles from the +"set," and of living so sociably that the community sometimes numbers +from half-a-dozen to a dozen members, apart from such lodgers as foxes, +rabbits, and wood-mice, would all combine to render the creature an easy +prey. + +But if the badger's ways are carefully studied, the very circumstances +which at first seem unfavourable to him are found to account for much of +his immunity from harm. The depth of his breeding chamber and the length +of the connecting passages are, as a rule, indicated by the size of the +mound before his door. The fact that he regularly pursues the same paths +in his nightly excursions enables him to become familiar, like the fox, +with each sight and scent and sound of the woods, so that anything +strange is at once noticed, and danger avoided. His sociability is a +distinct gain, because he receives therefrom co-operation in his sapping +and mining while he aims to secure the impregnability of his fortress; +and his tolerance of cunning and timid neighbours gains for him this +advantage: sometimes in the dusk, before venturing abroad, he receives a +warning that danger lurks in the thickets around his home--perhaps from +a double line of scent indicating that the fox has started on a journey +and then hurriedly turned back, or from numerous cross-scents at the +mouth of the burrow, where the rabbits and the wood-mice have passed to +and fro, deterred by fear in their frequent attempts to reach feeding +places beyond the nearest briar-clumps. His methods, however, when +either his neighbours or the members of his own family become too +numerous, are prompt and drastic. + +Shy, inoffensive, and, for a young creature unacquainted with the +responsibilities of a family, deliberate to the point of drollery in all +his movements, Brock grew up beneath his parents' care; and, with an +intelligence keener than that possessed by the other members of the +little woodland family, learned many lessons which they failed to +understand. When his mother called, he was always the first to hasten to +her side. Each incident of the night, if of any significance, was +explained to her offspring by the mother. Often Brock was the only +listener when she began her story, and the late arrivals heard but +disconnected parts. + +Beautiful beyond comparison were those brief summer nights, silent, +starlit, fragrant, when the badgers led their young by many a devious +path through close-arched bowers amid the tangled bracken, or under +drooping sprays of thorn and honeysuckle in the hidden ditches, or +through close tunnels, as gloomy as the passages of their underground +abode, in the dense thickets of the furze. Sometimes they wandered in +the corn and root-crop, or in the hayfield where the sorrel, a cooling +medicinal herb for many of the woodland folk, grew long and succulent; +and sometimes they descended the steep cattle-path on the far side of +the farm, where the big dor-beetles, as plentiful there as in the +grass-clumps of the open pasture, were easily struck down while they +circled, droning loudly, about the heaps of refuse near the hedge. + +Once, late in July, when the badgers were busily catching beetles by the +side of the cattle-path, Brock, thrusting his snout into the grass to +secure a crawling insect, chanced to hear a faint, continuous sound, as +of a number of tiny creatures moving to and fro in a hollow beneath the +moss-covered mound at his feet. He listened intently, his head cocked +knowingly towards the spot whence the sound proceeded; then, scratching +up a few roots of the moss, he sniffed enquiringly, drawing in a long, +deep breath, at the mouth of a thimble-shaped hole his sharp claws had +exposed. + +Unexpectedly, and without the help of the dam, he had discovered a +wild-bees' nest. His inborn love of honey was every whit as strong as a +bear's, and he recognised the scent as similar to that of insects known +by him to be far more tasty than beetles; so, without a moment's +hesitation, he began to dig away the soil. The nest was soon unearthed, +and the little badger, completely protected by his thick and wiry coat +from the half-hearted assaults of the bewildered bees, greedily devoured +the entire comb, together with every well-fed grub and every drop of +honey the fragile cells contained. His eagerness was such that these +spoils seemed hardly more than a tempting morsel sufficient to awaken a +desire for the luscious sweets of the wayside storehouses. He carefully +hunted the hedgerow, as far as a gate leading to a rick-yard, and at +last, close to a stile, found another nest, which, also, he quickly +destroyed. + +Henceforth, till the end of August, there were few nights during which +he did not find a meal of honey and grubs. The summer was fine and warm, +a lavish profusion of flowers adorned the fields and the woods, and +humble-bees and wasps were everywhere numerous. As if to taunt the +badgers with inability to climb, a swarm of tree-wasps lived in a big +nest of wood-pulp suspended from a branch ten feet or so above the +"set," and, every afternoon, the badgers, as they waited near the mouth +of their dwelling for the darkness to deepen, heard the shrill, long +continued humming of the sentinel wasps around the big ball in the +tree--surely one of the most appetising sounds that could ever reach a +badger's ears. But the wasps that had built among the ferns near the +river-path, and in the hollows of the hedges, were remorselessly hunted +and despoiled. Their stings failed to penetrate the thick coat and hide +of their persistent foes, while a chance stab on the lips or between the +nostrils seemed only to arouse the badgers from leisurely methods of +pillage to quick and ruthless slaughter of the adult insects as well as +of the immature grubs. But Brock never committed the indiscretion of +swallowing a full-grown wasp. With his fore-paws he dexterously struck +and crippled the angry sentinels that buzzed about his ears, and, with +teeth bared in order to prevent a sting on his tender muzzle, disabled +the newly emerged and sluggish insects that wandered over the comb. + +As autumn drew on, the cubs grew strong and fat on the plentiful +supplies of food, which, with their parents' help, they readily found in +field and wood. Brock gave promise of abnormal strength, and was already +considerably heavier than his sister. They fared far better than the +third cub, a little male, that, notwithstanding a temper almost as fiery +as Brock's, was worsted in every dispute and frequently robbed of his +food, and still, never owning himself beaten, persisted in drawing +attention to his success whenever he happened on something fresh and +toothsome. At such times, instead of hastily and silently regaling +himself, he made a great a-do, grunting with rage and defiance, like a +dog that guards a marrow-bone but will not settle down to gnaw its juicy +ends. + +Brock's brother was so often deprived of his legitimate spoils, that, +while his surliness was increased, his bodily growth was checked. He was +small and thin for his age; and so, when a kind of fever peculiar to +young badgers broke out in the woodland home, he succumbed. His grave +was a shallow depression near the path below the "set," whither his +parents dragged his lifeless body, and where the whispering leaves of +autumn presently descended to array him in a red and golden robe of +death. + +The other young badgers quickly recovered from their fever; and by the +end of October all the animals were, as sportsmen say, "in grease," and +well prepared for winter's cold and privation. The old badgers became +more and more indisposed to roam abroad; and, whereas in summer they +sometimes wandered four or five miles from the "set," they now seldom +went further than the gorse-thicket on the fringe of the wood. + + + + +IV. + +THE WINTER "OVEN." + + +The badger-cubs, while not so well provided against the cold as were +their parents, grew lazy as winter advanced, and spent most of their +time indoors on a large heap of fresh bedding, that had been collected +under the oaks and carried to a special winter "oven" below the chamber +generally occupied in summer. Here, the sudden changes of temperature +affecting the outer world were hardly noticeable; and so enervating were +the warmth and indolence, that the badgers, in spite of thick furs and +tough hides, rarely left their retreat when the shrill voice of the +north-east wind, overhead in the mouth of the burrow, told them of frost +and snow. + +About mid-winter, the first of two changes took place in the colour of +the young badgers' coats; from silver-grey it turned to dull brownish +yellow, and the contrasts in the pied markings of the cheeks became +increasingly pronounced. This change happened a little later with Brock +than with his sister. Eventually, late in the following winter, the +young female, arriving at maturity, donned a gown of darker grey, and +her face was striped with black and white; shortly afterwards, Brock, +too, assumed the livery of a full-grown badger. + +Meanwhile, till events occurred of which the second change was only a +portent, all remained fairly peaceful in the big burrow under the whins +and brambles. Occasionally, in the brief winter days, Brock was awakened +from his comfortable sleep by the music of the hounds, as they passed by +on the scent of Vulp, the fleetest and most cunning fox on the +countryside, or by the stamp of impatient hoofs, as the huntsman's mare, +tethered to a tree not far from the "set," eagerly awaited her rider's +return from a "forward cast" into the dense thicket beyond the glade. + +One afternoon in late winter, a young vixen, that, without knowing it, +had completely baffled her pursuers, crept, footsore and +travel-stained, into the mouth of the "set," and lay there, panting +loudly, till night descended, and she had sufficiently recovered from +her distress to continue her homeward journey. Now and again, the sharp +report of a shotgun echoed down the wood; and once, late at night, when +Brock climbed up from the "oven" to sit awhile on the mound before his +door, the scent of blood was strong in the passage leading to the +rabbit's quarters. Unfortunate bunny! Next night, stiff and sore from +her wounds, she crawled out into the wood, and Vulp and his vixen put an +end to her misery long before the badgers ventured from their lair. + +Winter, with its long hours of sleep, passed quietly away. Amid the +sprouting grasses by the river-bank, the snowdrops opened to the breath +of spring; soon afterwards, the early violets and primroses decked the +hedgerows on the margin of the wood, and the wild hyacinths thrust their +spike-shaped leaves above the mould. The hedgehogs, curled in their beds +amid the wind-blown oak-leaves, were awakened by the gentle heat, and +wandered through the ditches in search of slugs and snails. One +evening, as the moon shone over the hill, the woodcock, that for months +had dwelt by day in the oak-scrub near the "set," and had fed at night +in the swampy thickets by the rill, heard the voice of a curlew +descending from the heights of the sky, and rose, on quick, glad +pinions, far beyond the soaring of the lark, to join a great bird-army +travelling north. Regularly, as the time for sleep drew nigh, the old +inhabitants among the woodland birds--the thrushes, the robins, the +finches, and the wrens--squabbled loudly as they settled to rest: their +favourite roosting places were being invaded by aliens of their species, +that, desirous of breaking for the night their northward journey, +dropped, twittering, into every bush and brake on the margin of the +copse. And into Nature's breast swept, like an irresistible flood, a +yearning for maternity. + +The vixen, that once had rested inside the burrow to recover from her +"run" before the hounds, remembered the sanctuary, returned to it, and +there in time gave birth to her young; and, though almost in touch with +such enemies as the badger and the fox, a few of the rabbits that had +been reared during the previous season in the antechamber of the "set" +enlarged their dwelling place, and were soon engaged in tending a +numerous offspring. The timid wood-mice, following suit, scooped out a +dozen tiny galleries within an old back entrance of the burrow, and +multiplied exceedingly. But, while all other creatures seemed bent on +family affairs, Brock's parents, following a not infrequent habit of +their kindred, deferred such duties to another season. + +As spring advanced, food became far more abundant than in winter, and +the badgers' appetites correspondingly increased. Directly the evening +shadows began to deepen, parents and cubs alike became impatient of the +long day's inactivity, and adjourned together to one or other of the +entrances, generally to the main opening behind the big mound. There, +unseen, they could watch the rooks sail slowly overhead, and the +pigeons, with a sharp hiss of swiftly beating wings, drop down into the +trees, and flutter, cooing loudly, from bough to bough before they fell +asleep. Then, after a twilight romp in and about the mouth of the +burrow, the badgers took up the business of the night, and wandered away +over the countryside in search of food, sometimes extending their +journeys even as far as the garden of a cottage five miles distant, +where Brock distinguished himself by overturning a hive and devouring +every particle of a new honeycomb found therein. + +Autumn, beautiful with pearly mists and red and golden leaves, again +succeeded summer, and the woods resounded with the music of the +huntsman's horn, as the hounds "harked forward" on the scent of fleeing +fox-cubs, that had never heard, till then, the cries of the pursuing +pack. + +One morning, Brock lay out in the undergrowth, though the sun was high +and the rest of his family slept safely in the burrow. At the time, his +temper was not particularly sweet, for, on returning to the "set" an +hour before dawn, he had quarrelled with his sire. Among the dead leaves +and hay strewn on the floor of the chamber usually inhabited by the +badgers in warm weather, was an old bone, discovered by Brock in the +woods, and carried home as a plaything. For this bone Brock had +conceived a violent affection, almost like that of a child for a +limbless and much disfigured doll. He would lie outstretched on his bed, +for an hour at a time, with his toy between his fore-feet, vainly +sucking the broken end for marrow, or sharpening his teeth by gnawing +the juiceless knob, with perfect contentment written on every line of +his long, solemn face. If disturbed, he would take the bone to the +winter "oven" below, and there, alone, would toss it from corner to +corner and pounce on it with glee, or, with a sudden change of manner, +would grasp it in his fore-paws, roll on his back, and scratch, and +bite, and kick it, till, tired of the fun, he dropped asleep beside his +plaything; while overhead, the rabbits and the voles, at a loss to +imagine what was happening in the dark hollows of the "earth," quaked +with fear, or bolted helter-skelter into the bushes beyond the mound. + +When, just before the quarrel, Brock sought for his bone, as he was wont +to do on returning home, he scented it in the litter beneath a spot +completely overlapped on every side by some part or other of his +recumbent sire. For a few moments, he was nonplussed by the situation; +then, desperate for his plaything, he suddenly began to dig, and, in a +twinkling, was half buried in the hay and leaves; while to right and to +left he scattered soil and bedding that fell like a shower over his +mother and sister. Before the old dog-badger had realised the meaning of +the commotion, Brock had grabbed his treasure, and, withdrawing his head +from the shallow pitfall he had hurriedly fashioned, had caused his +drowsy parent to roll helplessly over. This was more than a +self-respecting father could possibly endure in his own home and among +his own kin, so, with unexpected agility, as he turned in struggling to +recover his balance, he gripped Brock by the loose skin of the neck, and +held him as in a vice from which there seemed no escape. Brock, +doubtless thinking that his right to the bone was being disputed, strove +vigorously to get hold of his sire, but the grip of the trap-like jaws +was inflexible, and kept him firmly down till his rage had expended +itself, and he was cowed by his parent's prompt, easy show of tremendous +power. When, at last, the old badger relinquished his hold, Brock shook +himself, and sulkily departed from the "set," followed to the door by +his relentless chastiser. An hour before noon, Brock heard the note of a +horn--sounding far distant, but really coming only from the other side +of the hill--succeeded by the eager baying of a pack of fox-hounds. +Then, for a while, all was silent, but soon the cries of the hounds +broke out again, away beyond the farm by the river. Evidently something +was amiss. Brock, though hardly, perhaps, alarmed, shifted uneasily in +his retreat under the yellow bracken, and finally, almost fascinated, +lay quiet, watching and listening. Presently the ferns parted; and a +fox-cub appeared in full view, treading lightly, his tongue lolling out, +his jaws strained far back towards his ears, and his face wearing the +look of a creature of excessive cunning, though for the time frightened +nearly out of his wits. The fox-cub paused an instant, turned as if to +look at something in the dark thickets by the glen, climbed the mound, +and, after another hasty glance, entered his home among the outer +chambers of the "set." Unknown, of course, to Brock, the leading hounds +were running mute on the fox-cub's scent down the path by the river. +They swerved, and lost the line for a moment, then, "throwing their +tongues," crashed through the briars into the fern; and at once Brock +was surrounded. + +Luckily, he had neither been punished too severely by his sire, nor had +exhausted himself in hotly resisting the chastisement. For a few +seconds, however, as the hounds pressed closely in the rough-and-tumble +fray, trying to tear him limb from limb, he was disconcerted. But +quickly regaining his self-possession, he began to make the fight +exceedingly warm for his assailants. A hound caught him by the leg; +turning, he caught the aggressor by the muzzle. His strong, sharp teeth +crashed through nose and lip clean to the bone, and the discomfited +hound, directly one of the pack had "created a diversion," made off at +full speed, running "heel," and howling at the top of his voice. One +after another, Brock served two couples thus, till the wood was filled +with a mournful chorus altogether different from the usual music of the +hounds. + +Little hurt, except for a bruise or two on his loose, rough hide, and +feeling almost as fresh as when the attack began, Brock, with his face +to the few foes still remaining to threaten him hoarsely from a safe +distance, retired with dignity to the mound, and disappeared in the +tunnel just as reinforcements of the enemy hastened up the slope. + +Henceforth, even in leafy summer, he seldom remained outside his +dwelling during the day, and any fresh sign of a dog in the +neighbourhood of his immediate haunt never failed to fill him with rage +and apprehension. + +Since the time when their silvery-grey coats had turned to +brownish-yellow, the badger cubs had become more and more independent of +their parents; and before long, familiar with the forest paths, they +often wandered alone. Yet so regular was their habit of returning home +during the hour preceding dawn, that, unless something untoward +happened, the last badger to reach the "earth" was rarely more than a +few minutes after the first. Towards the end of autumn, however, the +female cub seemed to have lost this habit; on several occasions dawn was +breaking when she sought her couch; and one morning she was missing +from the family. Her regular home-coming had given place to meeting, in +a copse over the hill, a young male badger reared among the rocks of a +glen up-stream; and by him she had at last been led away to a home, +which, after inspecting several other likely places, he had made by +enlarging a rabbit burrow in a long disused quarry. + +Brock was in no hurry to find himself a spouse; he waited till the end +of winter. Meanwhile, the colour of his coat changed from yellow to +full, dark grey, and simultaneously a change became apparent in his +disposition. Wild fancies seized him; from dusk to dawn he wandered with +clumsy gait over the countryside, little heeding how noisily he lumbered +through the undergrowth. The gaunt jack-hare, that, crying out in the +night, hurried past him, was not a whit more crazy. + +At one time, Brock met a young male badger in the furze, attacked him +vigorously, and left him more dead than alive. At another time, he even +turned his rage against his sire. The old badger was by no means +unwilling to resent provocation: he, too, felt the hot, quick blood of +spring in his veins. The fight was fierce and long--no other wild animal +in Britain can inflict or endure such punishment as the badger--and it +ended in victory for Brock. His size and strength were greater than his +father's; he also had the advantage of youth and self-confidence; but +till its close the struggle was almost equal, for the obstinate +resistance of the experienced old sire was indeed hard to overcome. +Brock forced him at last from the corner where he stood with his head to +the wall, and hustled him out of doors. Then the victor hastened to the +brook to quench his thirst, and, returning to the "set," sought to sleep +off the effects of the fight. When he awoke, he found that the mother +badger had gone to join her evicted mate. The inseparable couple +prepared a disused part of the "set" for future habitation; there they +collected a heap of dry bedding, and, free from further interruption, +were soon engaged with the care of a second family. + +For nearly a week after his big battle, Brock felt stiff and sore, and +altogether too ill to extend his nightly rambles further than the +boundaries of the wood. But with renewed health his restlessness +returned, and he wandered hither and thither in search of a mate to +share his dwelling. A knight-errant among badgers, he sought adventure +for the sake of a lady-love whose face he had not even seen. + +Sometimes, to make his journeys shorter than if the usual trails from +wood to wood had been followed, he used the roads and by-ways leading +past the farmsteads, and risked encounter with the watchful sheep-dogs. +For this indiscretion, he almost paid the penalty of his life. Crossing +a moonlit field on the edge of a covert, he saw a flock of sheep break +from the hurdles of a fold near the distant hedge, and run +panic-stricken straight towards him. Long before he had time to regain +the cover, they swept by, separating into two groups as they came where +he stood. Immediately afterwards, he saw that one of the sheep was lying +on her back, struggling frantically, while a big, white-ruffed collie +worried her to death. The dog was so engrossed with his victim that the +badger remained unnoticed. Having killed the sheep, the dog sat by, +panting because of his exertions, and licking the blood from his lips. +Suddenly, raising his head, he listened intently, his ears turned in the +direction of the fold. Then, growling savagely, he slunk away, with his +tail between his legs, and disappeared within the wood. + +He had scarcely gone from sight, when the farmer and his boy climbed +over the hedge near the field and hastened across the pasture. They saw +the sheep lying dead, and, not far from the spot, the badger lumbering +off to the covert. Instantly believing that Brock was the cause of their +trouble, they called excitedly for help from the farm, and dashed in +pursuit. As Brock gained the gap by the wood, he felt a sharp, stinging +blow on his ribs. On the other side of the hedge, he reached an opening +in the furze, and the sticks and stones aimed at him by his pursuers, as +he turned downwards through the wood, fell harmlessly against the trees +and bushes. The noise he made when crashing through the thickets was, +however, such a guide to his movements, that he failed to baffle the +chase till he reached a well worn trail through the open glades. Luckily +for him, as he emerged from cover a cloud obscured the moon, and he was +able to make good his escape by crossing a deep dingle to the lonely +fields along his homeward route, where, in the shadows of the hedges, +though now the moon again was bright, he could not easily be seen. + +It was fortunate for the badger, not only that the moon was hidden by a +cloud as he crossed the dingle when fleeing from the wood, but also that +his home was distant from the scene of the tragedy in the upland pasture +near the farm. A hue-and-cry was raised, and for days the farmer's boy +searched the wood around the spot where Brock had disappeared, hoping +there to find the earth-pig's home. Other sheep were mysteriously killed +on farms still further from the badger's "earth"; then watchers, armed +with guns, lay out among the cold, damp fields to guard the sleeping +flocks; and the collie, a beautiful creature whose character had +hitherto been held above reproach, was shot almost in the act of closing +on a sheep he had already wounded, close to the corner of a field where +a shepherd lay in hiding. + +The farmer and his boy were chaffed so unmercifully--for this story of +the badger was now considered a myth--that they grew to hate the very +name of "earth-pig," and to believe that after all they must have chased +through the wood some incarnation of Satan. + + + + +V. + +HILLSIDE TRAILS. + + +Several times during his search for a mate, Brock struck the trail of a +female badger, and followed its windings through the thickets and away +across the open fields towards the distant valley, only, however, to +lose it near some swollen brook or on some well trodden sheep-path. The +female had evidently come to a little copse on the crest of a rugged +hill overlooking the river, and, after skirting a pond where wild duck +sheltered among the flags, had retraced her steps. Brock's most +frequented tracks led close to the spot where the stranger's return +trail joined the other near an opening from an almost impenetrable +gorse-cover into a marshy fallow. There, late one night, he found, as he +crossed the opening, that the female badger had travelled forward, but +had not yet returned. Revisiting the spot some minutes afterwards, he +discovered that the backward "drag" was strong on the damp grass. He +followed it quickly, and, in a stubble beyond the gorse, came up at last +with the object of his oft-disappointed quest. She was a widow badger, +older and more experienced than Brock, but smaller and of lighter build. + +Perhaps because she wished to test the loyalty of her new lover, and to +find whether he would fight for her possession with any intruder, she +resisted his advances, and refused to go with him to his home. So he +followed her far away to her own snug dwelling on the fringe of the +moorlands. Thence, with the first streak of dawn in the south-eastern +sky, he hurried back to his lair. + +Early next evening, Brock went forth to meet his lady-love; and +throughout the long night and for nights afterwards he wandered at her +side, till, concluding that no other suitor was likely to appear, she +accompanied him to his home, and entered on the season's house-keeping +in the central chamber of the great "set" where he had been born. There +they lived happily, and without the slightest annoyance from the old +badgers; and, since the time of the spring "running" was over, they +wandered no further afield than in the cold winter nights. Filled with +the joy of the life-giving season, they often romped together in the +twilight for half an hour at a time, chasing one another in and out of +the entrances to the "set," or kicking up the soil as if they suddenly +recollected that their claws needed to be filed and sharpened, or +standing on their hind-feet and rubbing their cheeks delightedly against +a favourite tree--grunting loudly in their fun the while, and in general +behaving like droll, ungainly little pigs just escaped from a stye. At +last, their frolic being ended, they "bumped" away into the bushes, and, +meeting on the trail beyond, proceeded soberly towards the outskirts of +the wood. + +As in the previous spring, the big burrow was soon the scene of family +affairs other than those of the badgers. By the end of February, there +were cubs in the vixen's den, and both the wood-mice and the rabbits +were diligently preparing for important family events. Brock's +companion, unlike himself was not accustomed to a house inhabited by +other tenants. None but members of her own family had dwelt in the +"earth" near the moor; and, being somewhat exclusive in her ideas, she +strongly resented the presence of the vixen in any quarter of her new +abode. A little spiteful in her disposition, she lurked about the +passages, and by the mound outside the entrance, intending to give her +neighbour "a bit of her mind" at the first opportunity. But since she +did not for the present care to enter the vixen's den, that opportunity +never came till her own family arrangements claimed her undivided +attention, and effectually prevented her from following the course of +action she had planned. + +In the first week of April, the badger's spring-cleaning began in +downright earnest. The old bedding of fern, and hay, and leaves was +cleared entirely from the winter "oven," and, after a few windy but +rainless days and nights, when the refuse of Nature's woodland garden +was dry, new materials for a cosy couch were carried to the lair, and +arranged on the floor of the roomy chamber where Brock's mother had +brought him into the world. The badgers' methods of conveying the +required litter were quaintly characteristic, for the animals possessed +the power of moving backward almost as easily and quickly as forward. +They collected a pile of leaves, and, grasping it between their +fore-legs, made their way, tail first, to the mound, and thence, in the +same manner, along their underground galleries, as far as the place +intended for its reception, strewing everywhere in the path proofs of +their presence, quite sufficient for any naturalist visiting their +haunts. + +On a dark, wet night rather less than a fortnight after they had +completed their preparations, when Brock returned to his home for +shelter from the driving storm, three little cubs were lying by their +mother's side. + +The training of the badger-cubs during the first two months was left +wholly to their dam; but afterwards Brock shared the work with his mate, +teaching the youngsters, by his example, how to procure food, and, at +the same time, to detect and to avoid all kinds of danger. In so doing, +he simply acted towards his cubs as his sire had acted towards him. +Apart from family ties, however, his life--that of a strong, deliberate +animal, self-possessed in peril and in conflict, yet shy and cautious to +a fault--was of extreme interest to both naturalist and sportsman. + +Five young foxes, as well as the vixen, now dwelt in the antechamber +near the main entrance of the "set," and the presence of this numerous +family became, for several reasons, so objectionable to the she-badger, +that, about the middle of May, the antipathy which, since her +partnership with Brock, she had always felt towards the vixen, was +united with a fixed determination to get rid of her neighbours. She was +too discreet, however, to attempt to rout them during the day, when some +dreaded human being might be attracted by the noise; so she endeavoured +to surprise the vixen and her cubs together at night. + +For a while, she was unsuccessful. She happened to frighten them by an +impetuous, blustering attack in the rear, from which they easily +escaped; thus her difficulties had been increased, since the objects of +her aversion became loath to stay in the "earth" after nightfall. But +at last, probably more through accident than set purpose, the badger +out-manoeuvred the wily foxes. + +Lying one evening in the doorway, she heard the vixen, followed by the +young foxes, creeping stealthily from the den. Retreating quickly, she +barred their exit, thus compelling them to return to their lair; then +she took up her position in the neck of the passage, and waited +patiently till midnight before commencing her assault. At last, in the +dense darkness, she crawled along the winding tunnel, and, directly, the +den was the scene of wild confusion and uproar, as its inmates leaped +and tumbled over each other in their frantic efforts to escape. For a +few minutes, the advent of danger unnerved them; then, as if peculiarly +fascinated by the grim, motionless enemy blocking their only outlet, +they began an aimless, shuffling dance, baring their teeth and hissing +as they lurched from side to side. Their suspense was soon ended. The +badger, emerging partly from the passage, gripped one of the cubs by a +hind-leg, and dragged it backwards along the passage to the thicket +outside, where, after worrying her victim unmercifully, she ended its +life by crushing its skull, above the muzzle, into fragments between +her teeth. + +Once more, but this time furious with the taste of blood, she hurried to +the den; and the scene of fear and violence was repeated. Her third +visit was futile: the vixen with the other cubs had bolted into the main +gallery, and escaped thence to the wood, through an old opening, almost +choked with withered leaves, at the back of the "set." + +They never returned, but the following spring a strange vixen from the +rocks across the valley came to the burrow, gave birth to her young, +and, in due course, without loss, was evicted by Brock's relentless +mate. + +[Illustration: "HE CLIMBED FROM HIS DOORWAY, AND STOOD MOTIONLESS, WITH +UPLIFTED NOSTRILS, INHALING EACH BREATH OF SCENT."] + +On the night after the death of the fox-cubs, when Brock was led by the +she-badger to the spot where her victims lay, he noticed that man's +foot-scent was strong on the grass around, and also that his hand-scent +lingered on the fur of the slain animal. Often, during the succeeding +two months, he was awakened in the day by quick, irregular footsteps +overhead; and later, when he climbed from his doorway, and stood +motionless, with uplifted nostrils, inhaling each breath of scent, he +found that the dreaded signs of man were numerous on the trail, on +the near beech-trunk, and even on the mound before the "set." Once, on +returning home with his family, he was greatly alarmed to discover that +in the night the man had visited his haunts, and that a dog had passed +down the galleries and disturbed the bed on which he slept. +Henceforward, he used the main opening as an exit only, and invariably +entered the "set" by the opening through which the vixen had escaped +from his mate, passing, on his way, the mouth of a side-gallery +connected with the apartments occupied by his old sire and dam, together +with their present family. Eventually, through these precautions, he +saved his principal earthworks from destruction. + +Had Brock been able to ascertain the meaning of man's frequent visits to +the neighbourhood of his dwelling, he would have sorely lamented the +killing of the young foxes by the female badger. In the eyes of the +Hunt, vulpicide was an unpardonable crime, whether committed by man or +beast; and, when the dead fox-cubs were shown to the huntsman, he vowed +vengeance on the slayer. Because of a recent exchange, between the two +local Hunts, of certain outlying farms, it happened that this huntsman +was not he who in past seasons had tethered his horse near the "set" +while he "drew" the cover on foot. The new-comer soon discovered the +"earth"; but after a brief examination, from which he concluded, because +of the strong taint still lingering, that it was tenanted by a fox, he +walked away towards the farm. Fearing a reprimand from the Master if the +mysterious slaughter of the foxes could not be explained, he made +careful enquiries of the farmers, by whom he was told of the badger and +the sheep, as well as of the poacher who had seen Brock's sire in the +upland fields two years ago; but he laughed at the first tale, and for +want of adequate information paid no heed to the second. Nevertheless, +when he again visited the "earth," and, stooping, saw the withered +leaves and fern, and detected, not now the scent of a fox, but the scent +of half a dozen badgers, his sluggish brain began to move in the right +direction. Stories he had heard by the lodge fireside when he was a lad, +casual remarks dropped by followers of the Hunt, questions asked him by +an inquisitive boy-naturalist--he slowly remembered them all; and then +the revealing light dawned on his mind, that no animal but a badger +could with ease have broken the limbs of a fox-cub, and cracked the +skull as though it were a hazel-nut. Filled with a sense of +self-importance, befitting the bearer of a momentous message, the +huntsman rode away in the breathless summer twilight to the country +house where the Master lived, and presently was shown into the gun-room +to wait till dinner was over. + +The Master prided himself on his love of every kind of sport; and before +the huntsman had finished a long, rambling story of the woodland tragedy +he had formed his plans for the punishment of the offender and was +writing a brief, urgent letter to a distant friend. As the result, a few +days afterwards three little terriers, specially trained for "drawing" a +badger, arrived at the Master's house, and were accommodated in a vacant +"loose-box" in the stables. Late at night, one of these was introduced +to the "set," and from the experiment the Master was led to believe +that, though the place, as he surmised, was empty of its usual tenants +at the time, it held sure promise of sport for an "off" day, as soon as +the otter-hounds, now about to hunt in the rivers of the west, had +departed from the neighbourhood. Meanwhile, according to his strictest +orders, the little terriers were well fed, regularly exercised, and kept +from quarrelling, and their coats were carefully brushed and oiled that +they might be as fit as fiddles for the eventful "draw." + +The Master was a rigid disciplinarian in all matters concerned with +sport. His servants, one and all, from the old, white-haired family +butler down to the little stable-boy, idolised him, but never presumed +to disobey his slightest command. For many years before he came to live +at the mansion, the Hunt had fallen into a state of extreme neglect; the +pack was one of the worst in the kingdom, the subscriptions were +irregular, the kennel servants were ill-paid, the poor cottagers never +received payment for losses when Reynard visited their hen-coops, and +even the farmers began to grumble at needless damage to their hedges, +and to refuse to "walk" the puppies. But the new Master had changed all +this. He bore his share, but no more, of the expense caused by the +reforms he at once introduced, and he reminded his proud yet stingy +neighbours that the pack existed for their sport as much as for his own, +that arrears were shown in his secretary's subscription-books, and that, +unless the funds were augmented, he would reconsider the step he had +taken in accepting the Mastership. Useless servants, useless hounds, and +merely ornamental members of the Hunt, alike disappeared; and with +system and discipline came season after season of prosperity, +contentment, and justice, till it seemed that the best old traditions of +British sport were revived in a community of hard-working, rough-riding +fox-hunters, among the isolated valleys of the west. + +As might be inferred from the personality of the Squire, everything was +in apple-pie order on the glorious summer morning when he and his +huntsmen made their way down river to the wood inhabited by Brock. A +complete collection of tools--crowbar, earth-drill, shovels, picks, a +woodman's axe, and a badger-tongs that had been used many years ago to +unearth a badger in a distant county, and ever since had occupied a +corner in the Squire's harness-room--had already been conveyed to the +scene of operations, together with a big basket of provisions and a cask +of beer, it being one of the Squire's axioms that hard work deserved +good hire. Four brawny labourers were also there; and, near by, each in +leash, the three little terriers lay among the bilberries. Punctually at +the time appointed, the work of the day began. A terrier was led to the +main entrance of the "set," but, to the dismay of the huntsman, he +refused to enter. When, however, he was brought to the entrance that +artful Brock had lately used, he at once became keenly excited, dragged +at his leash, and, on being freed, disappeared in the darkness of the +burrow. The Master knelt to listen; and presently, as the sound of +furious growls and barks came from the depths, he arose, saying: "Now, +my men, we may begin with picks and shovels; our badger is at home." + +What followed, from that early summer morning till twilight shadows fell +over the woods, and men and dogs, completely beaten, wended their way +homewards along the river-path, may best be told, perhaps, in a bare, +simple narrative of events as they occurred. + +When the terrier went "to ground," he crawled down a steep, winding +passage into a hollow, from twelve to fifteen feet below the entrance. +Thence, guided by the scent of a badger, he climbed an equally steep +passage, to a gallery about six feet below the surface. Following the +gallery for a yard or so, he came to a spot where it was joined by a +side passage, and here, as well as in the gallery beyond, the scent was +strong. He chose the side passage, crept down a slight declivity, and +came where Brock's sire had, a few minutes before, been lying asleep, +while his mate and cubs occupied the centre of the chamber. Awakened by +the approach of the terrier, the she-badger and her offspring had +hurried to another chamber of the "set," and the male had retreated to a +blind alley recently excavated back towards the main gallery. The +terrier, keeping to the line he had struck at the sleeping place, found +the male badger at work there, throwing up a barrier between himself and +his pursuing enemy, and at once diverted his attention by feinting an +attack in the rear. For two hours, the game little dog, avoiding each +clumsy charge and yet not giving the badger a moment's peace, remained +close by, while the men cut further and further into the "set," till +they stood in the first deep chamber through which the terrier had +passed. Then the terrier came out to quench his thirst, and was led away +by the huntsman to the river, while the second dog was speedily +despatched to earth, that the badger might be allowed no breathing space +during which he could bury himself beyond the reach of further attack. +The second dog, on coming to the junction of the passage and the +gallery, chose the alternative line of scent in the gallery, and +wandered far away into the chamber where Brock, whose family had +descended some time before to the winter "oven," awaited his coming. +When the faint barking of the second terrier told that the badger had +seemingly shifted his quarters to an almost incredible distance from the +trench, the faces of the Squire and his assistants evinced no little +surprise. For a moment, the men were inclined to believe that the dog +was "marking false," but, presently, their doubts were dispelled, and +their hopes revived, as the sounds indicated that the terrier, +contesting hotly every inch of the way, was retreating towards them +before his enraged enemy. The labourers resumed work, though not with +the confidence of the early morning, when their task seemed lighter than +the experienced Master would admit. Hour after hour they toiled; the +dogs were often changed; and at last the trench was long enough to be +within a yard or so of the spot where the dog was engaged. Then, to the +mortification of the sportsmen, the sounds of the conflict suggested +another change: Brock was retiring leisurely to his chamber. The +earth-drill was soon put into play, and the badger's position +discovered, but directly afterwards the animal again moved, this time to +the deep "oven" below. + +Night was now rapidly closing over the woods, and the weary, +disappointed men and dogs reluctantly gave up their task. The Squire +admitted that on this occasion, at any rate, he was fairly and squarely +beaten. Brock and his mate are still in possession of the old burrow +beyond the farm; and Brock's sire, a patriarch among badgers, lives, as +the comrade of another old male, among the boulders of a rugged hillside +a mile from the "set." + + + + +THE HEDGEHOG. + +I. + +A VAGABOND HUNTER. + + +At the lower end of our village, the valley is joined by a deep ravine +through which a sequestered road--hidden by hawthorn hedges, and crossed +by numerous water-courses where the hillside streams, dropping from +rocks of shale, ripple towards a trout-brook feeding the main +river--winds into the quiet country. The rugged sides of the ravine are +thickly clothed with gorse and brambles, and dotted with hazels, +willows, and oaks. This dense cover is inhabited by large numbers of +rabbits; in a sheltered hollow half-way up the slope a badger has dug +his "set"; and in the pastures above the thickets a fox may be seen +prowling on almost any moonlit night. Past the gorge, the glen opens out +in rich, level pastures and meadows bounded on either side by the +hills. The nearest farmsteads are built high among the sunny dingles +overlooking the glen, and the corn and the root-crops are grown on the +slope beyond the broad belts of gorse and bramble. + +In winter, the low-lying lands are seldom visited by the peasantry, +except when the dairymaid drives the cattle to and fro, or the hedger +trims the undergrowth along the ditches. Though the sportsman with gun +and spaniels and the huntsman with horse and hounds are frequently heard +in the thickets, they never visit the "bottom," unless the partridges +fly down from the stubble, or the hare, pursued by the beagles, takes a +straight line from the far side of the glen to a sheep-path leading up +the gorge. And in summer, except when the fisherman wanders by the +brook, and the haymakers are busy in the grass, the glen is an +undisturbed sanctuary, given over to Nature's wildlings, where, in +safety, as far as man is concerned, they tend their hidden young. + +In this quiet, windless place, on the day when first the haymakers came +to the meadows, five little hedgehogs were born in a nest among the +roots of a tree, deep in the undergrowth of a tangled hedgerow. The +nest was made of dry grass and leaves, and with an entrance so arranged +amid the "trash," that, when the parent hedgehogs went to or from their +home, they pushed their way through a heap of dead herbage, which, +falling behind them, hid the passage from inquisitive eyes. + +It may be asked why such a warm retreat was necessary, inasmuch as the +hedgehog sucklings came into the world in the hottest time of the year. +Nature's reasons were, however, all-sufficient; the little creatures, +feeble and blind, needed a secure hiding place, screened from the +changeful wind of night and from every roving enemy. The haymakers, +moving to and fro amid the swathes, knew nothing of the hedgehogs' +whereabouts; but when the dews of night lay thick on the strewn wild +flowers, the parent "urchins," leaving their helpless charges asleep +within their nest, wondered greatly, while they hunted for snails and +slugs in the ditch, at the quick change that had passed over the silent +field. + +For a week or more, the spines sprouting from round projections on the +bodies of the young hedgehogs were colourless and blunt, and so +flexible that they could have offered no defence against the teeth or +the claws of an enemy; while every muscle was so soft and feeble that +not one of the little animals was as yet able to roll itself into the +shape of a ball. The spines, however, served a useful purpose: they kept +the tender skin beneath from being irritated by the chance touch of the +mother hedgehog's obtrusive quills. + +Soon the baby hedgehogs' eyes opened wide to the pale light filtering +between the leaves at the entrance to the chamber, and their spines, +gradually stiffening, assumed a dull grey colour. Then, one still, dark +night, the little creatures, with great misgiving, followed their +parents from the nest, and wandered for a short distance beside the +tangled hedge. Presently, made tired and sleepy and hungry by exercise +and fresh air, they were led back to their secret retreat, where, after +being tended for a few moments by their careful mother, they fell +asleep, while their parents searched diligently for food in the dense +grass-clumps left by the harvesters amid the briars and the furze. + +Henceforth, every night, they ventured, under their mother's care, to +roam afield, their journeys becoming longer and still longer as their +strength increased, till, familiar with the hedgerow paths, they were +ready and eager to learn the rudiments of such field-craft as concerned +their unpretending lives. + +A glorious summer, far brighter than is usual among the rainy hills of +the west, brooded over the countryside. The days were calm and sunny, +but with the coming of evening occasional mists drifted along the +dingles and scattered pearl-drops on the after-math; and the nights were +warm and starlit, filled with the silence of the wilderness, which only +Nature's children break. The "calling season" for the hare had long +since passed, and for the fox it had not yet arrived; so the voices of +the two greatest wanderers on the countryside were not at this time +heard. + +A doe hare had made her "form" hardly twenty yards from the hedgehogs' +nest, and night after night, just when the "urchins" moved down the +hedge from the old tree-root, she ambled by on her way to the +clover-field above the heath. + +Once, a little before dawn, a fox, coming to drink at the brook, +detected the scent of the hedgehogs near a molehill, followed it to the +litter of leaves by the tree, and caused considerable alarm by making a +vigorous attempt to dig out the nest; but, probably because of the +dampness of the loamy soil, he failed to determine the exact whereabouts +of the hedgehog family; and, after breaking a tooth in his vain efforts +to cut through a tough, close-fibred root, he made his way along the +hedge, and soon disappeared over the crest of the moonlit hill. But the +next night, when the wind blew strong, and the rain pattered loudly on +the leafy trees, he came again to the "urchins'" haunt. The doe hare had +long since rustled by, and the hedgehogs were busy munching a cluster of +earthworms discovered in a heap of refuse not far from the gate, when +Reynard stole over the fence-bank, and sniffed at the nest. Not finding +the family at home, he followed their scent through the ditch, and soon +surprised them. To kill one of the tiny "urchins" was the work of a +moment; then, made eager by the taste of blood, the fox turned on the +mother hedgehog and tried to fix his fangs in the soft flesh beneath the +armour of her spines. But, feeling at once his warm breath, she, with a +quick contraction of the muscles, rolled herself into a prickly ball, +and remained proof against his every artifice. He was a young fox, not +yet learned in the wiles of Nature's feebler folk, and so, when he had +recovered from his astonishment, he pounced on the rigid creature, and, +thoughtlessly exerting all his strength, endeavoured to rend her in +pieces with his powerful jaws. He paid dearly for his temerity. The +prickly ball rolled over, under the pressure of his fore-paws, the sharp +points of the spines entered the bare flesh behind his pads, and as, +almost falling to the ground, he bit savagely to right and left in the +fit of anger which now possessed him, his mouth and nostrils dripped +blood from a dozen irritating wounds. Thoroughly discomfited, he leaped +back into the field, where, sick with pain, he endeavoured to gain +relief by rubbing his muzzle vigorously in the grass and against his +aching limbs. Then, sneezing violently, and with his mouth encrusted +with froth and loam, he bolted from the scene of his unpleasant +adventure, never pausing till he reached his "earth" on the hillside, in +which, hidden from the mocking gaze of other prowlers of the night, he +could leisurely salve his wounds with the moisture of his soft, warm +tongue, and ponder over the lessons of his recent experience. + +By far the most intelligent and powerful enemy of the young hedgehogs +was the farmer's dog; but, as he slept in the barn at night, and +generally accompanied the labourers to the upland fields by day, they +escaped, for a while, his unwelcome attentions. Foes hardly less +dreaded, because of their insatiable thirst for blood, were two polecats +living in a hole half-way up the wall of a ruined cottage not far from +the hillside farm-house. The polecats, however, were so occupied with +the care of a family, that, finding young rabbits plentiful in the +burrows on the heath, they seldom wandered into the open fields, till +the little "urchins," ready, at the first sign of danger, to curl +themselves within the proof-armour of their growing spines, were well +able to resist attack. + +The hedgehogs were about three months old, and summer, brief and +beautiful, was passing away, when an incident occurred that might have +proved disastrous, though, fortunately, it resulted only in a practical +joke, such as Nature often plays on the children of the wilds. One calm, +dark night, while they were busy in the grass, a brown owl, hunting for +mice, sailed slowly by. Now, the brown owl, in spite of proverbial +wisdom gained during a long life in the dim seclusion of the woods, is +occasionally apt to blunder. Her character, indeed, seems full of quaint +contradictions. As she floats through the moonlight and the shadows of +the beech-aisles of Dollan, she appears to be a large bird, with a +philosophic contentment of mind--an ancient creature that, shunning the +fellow-ships of the garish modern day and loving the leisure and the +solitude of night, dreams of the past. But, beneath its loose feathery +garments, her body, hardly larger than that of a ringdove, is altogether +out of proportion to her long, narrow head and wide-spreading talons. +Visions of the past may come to her, as, blinking at the light of day, +she sits in the hollow of the tree, but at night she is far too +wide-awake to dream. And so great are the owl's powers of sight and +hearing, and so swift is her "stoop" from the sky to the ground, that +the bank-vole has little chance of escape should a single grass-stalk +rustle underfoot when she is hovering near his haunt. Far from being shy +and retiring in her disposition, the brown owl, directly night steals +over the woodlands, is so fearless that probably no animal smaller than +the hare can in safety roam abroad. + +As the owl flew slowly past the fence, she heard the faint sound of a +crackling shell--the hedgehogs were feeding on snails. She could barely +distinguish a moving form in a tangle of briars, but its position +discouraged attack; so she flew away and continued to hunt for mice. +Presently, returning to the spot, the owl was once more attracted by the +sound of some creature feeding in the grass; and, detecting a slight +movement beside the briars, she swooped towards the ditch, grasped one +of the "urchins" in her claws, and rose into the air. Her quarry, +feeling the sudden grip of the sharp talons, made a desperate, +convulsive movement, and the owl found, to her astonishment, that her +grasp had shifted, and that she was holding, apparently, a hard bunch of +thorns. Nevertheless, she tightened her grasp; but an unendurable twitch +of pain, as the spines entered her flesh immediately above the scales of +her talons, caused her to drop the hedgehog into the leaf-mould of the +ditch. Immediately afterwards, she herself, eager to find out the cause +of her discomfiture, dropped also to the earth, and, standing beside the +hedgehog, clawed savagely at the motionless creature, seeking some +defenceless point among the bristling spines. At last, her patience +exhausted, the owl gave up the ineffectual assault, and glided away into +the gloomy night. Unhurt, but for a slight wound inflicted when first +the bird descended, the hedgehog crawled back to the brambles, where the +rest of her family were still busy with the snails, and joined them in +their feast. + +Autumn's sere leaves had fallen from the trees, and the hedgehogs had +found such a plentiful supply of all kinds of food that they were ready +for their winter sleep, when a gipsy boy, the proud possessor of a +terrier trained for hunting hedgehogs, set forth in haste one evening +from his tent by the wayside above the farm. The boy was smarting from +cruel blows inflicted by his drunken parents, who, after unusual success +in disposing of baskets and clothes-pegs, had spent much of the day's +profit in a carouse at the village inn. Having escaped a continuance of +his parents' brutalities, and eluded their ill-conducted pursuit, the +young gipsy, in the company of his only friend, soon forgot his miseries +as his thoughts turned to a vagabond's rough sport in the stillness of +the harvest night. Thrusting a long stick here and there into the +briars, he strolled along by the fence, till his dog, diligently beating +in line amid the undergrowth, gave a quick yelp of delight, and, an +instant later, a curled-up hedgehog rolled down into the ditch. The boy +placed the animal in his ragged handkerchief, the corners of which he +was proceeding to tie together when the terrier again attracted +attention with unmistakable signs of a "find." For a few brief minutes +sport was keenly exciting, but at last all the "urchin" family, with the +exception of one member, were captured, and the boy, now thoroughly +happy, his pockets and handkerchief heavy with spoil, turned homewards +through the darkness. Next morning, the slain hedgehogs, baked in clay +among the hot ashes of a fire of rotten twigs, formed the principal item +in the gipsies' bill of fare, and the terrier enjoyed the remnants of +the meal. + +The hedgehog surviving the gipsy's raid was a young female, that, while +the terrier beat the fence, remained quietly munching a large lob-worm +at the foot of a mound a dozen yards away, and so knew nothing of the +fate of her kindred. + +The last weeks of the year passed uneventfully, as far as her little +life was concerned; then, as the nights grew longer and the cold +increased, she set about preparing in earnest for her long, deep sleep. + +In a sheltered spot close to the woodlands, where, a month before, a +badger had unearthed a wild bee's nest, she collected a heap of withered +oak-leaves, hay, and moss, and with these simple materials made a large, +snug nest, a winter house so constructed that the rain might trickle +down to the absorbent soil beneath. For a little while, however, she +did not enter into her unbroken rest. Still, nightly, she roamed abroad, +moving in and out of the dried herbage everywhere strewn in her paths +among the tree-roots, till the sapless leaves impaled on the sharp +points of her spines formed such a cluster that she lost all semblance +of a living creature. Insects were becoming rarer and still rarer as the +year drew to its close, and those surviving the frosts retired to +countless secret chambers at the roots of the moss and under the tough +bark of the trees. The lizards sought shelter in warm hollows deep below +the piles of stones left here and there by the labourers, when, every +spring, they cleared the freshening fields. And the big round snails, +the luscious tit-bits of the hedgehog's provender, crept into the holes +of the red mice and into the chinks of walls and banks, where, protected +by their shells, each being fastened to its resting place by a neat rim +of hardened glue, they lived unconscious of decay and gloom. Then the +hedgehog, having become drowsier and still drowsier with privation and +cold, ceased to wander from her nest at dark, and began that slumber +which was to last till the sweet, warm breath of spring awoke her, and +other wildlings of the night, to a life among the early primroses and +violets. + + + + +II. + +AN EXPERIENCE IN SNAKE-KILLING. + + +The many changes of winter passed over the countryside; tempests raged, +rain beat down in slanting sheets or enveloped the fields in mist, snow +fell heavily and then vanished before the breath of a westerly breeze, +black frost held the fields for days in an iron clutch, and sometimes, +from late dawn to early dusk, the sun shone clearly in the southern sky. +The sportsman with his spaniels wandered by the hedge, the huntsman with +his beagles chased the hare across the sodden meadows, and the report of +a gun or the note of a horn echoed among the surrounding hills. But in +spite of changing weather and dangers from unresting foes, the hedgehog +slept peacefully within her nest of withered leaves till awakened by +the whisper of the warm south-western wind. + +It was a calm day towards the end of March when the hedgehog awoke. +Gradually, since the winter solstice, the shadows of noon, cast from the +wooded slope across the meadows in the glen, had become shorter; and +now, when the sun reached its meridian, its beams fell directly on the +spot where the hedgehog rested among the littered leaves. She felt the +strange and subtle influence of spring, and crawled feebly from her +retreat. The light above her nest was far too brilliant for her eyes, +which had been closed for three long months, and were at best only +accustomed to the gloom of night, so she sought the shadow of a +tree-trunk near, and there, for a while, remained quite motionless. With +the leaves of last autumn still clinging thickly to her spines, she +seemed an oddly fashioned creature belonging to a distant age, a little +Rip Van Winkle of the woods, with a new, quick world of unfamiliar joys +and sorrows claiming her half-conscious life. Extremely feeble from cold +and privation, and knowing, as all Nature's wildlings seem to know, +that sunlight brings with it health and strength, she presently left the +shadow of the tree-trunk, and, closing her eyes, basked in complete +enjoyment of the balmy day. The heat and the gentle wind soon dried her +armour of spines and surcoat of leaves. Stealing in through the tunnel +left open when the hedgehog came forth from her sleep, the wind cleansed +and ventilated the nest, and soon all traces of winter's mustiness had +vanished from both herself and her home. By sundown, the "urchin" had +gained strength that enabled her to wander slowly into the meadow, where +she found sufficient food to stay her growing hunger. + +During the first few nights, her appetite, though keen, was easily +satisfied, for the digestive organs, unaccustomed to their work, could +not retain much nutriment, and hours of slumber seemed necessary after +every trifling meal. But gradually her powers were restored, till almost +any kind of fresh animal matter that came in her way was greedily +devoured. A spider sleeping in a folded leaf, a fly hiding beneath a +stone, a snail, a slug, a worm, a frog, a weakling bird fallen from an +early nest, a lizard, or a snake--all alike were welcome as she thrust +her damp, blunt snout, that looked like a little fold of black rubber, +here and there amid the herbage. + +Her eyesight was faulty--she had no great need of it; her enemies were +few, and she did not live the life of the hunted that fear each footfall +on the grass; but, as if to balance all deficiencies, her sense of smell +was singularly acute, so that she could follow with ease the trail of a +beetle or of an earthworm in its windings over the soil. The eggs and +young of the lark, the corncrake, the partridge, or of any other bird +that built on the ground, were never safe once the hedgehog had crossed +the lines of scent left by the parents around their nest. Even the robin +and the wren, nesting in holes along the hedge, and the field-mouse in +its chamber sheltered by the moss, were at any time likely to have their +family affairs most cruelly upset. The wild-bee's sting could not save +her honeyed cells and helpless grubs, and the sharp-fanged adder, +writhing from the hedgehog's sudden bite, would hurl itself in vain +against the prickly ball that instantly confronted each counter attack. + +The hedgehog's first experience of snake-killing occurred late one +evening, when she discovered a viper, some distance from its hole, +coiled asleep on a bare patch of soil where the sunlight had lingered at +the close of day. Her manner instantly changed; she became eager and +alert. Pausing only a second to make sure of her attack, she bit the +snake sharply near the neck, then, withdrawing her head and limbs into +the shelter of her spines, rolled over, an inanimate ball. The viper, +mad with pain, thrust back its head from its sinuous coils, rose, and +struck with open jaws at its assailant. Its fangs closed strongly, but +failed to get a grip, and the smooth underside of its throat glanced +past the hedgehog's slanting prickles with such force that the whole +body of the snake was lifted from the ground, and fell, like a bent +arrow, about a yard behind its foe. Again the snake rose, and struck +with no effect; but this time the stroke, coming from the rear, was met +by the sharp points of the spines, and the adder's mouth dropped blood +from a clean-cut wound on the upper edge of the palate. Repeatedly, the +snake, hissing loudly and fighting for its life, attacked its armoured +enemy--at first dashing itself senselessly against the sharp points of +the hedgehog's spines, then, with caution, swaying to and fro its +bleeding head and snapping harmlessly at an apparently unguarded spot, +till, from sheer exhaustion and pain, and with its store of poison +almost exhausted, it retired from the unequal combat and slowly wriggled +into the grass. Presently, the "urchin" uncoiled, and, as soon as the +inquisitive little snout discovered the whereabouts of the snake, +started in pursuit. With a hard, firm bite, she luckily managed to break +the backbone of the viper; then, at once, she again assumed the shape of +a ball. Desperate now, the snake expended all its remaining strength in +wild attacks, till, limp and helpless, and utterly at the mercy of the +hedgehog, it lay outstretched. Then the relentless hedgehog, assured +that her prey was quite defenceless, severed almost every bone in its +body, tore the scales from the flesh, and fed to repletion. + +Such a struggle often happens in the fields and the woodlands. During +the first few weeks of life, the hedgehog, if its parents are absent, +may be at the adder's mercy; but, later, the tables are completely +turned, the once helpless creature becomes the strong aggressor, and is +revenged by removing, not only an enemy, but a rival subsisting on food +often similar to that which is its own. + +For a while after her awakening, the hedgehog fed chiefly on the big +earthworms which, induced by the increasing warmth, forsook the deep +recesses of their burrows, and tunnelled immediately beneath the +grass-roots, coming forth at night to lie outstretched amid the +undergrowth. She had, of necessity, to match their fear by her excessive +cunning. They frequently detected her presence by the slight vibrations +of the soil beneath her soft, slow-moving feet, and hurriedly withdrew +from her path, but more often she surprised and captured them by the +simple artifice of waiting and watching beside the burrows where scent +was fresh, and where, notwithstanding the noises reaching her from +above, she could readily distinguish the sounds of stretching, gliding +bodies moving to the surface through the tortuous passages below. + +She soon became a wanderer, deserting her winter nest, and roaming +nightly further and yet further from the valley meadows, till she +reached a rough pasture at the end of the glen. In a thick hedgerow +skirting a secluded pond among alders and willows, she found food +unexpectedly varied and plentiful. Luscious snails, with striped yellow +and brown shells, were so common in the ditch beyond a certain +cattle-path, that, even after a whole day's fast, her hunger was quickly +appeased. + +April drew near, the leaves of the trees expanded, and the voice of the +night wind in the branches changed from a moan to a whisper. At noon, +flies came forth to bask on the stones; the furze, decked with yellow +flowers, was visited by countless bees; and bronze-winged beetles crept +among the thorny branches of the hawthorn and the sloe. The hedgehog +knew little of the pulsing life of mid-day, but at dusk she sometimes +found a tired fly, or bee, or beetle, hiding in the matted grass +beneath the gorse, and so was made aware of summer's near approach. + +Among the flags and the rushes of the pond, a pair of fussy moorhens +built their nest on an islet of decayed vegetation clustered round a +stone. At all hours of the day, the birds sailed gaily hither and +thither, or wandered, happy and impulsive, along the margin of the pool. +No care had they, and the solitude of their retreat seemed likely never +to be disturbed, till, one moonlit night, the fox, that last year had +killed the baby hedgehog in the glen, stole through the shadows of the +alders, caught the scent of the moorhens, and approached the nest where +the female was brooding over her eggs. The bird had watched the fox's +movements since first he appeared on the bank beyond the trees. Quietly +she dropped into the pond beside the nest, dived, came up on the far +side of the islet, and stayed there, with only her head above the +surface of the water. She saw, with fear, the fox approach her nest, and +recognised that it was hardly possible for her treasures to be saved, +when, suddenly, her mate, having doubtless watched the marauder as +closely as she herself had done, walked out of a reed-clump two or three +yards from her hiding place, and, in full view of the fox, swam slowly +to and fro, beating his wings as if in mortal pain. Without the +slightest hesitation, Reynard, thinking to obtain an easy prize, plunged +into the pond, but the bird just managed to elude him, and to flutter +into another reed-clump a short distance away. Completely deceived by +the ruse, the fox was drawn further and further from the nest, till he +reached a distant corner of the pond, when, to his astonishment, the +moorhen vanished, leaving him to a vain search which at last so much +annoyed him that, instead of returning along the bank towards the nest, +he crossed the glen, trotted up the cattle-path, and entered the dense +thicket on the slope. + +With most wild creatures, fear seems to be a feeling that quickly comes +and quickly goes. But over some of Nature's weaklings, fear seems to +throw a spell that remains long after the danger has passed; as, for +instance, in the case of a rabbit hunted by a stoat, or of a vole +pursued by a weasel. The animal trembles with fright, cries as if in +pain, and limps, half-paralysed, towards its home, some time after its +pursuer may have turned aside to follow a line of scent leading in a +quite opposite direction. Now and then, a young rabbit is so overcome by +fright, that the sly, watchful carrion crow obtains, with little +trouble, an unexpected meal. The birds of the hedgerow--finches, robins, +and the like--are also subject to the distressing influence of fear, +directly they catch sight of a hungry weasel "performing" in the ditch. +When the weasel sets itself to lure any such creatures, its movements +are remarkably similar to the contortions of a snake; and the birds, +fascinated as their enemy's strange actions are rapidly repeated, +flutter helplessly from spray to spray, till one or other becomes a +victim and the weasel ambles off with its prey. Then, released from the +spell, the birds proceed to mob the bloodthirsty tyrant, and, at times, +with such effect that he is compelled, before making good his escape, to +resort to stratagems similar to those that previously held the birds +enthralled. Reynard seems to have learned from the weasel's manoeuvres, +for he, too, is wont to entice the rabbits towards him by extraordinary +methods, twirling round, like a cat, in pursuit of his tail, and +affording such a spectacle to any onlookers that they must needs, from +sheer curiosity, find out the meaning of a woodland farce, which, alas! +is often followed by a tragedy. It is not known that the fox ever +succeeds in fascinating the moorhen; the bird, directly she caught sight +of his circling form, would probably dive, and in the cool refuge of the +water, her sharp eyes peeping from between the flags, would wisely +conclude that such an unaccountable display meant danger. It is, +however, tolerably certain that the influence of fear seldom causes a +nesting bird, or a breeding mammal, to become helpless in the presence +of an enemy, though when family cares are over the conditions might be +entirely reversed. Even such timid creatures as rabbits and hares +sometimes strenuously defend their young from the attacks of weasels and +stoats. + +As the fox trotted up the hillside path, the moorhen joined her mate in +the tangle of the reeds, and, without fear, wandered over the marshy +ground in the neighbourhood of her nest. Then she swam out across the +narrow channel, and settled down, in fancied security, to brood once +more over her speckled eggs. She had just taken her accustomed position, +when the hedgehog, pushing the reeds aside, became aware of the strong +scent on the margin of the pond. The hungry "urchin's" intelligence, +though limited, at once suggested that the scent of a mothering bird +might lead to a clutch of delicious eggs, or to a brood of plump and +juicy nestlings. Following the trail, the hedgehog came to the marshy +ground at the margin of the narrow passage where the bird had crossed, +and, with head erect, sniffed the tainted wind blowing gently shorewards +from the brooding moorhen. In her eagerness, she lifted herself slightly +at the edge of the bank, missed her footing, and fell into the pond, not +more than two or three feet from the moorhen. The bird, hearing the +splash, dived instantly; her mate again came quickly to the scene and +tried to lead the enemy away, but the hedgehog, heedless of every +artifice, paddled slowly to the platform of dry flags, and helped +herself to a repast more appetising than any she had recently enjoyed, +while the birds, flapping their wings, circled angrily about the pond, +and pecked vigorously, but vainly, at the marauder's prickly coat. + +Late the next evening, the hedgehog discovered a fledgling thrush hidden +in the grass beyond the alders. In response to the cry of the young +bird, the mother thrush flew straight to the spot, and, with a lucky +blow struck full at the hedgehog's snout, so intimidated her enemy that +she curled up immediately and allowed the fledgling to escape unharmed. + +The tender grass was reaching up to seed, the may blossom was burdening +the air with rich perfume, and summer had almost come, when, late one +night, the hedgehog, hunting among the shadows of the trees, chanced to +hear a low, bleating sound, like the voice of a leveret calling to the +mother hare out feeding in the clover. She had never heard that sound +before, but its meaning, nevertheless, was plain, and without hesitation +she replied. Again the sound broke the stillness, as a dim form lifted +itself clumsily from the ditch and came towards her. Presently she felt +an inquiring touch, and, turning, found herself face to face with a male +hedgehog that had followed her path through the undergrowth. Nature had +not been lavish in his adornment; like the female, he was a plain little +creature, brown and grey, fitted to sleep unnoticed among the wind-blown +leaves and twigs beside a sheltering mound. + +Theirs was an odd and awkward courtship--its language a medley of +unmusical squeals and grunts; and if a difference arose it was settled +by one curling up into a ball till the other had forgotten the quarrel. +But soon they became good friends, hunted together all night and slept +together all day, while the year drew on to summer and then, almost +imperceptibly, declined. Devoting much of their attention to domestic +affairs, they built a large, dry nest among the foxgloves near the +stream; where, towards the end of hay harvest, three naked little +"urchins" came into the world, to be reared, just as the mother hedgehog +herself had been reared, till autumn merged into winter, and winter's +cold induced each to go in loneliness and build a snuggery for sleep. + + + + +NIGHT IN THE WOODS. + +I. + +HAUNTS OF THE BADGER AND THE FOX. + + +Comparatively little seems to be known of the night side of wild life in +this country. Night watching involves prolonged exposure, unremitting +vigilance, absolute quietness; and yet, to the most alert observer, it +often results in nothing but disappointment and vexation. + +Some time ago, during the moonlit nights of several months, I kept +watch, near a "set" inhabited by half-a-dozen badgers, a vixen and her +cubs, a rabbit and her numerous progeny, and a solitary little buck +wood-mouse, whose close acquaintanceship I made after I had captured him +in a butterfly-net placed as a spring-trap above his narrow run-way in +the grass. This "set"--which I have already partly described, in writing +of Brock, the badger--seemed to be the common lodging house of the +wood. Its numerous inhabitants, though not on terms of friendship, were, +apparently, not at enmity. The wood-mouse and the rabbits, while +entering or leaving the underground passages, and wandering through the +paths in the wood, took care to avoid their powerful neighbours; the +foxes, believing that out of sight is out of mind, avoided with equal +care all chances of encountering the badgers; and the badgers, sluggish +in movement and tolerant in disposition, refrained from evicting the +foxes or digging out the rabbits. + +In the undergrowth, but away from the well worn tracks used by the +creatures as they stole out to feed, I had chosen three hiding places, +representing in their relative positions the corners of a triangle the +centre of which was the main entrance to the "set." I was thus able, +whatever might be the direction of the wind, to lie to leeward and +obtain a clear view of the principal opening, while I incurred but +slight risk of detection, unless the rabbits or the wood-mouse crept +into the brambles. + +It was during the last week of watching that my patience received its +best rewards. Almost regularly then, as the shadows deepened before +moonrise, the rabbits stole out, and, sometimes with no hesitation, +sometimes after much cautious reconnoitring and sniffing the air and +"drumming" alarm signals on the mound before their door, hopped along +the paths towards the clover-fields outside the wood. Soon after the +rabbits appeared, the wood-mouse timidly peeped around the corner of the +entrance, and, seeing nothing of his enemy, the brown owl, disappeared, +with a rustle, among the dead leaves that filled a hollow where the old, +disused workings of the "set" had "shrunk." + +On several occasions, the vixen led forth her cubs long before the +badgers came in view, and while the light yet lingered on the crests of +the neighbouring hills. The little family went away silently to a dense +furze-brake about a hundred yards distant on the lower edge of the wood, +and, till the sun had gone down, remained close-hidden in a lair that I +afterwards discovered amid the long grass in the heart of the thicket. + +More frequently, however, I saw nothing of the vixen till nightfall, +though the cubs, impatient of confinement, now and again visited the +mound outside the "set," and for a few moments played together on the +bare soil thrown up by the hard-working badgers, as, in spring, they +enlarged their breeding chamber. But, in the first calm hour of night, +when the red afterglow had faded from the hills, and the moon, ascending +cloudless in the southern sky, cast long, mysterious shadows down the +aisles of the wood, the fox-cubs and their dam came boldly out, and, +instead of moving off towards the furze, adjourned to a rill close by, +whence, after quenching their thirst, they repaired to a glade above the +"set," and in this favourite playground frisked and romped, +unremittingly guarded from danger by their devoted mother. My presence +unsuspected, I watched them, little dim figures, flitting to and fro. + +When they had gone far up the winding pathway to the cornfields, and the +silence was no longer broken by their low cries of dissembled rage and +fear, I sometimes lingered in my hiding place; and as on the grass I +lay, looking towards the stars that twinkled between the motionless +leaves of the trees above me, my thoughts went back to a time long +before our village had been built beside the river; before Giraldus +Cambrensis had journeyed hence with the pilgrim band towards Sant Dewi's +shrine; before the great Crag of Vortigern, across the near dingle, had +resounded with the blare of the trumpets of war; before even, in the +primitive hut-circle on the opposite hill, wild little children had +played about the twilight fires kindled in readiness for the home-coming +of the weary hunters--a time when the fox, the badger, and the tiny +mouse had nightly journeyed through the woods, and the call of the gaunt +wolf to his mate had weirdly echoed and re-echoed in the valley, +startling the innocent hare in the open waste above the slope, and the +busy beaver on the dam below in the pool at the bend of the river. + +The badgers--or "earth-pigs" as the country folk have named them--were +the original occupants of the "set," unless, however, the earliest +excavations had been made by the ancestors of the old doe-rabbit now +inhabiting a side apartment. The foxes and the wood-mouse might have +been looked upon as interlopers, but they often played the part of +scouts and sentinels, quick to give alarm to the tolerant, easy-going +badgers, in case of imminent danger from the visit of a dog or a man to +the neighbourhood of their retreat. + +The badgers were more irregular as to the time when they left the "set" +than were any of the other inhabitants. Perhaps they suspected a human +presence, because of some peculiar vibration in the earth through a +false step of mine. Perhaps, during certain conditions of the +atmosphere, a taint--borne from me, on a wave rather than a current of +air, to the wide archway beneath the tree-roots in front of the main +entrance, and then drawn down into the draughty passages--was detected +by them immediately they passed beyond the stagnant atmosphere of the +blind-alley where they slept. Evening after evening, one of the old +badgers would appear at the mouth of the "set," and, with snout uplifted +in the archway of the tree-roots, would stay as motionless, but for the +restless twitching of the alert nostrils, as were the trees and the +stones around his home, while I, not even daring to flick an irritating +gnat from my forehead or neck, would wait and long for the philosopher +in grey to make up his slow-moving mind. + +With regard to the badger's habit of staying for some time in the +doorway of his home, it may be mentioned that years afterwards, when one +night I compared my notes with those of a companion who had hidden near +the main opening of the "set" while I had watched by a hole higher in +the wood, I found that each entrance had, simultaneously and for long, +been occupied by a vigilant badger; and, as both animals were full-grown +"greys," I concluded that parent badgers not unusually took ample +precautions against surprise before allowing their cubs to venture out +into the night. + +Once away from the "set," the old male badger seemed to lose suspicion +of any obnoxious presence. Then, lumbering after him, every member of +his family would appear in full view on the mound, and, with little fits +and starts of pretended rage and fright, would roll over and over each +other, rush helter-skelter back to the underground dwelling and out +again, and round and round the tree-trunks. A favourite trick, indulged +in by young and old alike, was that of raising themselves on their +hind-legs close beside a broad beech-trunk near the "set," and then, on +tiptoe, stretching out their fore-claws to the fullest extent and +scratching vigorously at the bark. + +This trick irresistibly reminded me of an incident connected with a +shooting expedition to the moors, when, one evening, after much gossip +in the ingle-nook, I accompanied my jolly host to the barn, and there, +much to the merriment of all concerned, acted as judge, while, by the +light of a lantern, the farmer measured and recorded the height of his +wife, as well as of each of his six children and his servants, against +the oaken door-post, and finally insisted that he himself, a veritable +giant, should submit to the test, and gave orders for a chair to be +fetched that "mother," a stout little woman of some sixty inches in +height and, also, in circumference, might mount to the level necessary +for "chalking his mark." + +One day a keen naturalist and sportsman, whose acquaintance I had +recently formed, proposed to join me in my vigil near the badger's home. +In the declining afternoon, we left the village, crossed the bridge, and +made a detour of the river path. As we passed along, I showed him an +otter's "holt" under a shelving bank, where, on the fine, wet sand, the +prints of the creature's pads were fresh and clearly outlined. We then +visited an "earth" within the wood, in which dwelt a lonely old fox I +had often watched as he stole along the rabbit-tracks towards the Crag +of Vortigern; and there I pointed out how crafty Reynard, having +selected a convenient rabbit burrow, had blocked up every hole--but one, +in a thick clump of brambles--with soil thrown out in digging, and how +the grass and the ground-ivy had luxuriantly covered the bare mounds, +and so encroached on the fox's winding track through the wood and about +the bramble clump, that even to an experienced visitor the only fox-sign +likely to be detected was in the loose arrangement of the bents and the +twigs by the arch of the run-way as it entered the thicket. + +Rabbits, as well as water-voles and field-voles, are particularly +careful to nibble off wind-blown or sprouting twigs that encroach on +their tracks through the undergrowth; but foxes, otters, and badgers +simply brush them aside as they pass. + +The sun had not yet gone down when we arrived at the "set." I had +planned an early visit, so that my friend might have an opportunity of +examining the much frequented track-ways, the footprints of the badgers +on the soft earth of the mound, and the scratches on the tree-trunk +where the badgers had sharpened their claws and incidentally measured +themselves. These numerous claw-marks were especially interesting, and, +on a certain tree by the "set," they formed irregular lines extending +from a foot above the ground to a height of three feet or rather more. +The lowest scratches had been made by the cubs seated on their haunches +and facing the tree; a little higher, the marks were those of the parent +animals while in a similar position; after a space in which a few +abrasions occurred, the marks showed how the cubs had gradually grown +till they could reach within a few inches of the clear, deep furrows +scratched by the old male badger as he measured his full length against +the tree. + +[Illustration: "AS HE MEASURED HIS FULL LENGTH AGAINST THE TREE." (_See_ +p. 419).] + +After making observations with the utmost wariness, we hurried away, so +that, before dusk, our scent might evaporate, and become almost +imperceptible in the vicinity of the principal entrance to the lonely +burrow. + +After a second ramble by the riverside, we returned in the face of the +wind, and at twilight began our silent watch. A robin sang plaintively +from the hawthorns on the outskirts of the wood; the rooks sailed slowly +above us, and then, gossiping loudly of the day's events, congregated +around their nests in the great elms dimly outlined against the pearly +southern sky; the wood-pigeons dropped one by one into the beech-trees +near us; and a jay, uttering his harsh alarm, hopped in and out of some +young hazels fringing the glade beyond the "set." Presently, a brown +owl, in a group of tall pines near the little rill that made faint music +in the woods, began to mutter and complain, in those low, peculiar notes +that are often heard before she leaves her daytime resting place. Then +no sound disturbed the stillness but the far-off cawing of the rooks, +and the only creatures visible were some rabbits playing in the moonlit +glade, and a glow-worm shining with her soft green light on a bramble +spray within my reach. + +Nearly half an hour passed by, and no sign of life came from the +badgers' home. Then the familiar white and black striped head, framed in +the darkness beneath the gnarled tree-root, suddenly appeared, and as +suddenly vanished. Another half-hour went by, and yet another, but no +further sign was given. My companion, unused to such a long vigil, +shifted uneasily, and protested that he was tingling with cramp and +longing for sleep; presently, unable to endure his discomfort, he arose, +and stretched his limbs before settling down again amid the briars. + +Our patience was in vain. Once more the badger came in sight, but my +companion did not see what I myself had noticed, for sleep had sealed +his tired eyes, and when I nudged him he awoke with such a start that +the badger instantly withdrew into the burrow. + +By the glow-worm's lamp, I found from my watch that midnight had long +passed; and so, since the hour was towards dawn and the moon was not +favourable for close observation of the "earth-pigs," even if they +crossed the open glade, I whispered to my friend that the proceedings, +in which his interest had manifestly waned, were over for the night. His +disappointment was keen, and though to me the night seemed warm, he, +accustomed to a tropical climate, chattered with the cold. He had not +even noticed the first appearance of the "earth-pig," and henceforth +night watching held no charm for him. + +My own disappointment, if only for my friend's sake, was also keen; but, +on the evening following those hours of fruitless watching, I discovered +the vixen's lair in the furze-brake, and learned why she resorted +thither with her cubs, before the badger family had awakened from their +day-dreams, or the pale glow-worm's rays had lit up the dew-besprinkled +spider-webs. + +Knowing that badgers are, as the country folk say, _pwdu_ (pouty) +creatures, likely to sulk at home for several nights if they consider +it unsafe to roam abroad, I carefully examined the mound of earth and +the beech-trunk near the "set," that I might learn whether the animals +had been out of doors since my previous visit. On the soil, fresh +footprints could be seen, their outlines clearly lit and deeply shadowed +as the sun sank in the west, and, in some of the scratches on the beech, +the pith had barely changed its colour from creamy white to the faintest +tinge of brown. I concluded, therefore, that the badgers had been out, +as usual, some time before the dawn. My eyes, however, were not +sufficiently trained to detect any sure evidence of the recent movements +of the vixen and her cubs. + +Walking along the tracks, I chanced to notice that the path by which the +vixen sought the shelter of the furze-brake branched off at a sharp +angle, and led into the thicket at a bend that was hidden from my sight +while I watched near the "set." Picking my way in a line straight +through the tangle and parallel with this path, I came to an opening +where the grass was beaten down for about six square yards--more +particularly for two or three yards in the part nearest the spot at +which the tunnelled run-way entered it. Along the margin of this open +place, I could find no second entrance; everywhere at the foot of the +surrounding gorse-bushes the long grass grew in an unbroken line, except +close to the mouth of the run-way. There I found a shallow depression, +not unlike the "form" of a hare, but longer and broader, and I +determined to keep strict watch evening after evening, till I learned +the reason for the occasional visits of the vixen and her cubs to the +brake. But I little imagined that the secret would quickly be disclosed, +for it was my belief that, should the vixen venture to the mouth of the +"set" before the gloom was deepening into night, she would cross the +line of my scent, and either move away from the direction of the +furze-brake or return to her underground chamber. And yet previous +experiences led me to hope that, if certain atmospherical conditions +should prevail, the scent would probably become so weak that she would +recognise no cause for alarm. + +It was the work of a few minutes for me to make couch of grass and twigs +behind a screen of broken furze-branches well in from the grassy +opening. Then, by raising with a prong-shaped stake the grass I had +trodden down, and by thrusting back the bramble-trails and fern-fronds I +had brushed aside, I carefully removed as far as possible all traces of +my visit. + +I had scarcely settled down to watch and listen, when the faint snap of +a twig reached my ears, and I saw that the vixen with her cubs had +arrived on the scene. She walked around the enclosure, sniffing now and +again in the grass, while the young foxes frisked and gambolled with +each other, or trotted demurely by her side. She was at first +suspicious, but for some reason she soon gained confidence; then she +squatted in her lair, and surrendered herself, with patient motherhood, +to be the plaything of her healthy, headstrong youngsters. + +For more than a half hour I watched the happy family, the little ones +climbing over the mother's back, and licking or biting her ears, her +pads, her brush, or racing over the grassy plot, frolicking with each +other till some little temper was aroused and play degenerated into a +fight. In general, they behaved like wild children without a thought of +care, yet they never went beyond the grass-fringe into the thicket, and +to each low note of warning or encouragement from their dam they gave +immediate attention. Sometimes the vixen bounded gaily about the edge of +the gorse, stooping again and again to snap with pretended rage at one +or another of her offspring. But for most of the time she remained in +her lair, listening intently for the slightest sound of danger, and +guarding the only approach through the bushes. + +I longed to discover what she would have done had I suddenly come upon +her and cut off her retreat, but I dared not move for fear of raising +alarm. It is more than likely that, finding me in the path, she, +snarling and hissing, would have dashed without hesitation into any part +of the furze-brake, and her young would have followed with desperate +haste and vanished at her heels within the shadows. + +By-and-by she led her little ones back through the run-way, and when, a +few minutes afterwards, I stole to the outer edge of the thicket, I saw +the merry family stooping in a row beside the rill, and lapping the +cool, delicious water, which refreshed them after their rough-and-tumble +sport. From the rill they wandered off into the gloom beneath the +beech-trees, and I, satisfied with having added to my knowledge of the +life of the woods, returned homewards in the light of the rising moon. + + + + +II. + +THE CRAG OF VORTIGERN. + + +One of the chief difficulties with which the naturalist has to contend +while watching at night is the frequent invisibility of wild creatures +among the shadows, even when the full moon is high and unclouded. The +contrasts of light and shade are far more marked by night than by day; +by night everything seems severely white where the moonbeams glance +between the trees, or over the fields, or on the river, and the shadows +are colourless, mysterious, profound; whereas by day variety of tone and +colour may be observed in both light and shade, and every hour new and +unexpected charms are unfolded in bewildering succession. + +The wild creatures of the night often seem to be aware of their +invisibility in the gloom, and of the risk they run while crossing open +spaces towards trees and hedgerows where an enemy may lurk awaiting +their approach. A fox is so familiar with his immediate surroundings +that, till his keen senses detect signs of danger, he will roam +unconcernedly hither and thither in the dark woods near his "earth," +frolicking with his mate, or hunting the rabbits and the mice, or +sportively chasing the wind-blown leaves, as if a hound could never +disturb his peace. The fox knows the shape of each tree and bush, and of +each shadow thrown on the grass; he notes the havoc of the tempest and +the work of the forester. When the wind roars loudly in the branches +overhead, or the raindrops patter ceaselessly on the dead herbage +underfoot, or the mists blot out the vistas of the woods, he seldom +wanders far from home, for at such times Nature plays curious tricks +with sound and scent and sight, and danger steals upon him unawares. + +The hunted creatures of the night so dislike the rain, that during a +storm Reynard would have difficulty in obtaining sufficient food; but +down in the river-pools below the wood, fearless Lutra, unaffected by +the inclement weather, swims with her cubs from bank to bank, and learns +that frogs and fish are as numerous in the time of tempest as when the +moon is bright and the air is warm and still. + +Since my earliest years of friendship with Ianto the fisherman and +Philip the poacher, I have regarded night watching in the woods or by +the riverside as a fascinating sport, in which my knowledge of Nature is +put to its severest test. By close, patient observation alone, can the +naturalist learn the habits of the creatures of the night; and if it +should be his good fortune to become the friend of such men as I have +mentioned he would find their help of inestimable value. + +To Ianto and Philip I owe a debt of gratitude, of which I become +increasingly conscious with the passing of the years. I could never make +them an adequate return for their kindness; but I am solaced by my +recollection that I was able to comfort such staunch old friends when +they were passing into the darkness of death--haply to find, beyond, +some fair dawn brighter than any we had together seen from the hills +around my home. Often, as I write, I see them sitting in the evening +sunlight of my little room; often, in my garden, I see them walking up +the path attended by my dogs that now are dead; often, in the river +valley, whether I wander by night or by day, I see them at my side. + +Ianto and Philip were always eager to help me by every means in their +power, but Philip, because of the risk to my health, would never invite +me to accompany him when the night was cold and stormy. One afternoon, +as Ianto and I were returning home from the riverside, the old fisherman +remarked: "I met Philip last night, sir, and he wants you and me to come +along with him for a ramble to the woods above the Crag. He's got +something to show you; I think it's an old earth-pig that lives in the +rocks. What do you say to joining me by the church as soon as you've had +something to eat? Then we'll go together as far as the bridge, but I'll +leave you there, for I've got a little job on hand that'll keep me till +sundown, I think. You'll find Philip at the 'castell' (prehistoric +earth-work) above the Crag, and I'll wade the river and be with you +again sometime 'between the lights.' Keep to cover, or to the hedges and +the lanes, and look about you well, most of all afore you cross a gap, +and when you're going out of cover or into it. Nobody must have a chance +of following you to-night to the Crag; so, if you meet a farm labourer +sudden-like, make off to the furze by the river farm, and double back +through the woods. You'll get to Philip early enough. He's going to net +the river after we leave him. It's a game I don't care much for--maybe +because I've given it up myself--but I've promised to do something +aforehand, that, if Philip didn't want you particular, he'd be bound to +do hisself. That's why I'm to leave you at the bridge." + +I was tired after a day's hard fishing, but I readily fell in with the +arrangements my two old friends had made. On the way to the bridge, +Ianto gave me further instructions. "If, when you're nigh the Crag, sir, +you happen to come across a farm servant, or even if you think, from +seeing a _corgi_ (sheep-dog), that a farm servant is near, get right +away, and, as soon as you're sure nobody knows where you are, give that +signal I taught you--four quick barks of a terrier with a howl at the +end of 'em. Philip'll understand. But if everything goes well till you +get to the Crag, make that other signal--the noise of young wood-owls +waking up for the night--and Philip's sure to answer with a hoot. Then +let him come up to you; but, mind, don't you go to him." + +A little mystified by Ianto's last injunction, I crossed the bridge, +passed through a succession of grassy lanes that for years had fallen +into disuse, picked my footsteps cautiously through the woods, and +arrived without adventure at the top of the Crag. + +Getting down into the oak-scrub, I stood within the deep shadows at the +base of the great rock, and gave the signal--a harsh, unmusical cry, +such as a hungry young owl would utter at that time of the evening. + +The cry had scarcely gone forth, when I was startled by a voice from +some hollow quite close to my side: "I'm Philip. Don't move--don't +speak. A man's watching you from the blackthorns at the top of the wood. +He hasn't seen me. Don't look his way, but walk along the path below, +and when you reach the end of the wood turn up and hide in the +cross-hedges, so that you can watch him if he comes out anywhere in the +open. And, mind, don't let him see you then. If he goes back to the +farm, give the signal again; or, if I give two hoots, one about ten +seconds after the other, come to me, but don't pass this place. The +fellow isn't of much account, but we must get rid of him before I can +stir. He's kept me here for the last half-hour." + +Philip ceased speaking, and I walked carelessly down the wood, pausing +here and there to peep through a patch of undergrowth and to satisfy +myself that the man at the top of the wood had not moved. When outside +the wood, I turned rapidly up the hill and found an excellent hiding +place among some brambles on a thick hedge. From this spot I could +command a view of the meadows above the wood, and could easily retreat +unseen if the farm labourer happened to come towards me. + +I watched patiently for twenty minutes or so, then heard Philip's +welcome signal from a fir-spinney on the far side of the Crag, and +hastened to his side. In reply to my question as to what had become of +the man who had watched from the blackthorn thicket, he pointed to the +opposite hillside, where a dim figure could be seen ascending the +ploughland in the direction of a distant farmstead. "I expect to be able +to show you a badger to-night," he said, "but of course I'm not sure +about it. A badger's comings and goings are as uncertain as the weather. +But first we'll climb further up the hill. You were asking me about the +leaping places of the hares: I know of one of these leaping places, and +I think I know of two hares that use them and have lately 'kittled' in +snug little 'forms' not far away. We must hurry, else the does will have +left the leverets and gone to feed in the clover. You go first. Wait for +me in the furze by the pond on the very top of the hill." + +When Philip had rejoined me on the hill-top, he rapidly led the way to +the fringe of the covert, where he pointed to a low hedge-bank between +the gorse and a peat-field partly covered with water. "Hide in the hedge +about ten yards from this spot," he said, "so that you can see on +either side of the bank, then watch the path on this side." With a smile +he added: "This isn't a bad locality for a fern-owl. So, if you happen +to hear the rattle of that bird, you'll know the hare has started from +her 'form.'" Then, turning quickly into the furze and taking a bypath +through the thickest part of the tangle, Philip left me, and, soon +afterwards, I moved to my allotted hiding place. + +Before I had waited long, the cry of the fern-owl reached me with +astonishing clearness from an adjoining field. Presently, I saw a hare +emerge from the gorse and come along the path towards me. At the exact +spot indicated by the poacher, she paused, and then with a single bound +cleared the wide space between herself and the hedge. With another bound +she landed on the marsh beyond, where she splattered away through the +shallow water till a dry reed-bed was reached on a slight elevation in +the marsh. There she was lost to view; the rank herbage screened her +further line of flight. + +A minute afterwards, the fern owl's rattle once more broke on the quiet +evening, now from a few fields away to my right. For some time, I +closely watched the open space around the hedge-bank, but no animal +moved on the path. Suddenly, however, I thought I detected a slight +movement in a bracken frond beside the furze. It was not repeated, and I +had concluded that it signified nothing, when, to my amazement, I caught +sight of a second hare squatting in the middle of the path near the +bracken. How she came there I was unable to understand; for some time my +eyes had been directed towards the spot, and certainly I had not seen +her leave the ferns. She seemed to have risen from the earth--something +intangible that had instantly assumed the shape of a living creature. +She took a few strides towards my hiding place, but, exactly where the +first hare had leaped, she turned sharply at right angles to the path, +and with a long, easy bound sprang to the top of the hedge-bank; then +with another bound she flung herself into the marshy field. Making +straight for the reed-bed, she, too, was soon out of sight. + +All that thus happened appeared to be the outcome of long experience; +the adoption by the hares of a more perfect plan to mislead a single +enemy pursuing by scent could hardly be conceived. A pack of hounds, +"checking" on the path, would in all probability have "cast" around, +and, sooner or later, would have struck the line afresh in the marshy +field, but a fox or a polecat would surely have been baffled, either at +the leaping places or where the hares had crossed through the shallow +water. + +Man's intelligence, united with the intelligence, the eagerness, the +pace, the endurance, and the marvellous powers of scent possessed by a +score of hounds, and then pitted against a single creature fleeing for +its life, should well nigh inevitably attain its end. Nature has not yet +taught her weaklings how to match that powerful combination. And so a +naturalist, in studying the artifices adopted by hunted animals, should +be interested chiefly as to how such artifices would succeed against +pursuers unassisted by human intelligence. I am inclined to believe that +even a pack of well-trained harriers would have been unable to follow +the doe-hares I have referred to, unless the scent lay unusually well on +the surface of the marsh. + +I stayed in the covert awhile, but when the call came for me to rejoin +Philip I hastened to the field in which he was waiting. I told him what +I had seen, and, together, we paid a visit to the doe-hares' "forms." +One of the "forms" lay in a clump of fern and brambles near the corner +of a fallow, the other on a slight elevation where a hedger had thrown +some "trash" beside a ditch in a field of unripe wheat. + +While we stood in the wheat-field, Philip remarked: "We mustn't stay +long before going back to the Crag; but I'll call the doe I sent you +from this 'form,' and perhaps you'll see one of her tricks to mislead a +fox as she returns home. She's very careful of her young till they're +about a fortnight old, though soon afterwards she lets them 'fend' for +themselves. We'll hide in the ditch, and I'll imitate a leveret's cry. +But I mustn't imitate it so that she may think her little one is hurt, +else she's as likely as not to come with a rush, and you won't see how +she'd act under ordinary circumstances." + +When we were comfortably settled in the fern, the poacher twice uttered +a feeble, wailing cry, and, after being silent for some minutes, +repeated the quavering call. Then, after a long interval, he again, +though in a much lower tone, repeated the cry. No answering cry was +heard, but suddenly, as she had appeared on the path by the furze, the +doe-hare came in sight at the edge of the ditch a little distance away. +She approached for several yards, then disappeared, with two or three +long, graceful bounds, into the corn that waved about her as she leaped. +She appeared once more, and squatted in the ditch on the other side of +the field; hence she jumped high into the air, and alighted on the +hedge; then, by a longer bound than any I had previously seen, she +gained a spot well out into the field, and raced along, till, directly +opposite us, she yet again leaped into the hedge, and from the hedge +into the wheat-field, where she immediately lay down with her little +ones in the "form." + +Ianto, Philip, and I at last settled quietly to watch for the badger's +visit to the clearing. Philip told in a whisper of jokes he had played +on the keeper; Ianto capped these stories with reminiscences of younger +days and nights; and I, though hating bitterly the ruffian loiterers of +the village who subsisted on the spoils of the trap, the snare, and the +net, and were guilty of cowardly acts of revenge when checkmated in the +very game they chose to play, felt a certain sympathy with the two old +men by my side, who, as I was convinced, had fairly and squarely entered +into the game, and taken their few reverses without retaliation, only +becoming afterwards keener than ever to avoid all interference. + +In the height of my enjoyment of an unusually good story, Philip, with a +slight movement, drew my attention to a faint, crackling noise coming +from the margin of the glade, where moonlight and shadow lay in sharp +contrast at the foot of the trees; he then whispered that the old badger +was standing there. Ianto almost simultaneously drew my attention +thither, but all that I could see at the spot indicated were small, +flickering patches of light and shadow. + +I quietly drew close to Philip, and murmured in his ear: "Are you sure +it's the badger?" He nodded; and I continued, "I see a movement in the +leaves, but nothing else." The old man turned his head slightly, and +replied, "What you see is the badger scratching his neck against a tree; +the ticks are evidently tickling him." And he chuckled as he recognised +his unintentional pun. + +For some minutes I could hardly believe he was right; then, slowly, I +recognised the shape of the badger's head, and what I had taken to be +flickering lights and shadows on the leaves changed to the black and +white markings of the creature's face. I had never before seen a badger +under similar conditions; and I had often wondered what purpose those +boldly contrasted markings could serve. Now, as their purpose was +revealed, I was startled by the manifestation of Nature's protective +mimicry. Even when, a little later, the animal ventured out from the +oak, and stood alert for the least sight or sound or scent of danger, +the moonlight and the shadow blended so harmoniously with the white and +the black of his face markings, and with the soft blue-grey of his body, +that he seemed completely at one with his surroundings, and likely to +elude the most observant enemy. Fully a half hour went by before he +decided to cross the glade. Then, as if irritated by a sense of his own +timidity, he abandoned his excessive caution, and hastened along his +run-way through the clearing; and, as he passed, I noted his queer, +rolling gait, and heard his squeaks and grunts as if he were angrily +complaining to himself of some recent wrong, and vowing vengeance; I +heard, also, the snapping of leaves and twigs beneath his clumsy feet, +and I smelt the sure and certain smell of a badger. + +Soon, the fisherman and I turned homewards, and left the poacher to less +innocent sport. As we gained the crest of the hill, the melancholy cry +of the brown owl came to our ears; and Ianto said, "Philip is a big +vagabond--bigger than me, I think. No doubt he's fetched his nets from +the cave beneath the Crag, and is down at the river by now. Promise me, +sir, as you'll never go nigh that cave when he's alive. It's his secret +place, as only him and me knows anything about. He told me to ask you +that favour." + +Long after both Ianto and Philip were dead, I happened one day, while in +the woods, to remember the incidents I have just related, and I made my +way to the foot of the Crag. I found no opening in the face of the rock, +except one--apparently a rabbit hole--near a rent in the boulder. +Climbing around the rock, however, I noticed that a large, flat stone +lay in a rather unexpected position on a narrow cleft. I removed it, and +saw that it covered the entrance to a dark hollow. At the same moment I +heard a slight rustle behind me, as some animal darted from the hole I +had previously examined. I scrambled down into the chamber, and there, +when my eyes had become accustomed to the darkness, I saw three tiny +fox-cubs huddled on the damp, mossy ground. As I knelt to stroke them +gently, and my hand rested for a moment on the floor beside them, I +touched the remains of an old, rotting net. + +[Illustration: Decoration] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] In "Ianto the Fisherman, and Other Sketches of Country Life." + + + + +INDEX. + + + Animals, wild, awakening from hibernation, 146 + ----, ----, dislike rain, 428 + ----, ----, feet made tender by hibernation, 154 + ----, ----, habit of sociable, 160 + ----, ----, keeping to old haunts, 298 + ----, ----, selfishness of, 318 + + Ant, habits of queen, 156 + ----, habits of yellow, 65, 66 + + Autumn, bird-migration in, 12 + + + Badger, and fox-hounds, 349 + ----, and stoat, 323 + ----, attempt to unearth, 367-373 + ----, fondness of, for honey, 335, 336, 345 + ----, food of, 305, 310-313, 324, 335 + ----, mocked by birds when abroad in daylight, 309 + ----, persecuted for supposed sheep-killing, 353-355 + ----, regular habits in returning to "set" at dawn, 350 + ----, sociability of, 332, 333 + ----, winter habits of, 340, 341 + + Badger-cub, and wasps, 337 + ----, caught in trap, 326, 327 + + Badger-cubs, at play, 301, 302, 346 + ----, closely confined by parents, 303 + Badger-cubs, dying from distemper, 338 + ----, less nervous than fox-cubs, 321 + + Badgers, at play, 359 + ----, carrying bedding to "set," 361 + ----, reconnoitring before young leave "set," 415 + ----, sulking at home if suspicious of danger, 422 + ----, two families inhabiting same "set," 359 + + Bank-voles, and kestrel, 147 + ----, colony of, 147 + + Basset-hounds, described, 278 + ----, hunting with, 280-282 + + Bell, use of, hung round ram's neck, 18 + + Blood, significance of fresh-spilt, 75 + + Bob, the black-and-tan terrier, 55-62 + + + Character, differences of, in animals of one species, 64 + ----, human, developed by independence of action, 23 + + Collie, sheep-killing, 354-356 + + + Dabchick, oar-like wings of, 12 + + Ducks, wild, at play, 31 + ----, ----, wedge-shaped flight of, 32 + + + "Earth," fox's artificial, 194 + + + Fear, how it affects wild creatures, 401 + + Field-vole, and carrion crow, 165 + ----, and fox, 164 + ----, and kestrel, 148, 149 + ----, and owl, 144, 145, 157, 167, 175 + ----, and weasel, 137, 140 + ----, avoiding rabbit's "creeps," 160 + ----, enemies of, 164 + ----, food of, 137, 142, 143, 154, 155 + ----, hibernation of, 145, 146, 150 + ----, home of, 149 + ----, limbs of, cramped by winter sleep, 153 + ----, restlessness of, in spring, 157 + + Field-voles, described, 162 + ----, harvesting seeds, 141, 142 + ----, plague of, 173, 174 + ----, stung to death by adder, 172 + + Fox, see also _Vixen_ + ----, and hedgehog, 382-384 + ----, and moorhen, 400 + ----, and wasp, 229 + ----, avoiding traps, 236 + ----, burying rat, 184 + ----, careful not to sleep on straight trail, 237 + ----, careful not to tread on rustling leaves, 220 + ----, entering "breeding-earth" when close pressed, 191 + ----, finding hen's nest in hedgerow, 182 + ----, fight with rival, 227 + ----, hating jays and magpies, 234 + ----, knowledge of the countryside, 238, 428 + ----, luring rabbits, 403 + ----, methods of hunting rabbits, 180 + ----, robbed of spoil by vixen, 183 + ----, seeks mate, 225 + ----, taught by mate, 227 + + Fox-cub, chased by lurcher, 222 + ----, cleanly habits of, 212 + ----, described, 203 + ----, food of, 218, 235 + ----, killing hare, 219 + ----, killing polecat, 215, 216 + ----, stealing chickens, 24 + + Fox-cubs and partridges, 211 + ----, at play, 412, 422-426 + ----, eagerness of, for flesh, 209 + + Foxes, method of preparing "breeding earth," 232 + + Fox-hound, "rioting" on cold scent, 189 + + Fox-hunt, 186-193 + + Frogs, devoured by otters, 35 + + + Geese, wild, 31 + + Gipsy, seeking hedgehogs, 387-389 + + + Hare, and renegade cat, 288 + ----, and peregrine falcon, 265, 266 + ----, and poacher, 276, 285, 286 + ----, bravely defends young, 265 + ----, covered with fur at birth, 245 + ----, dislikes entering damp undergrowth, 274 + ----, does not wander far in wet weather, 258 + ----, food of, 248, 249, 251, 260 + ----, "form" described, 245 + ----, killed by lightning, 291 + ----, "leaping places" of, 434 + ----, method of fighting among males, 264 + ----, netted by keeper, 255 + ----, productiveness of, probably influenced by food supply, 276 + ----, recklessness of, in early spring, 263 + ----, running through flock of sheep, 283 + ----, suffers from want of exercise, 259 + ----, suffers less from frost than from rain, 260 + ----, swims across river, 273 + ----, winter habits of, 287 + ----, withholds scent when hard pressed, 283 + + Hedgehog, and fox, 382-384 + ----, and moorhens, 400, 401, 403-405 + ----, and owl, 385 + ----, and terrier, 388 + ----, food of, 394, 395, 398, 399 + ----, haunt of, 377 + ----, killing snake, 396, 397 + ----, nest of, 379, 389 + + History, vicissitudes of, affecting wild animals, 329 + + Hounds, miscellaneous pack, 54, 83 + + Hunt, rival, 60 + ----, village, 77, 78, 83 + + Huntsman, feeding fox-cubs, 209 + + + Ianto, the fisherman, 28, 30, 83, 429-442 + + + Joker, the bob-tailed sheep-dog, 54, 55, 58-60 + + + Kestrel, attacking field-voles, 148 + ----, preying on bank-voles, 147 + + + Man, dreaded by wild animals, 13, 40 + ----, senses dulled by immunity from fear, 72 + + Mange, attacking carnivorous animals, 212 + + March, great changes to wild life in, 263 + + Minnows, playing about ledges of rock, 103 + + Moorhen, eluding terrier, 61 + ----, killed by otter, 32 + + Mouse, singing, 82 + + + Nature, haunted by Fear, 75 + ----, spirit of restlessness in, 156 + + Night, described, 3, 85, 86 + ----, spiritual influence of, 85 + ---- -watching, difficulties of, 427 + ---- - ----, methods of, 410 + + + Otter, and big trout, 106 + ----, and dabchick, 12 + ----, and "red" fish, 101 + ----, and water-vole, 86-89, 101 + ----, fighting terrier, 42 + ----, food of, 15, 35, 47, 48 + ----, hunting methods of, 20 + ----, inhabiting drain-pipe, 9 + ----, in winter, 15, 47 + ----, migrating to sea, 46 + ----, playing in heavy stream, 33, 34 + ----, position of, when sleeping, 33 + ----, related to weasel, 22 + ---- -cub, capturing salmon, 22 + ----, described, 21 + ----, learns to swim, 9 + ---- -cubs, at play, 11 + ---- -hounds, 36 + ---- -hunt, 37-39, 41-44, 84 + + Owl, brown, described, 385, 386 + ----, and fox-cub, 205, 214 + ----, and water-vole, 88, 89 + ----, attacks hedgehog, 385, 386 + ----, preying on field-voles, 157 + + Owls, as friends of farmer, 169 + + Owls, inhabiting farm buildings, 7 + + + Philip, the poacher, 429-443 + + Polecats, enemies of young hedgehogs, 384 + + + Rabbit, burrowing in badgers' "set," 314, 315 + + Rabbits, clearing tracks, 418 + + Rat, brown, attacked by water-voles, 123 + ----, ----, habits of, 64, 110 + ---- -hunting, by riverside, 58-60 + + Rats, migration of, 110 + + "Redd" of salmon, 99 + + + Salmon, migration of, 95, 96 + ---- -fishing, experiences in, 26-30 + ---- -pool, seldom visited, 25 + ---- -spawn, destroyers of, 99 + ---- - ----, guarded by salmon, 98, 100, 101 + + Sheep-dog, and otter, 17 + + Sorrel, as medicinal herb for wild animals, 335 + + Sport, winter, 54 + + Squirrel, harvesting only ripe seeds and nuts, 105 + ----, inquisitive, 92 + + Stoats, following rats in migration, 110 + + Stone-fly, 20 + + + Teal, 31 + + Terrier, worsted by otter, 44 + + Thrush, autumn song of, 24 + ----, defending young against hedgehog, 405 + + Trick, poacher's, to capture hare, 276 + + Trout, an old, carnivorous, 95 + ----, habit of, in spring, 19 + + + Viper, attacked by hedgehog, 397 + ----, enemy of young hedgehogs, 398 + + Vixen, dispossessing another of "breeding earth," 201 + ----, life spared by hounds, 219 + ----, routing terrier from "breeding earth," 191 + + Vixen-cubs, quicker to learn than fox-cubs, 210 + + Voles, see _Bank-voles, Field-voles, Water-voles_ + + + Water-shrew, described, 93 + ----, food of, 93, 94, 106, 107 + ----, habits of, 93, 94 + + Water-vole, and otter, 86-89 + ----, and owl, 89, 118 + ----, and trout, 94, 125 + ----, as singer, 79-82, 89 + ----, constructing nest, 121, 122 + ----, described, 121 + ----, enemies of, 79 + ----, food of, 71, 105, 106 + ----, habits studied, 80 + ----, home of, 68, 69, 103, 109, 110, 117, 126 + ----, love episodes of, 117-120 + ----, methods of fighting, 119, 123 + ----, winter storehouse of, 105, 109, 126 + + Water-voles, attacking brown rat, 123 + + Weasel, ferocity of, 76 + ----, food for fox-cub, 213 + + Weasels, following rats in migration, 110 + +PRINTED AT THE EDINBURGH PRESS, 9 AND 11 YOUNG STREET + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Creatures of the Night, by Alfred W. Rees + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CREATURES OF THE NIGHT *** + +***** This file should be named 29349-8.txt or 29349-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/3/4/29349/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Marcia Brooks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/29349-8.zip b/29349-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0311e74 --- /dev/null +++ b/29349-8.zip diff --git a/29349-h.zip b/29349-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c319805 --- /dev/null +++ b/29349-h.zip diff --git a/29349-h/29349-h.htm b/29349-h/29349-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..14c171c --- /dev/null +++ b/29349-h/29349-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,13096 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Creatures Of The Night, by Alfred W. Rees. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + + p.hang {text-indent: -3em; margin-left: 3em;} + + p.citation { /* author citation at end of blockquote or poem */ + text-align: right; + } + + div.trans-note {border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; + background: #eeeeee; + margin: 3em 15%; padding: 1em; + text-align: center; + } + + h4,h5 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + + h1 {page-break-before: always; text-align: center; + clear: both; margin-top:3em; margin-bottom:3em; + } + + h2 { + text-align: center; /* left-aligned by default.*/ + margin-top: 3em; /* extra space above.. */ + margin-bottom: 2em; /* ..and below */ + clear: both; /* don't let sidebars overlap */ + } + + h3 { + text-align:center; /*left-aligned by default.*/ + margin-top: 2em; /* extra space above but not below */ + clear: both; /* don't let sidebars overlap */ + } + + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; empty-cells: show;} + + .tdc1 {text-align: center; font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1.5em;} + .tdc2 {text-align: center; font-size: 180%; + margin-top: 1.25em; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .tdc3 {text-align: center; font-size: 140%; + margin-top: 1.25em; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .tdl {text-indent: -3em; margin-left: 3em; text-align: justify;} + + +/* LISTS */ +ul { position: relative; + width:80%; + margin-left:2%; + list-style-type:none;} + +li { margin-top: 0.25em; + line-height: 1.2em; } + + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; } + + .pagenum { position: absolute; + left: 2%; + color: #444; + font-size: 70%; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .note {/*unboxed*/ + position: relative; margin: auto; + width: 50%; + font-size: smaller; + } + + .totoc {position: absolute; right: 2%; font-size: 75%; text-align: right;} + + .totoi {position: relative; left: 10%; font-size: 75%; text-align: right;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +/*ILLUSTRATIONS*/ + .caption {font-weight: bold; font-size: 85%;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + img { /* the default inline image has */ + border: 1px solid black; /* a thin black line border.. */ + padding: 6px; /* ..spaced a bit out from the graphic */ + } + +/*FOOTNOTES*/ + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px gray; background-color: #EEE; padding: 0 1em 1em 1em; clear: both;} + .footntoes h3 { margin-top: 0.5em;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 90%;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 85%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: 0.25em; font-size: 80%; text-decoration: none;} + +/*POETRY*/ + .poem {margin-left:15%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.sign {display: block; margin-left: 12em; font-variant: small-caps;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Creatures of the Night, by Alfred W. Rees + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Creatures of the Night + A Book of Wild Life in Western Britain + +Author: Alfred W. Rees + +Release Date: July 8, 2009 [EBook #29349] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CREATURES OF THE NIGHT *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Marcia Brooks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<h1>CREATURES OF THE NIGHT</h1> + + +<div class="note"> +<h4><i>By the same Author.</i></h4> + +<h3>IANTO THE FISHERMAN</h3> + +<h4>AND OTHER SKETCHES OF COUNTRY LIFE.</h4> + +<h5><i>Illustrated with Photogravures. Large Crown 8vo.</i></h5> + +<p class="hang"><i>The Times.</i>—“The quality which perhaps most gives its +individuality to the book is distinctive of Celtic +genius.... The characters ... are touched +with a reality that implies genuine literary skill.”</p> + +<p class="hang"><i>The Standard.</i>—“Mr Rees has taken a place which is +all his own in the great succession of writers who +have made Nature their theme.”</p> + +<p class="hang"><i>The Guardian.</i>—“We can remember nothing in recent +books on natural history which can compare with +the first part of this book ... surprising insight +into the life of field, and moor, and river.”</p> + +<p class="hang"><i>The Outlook.</i>—“This book—we speak in deliberate +superlative—is the best essay in what may be +called natural history biography that we have +ever read.”</p> + +<div class="center">LONDON<br /> +JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET</div> +</div> +<br /><br /> + +<a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 284px;"> +<img src="images/frontis.jpg" width="284" height="500" alt="THE BROAD RIVER, IN WHICH SHE HAD SPENT HER EARLY LIFE." title="THE BROAD RIVER, IN WHICH SHE HAD SPENT HER EARLY LIFE." /> +<span class="caption">“THE BROAD RIVER, IN WHICH SHE HAD SPENT HER EARLY LIFE.”<br /> +(<a href="#Page_50"><i>See</i> p. 50.</a>)</span> +<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">To List</a></span> +</div> +<br /> +<hr /> + +<br /> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/titlepage.jpg" style="border: none;" width="500" height="237" alt="The Night is White, Man +is asleep, I hunt alone!" title="The Night is White, Man is asleep, I hunt alone!" /> +</div> + +<h1>CREATURES OF THE NIGHT</h1> + +<h2>A BOOK OF WILD LIFE IN<br /> +WESTERN BRITAIN</h2> + +<h2>BY ALFRED W. REES</h2> + +<h4>AUTHOR OF<br /> +“IANTO THE FISHERMAN”</h4> + +<h3>WITH ILLUSTRATIONS</h3> + +<h3>LONDON<br /> +JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET<br /> +1905</h3> +<hr /> + + +<div class="center"> +TO<br /> +MYFANWY AND MORGAN +</div> +<hr style="width: 20%;" /> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“All life is seed, dropped in Time's yawning furrow,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Which, with slow sprout and shoot,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the revolving world's unfathomed morrow,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Will blossom and bear fruit.”<br /></span> +<span class="sign">Mathilde Blind.</span> +</div></div> + + +<hr /> +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>The Editors of <i>The Standard</i> have kindly permitted me to republish the +contents of this book, and I tender them my thanks.</p> + +<p>The original form of these Studies of animal life has been extensively +altered, and, in some instances, the titles have been changed.</p> + +<p>I am again greatly indebted to my brother, R. Wilkins Rees. His wide and +accurate knowledge has been constantly at my disposal, and in the +preparation of these Studies he has given me much indispensable advice +and assistance.</p> + +<p>Similarity in the habits of some of the animals described has made a +slight similarity of treatment unavoidable in certain chapters.</p> + +<p>I may also remark that, in unfrequented districts where beasts and birds +of prey are not destroyed by gamekeepers, the hare is as much a creature +of the night as is the badger or the fox.</p> + +<p class="citation">ALFRED W. REES.</p> + + +<div class="trans-note">Transcriber's Note: Obvious typographical errors have been corrected, +and standardized the hyphenations, otherwise the text has been left as the original</div> + + + +<a name="toc" id="toc"></a> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents" width="85%"> +<colgroup> + <col width="85%" /> + <col width="15%" /> +</colgroup> +<tr> + <td class='tdc1'><a href="#THE_OTTER">THE OTTER.</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>I.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>THE HOLT AMONG THE ALDERS.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td></td> + <td align='right'>PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdl'>Late fishing—A summer night—River voices—A master-fisher— + The old mansion—Lingering beauty—The otters' “oven”—Observant + youngsters—Careful motherhood—The meadow playground—Falling + leaves—A swollen river—Dabchick's oar-like wings—Mysterious + proceedings—Migrating salmon—Hoar-fringed river-banks—An + adventure with a sheep-dog—Slip-shod builders—Signs of + spring—A change of diet—Fattening trout—The capture of a + “kelt”—“The otter's bite”—Lone wanderings.</td> + <td align='right'><a href="#Page_1">1-23</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>II.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>THE POOL BENEATH THE FARMSTEAD.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class='tdl'>A song of autumn—The salmon pool—Angling difficulties—Bullying + a sportive fish—An absent-minded fisherman—At dawn and nightfall—A + deserted home—Practical joking—A moorhen's fate—Playfulness + of youth—The torrent below the fall—The garden ponds—Feasting + on frogs—A watcher of the night—Hounds and hunters—Lutra's + discretion—The spell of fear</td> + <td align='right'><a href="#Page_24">24-40</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>III.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>THE GORGE OF ALLTYCAFN.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class='tdl'>The Hunt again—Fury of despair—A “strong place”—The terrier's + discomfiture—Lutra's widowhood—Summer drought—Life at the + estuary—Returning to the river—Scarce provender—A rare and + unexpected sight—The blacksmith's baited trap—The Rock of + Gwion—Peace</td> + <td align='right'><a href="#Page_41">41-50</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +<br /><br /> + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents" width="85%"> +<colgroup> + <col width="85%" /> + <col width="15%" /> +</colgroup> +<tr> + <td class='tdc1'><a href="#THE_WATER-VOLE">THE WATER-VOLE.</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>I.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>OUR VILLAGE HOUNDS.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdl'>Quiet life—Leisure hours—A winter pastime—A miscellaneous + pack—The bobtail, and his fight with an otter—The terrier, + and his friendship with fishermen—A family party—Expert + diving—Hunt membership, and the landlord as huntsman—Fast + and furious fun—A rival Hunt—The bobtail's death—The terrier's + eccentricities—A pleasant study begins—Brown rats—Yellow + ants—Brighteye's peculiarities—Evening sport</td> + <td align='right'><a href="#Page_51">51-67</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>II.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>THE BURROW IN THE RIVER BANK.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdl'>At dusk—A picturesque home—Main roads and lanes of the riverside + people—A heron's alertness—A rabbit's danger signal—The + reed-bed—The vole in fear—The wildest of the wild—Tell-tale + footprints—The significance of a blood-stain—A weasel's + ferocity—Maternal warnings—A rat-hunting spaniel—An invaded + sanctuary—The terrier's opportunity—The water-vole chatters + and sings—A gladsome life—Dangers sharpen intellect</td> + <td align='right'><a href="#Page_68">68-82</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>III.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>WILD HUNTING.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdl'>An otter-hunt—Fading afterglow—Spiritual influence of night—Lutra + and Brighteye—Brighteye's song—Chill waters—A beacon in + the gloom—A squirrel's derision—A silvery phantom—An old, + lean trout—Restless salmon—Change of quarters—Brighteye's + encounter with a “red” fish</td> + <td align='right'><a href="#Page_83">83-98</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>IV.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>SAVED BY AN ENEMY.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdl'>The “redd” in the gravel—In company with a water-shrew—Ravenous + trout—The salmon's attack—An otter appears—Brighteye's + bewilderment—Increasing vigilance—Playful minnows—A new + water-entrance—The winter granary—Careful harvesting—The + dipper's winter carol—The robin and the wren at vespers—Unsafe + quarters—Rats on the move—A sequestered pool—Icebound + haunts</td> + <td align='right'><a href="#Page_99">99-115</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>V.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>THE COURAGE OF FEAR.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdl'>The dawn—Restlessness of spring—A bold adventurer—A sharp + fight—Cleared pathways—Differences of opinion—A tight + snuggery—In defence of home—A monster rat—Temporary refuge—The + voles and the cannibal trout—Family troubles—A winter evening + in the village</td> + <td align='right'><a href="#Page_116">116-129</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +<br /><br /> + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents" width="85%"> +<colgroup> + <col width="85%" /> + <col width="15%" /> +</colgroup> +<tr> + <td class='tdc1'><a href="#THE_FIELD-VOLE">THE FIELD-VOLE.</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>I.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>HIDDEN PATHWAYS IN THE GRASS.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class='tdl'>A pleasant wilderness—Pitying Nature—Hedgerow sentinels—The + story of the day—Familiar signs—An unknown scent—The agony of + fear—A change of mood—The weasel's raid—A place of slaughter—Autumn + preparations—A general panic—Hibernation—Winter sunshine—The + red bank-voles—Owls and hawks</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_131">131-150</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>II.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>THE VALLEY OF OLWEN.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class='tdl'>The last of winter's stores—Renewed activity—The field-vole's + food—A lively widow vole—An unequal encounter—First fond + passion—Ominous sounds—A clumsy rabbit—An unimportant “affair”—An + elopement—Nesting time—A fussy parent—A fox pays a visit—Also + a carrion crow—Repairing damages</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_151">151-166</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>III.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>A BARREN HILLSIDE.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class='tdl'>A secluded pasture—Poachers and owls—An astute magpie—The + vole a sire of many families—Plague—Nature's caprice—Privation + and disease—Unexpected destroyers—A living skeleton—Starvation + and death—An owl once more</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_167">167-175</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +<br /><br /> + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents" width="85%"> +<colgroup> + <col width="85%" /> + <col width="15%" /> +</colgroup> +<tr> + <td class='tdc1'><a href="#THE_FOX">THE FOX.</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>I.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>THE LAST HUNT.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class='tdl'>A baffled marauder—The flesh of breeding creatures tough and + tasteless—An unsavoury rat—The arrival of the Hunt—The fox sees + his foes—The view-halloo—No respite, no mercy, no sanctuary—The + last hope—A fearless vixen—Defiant to the end</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_177">177-193</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>II.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>A NEW HOME.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class='tdl'>Life in an artificial “earth”—Longing and despair—Contentment + of maternity—Prisoners—A way of escape—Careless infancy—A + precocious cub—First lessons—An obedient family—A fox's + smile—Inborn passion for flesh—Favourite food of fox-cubs—The + huntsman's desire</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_194">194-209</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>III.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>THE CUB AND THE POLECAT.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class='tdl'>Patience and watchfulness—How to capture field-voles—Winding + trails—Ill-luck—A painful surprise—A fresh line of scent—Cost + of a struggle—A luckless fortnight—The old hound and the “young + entry”—A curiously shaped monster—Pursued by a lurcher— + Desertion—A vagrant bachelor</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_210">210-223</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>IV.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>A CRY OF THE NIGHT.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class='tdl'>The hunting call—A recollection—A joyous greeting—A woodland + bride—The sting of a wasp—Preparation of a “breeding earth”—Meddlesome + jays and magpies—A rocky fastness on the wild west coast—Vulp's + retreat—The end of a long life—The fox's mask—Memories</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_224">224-240</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +<br /><br /> + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents" width="85%"> +<colgroup> + <col width="85%" /> + <col width="15%" /> +</colgroup> +<tr> + <td class='tdc1'><a href="#THE_BROWN_HARE">THE BROWN HARE.</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>I.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>THE UPLAND CORNFIELD.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class='tdl'>Midsummer—The leveret's birth—First wanderings—Instinct and + teaching—The “creeps”—In the stubble—Habits change with + seasons—The “sweet joint” of the rye—Lessons from a net and a + lurcher—Rough methods—The man-scent—On the hills above the + river-mists</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_241">241-260</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>II.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>MARCH MADNESS.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class='tdl'>March winds—Reckless jack-hares—Courtship and rivalry—Motherhood—A + harmless conflict—An intruding fox—The faithless lover—Maternal + courage—The falcon's “stoop”—The “slit-eared” hare—Countryside + superstitions—On the river island—Patience rewarded—The hare + as a swimmer—Bloodless sport—Habits of the hare in wet weather—The + “form” in the root-field—Bereavements—Increasing caution— + Productiveness in relation to food—A poacher's ruse</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_261">261-277</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>III.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>THE CHASE.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class='tdl'>The basset-hound—Mirthful and dignified—A method of protecting + hares—A suggestion—Formidable foes—“Fouling” the scent—A + cry of distress—The home in the snow-drift—The renegade cat—An + inoffensive life—A devastating storm</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_278">278-291</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +<br /><br /> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents" width="85%"> +<colgroup> + <col width="85%" /> + <col width="15%" /> +</colgroup> +<tr> + <td class='tdc1'><a href="#THE_BADGER">THE BADGER.</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>I.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>A WOODLAND SOLITUDE.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class='tdl'>Haunts of a naturalist—Why certain animals are unmolested—Means + of security—Fear of dogs and men—A place of interest—The + “nocturnal” instinct—Droll revelry—Serious pastimes—Teaching + by reward and punishment—Animals study the disposition of + their young—Voices of the wilderness</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_293">293-309</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>II.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>HOME DISCIPLINE.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class='tdl'>Unwelcome attentions—An old badger's watchfulness—A clever + trick—A presumptuous youngster—Instructions in selfishness—Harsh + measures—The badger and the stoat—A long ramble</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_310">310-324</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>III.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>FEAR OF THE TRAP.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class='tdl'>Wisdom in Nature's ways—The laggard of the family—A salutary + lesson—Hand-scent and foot-scent—An old Welsh law—The lesson + of a “double” scent—The sorrel as medicine—A wild bees' + nest—“In grease”</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_325">325-339</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>IV.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>THE WINTER “OVEN.”</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class='tdl'>The vixen and the hounds—The wounded rabbit—Old inhabitants + of the wood—In touch with enemies—Twilight romps—Brock's + quarrel with his sire—A bone of contention—Prompt chastisement—A + mournful chorus—Wild fancies of a bachelor—A big battle—The + terror of the flock—Unwarranted suspicion—Caught in the act</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_340">340-356</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>V.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>HILLSIDE TRAILS.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class='tdl'>The backward “drag”—Loyalty tested—A spiteful spouse—Spring + cleaning—Carrying litter to the “set”—A numerous family—An + eviction—Vulpicide—Important news—Old traditions of sport + revived—A long day's toil—The secret history of a “draw”—An + old burrow</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_357">357-373</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +<br /><br /> + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents" width="85%"> +<colgroup> + <col width="85%" /> + <col width="15%" /> +</colgroup> +<tr> + <td class='tdc1'><a href="#THE_HEDGEHOG">THE HEDGEHOG.</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>I.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>A VAGABOND HUNTER.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class='tdl'>The nest in the “trash”—Quaint wildlings—Neighbours and + enemies—A feast—Spines and talons—The gipsy boy—A vagabond's + sport—The nest in the wild bees' ruined home—Insects killed + by frost—Winter quarters of the lizard and the snail</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_377">377-391</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>II.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>AN EXPERIENCE IN SNAKE-KILLING.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class='tdl'>An iron winter—March awakening—A coat of autumn leaves—The + Rip Van Winkle of the woods—Sunshine and strength—Faulty + eyesight—The hedgehog and the viper—Worsting an enemy—The + moorhen's nest—Antics of weasels and snakes—The hedgehog's + bleat—Odd and awkward courtship</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_392">392-406</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +<br /><br /> + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents" width="85%"> +<colgroup> + <col width="85%" /> + <col width="15%" /> +</colgroup> +<tr> + <td class='tdc1'><a href="#NIGHT_IN_THE_WOODS">NIGHT IN THE WOODS.</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>I.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>HAUNTS OF THE BADGER AND THE FOX.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdl'>Wild life at night—Long watching—A “set” with numerous inhabitants—The + vixen and her cubs—Tolerant badgers—Vigilance—A moorland + episode—“Chalking the mark”—Fox-signs—A habit of voles and + rabbits—Patience, in vain—Sulky badgers—The vixen's lair—Foxes + at play</td> + <td align='right'><a href="#Page_407">407-426</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> + <td class='tdc2'>II.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdc3'>THE CRAG OF VORTIGERN.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdl'>Difficulties of night watching—Powers of observation in wild + creatures—Night wanderers dislike rain—Eager helpers—A tempting + invitation—Cry of young owls—Philip, the silent watcher—The + fern-owl's rattle—The leaping places of the hare—Night gossip—The + meaning of the white and black markings on a badger's head—The + secrets of the cave</td> + <td align='right'><a href="#Page_427">427-443</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdl'><a href="#INDEX"><br /><span class="smcap">Index</span></a></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#Page_445">445-448</a></td> +</tr> +</table></div> + + + +<a name="toi" id="toi"></a> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<h4>From Drawings by</h4> + +<h3>Florence H. Laverock.</h3> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents" width="90%"> +<col style="width:75%;" /> +<col style="width:15%;" /> +<col style="width:10%;" /> +<tr> + <td class='tdl'>“THE BROAD RIVER, IN WHICH SHE HAD SPENT HER + EARLY LIFE.” See p. 50</td> + <td></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#frontis"><i>Frontispiece.</i></a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdl'>“AN OPPORTUNITY CAME, WHICH, HAD SHE BEEN POISED + IN THE AIR, COULD SCARCELY HAVE BEEN MISSED.”</td> + <td><i>To face p.</i></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#Page_87">88</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdl'>“THE BIG TROUT, IN HIS TORPEDO-LIKE RUSH TO CUT OFF + BRIGHTEYE FROM SURE REFUGE.” See p. 105</td> + <td>” ”</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdl'>“SHE WAS HOLDING ONE OF HER OFFSPRING BY THE NECK, + IN PREPARATION FOR FLIGHT.” See p. 139</td> + <td>” ”</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_138">138</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdl'>“HE RETIRED TO A ROCKY FASTNESS ON THE WILD WEST + COAST.”</td> + <td>” ”</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_238">238</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdl'>“WHEN THE EARLY AUTUMN MOON ROSE OVER THE CORN.”</td> + <td>” ”</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_290">290</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdl'>“HE CLIMBED FROM HIS DOORWAY, AND STOOD MOTIONLESS, + WITH UPLIFTED NOSTRILS, INHALING EACH BREATH + OF SCENT.”</td> + <td>” ”</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_364">364</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class='tdl'>“AS HE MEASURED HIS FULL LENGTH AGAINST THE TREE.” + See p. 419</td> + <td>” ”</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_418">418</a></td> +</tr> +</table></div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a></span></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<h2><a name="THE_OTTER" id="THE_OTTER"></a>THE OTTER.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a>[Pg 3]</span></p> +<h2>I.</h2> +<h3>THE HOLT AMONG THE ALDERS.</h3> + + +<p>I first saw Lutra, the otter-cub, while I +was fishing late one summer night. Slow-moving +clouds, breaking into fantastic shapes +and spreading out great, threatening arms +into the dark, ascended from the horizon +and sailed northward under the moon and +stars. Ever and anon, low down in +the sky, Venus, like a clear-cut diamond +suspended from one of its many twinkling +points, glittered between the fringes of the +clouds, or the white moon diffused soft +light among the wreathing vapours that +twisted and rolled athwart the heavens. +In the shelter of the pines on the margin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +of the river, a ringdove, awakened by a +bickering mate, fluttered from bough to +bough; and his angry, muffled coo of +defiance marred the stillness of the night. +The gurgling call of a moorhen, mingling +with the ripple of the stream over the +ford, came from the reeds at a distant +bend of the river. Nearer, the river, with +varying cadence, rose and fell in uneven +current over a rocky shelf, and then came +on to murmur around me while I waded +towards the edge of a deep, forbidding +pool. In the smooth back-wash beyond the +black cup of the pool a mass of gathered +foam gleamed weirdly in the dark; and, +further away, broad tangles of river-weed, +dotted with the pale petals of countless +flowers, floated on the shallow trout-reach +extending from the village gardens to the +cornfields below the old, grey church.</p> + +<p>In one of the terraced gardens behind +me a cottager was burning garden refuse; +tongues of flame leaped up amid billows of +smoke, and from the crackling heap a myriad +sparks shot out on every side. While +the cottager moved about by the fire, his +shadow lengthened across the river, which,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +reflecting the lurid glare, became strangely +suggestive of unfathomable depths. The +moorhen called again from the reeds near +the ford, then flew away over the fire-flushed +river and disappeared into the gloom; and a +water-vole dropped with a gentle plash into +the pool.</p> + +<p>Casting a white moth quietly over the +stream, I noticed beyond the shadows a +round mass rising from the centre of the +current, moving against the flood, and sinking +noiselessly out of sight. There could be no +doubt that the shape and motion were those +of an otter. To continue my sport would +have been in vain with such a master-fisher +in the pool, so I reeled in my line, and stood +still among the ripples as they circled, +muttering, around my knees. Presently +the dim form of the otter reappeared a +little further up-stream, and I caught sight +of a glistening trout in the creature's +mouth.</p> + +<p>The otter swam, with head just above +water, towards the alders skirting the opposite +bank, and then, turning sharply, was lost +to sight near the overhanging roots of a +sycamore. Immediately afterwards, a strange,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +flute-like whistle—as if some animal, having +ascended from the depths of the river, had +blown water through its nostrils in a violent +effort to breathe—came from the whirlpool +in the dense shadows of the pines: the +otter's mate was hunting in the quiet water +beyond the shelf of rock. Then a slight, +rattling sound on the pebbly beach of a +little bay near the sycamore indicated that +the animal had landed and was probably +devouring the captured fish. The leaping +flames of the cottager's fire had been +succeeded by a fitful glow, but the moon +glided from behind the clouds and revealed +a distinct picture of the parent otter standing +on the shingle, in company with Lutra, her +little cub.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>A deserted mansion—to whose history, like +the aged ivy to its crumbling walls, clung +many a fateful legend—nestled under the +precipitous woods in the valley. Time, +taking advantage of neglect, had made a +wilderness of the gardens, the lawns, and +the orchards, which, less than a century +ago, surrounded with quiet beauty this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +home of a typical old country squire. A +few garden flowers still lingered near the +porch; but the once well tended borders +were overgrown with grass, or occupied +with wild blossoms brought from the fields +by the hundred agents employed by Nature +to scatter seed. Owls inhabited the outhouses, +and bats the chinks beneath the +eaves. A fox had his “earth” in the +shrubbery beyond the moss-grown pathway +leading from the door to the gate at +the end of the drive. A timid wood-pigeon +often flew across from the pines and +walked about the steps before the long-closed +door. Near the warped window of +the dismantled gun-room the end of a +large water-pipe formed a convenient burrow +for some of the rabbits that played at dusk +near the margin of the shrubbery. This +water-pipe led to the river's brink; and +there, having been broken by landslips +resulting from the ingress of the stream +during flood, one of the severed parts of +the tube formed, beneath the surface of +the water, an outlet to a natural chamber +high and dry in the bank. The upper +portion of the pipe was choked with earth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +and leaves washed down from the fields +by the winter rains.</p> + +<p>In this hollow “oven,” on a heap of hay, +moss, and leaves, brought hither by the parent +otters through an opening they had tunnelled +into the meadow, Lutra was born. Her +nursery was shared by two other cubs. Blind, +helpless, murmuring little balls of fur, they +were tended lovingly by the dam.</p> + +<p>Soon the thin membrane between their +eyelids dried and parted, and they awoke to +a keen interest in their surroundings. Their +chamber was dimly lit by the hole above; +and the cubs, directly they were able to +crawl, feebly climbed to a recess behind the +shaft, where they blinked at the clouds that +sailed beneath the dome of June, and at +the stars that peeped out when night drew +on, or watched the limpid water as, flowing +past the end of the pipe below, it bore +along a twirling leaf or rolled a pebble down +the river-bed. Occasionally a salmon-pink +wandered across from the shallows; for a +moment or two the play of its tiny fins +was seen at the edge of the pipe; and the +cubs, excited by a sight of their future prey, +stretched their necks and knowingly held<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +their heads askew, so that no movement of +the fish might escape their observation.</p> + +<p>Among flesh-eating mammals of many +kinds, the females display signs of intelligence +earlier than the males. Lutra being the +only female among the cubs, she naturally +grew to be the most keenly observant, and +often identified the finny visitor before her +brothers ventured to decide that it was not +a moving twig.</p> + +<p>The dam spent most of the day asleep in +the “holt,” and most of the night fishing +in the pools. Inheriting the disposition +of their kind, the cubs also were more +particularly lively by night than by day. +Directly the cold dew-mist wreathed the +grass at the entrance of the burrow, they +commenced to sport and play, tumbling +over each other, grunting and fighting in +mimic anger, or pretending to startle their +mother directly she entered the pipe on +returning at intervals from fishing.</p> + +<p>One night, while the cubs were rougher +than ever in their fun, Lutra slipped off the +platform and fell headlong down the pipe +into the stream. But almost before she +had time to be frightened she discovered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +that to swim was as easy as to play; and +she rose to the surface with a faint, flute-like +call. She splashed somewhat wildly, +for her stroke was not yet perfected +by practice. Hearing the commotion and +instantly recognising its meaning, the dam +dived quietly and swiftly right beneath the +cub, and bore her gently back to the platform, +where the rest of the family, having +missed their companion, had for the moment +ceased to romp and fight.</p> + +<p>A few nights after this incident, the mother +commenced in earnest to educate her young. +Tenderly taking each in turn, she carried +the nurslings into the water, and taught +them, by a method and in language +known only to themselves, how to dive and +swim with the least possible exertion and +disturbance.</p> + +<p>Henceforward, throughout the summer, +and till the foliage on the trees near the +pool, chilled by the rapid fall of the +temperature every evening, became thinner +in the breath of the early autumn wind, +the otter-cubs fished, and frolicked, and +slept, or were suckled by their dam. Sometimes +the whole family, together with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +old dog-otter, adjourned to the middle of +the meadow, and in the tall, dew-drenched +grass skipped like kittens, though with comical +clumsiness rather than with the agility they +displayed in the water. Like kittens, too, +the cubs played with their mother, in spite +of wholesome chastisement when they nipped +her muzzle rather more severely than even +long-suffering patience could allow. The +dam was at all times loath to correct her +offspring, but the sire rarely endured the +familiarity of the cubs for long. Directly +they became unduly presumptuous he +lumbered off to the river, as if he considered +it much more becoming to fish than to +join in the sport of his progeny. Perhaps, +indeed, he deemed a change of surroundings +essential that he might forget the liberties +taken with him by his disrespectful youngsters.</p> + +<p>When about three months old, Lutra +began to show promise of that grace of +form and motion which in later life was +to be one of her chief distinctions. Her +body, tail, and head gradually lengthened; +and, as her movements in the water became +more sinuous and easy, she tired less rapidly +when fishing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> + +<p>Autumn passed on towards winter, the +nights were long, the great harvest of +the leaves fell thickly on the meadow +and the stream, the mountain springs were +loosed in muddy torrents, and the river +roared, swollen and turbid, past the “holt” +under the trailing alder-twigs. The moorhens +came back from the ponds where they +had nested in April and May; the wild +duck and the teal flew south from oversea, +and in the night descended circling to the +pool; a dabchick from the wild gorge +down-river took up his abode in the sedges.</p> + +<p>The quick jerk of the dabchick's oar-like +wings caused much wonder to Lutra, when, +walking on the river-bed, she looked up +towards the moonlit sky, and saw the +little grebe dive like a dark phantom +into the deep hole beneath the rocky +ledges of Penpwll. Once the otter-cub, +acting under an irresistible impulse, swam +towards the bird and tried to seize him. +She managed to grip one of his feet, as +they trailed behind him while he dived, +but the grebe escaped, leaving in the +assailant's mouth only a morsel of flesh +torn from a claw.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the warm evenings of late summer +and the first weeks of autumn, the angler +usually visited the shingle opposite the +water-pipe, and waded up-stream casting +for trout. The otter-cubs, grown wiser +than when the angler saw them near the +sycamore, discreetly stayed at home, for +they had been taught to regard this +strange being, Man, known by his peculiar +footfall and upright walk, as a dreaded +enemy scarcely less formidable than the +hounds and the terriers that at intervals +accompanied him for the express purpose +of hunting such river-folk as otters and +rats.</p> + +<p>As yet Lutra had never seen the hounds, +nor, till the following summer, was she +to know the import of her instinctive +timidity. Roaming, hungry, and venturesome, +she had chanced at nightfall to +catch a glimpse, during an occasional gleam +of moonlight, of a large trout struggling +frantically on the surface of the water not +far from the angler, had heard the click of +the reel and the swish of the landing net, +and had concluded that these mysterious +proceedings gave cause for fear.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + +<p>The end of October drew nigh; and, +when the last golden leaves began to +fall from the beeches, the angler ceased +to frequent the riverside. Henceforward, +except when a sportsman passed with his +gun, the otters' haunt remained in peace.</p> + +<p>Always at break of day, however, when +the pigeons left their roosting places in +the pines, an old, decrepit woman tottered +down the steps from the cottage door to +the rock at the brim of the pool, and filled +her pails with water. But the creatures felt +little alarm: they had become accustomed +to her presence in the dawn. Lonely and +childless and poor, she knew more than any +one else of the otters; but she kept their +whereabouts a secret, for the creatures lent +an interest to her cheerless, forsaken life, +and recalled to her halting memory the +long past days when her husband told her +tales of hunting and fishing as she sat, a +young and pretty girl, at her spinning +wheel in the light of the flickering “tallow-dip.”</p> + +<p>Warm, cloudy weather continued from +the late autumn through the winter—except +for a few days of frost and snow in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +December—so that food was never scarce, +and Lutra thrived and grew. The great +migration of salmon took place, but she was +not sufficiently big and strong to grip and +hold these monster fish. Her own weight +hardly exceeded that of the smallest of them, +so she had to be content with a mixed +diet of salmon-fry and trout, varied with +an occasional slug or snail that she chanced +to find in the meadow. For a brief period +after the fall of snow in December, the +frost fettered the fields, and the moon shone +nightly on a white waste through which +the river flowed, like a black, uneven line, +between its hoar-fringed banks. Then +Lutra, bold in the unbroken stillness of +Nature's perfect sleep, climbed the steps +leading to a village garden, and searched +the refuse heap for scraps discarded from +the cottager's meagre board. She even +wandered further, crossed the road, and +passed under a gate into the fields near +the outlying stables of the inn. Here +some birds had roosted in the hazels by +the fence, and the cub stood watching them, +like the fox beneath the desired but distant +grapes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> + +<p>A rough, mongrel sheep-dog, having +missed his master, who had been carousing +in the inn that evening, chanced to +be trotting homeward to the farm on the +hill, and, sniffing at the gate, discovered +the cub in the hedgerow. With a mad +yell the dog tore through the briars at the +side of the gate-post; but Lutra was equally +quick, and by the time her enemy was in +the field she had dodged under the bars +and was shuffling away, as quickly as her +short legs permitted, down the garden to +the river. The dog turned, crashed back +through the briars, and gained rapidly on +the otter. He reached her just as she +gained the top of the wall that, on a level +with the garden, formed a barrier against +the river-floods. Lutra felt a sharp nip on +her flank, and was bowled over by the +impetuous rush of her foe; but she regained +her feet in an instant, and jumped without +hesitation into the water. The river was +shallow where she fell; the dog followed +her; and for a moment she was in deadly +peril. But before the sheep-dog recovered +from his sudden plunge, Lutra swam into +the deep water and dived straight for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +home, leaving the plucky mongrel standing +in the ripples, with a look of almost +human disgust and astonishment on his +intelligent face. He may have reasoned +thus: “Surely I caught that otter. But +stay, I must have been dreaming. 'Tis +queer, though: I'm in the river instead of +on the road to the farm.” This, for Lutra, +was perhaps the only noteworthy episode +of her early life.</p> + +<p>The otter-cub was about nine months old +when spring came to the valley. The water-weed +grew in long filaments from the gravelly +shallows. The angler, who had ceased to +frequent the riverside at the approach of +winter, returned to the pool, but only by +day, and then Lutra dozed in her retreat. +In the pines on the margin of the river the +blue ringdoves were busy constructing the +rude makeshift that was to serve the purpose +of a nest. Instead of seeking how to +construct a perfect dwelling place, these +slipshod builders spent most of their hours +in courtship. Sometimes, owing to the +carelessness of the lackadaisical doves, a dry +stick released by bill or claw would fall +pattering among the branches, and drop,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +with a plash, into the river, where it would +be borne by the current past the otter's lair. +From every bush and brake along the +sparkling stream the carols of joyous birds +floated on the morning mists. The first +green leaves of the bean peeped in the +gardens; the first broods of the year's +ducklings launched forth, like heartstrong +adventurers, into the shallows by the cottage +walls. In the sunny glades the big, fleshy +buds of the chestnut and the light-green, +tapering sprouts of the sycamore expanded +under the influence of increasing warmth. +Finches and sparrows, on the lookout for +flies, hovered above the ankle-deep drifts of +leaf-mould in the lane below the trees, or +crossed and re-crossed between the budding +boughs. Only a few of these many signs +were observed by Lutra, it is true, for she +spent the day in hiding. But at dusk she +heard the bleating of the lambs, and the +musical note of a bell that had been slung +round the neck of the patriarch of the flock +in order to deter foxes from meddling with +the new-born weaklings then under the big +ram's care. She was made aware of the +presence of spring by the “scent in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +shadow and sound in the light.” The +hatching of countless flies in the leaf-mould +was not watched by the birds only: Lutra +also knew that the swarms had arrived; +and spring was welcome if only for this.</p> + +<p>For months she had fed on lean and +tasteless trout exhausted by spawning. Now, +instead of lying under stones or haunting +the deep basin of the pool, the trout +rose to the surface and wandered abroad +into the shallows. There the languid fish +became fit for food again, and more capable +of eluding the occasional long, stern chases of +the otter. But Lutra was never disconcerted +by the fact that the fish were strong and +active; as with all carnivorous creatures, her +sporting instincts were so highly developed +that she revelled in overcoming difficulties, +especially because she felt her own strength +growing from day to day. During winter +the trout had fed on worms and “sundries.” +Now, their best and heartiest meals were of +flies. Daily, at noon, swarms of ephemerals +played over the water, and the trout rose +from the river-bed to feed. At first they +“sported” ravenously, rising quick and sure +to any insect their marvellous vision might<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +discern. Afterwards they fed daintily, +disabling and drowning with a flip of the +tail many an insect that fluttered at the +surface, and choosing from their various +victims some unusually tasty morsel, such +as a female “February red” about to lay +her eggs. At this time, also, the plump, +cream-coloured larvæ of the stone-fly in the +shallows were growing within their well +cemented caddis-cases and preparing for +maturity. So the trout fattened on caddis-grubs +and flies, and the otter-cub, in corresponding +measure, became sleek, well-grown, +and spirited.</p> + +<p>In the winter Lutra had imperceptibly +acquired the habit of swimming and diving +across-stream, just as an old fox, when +hunting in the woods, quarters his ground +systematically across-wind, and so detects the +slightest scent that may be wafted on the +breeze. Nature had been specially kind to +her; she was fashioned perfectly, and in +the river reigned supreme. Her body was +long, supple, and tapering; her brown fur +was close and short, so that the water never +penetrated to her skin and her movements +were not retarded as they would have been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +had she possessed the loose, draggling coat +of an otter-hound. She seemed to glide +with extraordinary facility even against a +rapid current. Her skin was so tough that +on one occasion when, by accident, she was +carried down a raging rapid and thrown +against a jagged rock, a slight bruise was +the only result. Her legs were short and +powerful, her toes webbed, and her tail +served the purpose of a rudder. Nostrils, +eyes, and ears—all were small and water-tight, +and set so high on the skull that, +when she rose to breathe, little more than +a speck could be seen on the surface, unless +she felt it safe to raise her head and body +further for the sake of ease in plunging deep.</p> + +<p>When Lutra was nine months old she +caught her first salmon; and, though the +fish was only a small “kelt,” returning, +weak from spawning, to the sea, the capture +was a fair test of the cub's prowess and +daring. It happened thus. She was walking +up the river-bed one boisterous night, when +she saw a dark form hovering close to +the surface in the middle of a deep pool. +Her eyes, peculiarly fitted for watching +objects immediately above, quickly detected<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +the almost motionless fish. The eyes of the +salmon were also formed for looking upwards, +and so Lutra remained unnoticed by her prey. +She stole around the hovering fish, that the +bubbles caused by her breathing might make +no noticeable disturbance as they rose to the +surface, and then, having judged to a nicety +the strength of the stream, paddled with +almost imperceptible motion towards the +salmon. Before the fish had time to flee +it was caught in Lutra's vice-like jaws and +borne, struggling desperately and threshing +the water into foam, to the bank. There +the otter-cub killed her victim by severing +the vertebræ immediately behind its gills.</p> + +<p>Otters well nigh invariably destroy large-sized +fish by attacking them in this +particular part. And, according to a +similar method, stoats and polecats, whenever +possible, seize their victims near the +base of the brain. In yet another way +Lutra proved her relationship to the weasel +tribe: just as our miniature land-otters eat +only small portions of the rabbits they kill, +so the cub was content with a juicy morsel +behind the salmon's head—a morsel known +among sportsmen as “the otter's bite.”<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> + +<p>Soon after the cub had killed her first +salmon she separated from her parents +and brothers, travelled far down-river, and +wandered alone. In the human character, +development becomes especially marked +directly independence of action is assumed; +henceforward parental guidance counts for +comparatively little. And so it was with +Lutra.</p> + + + +<h2>II.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<h3>THE POOL BENEATH THE FARMSTEAD.</h3> + + +<p>Last year, in autumn mornings, when the +big round clouds sailing swiftly overhead +reminded me of springtide days and joyous +skylarks in the heavens, but when all parent +birds were silent, knowing how dark winter +soon would chill the world, a thrush, that +not long since had been a fledgling in his +nest amid a shrubbery of box, came to +the fruit-tree near my window, and, in +such low tones that only I could hear +them, warbled that all in earth and sky +was beautiful.</p> + +<p>To Lutra, lonely like the thrush, and, like +the thrush, not yet aware of pain and +hunger, the world seemed bright and filled +with happiness. At first, like a young fox +that, till he learns the fear of dogs and +men, steals chickens from a coop near<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +which an old, experienced fox would never +venture, she was, perhaps, a little too +indifferent to danger. In her perfect health +and irresponsible freedom, she paid but +slight attention to the alarm signals of other +creatures of the night.</p> + +<p>Up-river, at a bend below a hillside farmstead +some distance from our village, +is a broad, deep salmon-pool, fringed +with alders and willows. Right across +the upper end of this pool stretches a +broken ledge of rock, over which, in flood, +the waters boom and crash into a seething +basin whence thin lines of vapour—blue +and grey when the day is dull, or gleaming +with the colours of the rainbow when the +sun, unclouded, shines aslant the fall—ceaselessly +arise, and quiver on the waves of +air that catch their movement from the +restless swirls beneath. But in dry summer +weather the ledge is covered with green, +slippery weed, the curving fall is smooth as +glass, and the rapid loses half its flood-time +strength.</p> + +<p>This pool, though containing some of +the finest salmon “hovers” in the river, is +nowadays but seldom fished. Since the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +old generation of village fishermen has +passed away it seems to have gradually +lost its popularity. The right bank of +the river above and below the pool is for +miles so thickly wooded that anglers prefer +to pass up-country before unpacking their +rods. From the left bank it is useless for +any angler who has not made a study of +the pool to attempt to reach the “hovers.” +Under far more favourable conditions than +these, the throw necessary to place a fly on +even the nearest of the “hovers” would be +almost the longest that could with accuracy +be made. But the angler is baffled at the +outset by the presence of a steep slope +behind him.</p> + +<p>I well remember two instances when I +was tricked by the self-conceit which led +me to suppose that my skill in casting was +of no mean order. Once, while the river +was bank-high after flood, I happened to +be throwing an unusually long line, with +careless ease, over the lower end of a pool, +where, before, I had never seen a fish. I +was, no doubt, thinking of something quite +unconnected with fishing, otherwise I should +not have wandered thus far from the spot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +where I generally reeled in my line. A +salmon effectually aroused me by a terrific +rush at my fly. I “struck” hard, and the +fly, after a momentary check, flew up into +the air. I am not one of those anglers who +give rest to a salmon in the belief that, after +rising, he requires time to recover from his +disappointment at having failed to catch +the lure. I believe in “sticking to” a fish, +perhaps because the first I ever hooked was +one I had bullied ceaselessly during the whole +of a spring evening. And so I tried hard and +often to tempt that sportive fish again; but +after the careless, easy casting which resulted +in the rise, I could not by any means throw +satisfactorily over the tail of the pool. However +I tried to do so, the line would double +awkwardly as it reached the water, or would +curl back into the rapid on the near side of +the “hover,” or the fly would splash in a +most provoking manner as it alighted on +the stream. So at last I left the riverside.</p> + +<p>Henceforth, I attempted the same long +cast whenever I passed the pool. I lost +many flies, and never again rose a fish. +But I was convinced that I had discovered +a “hover” new to the village fishermen,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +till my old friend Ianto chaffed me +into the belief that the salmon I had seen +was a “passenger,” and, probably, a “spent +kelt” in such a weak condition that for it +to stay in the rough water higher up the +pool was impossible.</p> + +<p>On another occasion, in early days when +my ignorance of the river and of fishing +sorely troubled both Ianto and myself, +as I was wading down-stream along the +edge of a pool a grilse rose, “head and +tail,” about twenty yards below my fly. +Using my long gaff-handle as a staff, I +walked slowly towards the fish, casting +carefully all the way. I was so absorbed +in my work that I did not know I was +moving into deep water till I found that +my wading stockings had filled. I then +stopped, and, lengthening my line at each +successive “throw,” sent my fly nearer and +still nearer to the grilse.</p> + +<p>How I managed the long, straight cast +that presently resulted in my fly passing +down the “hover,” I do not know. The +grilse rose sharply at the lure, but I “struck” +too late. I reeled in my line, and after a +few minutes began once more to cast. Now,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +however, try as I might, I could not get +the line out to the distance required; it +would not fall straight and true. In desperation +I endeavoured to overcome the difficulty +by sheer strength. I swung my arms aloft; +my old hickory rod creaked and groaned +with the increasing strain, then snapped +immediately the tension was released with +the return of the line; and, a second afterwards, +the grilse took my fly and bolted +away down-stream.</p> + +<p>All caution left me; I was “into a fish”—that +was enough. In haste to catch my +rod-top as it slipped down the line from +the butt, I made one step forward, and fell +over head and ears into a deep hole beneath +the shelf of rock on which I had been +standing. When I recognised what had +happened I was clinging to an alder-root +near the bank; thence, breathless, I lifted +myself till I was safe on a tree-trunk above +the pool. My rod and cap were drifting +rapidly away; but, after divesting myself of +half my dripping garments, I recovered the +rod in a backwater below the neighbouring +wood. All my line had been taken out, +the gut collar had been snapped, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +fly had undoubtedly been carried off by the +grilse.</p> + +<p>In those old days of which I have elsewhere +written,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Ianto and I often resorted +to the wide, deep pool under the farm. +Sometimes, during summer, we were there +before daybreak, fishing for the salmon +that only then or in the dusk would +deign to inspect our “Dandy” fly. And +there, in the summer nights, we frequently +captured, with the natural minnow, the big +trout that wandered from the rapids to feed +in the quiet waters by the alders. Ianto +knew the pool so well that even in the +darkest night he would wade along the +slippery, weed-grown shelf near the raging +fall, to troll in the shadows above him. Had +the old man taken one false step he would +have entered on a struggle for life compared +with which my own adventure after hooking +the grilse would have been insignificant.</p> + +<p>For several months free, happy Lutra +made her daytime abode in a “holt” +among the alder-roots fringing this pool. +She loved in the long winter nights to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +hear the winnow-winnow of powerful wings +as the wild ducks circled down towards +the pool, the whir of the grey lag-geese +far in the mysterious sky, and the whistle +of the teal and the gurgle of the moorhens +among the weeds close by the river's brim.</p> + +<p>Crouched on a grassy mound beside the +rapids, she could see each movement on the +surface of the pool. The wild ducks +splattered and quacked as they paddled busily +hither and thither, visiting each little bay +and reed-clump at the water's edge. Sometimes, +surrendering themselves wholly to +sport and play, they formed little groups +of two or three; and now one group, and +then another, would race, half-swimming, +half-flying, from bank to bank or from +the rock to the salmon “hover” at the +lower end of the pool. The otter remembered +her experience with the dabchick, +and believed that to capture a full-grown +duck would tax her utmost strength and +cause a general alarm. Once, however, +excited by the wild ducks' sport, she +slipped quietly from the mound, dived +deep, and from the river-bed shot up in the +midst of the birds just as they had congregated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +to settle a point of difference in +a recent event, and to discuss a second +part of their sports' programme for the night.</p> + +<p>As the birds, panic-stricken, scattered on +every side, and, following each other in +two long lines that joined in the form of +a wedge, flew up into the starlit sky, Lutra +watched them eagerly for a few moments; +then, without a ripple, she sank below the +surface and returned to her watch on the +mound. For a while after the ducks had +left the pool, nothing could be heard but the +ceaseless noise of falling water. But as the +night drew on, a moorhen ventured from +the shelter of the alders, and, like a tiny, +buoyant boat, launched out into the pool. +The otter, with appetite whetted by recent +sport among the ducks, again left her +hiding place and silently vanished into the +stream. Borne by the current, she reached, +with scarcely an effort, a point in the swirling +depths from which she could catch a +glimpse of the dim outline of the floating +bird. Then, rising swiftly, she gripped the +moorhen from beneath, dived across to the +“hover,” and, having killed and skinned +her prey, feasted at leisure.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> + +<p>There were times in the second summer +of her existence when Lutra, like the wild +ducks, seemed to abandon every thought of +the possibility of danger. Simply for the +love of exercise and in enjoyment of the +tranquil night, she played about the pool +till the dawn peeped over the hills; then, +tired of her frolic, she sought her secret +“holt,” and, curling her tail about her face +and holding her hind-paws closely between +her fore-paws, fell asleep.</p> + +<p>While she gambolled in the water, even +her quickest movements were as graceful as +those of a salmon stemming the rapids +and leaping into the shallows above the +rock. Diving into the depths, she avoided +with scarcely an effort the tangled roots +and branches, that, washed thither by +the floods, had long been the dread +of anglers when heavy fish were hooked. +Ceasing all exertion as she turned into +the current, she floated to the surface and +was borne away down-stream. She swam +at highest speed from the tail to the +throat of the pool, and drifted idly back +to the place from which she had started; +then, changing her methods, she skirted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +slowly the edge of the current, and with +one long, straight dive shot down from the +head of the rapids to the still water near +her “holt.”</p> + +<p>From playing thus about the pool, the +otter learned the power of the current, and +how it hastened or retarded her while she +pursued her prey. But most of all, during +the hours of the placid night, she delighted +to frolic in the torrent immediately below the +rock, where, matching her strength against +that of the river, she leaped and dived and +tumbled through the foam, or, lying on +her back amid a shower of spray, stretched +wide her limbs and suffered the whirlpool +to draw her, unresisting, into its vortex +deep beneath the fall.</p> + +<p>Lutra sometimes noticed, while she drifted +with the current, that the scent of her +kindred lay strong at the surface not far +from her “holt.” One still, moonlit night +the scent indicated that several full-grown +otters had at intervals come from the +trout-reaches down-stream, and had landed +in a reed-bed at the lower end of the +pool. It led away from the river through +the valley, along by a number of stagnant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +ponds in an old garden near the farm, and +thence to a point beyond a bend where the +river flowed almost parallel to its course at +the pool. As the otter, inquisitively following +the line of the scent, came to the ponds, +she heard the croaking of countless frogs +hidden in the duckweed that lay over the +entire surface of the water. Lutra made +ample use of the opportunity for a feast—frogs +were the greatest delicacies known to +her, and she had never before found them to +be so plentiful. Dawn was breaking when, +in her onward journey, she reached the river; +so she drifted around the bend, dived over +the fall, and returned to her home beneath +the alder-roots.</p> + +<p>It happened that the otters whose “spur” +(footprints) Lutra had followed to the frog-ponds +retraced their steps towards the pool, +and in doing so suddenly discovered that +the scent of a man lay strong on the +trodden grass. A villager, knowing the +eagerness with which otters seek for frogs, +and that they often cross a narrow neck of +land at the bend of a stream, had for a +time kept watch at the lower end of the +old farm garden. He was anxious that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +hounds, which, on the previous day, had +arrived at the village, should enjoy good +sport during their stay in the neighbourhood. +But he saw nothing of the animals +he had come to watch; as soon as they +detected his whereabouts they retreated +hastily to the pond at the upper end of the +garden, gained the river, and, like Lutra, +swam homewards around the bend. But, +less familiar than Lutra with the strength +of the current, they left the water as they +approached the fall, and crept through the +deep shadows of the alder-roots till they +reached a point at some distance beyond the +pool.</p> + +<p>These events of the night were of the +utmost importance to the otters as +connected with the events of the morrow. +During the early morning the villager paid +a second visit to the garden, and +examined closely the soft mud at the +margin of the ponds. The remains of the +otters' feast—the skins and the eyes of +frogs—lay in several places, and, near the +largest of the ponds, the otters' “spur” +showed clearly that the animals had for +some time been busy there. Taking a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +straight course to the river above the pools, +the watcher again detected the marks of +the otters on the sloping bank. By the +riverside below the garden, however, he +failed to observe any further sign, and so +concluded that the animals had probably +left the water at the opposite bank.</p> + +<p>When, later, the Hunt crossed the bridge +on its way up-stream, the villager told his +story to the Master, who immediately led +his hounds over the hill-top in the direction +of the ponds. This unexpected movement +drew the followers of the Hunt away from +the river; they imagined that the hounds +were to be taken across country to a well +known gorge where, during a previous +season, good sport had been obtained.</p> + +<p>At the farm, the Master, leaving the +hounds to the care of the whippers-in, +waited till the villagers and the farmers +had congregated in the yard. He then +addressed the crowd, telling them that otters +had visited the garden during the night +and probably were still in hiding there, and +that, if good sport were desired, it would be +wise for his followers to form two groups +and watch the fords above and below<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +the river-bend, while he, alone, accompanied +the hounds to the garden; his chief reason, +he said, for pointing out to them the +advisability of leaving him was that if an +otter still remained near the pond it should +be given every chance of reaching the river +without molestation. The crowd, recognising +the wisdom of the Master's remarks, moved +off with the whippers-in to the fords; and, +when all was in readiness, the pack was led +into the garden. One, and another, and +yet another of the “young entry” soon +gave tongue; then, after a minute's deliberation, +an old, experienced hound raised his +head from the rushes, uttered a single deep, +clear note, climbed the garden hedge, and +galloped across the meadow towards the +river.</p> + +<p>The rest of the hounds speedily found the +line of the “drag,” but all came to a +check at the water's edge. They were +taken back to the ponds, and thence to the +pool by the farm, but the scent was weak +above the waterfall. They again “cast” +to the upper end of the garden, and onward +to the river. Carefully searching every hole +and corner in the bank, they drew down-stream<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +around the bend, and at last struck +the scent of the otters among the reeds +below the pool. Lutra heard them tearing +madly past, heard also the dull thud of +human footsteps above her “holt,” but she +discreetly remained close-hidden in her +sleeping chamber. For hours, in a pool +beyond the trout-reach, her visitors of the +previous night were hustled to and fro, and +frequent cries of “Gaze! gaze!” and “Bubble +avent!” mingled with the clamour of the +hounds. Then the commotion seemed +suddenly to subside. After an interval the +hounds splashed by once more among the +alder-roots, and the thud of human footsteps +resounded in the “holt.” In the silence +that followed, Lutra, reassured, dived +from her “holt,” and, paddling gently to +the surface, saw the last stragglers of the +Hunt climbing the slope towards the +farm.</p> + +<p>That night no otter from the down-stream +trout-reach wandered to the salmon-pool +beneath the farm. The water-voles and +the moorhens were unusually alert as they +swam hither and thither in the little bays +along the edge of the current. The fear of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +man and his loud-tongued hounds rested, +like a spell, on the creatures of the river. +Even Lutra felt its power; but when the +scent of her foes became so faint as to be +lost in the fragrance of the meadow-sweet +along the river-bank, she ventured into the +old garden, and, on returning to the pool, +played again in the raging water by the +fall.</p> + + + +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<h2>III.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> +<h3>THE GORGE OF ALLTYCAFN.</h3> + + +<p>When Lutra had attained her full size +and strength she was wooed and won by +a young dog-otter of her own age, and +lived with him in a “holt” among the +great rocks of Alltycafn. Now, again, the +Hunt arrived in the neighbourhood. It +was a lovely morning in May. The sun +shone brightly; the leaves were breaking +from their sheaths; the birds sang blithely +in the trees. Suddenly the otters, resting +in their “holt,” were awakened by a loud +commotion—the sounds of hurrying feet, +reverberating in the chamber among the +boulders, and then the music of the +shaggy hounds, varied occasionally by the +yap-yap of the terriers. The noise drew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +rapidly nearer. Presently a man, in red +stockings and vest, blue breeches and coat, +and a blue hunting cap bearing an otter's +“pad” mounted in silver, poked among +the boulders with a steelshod pole. The +dog-otter was now thoroughly alarmed. +He rushed from his lair, dived straight +into the stream, headed through the seething +current, and rose in the adjoining pool. +Threatened by a hound, he dived again, +walked over the gravel, and swam under +the gnarled roots of an oak. The members +of the Hunt stood watching the bubbles, +filled by his breath, as they floated up and +broke. The hounds swam pell-mell in hot +pursuit, and the otter was forced to turn +up-stream. Moving cautiously under the +rocky ledges, he regained the “holt,” where +his terrified mate awaited his return. Sorely +pressed, the dog-otter hid close, hoping to +baffle his relentless pursuers. But a bristling, +snarling terrier soon came down the shaft +from the bank. Maddened, and courageous +with the fury of despair, Lutra seized the +intruder by the muzzle, and, in the combat +that ensued, sorely mangled her assailant's +lips and nostrils. Then, as her mate dived<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +out once more and swam down-stream, she +also left the chamber. She rose immediately +among the surrounding boulders, and hid +in the furthest recess. With nostrils, eyes, +and ears raised slightly above the surface +of the water, she stayed there, unseen and +hardly daring to breathe, and, with strained +senses watched closely every movement of +hounds and hunters.</p> + +<p>Fortunately for Lutra, the arch of the +boulders below was shaped so peculiarly +that the scent of her breath and body was +sucked into a cavity and carried down-stream, +and, passing beneath the stone, +mingled, at the raging cataract near the +rock, with air in the bubbles formed by the +tumult of the waters. These bubbles, +instead of bursting, were drawn into the +vortex of a little whirlpool; and the keen-nosed +hounds, though suspicious, could form +no definite opinion as to the presence of +a second otter among the rocks. The +terrier knew the secret, but he had been +put out of action and sent off, post haste, +to the nearest veterinary surgeon. Lutra +saw her tormentors—some of them of the +pure otter-hound breed, some half otter-hound,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +half fox-hound, and others, again, fox-hounds +trained for otter-hunting—rushing +backwards and forwards in the water and +on the bank. Another terrier, led by a boy, +strained at his leash near the river's brink. +Women, dressed, like the men, in smart +scarlet and blue, and as ready to wade into +the stream as the huntsman himself, stood +leaning on their otter-poles not far away. +At the fords above and below the “pool,” +the dog-otter's egress was barred by outposts +of the enemy standing and splashing, in +complete lines, from bank to bank. Once, +in despair, the otter actually tried to break +through the human chain; but a hunter +“tailed” him for a moment, and then dropped +him into the deeper water beyond the ford.</p> + +<p>The sound of horn, the shouts of men, the +deep-toned notes of great hounds, the shrill +yapping of eager terriers, and the splashing +and the plunging on every side, almost +bewildered Lutra. Fearing to move from +her shelter, she floated in the deep basin of +the hidden pool beside the cataract, till at last +the commotion gradually subsided, and hounds +and hunters passed out of sight down-stream.</p> + +<p>Lutra awaited her mate's return, but in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +vain. Not till night did she venture from +her hiding place. When, however, the stars +appeared, she swam wearily from pool to +pool, calling, calling, calling. She explored +each little bay, each crevice in the rock. +She walked up the dry bed of a tributary +brook, and searched among the gnarled +roots and the dry, brown grass fringing +the gravelly watercourse. She skirted the +meadows and the rocks where the hunters had +beaten down the gorse and the brambles near +her home; thence she returned to the pool. +Hitherto she had loved the placid night; +to her the stillness was significant of peace. +But now that stillness was full of sadness, +and weariness, and monotony. The shadows +were deep within the gorge; from the distant +woods the hoot of an owl mocked her loneliness. +She heard no glad answering cry. +Still calling, calling, calling, she floated +through the shadows, and out into the moonlight +shimmering on the placid water below +the gorge; but she sought and called in vain.</p> + +<p>Lutra spent the rest of that year in widowhood. +In consequence of her fight with the +terrier, and also because of her grief, her two +little cubs were still-born.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> + +<p>Midsummer came, and the shallows were +almost choked with weeds. The countryside +experienced a phenomenal period of +drought, and for weeks the river seemed +impure and almost fetid. Night after night, +and steadily travelling westward, Lutra took +short cuts across country from pool to pool. +Late in July she reached the estuary of the +river; and for the remaining months of +summer fished in the bay, finding there a +pleasant change in her surroundings. Once +she was chased by some men in a boat, +who shot at her as she appeared for an +instant to breathe. Quick and watchful, she +dived at the flash, and the pellets fell +harmlessly overhead. Again she rose, and +again she dived just in time to avoid the +leaden hail. Then she doubled back towards +the estuary, and the baffled sportsmen sailed +away across the bay. As autumn came once +more she returned to the river, and fed chiefly +on the migrating eels that swarmed in the +hollows near the bank. Presently, by many +a nightly journey, she gained the upper +reaches, where she lived, till the following +spring, close to her old home.</p> + +<p>The winter was long and severe. In<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +January, the fields were buried in snow, the +roads were as smooth and hard as glass, +and the well-remembered pool beneath the +pines was almost covered with a great sheet +of ice. At this time another young dog-otter +began to show Lutra considerable +attention. The village children often saw +the pairing otters, for the animals, hard +pressed, had perforce to fish by day instead +of by night. All night the trout lay dormant +under the stones in the bed of the river, +and only at noon did they rise to the +surface on the lookout for hardy ephemerals +that, in a short half hour of warmth, were +hatched at the margin of the stream. Lutra +and her companion followed the fish, and +afforded a rare, unexpected sight as, bold +with hunger, they ascended to breathe between +the sheets of ice in the pool by the village +gardens. At night the otters wandered over +the snow, and sometimes visited the hillside +farms. There, among rotting refuse-heaps, +they discovered worms and insects +sheltering in genial warmth. When exceptionally +hungry, Lutra and her mate would +dig into the chambers of the mole and +the field-vole in the meadows, and search<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +ravenously for the inmates. Among the +roots of the spreading oaks, the otters +found, also, such tit-bits as the larvæ of +moths and beetles. A starved pigeon fallen +from the pine-boughs; an occasional moorhen +weak and almost defenceless; a wild +duck that Lutra had captured by darting +from beneath a root while the indiscreet +bird was feeding, head downwards, at the +river's brink—these were among the varied +items of the hungry otters' food. Life +was indeed hard to maintain. And, to +crown the misfortunes of the ice-bound +winter, Lutra's matrimonial affairs were +once more cruelly disturbed: her mate was +caught in a steel trap that Ned the +blacksmith had baited and laid in the +meadows near the village bridge. He had +marked the otters' wanderings by their footprints +in the snow, and had then matured +his plans.</p> + +<p>The calamity occurred one morning, just +before daybreak, as the otters were returning +to the river from a visit to a hen-coop, +where they had found an open door and +a solitary chicken. The trap was placed on +the grass by the verge of the stream. A<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +light fall of snow had covered it, but had +left exposed the entrails of a chicken which, +by coincidence, formed the tempting bait. +Distressed and perplexed, Lutra stayed by +the dog-otter, trying in vain to release him +from his sufferings. The trapped creature, +beside himself with rage and fear and pain, +attempted to gnaw through his crunched +and almost severed foot; but as the dawn +lightened the east, and before the limb could +be freed, Ned the blacksmith was to be +seen hurrying to the spot. Lutra dived out +of sight, and, unable to interpose, watched, +for a second time, a riverside tragedy. Her +attachment, however, had not been of so +ardent a nature that bereavement left her +disconsolate. Before April she forgot her +trapped friend, and was mated again.</p> + +<p>Lutra's new spouse had his home in the +tributary stream of a neighbouring valley. +So, when the snows had melted and the +rime no longer touched with fairy fingerprints +the tracery of the leafless boughs, +and when Olwen the White-footed had +come once more into the valley called after +her name, Lutra forsook the broad river in +which she had spent her early life, and,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +with her companion and a promising family, +lived contented under the frowning Rock +of Gwion, secure in peace and solitude, +at least for a season, from the shaggy otter-hounds.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<h2><a name="THE_WATER-VOLE" id="THE_WATER-VOLE"></a>THE WATER-VOLE.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> + +<h2>I.</h2> + +<h3>OUR VILLAGE HOUNDS.</h3> + + +<p>Not many years ago the pleasures of life +among my neighbours here in the country +were simpler and truer than they are to-day. +Perhaps in that bygone time money was more +easily made, or daily need was met with +smaller expenditure. It may be, too, that +family cares were then less pressing, or that +a prolonged period of general prosperity had +been the privilege of rich and poor alike in +this green river-valley around my home. In +those days, to which I often look back with +regretful yearning, everybody seemed to have +leisure; the ties of friendship were not +severed by malicious gossip; old and young +seemed to realise how good it was to have +pleasant acquaintanceships and to be in the +sunshine and the open air. Fathers played<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +with their children in the street: one winter +morning, when, after a heavy fall of snow +and a subsequent frost, the ground was as +slippery as glass, I watched a white-haired +shopkeeper, lying prone on a home-made +toboggan, with his feet sprawling behind for +rudder, steer a load of merry youngsters full +tilt down a steep lane behind his house. +The sight was so exhilarating that I also +forgot I was not a child; and on the second +journey I joined the sportive party, and +came to grief because the shopkeeper kicked +too quickly at a turn in the course and sent +me with a double somersault into the ditch.</p> + +<p>It happened in those days that in the +miscellaneous pack of mongrels our village +sportsmen gathered together when they went +rabbit-shooting among the dense coverts +of the hillsides were two exceptionally +clever dogs—a big, shaggy, bobtail kind of +animal, and a little, smooth-coated beast +resembling a black-and-tan terrier.</p> + +<p>The big dog, Joker, lived at a farm in +the village, and, during the leisure of summer, +when rabbiting did not engage his attention, +took to wandering by the river, joining the +bathers in their sport and poking his nose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +inquisitively under the alder-roots along the +bank. While, one sultry noon, the fun in +the bathing pool was at its height, Joker +routed an otter from a hiding place near +which the bathers were swimming with the +current, and a terrific fight took place in +the shallows before the <i>dwrgu</i> made good +his escape. The dog was found to have +been severely worsted in the fray, and was +taken home to be nursed till his wounds +were healed. Meanwhile, Joker's fame as +an otter-hound was firmly established in the +village, and he was regarded as a hero.</p> + +<p>The little dog, Bob, lived at the inn, and +for years his droll ways endeared him to +every villager, as well as to every angler +who came to “the house” for salmon-fishing. +He loved nothing better than a friendship +with some unsuspecting fisherman whom he +might afterwards use to further his own +ends. The sight of a rod placed by the +door in the early morning was sufficient +promise of a day's continuous enjoyment; +the terrier assumed possession of the rod at +once, and kept all other curs at a distance. +On the appearance of the sportsman, he +manifested such unmistakable delight, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +pleaded so hard for permission to follow, +that, unless the sportsman happened to be +one whose experiences led him to dislike the +presence of a fussy dog by the riverside, +the flattery rarely failed of its object. Once +past the rustic swing-bridge at the lower +boundary of the waters belonging to the +inn, Bob left the sportsman to his own +devices, and stole off into the woods to hunt +rabbits. Unfailingly, however, he rejoined +his friend at lunch.</p> + +<p>On Sundays, knowing that the report of +a gun was not likely then to resound +among the woods, and depressed by the +quietness and disappointed by the nervous +manner with which everybody well dressed +for church resented his familiarities, he +lingered about the street corners—as the +unemployed usually do, even in our village—till +the delicious smells of Sunday dinners +pervaded the street. The savoury odours +in no way sharpened his appetite, for at the +inn his fare was always of the best; but +they indicated that the time was approaching +when the watchmaker and the lawyer +set out together for their long weekly +ramble through the woods. Bob knew what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +such a ramble meant for him. The watchmaker's +dog, Tip, was Bob's respected sire, +and Tip's brother, Charlie, dwelt at a house +in “The Square.” Bob, scenting the Sunday +dinners, went at once to call for Charlie, +and in his company adjourned to the lane +behind the village gardens, till the watchmaker +and the lawyer, with Tip, were +ready for their customary walk.</p> + +<p>When the water was low and anglers +seldom visited the inn, Bob, during the +summer week-days, followed Joker's course +of action, and attached himself to a bathing +party frequenting a pool below the ruined +garden on the outskirts of the village. There, +like Joker, he searched beneath the alder-roots, +but without success as far as an otter +was concerned. However, he vastly enjoyed +himself digging out the brown rats from +their holes along the bank not far from +a rick-yard belonging to the inn, and then +hunting them about the pool with as much +noise and bustle as if he were close at the +tail of a rabbit in the furze. He was so +fond of the water that he became a rapid, +untiring swimmer; and the boys trained him, +in intervals of rat-hunting, to dive to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +bottom of the river and pick up a white +pebble thrown from the bank. Like Joker, +also, he gained a name for pluck and ability; +and one night the village sportsmen, at an +informal meeting in the “private room” of +the inn, decided to hunt in the river on +Wednesday evenings, with Bob and Joker +at the head of a pack including nearly +every game-dog in the near neighbourhood, +except certain aristocratic pointers and setters +likely to be spoiled by companionship with +yelping and excited curs.</p> + +<p>A merrier hunting party was never in +the world. They would foregather in the +meadow below the ruined garden: the +landlord, whose home-brewed ale was the +best and strongest on the countryside; the +curate, whose stern admonitions were the +terror of evil-doers; the farmer, whose skill +in ferreting was greater than in ploughing; +the watchmaker, whose clocks filled the +village street with music when, simultaneously, +they struck the hour; the draper, whose +white pigeons cooed and fluttered on the +bridge near his shop; the solicitor, whose +law was for a time thrown to the winds; +and a small crowd of boys ready to assist,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +if required, in “chaining” the fords. There +they would “cry” the dogs across the +stream till the valley echoed and re-echoed +with shouts and laughter.</p> + +<p>The first hunt was started in spirited fashion; +the men walked along the bank thrusting their +sticks into crevices and holes; but only Joker +and Bob entered the water, and rats and otters +for a while remained discreetly out of view. +Near a bend of the stream, however, Bob surprised +a rat secreted by a stone, and, forcing +it to rush to the river, followed with frantic +speed. Here, at last, was a chase; the other +dogs all hurried to the spot, and the landlord, +swinging his otter-pole, waded out to perform +the duties of huntsman with the now uproarious +pack. His action proved infectious—watchmaker, +draper, lawyer, and curate +splashed into the shallows to help in keeping +the rat on the move; and fun was fast +and furious till the prey, fleeing from a +smart attack by Bob, was captured by a +spaniel swimming under a big oak-root +between the curate and the bank.</p> + +<p>I hardly think I have enjoyed any +sport so well as those Wednesday evening +hunts in the bygone years, when life was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +unshadowed and each sportsman of us felt +within him the heart of a child. So great +was our amusement that the village urchins +instituted a rival Hunt in the brooks on +Saturdays; they notched their sticks for +every “kill,” and boasted that they beat us +hollow with the number of their trophies.</p> + +<p>We had several adventures with otters, but +the creatures always, in the end, eluded us, +and we soon were of opinion that smaller fry +were capable of affording better fun. Some +seasons afterwards, when our Hunt was disbanded, +the shopkeepers' apprentices continued, +with the youngsters, to work our mongrel +hounds; but eventually Joker's death from the +bite of an adder put an end to their pastime, +for the bobtail and the terrier were the only +possible leaders of the nondescript pack.</p> + +<p>Bob, the terrier, was always the most interesting +of our hounds. He manifested +a disposition to use the other dogs to +serve his purposes, just as he used the +unsuspecting fishermen if he wished to +go hunting in the woods. When with me +after game on the upland farms, he often +seemed to forget entirely that I had taken +him to hunt, not for his own amusement only,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +but also for mine. Directly he discovered +a rabbit squatting in a clump of grass or +brambles, perhaps ten or a dozen yards from +a hedge, he signalled his find by barking so +incessantly that my spaniels hastened pell-mell +to the spot. This was just as it should +be—for Bob. Dancing with excitement, he +waited between the clump and the hedge till +the spaniels entered and bolted the rabbit; +then he tore madly in close pursuit of the +fleeing creature, and my chance of a shot +was spoiled through the possibility of my +hitting him instead of his quarry.</p> + +<p>By the riverside, his tricks were precisely +similar. Seeing a moorhen dive, he would +call the dogs around him, so that they might +bring the bird again to the surface and thus +afford him sport. The moorhen, meanwhile, +invariably escaped; yet Bob failed to understand +that he was the only diver in the pack.</p> + +<p>His antics were comical in the extreme if +a vole eluded him by diving to the lower +entrance of its burrow beneath the surface +of a backwater. Having missed his opportunity, +but unable to comprehend how he +had missed it, the terrier left the water, stood +on the roots of a tree over the entrance to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +the vole's burrow, and furiously barked instructions +to his companions swimming in the +pool. Disgusted at last by their inattention +to his orders, he plunged headlong into the +stream and vanished for a few moments; +then he reappeared, proud of his superior +bravery, sneezing and coughing, and with a +mouthful of stones and soil torn from the +bank in his desperate efforts to force his +way to the spot whither the object of the +chase had gone from view.</p> + +<p>Bob long survived the big dog Joker, and +in his old days loved as well as ever the +excitement of a hunt. His originality was +preserved to the end; stiffened by rheumatism +and almost choked by asthma, he always, +when in search of rabbits, ran up-hill and +walked down-hill, thus losing both energy +and breath that might with advantage have +been kept in reserve.</p> + +<p>With the passing of the years, many changes +have occurred to sunder the friendships formed +during those boylike expeditions. I smile +when I think how impossible it would be, +now that the veneer of town life has been +thinly spread over the life of our village, for +the man of law to go wading, with tucked-up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +trousers, after rats; how impossible, also, for +him to frequent with me the bathing pool, +as was sometimes his wont, and swim idly +hither and thither, while the moon peered +between the trees and the vague witchery +of the summer night filled his spirit and my +own. My youthful feelings, long preserved, +have been irrevocably lost; and yet, if only +for memory's sake, I would willingly hunt +with him again, and, when night had fallen, +swim with him once more in the dim, +mysterious pool below the garden. But +the old hunting party could never be complete. +Death makes gaps that Time fails to +fill.</p> + +<p>Those evenings were delightful, not only +because of unrestrained mirth and innocent +sport, but also because we took a keen interest +in our surroundings, seeing the world of small +things by the river-bank with eyes such as +belonged to anglers and hunters of the old-fashioned, +leisurely school. They marked for +me the beginning of a pleasant study of the +water-voles that lived in their burrows on +the brink of the river, and were sometimes +hunted as persistently as were the brown rats, +but far more frequently eluded our hounds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +than did the noxious little brutes we particularly +desired to destroy.</p> + +<p>Wherever they take up their quarters, about +the farmstead during winter or in the open +fields during summer, brown rats are an insufferable +nuisance. There is no courtesy or +kindness in the nature of the rat; no nesting +bird is safe from his attacks, unless her home +is beyond his reach in some cleft of a rock +that he cannot scale or in some fork of a tree +that he cannot climb. He is a cannibal—even +the young and the sick of his own kind become +the victims of his rapacious hunger—and he +will eat almost anything, living or dead, from +the refuse in a garbage heap to the dainty +egg of a willow-wren in the tiny, domed nest +amid the briars at the margin of the river.</p> + +<p>The water-vole is often called, wrongly, the +water-rat, but it is of very different habits, +and is well nigh entirely a vegetable feeder, +and one of the most charming and most +inoffensive creatures in Britain. To the close +observer of Nature, differences in the character +of animals—even among the members +of one species—soon become apparent. I was +struck with manifestations of such unlikeness +when I kept small communities of ants<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +in artificial nests between slips of glass, so as +to watch their doings in my hours of leisure. +One nest of yellow ants contained at first a +dozen workers and a queen; and when I +began to study them I used to mark with +minute spots of white the bodies of the +particular ants under observation. These +spots would remain till the ants had +time for their toilet and either licked +themselves clean or were licked clean by +sympathetic companions. At the outset I +found that under a magnifying glass two +of the dozen workers were readily distinguishable +from the others because of their +size and shape. Gradually, by detecting little +peculiarities, I could single out the ants, +and so had no need to mark my tiny pets +in order to follow their movements, except +on occasions when they clustered round +the queen, or rested, gossiping in little +groups, here and there in the rooms and +passages of their dwelling. One ant was +greedy, and, if she was the first to find a +fresh drop of honey I had placed outside the +nest, would feed to repletion without ever +thinking of informing her friends of her discovery. +At such times she even became<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +intoxicated, and I fancied that, when she +did at last get home, eager enquiries made +as to the whereabouts of the nectar met +with incoherent replies, since the seekers for +information generally failed to profit by what +they were told, and had to cast about aimlessly +for some time before finding the food. I +also observed that another ant was perfectly +unselfish, and not only would inform her +companions directly she discovered honey, +but would assiduously feed the queen before +attending to her own requirements. And +so my pets were separately known because +of faults and failings or good qualities that +often seemed quite human.</p> + +<p>A certain vole, living in the river-bank +near the place where the villagers met to +hunt, was not easily mistaken for one of his +fellows. Whereas the general colour of a +water-vole's coat—except in the variety +known as the black vole—is greyish brown, +which takes a reddish tinge when the light +glances on it between the leaves, his was +uniformly of a dark russet. In keeping with +this shiny russet coat, his beady black eyes +seemed to glisten with unusual lustre; and +so it happened that the question, “I wonder<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +if Brighteye is from home?” was often +asked as we sent our hounds to search +among the willows on the further bank; +and later it became a custom for the Hunt, +before the sport of the evening was begun, +to pass up-stream for a hundred yards or so +in order that he might be left in peace.</p> + +<p>He was quite a baby water-vole when first +I made his acquaintance, but the colour of +his coat did not change with the succeeding +months, and, evening after evening, when +the noisy hounds were safe at home or +strolling about the village street, I would +quietly make my way back to his haunt, +and, hidden behind a convenient tree, carefully +watch him. In this way I learned many +secrets of his life, noticed many traits in +which he differed from his companions, and +could form a fairly accurate idea of the +dangers that beset him, and of the joys and +the sorrows that fell to his lot during the +three years when his presence was familiar +as I fished in the calm summer twilight, +or lay motionless in the long grass near the +place where he was wont to sit, silent and +alert, before dropping into the backwater and +beginning the work and the play of the night.</p> + + + +<h2>II.</h2> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> +<h3>THE BURROW IN THE RIVER-BANK.</h3> + + +<p>The first faint shadows of dusk were creeping +over the river when Brighteye, awakened +by a movement on the part of his mother, +stole from his burrow into the tall grass at +the edge of the gravel-bank by the pool. +His home was situated in a picturesque +spot between the river and a woodland path +skirting the base of a cliff-like ascent +clothed with giant beeches and an under-garment +of ferns and whinberry bushes. +Alders and willows grew along the gravel-bank, +and through the moss-tangles among +the roots many a twisting, close-hidden +run-way led upwards to what might be +called a main thoroughfare, in and out of the +grass-fringes and the ivy, above high-water +mark. This road, extending from the far-off<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +tidal estuary to the river's source in the +wild mountains to the north, communicated +with all the dwellings of the riverside people, +and had been kept clear for hundreds of +years by wandering voles and water-shrews, +moorhens, water-rails, and coots, and, in +recent days, by those unwelcome invaders, +the brown rats. Here and there it merged +into the wider trail of the otter. Sometimes, +near a hedge, it was joined by +the track of rabbits, bank-voles, field-voles, +weasels, and stoats, and sometimes, where +brooks and rills trickled over the stones +on their way to the river, by other main +roads that had followed the smaller water-courses +from the crests of the hills.</p> + +<p>Brighteye's home might be likened to a +cottage nestling among trees at the end of +an embowered lane well removed from busy +traffic; it contained four or five chambers +wherein the members of his family dwelt; +and to Brighteye the tall reeds and the +bramble thickets were as large as shrubs and +trees are to human beings. And, like a +sequestered cottager, he knew but little +about the great road stretching, up-stream +and down-stream, away from his haunts;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +he was content with his particular domain—the +pool, the shallows beyond, a hundred +yards of intersected lanes, and the wide main +road above the pool and the shallows.</p> + +<p>For a time Brighteye sat at the edge +of the stream, alert for any sign of danger +that might threaten his harmless existence. +Then playfully he dropped into the pool, +dived, sought the water-entrance to his +house, climbed inside his sleeping chamber, +and thence to the bank, where again he sat +intently listening as he sniffed the cool +evening air. A quick-eyed heron was standing +motionless in a tranquil backwater thirty +yards up-stream; the scent of the bird was +borne down by the water, and the vole +caught it as it passed beneath the bank. +But he showed no trace of terror; the heron +was not near enough to give him any real +cause for alarm. The rabbits stole down +through the woods, the undergrowth crackled +slightly as they passed, and one old buck +“drummed” a danger signal. Instantly the +vole dived again, for he interpreted the sound +to mean that a weasel was on the prowl; and, +as he vanished, the first notes of a blackbird's +rattling cry came to his ears.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> + +<p>Brighteye stayed awhile in his burrow +before climbing once more to the upper +entrance. Then cautiously he advanced +through the passage, and gained his lookout +station. Not the slightest taint of a +weasel was noticeable on the bank; so, +regaining confidence, he sat on his haunches, +brushed his long, bristly whiskers with his +fore-feet, and licked his russet body clean +with his warm, red tongue. Then he dropped +once more into the pool, and swam across +to a reed-bed on the further margin. There +he found several of his neighbours feeding +on roots of riverside plants. He, too, was +hungry, so he bit off a juicy flag at the spot +marking the junction of the tender stalk with +the tough, fibrous stem; then, sitting upright, +he took it in his fore-paws, and with his incisor +teeth—shaped perfectly like an adze for such +a purpose—stripped it of its outer covering, +beginning at the severed edge, and laying +bare the white pith, on which he greedily +fed.</p> + +<p>While thus engaged, he, as usual, watched +and listened. The spot was dangerous for +him because of its distance from the stream, +and because the water immediately beyond<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +was so shallow that he could not, by diving, +readily escape from determined pursuit.</p> + +<p>His meal was often interrupted for a +few moments by some trifling incident that +caused alarm. A moorhen splattered out +from the willow-roots, and Brighteye crouched +motionless, till he recognised that the noise +made by the clumsy bird was almost as +familiar to him as the rustle of the reeds in +a breeze. The blue heron rose heavily from +the backwater, and winged his slow flight +high above the trees. Here, indeed, seemed +reason for fear; but the great bird was not +in the humour for killing voles, and soon +passed out of view. Now a kingfisher, then +a dipper, sped like an arrow past the near +corner of the pool; and the whiz of swift +wings—unheard by all except little creatures +living in frequent danger, and listening with +beating hearts to sounds unperceived by our +drowsy senses dulled by long immunity from +fear—caused momentary terror to the water-vole. +Each trifling sight and sound contributed +to that invaluable stock of experience +from which he would gradually learn +to distinguish without hesitation between +friends and foes, and be freed from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +pain of needless anxiety which, to Nature's +weaklings, is at times almost as bitter as death.</p> + +<p>Brighteye was fated to meet with an +unusual number of adventures, and consequently +to know much of the agony of fear. +His russet coat was more conspicuous than +that of his soberly gowned companions, +and he was on several occasions marked for +attack when they escaped detection. But he +became the wisest, shyest, most watchful vole +along the wooded river-reach, and in time his +neighbours and offspring were so influenced +by his example and training that a strangely +furtive kindred, the wildest of the wild, living +in secrecy—their presence revealed to loitering +anglers only by tell-tale footprints on the wet +sand when the torrent dwindled after a flood—seemed +to have come to haunt the river +bank between the cottage gardens and the +swinging bridge above the pool where Brighteye +dwelt.</p> + +<p>Though Brighteye's distinctive appearance +attracted the notice of numerous enemies, +his marked individuality was not wholly a +misfortune, since it aroused my kindly +interest, and thus caused him to be spared +by the village hunting party.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> + +<p>As he sat in the first shadows of evening +among the reeds and the rushes, the kingfisher +and the dipper, by which a few minutes +before he had been startled, flew back from +the direction of the village gardens; and he +quickly decided, while watching their flight, +that somehow it must be connected with +the dull, but now plainly audible, thud of +approaching footsteps on the meadow-path. +The buck “drummed” again, then the +rustling “pat, pat” of the rabbits ceased in +the wood, and one by one the adult voles +feeding in the reed-bed slipped silently into +the shallows and disappeared.</p> + +<p>Brighteye was loath to relinquish the juicy +rush that he held in his fore-paws, but the +signs of danger were insistent. After creeping +through the reeds to the water's edge, +he proceeded a little way down the bank +till he came to a spot where the view of +the meadow-path was uninterrupted. His +sight was not nearly so keen as his scent +and hearing were, but he discerned, in a +blur of dim fields, and rippling water, and +evening light peering through the willow-stoles, +a number of unfamiliar moving +objects. He heard quick, uneven footsteps,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +and, now and then, a voice; and was aware +of an unmistakable scent, such as he had +already often noticed in the shallows and +amid the grass.</p> + +<p>On several occasions, at dusk, Brighteye, +like Lutra the otter, had seen a trout splashing +and twisting convulsively in terror and pain. +Each time the trout had been irresistibly +drawn through the shallows towards a +peculiar, upright object on the opposite +bank, and after this object had passed into +the distance the vole had found that the +familiar scent of which he was now conscious +was mingled, at the edge of the river-bank, +with fresh blood-stains and with the strong +smell of fish.</p> + +<p>To all animals, whether wild or domesticated, +fresh-spilt blood has a significance +that can never be disregarded. It indicates +suffering and death. Ever since, in far +distant years, blood first welled from a +stricken creature's wounds, Nature has been +haunted by the grim presence of Fear. The +hunting weasel, coming unexpectedly to a +pool of blood, whence a wounded rabbit has +crawled away to die in the nearest burrow, +opens mouth and nostrils wide to inhale<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> +with fierce delight the pungent odour. Once +I caught sight of a weasel under such +circumstances, and was startled by the +almost demon-like look of ferocity on the +creature's face.</p> + +<p>But the hunted weaklings of the fields and +woods read the signs of death with consternation. +When the scent of the slayer is +mingled with that of the victim it is noted +with care, and, if often detected in similar +conditions, is committed to memory as +inseparable from danger.</p> + +<p>Brighteye had been repeatedly warned by +his mother to avoid the presence of man, and +had also learned to fear it because of his +experiences with the angler and the trout. +Alarmed at the approach of men and hounds, +he waded out, swam straight up-stream to +a tiny bay, and hid beneath a willow-root to +wait till the danger had passed. He strained +his ears to catch each different sound as the +“thud, thud” and the patter of feet came +nearer. Then the gravel rattled, a stone fell +into the stream, and a shaggy spaniel poked +his nose into a hole between the willow-roots. +The dog drew a long, noisy breath, and +barked so suddenly and loudly, and so close<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +to Brighteye's ear, that the vole involuntarily +leaped from his resting place.</p> + +<p>In full view of the spaniel, Brighteye passed +deep down into the clear, unruffled pool, +hurriedly using every limb, instead of only +his hind-legs, and with quick strokes gained +the edge of the current, where for an instant +he rose to breathe before plunging deep once +more and continuing his journey towards the +willows on the opposite bank. As he dived +for the second time, Bob saw him among +the ripples, and with shrill voice headed +the clamouring hounds, that, “harking +forward” to his cry, rushed headlong in +pursuit through shallow and pool. A +stout, lichen-covered branch, weighed down +at the river's edge by a mass of herbage +borne thither by a recent heavy flood, +occupied a corner in the dense shadow of +an alder; and the vole, climbing out of the +water, sat on it, and was hidden completely +by the darkness from the eager hounds. +But his sanctuary was soon invaded; the +indefatigable terrier, guided by the tiny +bubbles of scent borne down by the stream, +left the river, and ran, whimpering with +excitement, straight to the alder. Brighteye<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +saw him approach, dived silently, and, with +a wisdom he had never gained from experience, +turned in a direction quite contrary +to that in which the terrier expected him to +flee. The vole moved slowly, right beneath +the dark form of the terrier now swimming +in the backwater. On, on, he went, past +the stakes at the outlet of the pool into the +trout-reach, and still on, by a series of dives, +each following a brief interval for breath +and observation among the sheltering weeds, +till he arrived at the pool above the cottage +gardens, where a wide fringe of brushwood +formed an impenetrable thicket and he was +safe from his pursuers.</p> + +<p>Hardly, however, was this long journey +needed. The dog was baffled at the outset; +and, casting about for the lost scent, he +discovered, on the pebbles, the strong smell +of the weasel that had wandered thither to +quench his thirst while Brighteye was +feeding in the reed-bed opposite. Bob +never by any chance neglected the +opportunity of killing a stoat or a weasel; +so, abandoning all thoughts of rats and +voles, he dashed upward through the wood, +and, almost immediately closing on his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +prey, destroyed a bloodthirsty little tyrant +that, unknown to Brighteye, had just been +planning a raid on the burrow by the +willow-stoles.</p> + +<p>Water-voles, as a rule, are silent little +creatures; unless attacked or frightened +they seldom squeak as they move in and +out of the lush herbage by the riverside. +But Brighteye was undoubtedly different +from his fellows: he was almost as noisy as +a shrew in the dead leaves of a tangled +hedgerow, and his voice was like a shrew's, +high-pitched and continuous, but louder, so +that I could hear him at some distance +from his favourite resort in the reeds and the +rushes by the willows. He seemed to be +always talking to himself or to the flowers +and the river as he wandered to and fro in +search of tit-bits; always debating with +himself as to the chances of finding a +tempting delicacy; always querulous of +danger from some ravenous tyrant that +might surprise him in his burrow, or pounce +on him unawares from the evening sky, or +rise, swift, relentless, eager, from the depths +beneath him as he swam across the pool.</p> + +<p>When I got to know him well, my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +favourite method, in learning of his ways, +was to lie in wait at a spot commanding a +view of one or other of the narrow lanes +joining the main road of the riverside folk, +and there, my face hidden by a convenient +screen of interlacing grass-stems, to listen +intently for his approach. Generally, for +five minutes or so before he chose to reach +my hiding place, I could hear his shrill +piping, now faint and intercepted by a +mound, or indistinct and mingled with the +swirl of the water around the stakes, then +full and clear as he gained the summit of +a stone or ridge and came down the +winding path towards me. Though in +his talkative moments Brighteye usually +reminded me of the tiny shrew, there were +times when he reminded me more forcibly +of an eccentric mouse that, a few years +before, had taken up her quarters in the +wall of my study, and each night, for more +than a week, when the children's hour was +over and I sat in silence by my shaded lamp, +had made her presence known by a bird-like +solo interrupted only when the singer +stayed to pick up a crumb on her way +across the room.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p> + +<p>The times when Brighteye wandered, +singing, singing, down the lanes and main +road of the river-bank, were, however, +infrequent; and the surest sign of his +approach, before he came in sight, was the +continuous, gossiping twitter I have already +described. This habit of singing and +twittering was not connected with amorous +sentiments towards any sleek young female; +Brighteye adopted it long before he was of +an age to seek a mate, and he ceased +practising his solos before the first winter +set in and the morning sun glanced between +leafless trees on a dark flood swirling over +the reed-bed where in summer was his +favourite feeding place.</p> + +<p>Whether or not the other voles frequenting +the burrow by the willows had shown +their disapproval of such a habit I was +never able to discover. One fact, however, +seemed significant: Brighteye parted from +his parents as soon as he was sufficiently alert +and industrious to manage his own affairs, +and, having hollowed out a plain, one-roomed +dwelling, with an exit under the surface of +the water and another near some primrose-roots +above the level of flood, lived there for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +months, timid and lonely, yet withal, if his +singing might be regarded as the sign of a +gladsome life, the happiest vole in the shadowed +pool above the village gardens.</p> + +<p>It has been supposed by certain naturalists +that the song of the house-mouse is the result +of a disease in its throat, and is therefore a +precursor of death. The mouse that came to +my study ceased her visits soon after the +week had passed and was never seen again; +and I was unable to determine how her end +was hastened. Brighteye could not, at any +rate, have suffered seriously, else he would +have succumbed, either to some enemy ever +ready to prey on the young, the aged, the +sick, and the wounded of his tribe, or to +starvation, the well-nigh inevitable follower of +disease in animals. He always seemed to me +to be full of vitality and happiness, as if the +dangers besetting his life only provided him +with wholesome excitement, and sharpened +his intellect far more finely than that of the +rest of his tribe.</p> + + + + +<h2>III.</h2> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> +<h3>WILD HUNTING.</h3> + + +<p>Once, during the first summer of the water-vole's +life, I saw as pretty a bit of wild hunting +as I have ever witnessed, and my pleasure +was enhanced by the fact that the quarry +escaped unharmed. Early in the afternoon, +instead of during twilight, I, in company with +the members of the village Hunt and their +mongrel pack, had searched the stream and +its banks for rats, and had enjoyed good sport. +Suddenly, however, our ragamuffin hounds +struck the line of nobler game: Lutra, the +otter, was astir in the pool.</p> + +<p>I was not surprised, for on the previous +night, long after the moon had risen and sleep +had descended on the village, I, with Ianto +the fisherman, had passed the spot on returning +from an angling expedition eight or ten<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> +miles up-stream, and had stayed awhile to +watch the most expert of all river-fishers, as +she dived and swam from bank to bank, and +sometimes, turning swiftly into the backwater, +landed on the shingle close by Brighteye's +reed-bed, to devour at leisure a captured +trout.</p> + +<p>Lutra soon baffled our inexpert hounds, +and gained refuge in a “strong place” well +behind a fringe of alder-roots, whence Bob, +notwithstanding his most strenuous efforts, +failed to “bolt” her. I then drew off +the hounds, led them towards the throat of +the pool, and for a half hour assisted them +to work the “stale drag,” till I reached a +bend of the river where Lutra's footprints +were still visible on the fine, wet sand at the +brink of a rapid.</p> + +<p>Later, when the dogs were quietly resting +at their homes, I returned, alone, to my +hiding place not far from Lutra's “holt.” +As long as daylight lasted I saw nothing of +vole or otter, though several brown rats, +undeterred by the disturbance of the early +afternoon, came from their burrows and +ran boldly hither and thither through the +arched pathways of the rank grass by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +edge of the bank. The afterglow faded in +the western sky around the old church +beyond the village gardens; and the night, +though one by one the stars were lighted +overhead, became so dark that I could see +nothing plainly except the white froth, in +large round masses, floating idly down the +pool. I waited impatiently for the moon to +rise, for I feared lest the faint, occasional +plashes in the pool indicated that the otter +had left her “holt,” and would probably be +fishing in a distant pool when an opportunity +for observation arrived.</p> + +<p>The night was strangely impressive, as it +always is to me while I roam through the +woodlands or lie in hiding to watch the +creatures that haunt the gloom-wrapt clearings +among the oaks and the beeches. In +the darkness, long intervals, during which +nothing will be seen or heard, must of +necessity be spent by the naturalist; and in +such intervals the mind is often filled with +what may, perhaps, be best described as the +spiritual influence of night, when the eyes +turn upward to the stars or to the lights of +a lone farmstead twinkling through the trees, +and imagination, wondering greatly at its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +own daring, links time with eternity, and +the destinies of this little world with the +affairs of a limitless universe.</p> + +<p>At length the rim of the full moon +appeared above the crest of the hill behind +the village, and gradually, as the orb +ascended, the night became brighter, till +the whole surface of the pool, except for a +fleeting shadow, was clear and white, and a +broad silver bar lay across the ripples +between me and the reed-bed on the further +side. For a time no sign of a living +creature was visible; then a brown rat +crept along the bank beneath my hiding +place; a dim form, which from its size I +concluded was that of Lutra, the otter, +crossed a spit of sand about a dozen yards +above the reed-bed, where a moonbeam +glanced through the alders; and a big brown +owl, silhouetted against the sky, flew silently +up-stream, and perched on a low, bare branch +of a Scotch fir beside the grass-grown +path.</p> + +<p>After another uneventful interval a slight +movement was observable in the reeds +directly opposite. Straight in the line of +the silver bar a water-vole came towards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +me, only the head of the little swimmer +being visible at the apex of a V-shaped +wake lengthening rapidly behind him. More +than half-way across the pool a large boulder +stood out of the water, but the vole was +heading towards the bank above. Then, +apparently without cause, he turned quickly +and made straight for the stone. He had +barely landed and run round to hide in +a shallow depression of the stone when the +water seemed to swell and heave immediately +beside the boulder, and Lutra's head, with +wide-open jaws, shot above the current. +Disappointed, the otter vanished under the +shining surface of the stream, came to sight +once more in an eddy between the boulder +and the bank, and once more disappeared. I +was keenly interested, for every movement +of the vole and the otter had been plainly +discernible, so bright was the night, and so +close were the creatures to my hiding +place; and, raising myself slightly, I crawled +a few inches nearer the edge of the overhanging +bank.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 298px;"> +<img src="images/i001.jpg" width="298" height="500" alt="AN OPPORTUNITY CAME, WHICH, HAD SHE BEEN POISED IN THE AIR, COULD +SCARCELY HAVE BEEN MISSED." title="AN OPPORTUNITY CAME, WHICH, HAD SHE BEEN POISED IN THE AIR, COULD +SCARCELY HAVE BEEN MISSED." /> +<span class="caption">“AN OPPORTUNITY CAME, WHICH, HAD SHE BEEN POISED IN THE AIR, COULD +SCARCELY HAVE BEEN MISSED.”</span> +<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">To List</a></span> +</div> + +<p>For a long time the vole, not daring to +move, remained in the shadow. I had +almost concluded that he had dived through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +some crevice into the dark water on the +other side of the boulder, when he cautiously +lifted his head to the light, and crept into +a grass-clump on the top of the stone. +Thence, after a little hesitation, he moved +to the edge, as if contemplating a second +swim. Fastidious as to his toilet, even +in the presence of danger, he rose on his +haunches and washed his round, furry face. +The action was almost fatal. The brown +owl, that had doubtless seen him by the +grass-clump and had therefore left her +perch in the fir-tree, dropped like a bolt and +hovered, with wings nearly touching the silver +stream, above the spot where she had marked +her prey. But she was too late—the vole +had dived. Yet, even while, having alighted +on the boulder, the owl stood baffled by the +disappearance of the vole, an opportunity +came, which, had she been poised in the +air, could scarcely have been missed. Close +to the near bank a wave rose above +the surface of the eddy as Lutra, having +seen the vole dive from the stone, again +hurried in pursuit. So fast was the otter +that the momentum carried her well into the +shallows. But for the third time the vole<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> +escaped. I indistinctly saw him scramble +out, and run, with a shrill squeak, across a +ridge of sand, offering a second chance to the +listening owl; and, from his flight in the +direction of the well known burrow, I +concluded that the hunted creature was +russet-coated little Brighteye. But the bird +knew that she could not rise and swoop in +time; so, probably disturbed by the presence +of the otter, she flew away down-stream +just as Lutra, since the vole was out of +reach, glided from the sand and philosophically +turned her attention to less evasive +trout and eels.</p> + +<p>Then all was motionless and silent, but +for an occasional faint whistle as Lutra +fished in the backwater at the throat of the +pool, the wailing cry of the owl from +the garden on the crest of the slope behind +me, and the ceaseless, gentle ripple of the +river. At last, when the voices of the otter +and the owl were still, and when the shadows +were foreshortened as the moon gazed coldly +down between the branches of the fir, Brighteye, +having recovered from his recent fright, +left his sanctuary by the roots of the willow, +and wandered, singing, singing, down the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> +white, winding run-way and out into the +main road of the riverside people, till he +came to a jutting branch above the river's +brim, whence he dived into the placid pool, +and swam away towards the reed-bed. Then +the crossed shadows of the flags and hemlocks +screened him from my sight.</p> + +<p>The first autumn in the water-vole's life +was a season of wonderful beauty. A few +successive frosts chilled the sap in the trees +and the bushes near the river, but were +succeeded by a long period when the air +was crisp yet balmy, and not a breath of +wind was noticeable except by the birds and +the squirrels high among the giant beeches +around the old garden, and when the murmur +of summer insects was never heard by night, +and only by day if a chance drone-fly +or humble-bee visited a surviving clump +of yellow ragweed by the run-way close +to Brighteye's burrow. The elms and the +sycamores glowed with purple and bronze, +the ash-trees and the willows paled to lemon +yellow, the oaks arrayed themselves in rich +and glossy olive green; while the beeches +in the glade, and the brambles along the +outskirts of the thickets, ruddy and golden<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +and glittering in the brief, delicious autumn +days, seemed to filter and yet stain the +mellow sunshine, and to fill each nook with +liquid shadow as pure and glorious as the +blue and amber lights on the undulating +hills. Spread on the bosom of the brimming +river, and broken, here and there, by creamy +lines of passing foam, the reflections of this +beauty seemed to well and bubble, from unfathomable +deeps, around the “sly, fat fishes +sailing, watching all.”</p> + +<p>The water became much colder than in +summer; but Brighteye, protected by a warm +covering of thick, soft fur through which the +moisture could not penetrate, as well as by +an over-garment of longer, coarser hair from +which the drops were easily shaken when he +left the stream, hardly noticed the change of +temperature. But he well knew there were +changes in the surroundings of his home. +The flags in the reed-bed were not so +succulent as they had been in early summer; +the branches that sometimes guided him as he +swam from place to place seemed strangely +bare and grey; the clump of may-weed that, +growing near his burrow, had served as a +beacon in the gloom, was faded to a few<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +short brown tufts; and nightly in his +wanderings he was startled by the withered +leaves that, like fluttering birds, descended +near him on the littered run-ways or on the +glassy surface of the river-reach. It was +long before he became accustomed to the +falling of the leaves, and up to the time +when every bough was bare the rustling +flight of a great chestnut plume towards +him never failed to rouse the fear first +wakened by the owl, and to send him on a +long, breathless dive to the bottom of the +pool.</p> + +<p>Brighteye was a familiar figure to all the +river-folk, while he, in turn, knew most of +them, and had learned to distinguish between +friends and foes. But occasionally he made +a slight mistake. Though shy, he was as +curious as the squirrel that, one afternoon +when Brighteye was early abroad, hopped +down the run-way to make his acquaintance, +and frightened him into a precipitate retreat, +then ran out to a branch above the stream +and loudly derided the creature apparently +drowning in the stream.</p> + +<p>An object of ceaseless curiosity to Brighteye +was a water-shrew, not more than half<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> +the size of the vole, that had come to dwell in +the pool, and had tunnelled out a burrow in +the bank above the reed-bed. Nightly, after +supper, Brighteye made a circuit of the +pool to find the shrew, and with his companion +swam hither and thither, till, startled +by some real or imagined danger, each of +the playmates hurried to refuge, and was +lost awhile to the other amid the darkness +and the solitude of the silent hours.</p> + +<p>Brighteye soon became aware of the fact +that some of the habits of the shrew were +entirely different from his own. While the +vole was almost entirely a vegetable feeder, the +shrew, diving to the bed of the river, would +thrust his long snout between the stones, +and pick up grubs and worms and leeches +sheltering there. With Brighteye's curiosity +was mingled not a little wonderment, for +the shrew's furry coat presented a strange +contrast of black above and white beneath, +and, immediately after the shrew had dived, +a hundred little bubbles, adhering to the +ends of his hair, caused him to appear like +a silvery grey phantom, gliding gracefully, +though erratically, from stone to stone, from +patch to patch of water-weed, from ripple to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> +ripple near the surface of the stream. The +young brown trout, hovering harmlessly +above the rocky shelves and in the sandy +shallows, far from being a source of terror +to Brighteye, fled at his approach, and +seldom returned to their haunts till he +had reached the far side of the current. +Emboldened by the example of the shrew, +that sometimes made a raid among the +minnows, and desirous of keeping all +intruders away from the lower entrance +to his burrow, Brighteye habitually chased +the trout if they ventured within the little +bay before his home. But there was one +trout, old and lean, whose haunt was behind +a weed-covered stone at the throat of the +pool, and of this hook-beaked, carnivorous +creature, by which he had once been chased +and bitten, Brighteye went in such constant +fear that he avoided the rapid, and, directly +he caught a glimpse of the long, dark form +roving through the gloomy depths, paddled +with utmost haste to his nearest landing +place.</p> + +<p>Since, under the care of his mother, he +made his earliest visit to the reed-bed, +Brighteye had seen hundreds of giant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +salmon; the restless fish, however, did not +stay long in the pool, but after a brief +sojourn passed upward. Often at dusk the +salmon would leap clear into the air just +as Brighteye came to the surface after his +first dive, and once so near was a sportive +fish that the vole became confused for the +moment by the sudden turmoil of the +“rise,” and rocked on the swell of the back-wash +like a boat on the waves of a tossing +sea. During the summer Brighteye had +suffered nothing, beyond this one sudden +fright, from the visits of the great silvery +fish to the neighbourhood of his home; +and, notwithstanding his experience, he was +accustomed to dive boldly into the depths +of the “hovers,” and even to regard without +fear the approach of an unusually inquisitive +salmon. Late in the autumn, however, +Brighteye noticed, with unaccountable misgiving, +a distinct change in the appearance +of these passing visitors. The silvery sheen +had died away from their scales, and had +been succeeded by a dark, dull red; and the +fish were sluggish and ill-tempered. Besides, +they were so numerous, especially after a +heavy rainfall, that the stream seemed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +barely able to afford them room in their +favourite “hovers,” and the old trout, +previously an easy master of the situation, +found it almost beyond his powers to keep +trespassers from his particular haunt in mid-current +at the throat of the pool. So +occupied was he with this duty that he +seldom roamed into the little bays beneath +the alder-fringes; and Brighteye, so long as +he avoided the rapid, was fairly safe from +his attack. The reed-bed, though partly +submerged, still yielded the vole sufficient +food; and to reach it straight from his +home he had to pass through the shallows, +which extended for a considerable distance +up-stream and down-stream from the +gravelly stretch immediately outside the +reeds.</p> + +<p>About the beginning of winter, when the +migration of the salmon had become intermittent, +and the sea-trout had all passed +upward beyond the pool, two of the big, +ugly “red fish,” late arrivals at the “hover” +nearest the burrow, made a close inspection +of the pool; then, instead of following their +kindred to the further reaches, they fell +back toward the tail of the stream and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +there remained. After the first week of +their stay, Brighteye found them so ill-tempered +that he dared not venture anywhere +near the tail of the stream; and, as +the big trout at the top of the pool showed +irritation at the least disturbance, the vole +was forced to wander down the bank, to a +spot below the salmon, before crossing the +river on his periodical journeys to the reed-bed. +His kindred, still living in the burrow +where he had been born, were similarly +daunted; while the shrew became the object +of such frequent attack—especially from +the bigger of the two salmon, an old male +with a sinister, pig-like countenance and a +formidable array of teeth—that escape from +disaster was little short of miraculous.</p> + +<p>Having calculated to a nicety his chances +of escape, and having decided to avoid +at all times the haunts of the pugnacious +fish, Brighteye was seldom inconvenienced, +except that he had to pass further than +hitherto along the bank before taking to +the water, and thus had to risk attack from +weasels and owls. But soon, to his dismay, +he discovered that the salmon had shifted their +quarters to the shallow close by the reeds.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +He was swimming one night as usual +into the quiet water by the reed-bed, and, +indeed, had entered a narrow, lane-like +opening among the stems, when he felt +a quick, powerful movement in the water, +and saw a mysterious form turn in pursuit +of him, and glide swiftly away with a +mighty effort that caused a wave to ripple +through the reeds, while the outer stalks +bent and recoiled as if from the force +of a powerful blow. On the following +night he was chased almost to the end of +the opening among the reeds, and barely +escaped; but this time he recognised his +pursuer. Afterwards, having unexpectedly +met the shrew, he crept with his companion +along by the water's edge as far as the +ford, and spent the dark hours in a +strange place, till at dawn he crossed the +rough water, and sought his home by a +path the further part of which he had not +previously explored.</p> + + + +<h2>IV.</h2> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> +<h3>SAVED BY AN ENEMY.</h3> + + +<p>The days were dim and the nights long, +and thick, drenching mists hung over +the gloomy river. The salmon's family +affairs had reached an important stage; and +the “redd,” furrowed in the gravel by the +mated fish, contained thousands of newly +deposited eggs. And, as many of the river-folk, +from the big trout to the little water-shrew, +continually threatened a raid on the +spawn, the salmon guarded each approach to +the shallows with unremitting vigilance.</p> + +<p>It happened, unfortunately for Brighteye, +that, while the construction of the “redd” +was in progress, some of the eggs—unfertilised +and therefore not heavy enough +to sink to the bottom of the water—were +borne slowly by the current to the ford<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +below the pool, just as the shrew was +occupied there in vain attempts to teach +the vole how to hunt for insects among +the pebbles.</p> + +<p>If Brighteye had been at all inclined to +vary his diet, he would at that moment +have yielded to temptation. Everywhere +around him the trout were exhibiting great +eagerness, snapping up the delicacies as they +drew near, and then moving forward on the +scent in the direction of the “redd.” The +shrew joined in the quest; and Brighteye, +full of curiosity, swam beside his playmate +in the wake of the hungry trout. The +vole found quite a shoal of fish collected +near the reeds; and for a few moments he +frolicked about the edge of the shallow. He +could see nothing of the old male salmon, +though he caught a glimpse of the female +busy with her maternal duties at the top +of the “redd.”</p> + +<p>After diving up-stream and along by the +line of the eager trout, he rose to breathe +at the surface, when, suddenly, the river +seemed alive with trout scattering in every +direction, a great upheaval seemed to part +the water, and he himself was gripped by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +one of his hind-feet and dragged violently +down and across to the deep “hover” near +his home. The salmon had at last outwitted +the vole. The current was strong, and beneath +its weight Brighteye's body was bent +backwards till his fore-paws rested on the +salmon's head. Mad with rage and fright, +he clawed and bit at the neck of his captor. +Gradually his strength was giving way, and +for want of air he was losing consciousness, +when, like a living bolt, Lutra, the otter, to +save unwittingly a life that she had erstwhile +threatened, shot from the darkness of the river-bed, +and fixed her teeth in the neck of the +salmon scarcely more than an inch from the +spot to which the vole held fast in desperation. +In the struggle that ensued, and ended only +when Lutra had carried her prey to shore, +Brighteye, half suffocated and but faintly +apprehending what had taken place, was +released. Like a cork he rose to the surface, +where he lay outstretched and gasping, +while the current carried him swiftly to the +ford, and thence to the pool beneath the +village gardens. Having recovered sufficiently +to paddle feebly ashore, he sat for a +time in the safe shelter of a rocky ledge,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +unnoticed by the brown rats as they wandered +through the tall, withered grass-clumps high +above his hiding place. At last he got +the better of his sickness and fright; and, +notwithstanding the continued pain of his +scarred limbs, he brushed his furry coat and +limped homeward just as the dawn was +silvering the grey, silent pool where the lonely +salmon guarded the “redd” and waited +in vain for the return of her absent mate.</p> + +<p>Brighteye took to heart his own escape +from death, and for several nights moped and +pined, ate little, and frequented only a part +of the river-bank in proximity to his burrow. +As soon, however, as the tiny scars on his +leg were healed, he ventured again to the +river; and for a period danger seldom +threatened him. While he was unceasingly +vigilant, and always ready to seek with +utmost haste the safety of his home, a new +desire to take precautions against the probability +of attack possessed him. When, at +dusk, he stole out from the upper entrance +of his dwelling, he crouched on the grassy +ledge at the river's brim and peered into the +little bay below. If nothing stirred between +the salmon “hover” and the bank, he dropped<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> +quietly into the pool, inhaled a long, deep +breath, dived beneath the willow-roots, and +watched, through the clear depths, each +moving fish or swaying stem of river-weed +within the range of his vision. But not till, +after several visits to his water-entrance, he +was perfectly convinced of the absence of +danger, did he dare to brave the passage of +the pool.</p> + +<p>The water-entrance to the vole's burrow +was situated about a foot below the summer +level of the river, and in a kind of buttress +of gravel and soil, which, at its base, sloped +abruptly inwards like an arch. This buttress +jutted out at the lower corner of a little +horse-shoe bay; and hereabouts, during +summer, a shoal of minnows had often +played, following each other in and out of +every nook and cranny beneath the bank, or +floating up and flashing in sun-flecked ripples +faintly stirred by a breeze that wandered +lightly from across the stream.</p> + +<p>Ordinarily, Brighteye found that the hole +in the perpendicular bank served its purpose +well; at the slightest disturbance he could +escape thither, and, safe from pursuit, climb +the irregular stairway to the hollow chamber<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +above high-water mark. But it was different +in times of flood. If he had to flee from +the big trout, or from the otter, when the +stream rushed madly past his open doorway, +he found that an interval, which, however +brief, was sufficient to imperil his life, +must necessarily elapse before he could +secure a foothold in his doorway and lift +himself into the dark recess beyond.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 306px;"> +<img src="images/i002.jpg" width="306" height="500" alt="“THE BIG TROUT, IN HIS TORPEDO-LIKE RUSH TO CUT OFF BRIGHTEYE +FROM SURE REFUGE.”" title="“THE BIG TROUT, IN HIS TORPEDO-LIKE RUSH TO CUT OFF BRIGHTEYE FROM SURE REFUGE.”" /> +<span class="caption">“THE BIG TROUT, IN HIS TORPEDO-LIKE RUSH TO CUT OFF BRIGHTEYE +FROM SURE REFUGE.” (<a href="#Page_105">See p. 105</a>).</span> +<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">To List</a></span></div> +</div> + +<p>Lutra had almost caught him after his +adventure with the owl. He had, however, +eluded the otter by diving, in the nick of +time, from the stone to which he clung +before the entrance, and then seeking the +land. If he had been an instant later, she +would have picked him off, as a bat picks a +moth from a lighted window-pane, and he +would never have reached the down-stream +shallow. At that time the water, clearing +after a summer freshet, was fairly low. +Brighteye's danger in some wild winter flood +would, therefore, be far greater; so, timorous +from his recent experiences, and sufficiently +intelligent to devise and carry out plans by +which he would secure greater safety, he +occupied his spare time in the lengthening +nights with driving a second shaft straight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +inward from the chamber to a roomy natural +hollow among the willow-roots, and thence +in devious course, to avoid embedded stones, +downward to a tiny haven in the angle of +the buttress far inside the archway of the +bank, where the space was so confined that +the otter could not possibly follow him. +Even the big trout, in his torpedo-like rush +to cut off Brighteye from sure refuge, utterly +failed to turn, and then enter the narrow archway, +in time to catch the artful vole.</p> + +<p>The task of digging out the second tunnel +was exceedingly arduous; yet, on its completion, +Brighteye, taught by the changes going +on around him that months of scarcity were +impending, set to work again about half-way +between his sleeping chamber and the upper +entrance of the burrow. Here he scratched +out a small, semicircular “pocket,” which he +filled with miscellaneous supplies—seeds of +many kinds, a few beech-nuts, hazel-nuts, and +acorns, as well as roots of horse-tail grass +and fibrous river-weed.</p> + +<p>He was careful, like his small relative +the field-vole, and like the squirrel in the +woods above the river-bank, to harvest only +ripe, undamaged seeds and nuts; and in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +making his choice he was helped by his +exquisite sense of smell. He found some +potatoes and carrots—so small that they +had been dropped as worthless by a passing +labourer on the river-path—and selected +the best, leaving the others to rot among +the autumn leaves. As the “pocket” was +inadequate to contain his various stores, +the vole used the chamber also as a +granary, and slept in the warm, dry +hollow by the willow-roots.</p> + +<p>In the depth of winter, when the mist-wreaths +on the stream were icy cold and +brought death to the sleeping birds among +the branches of the leafless alders, and +when Lutra, ravenous with hunger, chased +the great grey trout from his “hover,” but +lost him in a crevice near the stakes, +Brighteye, saved from privation by his +hoarded provender, seldom ventured from +his home. But if the night was mild and +the stars were not hidden by a cloud of +mist, he would steal along his run-way +to the main road of the riverside people, +strip the bark from the willow-stoles, and +feed contentedly on the juicy pith; while +his friend, the shrew, busy in the shallows<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +near the reed-bed, searched for salmon-spawn +washed from the “redd” by the +turbulent flood, or for newly hatched fry no +longer guarded by the lonely parent fish +long since departed on her way to the +distant sea.</p> + +<p>The spirit of winter brooded over the +river valley. The faint summer music of +the gold-crest in the fir-tops, the sweet, +flute-like solo of the meditative thrush in +the darkness of the hawthorn, and the +weird, continuous rattle of the goatsucker +perched moveless on an oak-bough near the +river-bend, were no longer heard when at +dusk Brighteye left his burrow and sat, +watching and listening, on the little +eminence above the river's brink. Even +the drone of the drowsy beetle, swinging +over the ripples of the shadowed stream or +from tuft to tuft of grass beside the woodland +path, had ceased. But at times the +cheery dipper still sang from the boulder +whence the vole had dived to escape the +big brown owl; and, when other birds had +gone to sleep, the robin on the alder-spray +and the wren among the willow-stoles +piped their glad vespers to assure a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +saddened world that presently the winter's +gloom would vanish before the coming of +another spring.</p> + +<p>Like a vision of glory, which, in the first hour +of some poor wanderer's sleep, serves but to +mock awhile his awakened mind with recollections +of a happy past, so had the Indian +summer shone on Nature's tired heart, and +mocked, and passed away. The last red roseleaf +had fluttered silently down; the last +purple sloe had fallen from its sapless stem.</p> + +<p>A sharp November frost was succeeded +by a depressing month of mist and drizzling +rain. Then the heavens opened, and for +day after day, and night after night, their +torrents poured down the stony water-courses +of the hills. The river rose beyond +the highest mark of summer freshets, till +the low-lying meadow above the village was +converted into a lake, and Brighteye's +burrow disappeared beneath the surface of +a raging flood.</p> + +<p>Gifted with a mysterious knowledge of +Nature's moods—which all wild animals in +some degree possess—the vole had made +ready for the sudden change. On the night +preceding the storm, when in the mist even<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +the faintest sounds seemed to gain in clearness +and intensity, he had hollowed out for +himself a temporary dwelling among the +roots of a moss-grown tree on the steep +slope of the wood behind the river-path, and +had carried thither all his winter supplies +from the granary where first they had been +stored.</p> + +<p>Brighteye was exposed to exceptional +danger by his compulsory retirement from +the old burrow in the river-bank. Stoats +and weasels were ever on the prowl; no +water-entrance afforded him immediate +escape from their relentless hostilities, and +he was almost as liable to panic, if pursued +for any considerable distance on land, as +were the rabbits living on the fringe of the +gravel-pit within the heart of the silent +wood. If a weasel or a stoat had entered +the vole's new burrow during the period +when the flood was at its highest, only the +most fortunate circumstances could have +saved its occupant. Even had he managed +to flee to the river, his plight would still +have been pitiful. Unable to find security +in his former retreat, and effectually +deterred by the lingering scent of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +pursuers from returning to his woodland +haunts, Brighteye, a homeless, hungry little +vagabond, at first perplexed, then risking +all in search of food and rest, would inevitably +have met his fate.</p> + +<p>But neither stoat nor weasel learned of his +new abode. His burrow was high and dry +in the gravelly soil under the tree-trunk; and +before his doorway, as far as a hollow at the +river's verge, stretched a natural path of rain-washed +stones on which the line of his scent +could never with certainty be followed. +While many of his kindred perished, Brighteye +survived this period of flood; and when +the waters, having cleansed each riverside +dwelling, abated to their ordinary winter +level, he returned to his burrow in the +buttress by the stakes, and once more felt +the joy of living in safety among familiar +scenes.</p> + +<p>Since the leaves had fallen, the brown rats +had become fewer and still fewer along the +river, and, when the flood subsided, it might +have been found that none of these creatures +remained in their summer haunts. They had +emigrated to the rick-yard near the village +inn; many of the stoats and weasels, finding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +provender scarce, had followed in their footsteps; +and Brighteye and his kindred, with +the water-shrews, the moorhens, and the +coots, were unmolested in their wanderings +both by night and day.</p> + +<p>The vole's favourite reed-bed was now +seldom visited. Besides being inundated, it +was silted so completely with gravel that +to cut through the submerged stems would +have been an arduous and almost impossible +task. Luckily, in his journeys along the +edge of the shallows during the flood, Brighteye +had found a sequestered pond, near +an old hedgerow dividing the wood, where +tender duckweed was plentiful, and, with +delicious roots of watercress, promised him +abundant food. Every evening he stole +through the shadows, climbed the leaf-strewn +rabbit-track by the hedge, and swam across +the pond from a dark spot beneath some +brambles to the shelter of a gorse-bush overhanging +the weeds. There he was well protected +from the owl by an impenetrable +prickly roof, while he could readily elude, by +diving, any stray creature attacking him from +land.</p> + +<p>Winter dragged slowly on its course, and,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +just as the first prophecy of spring was +breathed by the awakening woodlands, the +warm west breezes ceased to blow, and the +bleak north wind moaned drearily among +the trees. Night after night a sheet of ice +spread and thickened from the shallows to +the edge of the current, the wild ducks came +down to the river from the frost-bound moors, +and great flocks of geese, whistling loudly in +the starlit sky, passed on their southward +journey to the coast.</p> + +<p>For the first few nights Brighteye left his +chamber only when acute hunger drove him +to his storehouse in the wood. Directly he +had fed, he returned home, and settled once +more to sleep. At last his supplies were +exhausted, and he was forced to subsist +almost entirely on the pith beneath the bark +of the willows. The pond by the hedgerow +was sealed with ice, and he suffered much +from the lack of his customary food. Half-way +between his sleeping chamber and its +water-entrance, a floor of ice prevented ready +access to the river; and, under this floor, a +hollow, filled with air, was gradually formed +as the river receded from the level it had +reached on the first night of frost. Brighteye's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +only approach to the outer world was, therefore, +through the upper doorway. All along +the margin of the pool, as far as the swift +water beyond the stakes, the ice-shelf was +now so high above the river that even to a +large animal like the otter it offered no landing +place. Only at the stakes, where the dark, +cold stream flowed rapidly between two blocks +of ice, could Brighteye enter or leave the river. +Partly because, if he should be pursued, the +swiftness of the stream was likely to lessen +his chances of escape, and partly because of a +vague but ever-present apprehension of danger, +he avoided this spot. It was fortunate that +he did so; Lutra, knowing well the ways of +the riverside people, often lurked in hiding +under the shelf of ice beyond the stakes, and, +when she had gone from sight, the big, gaunt +trout came slyly from his refuge by the +boulder and resumed his tireless scrutiny of +everything that passed his “hover.” At last +a thaw set in, and Brighteye, awakening on +the second day from his noontide sleep, heard +the great ice-sheet crack, and groan, and fall +into the river.</p> + +<p>When darkness came he hurried to the +water's brink, and, almost reckless with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +delight, plunged headlong into the pool. He +tucked his fore-paws beneath his chin, and, +with quick, free strokes of his hind-legs, dived +deep to the very bottom of the backwater. +Thence he made a circle of the little bay, +and, floating up to the arch before his +dwelling, sought the inner entrance, where, +however, the ice had not yet melted. He +dived once more, and gained the outer +entrance in the front of the buttress, but +there, also, the ice was thick and firm. +He breathed the cold, damp air in the +hollow beneath the ice, then glided out and +swam to land. The tiny specks of dirt, +which, since the frost kept him from the +river, had matted his glossy fur, seemed now +completely washed away, and he felt delightfully +fresh and vigorous as he sat on the +grass, and licked and brushed each hair into +place. His toilet completed, he ran gaily +up the bank to his storehouse under +the tree, but only to find it empty. Not +in the least disheartened, he climbed the +rabbit-track, rustled over the hedge-bank to +the margin of the pond, and there, as in +the nights before the frost, feasted eagerly +on duckweed and watercress. On the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +following day the ice melted in the shaft +below his chamber, and he was thus saved +the trouble of tunnelling a third water-passage—as +a ready means of escape from the otter +and the big trout, as well as from a chance +weasel or stoat—which, if the ice had not +disappeared, he surely would have made +as soon as his vigour was fully restored.</p> + + +<h2>V.</h2> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> +<h3>THE COURAGE OF FEAR.</h3> + + +<p>The dawn, with easy movement, comes +across the eastern hills; the mists roll up +from steaming hollows to a cloudless sky; +the windows of a farm-house in the dingle +gleam and sparkle with the light. So came +the fair, unhesitating spring; so rolled +the veil of winter's gloom away; so gleamed +and sparkled with responsive greeting every +tree and bush and flower in the awakened +river valley. The springs and summers of +our life are few, yet in each radiant dawn +and sunrise they may, in brief, be found.</p> + +<p>Filled with the restlessness of springtide +life—a restlessness felt by all wild creatures, +and inherited by man from far distant ages +when, depending on the hunt for his sustenance, +he followed the migrations of the beasts—Brighteye<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +often left his retreat much earlier +in the afternoon than had been his wont, and +stole along the river-paths even while the +sunshine lingered on the crest of the hill and +on the ripples by the stakes below the pool.</p> + +<p>Prompted by an increasing feeling of +loneliness and a strong desire that one of +his kindred should share with him his +comfortable home, he occupied much of +his time in enlarging the upper chamber of +the burrow till it formed a snug, commodious +sleeping place ceiled by the twisted willow-roots; +and, throwing the soil behind him +down the shaft, he cleared the floor till it was +smooth and level. Then he boldly sallied +forth, determined to wander far in search +of a mate rather than remain a bachelor. +He proceeded down-stream beside the trout-reach, +and for a long time his journey was +in vain. He heard a faint plash on the +surface of the water, and at once his little +heart beat fast with mingled hope and fear; +but the sound merely indicated that the +last of winter's withered oak-leaves, pushed +gently aside by a swelling bud, had fallen +from the bough. Suddenly, from the ruined +garden above him on the brow of the slope,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> +came the dread hunting cry of his old +enemy, the tawny owl. Even as the first +weird note struck with far-spreading resonance +on the silence of the night, all longing +and hope forsook the vole. Realising only +that he was in a strange place far from +home, and exposed to many unknown +dangers, he sat as moveless as the pebbles +around him, till, from a repetition of the +cry, he learned that the owl was departing +into the heart of the wood. Then, silently, he +journeyed onward. Further and still further—past +the rocky shelf where he had landed +after his escape from the salmon, and into +a region honeycombed with old, deserted +rat-burrows, and arched with prostrate trees +and refuse borne by flood—he ventured, his +fear forgotten in the strength of his desire.</p> + +<p>Close beside the river's brink, as the +shadows darkened, he found the fresh scent +of a female vole. He followed it eagerly, +through shallow and whirlpool and stream, +to a spit of sand among some boulders, +where he met, not the reward of his labour +and longing, but a jealous admirer of the +dainty lady he had sought to woo. After +the manner of their kind in such affairs, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> +rivals ruffled with rage, kicked and squealed +as if to declare their reckless bravery, and +closed in desperate battle. Their polished +teeth cut deeply, and the sand was furrowed +and pitted by their straining feet. Several +times they paused for breath, but only to +resume the fight with renewed energy. The +issue was, however, at last decided. Brighteye, +lying on his back, used his powerful hind-claws +with such effect that, when he regained +his footing, he was able, almost unresisted, to +get firm hold of his tired opponent, and +to thrust him, screaming with pain and +baffled rage, into the pool.</p> + +<p>The female vole had watched the combat +from a recess in the bank; and, when the +victor returned from the river, she crept out +trustfully to meet him, and licked his soiled +and ruffled fur. But for the moment Brighteye +was not in a responsive mood. Though +his body thrilled at the touch of her warm, +soft tongue, he recognised that his first duty +was to make his conquest sure. His strength +had been taxed to the utmost, and, since his +rage was expended and his tiny wounds +were beginning to smart, he feared a second +encounter and the possible loss of his lady-love.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> +So, with simulated anger, he drove her +before him along the up-stream path and +into the network of deserted run-ways by the +trout-reach. There his mood entirely changed; +and soon, in simple, happy comradeship, he led +her to his home.</p> + +<p>Brighteye was a handsome little fellow. +At all times he had been careful in his toilet, +but now, pardonably vain, he fastidiously +occupied every moment of leisure in brushing +and combing his long, fine, soft fur. +Both in appearance and habits he was altogether +different from the garbage-loving rat. +His head was rounder and blunter than the +rat's, his feet were larger and softer, and his +limbs and his tail were shorter. On the under +side his feet were of a pale pink colour, but +on the upper side they were covered, like the +field-vole's, with close, stiff hair set in regular +lines from the toes to the elbows of the front +limbs and to the ankles of the hind-legs, where +the long, fine fur of the body took its place. +A slight webbing crossed the toes of his hind-feet—so +slight, indeed, that it assisted him +but little in swimming—and his tiny, polished +claws were plum-coloured. Except when he +was listening intently for some sign of danger,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +his small, round ears were almost concealed +in his thick fur. His mate was of smaller +and more delicate build—this was especially +noticeable when once I saw her swim with +Brighteye through the clear water beneath +the bank—and she was clad in sombre brown +and grey.</p> + +<p>Household and similar duties soon began +to claim attention in and around the riverside +dwelling. The green grass was growing +rapidly under the withered blades that arched +the run-ways between the river's brink +and the woodland path; and, as the voles +desired to keep these run-ways clear, they +assiduously cut off all encroaching stems and +brushed them aside. The stems dried, and +in several places formed a screen beneath +which the movements of the voles were not +easily discernible. Selecting the best of the +dry grass-stalks, the voles carried them home, +and, after much labour, varied with much +consultation in which small differences of +opinion evidently occurred, completed, in +the sleeping chamber beneath the willow-roots, +a large, round nest. The magnitude +of their labour could be easily inferred from +the appearance of the nest: each grass-blade<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> +carried thither had been bitten into dozens +of fragments, and the structure filled the +entire space beyond the first of the exposed +roots, though its interior, till from frequent +use it changed its form, seemed hardly able +to accommodate the female vole.</p> + +<p>In this tight snuggery, at a time when +the corncrake's nocturnal music was first +heard in the meadow by the pool, five +midget water-voles, naked and blind, were +born. Brighteye listened intently to the +faint, unmistakable family noises issuing +therefrom, and then, like a thoughtful dry-nurse, +went off to find for his mate a tender +white root of horse-tail grass. For several +nights he was assiduous in his attentions to +the mother vole; and afterwards, his house-keeping +duties being suspended, he became +a vigilant sentinel, maintaining constant +watch over the precious family within his +home.</p> + +<p>When the baby voles were about a week +old, a large brown rat, that on several +occasions in the previous year had annoyed +the youthful Brighteye, returned to the +pool. Wandering through the run-ways, the +monster chanced to discover the opening<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> +from the bank to Brighteye's chamber, and, +thinking that here was a place admirably +suited for a summer resort, proceeded to +investigate. The vole scented him immediately, +and, though the weaker animal, climbed +quickly out and with tooth and nail fell upon +the intruder. An instant later, the mother +vole appeared, and with even greater ferocity +than that of her mate joined in the keen +affray in order to defend her home and +family to the utmost of her powers. But +the rat possessed great strength and cruel +teeth, and his size and weight were such +that for several minutes he successfully +maintained his position. With desperate +efforts, the voles endeavoured to pull the rat +into the water, where, as they knew, their +advantage would be greater than on land. +They succeeded at last in forcing him over +the bank, and in the pool proceeded to +punish him to such an extent—clinging to +his neck by their teeth and fore-feet, while +they used their hind-claws with painful effect +on his body—that, dazed by their drastic +methods and almost suffocated, he reluctantly +gave up the struggle, and floated, gasping, +down the stream.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> + +<p>The mother vole, though she and her +spouse had proved victorious, was so +unsettled by the rat's incursion, that, as a +cat carries her kittens, she carried each of +her young in turn from their nest to a +temporary refuge in a clump of brambles. +Still dissatisfied, she removed them thence +to a shallow depression beside one of +the run-ways, where, throughout the night, +she nursed them tenderly. At daybreak +she took them back to the warmth and the +comfort of the nest. Shortly afterwards, +when their eyes were opened and they were +following the parent voles on one of their +customary night excursions, the mother +found herself face to face with a far more +formidable antagonist than the rat.</p> + +<p>The baby voles, like the offspring of +nearly all land animals that have gradually +become aquatic in their habits, were at first +strangely averse from entering the water, +and had to be taken by their parents into +the pool. There the anxious mother, firm +yet gentle in her system of education, +watched their every movement, and +encouraged them to follow her about the +backwaters and shallows near their home.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +But if either of them showed the faintest +sign of fatigue, the mother dived quietly +and lifted the tired nursling to the surface.</p> + +<p>Late one evening, while the parent voles +were busy with their work of family training, +the old cannibal trout suddenly appeared, rose +quickly at one of the youngsters swimming +near the edge of the current, but, through +a slight miscalculation, failed to clutch his +prize. The mother vole, ever on the alert, +plunged down, and, heedless of danger, +darted towards her enemy. For a second +or two she manœuvred to obtain a grip, +then, as she turned to avoid attack, the +jaws of the trout opened wide, and, like +a steel trap, closed firmly on her tail. +Maddened with rage and pain, she raised +herself quickly, clutched at the back of her +assailant, and buried her sharp, adze-shaped +teeth—that could strip a piece of willow-bark +as neatly as could a highly tempered +tool of steel—in the flesh behind his gills. +So sure and speedy was her action, that she +showed no sign of fatigue when she reached +the surface of the water, and the trout, +his spinal column severed just behind his +gills, drifted lifelessly away.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p> + +<p>Though the young voles, in the tunnelled +buttress of the river-bank, lived under the +care of experienced parents ever ready and +resolute in their defence, and became as shy +and furtive as the wood-mice dwelling in +the hollows of the hedge beside the pond, +they were not always favoured by fortune. +The weakling of the family died of disease; +another of the youngsters, foraging alone in +the wood, was killed by a bloodthirsty weasel; +while a third, diving to pick up a root of +water-weed, was caught by the neck in the +fork of a submerged branch, and drowned.</p> + +<p>During the autumn and the winter the +survivors remained with their parents; the +burrow was enlarged and improved by the +addition of new granaries for winter +supplies, new water-entrances to facilitate +escape in times of panic, and a new, commodious +sleeping chamber, strewn with hay +and withered reeds, at the end of a long +tunnel extending almost directly beneath +the river-path. The supplies in the +granaries were, however, hardly needed: +the winter was exceptionally mild, and the +voles were generally able to obtain duckweed +and watercress for food. Often, on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +my way to the ruined garden, I noticed +their footprints—indistinctly outlined on +the gravel, but deep and triangular where +the creatures climbed through soft and +yielding soil—along the path leading to the +pond in the pasture near the wood.</p> + +<p>When spring came once more, and +the scented primroses gleamed faintly in +the gloom beside the upper entrance to +the burrow, and the corncrake, babbling +loudly, wandered through the growing grass +at the foot of the meadow-hedge, the household +of the voles was broken up. The +young ones found partners, and, in homes +not far from the burrow by the willow-stoles, +settled down to the usual life of the +vole, a life of happiness and yet of peril.</p> + +<p>For still another year Brighteye's presence +was familiar to me. I often watched him +as he sat at the water's edge above the +buttress, or on the stone in mid-stream, or +on the half-submerged root of a tree washed +into an angle of the pool above the stakes, +and as, after his usual toilet observances, he +swam thence across the reed-bed opposite +the “hover” where, in autumn, the breeding +salmon lurked.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then, for many months, I lived far from +the well loved village. But one winter +evening, after a long journey, I returned. +The snow, falling rapidly, blotted out the +prospect of the silent hills. The village +seemed asleep; the shops were closed for the +weekly holiday; not a footfall could be +heard, not even a dog could be seen, down +the long vista of the straggling street. The +white walls of the cottages, and the white +snow-drifts banked beside the irregular +pavements, were in complete contrast to the +radiant summer scene on which my eyes +had lingered when I left the village. My +feeling of cheerlessness was not dispelled +even by the warmth and comfort of the +little inn. Oppressed by the evidences of +change, which in my disappointment were, +no doubt, much exaggerated, I left the inn, +and, heedless of the piercing cold and the +driving snow, made my way towards the +river. As I approached the stakes below +the pool, a golden-eye duck rose from beside +the bank, and on whistling wings flew +swiftly into the gloom. I crouched in the +shelter of a holly tree, and waited and +watched till the cold became unendurable;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> +but no other sign of life was visible; the +pool was deserted.</p> + +<p>In summer I returned home to stay, and +then, as of old, I often wandered by the +river. Evening after evening, till long +after the last red glow had faded from the +western hill-tops, I lingered by the pool. +The owl sailed slowly past; the goatsucker +hawked for moths about the oaks; the trout +rose to the incautious flies; the corncrake +babbled loudly in the long, lush meadow +grass. A family of voles swam in and out +of the shallows opposite my hiding place; +but none of the little animals approached +the buttress near the stakes. Frequently +I saw their footprints on the sandy margin, +but never the footprints of Brighteye. +Somehow, somewhere, he had met relentless +fate.</p> + + +<h2><a name="THE_FIELD-VOLE" id="THE_FIELD-VOLE"></a>THE FIELD-VOLE.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p> + +<h2>I.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<h3>HIDDEN PATHWAYS IN THE GRASS.</h3> + + +<p>The sun had set, the evening was calm, and +a mist hung over the countryside when a field-vole +appeared at the mouth of his burrow +in a mossy pasture. The little grey creature +was one of the most timorous of the feeble +folk dwelling in the pleasant wilderness of +the Valley of Olwen. His life, like that of +Brighteye, the water-vole, was beset with +enemies; but Nature had given to him, as +to the water-vole, acute senses of sight, and +smell, and hearing, and a great power of +quick and intelligent action. He had lived +four years, survived a hundred dangers, and +reared twenty healthy families; and his wits +were so finely sharpened that he was +recognised by a flourishing colony, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> +had gradually increased around his moss-roofed +home, as the wisest and most wide-awake +field-vole that ever nibbled a turnip +or harvested a seed.</p> + +<p>For a moment the vole sat in the mouth +of the burrow, with nothing of himself visible +but a blunt little snout twitching as he sniffed +the air, and two beady eyes moving restlessly +as he peered into the sky. Suddenly he +leaped out and squatted beside the nearest +stone. A robin, disturbed in his roosting +place by another of his kind, flew from the +hedge in furious pursuit of the intruder, and +passed within a few inches of the burrow. +The vole, alarmed by the rush of wings, +instantly vanished; but soon, convinced that +no cause for fear existed, he again left his +burrow and for several minutes sat motionless +by the stone.</p> + +<p>He was not, however, idle—a field-vole +is never idle save when he sleeps—but he was +puzzled by the different sounds and scents +and sights around him; they had become +entangled, and while he watched and listened +his mind was trying to pick out a thread of +meaning here and there. What was the cause +of that angry chatter, loud, prolonged, insistent,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> +in the fir plantation at the bottom +of the field? Some unwelcome creature, bent +on mischief—perhaps a weasel or a cat—was +wandering through the undergrowth, and the +blackbirds, joined by the finches, the wrens, +and the tits, were endeavouring to drive it +from the neighbourhood. Gradually the +noisy birds followed the intruder to the far +end of the slope; then, returning to their +roosting places, they squabbled for the choice +of sheltered perches among the ivied boughs. +Silence fell on upland and valley; and the +creatures of the night crept forth from bank +and hedgerow, and the thickets of the wood, +to play and feed under the friendly protection +of the fast-gathering gloom. But the +field-vole would not venture from his lair +beside the stone.</p> + +<p>A convenient tunnel, arched with grass-bents, +led thither from the burrow, the post +of observation being shaped through frequent +use into an oval “form.” The vole, though +anxious to begin his search for food, was +not satisfied that the way was clear to +the margin of the fir plantation, for the air +was infused with many odours, some so +strong and new that he could easily have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +followed their lines, but others so faint and +old that their direction and identity were +alike uncertain. From the signs that were +fresh the vole learned the story of field-life +for the day. Horses, men, and hounds had +hurried by in the early morning, and with +their scent was mingled that of a fleeing +fox. Later, the farmer and his dog had +passed along the hedge, a carrion crow had +fed on a scrap of refuse not a yard from the +stone, and a covey of partridges had “dusted” +in the soft soil before leaving the pasture by +a gap beside a clump of furze. Blackbirds, +thrushes, yellow-hammers, and larks had +wandered by in the grass, a wood-pigeon and +a squirrel had loitered among the acorns +under the oak, and a hedgehog had led her +young through the briars. Rabbits, too, had +left their trails in the clover, and a red bank-vole +had strayed near the boundaries of the +field-vole's colony. Their signs were familiar +to the vole from experience; he detected +them and singled them out from the old +trails with a sense even truer than that of +the hounds as they galloped past in the +morning's chase.</p> + +<p>There was one distinct scent, however, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> +baffled him. At first he believed it to be +that of a weasel, but it lacked the pungent +strength inseparable from the scent of a +full-grown “vear.”</p> + +<p>Gathering courage as the darkness deepened, +the field-vole rustled from his lair, ran +quickly down the slope, and crept through +a wattled opening into the wood. He found +some fallen hawthorn berries among the +hyacinth leaves that carpeted the ground, and +of these he made a hasty meal, sitting on +his haunches, and holding his food in his +fore-paws as he gnawed the firm, succulent +flesh about the kernel of the seed. Then, +with a swift patter of tiny feet on the leaf-mould, +he ran down to a rill trickling over +a gravelly bed towards the brook, stooped +at the edge of a dark pool in the shadow +of a stone, and lapped the cool, clear water. +Thence he made for the edge of the wood, +to visit a colony of his tribe which in spring +had migrated from the burrows in the +uplands. Half-way on his journey, he again +suddenly crossed the line of the unknown +scent, now mingled with the almost overpowering +smell of a full-grown weasel. The +mystery was explained: the strange trail in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> +the upland meadow had evidently been that +of a young “vear” passing by the hedge +to join its parent in the wood.</p> + +<p>For a moment the vole stood petrified +with terror; then he sank to the earth, +and lay as still as the dead leaves beneath +him. But there was no time to be lost; +the “vears” were returning on their trail. +In an agony of fear the mouse turned back +towards his home. He ran slowly, for his +limbs almost refused their office of bearing +him from danger. Reaching the mouth +of his burrow with great difficulty, he +dropped headlong down a shallow shaft +leading to one of the numerous galleries. +Then, lo! his mood immediately changed; +his reasoning powers became strong and +clear; his parental instincts whispered that +his family, like himself, was in peril. +Squeaking all the while, he raced down one +tunnel, then down another, turned a sharp +corner beneath an archway formed by the +roots of a tree that had long ago been felled; +and there, in a dry nest of hay and straw, +he found his mate with her helpless little +family of six blind, semi-transparent sucklings +only three days old. He heard on every +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>side the quick scamper of feet as, alarmed +by his cries, the voles inhabiting the side +passages of the burrow scurried hither and +thither in wild efforts to remove their young +to some imagined place of safety.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 313px;"> +<img src="images/i003.jpg" width="313" height="500" alt="“SHE WAS HOLDING ONE OF HER OFFSPRING BY THE NECK, IN +PREPARATION FOR FLIGHT.”" title="“SHE WAS HOLDING ONE OF HER OFFSPRING BY THE NECK, IN PREPARATION FOR FLIGHT.”" /> +<span class="caption">“SHE WAS HOLDING ONE OF HER OFFSPRING BY THE NECK, IN +PREPARATION FOR FLIGHT.” (<a href="#Page_139">See p. 139</a>).</span> +<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">To List</a></span></div> + + +<p>His mate, like her neighbours, had +already taken alarm. At the moment of +his arrival she was holding one of her offspring +by the neck, in preparation for flight. +The next instant an ominous hiss reverberated +along the hollow passages; the mother vole, +with her suckling, vanished in the darkness +of the winding gallery; and the weasels +descended into the labyrinth of tunnels +hollowed out beneath the moss.</p> + +<p>Again an almost overwhelming fear +possessed the hunted vole, his limbs +stiffened, his condition seemed helpless. He +crawled slowly hither and thither, now passing +some fellow-creature huddled in the corner +of a blind alley; now lifting himself above +ground to seek refuge in another part of the +burrow; now pausing to listen to cries of +pain which indicated how thoroughly the +“vears” were fulfilling their gruesome work. +It seemed that the whole colony of voles +was being exterminated.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p> + +<p>Bewildered, after an hour of unmitigated +dread, he quitted the place of slaughter, +where every nook and corner reeked of +blood or of the weasels' scent, and limped +through the grass towards the hedge. In +a hollow among the scattered stones he +stayed till terror no longer benumbed him, +and he could summon courage to seek an +early meal in the root-field beyond the +pasture. Directly the day began to dawn, +he cautiously returned to his burrow. +Though numerous traces of the havoc of +the night remained, he knew, from the +staleness of the weasels' scent, that his foes +had departed.</p> + +<p>At noon his mate came again to her nest, +and searched for her missing offspring. But +the taint of blood on the floor of the +chamber told her only too well that henceforth +her mothering care would be needed +solely by the young mouse that she had +rescued in her flight. The day passed +uneventfully; the weasels did not repeat +their visit. At nightfall the mother mouse, +stealing into the wood, found both her +enemies caught in rabbit-traps set beside +the “runs” among the hawthorns.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> + +<p>For a while peace reigned in the underground +dwellings of the mossy pasture, +and the young field-vole thrived amazingly; +from the very outset fortune favoured him +above the rest of his species. After the +wholesale destruction that had taken place, +little risk of overcrowding and its attendant +evils remained, and, for the lucky mice surviving +the raid, food was plentiful, even +when later, in winter, they were awakened +by some warm, bright day, and hunger, +long sustained, had made them ravenous. +Kweek, having no brother or sister to +share his birthright, was fed and trained +in a manner that otherwise would have +been impossible, while his parents were +particularly strong and healthy. These +circumstances undoubtedly combined to +make him what he eventually became—quick +to form an opinion and to act, and +able, once he was fully grown, to meet in +fight all rivals for the possession of any +sleek young she-vole he happened to have +chosen for his mate.</p> + +<p>Soon after his eyes were open, the adult +voles of the colony began to harvest their +winter supplies. Seeds of all kinds were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +stored in shallow hiding places—under +stones, or under fallen branches—or in +certain chambers of the burrow set apart +for that especial purpose; and as each +granary was filled its entrance was securely +stopped by a mound of earth thrown up by +the busy harvesters.</p> + +<p>The first solid food Kweek tasted was the +black, glossy seed of a columbine, which +his mother, busily collecting provender, +chanced to drop near him as she hurried to +her storehouse. Earlier in the night, just +outside the burrow, he had watched her +with great curiosity as she daintily nibbled +a grain of wheat brought from a gateway +where the laden waggons had passed. He +had loitered near, searching among the grass-roots +for some fragment he supposed his +mother to have left behind, but he found +only a rough, prickly husk, that stuck +beneath his tongue, nearly choked him, +and drove him frantic with irritation, till, +after much violent shaking and twitching, +and rubbing his throat and muzzle with his +fore-paws, he managed to get rid of the +objectionable morsel. Something, however, +in the taste of the husk so aroused his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +appetite for solid food, that when his +mother dropped the columbine seed he +at once picked it up in his fore-paws, and, +stripping off the hard, glossy covering, +devoured it with the keen relish of a new +hunger that as yet he could not entirely +understand. His growth, directly he learned +to feed on the seeds his mother showed +him, and to forage a little for himself, was +more rapid than before. Nature seemed in +a hurry to make him strong and fat, that +he might be able to endure the cold and +privation of winter.</p> + +<p>By the end of November, when at night +the first rime-frosts lay on the fallow, and +the voles, disliking the chill mists, seldom +left their burrow, Kweek was already bigger +than his dam. He was, in fact, the equal +of his sire in bone and length, but he was +loose-limbed and had not filled out to +those exact proportions which, among voles +as among all other wildlings of the field, +make for perfect symmetry, grace, and +stamina, and come only with maturity and +the first love season.</p> + +<p>When about two months old, Kweek, for +the first time since the weasels had visited<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +the burrow, experienced a narrow escape +from death. The night was mild and +bright, and the vole was busy in the littered +loam of the hedgerow, where, during the +afternoon, a blackbird had scratched the +leaves away and left some ripe haws +exposed to view. Suddenly he heard a +loud, mocking call, apparently coming from +the direction of the moon: “Whoo-hoo! +Whoo-hoo-o-o-o!” It was a strangely +bewildering sound; so the vole squatted +among the leaves and listened anxiously, +every sense alert to catch the meaning of +the weird, foreboding voice. “Whoo-hoo! +Whoo-hoo-o-o-o!”—again, from directly +overhead, the cry rang out into the night. +A low squeak of warning, uttered by the +father vole as he dived into his burrow, +caused the young mice foraging in the +undergrowth to bolt helter-skelter towards +home. Kweek, joining in the general panic, +rushed across the field, and had almost disappeared +underground when he felt the +earth and the loose pebbles falling over him, +and at the same time experienced a sharp +thrill of pain. Fortunately, his speed saved +him—but only by an inch. The claws of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> +the great brown owl, shutting like a vice +as the bird “stooped” on her prey, laid +hold of nothing but earth and grass, though +one keen talon cut the vole's tail as with +a knife, so that the little creature squealed +lustily as he ran along the gallery to seek +solace from his mother's companionship in +the central chamber beyond. Yet even there +he was not allowed to remain in peace. +Maddened by the scent of a few drops of +blood coming from his wound, the adult +voles chased him from the burrow, and +drove him out into the field. Luckily for +him the brown owl had meanwhile flown +away with another young vole in her claws. +Kweek remained in safety under the hawthorns +till the grey dawn flushed the +south-east sky; then, his injured tail having +ceased to bleed, he ventured without fear +among his kindred as they lay huddled +asleep in the recesses of their underground +abode.</p> + +<p>The year drew to its close, the weather +became colder, and an irresistible desire for +long-continued rest took possession of Kweek. +His appetite was more easily satisfied than +hitherto; hour after hour, by night as well<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> +as by day, he drowsed in the snug corner +where lay the remains of the nest in which +he had been born. Winter, weary and +monotonous to most of the wildlings of the +field, passed quickly over his head. Scarce-broken +sleep and forgetfulness, when skies +are grey and tempests rage—such are +Nature's gifts to the snake, the bee, and +the flower, as well as to the squirrel in the +wood and the vole in the burrow beneath +the moss. Occasionally, it is true, when at +noon the sun was bright and spring seemed +to have come to the Valley of Olwen, the +snake would stir in his retreat beneath the +leaves, the bee would crawl to and fro in +her hidden nest, the flower would feel the +stir of rising sap, the squirrel would venture +forth to stretch cramped limbs by a visit +to some particular storehouse—the existence +of which, as one among many filled with +nuts and acorns, he happened to remember—and +the vole would creep to the entrance +of his burrow, and sit in the welcome +warmth till the sun declined and hunger +sent him to his granary for a hearty meal. +These brief, spring-like hours, when the +golden furze blossomed in the hedge-bank<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> +near the field-vole's home, and the lark, +exultant, rose from the barren stubble, +were, however, full of danger to Kweek if +he but dared to lift his head above the +opening of his burrow.</p> + +<p>On the outskirts of the wood, in a rough, +ivy-grown ridge where, years ago, some trees +had been felled, a flourishing colony of bank-voles—little +creatures nearly akin, and almost +similar in shape and size, to the field-voles—dwelt +among the roots and the undergrowth. +These bank-voles, probably because +they lived in a sheltered place screened +from the bitter wind by a wall of gorse and +pines, moved abroad in the winter days far +more frequently than did the field-voles. For +several years a pair of kestrels had lived in +the valley, and had reared their young in a +nest built on a ledge of rock above the +Cerdyn brook and safe beyond the reach of +marauding schoolboys. The hen-kestrel, +when provender became scarce, would +regularly at noon beat her way across the +hill-top to the ridge where the red voles +lived, and, watching and waiting, with keen +eyes and ready talons, would remain in the +air above the burrow as if poised at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> +end of an invisible thread. Chiefly she was +the terror of the bank-voles; but often, +impatient of failure, she would slant her +fans and drift towards the burrows in the +mossy pasture, hoping to find that the grey +voles had awakened for an hour from their +winter sleep.</p> + +<p>Once, when the breeze blew gently from +the south and the sun was bright, Kweek, +sitting on a grassy mound, saw a shadow +rapidly approaching, and heard a sharp +swish of powerful wings. Though drowsy +and stiff from his winter sleep, he was +roused for the moment by the imminence +of danger, and, barely in time, scurried to +his hole. A fortnight afterwards, when, +again tempted out of doors by the mildness +of the weather, the vole was peeping +through an archway of matted grass, the +hawk, with even greater rapidity than +before, shot down from the sky. Had it +not been that the long grass screened an +entrance on the outskirts of the burrow, +Kweek would then have met his fate. He +fell, almost without knowing what was +happening, straight down the shaft; and +the sharp talons of the hawk touched<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> +nothing but grass and earth, and the end +of a tail already scarred by the claws of +the owl. Next day, as, moving along the +galleries to his favourite exit, the vole +passed beneath the shaft, he saw, straight +overhead, the shadowy wings outstretched, +quivering, lifting, gliding, pausing, while +beneath those spreading fans the baleful +eyes gleamed yellow in the slant of the +south-west sun, and the cruel claws, indrawn +against the keel-shaped breast, were clenched +in readiness for the deadly “stoop.” Fascinated, +the vole stayed awhile to look at +the hovering hawk. Then, as the bird +passed from the line of sight, he continued +his way along the underground passage to +the spot where he usually left his home by +one of the narrow, clean-cut holes which, +in a field-vole's burrow, seem to serve a +somewhat similar purpose to that of the +“bolts” in a rabbit's warren; and there he +again looked out. The hawk still hovered +in the calm winter air, so Kweek did not +venture that day to bask in the sun outside +his door. As soon as he had fed, and +shaken every speck of loose loam from his +fur, and washed himself clean with his tiny<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> +red tongue, he once more sought his cosy +corner and fell asleep.</p> + +<p>Presently a pink and purple sunset faded +in the gloom of night, and a heavy frost, +beginning a month of bitter cold, lay over +the fields. In continuous slumber Kweek +passed that dreary month, till the daisies +peeped in the grass, the snowdrops and the +daffodils thrust forth their sword-shaped +leaves above the water-meadows, and the +earliest violet unfolded its petals by the +pathway in the woods.</p> + + + +<h2>II.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<h3>THE VALLEY OF OLWEN.</h3> + + +<p>Eastward, the sky was covered with pale +cobalt; and in the midst of the far-spreading +blue hung a white and crimson cloud, like a +puff of bright-stained vapour blown up above +the rim of the world. Westward, the sky was +coloured with brilliant primrose; and on the +edge of the distant moorlands lay a great +bank of mist, rainbow-tinted with deep +violet, and rose, and orange. For a space +immediately on each side of the mist the +primrose deepened into daffodil—a chaste yet +intense splendour that seemed to stretch into +infinite distances and overlap the sharply +defined ridges of the dark horizon. The +green of the upland pasture and the brown +of the ploughland beyond were veiled by +a shimmering twilight haze, in which the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> +varied tints of the sky harmoniously blended, +till the umber and indigo shadows of night +loomed over the hills, and the daffodil flame +flickered and vanished over the last red ember +of the afterglow. Thus the first calm day of +early spring drew to its close.</p> + +<p>Kweek, the little field-vole, asleep in his +hidden nest beneath the moss, was roused by +the promise that Olwen, the White-footed, +who had come to her own beautiful valley +among our western hills, whispered as she +passed along the slope above the mill-dam +in the glen. He uncurled himself on the +litter of withered grass-bents that formed +his winter couch, crept towards the nearest +bolt-hole of his burrow, and peeped at the +fleecy clouds as they wandered idly overhead. +He inhaled long, deep breaths of +the fresh, warm air; then, conscious of new, +increasing strength, he continued his way +underground to the granary in which, some +months ago, his mother had stored the +columbine seeds. But the earth had been +scratched away from the storehouse door, +and nothing remained of the winter supplies. +Hungry and thirsty, yet not daring to roam +abroad while the sun was high, the vole<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> +moved from chamber to chamber of his +burrow, washed himself thoroughly from the +tip of his nose to the tip of his tail, then, +feeling lonely, awakened his parents from +their heavy sleep, and spent the afternoon +thinking and dreaming, till the sun sank +low in the glory of the aureolin sky, and +the robin's vesper trilled wistfully from the +hawthorns on the fringe of the shadowed +wood. Becoming venturesome with the +near approach of night, but still remembering +the danger that had threatened him before +the last period of his winter sleep, he lifted +himself warily above the ground, and for a +little while stayed near the mound of earth +beside the door of his burrow. Cramped +from long disuse, every muscle in his body +seemed in need of vigorous exertion, while +with each succeeding breath of the cool +twilight air his hunger and thirst increased.</p> + +<p>Determined to find food and water, +Kweek started towards the copse. No +beaten pathway guided his footsteps; wind +and rain, frost and thaw, and the new, +slow growth of the grass, had obliterated +every trail. But by following the scent of +the parent voles that had already stolen into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> +the wood, he reached in safety the banks of +the rill. Having quenched his thirst, he +scratched the soft soil from beneath a stone +and satisfied his hunger with some succulent +sprouts of herbage there exposed to sight. +Soon, tired from his unwonted exertion, +and feeling great pain through having torn +the pads of his feet—which, like those of all +hibernating animals, had become extremely +tender from want of exercise—he crept +home to his burrow, and rested till the +soreness had gone from his limbs, and he +felt active and hungry again.</p> + +<p>For the vole, guided as he was by +his appetite, the most wholesome vegetable +food was a ripe, well-flavoured seed. It +contained all that the plant could give; leaf +and stalk were tasteless compared with it, +and were accepted only as a change of diet, +or as a medicine, or as a last resource. +Next to a seed, he loved a tender root, or +a stem that had not yet thrust itself +through the soil, and was therefore crisp and +dainty to the taste. But the vole did +not subsist entirely on vegetable food. +Occasionally, when the nights were warm, +he surprised some little insect hiding in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> +moss, and pounced on his prey almost as +greedily as the trout in the stream below +the hill rose to a passing fly. And just +as the cattle in the distant farm throve +on grain and oil-cake, and the pheasant +in the copse near by on wood-ants' “eggs,” +and the trout in the Cerdyn brook on +ephemerals hatched at the margin of the +pool, so Kweek, the field-vole, abroad in +the nights of summer, grew sleek and well +conditioned on good supplies of seeds and +grubs. But now, worn out by long +privation, he was tired and weak.</p> + +<p>Gradually, from the bed of winter death, +from the rotting leaf-mould and the cold, +damp earth, the fresh, bright forms of +spring arose. The purple and crimson +trails of the periwinkle lengthened over +the stones; then the spear-shaped buds, +prompted by the flow of pulsing sap, lifted +themselves above the glossy leaves and +burst into flowers. The dandelion and the +celandine peeped from the grass; the +primrose garlanded each sunny mound on +the margin of the wood; and the willow +catkins, clothed with silver and pearly grey, +waved in the moist, warm breeze as it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> +wandered by the brook. The queen-ant, +aroused by the increasing warmth, carried +her offspring from the deep recess where, +in her tunnelled nest, she had brooded over +them while the north-east wind blew +through the leafless boughs, and laid +them side by side in a roomy chamber +immediately beneath the stone that +screened the spot to which, in the autumn +dusk, the father vole resorted that he +might watch and wait before the darkness +deepened on the fields and woods. +The bees from the hives in the farm +garden, and innumerable flies from their +winter retreats in the hedgerows, came +eagerly to the golden blossoms of the furze +near the bank-voles' colony. The bees +alighted with care on the lower petals of +the flowers, and thence climbed quickly +to the hidden sweets; but the flies, heedless +adventurers, dropped haphazard among +the sprays, and were content to filch +the specks of pollen dust and the tiny +drops of nectar scattered by the honey-bees. +A spirit of restlessness, of strife, of +strange, unsatisfied desire, possessed all +Nature's children; it raised the primrose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +from amid the deep-veined leaves close-pressed +on the carpet of the grass, it tuned +the carols of the robin and the thrush, it +caused the wild jack-hare to roam by +daylight along paths which hitherto he had +not followed save by night. Kweek felt +the subtle influence; long before dark he +would venture from his home, steal through +the “creeps,” which had now become +evident because of frequent “traffic,” and +visit the distant colonies of his kindred +beyond the wood.</p> + +<p>Of the flourishing community living in +the burrow before the weasels' raid none +survived but Kweek and his parents. One +night, however, the father vole, while +foraging near the hedgerow, was snapped +up and eaten by the big brown owl from +the beech-wood across the valley. In the +woodlands the greatest expert on the ways +of voles was the brown owl. His noiseless +wings never gave the slightest alarm, and +never interfered with his sense of hearing—so +acute that the faint rustle of a leaf or a +grass-blade brought him, like a bolt, from +the sky, to hover close to the earth, +eager, inquisitive, merciless, till a movement<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> +on the part of his quarry sealed its +doom.</p> + +<p>The mother vole, feeling lonely and more +than ever afraid, wandered far away, and +found another mate in a sleek, bright-eyed +little creature inhabiting a roomy chamber +excavated in the loose soil around a heap +of stones on the crest of the hill. Kweek, +nevertheless, remained faithful to the place +of his birth. Though most of his time was +spent near the colony beyond the wood, he +invariably returned to sleep on the shapeless +litter which was all that now remained of +the neat, round nest in which he had been +nursed.</p> + +<p>Kweek's frequent visits to his kindred +beyond the wood led to numerous adventures. +Every member of the colony seemed suddenly +to have turned to the consideration of household +affairs, and a lively widow-vole flirted +so outrageously with bachelor Kweek that, +having at last fallen a victim to her persistent +attentions, he was never happy save +in her company. Unfortunately a big ruffian +mouse also succumbed to the widow's wiles, +and Kweek found himself awkwardly placed. +He fought long and stubbornly against his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> +rival, but, unequally matched and sorely +scratched and bitten, was at last forced +to rustle away in the direction of his +burrow as quickly as his little feet could +carry him. He slept off the effects of his +exhaustion and the loss of a little blood +and fur, then returned, stealthily, to his +well-known trysting place, but found, alas! +that his fickle lady-love had already regarded +with favour the charms of the enemy. +Kweek caught a glimpse of her as she +carried wisps of withered grass to a hole +in the middle of the burrow, and at once +recognised that his first fond passion had +hopelessly ended.</p> + +<p>Fortune continued to treat him unkindly: +that night, while returning homewards, +he was almost frightened out of his wits +by the shrieks of some little creature +captured by the cruel owl, and, immediately +afterwards, a rabbit, alarmed by the same +ominous sounds and bolting to her warren +in the wood, knocked him topsy-turvy as +he crouched in hiding among the leaves. +These adventures taught him salutary +lessons, and henceforth the confidence of +youth gave place to extreme caution; he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> +avoided the risk of lying near a rabbit's +“creep,” and was quick to discern the +slightest sign, such as a shadowy form above +the moonlit field, which might indicate the +approach of the slow-winged tyrant of the +night.</p> + +<p>Among animals living in communities it +is a frequent custom for a young male, if +badly beaten in his first love episode by a +rival, to elope with a new spouse, and seek +a home at some distance from the scene of +his defeat. Kweek suffered exceedingly +from his disappointment; it was a shock +to him that he should be bullied and +hustled at the very time when his passion +was strongest and every prospect in his +little life seemed fair and bright.</p> + +<p>For a time he dared not match himself +against another of the older voles. But in +an unimportant squabble with a mouse of +his own age, he soon proved the victor, +and, finding his reward in the favour of a +young she-vole that had watched the quarrel +from behind a grass-tuft, ran off with her +at midnight to his old, deserted burrow in +the pasture. After thoroughly examining the +various galleries in the underground labyrinth,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> +the fastidious little pair dug out a clean, +fresh chamber at right angles to the main +tunnel, and, contented, began in earnest the +duties of the year.</p> + +<p>April came; and often, as he sat by his +door, Kweek watched the gentle showers +sweep by in tall pillars of vapour through +the moonbeams falling aslant from the +illumined edges of an overhanging cloud, +and through the shadows stretching in long, +irregular lines between the fallow and the +copse; and night after night the shadows +near the copse grew deeper, and still deeper, +as the hawthorn leaf-buds opened to the +warmth of spring.</p> + +<p>The grass-spears lengthened; the moss +spread in new, rain-jewelled velvet-pile over +the pasture floor; the woodbine and the +bramble trailed their tender shoots above +the hedge; a leafy screen sheltered each +woodland home; and even the narrow path +from the field-voles' burrow to the corner +of the copse led through a perfect bower +of half-transparent greenery. The birds +were everywhere busy with their nests in +the thickets; sometimes, in the quiet +evening, long after the moon had risen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> +and Kweek had ventured forth to feed, +the robin and the thrush, perched on a +bare ash-tree, sang their sweet solos to the +sleepy fields; and, with the earliest peep +of dawn, the clear, wild notes of the missel-thrush +rang out over the valley from the +beech-tree near the river. The rabbits +extended their galleries and dug new +“breeding earths” in their warren by the +wood; and often, in the deep stillness of +the night, the call-note of an awakened bird +echoed, murmuring, among the rocks +opposite the pines far down the slope.</p> + +<p>During the past few weeks great events +had happened in the new-made chamber of +the field-voles' burrow. Hundreds of dry +grass-bents, bleached and seasoned by the +winter frosts and rains, had been collected +there, with tufts of withered moss, a stray +feather or two dropped from the ruined nest +of a long-tailed titmouse in the furze, and +a few fine, hair-like roots of polypody fern +from the neighbouring thicket. And now, +their nursery complete, four tiny, hairless +voles, with disproportionate heads, round +black eyes beneath unopened lids, wrinkled +muzzles, and abbreviated tails—helpless<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> +midgets in form suggestive of diminutive +bull-dog puppies—lay huddled in their tight, +warm bed. It was a time of great anxiety +for Kweek. While his mate with maternal +pride went leisurely about her duties, doing +all things in order, as if she had nursed +much larger families and foes were never +known, he moved fussily hither and thither, +visiting his offspring at frequent intervals +during the night, creeping into the wood +and back along his bowered path, scampering +noisily down the shaft if the brown owl +but happened to hoot far up in the glen, and +doing a hundred things for which there was +not the slightest need, and which only served +to irritate and alarm the careful mother-vole.</p> + +<p>Kweek inherited his timorous disposition +from countless generations of voles that +by their ceaseless watchfulness, had survived +when others had been killed by birds and +beasts of prey; and though, in his zeal for +the welfare of his family, he often gave a +false alarm, it was far better that he should +be at all times prepared for the worst than +that, in some unguarded instant, death +should drop swiftly from the sky or crawl +stealthily into his hidden home.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p> + +<p>During spring, more frequently than at +any other season, death waited for him and +his kindred—in the grass, in the air, in the +trees along the hedge-banks, and on the +summit of the rock that towered above +the glen. Vermin had become unusually +numerous in the valley, partly because in +the mild winter their food had been +sufficient, and partly because the keeper, +feeble with old age, could no longer shoot +and trap them with the deadly certainty +that had made him famous in his younger +days. Bold in the care of their young, the +vermin ravaged the countryside, preying +everywhere on the weak and ailing little +children of Nature. But fate was indulgent +to Kweek; though his kindred in the colony +beyond the wood, and the bank-voles in +the sheltered hollow near the pines, suffered +greatly from all kinds of enemies, he and +his mate still managed to escape unhurt.</p> + +<p>One night a fox, prowling across the +pasture, caught sight of Kweek as he +hurried to his lair. Suspicious and crafty, +Reynard paused at one of the entrances to +the burrow, thrust his sharp nose as far as +possible down the shaft, drew a long, deep<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> +breath, and commenced to dig away the soil +from the mouth of the hole. Suddenly +changing his mind—perhaps because the +scent was faint and he concluded that his +labour would not be sufficiently repaid—he +ceased his exertions and wandered off +towards the hedge. Next day a carrion +crow, seeing the heap of earth that lay +around the hole, and shrewdly guessing +it to mean a treat in store, flew down from +an oak-tree, and hopped sideways towards +the spot. He peered inquisitively at the +opening, waddled over to another entrance, +returned, and listened eagerly. Convinced +that a sound of breathing came from midway +between the two holes he had examined, +he moved towards the spot directly above +the nest, tapped it sharply with his beak, +and again returned to listen near the +entrance. But all his artifice was quite in +vain; the voles would not bolt; they were +not even inquisitive; so presently, baffled +in his hopes of plunder, he moved clumsily +away, stooped for an instant, and lifted +himself on slow, sable pinions into the air.</p> + +<p>The mother vole, assisted in questionable +fashion by meddlesome Kweek, spent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> +several hours of the following night in +repairing the damage done by the fox. +She drew most of the soil back into the +shaft, and then, where it accumulated in +the passage beneath, made the opening +towards the inner chamber slightly narrower +than before. Soon, moistened and hardened +by the constant “traffic” of tiny feet nearly +always damp with dew, the mound of earth +formed a barrier so artfully contrived that +even a weasel might find it difficult to +enter the gallery from the bottom of the +shaft.</p> + + + +<h2>III.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<h3>A BARREN HILLSIDE.</h3> + + +<p>Living a secluded life in the pasture with +his little mate, Kweek escaped the close +attention paid by the “vermin” to his +kindred in the colony beyond the wood. +The brown owl still remembered where he +dwelt, but, loath to make a special nightly +journey to the spot, seldom caused him +the least anxiety. She seemed to content +herself with a strict watch over the bank +inhabited by the red voles, and over the +fields on the far side of the copse, where +the grey voles, notwithstanding that they +supplied her with many a delicious supper, +were becoming numerous. She awaited an +almost certain increase among the “small +deer” of the pasture, before commencing +her raids on the grey voles there. As<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> +events proved, however, her patience was +unrewarded.</p> + +<p>Kweek's first experience in rearing a +family ended disastrously. Two of the +nurslings died a few hours after birth; one, +venturing from the nest too soon in the +evening, was killed by a magpie; and two, +while sitting out near the hedge, were +trampled to death by a flock of sheep +rushing, panic-stricken, at the sight of a +wandering fox. By the middle of May, +when another vole family of six had +arrived, the number of vermin in the valley +had perceptibly diminished. The old, +asthmatic keeper in charge of the Cerdyn +valley died, and a younger and more energetic +man from a neighbouring estate came +to take his place. Eager to gain the +favour of his master by providing him good +sport in the coming autumn, the new +keeper ranged the woods from dawn till +dusk, setting pole-traps in the trees, or +baiting rabbit-traps in the “creeps” of +stoat or weasel, and destroying nests, as +well as shooting any furred or feathered +creature of questionable character. The big +brown owl from the beech-grove, the kestrel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> +from the rock on the far side of the brook, +the sparrow-hawk from the spinney up-stream, +together with the weasels, the stoats, +the cats, the jays, and the magpies—all in +turn met their doom.</p> + +<p>A pair of barn-owls from the loft in the +farm suffered next. These owls were great +pets at the old homestead. For many years +they had lived unmolested in their gloomy +retreat under the tiles, and regularly at +nightfall had flown fearlessly to and fro +among the outbuildings, or perched on the +ruined pigeon-cote watching for the rats to +leave their holes.</p> + +<p>The farmer, less ignorant than the +keeper, recognised the owls as friends, and +treated them accordingly. They were his +winged cats, and assisted to check the +increase of a plague. Like the brown owl, +they knew well the habits of the voles; but +their attention was diverted by the rats and +the mice at the farm, and they seldom +wandered far afield except for a change +of diet or to stretch wings cramped by a +long summer day's seclusion. The rats, +however, were far from being exterminated; +and so, when a little child who was all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> +sunshine to his parents in the lonely homestead +died from typhoid fever, the village +doctor, fearing an epidemic, advised that the +pests should be utterly destroyed. Loath to +use strychnine, since he knew that in a +neighbouring valley some owls had died +from eating poisoned rats, the farmer sought +the aid of the village poachers, who, with +their terriers and ferrets, thoroughly searched +the stacks and the buildings. During the +hunt it was noticed that about a score of +rats took refuge in a narrow chamber under +the eaves. The farmer, directing operations +in another part of the yard, was unaware +of what had occurred. The poachers, knowing +nothing of the presence of the owls, +pushed a terrier through the opening beneath +the rafters of the loft, and blocked the hole +with the rusty blade of a disused shovel. +For a few moments the quick patter of tiny +feet indicated that the terrier was busily +engaged with his task; then cries of rage +and terror came from the imprisoned dog, +while with these cries were mingled the +sounds of flapping wings. When at last +the poachers unstopped the hole and dragged +the terrier out, they found that every rat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> +had been killed, and that the place was +thickly strewn with the feathers of two +dying owls.</p> + +<p>During the rest of the summer, Kweek +led a strangely peaceful life, having little +to fear beyond an occasional visit from +Reynard, or from an astute old magpie +that, evading with apparent ease the keeper's +gun and pole-traps, lived on till the late +autumn, when, before a line of beaters, he +broke cover over some sportsmen waiting +for their driven game. As soon as the +leaves began to fall and exhausted Nature +longed for winter's rest, the burrow in the +pasture became the scene of feverish +activity. Kweek was now the proud sire +of five or six healthy families, and the +grand-sire of many more. Even the +youngest voles were growing fat and +strong; and, when the numerous members +of the colony set about harvesting their +winter stores, ripe, delicious seeds were +plentiful everywhere along the margin of +the wood.</p> + +<p>The winter was uniformly mild, with +exception of one short period of great +cold which brought a thorough, healthful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> +sleep to the voles; and in the earliest +days of spring, when the love-calls of +chaffinches and tits were heard from +almost every tree, Kweek and his tribe +resumed their work and throve amazingly. +Every circumstance appeared to favour +their well-being. But for the fox, that +sometimes crouched beside an opening to +the burrow and snapped up an incautious +venturer peeping above ground, a young +sheep-dog, whose greatest pleasure in life +seemed to be found in digging a large +round hole in the centre of the burrow, +and an adder, that stung a few of the +weaklings to death, but found them +inconveniently big for swallowing, the voles +were seldom troubled. Their numbers, +and those of every similar colony in the +neighbourhood, increased in such a fashion +that, before the following autumn, both the +pasture and the near ploughland were +barren wastes completely honeycombed +with their dwellings. Every grass-root in +the pasture was eaten up; every stalk in +the cornfield was nibbled through so that +the grain might be easily reached and +devoured; and the root-crops—potatoes,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> +turnips, and mangolds—on the far side of +the cornfield were utterly spoiled; and in +the hedgerows and the copse the leaves +dropped from the lifeless trees, each of +which was marked by a complete ring +where the bark was gnawed away close to +the ground.</p> + +<p>But capricious Nature, as if regretting +the haste with which she had brought into +the world her destructive little children, +and desiring, even at the cost of untold +suffering and the loss of countless lives, to +restore the pleasant Cerdyn valley to its +beauty of green fields and leafy woods, +sent her twin plagues of disease and +starvation among the voles, till, like the +sapless leaves, they withered and died. +And from far and near the hawks and the +owls, the weasels, the stoats, and the foxes +hastened to the scene. The keeper, at a +loss to know whence they came, and +not understanding the lesson he was +being taught, bewailed his misfortune, but +dared not stay their advent. At almost +any hour of the day, five or six kestrels +might be seen quartering the fields or +hovering here and there among the burrows.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> +And, long before dark, the stoats and the +weasels, as if knowing that, fulfilling a +special mission, they were now safe from +their arch-enemy, the keeper, hunted their +prey through the “trash” of the hedge-banks, +or in and out of the passages underground.</p> + +<p>The farm labourers, in desperate haste, +dug numerous pitfalls, wide at the bottom +but narrow at the mouth, and trapped +hundreds of the voles, which, maddened by +hunger but unable to climb the sloping +sides, attacked one another—all at last +dying a miserable death. Not only did the +customary enemies of the voles arrive on the +scene: Nature called to her great task a +number of unexpected destroyers—sea-gulls +from the distant coast, a kite from a +wooded island on a desolate, far-off mere, +and a buzzard from a rocky fastness, rarely +visited save by keepers and shepherds, near +the up-country lakes. Food had gradually +become scarce even for the few hundred +voles that yet remained. No longer were +they to be seen at play together, in little +groups, during the cool, hazy twilight, that, +earlier in the year, shimmered like a +wonderful afterglow on the mossy pasture-floor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> +Now their only desire was for food +and sleep.</p> + +<p>Unnoticed by a passing owl, Kweek, worn +to a skeleton by sickness and privation, +crawled from his burrow into the moonlight +of a calm, clear autumn night, and +lay in the shadow of the stone where the +old male vole had watched and listened for +the cruel “vear.” A big blow-fly, attracted, +with countless thousands of his kind, to the +place of slaughter and decay, had gone to +sleep on the side of the stone, and Kweek, +in a last desperate effort to obtain a little +food, moved forward to secure his prize; but +at that moment his strength failed him, his +weary limbs relaxed, and the dull, grey +film of death overspread his half-closed eyes.</p> + +<p>The owl, hearing a faint sound like the +rustle of a dry grass-bent, quickly turned +in her flight; then, slanting her wings, +dropped to the ground, and presently, +with her defenceless quarry in her talons, +flew away towards the woods.</p> + + +<h2><a name="THE_FOX" id="THE_FOX"></a>THE FOX.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p> + +<h2>I.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> + +<h3>THE LAST HUNT.</h3> + + +<p>A dark and wind-swept night had fallen +over the countryside when Reynard left the +steep slope above the keeper's cottage, and +stole through gorse and brambles towards +the outskirts of the covert, where a narrow +dingle, intersected by a noisy rill and thickly +matted with brown bracken, divided the furze +from some neighbouring pine-woods.</p> + +<p>For months nothing had occurred to disturb +the peace of his woodland home. Once, +about a year ago, he had fled for his life +before the hounds; and again, during the +last autumn, while lying hidden in the ditch +of the root-crop field above the pines, he +had been surprised by two sheep-dogs that +nipped him sorely before he could make +good his escape. But at no other time had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> +he been in evident peril, and so, though +naturally cunning and suspicious, he had +grown bolder, and better acquainted with +the neighbourhood of cottage and farmstead +than were certain members of his family +living on the opposite side of the valley, +among thickets hunted regularly, where +guns and spaniels might be heard from +early morning till close of day.</p> + +<p>Here and there, as the fox crept stealthily +among the blackthorns and the gorse-bushes, +he stopped for a moment on the scent of a +rabbit; but the night was not such as to +induce Bunny to remain outside her cosy +burrow in the bank. He examined each +“creep” in the tangled clumps along his +way, and sometimes, resting on his haunches, +sniffed the air and listened intently for any +sign to indicate the presence of a feeding +coney; but even the strongest taint was +“stale,” and no sound could be detected +that might betray the whereabouts of any +creature feeding in the grass. Disappointed, +the fox turned towards the uplands and +crossed the hedgerow into the nearest stubble. +Louping leisurely along, he surprised and +killed a sleeping lark. Further on he crossed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> +the scent of a hare, but Puss was doubtless +some distance away, feeding in a quiet +corner of the root-crop field. Reynard now +instinctively made for the farmyard among +the pines, trusting meanwhile that luck +would befriend him. Across the gap, by +the side of the hedgerow, and through an +open gateway, he went, seeking spoil everywhere, +but finding none. With all his senses +alert, he climbed the low wall around the +yard, peeped into the empty cart-house, and +stealthily approached an open shed. There, +unluckily, the dogs were sleeping on a load +of hay in the furthest corner. Careful not +to arouse his foes, the fox retreated, and, +passing the pond at the bottom of the yard, +moved silently towards another shed, in +which, as he knew from a former visit, +the poultry roosted. Though the door +was shut, an opening for the use of the +fowls seemed to afford the possibility of +success. With difficulty Reynard managed +to squeeze himself in, only, however, to no +purpose. Just beyond the door lay a loose +coil of wire, brought home by the labourers +after fencing and thrown here out of the +way. The fox, fearing a trap, reluctantly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> +abandoned his project, returned to the bank +by the pond, and crept down the lane to a +spot where the ducks were housed in a +neat shelter built in the wall. But here he +found everything securely fastened. At this +moment a door of the farmstead creaked +loudly, the light of a lantern flooded the +yard, and the baffled marauder sprang over +the wall and trotted across the field towards +the wood.</p> + +<p>His pace soon slackened when he found +himself free from pursuit; and before he +reached the end of the meadow he had +regained all his cool audacity and was +busily planning a visit to the cottage at +the foot of the dingle. Hardly had his +thoughts turned once more to hunting when +fortune favoured him. A hen from the +farmyard had laid her eggs in the hedgerow +bordering the wood, and was brooding +over them in proud anticipation of one day +leading home a healthy family, thus causing +an agreeable surprise to the farmer's wife. +The fox almost brushed against her as he +sprang over the hedge, and she paid to +the utmost the penalty of indiscretion.</p> + +<p>After feasting royally on the eggs, the fox<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> +took up the dead bird, and moved slowly +away through the trees towards his home. +Re-entering the covert, he was met by a +prowling vixen that, in company with her +four young cubs, inhabited an “earth” not +many yards away. Reckless through hunger +and maddened by the scent of blood, she +attacked him savagely, bullied him out of +the possession of the dead fowl, and bore +her prize away in triumph to her den. The +fox endured his ill-treatment with the submission +of a Stoic—he happened to be the +pugnacious vixen's mate, and the sire of her +family. Soon recovering from the chastisement, +he set off, and skirted the covert as +far as the cottage garden. Finding the gate +of the hen-coop closed, he sprang on the +water-butt, climbed to the roof of the shed, +and tried to enter the coop from above; but +there, as at the farm, he feared a trap, and +dared not creep beneath the loose wire netting +overhanging the shed. As he jumped from +the coop to the wall of the stye, he caught +sight of several rats scampering to their +holes. Lying flat on the wall, he awaited +patiently their re-appearance. At last one of +them ventured out beneath the door of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> +cot, and was instantly killed. But, much to +his chagrin, Reynard found the carcass a +decidedly doubtful tit-bit, and so, having +conveyed it gingerly to the margin of the +covert, he scratched a shallow hole among +the rotting leaves, and buried his prey, that, +perhaps, its flavour might improve with +keeping. Afterwards, till the sky lightened +almost imperceptibly, and a steel-blue bar, +low down beneath the clouds, first signalled +the coming of day, he lay motionless +among the undergrowth near a warren in +the dingle. Then an unsuspecting rabbit +hopped out into the grass, and Reynard, +his watch rewarded, disappeared with his +spoil into the wilderness of the gorse.</p> + +<p>Dawn was breaking over the hills. Blue +smoke curled up into the sky from the lodge +cottage at the foot of the tree-clad slope. +The door of the cottage stood wide open, +and the scent of the wood-fire hung on +the chill, damp air filling the narrow lane. +A blackbird flew into the apple-tree overlooking +the thatch, shook the moisture from +his wings, and cleaned his bright orange bill +on a bough. Then his full, reed-like music +floated over the fields. The skylarks soared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> +above the upland pastures, and a shower of +song descended to the valley out of the +pearl-blue haze just lifting in a cloud from +the hill-top. Presently the blackbird flew +from the apple-tree to feed beside the hedge, +and the larks dropped from the mist +into the grass. But for the crackle of the +cottage fire as the keeper busied himself +with the preparation of his morning meal, +and the rustle of a withered leaf as the +blackbird moved to and fro in the ditch, +not a sound disturbed the silence of the +dawn. Soon the haze lifted, leaving the +dew thick on the grass by the ditch, and on +the moss and the ivy in the hedgerow bank. +The larks soared once more into the sky; a +robin sang wistfully in the ash; a brown +wren, with many a flick of her tiny wings +and many a merry curtsy, hopped in and +out among the trees, trilling loudly a gleeful +carol. The tits flew hither and thither, +twittering to each other as they flew. The +hedge-sparrows' metallic notes sounded clear +amid all the varied music, as the birds, +moving among the hazels and gently flirting +their wings, pursued their coy mates from +bough to bough. Through the raised curtain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> +of the mist the sun—a white globe hardly +too brilliant to be boldly looked at—illumined +the dewy fields with its faint beams, +till the cloud-streaked sky became a clear +expanse, and the blue and brown countryside +glowed with the splendour of a perfect +morning. The wind changed and freshened, +so that the call of a farm labourer to his +team and the constant voice of the river +were distinctly heard in the level valley +below the wood.</p> + +<p>As the morning advanced, signs of unusual +stir and bustle were apparent in the neighbourhood +of the lodge. Messengers came +and went between the cottage and the +mansion at the bend of the river, or between +the mansion and the distant village. The +keeper appeared at his door, and, after +satisfying himself that the lane seemed clean +and well-kept, walked off briskly in the +direction of the “big house.” Scarlet-coated +horsemen, and high-born maids and matrons, +with all the medley of the Hunt in their +train, cantered along the winding road—a +mirthful, laughter-loving company. There +were the General, stout and inelegant, wont +to take his fences carefully, who changed his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> +weight-carrying mount thrice during the day, +and liked a gateway better than a thorny hedge, +and for the last fifteen years had never been +in at the death; and his wife, the leader of +fashion, but not yet the leader of the Hunt; +the Major, an old shekarry from India, who +still could ride as straight and fast as any +man in the west; and his niece, the belle of +the countryside, whose mettlesome hunter +occasionally showed a sudden fondness for +taking the bit between his teeth, and carrying +his mistress, with reckless abandon, over +furrow and five-barred gate and through the +thickest hedgerow—anywhere, so long as +he had breath and the music of the hounds +allured him onward in his impetuous career. +The sun glanced between the trees as they +passed the cottage door. Then came the +Magistrate's Clerk, faultlessly attired, with +florid face and glittering eyeglass, who, in +an ambitious youth, finding his name too +suggestive of plebeian blood, changed a +vowel in it, and thereby gave an aristocratic +flavour to the title of his partnership, and +who acquired, with this new dignity, the +taste for a monocle, a horse, and a good +cigar. Following were the members of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> +medley—the big butcher on his sturdy +pony, the “dealer” on his black, raw-boned +half-bred, the publican on his stolid old mare, +farmers, drovers, after-riders, on cropped and +uncropped mounts more accustomed to the +slow drudgery of labour than to the rollicking, +hard-going hunt; and after them the crowd +on foot—village children, farm labourers, +and apprentices from forge and counter. +Riding side by side, and earnestly conversing, +were the “vet,” whose horse at the last hunt +bolted and left him clinging to a bough, and +the shopkeeper, whose grave attire and sober +mien seemed strangely out of keeping with +the bright, hilarious throng. These were +soon met by the main party from the meet, +and hounds and hunters sped away in the +direction of the hillside covert, while the +onlookers adjourned to the uplands, whence +an almost uninterrupted view of the valleys +for miles around might be enjoyed, and the +movements of the fox and his enemies +followed more closely than from the hollows +beneath the woods.</p> + +<p>Reynard, abundantly satisfied with his +supper of eggs and early breakfast of rabbit, +was lying asleep in a tuft of grass at the top<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> +of the thicket when the huntsman passed +down the dingle after the meet. Awakened +by the noise that reached him from below, +he arose, stretched his limbs, and listened +anxiously—the clatter of hoofs seemed to +fill the valley. Suddenly, from the outskirts +of the wood, came the deep, sonorous note +of a hound, followed by the sharp rebuke of +the whipper-in; Jollity, the keen-nosed puppy, +was “rioting” on the cold scent near the +stream. Peering between the bushes, the +fox could as yet see nothing moving in the +covert, but a few minutes afterwards his +sharp eye caught a glimpse of a hound leaping +over the bank above the gorse, followed +by another, and another, and yet another, +till the place seemed alive with his foes.</p> + +<p>Whither should he flee? The dingle was +occupied; men and horses were everywhere +in the lane; and the hounds were closing +in above the gorse. The far side of the +covert offered the only chance of escape, +and thither he must hie, else the hounds, +now pouring down the slope, would cut off +his retreat. Quickly he threaded his way +through the gorse, by paths familiar only to +himself and the rabbits, till he reached the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> +bank by the willows; but, even while he ran, +the full chorus of the hounds echoed from +hillside to hillside, as, having “struck the +line,” they tore madly in pursuit. He reached +the edge of the covert at a point furthest +from his foes—then, as he crossed the +meadow, a single red-coated horseman, standing +sentinel far up the hillside, gave the +“view-halloo,” and over the brow of the +slope streamed the main body of the Hunt.</p> + +<p>It was at once evident to Reynard that by +skirting the margin of the covert he could +not for the present escape, so he headed +down-wind towards the opposite hill, hoping +to find refuge in a well-known “earth” amid +the thickets. To his surprise he found the +entrance “stopped” with clods and prickly +branches of gorse, and had perforce to continue +his flight. Having well out-distanced +his pursuers, he stayed to rest for a while near +the stream that trickled by the hedgerow; +then, with the horrid music of the hounds +again in his ears, he turned, by a long +backward cast, in the direction of his home.</p> + +<p>But he was wholly unable to shake off +his pursuers. For four long hours he was +hustled from covert to covert, and hillside<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> +to hillside, finding no respite, no mercy, no +sanctuary. Breathless, mud-stained, footsore, +and sick with fright, his draggling “brush” +and lolling tongue betraying his distress, he +sought at last the place he had long avoided, +and, entering the mouth of the den where +the vixen and her cubs were hiding, lay there, +almost utterly exhausted. Some minutes +elapsed, during which no sound but that of +his laboured breathing, and of the tiny sucklings +busy by the side of the dam, disturbed +the stillness.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, a deep-voiced hound broke through +the bushes and bayed loudly before the +entrance. His fellow joined him, and their +foreboding clamour reverberated in the +chamber. Terrified, the fox crawled slowly +into the recess of the den. Presently a +shaggy terrier came down the tunnel, and +bit him sorely on the flank. He scarcely +had the courage to turn on the aggressor; +but the enraged vixen, thrusting her mate +aside, quickly routed the daring intruder, +and followed his retreat to the very +mouth of the “earth,” where she turned +back, threatened by the great hounds that +stood without. But even the reckless courage<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> +of maternity was unavailing. Soon the noise +of blows and of falling earth was heard, as the +passage was gradually opened by brawny +farm labourers, working with spade and pick, +and assisted in their task by the eager huntsman, +who ever and anon thrust a long +bramble-spray into the tunnel and thus ascertained +the direction of its devious course.</p> + +<p>At last the tip of the fox's “brush” was +seen amid the soil and pebbles that had fallen +into the chamber. The huntsman had cut +two stout hazel rods; these he now thrust into +the hollow, one along either flank of the fox; +then, grasping their ends firmly about the +exposed tail, he drew poor Reynard from his +hiding place, and thrust him, defiant to the +last, and with his teeth close-locked on one +of the hazel rods, into an old sack requisitioned +at the nearest farm. The vixen met +a similar fate, while the sleek, furry little +cubs, treated with the utmost gentleness, were +wrapped together in the Master's handkerchief +and given to the care of an attendant.</p> + +<p>Reynard's life was nearing its close. In +the meadow behind the keeper's cottage the +hounds were summoned by the huntsman's +horn, and the bag was opened. The scene<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> +that followed marred, for some of us at +least, the beauty of the bright March morning. +The vixen and her cubs were carried away, +and found a new home in an artificial +“earth” prepared for their reception near a +distant mansion.</p> + + + +<h2>II.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<h3>A NEW HOME.</h3> + + +<p>When the vixen recovered from the excitement +and distress consequent on her +capture, she found herself in a commodious, +well ventilated chamber, circular in shape +and slightly above the level of two low and +narrow passages leading into the covert. +The sack had been opened at the entrance +of one of these passages, and the vixen +had crawled through the darkness till, +finding further retreat impossible, she had +lain down, with wildly beating heart, on +the floor of her hiding place.</p> + +<p>Her senses seemed to have forsaken her. +Had she dreamed? Often, during the +warm, quiet days of a bygone summer, +while lying curled in a cosy litter of dry +grass-bents—which she had neatly arranged<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +by turning round and round, and with her +sensitive black muzzle pressing or lifting +into shape each refractory twig—she had +dreamed of mouse-hunting and rabbit-catching; +her body had moved, her limbs +twitched, her ears pricked forward, and +her nostrils quivered as the delightful +incidents of past expeditions were recalled. +And when, with a start, she had awakened, +as some venturesome rabbit frisked by +her lair, or a nervous blackbird, startled by +her movements, made the woodlands ring +with news of his discovery, she had retained +for a moment the impressions of her vivid +dreams. But never in her sleep had she +been haunted by such a bewildering sense +of mingled dread and anger, such an awful +apprehension of the presence of men and +hounds, as that which had recently possessed +her. Now, however, all was mysteriously +tranquil; the full-toned clamour of the +hounds and the sharp, snarling bark of the +terriers had ceased; no longer was she +confined and jostled in the stuffy, evil-smelling +sack that yielded to, and yet +restrained, her every frantic effort to regain +liberty. Her heart still beat violently, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +though at any moment it might break; +and she crept back towards the entrance, +where she might breathe the free, fresh air.</p> + +<p>Suddenly she realised, to the full, that +the day's bitter experiences were not a +dream—the scent of the human hand +remained on her brush, her fur was damp +and matted with meal-dust, and, alas! her +little ones were missing from her side. She +was furious now; at all risks she would +venture forth on the long, straight journey +back towards home; her helpless cubs might +still be somewhere under the bushes—perchance +in sore need of warmth and food, +and whining for their dam.</p> + +<p>With every mothering instinct quickened, +the vixen crept down the slanting passages +in the direction of a faint moonlight +glimmer beyond. Reaching the end of the +tunnel, she, in her impetuosity, thrust her +muzzle into a mass of prickles—the “earth” +had been stopped with a branch of gorse. +Baffled for the time, she returned to the +central chamber; then cautiously, for her +eyes and nostrils were smarting with pain, +she tried the other outlet, but here, too, a +gorse-bush baulked her exit. Now, however,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> +a faint, familiar scent seemed to fill the +passage, some tiny creatures moved and +whimpered, and, with almost savage joy, +the vixen discovered her cubs, alive and +unharmed, huddled together near the furze. +Quickly she carried them, one by one, into +the chamber; then, lying beside the little +creatures, which, though blind and helpless, +eagerly recognised the presence of their +mother, she gathered them between her +limbs, covered them with her soft, warm +brush, and, in a language used only amid +the woodlands, soothed and comforted +them, while they nestled once more beneath +her sheltering care. When she had fed +them and licked them clean from every +taint of human touch, and when she had +shaken herself free from dust and removed +from her brush the man-scent left by the +huntsman's right hand while “drawing” her, +she became more collected in her mind and +more contented with her strange, new +situation.</p> + +<p>Leaving her cubs asleep, she moved along +the passage, determined, if possible, to +explore the thickets in hope of finding a +young rabbit or a few field-voles wherewith<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> +to satisfy her increasing hunger. The +entrance was still blocked with furze, but +just in the spot where she had found her +cubs a couple of dead rabbits lay, and from +one of these, though after much misgiving, +she made a hearty meal. She endeavoured, +but vainly, to dig a shallow trench in which +to hide the rest of her provisions; the floor +of the artificial “earth” was tiled, and only +lightly covered with soil. Her efforts to +scratch out a tunnel around the furze-bush +proved alike unavailing, so she returned to +her cubs, lay down between them and the +narrow opening from the chamber, and slept.</p> + +<p>That night and the following day were +spent in drowsy imprisonment, till, towards +the afternoon, the vixen began to feel the +pangs of thirst and made fresh efforts to +escape. As she was endeavouring to dislodge +the tile nearest the furze, she heard the +tramp of heavy feet and the sound of human +voices.</p> + +<p>“They be nice cubs,” said the “whip” to +the huntsman; “as nice a little lot as ever +I clapped eyes on. If only they can give +us such a doing as the old vixen gave us +twice last December, they'll pass muster.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> +Them Gwyddyl Valley foxes be always +reg'lar fliers. Their meat ain't got too easy-like; +that's why, maybe, they're always in +working order. Any road, their flags o' +distress (tongues) don't flop over their +grinders without the hounds trim 'em hard +on a straight, burning scent.” “Well, we'll +give 'em a good start, whatever happens,” +replied the huntsman; “here's two more +bunnies for the larder. If the old girl +shifts her quarters, find out her new “earth,” +and feed her well. I shouldn't like to be +near the guv'nor if the young uns turn out +mangy when we hustle 'em about a bit in +the autumn.”</p> + +<p>The voices ceased, the furze-bushes were +removed from the tunnel entrances, a cold, +steady current of air filled the chamber +and the passages, and the vixen knew +that a way had been made for her escape. +She was not, however, so foolhardy as to +venture forth while the scent of her foes +remained strong in the thicket; she lingered, +in spite of extreme thirst, till the shadows +of evening deepened perceptibly in her +underground abode.</p> + +<p>When the vixen stole out into the grass,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> +the pale moon was brightening in the +southern sky, and a solitary star glimmered +faintly above the tree-tops. A thrush sang +his vesper from the bare branch of an oak +near by, and a blackbird, startled by the +sight of a strange form squatting beside the +brambles, sounded his shrill alarm and +dipped across the clearing towards a clump +of blackthorn bushes. As soon as she heard +the blackbird's warning, the vixen vanished; +but, presently reappearing, she trotted across +the open space and sat beneath the thorns. +For some minutes she remained motionless +in the dark patch of shadow, listening +intently; then, passing slowly down a +narrow path, she reached a trickling streamlet +that fell with constant music from stone +to stone between luxuriant masses of moss +and lichen; and there, at a gravelly pool +among the boulders, she cautiously stooped +to drink. With exceeding care, she now proceeded +to make a thorough inspection of the +covert. The night was so calm and bright +that the rabbits were feeding everywhere on +the margin of the thickets, but the vixen +passed them by with nothing but a casual +glance; her mind, for the present, was not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> +concerned with hunting. After skirting the +covert, she turned homewards by a pathway +through the trees.</p> + +<p>At the end of the path she paused, with +head bent low and hackles ruffled along the +spine—the scent of another vixen lay fresh +on the ground. The peculiar taint told +her a complete story. The strange vixen +was soon to become a mother, and +probably, in anticipation of the event, +inhabited an “earth” close by. Casting +about like an experienced hound, she +picked up the trail, and followed it into +a great tangle of heather, brambles, and +fern, where the scent led, by many a +devious turn, to the spreading roots of a +beech, beneath which a disused rabbit +warren had been prepared for the little +strangers presently to be brought into the +world. The dwelling place was empty.</p> + +<p>Retracing her steps as far as the spot +where first she had struck the trail, then +turning sharply towards the clearing, the +crafty creature hastened back to the “earth,” +determined to remove her cubs without +delay to the newly discovered abode. One +by one she bore her offspring thither, holding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> +them gently by the loose skin about +their necks, and housed them all before +the dispossessed tenant returned from a +slow and wearisome night's hunting. The +evicted vixen, seeking to enter her home, +speedily recognised that in her distressed +condition she was no match for her savage, +active enemy, and so, reluctantly retiring, +took up her quarters in the artificial “earth.”</p> + +<p>Henceforth, through all the careless hours +of infancy, till summer ended and the nights +gradually lengthened towards the time of +the Hunter's Moon, the stillness of the +woodlands was never broken by the ominous +note of the horn, or by the dread, fascinating +music of the hounds in full cry. Three +of the cubs grew stout and strong, but the +fourth was a weakling—whether from injury +at the hands of the huntsman or from some +natural ailment was not to be determined. +He died, and mysteriously disappeared, on +the very day when the rest of the cubs +first opened their eyes in the dim chamber +among the roots of the beech.</p> + +<p>Vulp was the only male member of the +happy woodland family. His indulgent sisters +tolerated his bouncing, familiar manners as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> +if they were born to be his playthings—he +was so serious and yet so droll, so +stupidly self-assertive and yet so irresistibly +affectionate! He seemed to take his +pleasures sadly, wearing, if such be possible +to a fox, an air of melancholy disdain; +and yet his beady eyes were ever on the +lookout for mischief, and for the chance of +a helter-skelter romp with his sisters round +and round the chamber, or to the entrance +of the “earth,” where the sprouts of the +green grass and the flowers of the golden +celandine sparkled as the sunlight of the +fresh spring morning flickered between the +trees.</p> + +<p>As yet, Vulp was unacquainted with the +wide, free world. It seemed very wonderful +and awe-inspiring, as he sat by the mouth +of the tunnel in the shadow of an arching +spray of polypody and, for sheer lack of something +better to do, half lifted himself on his +hind-legs to rub his lips against the edge of a +fern, or to peep, with a feeling that his whereabouts +were a secret, between the drooping +fronds. His mother restrained his rashness; +once, when he actually thrust his head beyond +the ferns, she with a stern admonition<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> +warned him of his mistake; and he promptly +withdrew to her side, frightened at his own +boldness, but grunting in well assumed defiance +of the imagined danger from which he +had fled.</p> + +<p>This, in fact, was the first lesson learned—that +a certain sign from the vixen meant +“No,” and that disobedience was afterwards +punishable according to the unwritten laws of +woodland life. Another sign that he learned +to obey meant “Come.” It was a low, deep +note, gentle and persuasive; and directly Vulp +heard it he would hasten to his mother to +be not only fed but also cleansed from every +particle of dirt. Such toilet operations were +not always welcome to the youngsters, and +were sometimes vigorously resented. But +the vixen had a convincing method of +dealing with any refractory member of her +family; she would hold the cub firmly +between her fore-feet while she continued her +treatment, or administered slight, well-judged +chastisement by nipping her wayward offspring +in some tender spot, where, however, little +harm could be the result.</p> + +<p>The cubs were ten days old when they +opened their eyes, but more than three weeks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> +passed before they were allowed beyond the +threshold of their home. Then, one starlight +night, their mother, having returned from +hunting, awoke them, and, withholding their +usual nourishment, gave the signal “Come.” +The obedient little family followed her along +the dark passage, and ventured, close at her +heels, into the grass-patch in the middle of +the briar-brake. Vulp was slightly more +timid than his sisters were; even at that early +age he showed signs of independence and +distrust. While the other cubs played +“follow-my-leader” with the dam, he hung +back, hesitating and afraid. Even an unusual +show of affection by his mother failed to +reassure him. A rabbit dodged quickly across +a path, and immediately he stood rigid with +fright. Hardly had he recovered before an +owl flew slowly overhead. Enough! He +paused, motionless, till the awful presence had +disappeared; then darted, with astonishing +speed, straight towards the “earth,” and +vanished, with a ridiculously feeble “yap” of +make-believe bravado, into the darkness of +the den. Confidence, however, came and +increased as the days and the nights went by, +till, at the close of a week's experiences, Vulp<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> +was as bold in danger as either of his playmates. +He learned to trust his mother +implicitly, and, in her absence, became the +guardian of the family when some fancied +alarm brought fear. He was always last in +learning his lessons; but, as if to make +amends, he always profited most by the +teaching.</p> + +<p>Happy, indeed, were those hours of innocence—filled +with sleep, and love, and play. +Till Vulp was six weeks old, he was wholly +unconscious of that ravenous hunger for flesh +which was fated to make him the scourge of +the woodlands. Nevertheless, his instincts +were slowly developing, and so, when on a +second occasion the old buck rabbit that +had frightened him in the thicket bolted +before his eyes across the path, the little fox +bristled with rage and, but for his mother's +presence, would doubtless have tried to pursue +the exasperating coney. Invariably, when +the night was fine, the cubs gambolled about +the vixen on the close-cropped sward beyond +the den, climbing over her body, pinching +her ears, growling and grunting, tugging at +each other's brushes, and in general behaving +just as healthy, happy fox-cubs might be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> +expected to behave; while the patient, careful +mother looked on approvingly—save when, +uniting in one strong effort, they endeavoured +to disjoint her tail by pulling it over her back—and +smiled, as only a fox can smile, with +eyes asquint and a single out-turned fang +showing white beside the half-closed lip.</p> + +<p>A great event occurred when the mother +first brought home her prey that she might +educate her youngsters in the matter of +appetite and prepare them for an independent +existence. The victim was an almost full-grown +rabbit. Laying it down close to the +entrance of the “earth,” the vixen called her +cubs, and instantly they rushed from the den, +tumbling over each other in their haste, till +they gained the spot where she was waiting. +At that moment, however, they caught sight +of the strange grey object in the grass, and, +leaping back, bolted round to their mother's +side. Then, feeling safe under her care, they +cautiously advanced in a row to sniff +the rabbit, and wondered, yet instinctively +guessed, at the meaning of the situation. +The vixen growled, and, picking up her prey, +carried it to the bramble-clump. The cubs +followed, making all sorts of curious noises<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> +in mimicking their dam, and evincing the +utmost inquisitiveness as to the reason of +her unexpected conduct. Presently, having +succeeded in arousing their inborn passion for +flesh, the vixen resorted to a neighbouring +mound, and left her offspring in possession +of the dead animal, on which they immediately +pounced, tooth and nail. How terribly in +earnest they became, how bold and reckless +in their vain attempt to demolish the subject +of their wrath! Vulp fastened his needle-like +teeth in the throat, and each of his sisters +gripped a leg, while together they jerked, +strained, scolded, and threatened, till the +mother, fearing lest the commotion would +betray their whereabouts to some lurking foe, +rated her noisy progeny and in anger drove +them away. But as soon as she had gone +back to her seat among the grass-bents, the +youngsters returned to their work. Anyhow, +anywhere, they hurled themselves on the dead +creature, sometimes biting each other for +sheer lack of knowing exactly what else they +should bite, and sometimes simply for the +excitement of a family squabble.</p> + +<p>At last, their unwonted exertions began to +tire them; then the careful vixen, desirous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +of bringing the lesson to its close, “broke up” +her prey and divided it among her hungry +children. They fed daintily, choosing from +each portion no more than a morsel, and +soon afterwards, exhausted by excitement and +fatigue, and forgetful of their differences, +were fast asleep, huddled together as usual +in the roomy recess of the den. For a while +the vixen remained to satisfy her hunger; +then, having buried a few tit-bits of her +provender, she also retired to rest; and silence +brooded over the woodlands till the break of +day set every nesting bird atune.</p> + +<p>The vixen proved to be an untiring teacher, +and the education of the cubs occupied a part, +at least, of every night. The young foxes +were growing rapidly, and accompanied their +dam in her wanderings about the thickets. +She never went far afield, food being easily +procured at that time of year, particularly +as in a certain spot additional supplies for the +larder were frequently forthcoming because +of the vigilance of the huntsman, whose one +desire was to fit the cubs to match his +hounds in the first “runs” of the coming +season.</p> + + + +<h2>III.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<h3>THE CUB AND THE POLECAT.</h3> + + +<p>The young fox's education, varied and +thorough, steadily proceeded. Though the +vixen-cubs were slightly quicker to learn, +they were more excitable, and consequently +did not benefit fully by each lesson. Vulp +soon began to hunt for his own sport and +profit. In the meadow above the wood he +would sit motionless, his eyes fixed on the +ground, till the voles came from their burrows +to play beneath the grass-bents; then, with +a quick rush, he would secure a victim +directly its presence was betrayed by a +waving stalk. With the same patience he +would watch near a rabbit warren, till one +of the inhabitants, hopping out to the mound +before her door, gave him the sure chance +of a kill. But in the wheat-fields on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> +slope his methods were altogether different. +To capture partridges required unusual +cunning and skill, and such importance did +the vixen attach to this branch of her field-craft, +that, before initiating her youngsters +into the sport of hunting these birds at +night, she instructed them diligently in the +methods of following by scent, training them +how to pursue the winding trail left by the +larks that fed at evening near their sleeping +places, or by the corncrakes that wandered +babbling through the green wheat. Vulp's +first attempt to capture a partridge chick +resulted in failure. The vixen-cubs “fouled” +the line he had patiently picked out in the +ditch around the cornfield, and, “casting” +haphazard through the herbage, alarmed the +sleeping birds, and sent them away to a +secure hiding place in the clover. But his +second attempt was crowned with success, +and he proudly carried his prey into a +sequestered nook amid the gorse, where he +enjoyed a quiet meal.</p> + +<p>The cub was fully six months old before +he knew the precise difference between stale +and fresh scent, or between the scent of one +creature and that of another, and how to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> +hunt accordingly; and several years, with +many dangers and hair-breadth escapes, were +destined to pass before he became expert in +avoiding or baffling the numerous enemies—chiefly +dogs, and men, and traps—that +threatened his life. And yet, during the +first few months of his existence, he +gained sufficient knowledge for the needs +of the moment; and when August drew on +towards the close of the summer, and he +was three parts grown, he had so extended +his nightly rambles that the “lay of the +land” was familiar for miles around the +covert. His outdoor existence—for now he +was wont to sleep in a lair among the gorse +and the bracken, instead of in the stuffy +“earth”—gave him strength in abundant +measure, while his scrupulously clean habits, +the care with which he removed even the +slightest trace of a burr from his sleek, +brown coat, and the plentiful supplies of fresh +food which he was able to obtain, naturally +preserved him from mange and similar ailments +to which carnivorous animals are always prone. +For the present, indeed, life meant nothing +more to him than the sheer enjoyment of +vigorous health, at home by day amid the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> +grateful shadows of the bushes and the trees, +or basking in the sun, and abroad at night +in the cold, clear air of the dewy uplands.</p> + +<p>Just as sportsmen occasionally meet with +a run of ill-luck, when for some apparently +unaccountable reason they either fail to find +game, or fail to kill it, and, to intensify the +annoyance, an accident occurs that leaves a +bitter memory, so Vulp, during one of his +long rambles over the countryside, failed +entirely to find sport, and gained a decidedly +unpleasant experience. If only his mother +had not taught him that in a season of +scarcity a weasel might reasonably be considered +an article of food! One summer +night, as he started on his usual prowl, the +covert seemed strangely silent. With the +exception of a solitary rabbit that bolted to +its burrow when the young fox crossed the +clearing, and another that disappeared in +similar fashion when nothing more than a +slight crackle of a leaf betrayed Vulp's +whereabouts near a bramble-clump, every +animal had apparently deserted the thickets. +So, leaving his accustomed haunts, he crossed +the furze-clad dingle, and watched near a +large warren in the open. But there, again,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> +not a rabbit could be seen. A field-vole +rustled by over the leaves; the cub made +a futile effort to capture it, stood for an +instant listening to its movements, then thrust +his nose into the herbage in another vigorous +but vain attempt; the vole, like the rabbits, +had sought refuge underground. An owl, +that had frightened the cub about five months +before when first he ventured outside his +home, rose from the hedge, and flew slowly +down the valley with a little squealing +creature in her talons; she, at any rate, had +not hunted in vain.</p> + +<p>At last Vulp struck a fresh line of scent +which, though particularly strong and uninviting, +he took to be that of a weasel. It +was mingled with the faint odour of a +field-vole that, doubtless, had been pursued +and carried away by its persistent enemy. +The cub followed the trail, hoping to secure +both hunter and victim, but it soon led him +to a hole in the hedgerow, and there abruptly +ceased. He was about to turn from the +spot, when the eyes of the supposed weasel +suddenly gleamed at the mouth of the hole, +but disappeared when the presence of the +cub was recognised. The fox, retreating to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> +a convenient post of observation behind a +tuft of grass, settled down to await his +opportunity. A few minutes elapsed, and +the pursued creature came once more in +sight. It appeared like a shadow against +the sky, lifted its nose inquiringly, quitted +the burrow, sat bolt upright for a moment, +then, reassured, proceeded towards the +covert on the opposite side of the path. +With a single bound, the cub cleared the +grass-tuft, reached out at his prey, missed +his grip, bowled the animal over, and, turning +rapidly, caught it across the loins instead of +by the throat. Unfortunately for himself, +the fox had made a slight miscalculation. +With a scream of rage and pain, the polecat—for +such the creature proved to be—turned +on the aggressor, and instantly fastened its +formidable teeth, like a steel trap, on his +muzzle. Vulp had been taught that his fangs, +also, were a trap from which there should +be no escape, and so he held on firmly, +trying meanwhile to shake the life from his +victim. He pressed the polecat to the +ground, and frantically endeavoured to disengage +its hold by thrusting his fore-paws +beneath its muzzle; but every effort alike<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> +was useless. A scalding, acrid fluid emitted +by the polecat caused the lips and one of +the eyes of the cub to smart unbearably, +and the offensive odour of the fluid grew +stronger and stronger, till it became almost +suffocating. At last the polecat convulsively +trembled as its ribs and spine were crushed +in the fox's tightening jaws, its teeth relaxed +their hold, and the fight was over.</p> + +<p>Sickened by the pungent smell, and with +muzzle, lips, and right eye burning horribly +from his wounds and the irritant poison, Vulp +hastily dropped his prey, and ignominiously +bolted from the scene of the encounter. +Soon, however, he stopped; the pain in his eye +seemed beyond endurance. He tried to rub +away the noxious fluid with his paws, but his +frantic efforts only increased the irritation by +conveying the poison to his other eye and +to his wounds. He rolled and sneezed and +grunted in torment; he drew his muzzle and +cheeks to and fro on the ground, wrestling +with the great Earth-Mother for help in +direst agony. He could not open his eyes; +he stumbled blindly against a tree-trunk, and +at last became entangled in the prickly +undergrowth. This was Nature's method<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> +of succour—she forced her wildling to +remain quiet, in helpless exhaustion, till the +pain subsided and life could once again be +endured. Panting and sick, the cub lay outstretched +among the thorns, while the tears +flowed from his eyes and the froth hung on +his lips. Presently, however, relieved by the +copious discharge, he recovered his senses, +and, miserably cowed, with head and brush +hanging low, returned before dawn to the +covert. But the vixen in fury drove the +cub away; the scent still clung to him, +and rendered him obnoxious even to his +mother. In shame he retired to a dense +“double” hedge of hawthorn, where he hid +throughout the day, till he could summon +sufficient courage at dusk to hunt for some +dainty morsel wherewith to tempt his sickened +appetite. But before taking up his position +above the entrance to a rabbit warren, he +drank at the brook, dipped his tainted fore-paws +in the running water, and, sitting by +the margin, removed from his face, as far as +possible, the traces left by the previous night's +conflict. Repeatedly, at all hours of the +day and the night, he licked his paws and +with them washed his wounded muzzle and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> +inflamed eyes; but so obstinately did the +offensive odour cling to him that a fortnight +elapsed before the last vestige of the nuisance +disappeared. Meanwhile, he narrowly escaped +the mange; and, to add to the discomfort of +his wounds, he experienced, now that his +mother's aid was lacking, some difficulty in +obtaining sufficient fresh food.</p> + +<p>At length he recovered, and new, downy +hair clothed the wounds and the scratches on +his muzzle and throat. Sleek and strong once +more, he was welcomed as a penitent prodigal +by the relenting vixen, and, having in the +period of his solitary wanderings learned +much about the habits of the woodland folk, +was doubtless able to assist his mother in +the future training of the vixen-cubs.</p> + +<p>In that luckless fortnight he had acquired +a taste for young pheasants, had picked up +a few fat pigeon-squabs belonging to the +last broods of the year, and had sampled +sundry articles of diet—frogs, slugs, snails, +a young hedgehog or two, and a squirrel +that, overcome with inquisitiveness, descended +from the tree-tops to inspect the young fox +as he dozed among the bilberries carpeting the +forest floor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p> + +<p>Another incident occurred, to which, at the +time, the cub attached considerable importance. +He had killed what seemed to be a +large, heavy rabbit, which, though evidently +possessed of a healthy appetite, was almost +scentless, and differed in taste from any he had +hitherto captured. He was not particularly +hungry, so he buried the insipid flesh, and +resolved never to destroy another rabbit that +did not yield a full, strong scent. Shortly +afterwards, when, under the eye of the bright +August moon, Vulp and the vixen were +hunting in the wheat-fields, he detected a +similarly weak scent along the hedgerow, and +learned from his wise mother it was that of +a doe-hare about to give birth to her young, +and therefore hardly worth the trouble +of following. The vixen further explained +that, except when other food was scarce, +creatures occupied, or about to be occupied, +with maternal cares—even the lark in the +furrow and the willow-warbler in the hole +by the brook—were far less palatable than +at other times. The cub was also told how, +just before he came into the world, the +hounds had chased his mother from the +thicket, and how old Reveller, the leader<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> +of the pack, had headed the reckless puppies, +and, rating them for their discourtesy, had +led them away to scour another part of the +covert.</p> + +<p>With the advance of autumn, a great change +passed over the countryside. The young fox +now found it necessary to choose his paths +with care as he wandered through the darkness, +lest the rabbits should be warned of his +approach by the crisp rustle of his “pads” on +the leaves that had fallen in showers on the +grass. Hitherto he had associated the presence +of man with that of something good for food. +An occasional dead rabbit was still to be +found near the old “earth,” and, strange to +relate, the man-scent leading to the place +was never fresher or staler than that of the +rabbit. In another spot—a wood-clearing +not far from the keeper's lodge—the strong +scent of pheasants always seemed to indicate +that the birds had ventured thither in numbers +to feed, and there, too, the man-scent was +strong on the grass. The tracks of innumerable +little creatures intersected the clearing +in all directions, and, if but for the sport +of watching the pheasants, the pigeons, the +sparrows, and the voles playing and quarrelling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> +in the undergrowth or partaking of the food +provided by the keeper, the fox loved to lurk +in the gorse near by. He evinced little real +alarm even at the sight of man, though he +felt a misgiving and instinctively knew that +he must hide or keep at a distance till the +curiously shaped monster had gone. The +vixen warned him repeatedly; and she herself, +after giving the signal “Hide!” would +slink away, and wander for miles before returning +to her family, if only the measured footfall +of a poacher or a farm labourer sounded +faintly through the covert.</p> + +<p>But soon the young fox learned, in a +way not to be misunderstood, that the +presence of man meant undoubted danger. +One day in October, as he was intently +watching the movements of a sportsman +in the copse, a big cock pheasant rose +with a great clatter from the brambles, +a loud report rang through the covert, +and a shaggy brown and white spaniel +dashed yelping into the bushes. Darting +impetuously from his lair, the cub easily +out-distanced the dog, and quickly found +refuge in an adjoining thicket, where he +remained in safety during the rest of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> +day. Night brought him another adventure. +While crossing a pasture towards a wooded +belt on the hillside, he discovered, to his +surprise, that a man was creeping stealthily +towards him through the shadows. A +moment later, a great lurcher came bounding +over the field. The fox turned, made +for the hedgerow, and gained the friendly +shelter of the hawthorns just as the dog +crashed into the ditch. The frightened +creature now ran along the opposite side +of the hedge in a straight line towards +the wood, and for a second time narrowly +escaped the lurcher's teeth; but, by keeping +close to the ditch and among the prickly +bushes on the top of the hedge-bank, he at +last succeeded in baffling his long-legged +foe and reached the wood unharmed.</p> + +<p>Vulp had thus awakened to the dangers +which, during winter and the earliest days +of spring, were always to beset him. But the +apprehensions caused by his little affair with +the spaniel, and even by his narrow escape +from the lurcher, were trifling compared with +the dread and distress of being driven for +hours before the hounds. And so full of +perils was the first winter of his life that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> +nothing but a combination of sheer luck +with great endurance could then have +sufficed to save him from destruction. +Quickly, one after the other, the young +vixens were missing from the thickets; +soon afterwards, three of the cubs belonging +to the litter that had been reared in +the artificial “earth” disappeared; and an +old fox, the sire of that litter, was killed +after a long, wearisome chase almost to the +cliffs on the distant coast.</p> + +<p>One dark and dismal night in December, +Vulp, on returning to the home thickets, +failed to find his dam. Her trail was fresh; +she had evidently escaped the day's hunt; +but all his efforts to follow her met with +no sort of success. Nature had brought +about a separation; in the company of an +adult fox, whose scent lay also on the +woodland path, the vixen had departed from +her haunts. The fox-cub remained, however, +among the woodlands where he had learned +his earliest lessons, and, for another year, +hunted and was hunted—a vagrant bachelor.</p> + + + +<h2>IV.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<h3>A CRY OF THE NIGHT.</h3> + + +<p>One starlit night, when in early winter +the snow lay thick on the ground, Vulp +heard the hunting call of a vixen prowling +through the pines. A similar call had +often reached his ears. Not long after +his dam deserted him, the cry had come +from a furze-brake on a neighbouring hill-top, +and, hastening thither, he had wandered +long and wearily, recognising, though with +misgiving, his mother's voice. But the exact +meaning of the call, not being a matter +for his mother's teaching, was unknown to +him at the time. Now, however, he was +a strong, well fed, fully developed fox, able +to hold his own against all rivals, and the +cry possessed for him a strange, new +significance: “The night is white; man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> +is asleep; I hunt alone!” Almost like a +big brown leaf he seemed to drift across +the moonlit snow, nearer and nearer to the +pines. He paused for a moment to sniff +the trail; then, with a joyous “yap” of +greeting, he bounded over the hedge, reached +the aisles of the wood, and gambolled—again +like a big, wind-blown leaf—about +the sleek, handsome creature whose call +he had heard. The happy pair trotted +off to hunt the thickets, till, just before +dawn, Vulp, eager to show his skill and +training, surprised two young rabbits sitting +beneath a snow-laden tangle of briar and +gorse, and gallantly shared the spoil with +his woodland bride. They feasted long and +heartily, afterwards journeying to the banks +of a rill, that, like a black ribbon, flowed +through the glen; and there, crouching +together at the margin, they lapped the +water with eager, thirsty tongues.</p> + +<p>Presently, happening to glance behind +along the line of the trail, Vulp caught +sight of another fox, a rival for the vixen's +affections, crouching in some bracken scarcely +a dozen yards away. With a low grunt of +rage, he dashed into the fern, but the watchful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> +stranger simply moved aside, and frisked +towards the vixen as she still crouched at +the edge of the stream. In response to +this insulting defiance, Vulp hurled himself +on the intruder, and bowled him over +into the snow. The fight was fast and +furious; now one gained the advantage, +then the other. The grass beneath them +became gradually bared of snow by their +frantic struggles, and marked here and there +by a bunch of fur or a spot of blood. At +last the rival fox, his cheek torn badly +beneath the eye, showed signs of exhaustion; +his breath came in quick, loud gasps; and +Vulp, pressing the attack, forced him to flee +for life to a thicket on the brow of the +slope. There he dwelt and nursed his +wounds, till, when the snow melted, the +huntsman's “In-hoick, in-hoick, loo-loo-in-hoick!” +resounded in the coverts, and he +was routed from his lair for a last, half-hearted +chase, that ended as Melody pulled +him down at a ford of the river below the +woods.</p> + +<p>During the period of their comradeship—a +period of privation for most of Nature's +wildlings—Vulp taught the vixen much of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> +the lore he had learned from his mother, +while the vixen imparted to him the knowledge +she herself had gained when a cub. +He taught her how to steal away from the +covert along the rough, rarely trodden paths +between the farm-labourers' cottages—where +the scent lay so badly that the hounds were +unable to follow—directly the first faint notes +of a horn, or the dull thud of galloping hoofs, +or the excited whimper of a “rioting” puppy, +indicated the approach of enemies. She +taught him to baffle his foes by chasing +sheep across the stubbles, and then passing +through a line of strong scent where his +own trail could not readily be distinguished; +also that to cross the river by leaping from +stone to stone in the ford was as sure a +means of eluding pursuit as to swim the +pools and the shallows. He taught her, +when hard pressed, to leap suddenly aside +from her path, run along the top rail of a +fence, return sharply on her line of scent, and +follow, with a wide cast, a loop-shaped trail, +which, with a tangent through a ploughed +field or dry fallow, was usually sufficient to +check pursuit till the scent became faint and +cold. And gradually each of these woodland<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> +rovers grew acquainted with the peculiar +whims and habits of the other. Vulp loved +to follow stealthily the trail of the rabbit, and +then to lie in wait till some imagined cause of +alarm sent Bunny back through the “creep” +and almost straight into her enemy's open +jaws. The vixen preferred to hide in the +brambles to leeward of a burrow till an +unsuspecting rabbit crept out into the open. +Vulp, since his adventure with the polecat, +bristled with rage whenever he crossed the +track of a weasel, but never dreamed of +following; polecat and weasel were the same +animal for aught he knew to the contrary. +The vixen, however, was not daunted by the +unpleasant memory of any such adventure; +having chanced to see a weasel in the act of +killing a vole, she had recognised a rival and +acted accordingly. And so Vulp's repeated +warnings to his mate on this matter produced +no effect beyond making her slightly more +careful than she had hitherto been to obtain +a proper grip when she pounced on her savage +little quarry. The vixen was exceedingly +fond of snails, and would eagerly thrust a +fore-paw into the crannies of any old wall +or bank where they hibernated; but Vulp<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> +much preferred to scratch up the moss in a +deserted gravel-pit, and grub in the loosened +soil for the drowsy blow-flies and beetles +that had chosen the spot for their winter +abode. This was the reason for such different +tastes: the vixen, when a cub, had often +basked in the sun near a snails' favourite +resort, and had there acquired a liking for +the snails; while the fox, on the other hand, +had times out of number amused himself, +in the first summer of his life, by leaping +and snapping at the flies as they buzzed +among the leaves when the mid-day sun +was hot, and at the beetles as they boomed +along the narrow paths in the thicket near +the “earth” when the moon rolled up +above the hedge, and the dark, mysterious +shadows of intersecting boughs foreshortened +on the grass. But Vulp knew +well, from an unpleasant experience, the +difference between a fly and a wasp.</p> + +<p>One day in August, as he lay in his outdoor +lair, the brightness and heat of the +sunshine were such that his eyes, blinking +in the drowsiness of half-awakened slumber, +appeared like mere slits of black across +streaked orbs of yellow, and gave no indication<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> +of the fiery glow that lit the round, +distended pupils when he peered at nightfall +through the tangled undergrowth. His +tongue lolled out, and he panted like a +tired hound, but from thirst rather than +weariness. The flies annoyed him greatly, +now settling on his brush, till with a flick +of his paw he drove them away, then, +nothing daunted, alighting on his back, his +ears, his haunches, till his fur wrinkled and +straightened in numberless uneasy movements +from the tormenting tickling of the little +pests. Presently, with a shrill bizz of rapid +wings, a large, yellow-striped fly passed close +to his ears. He struck down the tormenting +insect with a random flip of his paws, +snapped at it to complete the work of +destruction, and proceeded leisurely to eat +his victim. To his utter surprise, he +seemed to have captured a living, angry +thorn, which, despite his most violent efforts +to tear it away with his paws, stuck in his +lip, and produced a smarting, burning +sensation that was intolerable. He rolled +on the ground and rubbed his muzzle in +the grass, but to no purpose. No wonder, +then, that subsequently his manner towards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> +an occasional hibernating wasp among the +moss-roots in the gravel-pit was deferential +in the extreme!</p> + +<p>Vulp and his mate soon learned that in +rabbit-hunting it was exceedingly profitable +to co-operate. Thus, while the vixen “lay +up” near a warren, Vulp skirted the copse +and chased the conies home towards his +waiting spouse. After considerable practice, +the trick paid handsomely, and food was +seldom lacking. The vixen possessed, +perhaps, a slightly more delicate sense of +smell than the fox. Frequently she +scented a rabbit in a clump of fern or gorse +after Vulp had passed it by; suddenly +stopping, she would tell her lord of her +discovery by signs he readily understood, +and then, while he kept outside the tangle, +would pounce on the coney in its retreat, +or start it helter-skelter into his very jaws. +But of all the tricks and the devices she +taught him, the chief, undoubtedly, were +those concerned with the capture of hens and +ducks from a neighbouring farmstead. An +adult fox, as a rule, does not pay frequent +visits to a farmstead; but Vulp, like his +sire, was passionately fond of poultry, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> +so, in after years, the vixen's instructions +caused him to become the dread of every +henwife in the district. Undoubtedly he +would have been shot had he not been +the prize most sought for by the Master +of the Hounds, who cared little for the +frequent demands made on his purse by +the cottagers, so long as the fox that +slaughtered the poultry gave abundant +sport when running fast and straight +before the pack.</p> + +<p>The months drifted by, and signs of +spring became more and more abundant +in the valley. About the beginning of +March, Vulp deserted the “earth” prepared +by himself and the vixen for their prospective +family, and took up his abode among the +hazels and the hawthorns in a thick-set hedge +bounding the woods.</p> + +<p>In preparing the “breeding earth,” Vulp +and the vixen observed the utmost care in +order that its whereabouts should not be +discovered. The chosen site was a shallow +depression, scratched in the soil by a fickle-minded +rabbit that had ultimately fixed on +another spot for her abiding place. This +depression was enlarged; a long tunnel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> +was excavated as far as the roots of an oak, +and there broadened. Then another long +tunnel was hollowed out towards the +surface, where it opened in the middle of +a briar-brake. The foxes worked systematically, +digging away the soil with their +fore-paws, loosening an occasional stubborn +stone or root with their teeth, and thrusting +the rubbish behind them with their +powerful hind-legs. As it accumulated, +they turned and pushed it towards the +mouth of the den, where at last a fair-sized +mound was formed. When the burrow +had been opened into the thicket, the crafty +creatures securely “stopped” the original +entrance, so that, when the grass sprouted +and the briar sprays lengthened in the +woodlands, the “earth” would escape all +notice, unless a prying visitor penetrated +the thicket and discovered the second +opening—then, of course, the only one—leading +to the den.</p> + +<p>When summer came, and the undergrowth +renewed its foliage, and the grass +and the corn grew so tall and thick that +Vulp could roam unseen through the +fields, he left his haunts amid the woodlands<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> +at the first peep of dawn, and as +long as daylight lasted lay quiet in a snug +retreat amid the gorse. There all was +silent; no patter of summer rain from +leaves far overhead, no rustle of summer +wind through laden boughs, prevented +him hearing the approach of a soft-footed +enemy; no harsh, mocking cry of jay +or magpie, bent on betraying his whereabouts, +gave him cause for uneasiness and +fear. Of all wild creatures in the fields +and woods, he detested most the meddlesome +jay and magpie. If he but ventured +by day to cross an open spot, one of these +birds would surely detect and follow him, +hopping from branch to branch, or swooping +with ungainly flight almost on his +head, meanwhile hurling at him a thousand +abuses. Unless he quickly regained his +refuge in the gorse, the blackbirds and the +thrushes would join in the tantalising +mockery, till it seemed that the whole +countryside was aroused by the cry of +“Fox! fox!” After such an adventure, +it needed the quiet and solitude of night +to restore his peace of mind; and even +when he had escaped the din, and lay<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> +in his couch among the bleached grass +and withered leaves, his ears were +continually strained in every direction to +catch the least sound of dog or man. +When in the winter he ran for life before +the hounds, and tried by every artifice to +baffle his pursuers, these “clap-cats” of +the woods would jeer him on his way. +Once, when he ventured into the river, +and headed down-stream, thinking that the +current would bear his scent below the +point where he would land on the opposite +bank, the magpie's clatter caused him +the utmost fear that his ruse might not +succeed. But luckily the hounds and the +huntsman were far away. The birds, +however, were not the only advertisers of +his presence; the squirrel, directly she +caught sight of him, would hurry from her +seat aloft in fir or beach, to the lowest +bough, and thence—though more wary of +Vulp than of Brighteye, the water-vole—fling +at him the choicest assortment +of names her varied vocabulary could +supply. Still, for all this irritating +abuse Vulp had only himself and his +ancestry to blame. The fox loved—as an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> +article of diet—a plump young fledgling +that had fallen from its nest, or a tasty +squirrel, with flesh daintily flavoured by +many a feast of nuts, or beech-mast, or +eggs. It was but natural that his sins, +and those of his forefathers, should be +accounted to him for punishment, and +that it should become the custom, in +season and out of season, when he was +known to be about, for all the woodland +folk to hiss and scream, and expostulate +and threaten, and to compel his return to +hiding with the least possible delay. Thus +it happened that he scarcely ventured, +during the day, to attack even a young +rabbit that frisked near his lair, lest, +screaming to its dam for help, it should +bring a very bedlam about his ears.</p> + +<p>While roaming abroad in the summer +night, Vulp gradually became acquainted +with all sorts of vermin-traps used by the +keepers. Once, treading on a soft spot +near a rabbit “creep,” he suddenly felt a +slight movement beneath his feet. Springing +back, he almost managed to clear the +trap; but the sharp steel teeth caught him +by a single claw and for a moment held<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> +him fast. He wrenched himself loose, +and retired for a while to examine his +damaged toe-nail. Then, reassured, he +again approached the trap, so that he might +store up in memory the circumstances of +his near escape. He learned his lesson +thoroughly, and never afterwards did the +smell of iron, or the slightest taint of the +trapper's hand, escape him. He even +walked around molehills; they reminded him +too much of the soft soil about the trap. +And, for the same reason, he avoided treading +on freshly excavated earth before the +holes of a rabbit warren.</p> + +<p>The succeeding years of Vulp's eventful +life were in many respects similar to the +year that began with his courtship of the +sleek young vixen in the white wilderness +of the winter fields. His fear of men and +hounds increased, while his cunning became +greater with every passing day. He never +slept on a straight trail, but cast about, +returned on the line of his scent, and leaped +aside, before retiring to sleep in his retreat +amid the bracken. Often he heard the wild, +ominous cry of the huntsman, “Eloa-in-hoick, +hoick—hoick, cover—hoick!” as the hounds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> +dashed into the furze; and the loud “Tally-ho!” +as he himself, or, perchance, a less +fortunate neighbour, broke into sight before +the loud-tongued pack. And more than +once, from a safe distance, he heard the awful +“Whoop!” that proclaimed the death of one +of his kindred.</p> + +<p>As the years wore on, Vulp gradually +wandered far from his old home. The +countryside, for twenty or thirty miles around, +was known as intimately to him as a little +garden, nestling between sunny fruit-tree +walls, is known to the cottager who makes +it the object of his daily care. His ears +were torn by thorns and fighting; his +russet coat was streaked with grey along +the spine. At last, when age demanded ease +and comparative safety from the long, hard +chase over hill and dale, he retired to a +rocky fastness on the wild west coast, and +there, far above the leaping waves and +dashing spray, lived his free, lonely life. +And there he died.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 312px;"> +<img src="images/i004.jpg" width="312" height="500" alt="“HE RETIRED TO A ROCKY FASTNESS ON THE WILD WEST COAST.”" title="“HE RETIRED TO A ROCKY FASTNESS ON THE WILD WEST COAST.”" /> +<span class="caption">“HE RETIRED TO A ROCKY FASTNESS ON THE WILD WEST COAST.”</span> +<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">To List</a></span></div> + +<p>It was a bright, hot day in July. Lying +among the boulders on the shore, I watched +through a field-glass the antics of some birds +that wheeled and soared above the cliffs,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> +when, to my surprise, I saw Vulp crawl +slowly along a shelf of rock above a deep, +dark cavern. His movements, somehow, +appeared unnatural. Instead of crouching, +with legs bent under him and brush curled +gracefully about his “pads,” to bask, his +eyelids half-closed, in the sun, he lay on his +side. Guided by a companion, who, with +waving hand, directed my course as I climbed, +I gradually mounted the steep ascent, and +peeped over the edge of the rock on which +the fox lay. Despite my excessive caution, +he was aware of my presence. Slowly and +drowsily he lifted his head, uttered a feeble +half-grunt, half-whine of alarm, and for +a moment bared his teeth defiantly. I +remained absolutely still. Then his head +fell back, and with a tremor of pain he +stretched a stiffened limb. I crawled across +the ledge to a rugged path among the cliffs, +and descended to the shore. Next day I +found him on the rock again, lying in the +same position, but dead, while far up in the +blue the sea-birds circled and called, and +far below, at the edge of the flowing tide, +the crested billows leaped and sang.</p> + +<p>His “mask” hangs above my study door.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> +It has been placed there—not as a thing +of beauty. The hard, set pose devoid of +grace, the bent, dried ears once ever on +the alert, the glassy, artificial eyes in sockets +once tenanted by living balls of fire that +glowed in the darkness of the night—all +are unreal and expressionless. Yet the +“mask” suggests a hundred pictures, and +when I turn aside and forget for a moment +the unreality of this poor image of death, I +wander, led by fancy, among the moonlit +woods, where the red mouse rustles past, and +the mournful cry of the brown owl floats +through the beeches' shadowed aisles. Then +I hear a sudden wail, that echoes from hillside +to hillside, as the vixen calls to Vulp: +“The night is white; man is asleep; I hunt +alone!” And the fox, standing at the edge +of the clearing, sends back his sharp, glad +answer, “I come!”</p> + + + +<h2><a name="THE_BROWN_HARE" id="THE_BROWN_HARE"></a>THE BROWN HARE.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p> +<h2>I.</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p> +<h3>THE UPLAND CORNFIELD.</h3> + + +<p>In midsummer, when the sun rises over the +hillside opposite my home its first bright +beams glance between the branches of a giant +oak in the hedgerow of a cornfield above +the wooded slope, and sparkle on my study +window. And when at evening the valley +is deeply shadowed, the light seems to linger +in benediction on the same cornfield, where +the great oak-tree, no longer silhouetted +darkly against a golden dawn, shines faintly, +with a radiance borrowed from the west, +against the pearl-blue curtain of the waning +day. Except during the early morning or +at dusk, the cornfield does not stand out +conspicuously in the landscape. The eye is +attracted by the striking picture of the woodland +wall stretching across the slope from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> +the brink of the river, or by the lower +prospect of peaceful meadows and orchards +through which the murmuring stream wanders +towards the village bridge; but the peaceful +uplands beyond rarely greet the vision. +For many years I was wont to look from +my window only at the woods and the +meadows, and somehow I was accustomed +to imagine that the line of my vision was +bounded by the top of the wood. It was +not till more than usual interest had been +awakened in me concerning the wild life +inhabiting the cornfield, that my eyes were +daily turned in the direction of the uplands, +where, every evening, the rooks disappear +from sight on their way to the tall elms in +a neighbouring valley.</p> + +<p>Except during harvest, the cornfield is +seldom visited by the country folk. It lies +away from the main road, and the nearest +approach to it is by a grass-grown lane +leading from some ruined cottages to a farmstead +in the middle of the estate. Many years +ago, it was a wilderness of furze and briar, +one of the thickest coverts on the countryside, +affording safe sanctuary for fox and +badger. But gradually it has been reclaimed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> +till now only a belt of undergrowth, scarcely +twenty yards wide, stretches along the horizon +between the upper hedgerow and the wheat.</p> + +<p>Here, one starry April night, in a snug +“form” prepared by the mother hare, a +leveret was born. The “form” was hardly +more than a depression in the rank grass, +to which, for some time past, the doe had +been in the habit of resorting at dawn, that +she might hide secure through the day, +till the dusk brought with it renewed +confidence, and tempted her away into the +open meadows beyond the cornfield, where +the young clover grew green and succulent. +A thick gorse-bush, decked with a wealth +of yellow bloom, grew by the side of the +“form,” and, all around, the matted grass and +brambles made a labyrinth, pathless, save for +the winding “run” by which the hare +approached or left her home.</p> + +<p>Unlike the offspring of the rabbit—born +blind and naked in an underground nest +lined with its parent's fur—the leveret was +covered with down, and her eyes were open, +from the hour of birth. Nature had fitted +her for an existence in the open air. At +first she was suckled by day as well as by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> +night, but as she grew older she seldom felt +the want of food till dark. While light +remained, she squatted motionless by her +mother's side in the “form,” protected by +the resemblance in colour between her coat +and the surrounding herbage, where the +browns and greys of last autumn might still +be seen among the brambles, with here and +there a weather-worn stone or the fresh castings +from a field-vole's burrow. In the gloaming, +she followed her mother through the “creeps” +amid the furze-brake, and sometimes to the +edge of the thicket as far as the gap, where +she learned to nibble the tastiest leaves in +the grass. But soon after nightfall, she was +generally alone for some hours while the doe +wandered in search of food.</p> + +<p>Before daybreak, the doe always returned +to suckle her little one. Often in the quiet +night, the leveret, feeling lonely or afraid, +would call in a low, tremulous voice for +help. If the doe was within hearing she +immediately responded; but frequently the +cry, “leek, leek,” did not reach the roaming +hare, and the leveret, crouching in the undergrowth, +had to wait till she heard her mother's +welcome call. Soon the little home in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> +thicket was deserted, and the leveret +accompanied her mother on her nightly +journeys till the fields and the woods for +miles around became familiar.</p> + +<p>About a month after her birth, the leveret, +having grown so rapidly that she was able +to take care of herself, parted from her +mother, and, crossing the boundary hedge of +the estate, took up her quarters on the +opposite side of the valley. The doe and +her leveret had lived happily in the cornfield +and the meadows above the wood. The +mother had attended with utmost solicitude +to the wants of her offspring, allowing no +intruder among her kindred to trespass on +her own particular haunts, and careful to +select for each day's hiding place some +sequestered spot where a human footstep +was seldom heard, and the noise of the farmyard +sounded faint and remote.</p> + +<p>The leveret had learned, partly through a +wonderful instinct and partly through her +mother's teaching, how to act when there +was cause for alarm. Immediately on detecting +the presence of an intruder, she lay as +still as the stone beside the ant-heap near, +trusting that she would not be distinguished<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> +from her surroundings. But if flight was +absolutely necessary, she sped away towards +the nearest gap, and thence over pasture and +cornfield, always up-hill if possible, out-distancing +any probable pursuer by the +marvellous power of her long hind-limbs.</p> + +<p>During the late summer and the early +autumn, nothing occurred to endanger the +leveret's life. The corn grew tall and slowly +ripened. Amid its cool shadows the leveret +dwelt in solitude. Her “creeps” were out +of sight beneath the arching stalks. A +gutter for winter drainage, dry and overgrown +with grass, formed a tunnel in the +hedge-bank between the corn and the root-crop +field beyond; and through this gutter +the leveret, when at night she grew hungry, +could steal into the dense tangle of thistles +and nettles fringing the turnips, thence, +between the ridges under the wide-spreading +leaves, to the narrow pathway dividing +the rape from the root-crop, and across the +field to a furrow where sweet red carrots, +topped with dew-sprinkled plumes, tempted +her dainty appetite.</p> + +<p>When the calm night was illumined, but +not too brightly, by the moon and stars,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> +the leveret would venture far away from +her retreat to visit a cottage garden where +the young lettuces were crisp and tender. +Her depredations among the carrots and +lettuces were scarcely such as to deserve +punishment. She ate only enough of the +lettuces to make a slight difference in the +number of seeding plants ultimately devoured +by the cottager's pig, or thrown to the refuse-heap; +and from the great pile of carrots, to +be gathered and stored in the peat-mound +by the farmstead, the few she destroyed +could never by any chance be missed. +On all the countryside she was the most +inoffensive creature—the harmless gipsy of +the animal world, having no fixed abode, +her tent-roof being the dome of the sky.</p> + +<p>As autumn advanced, the reapers came to +the corn. She heard them enter by the +gate; and presently, along the broad path +cut by the scythe around the field, the great +machine clanked and whirred. All day the +strange, disturbing noise continued, drawing +gradually nearer the spot where the leveret +lay. Through the spaces between the stalks +she watched the whirling arms swinging over, +and the horses plodding leisurely by the edge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> +of the standing wheat. At last, but almost +too late, she leaped from her “form” as the +cruel teeth cut through the stalks at her +side; and, taking the direction of her “creep,” +rushed off towards the nearest gap and +disappeared over the brow of the hill.</p> + +<p>In the middle of the night she wandered +back to the wheat-field. The scene before +her eyes revealed a startling change. The +corn stood in “stooks” on the stubble; no +winding paths led here and there through a +silent sanctuary, where countless waving, +nodding plumes, bent and released by a +gentle-flowing wind, had shimmered in the +bright radiance of the harvest moon, when, +coming home late at night from the marsh +across the hill, she had stayed for a while +on the mound by the gate, and tiptoe, with +black-fringed ears moving restlessly, had +listened to some ominous sound in the farmyard. +The prickly stubble felt strange to +her feet, so, carefully picking her way by +the ditch, she crossed to the nearest gate +and ambled down the lane. But the change +noticed in the wheat-field seemed to have +passed over the whole countryside. It was +more and more pronounced during the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> +following week, till, in October, the late +harvest had all been cleared. The habits of +the hare altered with the season. Having +at last grown accustomed to the varied conditions +of her life, she sometimes frequented +the old tracks over the upland, but rarely +resorted to the “forms” in which she had +lain amid the summer wheat.</p> + +<p>October brought her an experience which +might have proved disastrous, but which, +fortunately, resulted in nothing more than a +passing fright. In the stalk of the rye occurs +a knot, forming a slight bulge known to the +peasantry as the “sweet joint.” Rabbits and +hares are extremely fond of this succulent +morsel, and, in consequence, the rye-crop, if +near a large warren, is in danger of being +totally destroyed. Puss one night had wandered +far to a field, where, some time before, +she had discovered a patch of standing rye. +The few remaining stalks were hard and uninviting, +but there were some delicious parsnips +among the root-crops. At dawn she settled +down to hide between the rows of swedes +close by, and remained secreted for the day; +but towards evening a sportsman came in at +the gate, and, with a low word of command<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> +and a wave of the arm, “threw off” his brace +of red setters to range the field. Working +systematically to right and left, the dogs +sought eagerly for game. Soon the hare +was scented, and while Juno, with stiffened +“stern” and uplifted paw, stood almost over +her, Random, “backing” his companion, set +towards the furrow where Puss, perfectly +rigid, and with ears well over her shoulders, +crouched low, prepared for instant flight. +Step by step the sportsman, with gun in +readiness, moved towards Juno, cautioning +her against excitement; while Random, +sinking on his haunches, awaited patiently +the issue of events. Suddenly, convinced +that in flight lay her surest chance of escape, +the hare leaped from her “seat,” and with +the utmost speed, though from the ease +of her motions appearing to run slowly, +made her way towards the hedgerow. There +was a quick rush behind her as she +started from the furrow, and then a loud, +rasping exclamation from the sportsman, but +nothing more; no shot was fired. She +owed her life to several circumstances. The +dogs were young, and in strict training; +their master, knowing the natural fondness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> +of “first season” setters for “chasing fur,” +had purposely refrained from killing the hare, +and had turned his attention to the behaviour +of his dogs. Then, again, he cherished a +certain fondness for Puss, believing her to +be the most persecuted, as well as the most +innocent and interesting, of Nature's wildlings +in the wind-swept upland fields.</p> + +<p>Henceforward, but for one other incident, +the life of the hare was singularly uneventful +till the early spring. That incident occurred +within a week of her escape from the setters, +and once more her luck was due to the humanity +of him who had found her among the turnips. +The farm-lands frequented by the leveret were +a favourite resort of many of her kind, and +when moving about in the darkness of the night +she often found signs of their presence near the +gaps and gateways. The sportsman, knowing +well that after harvest the poaching instincts +of the peasantry and of the professional village +“mouchers” would receive fresh stimulus, +determined to forestall his enemies, and render +futile some, at least, of their endeavours. So it +came about that one night a keeper, assisted by +several of the guests at the “big house” in the +valley, and having previously made every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> +preparation for the event, placed a net near +each gate and before each likely gap within a +radius of half a mile from the heart of the +estate.</p> + +<p>Unless hard pressed, a hare seldom leaves a +field except by certain well-known openings in +the hedgerow. Unlike the rabbit, she will not +readily leap over any obstacle beneath which +she can crawl; and whereas the “creep” of +a rabbit through a gateway or a hedgerow is +well-nigh invariably at right angles to the +line of that gateway or hedgerow, the “creep” +of a hare tends sideways and is sometimes +slightly curved. To net hares successfully it is +necessary to know their habits; and the keeper, +having served a lifelong apprenticeship in field-craft, +was prepared for every emergency. His +object at this time was not to kill the hares, +but simply to educate them, to warn them +thoroughly once for all against the wiles of +their worst enemy, the poacher.</p> + +<p>As Puss was busily feeding in the dewy +clover, she heard the quick, continuous gallop +of a dog. This time, however, she had not +to deal with Juno, the setter, but with a +trained lurcher, borrowed for the occasion +from a keeper who had captured the animal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> +during a poaching affray. The leveret, +peeping over the grass-tops, saw the dog +coming rapidly on. He was over and past +her in an instant. As he turned, she started +off straight towards an opening where some +sheep had partly broken down the hedge. +The lurcher closed in, and drove her thither +at tremendous speed. She strained every +nerve, and, gaining the ditch, blundered +blindly through the gap, and fell, helpless +and inert, entangled completely within the +treacherous folds of the unseen net. Her +piteous cries, tremulous, wailing, heart-rending—similar +to the cries of a suffering +infant—were borne far and wide on the +wind. The keeper soon reached the spot, and, +placing his hand over her mouth to stop +the cries, tenderly extricated the frightened +creature from the treacherous meshes and +allowed her to go free. For a few seconds, +she lay in abject fright, panting and unable +to move. Then, hearing the cries of another +hare entangled in a bag-net some distance +away, she bounded to her feet, and darted +off—somewhere, anywhere, so long as she +might leave the awful peril behind. +Bewildered, but with every instinct assisting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> +her in the desire for life, she ran along by +the hedgerow, and, unexpectedly catching +sight of a familiar gate, crouched and +passed quickly through the “creep” beneath +the lowest bar. But here, again, a net was +spread; again the hare fell screaming and +struggling into the meshes; and again the +keeper released her. Exhausted by intense +excitement and fear, she crawled into the +“trash” in the ditch, and kept in hiding, +not daring the risk of another capture. +Luckily for Puss, the lurcher had already +hunted the field in which she was now +secreted, and so the timid creature remained +undisturbed beneath the fern. When her +wildly throbbing heart had been quieted by +rest and solitude, she stole from her hiding +place to nibble the clover at the side of the +path. Towards dawn, she journeyed to a +wide stretch of moorland on the opposite +hills, and there made a new “form” on a +rough bank that separated a reedy hollow +from the undulating wilderness of heather +and fern.</p> + +<p>The leveret's adventures were destined to +effect a considerable change in her habits. +She was being roughly taught that to preserve<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> +her life she must be ever cautious and +vigilant. Though danger threatened her by +day and by night, she lived beyond the usual +period of a hare's existence, partly because +her early education was thorough and severe. +Thus taught, she would pause for an instant +at every gap and gateway before she passed +through, and, if she found a net in her path, +would turn aside, creep along by the hedge, +and seek an exit at another place.</p> + +<p>The perils to which she had been exposed +created a feeling of intense restlessness, which +harassed her throughout the winter months, +and caused her to travel long distances, by the +loneliest lanes and fields, to and from the +moorland where now she had made her home. +She remembered the scent of a human being +since her experiences with the keeper, and, her +powers of smell being wonderfully acute, was +able to detect even the faintest signs which +indicated that her dread enemy—man—had +crossed her path. One night she smelt +the touch of a hand on the grass-bents +near her “form,” and found also that the +herbage had been moved aside. Though +the scent was faint—the intruder having +visited the spot soon after the leveret had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> +set out in quest of food—the cautious +creature forsook her lair, and spent the day +in a sheltered retreat beside a heap of dry +and withered leaves near the outskirts of +a copse on the slope overlooking the moor.</p> + +<p>Gradually she grew big and strong, becoming +unusually fat as the autumn advanced, so that +she would be able, if required, to withstand the +rigour and the waste of a severe winter. Her +coat was thick and beautifully soft, for protection +against cold and damp. But while +she increased in weight, she remained in hard +condition because of her long journeys and +frequent change of quarters.</p> + +<p>It happened, however, that her first winter +was helpful to the welfare of animal life in +general. The heavy rains, it is true, greatly +distressed the leveret. The nights were so +dark, and the constant patter of the rain +so interfered with even her highly trained +powers of hearing, that, while the wet +weather lasted, she seldom dared to leave +the neighbourhood of her favourite resort, +but crouched in the grass at the margin +of the copse, and tried to obtain a meal +as best she could from the sodden herbage.</p> + +<p>Though on certain occasions Puss might<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> +have been discovered in hiding on the +marsh, yet there, whenever possible, she +chose a dry spot for her “seat.” She +loved, best of all, the undulating hills far +above the river-mists, which, chilled at +nightfall by an occasional frost, descended +on the fields like crystal dust, and almost +choked her if she chanced to pass within +these wreathing drifts that brought discomfort +and disease to man and beast alike.</p> + +<p>But the want of exercise so affected +her, that, when again the weather was fine +and she ventured from her lair, she found +herself unable to cover the usual distance +of her nightly rambles. As the first cold +glimmer of the dawn appeared in the +south-eastern sky, she started back, in +alarm at her fatigue, to complete the +remaining mile of her journey home. Her +weakness soon became apparent. Then, +finding herself powerless to proceed, she +turned reluctantly aside, and crouched, +with Nature's mimicry for her protection, +on the brown ploughland where the winter +wheat was thrusting up its first green +sprouts above the soil. But after a few +days she was well and strong again. She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> +suffered far less from the short, sharp +frost that bound the countryside with its +icy fetters, than from the rains. The frost +scarcely interfered with her movements; +indeed, it made exercise more than ever +necessary. Forced to seek diligently for +her food, she found it in a deserted +stubble; there, when the sheep lay sleeping +in the bright winter moonlight, she +would squat beside them, nibbling the +turnips scattered over the field as provender +for the flock.</p> + + + + +<h2>II.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<h3>MARCH MADNESS.</h3> + + +<p>March came in “like a lion.” The wind +whistled round the farmstead on the hill, and +through the doorway of the great kitchen, +and down the open chimney. It woke up +the old, grey-haired farmer who dozed on +the “skew” in the ingle-nook by the crackling +wood-fire; it almost made him feel young +again with the vigour of the boisterous spring. +It sang in the key-hole of the door between +the passage and the best parlour; the mat +at the threshold flapped with a sound as of +pattering feet; and the gaudy calendars on +the wall flew up like banners streaming in +the breeze. The old man turned, and eagerly +watched the hailstones, as they dropped tinkling +on the roofs of the outhouses, or, driven aslant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> +by the wind, crashed hissing against the +ground, and, rebounding, rolled across the +pebbled yard. The labourers came home to +the mid-day meal, and, pausing at the door, +shook the hail from their garments.</p> + +<p>“Lads,” said the farmer, “I've been spared +to hear the whisper of another spring.”</p> + +<p>“God be thanked!” said the hind, “for +seasonable weather at last. Every man to +his trencher! the broth is in the bowls.”</p> + +<p>Out on the marsh the reeds beat in the +wind. Every grass-fibre twisted and swung; +the matted tussocks, drooping over stagnant +pools near which the snipe, with ruffled +feathers, probed the soil in search of food, +were shaken and disentangled, so that the +bleached blades of last year's growth fell +apart, and exposed the fresh young sprouts +rising from the bed of winter's death. Over +the wide waste the March wind drove +furiously, with blessing in the guise of +chastisement, while, far above, the grey-blue +clouds whirled fast across a steely sky, till +the ashen moon gazed coldly on the waning +day, as one by one the stars flashed +overhead, the clouds rolled down into the +pink and silver west, and the song of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> +wind became only a murmur in the leafless +willows by the brook.</p> + +<p>With the advent of March, a great change +passed over the wild life of the uplands. +The jack-hares threw aside their timidity, +and wandered, reckless of danger, over the +marsh, across the stubbles, and through the +woods. Even in broad daylight, they frisked +and quarrelled, in courtship and rivalry.</p> + +<p>The leveret was now full-grown, and +Nature's mothering instincts were strong +within her. One evening, as she louped +along her accustomed trail towards the +turnip-field, she discovered a suitor following +in her wake. Half in misgiving, half in +wantonness, she turned aside and hid in the +ditch. Presently she felt a soft touch on +her neck: the jack-hare was pushing his way +through the undergrowth. For a moment +she stopped to admire him as the moonlight +gleamed on a white star in the centre of +his forehead. Then away she jumped, +dodging round the bushes and hither and +thither among the grassy tangles, while her +admirer followed, frisking and leaping in +sportive gaiety. Another jack-hare now +came along the hedgerow. In utter mischief,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> +Puss called “leek, leek, leek,” as if pretending +to be in distress and in need of help. +“Leek, leek,” came the low response, as, +quickening his pace, the second hare sprang +into the fern. But his audacity was not to +go unchallenged. The first suitor immediately +showed himself, and, making a great pretence +of reckless bravery, prepared to give the +second a warm reception. The doe-leveret, +apparently indifferent, but nevertheless keenly +interested in the combat, crouched on a little +knoll by the path, while the jack-hares, sitting +on their haunches, boxed and scratched, and +rolled over each other in a singularly harmless +conflict, neither suffering more than the +loss of a few tufts of fur. The comedy +might, however, have had a tragic ending. +Presently one of the combatants—the hare +that had come late on the scene—became +slightly exhausted, and, ignominiously yielding +to his rival's superior dexterity, ran back +towards the distant hedge. Almost at once +a fox crept out from the furze at the +corner of the field, and trotted away on the +scent of the fleeing hare, while Puss and +her mate made off in the direction of a +more secluded pasture.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p> + +<p>A month passed—a month of general +hilarity and indiscriminate fighting among all +the hares in the district—and then, within +a neat, dry “form,” that Puss, with a +mother's solicitude, had made in a carefully +selected spot on a mound where the grass +was tall and thick, her little leveret was +“kittled.” The doe-hare tended her offspring +as carefully as she herself had been tended +a year before. Her faithless lover had gone +his own way. But Puss cared little for his +desertion: she wished to live alone, under +no monopoly as far as her affections were +concerned, though for the time her leveret +wholly engaged her mothering love.</p> + +<p>So strong was her strange new passion that +she was ready, if needs be, to brave death +in defence of her young. And, not long +after the leveret's birth, the mother's courage +was tested to the utmost. A peregrine falcon, +from the wild, rocky coast to the west, +came sailing on wide-reaching wings across +the April sky. Puss was resting in a clump +of brambles not far from her “form,” and +saw the big hawk flying swiftly above. Any +movement on her part would have instantly +attracted the attention of her foe, so she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> +squatted motionless, while her leveret also +instinctively lay still in its “form.” But +the keen eyes of the falcon detected the +young hare, and the bird descended like a +stone on his helpless victim. Instantly, +the doe rushed to the rescue, and, effectually +warding the attack, received the full +force of the “stoop” on her shoulders. As +the hawk rose into the air, the doe felt +a sharp pain in one of her ears—the +big talons, closing in their grasp, had +ripped it as with the edge of a knife. +She screamed, then, grunting savagely, +leaped hither and thither around the leveret, +meanwhile urging it to escape into the +adjacent thicket. The bird, aloft in the +air, seemed perplexed, and eventually prepared +to “stoop” again. In the nick of +time, Puss vanished with her little one +beneath an impenetrable tangle of friendly +thorns, while the baffled peregrine proceeded +on his way.</p> + +<p>For some weeks, the hare languished under +the effects of the falcon's blow. When her +leveret was old enough to find food for itself, +she rested, forced by the wound to live +quietly in hiding, till the scar healed and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> +life once more became enjoyable. But she +always bore the marks of the talons, and so +was spoken of by the country folk as “the +slit-eared hare.”</p> + +<p>The superstitious recalled the tales of a +bygone century, and half believed the hare +to be a witch in disguise, for she seemed +to bear a charmed life, and, though known +everywhere in the parish, successfully eluded +to the end all the devices that threatened her. +No matter how artfully the wire noose was +set above the level of the ground in her +“run,” she brushed it by and never blundered +into the treacherous loop. A net failed even +to alarm her: it might almost be imagined +that she became an experienced judge of any +such contrivance, and knew every individual +poacher by the method with which his toils +were spread across her path.</p> + +<p>Not having bred during the year in which +she was born, Puss had thrived, and weighed +about nine pounds in the late autumn of +her second season. But according to popular +opinion she was much heavier. Will, the +cobbler, who was fond of coursing, stoutly +maintained, to a group of interested listeners +in the bar-parlour of the village inn, that she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> +seemed like a donkey when she escaped +from his greyhound into the wood.</p> + +<p>Family cares again claimed the hare's +attention in July; and, having taken to +heart her experience with the peregrine, she +left the uplands and made her home in the +thickets of a river-island. At that time +the river was low, and, on one side of the +island, the bed of the stream had become a +dry, pebbly hollow, save for a large pool fed +by the backwater at the lower end, where +the minnows played, and whither the big +trout wandered from the rapids to feed during +the hot summer nights.</p> + +<p>Late one afternoon, when long shadows +lay across the mossy bank of the river beyond +the tall beeches standing at the entrance to +the island thickets, Puss was waiting for the +dusk, and dozing meanwhile, but with wide-open +eyes, beside her leveret. Since there +was another little mouth besides her own +requiring food, she generally felt hungry long +before nightfall, and so, when the afterglow +began to fade in the west, was wont to +steal away to the clover above the woods +that fringed the long, still pool up-stream.</p> + +<p>As the day wore on, the hare heard the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> +unmistakable tread of human feet approaching +through the woods. The sounds became +increasingly distinct; then a pebble rattled +and splashed into the water as the intruder +walked across the river-bed. He passed close +to the “form,” and, turning down-stream, +was lost to sight amid the bushes. At +intervals, the hare imagined that the faint, +muffled sounds of footsteps came from the +distance; but again the sounds drew near, +ceasing, however, when the man was a few +yards from the nest.</p> + +<p>I can complete the story. Since spring +I had been studying the wild life of this +lonely island below the rocky gorge extending +hither from the village bridge. The +wood-wren, the willow-wren, and the garden-warbler +had nested in the thickets, and every +evening I had visited the place to pry on +their doings, and to note how the flowers in +glad succession blossomed and faded—their +presence in this lonely sanctuary known only +to myself, and to the birds, bees, and butterflies, +and to the little shrews that rustled +over the dry leaves beneath. But now the +garden-warblers had left for the copse on +the far side of the river, and the wood-wrens<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> +and the willow-wrens had retreated to +the inner recesses of the thickets, where, amid +the luxuriant verdure of midsummer, their +movements baffled my observation.</p> + +<p>On the July evening, as I lay in the matted +grass at the edge of the copse by the pebbles, +watching a whitethroat among the bushes +opposite, my eye happened to rest for an +instant on a patch of bare mud immediately +before me. There, to my surprise, I discovered +the footprints of the hare. The five +toes of the fore-feet, and the four toes of +the hind-feet, were as clearly outlined as if +each impression had been taken in plaster. +And yet, when I stood up to look at the +spot, the marks seemed to have wholly disappeared. +On nearer examination I found +that the track of the hare was in the direction +of the island. From their shape, and the +distance between each, the footprints indicated +that the movements of the hare had not +been hurried. Similar footprints were visible +in a straight line between the bank and the +island. Only one conclusion seemed possible—the +hare had crossed to the island early that +morning, after the heavy shower that had +fallen just before dawn. It would have been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> +contrary to her habits had she crossed later; +and, had she passed the place at any time +before, the rain would have washed away +the marks in such an open spot, or, at +any rate, would have blurred them beyond +recognition.</p> + +<p>After placing a white stone by the footprints +to indicate their whereabouts, I +searched along the river-bed for signs that +would show a track towards the bank; but +not a single mark could be found pointing +in that direction. It was obvious that the +hare had not left the island till, at any rate, +some hours after the rain. Then, however, +the sun would have been so high that Puss +would have been loath to leave her lair. +Faintly discernible beside a large pebble, one +other footprint appeared, leading like the +rest towards the island. The mark was old, +and had been saved from obliteration by the +sheltering stone; but it suggested that the +hare had made her home not far away. +Taught by experience, I decided not to +penetrate the copse and risk disturbing its +probable tenant. I approached it only so +far as to examine another bare place in a +line with the footprints on the mud, where,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> +to my delight, I found fresh footprints +similar to those at the dried-up ford, together +with other and much smaller marks +undoubtedly made by a tiny leveret.</p> + +<p>I now re-crossed the ford and went home. +But before nightfall I returned, and, hiding +behind the hedgerow on the bank, watched, +unseen, the approach to the island. My +patience was soon rewarded. Just as the +dusk was deepening over the woodlands, +“the slit-eared hare” left her “form” and +stood in full view by the ford. There, +having lazily stretched her long, supple limbs, +she played awhile with her leveret, sometimes +pausing to nibble a few clover-leaves +as if to direct the little one's attention +towards its suitable food. Then she ambled +leisurely across the river-bed, and, with +graceful, swinging gait, passed through the +meadow beyond—while her offspring disappeared +within the thickets of the island.</p> + +<p>The hot weather broke up in July, and +henceforth, till late September, rain descended +almost every day. The shower that had +revealed the whereabouts of the hare was the +first sign of the change. On the following +night, a thunderstorm broke over the countryside,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> +washed down the soil from the pastures, +and sent the river roaring in flood through +the gorge. While on the far side of the +island the main torrent raged past beneath +the willows, the divided stream under the +near bank formed salmon-pools and trout-reaches, +where, before, the pebbles had been +bare and dry.</p> + +<p>Anxious to know how the flood would +interfere with the movements of the hare, +I came back on the following evening to +my hiding place by the hedgerow. In the +dusk, Puss appeared at the margin of the +copse, and moved down the bank to the +edge of the stream. There she paused, +apparently perplexed, and called to her +leveret. Presently the young hare joined +her mother at the water's edge, and both +hopped along the brink, seeking a dry place +by which they might reach the field on the +slope. Finding none, they adjourned to the +mossy bank where I had seen the leveret's +footprints. Then the doe went down boldly +to the stream, called to her companion, +waded in, and swam across. Ascending into +the field, she shook the water from her fur, +and again called repeatedly. The young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> +one hesitated, and ran to and fro crying +piteously, “leek—leek.” Suddenly, in the +excitement, it missed its footfall and fell +into the river. Bewildered, but hearing its +mother's call, it swam down the pool +through the still water below the little +rapid, and landed on the opposite bank, +where it joined its parent, and, following +her example, shook the water from its +downy limbs. Soon both disappeared within +the wood; and, satisfied with my evening's +sport, I turned homewards across the +fields.</p> + +<p>During the rest of the summer, the hare +frequented the rough pastures skirting the +ploughlands, and visited the cornfields only +when the weather was dry. Hares suffer +little discomfort in rainy weather, if only +the fine fur beneath the surface of the coat +remains dry—after a shower they can easily +shake off any outside moisture. But they +dislike entering damp places where the +vegetation is tall and their fur may get +matted and soaked by the raindrops collected +on the herbage. In wet weather hares may +often be found in cover, especially near thick +furze-brakes on a well drained hillside, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> +their presence in such a situation may imply +that they sought shelter before the rain began +to fall.</p> + +<p>In September, for the third time during +the year, Puss was occupied with family +affairs. Now, three tiny leverets were +“kittled,” and the nest occupied an almost +bare place on the top of a ridge in the +root-field where last season the succulent +carrots grew. The hare had been greatly +distressed by the unusually wet summer, +and one of her leverets was in consequence +a weakling; another leveret was +killed by a prowling polecat while the +mother wandered from the “form”; and +only the third grew up robust and +strong.</p> + +<p>The approach of winter brought Puss many +strange experiences, from some of which she +barely emerged with her life. When the +season was passed, it had become more +than ever difficult to approach her; she +would slip away to cover directly her keen +senses detected the presence of a stranger +in the field where she lay in her “form.” +As she grew older, her leverets sometimes +numbered four or five, but as a rule she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> +gave birth to three only, her productiveness +being probably dependent on the ease with +which she obtained food.</p> + +<p>One day in February, just before bringing +an early little family into the world, she +almost met her death. A village poacher, +ferreting on the hillside, chanced to see her, +as she lay not far off in a patch of clover. +Without waste of time, he proceeded to +attempt the capture of the hare by a well-known +trick. Thrusting a stake into the +ground, he placed his hat on it, and strolled +unconcernedly away. Then, as though he +had changed his mind, he walked round the +clump, in ever narrowing circles, gradually +closing on his prey. Meanwhile, the hare, +her attention wholly diverted by the improvised +scarecrow, remained motionless, baffled +by the artifice. Suddenly she felt the touch +of the man's hand. The poacher had thrown +himself down on the tuft, hoping to clutch +the hare before she could move. But in +endeavouring to look away from the spot, +and, at the same time, measure the distance +of his fall, he had miscalculated the hare's +position. She sprang up, and with ears +held low sped away towards the wood,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> +leaving the poacher wild with rage at the +failure of his ruse, and vowing vengeance +on the timid creature, whose life, at such +a time, would hardly, even to him, have +been worth an effort.</p> + + + +<h2>III.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<h3>THE CHASE.</h3> + + +<p>Of all the hounds employed in the chase of +the hare, the basset promises to become the +prime favourite among some true-hearted +sportsmen who love sport for its own sake, +and not from a desire to kill. He is a loose, +lumbering little fellow—resembling his relative, +the dachshund—low and long, with out-turned +legs, sickle-shaped “flag,” and features which, +in repose, seem to suggest that he has borne +the grief and the care of a hundred years, +but which, when the huntsman comes to +open the kennel doors, are radiant with +delight. Mirthfulness and dignity seem to +seek expression in every movement of the +quaint, old-fashioned little hound, and in +every line of his face. As for his music—who +would expect such a deep, bell-like<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> +note from this queer midget among +hunters, standing not much higher than the +second button of the huntsman's legging? +Withal, he is a merry, lively little fellow, +with a good nose for the scent of a rabbit or +a hare, and, when in fit condition, is able to +follow, follow, follow, if needed, from earliest +dawn till the coming of night. The chase +being ended, he with his companions, Harlequin +and Columbine, and all the stragglers of +the panting pack, will surround the tired hare, +and will wait, bellowing lustily, but without +molesting the quarry, till the Master appears +and calls them to heel.</p> + +<p>If the ten to twenty sportsmen often to +be found in a village would combine, each +keeping a basset for the common Hunt, they +might derive the utmost pleasure from following +their pets afield, and incidentally would +assist to prevent the extermination of an +innocent wildling of our fields and woodlands. +For the sake of the sport shown by +the basset-hounds, many of the farmers near +the villages, who dearly love to hear the deep +music of a pack in full cry, would protect +Puss from those more cunning and powerful +enemies of hers, who, lurcher in leash or gun<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> +in hand, steal along the hedgerows at nightfall, +so that, from a secret transaction thereafter +with some local game-dealer, they may +get the wherewithal for a carouse in the +kitchen of the “Blossom” or the “Bunch +of Grapes.”</p> + +<p>One morning in December, when the rime +lay thick on the fields, and the unclouded +sun, rising in the steel-blue sky, cast a +radiance over the glittering countryside, our +village basset-hounds found the “cold” scent +of the hare in the woods above the church, +where Puss had sheltered beside a prostrate +pine-trunk before returning to her “form” at +dawn. After endeavouring in vain for some +time to discover the direction of her “run,” +they set off, “checking” occasionally, across +the stubble, through the root-crop field, and +down over the fallow to the bottom of the +dingle. There, near a bubbling spring, +Puss had hidden since daybreak. Hearing +the far-off music, she slipped out of the field +unobserved, till, reaching the uplands, she was +seen to pass leisurely by in the direction of +the furze-brake.</p> + +<p>Directly the bassets came to the spring, a +chorus of deep sounds announced that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> +quarry had been tracked to her recent lair. +All through the morning they continued their +quest; they streamed in a long, irregular +line up the hillside, their black and tan and +white coats gaily conspicuous in the sunlight; +they trickled over the hedgerows, and dotted +the furrows of the deserted ploughlands; they +moved in “open order” through the copse, +and plodded along by the furze-brakes or +through the undergrowth where the sharp-thorned +brambles continually annoyed and +impeded them; they worked as if time needed +not to be taken into the slightest account. +The least scent met with loud and +hearty recognition; fancy ran riot with the +excited puppies; the atmosphere at every +turn seemed to betray the near presence of +Puss. But every condition of weather and +fortune was against good sport. The ground +was steadily thawing in the warmth of the +sun, and the rising vapour, trembling in the +light, seemed to carry the scent too high for +accurate hunting.</p> + +<p>So the hare ambled along her line of flight—a +wide, horse-shoe curve that began and +ended in the fallow on the slope. When +a considerable distance had been placed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> +between herself and her pursuers, she ceased +to hurry. Indeed, the music of horn and +hounds seemed almost to fascinate the +creature, and frequently she lingered for a +few moments to listen intently to the clamour +of her enemies. A farm labourer, who tried +to “grab” her as she passed down the grassy +lane, said that she “was coming along as cool +as a cucumber. Sometimes she'd sit down to +tickle her neck with her hind-feet. Then +she'd give a big jump, casual-like, to one side +of the path, and sit down again, with her ears +twitching and turning as if she thought there +was mischief in every flutter of a leaf or +creak of a bough.”</p> + +<p>Frightened almost out of her wits by the +labourer's sudden and well-nigh successful +endeavour to secure her, Puss rushed back +along the lane, crossed a gap, and sped over +the uplands once more, leaving her usual +horse-shoe line of flight, and taking a much +greater curve towards the fallow. But +gradually her pace slackened as she discovered +she was no longer followed; and +then, not far from her lair by the spring, she +paused to rest. The music of the hounds +was faint, distant, and intermittent; and at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> +last it entirely ceased. Somewhat exhausted +towards the end of her journey, she had +withheld her scent, and had thus completely +outwitted her slow but patient pursuers.</p> + +<p>Once, and once only, towards the end of +January, she found herself chased by her +more formidable foes, the beagles. At first +she eluded them by stealing off without +yielding the faintest scent; but she was +“viewed” in crossing the meadow, and the +hounds, making a long, wide cast, “picked +up” as soon as a slight, increasing taint in +the air was perceptible, then followed for +several miles. But, ultimately, they were +baffled, and Puss made good her escape.</p> + +<p>It had happened that, after creeping +through a gutter in the hedgerow of a stubble, +she had come in sight of a flock of sheep +grazing on the opposite side. Like Vulp, the +fox, she knew how to hinder the chase by +mingling her scent with that of other animals; +so without hesitation she passed through the +flock, and made straight for an open gateway +in the far corner of the field. When the +beagles, in hot pursuit, appeared on the +scene, the startled sheep, rushing away, took +the line of the hunted hare through the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> +opening, and thus “fouled” the scent so +thoroughly that the hunt came to a “check.” +After the hare had left the fields frequented +by the sheep, she took the direction of a +path leading over a wide bog towards the +woodland. On the damp ground the scent +lay so badly, that when, some time later, the +beagles crossed her line, they were unable, +even after repeated “casts,” to follow her +track. Presently the impatient huntsman, +with hounds at heel, moved away to the +nearest road and relinquished his quest.</p> + +<p>Luckily for Puss, the harriers never visited +her neighbourhood, and only on special +occasions was coursing permitted on the +estate. If at night a lurcher entered the +field in which she grazed amid the clover, +her knowledge of the poacher's artifices +immediately prompted her to slip over the +hedge and past the treacherous nets. Her +life, beset with hidden dangers, was preserved +by a chain of wonderfully favourable +circumstances, that befriended her even when +the utmost caution and vigilance had been +unavailing.</p> + +<p>Once, so mild was the winter that the +hare's first family for the year came into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> +world in January. A few weeks afterwards, +when she was about to separate from her +leverets, an incident occurred that might have +been attended with fatal results. A poacher, +prowling along the far side of the hedgerow, +and occasionally stopping to peep through +the bushes for partridges “jugging” in the +grass-field, caught sight of the leverets +nibbling the clover near a small blackthorn. +In the feeble afterglow, he was uncertain +that the objects before him were worth the +risk of a shot, so he crawled towards a gap to +obtain a nearer view. To his astonishment, +when he reached the gap nothing was visible +by the thorn-bush; the leverets had vanished +in the ferns. But the poacher was artful and +experienced. He hid in the undergrowth of +the ditch, where, after waiting awhile, and +seeing no sign of movement in the grass, he +gave utterance to a shrill cry like that of a +young hare in distress. Five minutes passed, +and the cry was repeated—tremulous, +prolonged, eloquent of helpless suffering. +At intervals, the same artifice was employed, +but apparently without success.</p> + +<p>The poacher was about to crawl from his +hiding place, when suddenly, close beside the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> +hedgerow, the head of the doe hare came +into sight. Startled, in spite of expectation, +by her sudden appearance, and excited as he +recognised the “slit-eared hare,” the poacher +involuntarily moved to grasp his gun. He +looked down for an instant to make sure +that his gun was in readiness, but when he +lifted his eyes again the hare was gone. Do +what he might, not another glimpse of his +quarry was to be obtained, and so, half +believing that he had seen a witch or that +he had dreamed, he stole away into the +darkening night.</p> + +<p>Deceived by the poacher's cries, the doe-hare +had hurried home, but had found her +young alive and well. Then, scenting danger, +she had vanished with her offspring into the +nearest bramble-clump, and in the deep shadow +of the hedgerow had led them safely away.</p> + +<p>During the last year of her life, she frequented +the hawthorn hedges and the furze +brakes of an estate diligently “preserved” +by a lover of Nature as a sanctuary whither +the furred and feathered denizens of the +countryside might resort without fear of +hounds or poachers, and where a gun was +never fired except at vermin. The winter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> +was severe; on two occasions snow lay thick +on the ground for more than a week. But +Puss was fairly comfortable; she had her +“form” on a dry, rough heap of stones, +gathered from the fields and thrown into a +disused quarry near the woods; and for +four or five nights she remained at home, +the snow covering her completely but for a +breathing hole in the white walls of her +tiny hut. At last, impatient of confinement, +and desperately hungry, she broke through +the snow-drift, and sought the nearest root-crop +field, where, after scratching the snow +from a turnip, she was able to make a hearty +meal. While returning slowly towards the +wood through the soft, yielding snow that +rendered her journey difficult and tiresome, +she unexpectedly discovered, near the hedge +beyond the furrows, a tasty leaf or two of +the rest-harrow, together with a few yellow +sprouts of young grass where a stone had +been kicked aside by a passing sheep—these +were the tit-bits of her provender.</p> + +<p>In the early morning, the hare, too cautious +to re-enter the “form,” which, now that its +surroundings were torn asunder, had become +a conspicuous rent in the white mantle of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> +the old quarry, crept over the hedge into +the woods, and, moving leisurely beneath +the snow-laden undergrowth, where her deep +footprints could not easily be tracked, selected +a suitable spot for a new “form” in the +friendly shelter of a fallen pine.</p> + +<p>But even in this woodland sanctuary she +encountered an enemy. A cat from the +farm on the hill, having acquired poaching +habits, had strayed, and taken up her abode +among the boulders at the foot of a wooded +precipice adjoining the lower pastures of the +estate. In a gallery between these boulders, +she had made her nest of withered grass and +oak-leaves, where, at the time of which I +write, she was occupied with a family of +kittens. The wants of the kittens taxed +the mother's utmost powers; she prowled +far and wide in search of food, and was as +much a creature of the night as were the +fox and the polecat that also lived among +the rocks.</p> + +<p>There is no greater enemy of game than +the renegade cat. She is far more destructive +than a fox. Many animals that can evade +Reynard are helpless in the grip of a foe +armed so completely as to seem all fangs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> +and talons. The special method of slaughter +adopted by the cat towards a victim of her +own size is cruel and repulsive in the extreme. +Grasping it with her fore-claws and holding +it with her teeth, she lies on her back and +uses her hind-claws with such effect that +often her prey is lacerated to death.</p> + +<p>Roaming at night in the shadow, the cat +came unexpectedly on the scent of the hare +and traced it to the “form,” but the desired +victim was not at home. The cat returned +to the spot before dawn, and lurked in hiding +beneath the hawthorns. The hare, however, +was not to be easily trapped. Coming into +the wood against the wind, she fortunately +detected the enemy's presence quite as readily +as the cat had discovered her “form” amid +the grass-bents. With ears set close, and +limbs and tail twitching with excitement, +the cat crouched ready for the deadly leap. +But the hare suddenly sprang aside from her +path, climbed the hedgerow, and disappeared, +outpacing with ease the cat's half-hearted +attempt at pursuit.</p> + +<p>At length the “slit-eared hare” met her +death, in a manner befitting the wild, free +existence she had led among the hills and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> +the valleys. Her dead body was brought +me by the head keeper of the woodland +estate, and, as it rested on my study table, +I gazed at it almost in wonder. The russet +coat, turning grey with age, was eloquent of +the brown earth, the sere leaf, and the +colourless calm of twilight, and told me of +the creature's times and seasons. The big, +dark eyes, their marvellous beauty and expressiveness +dimmed by death, and the long, +sensitive ears, one ripped by the falcon's +talon and both slightly bent at the tip +with age, were suggestive of persecution, +and of a haunting fear banished only with +the coming of night, when, perchance, the +early autumn moon rose over the corn, and +the hare played with her leverets among the +shadowy “creeps.” My hands rested on the +fine, white down that took the place of +the russet coat where Nature's mimicry was +needed not; it was pure and stainless, like +the lonely wildling's inoffensive life.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 296px;"> +<img src="images/i005.jpg" width="296" height="500" alt="“WHEN THE EARLY AUTUMN MOON ROSE OVER THE CORN.”" title="“WHEN THE EARLY AUTUMN MOON ROSE OVER THE CORN.”" /> +<span class="caption">“WHEN THE EARLY AUTUMN MOON ROSE OVER THE CORN.”</span> +<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">To List</a></span></div> + +<p>A terrible thunderstorm had raged over the +countryside all the evening and throughout +the night. Ben, the carter, coming home to +the farm with his team, had dropped at the +very threshold of the stable, blasted in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> +lurid furnace of sudden fire. A labourer's +cottage had been wrecked; many a stately +forest tree had been rent or blighted; the +withering havoc had spread far and wide +over the hills. On the following morning, +the keeper, going his rounds, had found the +dead hare beside a riven oak.</p> + + + +<h2><a name="THE_BADGER" id="THE_BADGER"></a>THE BADGER.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p> +<h2>I.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span></p> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<h3>A WOODLAND SOLITUDE.</h3> + + +<p>Even in our own densely peopled land, +there are out of the way districts in which +human footsteps are seldom heard and +many rare wild creatures flourish unmolested. +Near such parts the naturalist +delights to dwell, in touch, on one side, +with subjects that deserve his patient study, +and, on the other side, with kindly country +folk, who, perhaps, supply him with food, +and are the means of communication +between him and the strenuous world. In +this western county, however, the naturalist, +in order to gain expert knowledge, does not +need to live on the fringe of civilisation. +Here, among the scattered upland farms +around the old village, creatures that would +elsewhere be in daily danger because of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> +their supposed attacks on game are almost +entirely free from persecution. In several of +our woods, polecats seem to be more numerous +than stoats, and badgers are known, but +only to the persistent observer, to be more +common than foxes; and both polecats +and badgers are seldom disturbed, though +the farmers may regularly pass their burrows.</p> + +<p>The immunity of such animals from +harm is, to some extent, the result of the +farmer's lack of interest in their doings. +He strongly resents the presence of too +many rabbits on his land, “scratching” +the soil, spoiling the hedges, and devouring +the young crops, and, therefore, cherishes +no grudge against their enemies so long as +his stock is unmolested. He is no ardent +protector of game, and, if a clutch of +eggs disappears from the pheasant's nest he +has chanced to discover in the woods, thinks +little about the incident, and concludes that +Ned the blacksmith's broody hen has probably +been requisitioned as a foster-mother, and that +some day he will know more of the true state +of affairs when he visits the smithy at the +cross-roads.</p> + +<p>Another circumstance to which the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> +badger hereabouts is indebted for security +is that terriers are not the favourite dogs +of the countryside. When shooting, the +sportsman prefers spaniels, particularly +certain “strains” of black and brown +cockers—untiring little workers with a +keen, true power of scent—which for many +years have been common in the neighbourhood; +and the farmer's sheep-dog is unfitted +for any sport except rabbiting. Here and +there, among the poaching fraternity, may +be found a mongrel fondly imagined by +its owner to be a terrier—a good rabbit +“marker,” and wonderfully quick in killing +rats, but no more suited than the sportman's +spaniel for “lying up” with a badger.</p> + +<p>Undoubtedly, however, the security of +some of our most interesting wild animals, +and especially of the badger, is to be +accounted for by their extreme shyness. +They venture abroad only when the +shadows of night lie over the woods. For +countless years, dogs and men have been +their greatest foes, and their fear of them +is found to be almost as strong in remote +districts as where, near towns, their +existence is continually threatened. Wild<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> +life in our quiet valley will be deemed of +unusual interest when I say that less than +six hours before writing these lines I +visited a badger's “set”—a deep underground +hollow with several main passages +and upper galleries, where, as I have +good reason to believe, a fox also dwells—an +otter's “holt” beneath gnarled alder-roots +fringing the river-bank, and another +fox's “earth,” all on the outskirts of a +wooded belt not more than a mile from +my home, and all showing signs of having +long been inhabited.</p> + +<p>Unless systematically persecuted, the fox, +the otter, and the badger cling to their +respective haunts with such tenacity that, +season after season, they prowl along the +same familiar paths through the woods or +by the river, and rear their young in the +same retreats. This is the case especially +with the badger; from the traditions of the +countryside, as well as from the careful +observation of sporting landowners, it may +be learned that for generations certain +inaccessible “sets” have seldom, if ever, +been uninhabited. Always at nightfall the +“little man in grey” has climbed the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> +slanting passage from his cave-like chamber, +ten or—if among the boulders of some +ancient cairn—even from twenty to thirty +feet below the level of the soil, and sniffed +the cool evening air, and listened intently +for the slightest sound of danger, before +departing on his well worn trail to hunt +and forage in the silent upland pastures. And +with the first glimpse of light, when the +hare stole past towards her “form,” and the +fox, a shadowy figure drifting through the +haze of early dawn, returned to the dense +darkness of the lonely wood, he has sought +his daytime snuggery of leaves and grass +industriously gathered from the littered +glades.</p> + +<p>In a deep burrow at the foot of a hill, +about a quarter of a mile from a farmstead +built on a declivity at a bend of the broad +river, Brock, the badger, was born, one +morning about the middle of spring. Three +other sucklings, like himself blind and wholly +dependent on their parents' care, shared +his couch of hay and leaves. Day by day, +the mother badger, devoted to their welfare, +fed and tended her unusually numerous offspring, +lying beside them on the comfortable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> +litter, while the sire, occupying a snug corner +of the ample bed, dozed the lazy hours +away; and evening after evening, when +twilight deepened into darkness as night +descended on the woods, she arose, shook +a few seed-husks from her coat, and with +her mate adjourned to an upper gallery +leading to the main opening of the “set,” +whence, assured that no danger lurked in +the neighbourhood of their home, both stole +out to forage in the clearings and among the +thickets on the brow of the hill.</p> + +<p>Just as with Lutra, the little otter-cub +in the “holt” above the river's brim, the +first weeks of babyhood passed uneventfully, +so with Brock, the badger, nothing of interest +occurred till his eyes gradually opened, and +he could enjoy with careless freedom the +real beginning of his woodland life. Even +thus early, what may be called the nocturnal +instinct was strong within him. He was +alert and playful chiefly at night, when, deep +in the underground hollow, nothing could +be heard of the outer world but the +indistinct, monotonous wail of the wind in +the upper passages of the “set.” Droll, +indeed, were the revels of the young badgers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> +when the parents were hunting far away. +The little creatures, awakened from a heavy +sleep that had followed the last fond attentions +of their mother, were loath to frolic +at once with each other in the lonely, +silent chamber. In their parents' absence +they felt unsafe; that mysterious whisper +of admonition, unheard but felt, which is +the voice of the all-pervading spirit of the +woods forever warning the kindred of the +wild, bade them be quiet till the dawn +should bring the mother badger to the lair +once more. So, huddled close, they were +for a time satisfied with a strangely +deliberate game of “King of the Castle,” +the castle being an imaginary place in the +middle of their bed. Towards that spot +each player pushed quietly, but vigorously, +one or other gaining a slight advantage now +and again by grunting an unexpected +threat into the ear of a near companion, +or by bestowing an unexpected nip on the +flank of the cub that held for the moment +the coveted position of king. Withal +this was a sober pastime, unless Brock, the +strongest and most determined member of +the family, chanced to provoke his playmates<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> +beyond endurance, and caused a +general, reckless scramble, in which tiny +white teeth were bared and tempers were +uncontrolled.</p> + +<p>As the night wore on, it almost invariably +happened, however, that the “Castle” +game gave place to a livelier diversion akin +to “Puss in the Corner,” when, on feeble, +unsteady legs, the “earth-pigs” romped in +pursuit of each other, or squatted, grunting +with excitement, in different spots near the +wall of their nursery. But, tired at last, +they ceased their gambols an hour or so +before dawn, lay together in a warm, panting +heap, and slept, till, on the return of their +mother to the “set,” they were gathered to +the soft comfort of her folded limbs, and +fed and fondled to their hearts' content.</p> + +<p>Though Brock grew as rapidly as any +young badger might be expected to grow, a +comparatively long time passed by before he +and the other small members of the family +ventured out of doors. Repeatedly they were +warned, in a language which soon they +perfectly understood, that, except under the +care of their parents, a visit to the outer +world would end disastrously; so, while the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> +old ones were abroad, the little creatures +dared not move beyond the opening to the +dark passage between the chamber and the +gallery above. Sometimes, following their +dam when she climbed the steep passage to +her favourite lookout corner within a mouth +of the burrow, they caught a glimpse of +the sky, and of the trees and the bracken +around their home; but a journey along the +gallery was never made before the twilight +deepened.</p> + +<p>The purpose of such close confinement was, +that the young badgers should be taught, +thoroughly and without risk, the first principles +of wood-craft, and thus be enabled to +hold their own in that struggle for existence, +the stress of which is known even to the +strong. Obedience, ever of vital importance +in the training of the forest folk, was impartially +exacted by the mother from her offspring. +It was also taught by a system of immediate +reward. The old badger invariably uttered a +low but not unmusical greeting when she +returned to her family at dawn. Almost +before their eyes were open, the sucklings +learned to connect this sound with food and +comfort, and at once turned to the spot from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> +which it proceeded. Later, when the same +note was used as a call, they recognised that +its meaning was varied; in turn it became, +with subtle differences of inflection, an +entreaty, a command, and a warning that +it would be folly to ignore; but, whatever it +might indicate, they instinctively remembered +its first happy associations, and hurried to their +mother's side. Hardly different from the call, +when it conveyed the idea of warning, was +a note of definite dissent, directing the +youngsters to cease from squabbling, and to +become less noisy in their rough-and-tumble +play. After they had learned each minute +difference in the call notes, their progress in +education was largely determined by that love +of mimicry which always prompts the young +to imitate the old; and in time they acquired +the tastes, the passions, and the experiences +of their watchful teachers.</p> + +<p>While prevented from wandering abroad, +they nevertheless were not entirely ignorant +of what was happening in the woods. They +were not quickly weaned; it was necessary, +before the dam denied them Nature's first +nourishment, that they should have ready +access to the brook that trickled down the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> +hillside hollow not far from the “set.” But +meanwhile, young rabbits, dug from the +breeding “stops” of the does, were frequently +brought to them, and the badgers were +encouraged to gratify a love for solid food +which nightly became stronger.</p> + +<p>In this part of the education of their young, +the parent badgers adopted methods similar to +those of the fox and other carnivorous animals. +When first the mother badger brought a rabbit +home, she placed it close beside her cubs, so +that they could not fail to be attracted by its +scent. For a moment, aware of something +new and strange, they showed signs of timidity, +and crouched together in the middle of the +nest; but the presence of their mother reassured +them, and they sniffed at the warm body with +increasing delight. The dam seemed to know +each trifling thought passing through their +minds; and, observing their eager interest, she +dragged the rabbit into a corner of the bed, +making great show of savagery, as if guarding +it from their attacks. Time after time, +she alternately surrendered and withdrew her +victim, till the tempers of the little animals, +irritated beyond control by her tantalising +methods, blazed out in a free fight among<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> +themselves for possession of the prize. The +mother now retired to a corner of the “set,” +and listened attentively to all that happened, +till they had finished their quarrel, and Brock, +the middle figure in a group of tired youngsters, +lay fast asleep with his head on the +rabbit's neck. Then she turned, climbed +quietly to the upper galleries, and, stealing +out among the shadows of the wood, came +again to the breeding “stop,” where she +unearthed and devoured a young rabbit that +had been suffocated in the loose soil +thrown up during her former visit. After +quenching her thirst at the brook in the +hollow, she journeyed to the upland fields, +crossed the scent of her mate in the gorse, +and then “cast” back across the hillside, +making a leisurely examination of each +woodland sign, to satisfy herself that no +danger lurked in the neighbourhood of her +home.</p> + +<p>For the badger, as for the tiny field-vole +in the rough pastures of the Cerdyn +valley, the various scents and sounds were +full of meaning, and constituted a record +of the night such as only the woodland +folk have learned fully to understand. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> +smell of the fox lay strong on a path +between the oaks; with it was mingled the +scent of a bird; and a white feather, caught +by a puff of wind, fluttered in the grass: +young Reynard, boldest of an early family +in the “earth,” had stolen a fowl from a +neighbouring farmyard near the river, and +had carried it—not slung over his shoulders, +as fanciful writers declare, but with its +tail almost touching the soil—into the +thicket beyond the wood. Rabbits had +wandered in the undergrowth; and, near a +large warren, the stale, peculiar odour of a +stoat that had evidently prowled at dusk +lingered on the dewy soil. The signs of +blackbirds and pigeons among the loose +leaf-mould were also faint; as soon as +night had fallen, the birds had flown to +roost in the branches overhead. The short, +coughing bark of an old fox came from the +edge of the wood; and then for some time +all was quiet, till the musical cry of an +otter sounded low and clear from the river +beneath the steep.</p> + +<p>These familiar voices of the wilderness +caused the badger no anxiety; they told +her of freedom from danger; they were to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> +her assuring signals from the watchers of +the night. But the howl of a dog in a +distant farmstead, and the bleat of a restless +sheep in the pasture on the far side of the +hill, told her a different story; they +reminded her, as the smell of the fowl had +done, that man, arch-enemy of the woodland +people, might in any capricious +moment threaten her existence, seeking to +destroy her even while by day she +slumbered in her chamber under the roots +of the forest trees.</p> + +<p>She crossed the gap, where the river-path +joined the down-stream boundary of the +wood, then, with awkward, shambling stride, +climbed the steep pasture, and for a few +moments paused to watch and listen in the +deep shadows of the hedge on the brow of +the slope. A rabbit, that had lain out all +night in her “seat” beneath the briars, +rushed quickly from the undergrowth, and +fled for safety to a burrow in the middle +of the field. A small, dim form appeared +for a moment by a wattled opening between +the pasture and the cornfield above, then, +with a rustle of dry leaves, vanished on the +further side—a polecat was returning to her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> +home in a pile of stones that occupied a +hollow on the edge of the wood.</p> + +<p>Day was slowly breaking. A cool wind, +blowing straight from the direction of a +homestead indistinctly outlined against the +dawn, stirred the leaves in the ditch, and +brought to the badger's nostrils the pungent +scent of burning wood—the milkmaid was +already at work preparing a frugal breakfast +in the kitchen of a lonely farm. Fearing +that with the day the birds would mock +her as she passed, and thus reveal her +whereabouts to some inquisitive foe, the +badger sought the loneliest pathway through +the wood, and returned, silently but hastily, +to her home.</p> + + + +<h2>II.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span></p> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<h3>HOME DISCIPLINE.</h3> + + +<p>During the mother badger's absence from +home, an unlooked-for event—almost the +exact repetition of an incident in the training +of Vulp, the young fox—had happened +in the education of her cubs. Her mate, +hunting in an upland fallow, had been +surprised by a poacher, and, long before daybreak, +had discreetly returned to the “set.” +The success he had met with had enabled him +to feed to repletion, so he was not tempted +by the dead rabbit carried home by the +mother and left in the chamber. Fearing to +leave his hiding place, he wisely determined +to devote the time at his disposal, before +settling to sleep, to his children's instruction. +With a grunt like that of the mother +when she greeted her offspring, he at once<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> +aroused the slumbering youngsters, and +then, heedless of their attentions, as, mistaking +him for the dam, they pressed at +his side, he laid hold of the rabbit and +dragged it into a far corner. Full of +curiosity, the cubs followed, but with well +assumed anger he drove them away. As if +in keen anticipation of a feast, he tore the +dead animal into small pieces which he +placed together on the floor of the chamber. +This task complete, he retired to his +accustomed resting place, and listened while +the cubs, overcoming their timidity, ventured +nearer and nearer to the dismembered +rabbit, till, suddenly smelling the fresh +blood, they gave way to inborn passion, +and buried their teeth in the lifeless flesh. +An inevitable quarrel ensued; Brock and +his companions could not agree on the +choice of tit-bits, and a medley of discordant +grunts and squeals seemed to fill the chamber, +though now and again it partly subsided, +as two or three of the cubs, having fixed +on the same portion of the rabbit, tugged +and strained for its possession—so intent on +the struggle that they dared not waste their +breath in useless wrangling.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span></p> + +<p>The old badger, satisfied that his progeny +gave excellent promise of pluck and strength, +was almost dropping off contentedly to sleep, +when one of the excited combatants, retreating +from the fray, backed unceremoniously, +and awoke him with an accidental blow on +the ribs. This was more than the crusty +sire could endure, and he administered such +prompt and indiscriminate chastisement to +the youngsters, that, in a subdued frame of +mind, they forgot their differences, forgot +also the toothsome remnants of their feast, +and nestled together in bed, desiring much +that their patient dam would come to +console them for the ill-usage just received.</p> + +<p>On returning to the “set,” the mother +badger stayed for a few minutes at the +edge of the mound before the main entrance, +and, rearing herself on her hind-legs, rubbed +her cheek against a tree-trunk, and sniffed the +air for the scent of a lurking enemy. Then, +satisfied that all was safe, she entered the +deep chamber, and was greeted by the +little creatures that for an hour had +expectantly awaited her arrival. Unusually +boisterous in their welcome, they instantly +disregarded the presence of their sire; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> +such, already, was the magic effect of the +meal of raw flesh on their tempers, that, +with an eagerness hitherto unknown, they +followed every movement of their dam, till, +submitting to their importunities, she lay +beside them, and fed and fondled them to +sleep.</p> + +<p>Almost nightly, she brought something +new with which to tempt their appetites—young +bank-voles dug from their burrows on +the margin of the wood, weakling pigeons +dropped from late nests among the leafy +boughs, snakes, and lizards, and, chiefly, +suckling rabbits unearthed from the shallow +holes which the does had “stopped” with +soil thrown back into the entrance when +they left to feed amid the clover.</p> + +<p>Though young rabbits, in breeding “stops” +barely a foot below the level of the ground, +were never safe from the badger's attack, a +flourishing colony dwelt within the precincts +of the “set.” Early in spring, when the +badgers were preparing for their expected +family, a doe rabbit, attracted by the great +commotion caused by their efforts to remove +the big heap of soil thrown up at the entrance +to their dwelling, hopped quietly out of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> +fern, and sat for a long time watching from +between the bushes the occasional showers of +loam which indicated the progress of the +work. Judged by the standard of a rabbit, +Bunny was a fairly clever little creature, +and the plans she formed as she hid in +the undergrowth seemed to show that she +possessed unusual forethought. She waited +and watched for several nights, till the +badgers had ceased to labour, and the +mound before the “set” remained apparently +untouched. Then, one evening, after she had +seen the badgers go off together into the +heart of the wood, she entered, and moved +along the gallery, pausing here and there to +touch the walls with her sensitive muzzle. +Coming to a place where a stone was +slightly loosened, she began to dig a shaft +almost at right angles to the roomy gallery, +and for a time continued her work undisturbed; +but an hour or so before dawn she +retired to sleep in a thicket, some distance +beyond the plain, wide trail marking the +badger's movements to and from the nearest +fields.</p> + +<p>The badgers, on returning home, were +sorely puzzled at the change that had taken<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> +place during their absence. To all appearance, +a trick had been played on them, for, whereas +their house had been left neat and tidy at +dusk, there was now a pile of earth obstructing +the main passage. However, they accepted +the situation philosophically, and completed +the rabbit's work by clearing the gallery and +adding to the heap beyond the entrance.</p> + +<p>Night after night, the wily rabbit watched +for the badgers' departure, carried on her +work, and gave them a fresh task for the early +morning, till a short but winding burrow, +some depth below the level of the ground, +formed an antechamber where the little family +to which she presently gave birth was reared +in safety.</p> + +<p>Though the badgers, aware that the shallow +“stops” in the woods were more easily +unearthed than this deeper burrow near the +mouth of the “set,” did not seek to disturb +their neighbours, the mother rabbit, directly +her family grew old enough to leave the nest, +became increasingly vigilant, and, when about +to lead them to or from their dwelling, was +ever careful to be satisfied that all was quiet +in the chambers and the galleries below. +Generally she ventured abroad before the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> +badgers awoke from the day's sleep, came +back during their absence, and once more +stole out to feed when they had returned +and were resting in their snuggery. The +danger that lurked in her surroundings +supplied a special excitement to life, and +she never heard without fear the ominous +sounds that vibrated clearly through every +crack and cranny when the badgers occasionally +arose from their couch, stretched their +cramped limbs, shook their rough grey coats, +and grunted with satisfaction at the feeling of +health and strength which nearly all wild +animals delight occasionally to express.</p> + +<p>The forest trees had donned their verdure; +the tall bracken had lifted its fronds so far +above the grass that the mother rabbit no +longer found them a convenient screen +through which to peer at the strange antics +of the old badgers as they came from their +lair and sat in the twilight on the mound by +the entrance of their home; and the rill in the +dingle, which, during winter and early spring, +leaped, a clear, rushing torrent, on its way to +the river below the steep, had dwindled to a +few drops of water, collected in tiny pools +among the stones, or trickling reluctantly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> +down the dank, green water-weed. The +young badger family had grown so strong +and high-spirited that their dam, weakened +by motherhood, and at a loss to restrain +their increasing desire for outdoor air and +exercise, determined to wean them, and to +teach them many lessons, concerning the +ways of the woodland people, which she +had learned long ago from her parents, or, +more recently, from her own experiences as +a creature of the dark, mysterious night.</p> + +<p>Brock, in particular, was the source of +considerable anxiety to her. He was the +leader in every scene of noisy festivity; +she was repeatedly forced to punish him +for following her at dusk to the mound +outside the upper gallery, and for disobedience +when she condescended to take +part in a midnight romp in the underground +nursery. He tormented the other members +of the family by awakening them from sleep +when he desired to play, also by appropriating, +till his appetite was fully appeased, +all the food his dam brought home from +her hunting expeditions, and, again, by +picking quarrels over such a trifling +matter as the choice of a place when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> +he and his little companions wished to +rest.</p> + +<p>Nature's children are wilful and selfish; and +in their struggle for existence they live, if +independent of their parents, only so long as +they can take care of themselves. Among +adult animals, however, selfishness seems to +become inoperative in the care they take +of their offspring. But though the mother +badger was unselfish towards her little ones, +she spared no effort to instruct them in +the ways of selfishness.</p> + +<p>The night of Brock's first visit to the +woods was warm and unclouded. For an +hour after sunset, he played about the +gallery by the door, while his mother, a +vigilant sentinel, remained motionless and +unseen in the darkness behind. Now and +again, he heard the rabbits moving in the +burrow, but they, aware of his presence, +stayed discreetly out of view. Under his +mother's guidance, or even if his playmates +had been bold enough to accompany him, +he would at once have been ready to +explore the furthest corner of the rabbit-hole. +But the old badger was too big, and +the youngsters were too timid, to go with him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> +into the mysterious antechamber; so, after +repeated attempts to explore the passage as +far as the bend, and finding to his discomfort +that there the space became +narrower, he gave up the idea of prying on +the doings of his neighbours, and contented +himself with droll, clumsy antics, such as +those by which wild children often seek to +convince indulgent parents that they are +eager and fearless.</p> + +<p>As the darkness deepened, the dog-badger, +after hunting near the outskirts +of the wood, returned to the “set.” His +manner indicated that he was the bearer +of an important message. He touched +his mate on the shoulder; then, as she +responded to his greeting, he thrust his head +forward so that she could scent a drop of +blood clinging to his lip; and, while she +sniffed enquiringly along the fringe of his +muzzle, he seemed to be assuring her that his +message was of the utmost consequence. +As soon as she understood his meaning, +he vanished into the gallery, and for a few +moments was evidently busy. Faint squeals +and grunts, which gradually became louder +and louder, proceeded from the central<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> +chamber, and, again, from the inner passages; +and presently the big badger appeared in +sight, driving his family before him, and +threatening them with direst punishment if +they attempted to double past him and +thus regain their dark retreat.</p> + +<p>Wholly unable to appreciate the real +position of affairs, Brock, perplexed and +frightened, found himself hiding among the +ferns and brambles outside the “set,” while +the sire, standing in full view on the mound, +and grunting loudly, forbade the return of +his evicted family. Unexpectedly, too, the +mother badger, when the little ones looked +to her for sympathy in their extraordinary +treatment, took the part of the crusty +old sire, and snapped and snarled directly +they attempted to move back towards the +mound. Utterly bewildered and much in +fear, since their dam, hitherto the object of +implicit trust, had suddenly deserted their +cause, the young badgers crouched together +under the bushes, and watched distrustfully +each movement of their parents. The sire +stuck to his post on the mound, and, with +hoarse grunts, varied occasionally by thin, +piping squeals that did not seem in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> +least to accord with his wrathful demeanour, +continued to keep them at a distance.</p> + +<p>Soon the dam moved slowly away, climbed +the track towards the top of the wood, and +then called to the cubs as they sat peering +after her into the darkness. Released from +discipline, and eagerly responsive to her +cry, they lurched after her, and followed +closely as she led them further and still +further from home. Presently, the dog-badger +overtook his family. His manner, +as well as the dam's, had changed; and +though great caution was exercised as they +journeyed along paths well trodden, and free +from twigs that might snap, or leaves that +might rustle, and though silence was the +order of the march, the little family—proud +parents and shy, inquisitive children—seemed +as happy as the summer night was +calm. The distant sound of a prowling +creature, heard at times from the margin +of the wood, caused not the slightest alarm +to the cubs: the intense nervousness always +apparent in young foxes was not evinced +by the little badgers.</p> + +<p>In comparison with the fox-cubs, they +were not easily frightened; they already<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> +gave promise of the presence of mind which, +later, was often displayed when they were +threatened by powerful foes. Brock, nevertheless, +betrayed astonishment when a dusky form +bolted through the whinberry bushes close +by; and several moments passed before he +was able, by his undeveloped methods of +reasoning, to connect the scent of the flying +creature with that of the rabbits often carried +home by his mother, and, therefore, with +something good for food.</p> + +<p>At the top of the wood, the old badgers +turned aside and led the way through a +thicket, where, in obedience to their mother, +the youngsters came to a halt, while their +sire, proceeding a few yards in advance, +sniffed the ground, like a beagle picking up +the line of the hunt. Having found the +object of his search, he called his family +to him, that they might learn the meaning +of the various signs around. But the +doings of the woodland folk could not +yet be learnt by the little badgers, as +by the experienced parents, from trifling +details, such as the altered position of a leaf +or twig, the ringing alarm-cry of a bird, +the fresh earth-smell near an upturned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> +stone, or the taint of a moving creature in +the grass. Beside them lay a small brown +and white stoat, its head almost severed +from its body by a quick, powerful bite, +and, just beyond, the motionless form of a +half-grown rabbit, unmarked, save by a +small, clean-cut wound between the ears. +The scent of both creatures was noticeable +everywhere around, and with it, quite as +strong and fresh, the scent of the big male +badger. Walking up the path, soon after +nightfall, the badger had arrived on the +scene of a woodland tragedy, and had +found the stoat so engrossed with its +victim that to kill the bloodthirsty little +tyrant was the easy work of an instant. +Afterwards, mindful of the education of his +progeny, he had hurried home to arrange +with his mate a timely object lesson in +wood-craft.</p> + +<p>The stoat was left untasted, but the rabbit +was speedily devoured; and then the badger +family resorted to the riverside below the +“set,” where the cubs were taught to lap the +cool, clear water. Thence, before returning +home, they were taken to a clearing in the +middle of the wood, and, while the sire<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> +went off alone to scout and hunt, the +mother badger showed them how to find +grubs and beetles under the rotting bark +of the tree-butts, in the crevices among the +stones, and in the soft, damp litter of the +decaying leaves.</p> + + + +<h2>III.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span></p> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<h3>FEAR OF THE TRAP.</h3> + + +<p>Night after night, the cubs, sometimes +under the protection of both their parents, +and sometimes under the protection of only +the dam, roamed through the by-ways of +the countryside. From each expedition +they gleaned something of new and +unexpected interest, till they grew wise in +the ways of Nature's folk that haunt the +gloom—the strong, for ever seeking +opportunities of attack; the weak, for ever +dreading even a chance shadow on the +moonlit trail.</p> + +<p>A strange performance, which, for quite a +month, seemed devoid of meaning to the cubs, +but which, nevertheless, Brock soon learned +to imitate, took place whenever the tainted +flesh of a dead creature was found in the way.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> +The old badgers at once became alert, moved +with the utmost caution, smelt but did not +touch the offensive morsel, and, instead of +seizing it, rolled over it again and yet again, +as if the scent proved irresistibly attractive. +One of the cubs, that had always shown an +inclination to act differently from the way +in which her companions acted, and often +became lazy and stupid when lesson-time +arrived, was destined to pay dearly for neglecting +to imitate her parents. Lagging behind +the rest of the family, as in single file they +moved homeward after a long night's hunting +in the fallow, she chanced to scent some +carrion in the ditch, turned aside to taste it, +and immediately was held fast in the teeth +of an iron trap. Hearing her cries of pain +and terror, the mother hastened to the spot, +and, for a moment, was so bewildered with +disappointment and anger that she chastised +the cub unmercifully, though the little creature +was enduring extreme agony. But directly the +old badger recovered from her fit of temper, +she sought to make amends by petting and +soothing the frightened cub, and trying to +remove the trap. Finally, after half an hour's +continuous effort, she accidentally found that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> +the trap was connected by a chain with a +stake thrust into the ground. Quickly, with +all the strength of her muscular fore-paws, she +dug up the soil at the end of the chain, and +then, with powerful teeth, wrenched the stake +from its position. Dragging the cruel trap, +the young badger slowly followed her dam +homeward, but when she had gone about +a hundred yards pain overcame her, and +she rolled down a slight incline near the +hedge. For a few minutes, she lay helpless; +then, grunting hoarsely, she climbed the +ditch, and continued her way in the direction +of a gap leading into the wood. There, as +she gained the top of the hedge, the trap +was firmly caught in the stout fork of a +thorn-bush. Further progress was impossible; +all her frantic struggles failed to give her +freedom. The dam stayed near, vainly +endeavouring to release her, till at dawn a +rustle was heard in the hedge, and a labourer +on his way to the farm came in sight above +a hurdle in the gap. Reluctantly, the old +badger stole away into the wood, leaving +the cub to her fate. It came—a single blow +on the nostrils from a stout cudgel—and +all was over.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span></p> + +<p>The lesson thus taught left a salutary +impression on the minds of the other cubs. +From it they learned that the presence of +stale flesh was somehow associated with the +peculiar scent of oiled and rusty iron, or +with the taint of a human hand, and was +fraught with the utmost danger. They somehow +felt that their dam acted wisely in rolling +over any decaying refuse she happened to find +on her way; and later, when Brock, seizing an +opportunity to imitate his mother, sprang +another trap, which, closing suddenly beneath +his back, did no more harm than to rob him +of a bunch of fur, they recognised how a +menace to their safety might be easily and +completely removed by the simple expedient +taught them by their careful parent.</p> + +<p>Though she invariably took the utmost +precaution against danger from baited traps, +the old she-badger was nevertheless surprised, +almost as much as were the cubs, at the +incidents just described. At various times +she had sprung more than a dozen traps, +but in each case her attention had been +directed to the trap only by the scent of +iron, or of the human hand. However faint +that scent might be, and however mingled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> +with the smell of newly turned earth or of +sap from bruised stalks of woodland plants, +she immediately detected it, rolled on the +spot, and then noted the signs around—the +disturbed leaf-mould, and the foot-scent of +man leading back among the bilberry bushes, +or down the winding paths between the oaks, +where, occasionally, she also found faint traces +of the hand-scent on bits of lichen, or on +rotten twigs, fallen from the grasp of her +enemy as he clutched the tree-trunks in his +steep descent towards the riverside. But +never before had she seen a baited trap. Her +dam had never seen one; her grand-dam had +been equally ignorant; and yet both, like +herself, had always rolled on any tainted flesh +they chanced to come across on their many +journeys.</p> + +<p>For generations, in this far county of +the west, the creatures of the woods, except +the fox, had never been systematically +hunted. The vicissitudes of history had +directly affected the welfare of wild animals. +The old professional hunting and fighting +classes had become unambitious tenant +farmers; and, partly through the operations +of an old Welsh law regarding the equal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> +division of property, the land beyond the +feudal tracts of the Norman Marches were, +in many instances, broken up into small +freeholds owned by descendants of the +princely families of bygone ages. But +hard, incessant work was the lot of tenant +and freeholder alike. When the aims and +the experiences of the old fighting and +sporting days had passed away, and nothing +was left but ceaseless toil, these essentially +combative people, to whom violent and +continuous excitement was the very breath +of life, became, for a while at least, +knavish and immoral, sunk almost to one +dead social level, and totally uninteresting +because, in their new life of peaceful tillage—a +life far more suited to their English +law-givers than to themselves—they were +apparently incapable of maintaining that +complete, vigilant interest in their ordinary +surroundings which makes for enlightenment +and success.</p> + +<p>Having lost the love of “venerie” +possessed by their forefathers, the farmers +cared little about any wild creatures but +hares and rabbits; a badger's ham was to +them an unknown article of food. The fear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> +of a baited trap had, therefore, probably +descended from one badger to another since +days when the green-gowned forester came +to the farm, from the lodge down-river, and +sought assistance in the capture of an +animal for the sport of an otherwise dull +Sunday afternoon in the courtyard of the +nearest castle; or even since ages far +remote, when a badger's flesh was esteemed +a luxury by the earliest Celts.</p> + +<p>Unbaited traps, in the “runs” of the rabbits, +had at intervals been common for centuries; +but now the carefully prepared baits and the +unusually strong traps seemed to indicate +nothing less than an organised attack on +other and more powerful night hunters. +The badger's fears, however, were hardly +warranted. Five traps had been placed in +the wood by a curious visitor staying at +the village inn. In one of these, Brock's +sister had been caught; but the owner of +the trap knew nothing beyond the fact that +it had mysteriously disappeared from the spot +where he had seen it fixed. Another was +sprung by Brock; two at the far end of the +wood were so completely fouled by a fox +that every prowling creature carefully avoided<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> +the spot; while in the fifth was found a +single blood-stained claw, left to prove the +visit of a renegade cat.</p> + +<p>It may well be imagined that a large and +interesting animal like the badger, keeping +for many years to an underground abode so +spacious that the mound at its principal +entrance is often a quite conspicuous landmark +for some distance in the woods, would +be subject to frequent and varied attacks +from man, and thus be speedily exterminated. +It may also be imagined that the habits of +following the same well worn paths night +after night, of never ranging further than a +few miles from the “set,” and of living so +sociably that the community sometimes +numbers from half-a-dozen to a dozen +members, apart from such lodgers as foxes, +rabbits, and wood-mice, would all combine +to render the creature an easy prey.</p> + +<p>But if the badger's ways are carefully +studied, the very circumstances which at +first seem unfavourable to him are found +to account for much of his immunity +from harm. The depth of his breeding +chamber and the length of the connecting +passages are, as a rule, indicated by the size<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> +of the mound before his door. The fact +that he regularly pursues the same paths in +his nightly excursions enables him to become +familiar, like the fox, with each sight and +scent and sound of the woods, so that anything +strange is at once noticed, and danger +avoided. His sociability is a distinct gain, +because he receives therefrom co-operation +in his sapping and mining while he aims to +secure the impregnability of his fortress; +and his tolerance of cunning and timid +neighbours gains for him this advantage: +sometimes in the dusk, before venturing +abroad, he receives a warning that danger +lurks in the thickets around his home—perhaps +from a double line of scent +indicating that the fox has started on a +journey and then hurriedly turned back, +or from numerous cross-scents at the mouth +of the burrow, where the rabbits and the +wood-mice have passed to and fro, deterred +by fear in their frequent attempts to reach +feeding places beyond the nearest briar-clumps. +His methods, however, when +either his neighbours or the members of his +own family become too numerous, are +prompt and drastic.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span></p> + +<p>Shy, inoffensive, and, for a young creature +unacquainted with the responsibilities of a +family, deliberate to the point of drollery +in all his movements, Brock grew up +beneath his parents' care; and, with an +intelligence keener than that possessed by +the other members of the little woodland +family, learned many lessons which they +failed to understand. When his mother +called, he was always the first to hasten to +her side. Each incident of the night, if of +any significance, was explained to her +offspring by the mother. Often Brock was +the only listener when she began her story, +and the late arrivals heard but disconnected +parts.</p> + +<p>Beautiful beyond comparison were those +brief summer nights, silent, starlit, fragrant, +when the badgers led their young by +many a devious path through close-arched +bowers amid the tangled bracken, or under +drooping sprays of thorn and honeysuckle +in the hidden ditches, or through close +tunnels, as gloomy as the passages of their +underground abode, in the dense thickets +of the furze. Sometimes they wandered in +the corn and root-crop, or in the hayfield<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> +where the sorrel, a cooling medicinal herb +for many of the woodland folk, grew long +and succulent; and sometimes they descended +the steep cattle-path on the far side of the +farm, where the big dor-beetles, as plentiful +there as in the grass-clumps of the open +pasture, were easily struck down while they +circled, droning loudly, about the heaps of +refuse near the hedge.</p> + +<p>Once, late in July, when the badgers +were busily catching beetles by the side of +the cattle-path, Brock, thrusting his snout +into the grass to secure a crawling insect, +chanced to hear a faint, continuous sound, +as of a number of tiny creatures moving to +and fro in a hollow beneath the moss-covered +mound at his feet. He listened +intently, his head cocked knowingly towards +the spot whence the sound proceeded; then, +scratching up a few roots of the moss, he +sniffed enquiringly, drawing in a long, deep +breath, at the mouth of a thimble-shaped +hole his sharp claws had exposed.</p> + +<p>Unexpectedly, and without the help of the +dam, he had discovered a wild-bees' nest. +His inborn love of honey was every whit as +strong as a bear's, and he recognised the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> +scent as similar to that of insects known by +him to be far more tasty than beetles; so, +without a moment's hesitation, he began +to dig away the soil. The nest was soon +unearthed, and the little badger, completely +protected by his thick and wiry coat from +the half-hearted assaults of the bewildered +bees, greedily devoured the entire comb, +together with every well-fed grub and +every drop of honey the fragile cells contained. +His eagerness was such that these +spoils seemed hardly more than a tempting +morsel sufficient to awaken a desire for the +luscious sweets of the wayside storehouses. +He carefully hunted the hedgerow, as far as +a gate leading to a rick-yard, and at last, +close to a stile, found another nest, which, +also, he quickly destroyed.</p> + +<p>Henceforth, till the end of August, there +were few nights during which he did not +find a meal of honey and grubs. The +summer was fine and warm, a lavish +profusion of flowers adorned the fields and +the woods, and humble-bees and wasps were +everywhere numerous. As if to taunt the +badgers with inability to climb, a swarm of +tree-wasps lived in a big nest of wood-pulp<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> +suspended from a branch ten feet or so +above the “set,” and, every afternoon, the +badgers, as they waited near the mouth of +their dwelling for the darkness to deepen, +heard the shrill, long continued humming of +the sentinel wasps around the big ball in +the tree—surely one of the most appetising +sounds that could ever reach a badger's ears. +But the wasps that had built among the +ferns near the river-path, and in the hollows +of the hedges, were remorselessly hunted +and despoiled. Their stings failed to penetrate +the thick coat and hide of their +persistent foes, while a chance stab on the +lips or between the nostrils seemed only to +arouse the badgers from leisurely methods +of pillage to quick and ruthless slaughter of +the adult insects as well as of the immature +grubs. But Brock never committed the +indiscretion of swallowing a full-grown +wasp. With his fore-paws he dexterously +struck and crippled the angry sentinels that +buzzed about his ears, and, with teeth bared +in order to prevent a sting on his tender +muzzle, disabled the newly emerged and +sluggish insects that wandered over the +comb.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span></p> + +<p>As autumn drew on, the cubs grew +strong and fat on the plentiful supplies of +food, which, with their parents' help, they +readily found in field and wood. Brock gave +promise of abnormal strength, and was already +considerably heavier than his sister. They +fared far better than the third cub, a little +male, that, notwithstanding a temper almost +as fiery as Brock's, was worsted in every dispute +and frequently robbed of his food, and +still, never owning himself beaten, persisted +in drawing attention to his success whenever +he happened on something fresh and toothsome. +At such times, instead of hastily and +silently regaling himself, he made a great +a-do, grunting with rage and defiance, like a +dog that guards a marrow-bone but will not +settle down to gnaw its juicy ends.</p> + +<p>Brock's brother was so often deprived of +his legitimate spoils, that, while his surliness +was increased, his bodily growth was checked. +He was small and thin for his age; and so, +when a kind of fever peculiar to young +badgers broke out in the woodland home, +he succumbed. His grave was a shallow +depression near the path below the “set,” +whither his parents dragged his lifeless body,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> +and where the whispering leaves of autumn +presently descended to array him in a red +and golden robe of death.</p> + +<p>The other young badgers quickly recovered +from their fever; and by the end of October +all the animals were, as sportsmen say, “in +grease,” and well prepared for winter's cold +and privation. The old badgers became more +and more indisposed to roam abroad; and, +whereas in summer they sometimes wandered +four or five miles from the “set,” they now +seldom went further than the gorse-thicket +on the fringe of the wood.</p> + + + +<h2>IV.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span></p> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<h3>THE WINTER “OVEN.”</h3> + + +<p>The badger-cubs, while not so well provided +against the cold as were their parents, grew +lazy as winter advanced, and spent most of +their time indoors on a large heap of fresh +bedding, that had been collected under the +oaks and carried to a special winter “oven” +below the chamber generally occupied in +summer. Here, the sudden changes of temperature +affecting the outer world were hardly +noticeable; and so enervating were the warmth +and indolence, that the badgers, in spite of thick +furs and tough hides, rarely left their retreat +when the shrill voice of the north-east wind, +overhead in the mouth of the burrow, told +them of frost and snow.</p> + +<p>About mid-winter, the first of two changes +took place in the colour of the young badgers'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> +coats; from silver-grey it turned to dull +brownish yellow, and the contrasts in the +pied markings of the cheeks became increasingly +pronounced. This change happened a +little later with Brock than with his sister. +Eventually, late in the following winter, the +young female, arriving at maturity, donned +a gown of darker grey, and her face was +striped with black and white; shortly afterwards, +Brock, too, assumed the livery of a +full-grown badger.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, till events occurred of which +the second change was only a portent, all +remained fairly peaceful in the big burrow +under the whins and brambles. Occasionally, +in the brief winter days, Brock was +awakened from his comfortable sleep by the +music of the hounds, as they passed by on +the scent of Vulp, the fleetest and most +cunning fox on the countryside, or by the +stamp of impatient hoofs, as the huntsman's +mare, tethered to a tree not far from the +“set,” eagerly awaited her rider's return from +a “forward cast” into the dense thicket +beyond the glade.</p> + +<p>One afternoon in late winter, a young +vixen, that, without knowing it, had completely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> +baffled her pursuers, crept, footsore and travel-stained, +into the mouth of the “set,” and lay there, +panting loudly, till night descended, +and she had sufficiently recovered from her +distress to continue her homeward journey. +Now and again, the sharp report of a shotgun +echoed down the wood; and once, late +at night, when Brock climbed up from the +“oven” to sit awhile on the mound before +his door, the scent of blood was strong in +the passage leading to the rabbit's quarters. +Unfortunate bunny! Next night, stiff and +sore from her wounds, she crawled out into +the wood, and Vulp and his vixen put an +end to her misery long before the badgers +ventured from their lair.</p> + +<p>Winter, with its long hours of sleep, +passed quietly away. Amid the sprouting +grasses by the river-bank, the snowdrops +opened to the breath of spring; soon afterwards, +the early violets and primroses decked +the hedgerows on the margin of the wood, +and the wild hyacinths thrust their spike-shaped +leaves above the mould. The +hedgehogs, curled in their beds amid the +wind-blown oak-leaves, were awakened by +the gentle heat, and wandered through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> +the ditches in search of slugs and snails. +One evening, as the moon shone over the +hill, the woodcock, that for months had +dwelt by day in the oak-scrub near the +“set,” and had fed at night in the swampy +thickets by the rill, heard the voice of a +curlew descending from the heights of the +sky, and rose, on quick, glad pinions, far +beyond the soaring of the lark, to join a +great bird-army travelling north. Regularly, +as the time for sleep drew nigh, the old +inhabitants among the woodland birds—the +thrushes, the robins, the finches, and the +wrens—squabbled loudly as they settled to +rest: their favourite roosting places were +being invaded by aliens of their species, +that, desirous of breaking for the night +their northward journey, dropped, twittering, +into every bush and brake on the margin of +the copse. And into Nature's breast swept, +like an irresistible flood, a yearning for +maternity.</p> + +<p>The vixen, that once had rested inside +the burrow to recover from her “run” +before the hounds, remembered the sanctuary, +returned to it, and there in time gave +birth to her young; and, though almost<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> +in touch with such enemies as the badger +and the fox, a few of the rabbits that had +been reared during the previous season in +the antechamber of the “set” enlarged their +dwelling place, and were soon engaged in +tending a numerous offspring. The timid +wood-mice, following suit, scooped out a +dozen tiny galleries within an old back +entrance of the burrow, and multiplied +exceedingly. But, while all other creatures +seemed bent on family affairs, Brock's parents, +following a not infrequent habit of their +kindred, deferred such duties to another +season.</p> + +<p>As spring advanced, food became far more +abundant than in winter, and the badgers' +appetites correspondingly increased. Directly +the evening shadows began to deepen, parents +and cubs alike became impatient of the long +day's inactivity, and adjourned together to +one or other of the entrances, generally to +the main opening behind the big mound. +There, unseen, they could watch the rooks +sail slowly overhead, and the pigeons, with +a sharp hiss of swiftly beating wings, drop +down into the trees, and flutter, cooing loudly, +from bough to bough before they fell asleep.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> +Then, after a twilight romp in and about the +mouth of the burrow, the badgers took up +the business of the night, and wandered away +over the countryside in search of food, sometimes +extending their journeys even as far +as the garden of a cottage five miles distant, +where Brock distinguished himself by overturning +a hive and devouring every particle +of a new honeycomb found therein.</p> + +<p>Autumn, beautiful with pearly mists and +red and golden leaves, again succeeded +summer, and the woods resounded with the +music of the huntsman's horn, as the hounds +“harked forward” on the scent of fleeing +fox-cubs, that had never heard, till then, the +cries of the pursuing pack.</p> + +<p>One morning, Brock lay out in the undergrowth, +though the sun was high and the +rest of his family slept safely in the burrow. +At the time, his temper was not particularly +sweet, for, on returning to the “set” an hour +before dawn, he had quarrelled with his sire. +Among the dead leaves and hay strewn on +the floor of the chamber usually inhabited by +the badgers in warm weather, was an old bone, +discovered by Brock in the woods, and carried +home as a plaything. For this bone Brock<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> +had conceived a violent affection, almost like +that of a child for a limbless and much disfigured +doll. He would lie outstretched on +his bed, for an hour at a time, with his toy +between his fore-feet, vainly sucking the +broken end for marrow, or sharpening his +teeth by gnawing the juiceless knob, with +perfect contentment written on every line of +his long, solemn face. If disturbed, he would +take the bone to the winter “oven” below, +and there, alone, would toss it from corner +to corner and pounce on it with glee, or, +with a sudden change of manner, would +grasp it in his fore-paws, roll on his back, +and scratch, and bite, and kick it, till, tired +of the fun, he dropped asleep beside his +plaything; while overhead, the rabbits and +the voles, at a loss to imagine what was +happening in the dark hollows of the +“earth,” quaked with fear, or bolted helter-skelter +into the bushes beyond the mound.</p> + +<p>When, just before the quarrel, Brock +sought for his bone, as he was wont to do +on returning home, he scented it in the litter +beneath a spot completely overlapped on +every side by some part or other of his +recumbent sire. For a few moments, he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> +nonplussed by the situation; then, desperate +for his plaything, he suddenly began to +dig, and, in a twinkling, was half buried +in the hay and leaves; while to right and +to left he scattered soil and bedding that +fell like a shower over his mother and +sister. Before the old dog-badger had +realised the meaning of the commotion, +Brock had grabbed his treasure, and, withdrawing +his head from the shallow pitfall he +had hurriedly fashioned, had caused his +drowsy parent to roll helplessly over. This +was more than a self-respecting father could +possibly endure in his own home and among +his own kin, so, with unexpected agility, +as he turned in struggling to recover his +balance, he gripped Brock by the loose skin +of the neck, and held him as in a vice from +which there seemed no escape. Brock, doubtless +thinking that his right to the bone was +being disputed, strove vigorously to get hold +of his sire, but the grip of the trap-like jaws +was inflexible, and kept him firmly down till +his rage had expended itself, and he was +cowed by his parent's prompt, easy show of +tremendous power. When, at last, the old +badger relinquished his hold, Brock shook<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> +himself, and sulkily departed from the “set,” +followed to the door by his relentless chastiser. +An hour before noon, Brock heard the +note of a horn—sounding far distant, but +really coming only from the other side of +the hill—succeeded by the eager baying of +a pack of fox-hounds. Then, for a while, all +was silent, but soon the cries of the hounds +broke out again, away beyond the farm by +the river. Evidently something was amiss. +Brock, though hardly, perhaps, alarmed, +shifted uneasily in his retreat under the +yellow bracken, and finally, almost fascinated, +lay quiet, watching and listening. Presently +the ferns parted; and a fox-cub appeared in +full view, treading lightly, his tongue lolling +out, his jaws strained far back towards his +ears, and his face wearing the look of a +creature of excessive cunning, though for the +time frightened nearly out of his wits. The +fox-cub paused an instant, turned as if to +look at something in the dark thickets by +the glen, climbed the mound, and, after +another hasty glance, entered his home +among the outer chambers of the “set.” +Unknown, of course, to Brock, the leading +hounds were running mute on the fox-cub's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> +scent down the path by the river. They +swerved, and lost the line for a moment, +then, “throwing their tongues,” crashed +through the briars into the fern; and at +once Brock was surrounded.</p> + +<p>Luckily, he had neither been punished too +severely by his sire, nor had exhausted himself +in hotly resisting the chastisement. For a +few seconds, however, as the hounds pressed +closely in the rough-and-tumble fray, trying +to tear him limb from limb, he was disconcerted. +But quickly regaining his self-possession, +he began to make the fight exceedingly +warm for his assailants. A hound +caught him by the leg; turning, he caught +the aggressor by the muzzle. His strong, +sharp teeth crashed through nose and lip +clean to the bone, and the discomfited +hound, directly one of the pack had +“created a diversion,” made off at full +speed, running “heel,” and howling at the +top of his voice. One after another, Brock +served two couples thus, till the wood was +filled with a mournful chorus altogether +different from the usual music of the +hounds.</p> + +<p>Little hurt, except for a bruise or two on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> +his loose, rough hide, and feeling almost as +fresh as when the attack began, Brock, +with his face to the few foes still remaining +to threaten him hoarsely from a safe +distance, retired with dignity to the mound, +and disappeared in the tunnel just as +reinforcements of the enemy hastened up +the slope.</p> + +<p>Henceforth, even in leafy summer, he +seldom remained outside his dwelling during +the day, and any fresh sign of a dog in the +neighbourhood of his immediate haunt never +failed to fill him with rage and apprehension.</p> + +<p>Since the time when their silvery-grey +coats had turned to brownish-yellow, the +badger cubs had become more and more +independent of their parents; and before +long, familiar with the forest paths, they +often wandered alone. Yet so regular was +their habit of returning home during the +hour preceding dawn, that, unless something +untoward happened, the last badger to +reach the “earth” was rarely more than a +few minutes after the first. Towards the +end of autumn, however, the female cub +seemed to have lost this habit; on several +occasions dawn was breaking when she sought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> +her couch; and one morning she was +missing from the family. Her regular +home-coming had given place to meeting, +in a copse over the hill, a young male +badger reared among the rocks of a glen +up-stream; and by him she had at last +been led away to a home, which, after +inspecting several other likely places, he had +made by enlarging a rabbit burrow in a +long disused quarry.</p> + +<p>Brock was in no hurry to find himself a +spouse; he waited till the end of winter. +Meanwhile, the colour of his coat changed +from yellow to full, dark grey, and +simultaneously a change became apparent in +his disposition. Wild fancies seized him; +from dusk to dawn he wandered with +clumsy gait over the countryside, little +heeding how noisily he lumbered through +the undergrowth. The gaunt jack-hare, +that, crying out in the night, hurried past +him, was not a whit more crazy.</p> + +<p>At one time, Brock met a young male +badger in the furze, attacked him vigorously, +and left him more dead than alive. At +another time, he even turned his rage +against his sire. The old badger was by no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> +means unwilling to resent provocation: he, +too, felt the hot, quick blood of spring in +his veins. The fight was fierce and long—no +other wild animal in Britain can inflict +or endure such punishment as the badger—and +it ended in victory for Brock. His +size and strength were greater than his +father's; he also had the advantage of youth +and self-confidence; but till its close the +struggle was almost equal, for the obstinate +resistance of the experienced old sire was +indeed hard to overcome. Brock forced +him at last from the corner where he stood +with his head to the wall, and hustled him +out of doors. Then the victor hastened to +the brook to quench his thirst, and, returning +to the “set,” sought to sleep off the effects +of the fight. When he awoke, he found +that the mother badger had gone to join her +evicted mate. The inseparable couple prepared +a disused part of the “set” for future +habitation; there they collected a heap of +dry bedding, and, free from further interruption, +were soon engaged with the care of a +second family.</p> + +<p>For nearly a week after his big battle, +Brock felt stiff and sore, and altogether too<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> +ill to extend his nightly rambles further +than the boundaries of the wood. But +with renewed health his restlessness +returned, and he wandered hither and +thither in search of a mate to share his +dwelling. A knight-errant among badgers, +he sought adventure for the sake of a lady-love +whose face he had not even seen.</p> + +<p>Sometimes, to make his journeys shorter +than if the usual trails from wood to wood +had been followed, he used the roads +and by-ways leading past the farmsteads, +and risked encounter with the watchful +sheep-dogs. For this indiscretion, he almost +paid the penalty of his life. Crossing a +moonlit field on the edge of a covert, he +saw a flock of sheep break from the hurdles +of a fold near the distant hedge, and run +panic-stricken straight towards him. Long +before he had time to regain the cover, they +swept by, separating into two groups as +they came where he stood. Immediately +afterwards, he saw that one of the sheep +was lying on her back, struggling frantically, +while a big, white-ruffed collie worried +her to death. The dog was so engrossed +with his victim that the badger remained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span> +unnoticed. Having killed the sheep, the dog +sat by, panting because of his exertions, and +licking the blood from his lips. Suddenly, +raising his head, he listened intently, his ears +turned in the direction of the fold. Then, +growling savagely, he slunk away, with his +tail between his legs, and disappeared within +the wood.</p> + +<p>He had scarcely gone from sight, when +the farmer and his boy climbed over the +hedge near the field and hastened across +the pasture. They saw the sheep lying +dead, and, not far from the spot, the +badger lumbering off to the covert. Instantly +believing that Brock was the cause +of their trouble, they called excitedly for +help from the farm, and dashed in pursuit. +As Brock gained the gap by the wood, he +felt a sharp, stinging blow on his ribs. On +the other side of the hedge, he reached an +opening in the furze, and the sticks and +stones aimed at him by his pursuers, as he +turned downwards through the wood, fell +harmlessly against the trees and bushes. +The noise he made when crashing through +the thickets was, however, such a guide to +his movements, that he failed to baffle the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> +chase till he reached a well worn trail +through the open glades. Luckily for him, +as he emerged from cover a cloud obscured +the moon, and he was able to make good +his escape by crossing a deep dingle to the +lonely fields along his homeward route, +where, in the shadows of the hedges, though +now the moon again was bright, he could +not easily be seen.</p> + +<p>It was fortunate for the badger, not only +that the moon was hidden by a cloud +as he crossed the dingle when fleeing +from the wood, but also that his home +was distant from the scene of the tragedy +in the upland pasture near the farm. A +hue-and-cry was raised, and for days the +farmer's boy searched the wood around the +spot where Brock had disappeared, hoping +there to find the earth-pig's home. Other +sheep were mysteriously killed on farms +still further from the badger's “earth”; +then watchers, armed with guns, lay out +among the cold, damp fields to guard the +sleeping flocks; and the collie, a beautiful +creature whose character had hitherto been +held above reproach, was shot almost in the +act of closing on a sheep he had already<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> +wounded, close to the corner of a field where +a shepherd lay in hiding.</p> + +<p>The farmer and his boy were chaffed so +unmercifully—for this story of the badger was +now considered a myth—that they grew to +hate the very name of “earth-pig,” and to +believe that after all they must have +chased through the wood some incarnation +of Satan.</p> + + + +<h2>V.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span></p> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<h3>HILLSIDE TRAILS.</h3> + + +<p>Several times during his search for a mate, +Brock struck the trail of a female badger, and +followed its windings through the thickets +and away across the open fields towards the +the distant valley, only, however, to lose +it near some swollen brook or on some +well trodden sheep-path. The female had +evidently come to a little copse on the +crest of a rugged hill overlooking the river, +and, after skirting a pond where wild duck +sheltered among the flags, had retraced her +steps. Brock's most frequented tracks led +close to the spot where the stranger's return +trail joined the other near an opening from +an almost impenetrable gorse-cover into a +marshy fallow. There, late one night, he +found, as he crossed the opening, that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> +female badger had travelled forward, but had +not yet returned. Revisiting the spot some +minutes afterwards, he discovered that the +backward “drag” was strong on the damp +grass. He followed it quickly, and, in a +stubble beyond the gorse, came up at last +with the object of his oft-disappointed quest. +She was a widow badger, older and more +experienced than Brock, but smaller and of +lighter build.</p> + +<p>Perhaps because she wished to test the +loyalty of her new lover, and to find whether +he would fight for her possession with any +intruder, she resisted his advances, and refused +to go with him to his home. So he followed +her far away to her own snug dwelling on +the fringe of the moorlands. Thence, with +the first streak of dawn in the south-eastern +sky, he hurried back to his lair.</p> + +<p>Early next evening, Brock went forth to +meet his lady-love; and throughout the long +night and for nights afterwards he wandered +at her side, till, concluding that no other +suitor was likely to appear, she accompanied +him to his home, and entered on the season's +house-keeping in the central chamber of the +great “set” where he had been born. There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> +they lived happily, and without the slightest +annoyance from the old badgers; and, since +the time of the spring “running” was over, +they wandered no further afield than in the +cold winter nights. Filled with the joy of +the life-giving season, they often romped +together in the twilight for half an hour at +a time, chasing one another in and out of +the entrances to the “set,” or kicking up the +soil as if they suddenly recollected that their +claws needed to be filed and sharpened, or +standing on their hind-feet and rubbing their +cheeks delightedly against a favourite tree—grunting +loudly in their fun the while, and +in general behaving like droll, ungainly little +pigs just escaped from a stye. At last, +their frolic being ended, they “bumped” +away into the bushes, and, meeting on the +trail beyond, proceeded soberly towards the +outskirts of the wood.</p> + +<p>As in the previous spring, the big burrow +was soon the scene of family affairs other +than those of the badgers. By the end of +February, there were cubs in the vixen's den, +and both the wood-mice and the rabbits +were diligently preparing for important family +events. Brock's companion, unlike himself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> +was not accustomed to a house inhabited +by other tenants. None but members of +her own family had dwelt in the “earth” +near the moor; and, being somewhat exclusive +in her ideas, she strongly resented +the presence of the vixen in any quarter of +her new abode. A little spiteful in her +disposition, she lurked about the passages, +and by the mound outside the entrance, +intending to give her neighbour “a bit of +her mind” at the first opportunity. But +since she did not for the present care to enter +the vixen's den, that opportunity never came +till her own family arrangements claimed her +undivided attention, and effectually prevented +her from following the course of action she +had planned.</p> + +<p>In the first week of April, the badger's +spring-cleaning began in downright earnest. +The old bedding of fern, and hay, and +leaves was cleared entirely from the winter +“oven,” and, after a few windy but rainless +days and nights, when the refuse of Nature's +woodland garden was dry, new materials for +a cosy couch were carried to the lair, and +arranged on the floor of the roomy chamber +where Brock's mother had brought him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span> +into the world. The badgers' methods of +conveying the required litter were quaintly +characteristic, for the animals possessed the +power of moving backward almost as easily +and quickly as forward. They collected a +pile of leaves, and, grasping it between their +fore-legs, made their way, tail first, to the +mound, and thence, in the same manner, +along their underground galleries, as far as +the place intended for its reception, strewing +everywhere in the path proofs of their +presence, quite sufficient for any naturalist +visiting their haunts.</p> + +<p>On a dark, wet night rather less than a +fortnight after they had completed their +preparations, when Brock returned to his +home for shelter from the driving storm, +three little cubs were lying by their mother's +side.</p> + +<p>The training of the badger-cubs during +the first two months was left wholly +to their dam; but afterwards Brock shared +the work with his mate, teaching the +youngsters, by his example, how to procure +food, and, at the same time, to detect +and to avoid all kinds of danger. In +so doing, he simply acted towards his cubs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span> +as his sire had acted towards him. Apart +from family ties, however, his life—that of +a strong, deliberate animal, self-possessed in +peril and in conflict, yet shy and cautious to +a fault—was of extreme interest to both +naturalist and sportsman.</p> + +<p>Five young foxes, as well as the vixen, now +dwelt in the antechamber near the main +entrance of the “set,” and the presence of +this numerous family became, for several +reasons, so objectionable to the she-badger, +that, about the middle of May, the antipathy +which, since her partnership with Brock, she +had always felt towards the vixen, was united +with a fixed determination to get rid of her +neighbours. She was too discreet, however, +to attempt to rout them during the day, +when some dreaded human being might be +attracted by the noise; so she endeavoured +to surprise the vixen and her cubs together +at night.</p> + +<p>For a while, she was unsuccessful. She +happened to frighten them by an impetuous, +blustering attack in the rear, from which +they easily escaped; thus her difficulties had +been increased, since the objects of her +aversion became loath to stay in the “earth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span>” +after nightfall. But at last, probably more +through accident than set purpose, the +badger out-manœuvred the wily foxes.</p> + +<p>Lying one evening in the doorway, she +heard the vixen, followed by the young foxes, +creeping stealthily from the den. Retreating +quickly, she barred their exit, thus compelling +them to return to their lair; then she took +up her position in the neck of the passage, +and waited patiently till midnight before +commencing her assault. At last, in the +dense darkness, she crawled along the winding +tunnel, and, directly, the den was the scene +of wild confusion and uproar, as its inmates +leaped and tumbled over each other in their +frantic efforts to escape. For a few minutes, +the advent of danger unnerved them; then, as +if peculiarly fascinated by the grim, motionless +enemy blocking their only outlet, they +began an aimless, shuffling dance, baring +their teeth and hissing as they lurched from +side to side. Their suspense was soon ended. +The badger, emerging partly from the passage, +gripped one of the cubs by a hind-leg, and +dragged it backwards along the passage to the +thicket outside, where, after worrying her +victim unmercifully, she ended its life by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span> +crushing its skull, above the muzzle, into +fragments between her teeth.</p> + +<p>Once more, but this time furious with the +taste of blood, she hurried to the den; and +the scene of fear and violence was repeated. +Her third visit was futile: the vixen with +the other cubs had bolted into the main +gallery, and escaped thence to the wood, +through an old opening, almost choked with +withered leaves, at the back of the “set.”</p> + +<p>They never returned, but the following +spring a strange vixen from the rocks across +the valley came to the burrow, gave birth to +her young, and, in due course, without loss, +was evicted by Brock's relentless mate.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 307px;"> +<img src="images/i006.jpg" width="307" height="500" alt="“HE CLIMBED FROM HIS DOORWAY, AND STOOD MOTIONLESS, WITH +UPLIFTED NOSTRILS, INHALING EACH BREATH OF SCENT.”" title="“HE CLIMBED FROM HIS DOORWAY, AND STOOD MOTIONLESS, WITH +UPLIFTED NOSTRILS, INHALING EACH BREATH OF SCENT.”" /> +<span class="caption">“HE CLIMBED FROM HIS DOORWAY, AND STOOD MOTIONLESS, WITH +UPLIFTED NOSTRILS, INHALING EACH BREATH OF SCENT.”</span> +<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">To List</a></span></div> + +<p>On the night after the death of the fox-cubs, +when Brock was led by the she-badger +to the spot where her victims lay, he noticed +that man's foot-scent was strong on the grass +around, and also that his hand-scent lingered +on the fur of the slain animal. Often, during +the succeeding two months, he was awakened +in the day by quick, irregular footsteps overhead; +and later, when he climbed from his +doorway, and stood motionless, with uplifted +nostrils, inhaling each breath of scent, he +found that the dreaded signs of man were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> +numerous on the trail, on the near beech-trunk, +and even on the mound before the +“set.” Once, on returning home with his +family, he was greatly alarmed to discover +that in the night the man had visited his +haunts, and that a dog had passed down +the galleries and disturbed the bed on which +he slept. Henceforward, he used the main +opening as an exit only, and invariably +entered the “set” by the opening through +which the vixen had escaped from his +mate, passing, on his way, the mouth of a +side-gallery connected with the apartments +occupied by his old sire and dam, together +with their present family. Eventually, +through these precautions, he saved his +principal earthworks from destruction.</p> + +<p>Had Brock been able to ascertain the +meaning of man's frequent visits to the +neighbourhood of his dwelling, he would have +sorely lamented the killing of the young foxes +by the female badger. In the eyes of the +Hunt, vulpicide was an unpardonable crime, +whether committed by man or beast; and, +when the dead fox-cubs were shown to the +huntsman, he vowed vengeance on the slayer. +Because of a recent exchange, between the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> +two local Hunts, of certain outlying farms, +it happened that this huntsman was not he +who in past seasons had tethered his horse +near the “set” while he “drew” the cover +on foot. The new-comer soon discovered the +“earth”; but after a brief examination, from +which he concluded, because of the strong +taint still lingering, that it was tenanted by +a fox, he walked away towards the farm. +Fearing a reprimand from the Master if the +mysterious slaughter of the foxes could not +be explained, he made careful enquiries of +the farmers, by whom he was told of the +badger and the sheep, as well as of the +poacher who had seen Brock's sire in the +upland fields two years ago; but he laughed +at the first tale, and for want of adequate +information paid no heed to the second. +Nevertheless, when he again visited the +“earth,” and, stooping, saw the withered +leaves and fern, and detected, not now the +scent of a fox, but the scent of half a dozen +badgers, his sluggish brain began to move +in the right direction. Stories he had heard +by the lodge fireside when he was a lad, +casual remarks dropped by followers of the +Hunt, questions asked him by an inquisitive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> +boy-naturalist—he slowly remembered them +all; and then the revealing light dawned +on his mind, that no animal but a badger +could with ease have broken the limbs of a +fox-cub, and cracked the skull as though it +were a hazel-nut. Filled with a sense of +self-importance, befitting the bearer of a +momentous message, the huntsman rode +away in the breathless summer twilight to +the country house where the Master lived, +and presently was shown into the gun-room +to wait till dinner was over.</p> + +<p>The Master prided himself on his love of +every kind of sport; and before the huntsman +had finished a long, rambling story of the +woodland tragedy he had formed his plans +for the punishment of the offender and +was writing a brief, urgent letter to a +distant friend. As the result, a few days +afterwards three little terriers, specially +trained for “drawing” a badger, arrived at +the Master's house, and were accommodated +in a vacant “loose-box” in the stables. +Late at night, one of these was introduced +to the “set,” and from the experiment the +Master was led to believe that, though the +place, as he surmised, was empty of its usual<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span> +tenants at the time, it held sure promise of +sport for an “off” day, as soon as the otter-hounds, +now about to hunt in the rivers of +the west, had departed from the neighbourhood. +Meanwhile, according to his strictest +orders, the little terriers were well fed, +regularly exercised, and kept from quarrelling, +and their coats were carefully brushed +and oiled that they might be as fit as +fiddles for the eventful “draw.”</p> + +<p>The Master was a rigid disciplinarian in +all matters concerned with sport. His +servants, one and all, from the old, white-haired +family butler down to the little +stable-boy, idolised him, but never presumed +to disobey his slightest command. For many +years before he came to live at the mansion, +the Hunt had fallen into a state of extreme +neglect; the pack was one of the worst in +the kingdom, the subscriptions were irregular, +the kennel servants were ill-paid, the poor +cottagers never received payment for losses +when Reynard visited their hen-coops, and +even the farmers began to grumble at needless +damage to their hedges, and to refuse +to “walk” the puppies. But the new Master +had changed all this. He bore his share,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> +but no more, of the expense caused by the +reforms he at once introduced, and he +reminded his proud yet stingy neighbours +that the pack existed for their sport as +much as for his own, that arrears were +shown in his secretary's subscription-books, +and that, unless the funds were augmented, +he would reconsider the step he had taken +in accepting the Mastership. Useless servants, +useless hounds, and merely ornamental +members of the Hunt, alike disappeared; and +with system and discipline came season after +season of prosperity, contentment, and justice, +till it seemed that the best old traditions of +British sport were revived in a community +of hard-working, rough-riding fox-hunters, +among the isolated valleys of the west.</p> + +<p>As might be inferred from the personality +of the Squire, everything was in apple-pie +order on the glorious summer morning when +he and his huntsmen made their way down +river to the wood inhabited by Brock. A +complete collection of tools—crowbar, earth-drill, +shovels, picks, a woodman's axe, and a +badger-tongs that had been used many years +ago to unearth a badger in a distant county, +and ever since had occupied a corner in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span> +the Squire's harness-room—had already been +conveyed to the scene of operations, together +with a big basket of provisions and a cask +of beer, it being one of the Squire's axioms +that hard work deserved good hire. Four +brawny labourers were also there; and, near +by, each in leash, the three little terriers lay +among the bilberries. Punctually at the time +appointed, the work of the day began. A +terrier was led to the main entrance of the +“set,” but, to the dismay of the huntsman, +he refused to enter. When, however, he +was brought to the entrance that artful +Brock had lately used, he at once became +keenly excited, dragged at his leash, and, on +being freed, disappeared in the darkness of +the burrow. The Master knelt to listen; and +presently, as the sound of furious growls and +barks came from the depths, he arose, saying: +“Now, my men, we may begin with picks +and shovels; our badger is at home.”</p> + +<p>What followed, from that early summer +morning till twilight shadows fell over the +woods, and men and dogs, completely beaten, +wended their way homewards along the river-path, +may best be told, perhaps, in a bare, +simple narrative of events as they occurred.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span></p> + +<p>When the terrier went “to ground,” he +crawled down a steep, winding passage into +a hollow, from twelve to fifteen feet below +the entrance. Thence, guided by the scent +of a badger, he climbed an equally steep +passage, to a gallery about six feet below the +surface. Following the gallery for a yard +or so, he came to a spot where it was joined +by a side passage, and here, as well as in +the gallery beyond, the scent was strong. +He chose the side passage, crept down a +slight declivity, and came where Brock's sire +had, a few minutes before, been lying asleep, +while his mate and cubs occupied the centre +of the chamber. Awakened by the approach +of the terrier, the she-badger and her offspring +had hurried to another chamber of the “set,” +and the male had retreated to a blind alley +recently excavated back towards the main +gallery. The terrier, keeping to the line he +had struck at the sleeping place, found the +male badger at work there, throwing up a +barrier between himself and his pursuing +enemy, and at once diverted his attention +by feinting an attack in the rear. For two +hours, the game little dog, avoiding each +clumsy charge and yet not giving the badger<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> +a moment's peace, remained close by, while +the men cut further and further into the +“set,” till they stood in the first deep chamber +through which the terrier had passed. Then +the terrier came out to quench his thirst, +and was led away by the huntsman to the +river, while the second dog was speedily +despatched to earth, that the badger might +be allowed no breathing space during which +he could bury himself beyond the reach of +further attack. The second dog, on coming +to the junction of the passage and the gallery, +chose the alternative line of scent in the +gallery, and wandered far away into the +chamber where Brock, whose family had +descended some time before to the winter +“oven,” awaited his coming. When the faint +barking of the second terrier told that the +badger had seemingly shifted his quarters to +an almost incredible distance from the trench, +the faces of the Squire and his assistants +evinced no little surprise. For a moment, +the men were inclined to believe that the +dog was “marking false,” but, presently, +their doubts were dispelled, and their hopes +revived, as the sounds indicated that the +terrier, contesting hotly every inch of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> +way, was retreating towards them before his +enraged enemy. The labourers resumed work, +though not with the confidence of the early +morning, when their task seemed lighter +than the experienced Master would admit. +Hour after hour they toiled; the dogs +were often changed; and at last the trench +was long enough to be within a yard or so +of the spot where the dog was engaged. +Then, to the mortification of the sportsmen, +the sounds of the conflict suggested another +change: Brock was retiring leisurely to his +chamber. The earth-drill was soon put into +play, and the badger's position discovered, +but directly afterwards the animal again +moved, this time to the deep “oven” below.</p> + +<p>Night was now rapidly closing over the +woods, and the weary, disappointed men and +dogs reluctantly gave up their task. The +Squire admitted that on this occasion, at +any rate, he was fairly and squarely beaten. +Brock and his mate are still in possession of +the old burrow beyond the farm; and Brock's +sire, a patriarch among badgers, lives, as the +comrade of another old male, among the +boulders of a rugged hillside a mile from +the “set.”</p> + + + +<h2><a name="THE_HEDGEHOG" id="THE_HEDGEHOG"></a>THE HEDGEHOG.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span></p> + +<h2>I.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span></p> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<h3>A VAGABOND HUNTER.</h3> + + +<p>At the lower end of our village, the +valley is joined by a deep ravine through +which a sequestered road—hidden by hawthorn +hedges, and crossed by numerous water-courses +where the hillside streams, dropping +from rocks of shale, ripple towards a trout-brook +feeding the main river—winds into the +quiet country. The rugged sides of the ravine +are thickly clothed with gorse and brambles, +and dotted with hazels, willows, and oaks. +This dense cover is inhabited by large numbers +of rabbits; in a sheltered hollow half-way +up the slope a badger has dug his “set”; and +in the pastures above the thickets a fox may +be seen prowling on almost any moonlit night. +Past the gorge, the glen opens out in rich, +level pastures and meadows bounded on either<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span> +side by the hills. The nearest farmsteads +are built high among the sunny dingles +overlooking the glen, and the corn and the +root-crops are grown on the slope beyond +the broad belts of gorse and bramble.</p> + +<p>In winter, the low-lying lands are seldom +visited by the peasantry, except when the +dairymaid drives the cattle to and fro, or the +hedger trims the undergrowth along the +ditches. Though the sportsman with gun and +spaniels and the huntsman with horse and +hounds are frequently heard in the thickets, +they never visit the “bottom,” unless the +partridges fly down from the stubble, or the +hare, pursued by the beagles, takes a straight +line from the far side of the glen to a sheep-path +leading up the gorge. And in summer, +except when the fisherman wanders by the +brook, and the haymakers are busy in the +grass, the glen is an undisturbed sanctuary, +given over to Nature's wildlings, where, in +safety, as far as man is concerned, they tend +their hidden young.</p> + +<p>In this quiet, windless place, on the day +when first the haymakers came to the +meadows, five little hedgehogs were born +in a nest among the roots of a tree, deep<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span> +in the undergrowth of a tangled hedgerow. +The nest was made of dry grass and leaves, +and with an entrance so arranged amid the +“trash,” that, when the parent hedgehogs +went to or from their home, they pushed +their way through a heap of dead herbage, +which, falling behind them, hid the passage +from inquisitive eyes.</p> + +<p>It may be asked why such a warm retreat +was necessary, inasmuch as the hedgehog +sucklings came into the world in the hottest +time of the year. Nature's reasons were, however, +all-sufficient; the little creatures, feeble +and blind, needed a secure hiding place, +screened from the changeful wind of night +and from every roving enemy. The haymakers, +moving to and fro amid the swathes, +knew nothing of the hedgehogs' whereabouts; +but when the dews of night lay +thick on the strewn wild flowers, the parent +“urchins,” leaving their helpless charges +asleep within their nest, wondered greatly, +while they hunted for snails and slugs in the +ditch, at the quick change that had passed +over the silent field.</p> + +<p>For a week or more, the spines sprouting +from round projections on the bodies of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span> +young hedgehogs were colourless and blunt, +and so flexible that they could have offered no +defence against the teeth or the claws of an +enemy; while every muscle was so soft and +feeble that not one of the little animals was +as yet able to roll itself into the shape of a +ball. The spines, however, served a useful +purpose: they kept the tender skin beneath +from being irritated by the chance touch of +the mother hedgehog's obtrusive quills.</p> + +<p>Soon the baby hedgehogs' eyes opened +wide to the pale light filtering between the +leaves at the entrance to the chamber, and +their spines, gradually stiffening, assumed a +dull grey colour. Then, one still, dark night, +the little creatures, with great misgiving, +followed their parents from the nest, and +wandered for a short distance beside the +tangled hedge. Presently, made tired and +sleepy and hungry by exercise and fresh air, +they were led back to their secret retreat, +where, after being tended for a few moments +by their careful mother, they fell asleep, +while their parents searched diligently for +food in the dense grass-clumps left by the +harvesters amid the briars and the furze.</p> + +<p>Henceforth, every night, they ventured,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span> +under their mother's care, to roam afield, +their journeys becoming longer and still +longer as their strength increased, till, familiar +with the hedgerow paths, they were ready +and eager to learn the rudiments of such +field-craft as concerned their unpretending +lives.</p> + +<p>A glorious summer, far brighter than is +usual among the rainy hills of the west, +brooded over the countryside. The days +were calm and sunny, but with the coming +of evening occasional mists drifted along +the dingles and scattered pearl-drops on +the after-math; and the nights were warm +and starlit, filled with the silence of +the wilderness, which only Nature's children +break. The “calling season” for the hare +had long since passed, and for the fox it +had not yet arrived; so the voices of the +two greatest wanderers on the countryside +were not at this time heard.</p> + +<p>A doe hare had made her “form” hardly +twenty yards from the hedgehogs' nest, +and night after night, just when the +“urchins” moved down the hedge from +the old tree-root, she ambled by on her +way to the clover-field above the heath.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span></p> + +<p>Once, a little before dawn, a fox, coming +to drink at the brook, detected the scent +of the hedgehogs near a molehill, followed +it to the litter of leaves by the tree, and +caused considerable alarm by making a +vigorous attempt to dig out the nest; but, +probably because of the dampness of the +loamy soil, he failed to determine the exact +whereabouts of the hedgehog family; and, +after breaking a tooth in his vain efforts to +cut through a tough, close-fibred root, he +made his way along the hedge, and soon +disappeared over the crest of the moonlit +hill. But the next night, when the wind +blew strong, and the rain pattered loudly +on the leafy trees, he came again to the +“urchins'” haunt. The doe hare had long +since rustled by, and the hedgehogs were +busy munching a cluster of earthworms +discovered in a heap of refuse not far from +the gate, when Reynard stole over the +fence-bank, and sniffed at the nest. Not +finding the family at home, he followed +their scent through the ditch, and soon +surprised them. To kill one of the tiny +“urchins” was the work of a moment; +then, made eager by the taste of blood, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span> +fox turned on the mother hedgehog and +tried to fix his fangs in the soft flesh +beneath the armour of her spines. But, +feeling at once his warm breath, she, with a +quick contraction of the muscles, rolled herself +into a prickly ball, and remained proof +against his every artifice. He was a young +fox, not yet learned in the wiles of Nature's +feebler folk, and so, when he had recovered +from his astonishment, he pounced on the +rigid creature, and, thoughtlessly exerting all +his strength, endeavoured to rend her in +pieces with his powerful jaws. He paid +dearly for his temerity. The prickly ball +rolled over, under the pressure of his fore-paws, +the sharp points of the spines entered +the bare flesh behind his pads, and as, almost +falling to the ground, he bit savagely to +right and left in the fit of anger which +now possessed him, his mouth and nostrils +dripped blood from a dozen irritating +wounds. Thoroughly discomfited, he leaped +back into the field, where, sick with pain, +he endeavoured to gain relief by rubbing +his muzzle vigorously in the grass and +against his aching limbs. Then, sneezing +violently, and with his mouth encrusted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span> +with froth and loam, he bolted from the +scene of his unpleasant adventure, never +pausing till he reached his “earth” on the +hillside, in which, hidden from the mocking +gaze of other prowlers of the night, he could +leisurely salve his wounds with the moisture +of his soft, warm tongue, and ponder over +the lessons of his recent experience.</p> + +<p>By far the most intelligent and powerful +enemy of the young hedgehogs was the +farmer's dog; but, as he slept in the barn +at night, and generally accompanied the +labourers to the upland fields by day, they +escaped, for a while, his unwelcome +attentions. Foes hardly less dreaded, +because of their insatiable thirst for blood, +were two polecats living in a hole half-way +up the wall of a ruined cottage not far +from the hillside farm-house. The polecats, +however, were so occupied with the care +of a family, that, finding young rabbits +plentiful in the burrows on the heath, +they seldom wandered into the open fields, +till the little “urchins,” ready, at the first +sign of danger, to curl themselves within +the proof-armour of their growing spines, +were well able to resist attack.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span></p> + +<p>The hedgehogs were about three months +old, and summer, brief and beautiful, was +passing away, when an incident occurred +that might have proved disastrous, though, +fortunately, it resulted only in a practical +joke, such as Nature often plays on the +children of the wilds. One calm, dark +night, while they were busy in the grass, a +brown owl, hunting for mice, sailed slowly +by. Now, the brown owl, in spite of +proverbial wisdom gained during a long +life in the dim seclusion of the woods, is +occasionally apt to blunder. Her character, +indeed, seems full of quaint contradictions. +As she floats through the moonlight and +the shadows of the beech-aisles of Dollan, +she appears to be a large bird, with a +philosophic contentment of mind—an +ancient creature that, shunning the fellow-ships +of the garish modern day and loving +the leisure and the solitude of night, dreams +of the past. But, beneath its loose feathery +garments, her body, hardly larger than +that of a ringdove, is altogether out of +proportion to her long, narrow head and +wide-spreading talons. Visions of the past +may come to her, as, blinking at the light<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span> +of day, she sits in the hollow of the tree, +but at night she is far too wide-awake to +dream. And so great are the owl's powers +of sight and hearing, and so swift is her +“stoop” from the sky to the ground, that +the bank-vole has little chance of escape +should a single grass-stalk rustle underfoot +when she is hovering near his haunt. Far +from being shy and retiring in her +disposition, the brown owl, directly night +steals over the woodlands, is so fearless +that probably no animal smaller than the +hare can in safety roam abroad.</p> + +<p>As the owl flew slowly past the fence, she +heard the faint sound of a crackling shell—the +hedgehogs were feeding on snails. She could +barely distinguish a moving form in a tangle of +briars, but its position discouraged attack; so +she flew away and continued to hunt for mice. +Presently, returning to the spot, the owl +was once more attracted by the sound of some +creature feeding in the grass; and, detecting +a slight movement beside the briars, she +swooped towards the ditch, grasped one of +the “urchins” in her claws, and rose into the +air. Her quarry, feeling the sudden grip of +the sharp talons, made a desperate, convulsive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span> +movement, and the owl found, to her astonishment, +that her grasp had shifted, and that +she was holding, apparently, a hard bunch of +thorns. Nevertheless, she tightened her grasp; +but an unendurable twitch of pain, as the +spines entered her flesh immediately above +the scales of her talons, caused her to drop +the hedgehog into the leaf-mould of the ditch. +Immediately afterwards, she herself, eager to +find out the cause of her discomfiture, dropped +also to the earth, and, standing beside the +hedgehog, clawed savagely at the motionless +creature, seeking some defenceless point among +the bristling spines. At last, her patience +exhausted, the owl gave up the ineffectual +assault, and glided away into the gloomy +night. Unhurt, but for a slight wound +inflicted when first the bird descended, the +hedgehog crawled back to the brambles, +where the rest of her family were still busy +with the snails, and joined them in their +feast.</p> + +<p>Autumn's sere leaves had fallen from the +trees, and the hedgehogs had found such a +plentiful supply of all kinds of food that +they were ready for their winter sleep, +when a gipsy boy, the proud possessor of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span> +terrier trained for hunting hedgehogs, set +forth in haste one evening from his tent by +the wayside above the farm. The boy was +smarting from cruel blows inflicted by his +drunken parents, who, after unusual success +in disposing of baskets and clothes-pegs, had +spent much of the day's profit in a carouse at +the village inn. Having escaped a continuance +of his parents' brutalities, and eluded +their ill-conducted pursuit, the young gipsy, in +the company of his only friend, soon forgot his +miseries as his thoughts turned to a vagabond's +rough sport in the stillness of the harvest +night. Thrusting a long stick here and there +into the briars, he strolled along by the fence, +till his dog, diligently beating in line amid +the undergrowth, gave a quick yelp of delight, +and, an instant later, a curled-up hedgehog +rolled down into the ditch. The boy placed +the animal in his ragged handkerchief, the +corners of which he was proceeding to tie +together when the terrier again attracted +attention with unmistakable signs of a “find.” +For a few brief minutes sport was keenly +exciting, but at last all the “urchin” family, +with the exception of one member, were +captured, and the boy, now thoroughly happy,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span> +his pockets and handkerchief heavy with +spoil, turned homewards through the darkness. +Next morning, the slain hedgehogs, +baked in clay among the hot ashes of a fire +of rotten twigs, formed the principal item in +the gipsies' bill of fare, and the terrier enjoyed +the remnants of the meal.</p> + +<p>The hedgehog surviving the gipsy's raid +was a young female, that, while the terrier +beat the fence, remained quietly munching +a large lob-worm at the foot of a mound +a dozen yards away, and so knew nothing +of the fate of her kindred.</p> + +<p>The last weeks of the year passed uneventfully, +as far as her little life was +concerned; then, as the nights grew longer +and the cold increased, she set about +preparing in earnest for her long, deep +sleep.</p> + +<p>In a sheltered spot close to the woodlands, +where, a month before, a badger had +unearthed a wild bee's nest, she collected +a heap of withered oak-leaves, hay, and +moss, and with these simple materials +made a large, snug nest, a winter house +so constructed that the rain might trickle +down to the absorbent soil beneath. For<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span> +a little while, however, she did not enter +into her unbroken rest. Still, nightly, she +roamed abroad, moving in and out of the +dried herbage everywhere strewn in her +paths among the tree-roots, till the sapless +leaves impaled on the sharp points of her +spines formed such a cluster that she lost +all semblance of a living creature. Insects +were becoming rarer and still rarer as the +year drew to its close, and those surviving +the frosts retired to countless secret +chambers at the roots of the moss and +under the tough bark of the trees. The +lizards sought shelter in warm hollows +deep below the piles of stones left here +and there by the labourers, when, every +spring, they cleared the freshening fields. +And the big round snails, the luscious +tit-bits of the hedgehog's provender, crept +into the holes of the red mice and into the +chinks of walls and banks, where, protected +by their shells, each being fastened to its +resting place by a neat rim of hardened +glue, they lived unconscious of decay and +gloom. Then the hedgehog, having +become drowsier and still drowsier with +privation and cold, ceased to wander from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span> +her nest at dark, and began that slumber +which was to last till the sweet, warm +breath of spring awoke her, and other +wildlings of the night, to a life among the +early primroses and violets.</p> + + + +<h2>II.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span></p> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<h3>AN EXPERIENCE IN SNAKE-KILLING.</h3> + + +<p>The many changes of winter passed over +the countryside; tempests raged, rain beat +down in slanting sheets or enveloped the +fields in mist, snow fell heavily and then +vanished before the breath of a westerly +breeze, black frost held the fields for days +in an iron clutch, and sometimes, from +late dawn to early dusk, the sun shone +clearly in the southern sky. The sportsman +with his spaniels wandered by the hedge, +the huntsman with his beagles chased the +hare across the sodden meadows, and the +report of a gun or the note of a horn +echoed among the surrounding hills. But +in spite of changing weather and dangers +from unresting foes, the hedgehog slept +peacefully within her nest of withered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span> +leaves till awakened by the whisper of the +warm south-western wind.</p> + +<p>It was a calm day towards the end +of March when the hedgehog awoke. +Gradually, since the winter solstice, the +shadows of noon, cast from the wooded +slope across the meadows in the glen, had +become shorter; and now, when the sun +reached its meridian, its beams fell directly +on the spot where the hedgehog rested +among the littered leaves. She felt the +strange and subtle influence of spring, and +crawled feebly from her retreat. The light +above her nest was far too brilliant for +her eyes, which had been closed for three +long months, and were at best only +accustomed to the gloom of night, so +she sought the shadow of a tree-trunk +near, and there, for a while, remained +quite motionless. With the leaves of +last autumn still clinging thickly to her +spines, she seemed an oddly fashioned +creature belonging to a distant age, a +little Rip Van Winkle of the woods, with +a new, quick world of unfamiliar joys and +sorrows claiming her half-conscious life. +Extremely feeble from cold and privation,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span> +and knowing, as all Nature's wildlings seem +to know, that sunlight brings with it +health and strength, she presently left the +shadow of the tree-trunk, and, closing her +eyes, basked in complete enjoyment of the +balmy day. The heat and the gentle +wind soon dried her armour of spines and +surcoat of leaves. Stealing in through the +tunnel left open when the hedgehog came +forth from her sleep, the wind cleansed +and ventilated the nest, and soon all traces +of winter's mustiness had vanished from +both herself and her home. By sundown, +the “urchin” had gained strength that +enabled her to wander slowly into the +meadow, where she found sufficient food to +stay her growing hunger.</p> + +<p>During the first few nights, her appetite, +though keen, was easily satisfied, for the +digestive organs, unaccustomed to their work, +could not retain much nutriment, and hours +of slumber seemed necessary after every +trifling meal. But gradually her powers were +restored, till almost any kind of fresh animal +matter that came in her way was greedily +devoured. A spider sleeping in a folded leaf, +a fly hiding beneath a stone, a snail, a slug,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span> +a worm, a frog, a weakling bird fallen from +an early nest, a lizard, or a snake—all alike +were welcome as she thrust her damp, blunt +snout, that looked like a little fold of +black rubber, here and there amid the +herbage.</p> + +<p>Her eyesight was faulty—she had no great +need of it; her enemies were few, and she +did not live the life of the hunted that fear +each footfall on the grass; but, as if to +balance all deficiencies, her sense of smell +was singularly acute, so that she could follow +with ease the trail of a beetle or of an +earthworm in its windings over the soil. +The eggs and young of the lark, the +corncrake, the partridge, or of any other +bird that built on the ground, were never +safe once the hedgehog had crossed the +lines of scent left by the parents around +their nest. Even the robin and the wren, +nesting in holes along the hedge, and the +field-mouse in its chamber sheltered by the +moss, were at any time likely to have +their family affairs most cruelly upset. The +wild-bee's sting could not save her honeyed +cells and helpless grubs, and the sharp-fanged +adder, writhing from the hedgehog's sudden<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span> +bite, would hurl itself in vain against the +prickly ball that instantly confronted each +counter attack.</p> + +<p>The hedgehog's first experience of snake-killing +occurred late one evening, when she +discovered a viper, some distance from its +hole, coiled asleep on a bare patch of soil +where the sunlight had lingered at the close +of day. Her manner instantly changed; she +became eager and alert. Pausing only a +second to make sure of her attack, she bit +the snake sharply near the neck, then, withdrawing +her head and limbs into the shelter +of her spines, rolled over, an inanimate ball. +The viper, mad with pain, thrust back its +head from its sinuous coils, rose, and struck +with open jaws at its assailant. Its fangs +closed strongly, but failed to get a grip, and +the smooth underside of its throat glanced +past the hedgehog's slanting prickles with +such force that the whole body of the snake +was lifted from the ground, and fell, like a +bent arrow, about a yard behind its foe. +Again the snake rose, and struck with no +effect; but this time the stroke, coming from +the rear, was met by the sharp points of the +spines, and the adder's mouth dropped blood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span> +from a clean-cut wound on the upper edge +of the palate. Repeatedly, the snake, hissing +loudly and fighting for its life, attacked its +armoured enemy—at first dashing itself +senselessly against the sharp points of the +hedgehog's spines, then, with caution, swaying +to and fro its bleeding head and snapping +harmlessly at an apparently unguarded spot, +till, from sheer exhaustion and pain, and +with its store of poison almost exhausted, +it retired from the unequal combat and +slowly wriggled into the grass. Presently, the +“urchin” uncoiled, and, as soon as the +inquisitive little snout discovered the whereabouts +of the snake, started in pursuit. +With a hard, firm bite, she luckily managed +to break the backbone of the viper; then, at +once, she again assumed the shape of a ball. +Desperate now, the snake expended all its +remaining strength in wild attacks, till, limp +and helpless, and utterly at the mercy of +the hedgehog, it lay outstretched. Then +the relentless hedgehog, assured that her +prey was quite defenceless, severed almost +every bone in its body, tore the scales from +the flesh, and fed to repletion.</p> + +<p>Such a struggle often happens in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span> +fields and the woodlands. During the +first few weeks of life, the hedgehog, if its +parents are absent, may be at the adder's +mercy; but, later, the tables are completely +turned, the once helpless creature becomes +the strong aggressor, and is revenged by +removing, not only an enemy, but a rival +subsisting on food often similar to that +which is its own.</p> + +<p>For a while after her awakening, the +hedgehog fed chiefly on the big earthworms +which, induced by the increasing +warmth, forsook the deep recesses of their +burrows, and tunnelled immediately beneath +the grass-roots, coming forth at night to lie +outstretched amid the undergrowth. She +had, of necessity, to match their fear by her +excessive cunning. They frequently detected +her presence by the slight vibrations of the +soil beneath her soft, slow-moving feet, and +hurriedly withdrew from her path, but more +often she surprised and captured them by +the simple artifice of waiting and watching +beside the burrows where scent was fresh, +and where, notwithstanding the noises reaching +her from above, she could readily distinguish +the sounds of stretching, gliding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span> +bodies moving to the surface through the +tortuous passages below.</p> + +<p>She soon became a wanderer, deserting +her winter nest, and roaming nightly +further and yet further from the valley +meadows, till she reached a rough pasture +at the end of the glen. In a thick +hedgerow skirting a secluded pond among +alders and willows, she found food unexpectedly +varied and plentiful. Luscious +snails, with striped yellow and brown +shells, were so common in the ditch beyond +a certain cattle-path, that, even after a +whole day's fast, her hunger was quickly +appeased.</p> + +<p>April drew near, the leaves of the trees +expanded, and the voice of the night +wind in the branches changed from a moan +to a whisper. At noon, flies came forth to +bask on the stones; the furze, decked with +yellow flowers, was visited by countless +bees; and bronze-winged beetles crept +among the thorny branches of the hawthorn +and the sloe. The hedgehog knew little +of the pulsing life of mid-day, but at dusk +she sometimes found a tired fly, or bee, +or beetle, hiding in the matted grass<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span> +beneath the gorse, and so was made aware +of summer's near approach.</p> + +<p>Among the flags and the rushes of the +pond, a pair of fussy moorhens built their +nest on an islet of decayed vegetation +clustered round a stone. At all hours of +the day, the birds sailed gaily hither and +thither, or wandered, happy and impulsive, +along the margin of the pool. No care +had they, and the solitude of their retreat +seemed likely never to be disturbed, till, +one moonlit night, the fox, that last year +had killed the baby hedgehog in the glen, +stole through the shadows of the alders, +caught the scent of the moorhens, and +approached the nest where the female was +brooding over her eggs. The bird had +watched the fox's movements since first +he appeared on the bank beyond the trees. +Quietly she dropped into the pond beside +the nest, dived, came up on the far side of +the islet, and stayed there, with only her +head above the surface of the water. She +saw, with fear, the fox approach her nest, +and recognised that it was hardly possible +for her treasures to be saved, when, +suddenly, her mate, having doubtless<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span> +watched the marauder as closely as she +herself had done, walked out of a reed-clump +two or three yards from her hiding +place, and, in full view of the fox, swam +slowly to and fro, beating his wings as if +in mortal pain. Without the slightest +hesitation, Reynard, thinking to obtain an +easy prize, plunged into the pond, but the +bird just managed to elude him, and to +flutter into another reed-clump a short +distance away. Completely deceived by the +ruse, the fox was drawn further and further +from the nest, till he reached a distant +corner of the pond, when, to his astonishment, +the moorhen vanished, leaving him to +a vain search which at last so much +annoyed him that, instead of returning +along the bank towards the nest, he crossed +the glen, trotted up the cattle-path, and +entered the dense thicket on the slope.</p> + +<p>With most wild creatures, fear seems +to be a feeling that quickly comes and +quickly goes. But over some of Nature's +weaklings, fear seems to throw a spell that +remains long after the danger has passed; +as, for instance, in the case of a rabbit +hunted by a stoat, or of a vole pursued by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span> +a weasel. The animal trembles with fright, +cries as if in pain, and limps, half-paralysed, +towards its home, some time after its pursuer +may have turned aside to follow a line of +scent leading in a quite opposite direction. +Now and then, a young rabbit is so overcome +by fright, that the sly, watchful carrion +crow obtains, with little trouble, an unexpected +meal. The birds of the hedgerow—finches, +robins, and the like—are also subject +to the distressing influence of fear, directly +they catch sight of a hungry weasel “performing” +in the ditch. When the weasel +sets itself to lure any such creatures, its +movements are remarkably similar to the +contortions of a snake; and the birds, +fascinated as their enemy's strange actions +are rapidly repeated, flutter helplessly from +spray to spray, till one or other becomes +a victim and the weasel ambles off with +its prey. Then, released from the spell, +the birds proceed to mob the bloodthirsty +tyrant, and, at times, with such effect that +he is compelled, before making good his +escape, to resort to stratagems similar to +those that previously held the birds enthralled. +Reynard seems to have learned from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span> +weasel's manœuvres, for he, too, is wont to +entice the rabbits towards him by extraordinary +methods, twirling round, like a cat, +in pursuit of his tail, and affording such a +spectacle to any onlookers that they must +needs, from sheer curiosity, find out the +meaning of a woodland farce, which, alas! is +often followed by a tragedy. It is not known +that the fox ever succeeds in fascinating the +moorhen; the bird, directly she caught sight +of his circling form, would probably dive, and +in the cool refuge of the water, her sharp +eyes peeping from between the flags, would +wisely conclude that such an unaccountable +display meant danger. It is, however, +tolerably certain that the influence of fear +seldom causes a nesting bird, or a breeding +mammal, to become helpless in the presence +of an enemy, though when family cares +are over the conditions might be entirely +reversed. Even such timid creatures as +rabbits and hares sometimes strenuously +defend their young from the attacks of +weasels and stoats.</p> + +<p>As the fox trotted up the hillside path, +the moorhen joined her mate in the tangle +of the reeds, and, without fear, wandered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span> +over the marshy ground in the neighbourhood +of her nest. Then she swam out +across the narrow channel, and settled down, +in fancied security, to brood once more over +her speckled eggs. She had just taken her +accustomed position, when the hedgehog, +pushing the reeds aside, became aware of the +strong scent on the margin of the pond. +The hungry “urchin's” intelligence, though +limited, at once suggested that the scent of +a mothering bird might lead to a clutch of +delicious eggs, or to a brood of plump and +juicy nestlings. Following the trail, the +hedgehog came to the marshy ground at the +margin of the narrow passage where the bird +had crossed, and, with head erect, sniffed the +tainted wind blowing gently shorewards from +the brooding moorhen. In her eagerness, she +lifted herself slightly at the edge of the bank, +missed her footing, and fell into the pond, not +more than two or three feet from the moorhen. +The bird, hearing the splash, dived instantly; +her mate again came quickly to the scene and +tried to lead the enemy away, but the hedgehog, +heedless of every artifice, paddled slowly +to the platform of dry flags, and helped herself +to a repast more appetising than any she had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span> +recently enjoyed, while the birds, flapping +their wings, circled angrily about the pond, +and pecked vigorously, but vainly, at the +marauder's prickly coat.</p> + +<p>Late the next evening, the hedgehog +discovered a fledgling thrush hidden in the +grass beyond the alders. In response to +the cry of the young bird, the mother +thrush flew straight to the spot, and, with +a lucky blow struck full at the hedgehog's +snout, so intimidated her enemy that she +curled up immediately and allowed the +fledgling to escape unharmed.</p> + +<p>The tender grass was reaching up to +seed, the may blossom was burdening the +air with rich perfume, and summer had +almost come, when, late one night, the +hedgehog, hunting among the shadows +of the trees, chanced to hear a low, bleating +sound, like the voice of a leveret calling +to the mother hare out feeding in the +clover. She had never heard that sound +before, but its meaning, nevertheless, +was plain, and without hesitation she +replied. Again the sound broke the +stillness, as a dim form lifted itself clumsily +from the ditch and came towards her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span> +Presently she felt an inquiring touch, and, +turning, found herself face to face with a +male hedgehog that had followed her path +through the undergrowth. Nature had not +been lavish in his adornment; like the +female, he was a plain little creature, brown +and grey, fitted to sleep unnoticed among +the wind-blown leaves and twigs beside a +sheltering mound.</p> + +<p>Theirs was an odd and awkward courtship—its +language a medley of unmusical +squeals and grunts; and if a difference +arose it was settled by one curling up +into a ball till the other had forgotten +the quarrel. But soon they became good +friends, hunted together all night and slept +together all day, while the year drew on +to summer and then, almost imperceptibly, +declined. Devoting much of their attention +to domestic affairs, they built a large, dry +nest among the foxgloves near the stream; +where, towards the end of hay harvest, three +naked little “urchins” came into the world, +to be reared, just as the mother hedgehog +herself had been reared, till autumn merged +into winter, and winter's cold induced each to +go in loneliness and build a snuggery for sleep.</p> + + +<h2><a name="NIGHT_IN_THE_WOODS" id="NIGHT_IN_THE_WOODS"></a>NIGHT IN THE WOODS.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span></p> + +<h2>I.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span></p> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<h3>HAUNTS OF THE BADGER AND THE FOX.</h3> + + +<p>Comparatively little seems to be known of +the night side of wild life in this country. +Night watching involves prolonged exposure, +unremitting vigilance, absolute quietness; +and yet, to the most alert observer, it often +results in nothing but disappointment and +vexation.</p> + +<p>Some time ago, during the moonlit nights +of several months, I kept watch, near a +“set” inhabited by half-a-dozen badgers, a +vixen and her cubs, a rabbit and her +numerous progeny, and a solitary little buck +wood-mouse, whose close acquaintanceship I +made after I had captured him in a butterfly-net +placed as a spring-trap above his narrow +run-way in the grass. This “set”—which I +have already partly described, in writing of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span> +Brock, the badger—seemed to be the common +lodging house of the wood. Its numerous +inhabitants, though not on terms of friendship, +were, apparently, not at enmity. The +wood-mouse and the rabbits, while entering +or leaving the underground passages, and +wandering through the paths in the wood, +took care to avoid their powerful neighbours; +the foxes, believing that out of sight is out +of mind, avoided with equal care all chances +of encountering the badgers; and the badgers, +sluggish in movement and tolerant in disposition, +refrained from evicting the foxes or +digging out the rabbits.</p> + +<p>In the undergrowth, but away from the +well worn tracks used by the creatures as +they stole out to feed, I had chosen three +hiding places, representing in their relative +positions the corners of a triangle the +centre of which was the main entrance to +the “set.” I was thus able, whatever might +be the direction of the wind, to lie to leeward +and obtain a clear view of the principal +opening, while I incurred but slight risk of +detection, unless the rabbits or the wood-mouse +crept into the brambles.</p> + +<p>It was during the last week of watching<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span> +that my patience received its best rewards. +Almost regularly then, as the shadows +deepened before moonrise, the rabbits stole +out, and, sometimes with no hesitation, +sometimes after much cautious reconnoitring +and sniffing the air and “drumming” alarm +signals on the mound before their door, +hopped along the paths towards the clover-fields +outside the wood. Soon after the +rabbits appeared, the wood-mouse timidly +peeped around the corner of the entrance, +and, seeing nothing of his enemy, the +brown owl, disappeared, with a rustle, +among the dead leaves that filled a hollow +where the old, disused workings of the +“set” had “shrunk.”</p> + +<p>On several occasions, the vixen led forth +her cubs long before the badgers came in +view, and while the light yet lingered on +the crests of the neighbouring hills. The +little family went away silently to a dense +furze-brake about a hundred yards distant +on the lower edge of the wood, and, till +the sun had gone down, remained close-hidden +in a lair that I afterwards discovered +amid the long grass in the heart of the +thicket.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span></p> + +<p>More frequently, however, I saw nothing +of the vixen till nightfall, though the cubs, +impatient of confinement, now and again +visited the mound outside the “set,” and +for a few moments played together on the +bare soil thrown up by the hard-working +badgers, as, in spring, they enlarged their +breeding chamber. But, in the first calm +hour of night, when the red afterglow +had faded from the hills, and the +moon, ascending cloudless in the southern +sky, cast long, mysterious shadows down +the aisles of the wood, the fox-cubs and +their dam came boldly out, and, instead of +moving off towards the furze, adjourned to +a rill close by, whence, after quenching +their thirst, they repaired to a glade above +the “set,” and in this favourite playground +frisked and romped, unremittingly guarded +from danger by their devoted mother. My +presence unsuspected, I watched them, little +dim figures, flitting to and fro.</p> + +<p>When they had gone far up the winding +pathway to the cornfields, and the silence +was no longer broken by their low cries +of dissembled rage and fear, I sometimes +lingered in my hiding place; and as on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span> +grass I lay, looking towards the stars that +twinkled between the motionless leaves of +the trees above me, my thoughts went back +to a time long before our village had been +built beside the river; before Giraldus +Cambrensis had journeyed hence with the +pilgrim band towards Sant Dewi's shrine; +before the great Crag of Vortigern, across +the near dingle, had resounded with the +blare of the trumpets of war; before even, +in the primitive hut-circle on the opposite +hill, wild little children had played about +the twilight fires kindled in readiness for the +home-coming of the weary hunters—a time +when the fox, the badger, and the tiny +mouse had nightly journeyed through the +woods, and the call of the gaunt wolf to his +mate had weirdly echoed and re-echoed in +the valley, startling the innocent hare in +the open waste above the slope, and the +busy beaver on the dam below in the pool +at the bend of the river.</p> + +<p>The badgers—or “earth-pigs” as the +country folk have named them—were the +original occupants of the “set,” unless, +however, the earliest excavations had been +made by the ancestors of the old doe-rabbit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span> +now inhabiting a side apartment. The foxes +and the wood-mouse might have been +looked upon as interlopers, but they often +played the part of scouts and sentinels, +quick to give alarm to the tolerant, easy-going +badgers, in case of imminent danger +from the visit of a dog or a man to the +neighbourhood of their retreat.</p> + +<p>The badgers were more irregular as to +the time when they left the “set” than +were any of the other inhabitants. Perhaps +they suspected a human presence, because +of some peculiar vibration in the earth +through a false step of mine. Perhaps, +during certain conditions of the atmosphere, +a taint—borne from me, on a wave rather +than a current of air, to the wide archway +beneath the tree-roots in front of the main +entrance, and then drawn down into the +draughty passages—was detected by them +immediately they passed beyond the stagnant +atmosphere of the blind-alley where they +slept. Evening after evening, one of the +old badgers would appear at the mouth +of the “set,” and, with snout uplifted in +the archway of the tree-roots, would stay +as motionless, but for the restless twitching<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span> +of the alert nostrils, as were the trees and +the stones around his home, while I, not +even daring to flick an irritating gnat from +my forehead or neck, would wait and long +for the philosopher in grey to make up his +slow-moving mind.</p> + +<p>With regard to the badger's habit of +staying for some time in the doorway of +his home, it may be mentioned that years +afterwards, when one night I compared my +notes with those of a companion who had +hidden near the main opening of the “set” +while I had watched by a hole higher in +the wood, I found that each entrance had, +simultaneously and for long, been occupied +by a vigilant badger; and, as both animals +were full-grown “greys,” I concluded that +parent badgers not unusually took ample +precautions against surprise before allowing +their cubs to venture out into the night.</p> + +<p>Once away from the “set,” the old male +badger seemed to lose suspicion of any +obnoxious presence. Then, lumbering after +him, every member of his family would +appear in full view on the mound, and, +with little fits and starts of pretended rage +and fright, would roll over and over each<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span> +other, rush helter-skelter back to the +underground dwelling and out again, and +round and round the tree-trunks. A +favourite trick, indulged in by young and +old alike, was that of raising themselves on +their hind-legs close beside a broad beech-trunk +near the “set,” and then, on tiptoe, +stretching out their fore-claws to the +fullest extent and scratching vigorously at +the bark.</p> + +<p>This trick irresistibly reminded me of an +incident connected with a shooting expedition +to the moors, when, one evening, after much +gossip in the ingle-nook, I accompanied my +jolly host to the barn, and there, much to +the merriment of all concerned, acted as +judge, while, by the light of a lantern, the +farmer measured and recorded the height of +his wife, as well as of each of his six +children and his servants, against the oaken +door-post, and finally insisted that he himself, +a veritable giant, should submit to the +test, and gave orders for a chair to be +fetched that “mother,” a stout little woman +of some sixty inches in height and, also, +in circumference, might mount to the level +necessary for “chalking his mark.”<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span></p> + +<p>One day a keen naturalist and sportsman, +whose acquaintance I had recently formed, +proposed to join me in my vigil near the +badger's home. In the declining afternoon, +we left the village, crossed the bridge, and +made a detour of the river path. As we +passed along, I showed him an otter's “holt” +under a shelving bank, where, on the fine, +wet sand, the prints of the creature's pads +were fresh and clearly outlined. We then +visited an “earth” within the wood, in which +dwelt a lonely old fox I had often watched +as he stole along the rabbit-tracks towards +the Crag of Vortigern; and there I pointed +out how crafty Reynard, having selected a +convenient rabbit burrow, had blocked up +every hole—but one, in a thick clump of +brambles—with soil thrown out in digging, +and how the grass and the ground-ivy had +luxuriantly covered the bare mounds, and so +encroached on the fox's winding track through +the wood and about the bramble clump, that +even to an experienced visitor the only fox-sign +likely to be detected was in the loose +arrangement of the bents and the twigs by +the arch of the run-way as it entered the +thicket.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span></p> + +<p>Rabbits, as well as water-voles and field-voles, +are particularly careful to nibble +off wind-blown or sprouting twigs that +encroach on their tracks through the +undergrowth; but foxes, otters, and badgers +simply brush them aside as they pass.</p> + +<p>The sun had not yet gone down when +we arrived at the “set.” I had planned an +early visit, so that my friend might have an +opportunity of examining the much +frequented track-ways, the footprints of +the badgers on the soft earth of the +mound, and the scratches on the tree-trunk +where the badgers had sharpened their +claws and incidentally measured themselves. +These numerous claw-marks were +especially interesting, and, on a certain tree +by the “set,” they formed irregular lines +extending from a foot above the ground to +a height of three feet or rather more. The +lowest scratches had been made by the cubs +seated on their haunches and facing the +tree; a little higher, the marks were those +of the parent animals while in a similar +position; after a space in which a few +abrasions occurred, the marks showed how +the cubs had gradually grown till they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span> +could reach within a few inches of the +clear, deep furrows scratched by the old +male badger as he measured his full length +against the tree.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 311px;"> +<img src="images/i007.jpg" width="311" height="500" alt="“AS HE MEASURED HIS FULL LENGTH AGAINST THE TREE.”" title="“AS HE MEASURED HIS FULL LENGTH AGAINST THE TREE.”" /> +<span class="caption">“AS HE MEASURED HIS FULL LENGTH AGAINST THE TREE.” (<a href="#Page_419">See p. 419</a>).</span> +<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">To List</a></span></div> + +<p>After making observations with the utmost +wariness, we hurried away, so that, before +dusk, our scent might evaporate, and become +almost imperceptible in the vicinity of the +principal entrance to the lonely burrow.</p> + +<p>After a second ramble by the riverside, we +returned in the face of the wind, and at +twilight began our silent watch. A robin +sang plaintively from the hawthorns on the +outskirts of the wood; the rooks sailed slowly +above us, and then, gossiping loudly of the +day's events, congregated around their nests +in the great elms dimly outlined against +the pearly southern sky; the wood-pigeons +dropped one by one into the beech-trees +near us; and a jay, uttering his harsh +alarm, hopped in and out of some young +hazels fringing the glade beyond the “set.” +Presently, a brown owl, in a group of tall +pines near the little rill that made faint +music in the woods, began to mutter and +complain, in those low, peculiar notes that +are often heard before she leaves her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[Pg 420]</a></span> +daytime resting place. Then no sound +disturbed the stillness but the far-off cawing +of the rooks, and the only creatures visible +were some rabbits playing in the moonlit +glade, and a glow-worm shining with her +soft green light on a bramble spray within +my reach.</p> + +<p>Nearly half an hour passed by, and no +sign of life came from the badgers' home. +Then the familiar white and black striped +head, framed in the darkness beneath the +gnarled tree-root, suddenly appeared, and +as suddenly vanished. Another half-hour +went by, and yet another, but no further +sign was given. My companion, unused to +such a long vigil, shifted uneasily, and +protested that he was tingling with cramp +and longing for sleep; presently, unable to +endure his discomfort, he arose, and stretched +his limbs before settling down again amid +the briars.</p> + +<p>Our patience was in vain. Once more the +badger came in sight, but my companion did +not see what I myself had noticed, for sleep +had sealed his tired eyes, and when I nudged +him he awoke with such a start that the +badger instantly withdrew into the burrow.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[Pg 421]</a></span></p> + +<p>By the glow-worm's lamp, I found from +my watch that midnight had long passed; +and so, since the hour was towards dawn +and the moon was not favourable for close +observation of the “earth-pigs,” even if they +crossed the open glade, I whispered to my +friend that the proceedings, in which his +interest had manifestly waned, were over for +the night. His disappointment was keen, +and though to me the night seemed warm, +he, accustomed to a tropical climate, +chattered with the cold. He had not even +noticed the first appearance of the “earth-pig,” +and henceforth night watching held no +charm for him.</p> + +<p>My own disappointment, if only for my +friend's sake, was also keen; but, on the +evening following those hours of fruitless +watching, I discovered the vixen's lair in the +furze-brake, and learned why she resorted +thither with her cubs, before the badger +family had awakened from their day-dreams, +or the pale glow-worm's rays had lit up the +dew-besprinkled spider-webs.</p> + +<p>Knowing that badgers are, as the country +folk say, <i>pwdu</i> (pouty) creatures, likely to +sulk at home for several nights if they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[Pg 422]</a></span> +consider it unsafe to roam abroad, I carefully +examined the mound of earth and the beech-trunk +near the “set,” that I might learn +whether the animals had been out of doors +since my previous visit. On the soil, fresh +footprints could be seen, their outlines clearly +lit and deeply shadowed as the sun sank in +the west, and, in some of the scratches on +the beech, the pith had barely changed its +colour from creamy white to the faintest +tinge of brown. I concluded, therefore, that +the badgers had been out, as usual, some +time before the dawn. My eyes, however, +were not sufficiently trained to detect any +sure evidence of the recent movements of +the vixen and her cubs.</p> + +<p>Walking along the tracks, I chanced to +notice that the path by which the vixen sought +the shelter of the furze-brake branched off at +a sharp angle, and led into the thicket at a +bend that was hidden from my sight while +I watched near the “set.” Picking my way +in a line straight through the tangle and +parallel with this path, I came to an opening +where the grass was beaten down for about +six square yards—more particularly for two +or three yards in the part nearest the spot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[Pg 423]</a></span> +at which the tunnelled run-way entered it. +Along the margin of this open place, I could +find no second entrance; everywhere at the +foot of the surrounding gorse-bushes the +long grass grew in an unbroken line, except +close to the mouth of the run-way. There +I found a shallow depression, not unlike the +“form” of a hare, but longer and broader, +and I determined to keep strict watch +evening after evening, till I learned the +reason for the occasional visits of the vixen +and her cubs to the brake. But I little +imagined that the secret would quickly be +disclosed, for it was my belief that, should +the vixen venture to the mouth of the “set” +before the gloom was deepening into night, +she would cross the line of my scent, and +either move away from the direction of the +furze-brake or return to her underground +chamber. And yet previous experiences led +me to hope that, if certain atmospherical +conditions should prevail, the scent would +probably become so weak that she would +recognise no cause for alarm.</p> + +<p>It was the work of a few minutes for +me to make couch of grass and twigs behind +a screen of broken furze-branches well in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[Pg 424]</a></span> +from the grassy opening. Then, by raising +with a prong-shaped stake the grass I had +trodden down, and by thrusting back the +bramble-trails and fern-fronds I had brushed +aside, I carefully removed as far as possible +all traces of my visit.</p> + +<p>I had scarcely settled down to watch and +listen, when the faint snap of a twig reached +my ears, and I saw that the vixen with +her cubs had arrived on the scene. She +walked around the enclosure, sniffing now +and again in the grass, while the young +foxes frisked and gambolled with each other, +or trotted demurely by her side. She was +at first suspicious, but for some reason she +soon gained confidence; then she squatted in +her lair, and surrendered herself, with patient +motherhood, to be the plaything of her +healthy, headstrong youngsters.</p> + +<p>For more than a half hour I watched +the happy family, the little ones climbing +over the mother's back, and licking or biting +her ears, her pads, her brush, or racing +over the grassy plot, frolicking with each +other till some little temper was aroused +and play degenerated into a fight. In +general, they behaved like wild children<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[Pg 425]</a></span> +without a thought of care, yet they never +went beyond the grass-fringe into the thicket, +and to each low note of warning or encouragement +from their dam they gave immediate +attention. Sometimes the vixen bounded +gaily about the edge of the gorse, stooping +again and again to snap with pretended +rage at one or another of her offspring. +But for most of the time she remained in +her lair, listening intently for the slightest +sound of danger, and guarding the only +approach through the bushes.</p> + +<p>I longed to discover what she would have +done had I suddenly come upon her and +cut off her retreat, but I dared not move +for fear of raising alarm. It is more than +likely that, finding me in the path, she, +snarling and hissing, would have dashed +without hesitation into any part of the +furze-brake, and her young would have +followed with desperate haste and vanished +at her heels within the shadows.</p> + +<p>By-and-by she led her little ones back +through the run-way, and when, a few minutes +afterwards, I stole to the outer edge of the +thicket, I saw the merry family stooping +in a row beside the rill, and lapping the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[Pg 426]</a></span> +cool, delicious water, which refreshed them +after their rough-and-tumble sport. From +the rill they wandered off into the gloom +beneath the beech-trees, and I, satisfied with +having added to my knowledge of the life +of the woods, returned homewards in the +light of the rising moon.</p> + + + +<h2>II.</h2> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[Pg 427]</a></span> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<h3>THE CRAG OF VORTIGERN.</h3> + + +<p>One of the chief difficulties with which the +naturalist has to contend while watching at +night is the frequent invisibility of wild +creatures among the shadows, even when +the full moon is high and unclouded. The +contrasts of light and shade are far more +marked by night than by day; by night +everything seems severely white where the +moonbeams glance between the trees, or +over the fields, or on the river, and the +shadows are colourless, mysterious, profound; +whereas by day variety of tone and colour +may be observed in both light and shade, +and every hour new and unexpected charms +are unfolded in bewildering succession.</p> + +<p>The wild creatures of the night often +seem to be aware of their invisibility in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[Pg 428]</a></span> +gloom, and of the risk they run while +crossing open spaces towards trees and +hedgerows where an enemy may lurk +awaiting their approach. A fox is so +familiar with his immediate surroundings +that, till his keen senses detect signs of +danger, he will roam unconcernedly hither +and thither in the dark woods near his +“earth,” frolicking with his mate, or +hunting the rabbits and the mice, or +sportively chasing the wind-blown leaves, as +if a hound could never disturb his peace. +The fox knows the shape of each tree and +bush, and of each shadow thrown on the +grass; he notes the havoc of the tempest +and the work of the forester. When the +wind roars loudly in the branches overhead, +or the raindrops patter ceaselessly on the +dead herbage underfoot, or the mists blot +out the vistas of the woods, he seldom +wanders far from home, for at such times +Nature plays curious tricks with sound and +scent and sight, and danger steals upon him +unawares.</p> + +<p>The hunted creatures of the night so +dislike the rain, that during a storm Reynard +would have difficulty in obtaining sufficient<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[Pg 429]</a></span> +food; but down in the river-pools below +the wood, fearless Lutra, unaffected by the +inclement weather, swims with her cubs from +bank to bank, and learns that frogs and fish +are as numerous in the time of tempest as +when the moon is bright and the air is +warm and still.</p> + +<p>Since my earliest years of friendship with +Ianto the fisherman and Philip the poacher, +I have regarded night watching in the woods +or by the riverside as a fascinating sport, in +which my knowledge of Nature is put to its +severest test. By close, patient observation +alone, can the naturalist learn the habits of +the creatures of the night; and if it should +be his good fortune to become the friend of +such men as I have mentioned he would find +their help of inestimable value.</p> + +<p>To Ianto and Philip I owe a debt of +gratitude, of which I become increasingly +conscious with the passing of the years. I +could never make them an adequate return +for their kindness; but I am solaced by my +recollection that I was able to comfort such +staunch old friends when they were passing +into the darkness of death—haply to find, +beyond, some fair dawn brighter than any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[Pg 430]</a></span> +we had together seen from the hills around +my home. Often, as I write, I see them +sitting in the evening sunlight of my little +room; often, in my garden, I see them +walking up the path attended by my dogs +that now are dead; often, in the river +valley, whether I wander by night or by +day, I see them at my side.</p> + +<p>Ianto and Philip were always eager to help +me by every means in their power, but Philip, +because of the risk to my health, would never +invite me to accompany him when the night +was cold and stormy. One afternoon, as Ianto +and I were returning home from the riverside, +the old fisherman remarked: “I met Philip +last night, sir, and he wants you and me to +come along with him for a ramble to the +woods above the Crag. He's got something +to show you; I think it's an old earth-pig +that lives in the rocks. What do you say to +joining me by the church as soon as you've +had something to eat? Then we'll go together +as far as the bridge, but I'll leave you there, +for I've got a little job on hand that'll keep +me till sundown, I think. You'll find Philip +at the 'castell' (prehistoric earth-work) above +the Crag, and I'll wade the river and be with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[Pg 431]</a></span> +you again sometime 'between the lights.' +Keep to cover, or to the hedges and the lanes, +and look about you well, most of all afore +you cross a gap, and when you're going out +of cover or into it. Nobody must have a +chance of following you to-night to the Crag; +so, if you meet a farm labourer sudden-like, +make off to the furze by the river farm, and +double back through the woods. You'll get +to Philip early enough. He's going to net +the river after we leave him. It's a game I +don't care much for—maybe because I've +given it up myself—but I've promised to do +something aforehand, that, if Philip didn't +want you particular, he'd be bound to do +hisself. That's why I'm to leave you at the +bridge.”</p> + +<p>I was tired after a day's hard fishing, +but I readily fell in with the arrangements +my two old friends had made. On the way +to the bridge, Ianto gave me further instructions. +“If, when you're nigh the Crag, sir, +you happen to come across a farm servant, +or even if you think, from seeing a <i>corgi</i> +(sheep-dog), that a farm servant is near, +get right away, and, as soon as you're sure +nobody knows where you are, give that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[Pg 432]</a></span> +signal I taught you—four quick barks of +a terrier with a howl at the end of 'em. +Philip'll understand. But if everything goes +well till you get to the Crag, make that +other signal—the noise of young wood-owls +waking up for the night—and Philip's sure +to answer with a hoot. Then let him +come up to you; but, mind, don't you go +to him.”</p> + +<p>A little mystified by Ianto's last injunction, +I crossed the bridge, passed through a +succession of grassy lanes that for years +had fallen into disuse, picked my footsteps +cautiously through the woods, and arrived +without adventure at the top of the Crag.</p> + +<p>Getting down into the oak-scrub, I stood +within the deep shadows at the base of +the great rock, and gave the signal—a +harsh, unmusical cry, such as a hungry +young owl would utter at that time of the +evening.</p> + +<p>The cry had scarcely gone forth, when +I was startled by a voice from some hollow +quite close to my side: “I'm Philip. Don't +move—don't speak. A man's watching you +from the blackthorns at the top of the +wood. He hasn't seen me. Don't look his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[Pg 433]</a></span> +way, but walk along the path below, and +when you reach the end of the wood turn +up and hide in the cross-hedges, so that you +can watch him if he comes out anywhere in +the open. And, mind, don't let him see you +then. If he goes back to the farm, give the +signal again; or, if I give two hoots, one +about ten seconds after the other, come to +me, but don't pass this place. The fellow +isn't of much account, but we must get rid +of him before I can stir. He's kept me +here for the last half-hour.”</p> + +<p>Philip ceased speaking, and I walked +carelessly down the wood, pausing here and +there to peep through a patch of undergrowth +and to satisfy myself that the man +at the top of the wood had not moved. +When outside the wood, I turned rapidly +up the hill and found an excellent hiding +place among some brambles on a thick +hedge. From this spot I could command +a view of the meadows above the wood, +and could easily retreat unseen if the farm +labourer happened to come towards me.</p> + +<p>I watched patiently for twenty minutes +or so, then heard Philip's welcome signal +from a fir-spinney on the far side of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[Pg 434]</a></span> +Crag, and hastened to his side. In reply +to my question as to what had become of +the man who had watched from the blackthorn +thicket, he pointed to the opposite +hillside, where a dim figure could be seen +ascending the ploughland in the direction +of a distant farmstead. “I expect to be +able to show you a badger to-night,” he +said, “but of course I'm not sure about it. +A badger's comings and goings are as +uncertain as the weather. But first we'll +climb further up the hill. You were asking +me about the leaping places of the hares: +I know of one of these leaping places, +and I think I know of two hares that +use them and have lately 'kittled' in +snug little 'forms' not far away. We must +hurry, else the does will have left the +leverets and gone to feed in the clover. +You go first. Wait for me in the furze by +the pond on the very top of the hill.”</p> + +<p>When Philip had rejoined me on the +hill-top, he rapidly led the way to the fringe +of the covert, where he pointed to a low +hedge-bank between the gorse and a peat-field +partly covered with water. “Hide in +the hedge about ten yards from this spot,”<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[Pg 435]</a></span> +he said, “so that you can see on either side +of the bank, then watch the path on this +side.” With a smile he added: “This isn't +a bad locality for a fern-owl. So, if you +happen to hear the rattle of that bird, you'll +know the hare has started from her 'form.'” +Then, turning quickly into the furze and +taking a bypath through the thickest part +of the tangle, Philip left me, and, soon afterwards, +I moved to my allotted hiding place.</p> + +<p>Before I had waited long, the cry of the +fern-owl reached me with astonishing clearness +from an adjoining field. Presently, I +saw a hare emerge from the gorse and come +along the path towards me. At the exact +spot indicated by the poacher, she paused, +and then with a single bound cleared the +wide space between herself and the hedge. +With another bound she landed on the marsh +beyond, where she splattered away through +the shallow water till a dry reed-bed was +reached on a slight elevation in the marsh. +There she was lost to view; the rank herbage +screened her further line of flight.</p> + +<p>A minute afterwards, the fern owl's rattle +once more broke on the quiet evening, now +from a few fields away to my right. For<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[Pg 436]</a></span> +some time, I closely watched the open +space around the hedge-bank, but no animal +moved on the path. Suddenly, however, +I thought I detected a slight movement +in a bracken frond beside the furze. It +was not repeated, and I had concluded +that it signified nothing, when, to my +amazement, I caught sight of a second hare +squatting in the middle of the path near the +bracken. How she came there I was unable +to understand; for some time my eyes had +been directed towards the spot, and certainly +I had not seen her leave the ferns. She +seemed to have risen from the earth—something +intangible that had instantly assumed +the shape of a living creature. She took a +few strides towards my hiding place, but, +exactly where the first hare had leaped, she +turned sharply at right angles to the path, +and with a long, easy bound sprang to the +top of the hedge-bank; then with another +bound she flung herself into the marshy field. +Making straight for the reed-bed, she, too, +was soon out of sight.</p> + +<p>All that thus happened appeared to be +the outcome of long experience; the adoption +by the hares of a more perfect plan to mislead<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[Pg 437]</a></span> +a single enemy pursuing by scent could hardly +be conceived. A pack of hounds, “checking” +on the path, would in all probability have +“cast” around, and, sooner or later, would +have struck the line afresh in the marshy +field, but a fox or a polecat would surely +have been baffled, either at the leaping places +or where the hares had crossed through the +shallow water.</p> + +<p>Man's intelligence, united with the intelligence, +the eagerness, the pace, the endurance, +and the marvellous powers of scent possessed +by a score of hounds, and then pitted against +a single creature fleeing for its life, should +well nigh inevitably attain its end. Nature +has not yet taught her weaklings how to +match that powerful combination. And so +a naturalist, in studying the artifices adopted +by hunted animals, should be interested chiefly +as to how such artifices would succeed against +pursuers unassisted by human intelligence. I +am inclined to believe that even a pack of +well-trained harriers would have been unable +to follow the doe-hares I have referred to, +unless the scent lay unusually well on the +surface of the marsh.</p> + +<p>I stayed in the covert awhile, but when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[Pg 438]</a></span> +the call came for me to rejoin Philip I +hastened to the field in which he was waiting. +I told him what I had seen, and, together, +we paid a visit to the doe-hares' “forms.” +One of the “forms” lay in a clump of fern +and brambles near the corner of a fallow, +the other on a slight elevation where a +hedger had thrown some “trash” beside a +ditch in a field of unripe wheat.</p> + +<p>While we stood in the wheat-field, Philip +remarked: “We mustn't stay long before +going back to the Crag; but I'll call +the doe I sent you from this 'form,' and +perhaps you'll see one of her tricks to +mislead a fox as she returns home. She's +very careful of her young till they're about +a fortnight old, though soon afterwards she +lets them 'fend' for themselves. We'll hide +in the ditch, and I'll imitate a leveret's cry. +But I mustn't imitate it so that she may +think her little one is hurt, else she's as +likely as not to come with a rush, and you +won't see how she'd act under ordinary +circumstances.”</p> + +<p>When we were comfortably settled in the +fern, the poacher twice uttered a feeble, +wailing cry, and, after being silent for some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[Pg 439]</a></span> +minutes, repeated the quavering call. Then, +after a long interval, he again, though in a +much lower tone, repeated the cry. No +answering cry was heard, but suddenly, as +she had appeared on the path by the furze, +the doe-hare came in sight at the edge of +the ditch a little distance away. She +approached for several yards, then disappeared, +with two or three long, graceful +bounds, into the corn that waved about her +as she leaped. She appeared once more, +and squatted in the ditch on the other side +of the field; hence she jumped high into +the air, and alighted on the hedge; then, by +a longer bound than any I had previously +seen, she gained a spot well out into the +field, and raced along, till, directly opposite +us, she yet again leaped into the hedge, and +from the hedge into the wheat-field, where +she immediately lay down with her little +ones in the “form.”</p> + +<p>Ianto, Philip, and I at last settled quietly +to watch for the badger's visit to the clearing. +Philip told in a whisper of jokes he had +played on the keeper; Ianto capped these +stories with reminiscences of younger days +and nights; and I, though hating bitterly the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[Pg 440]</a></span> +ruffian loiterers of the village who subsisted +on the spoils of the trap, the snare, and the +net, and were guilty of cowardly acts of +revenge when checkmated in the very game +they chose to play, felt a certain sympathy +with the two old men by my side, who, as +I was convinced, had fairly and squarely +entered into the game, and taken their few +reverses without retaliation, only becoming +afterwards keener than ever to avoid all +interference.</p> + +<p>In the height of my enjoyment of an +unusually good story, Philip, with a slight +movement, drew my attention to a faint, +crackling noise coming from the margin of +the glade, where moonlight and shadow lay +in sharp contrast at the foot of the trees; +he then whispered that the old badger was +standing there. Ianto almost simultaneously +drew my attention thither, but all that I +could see at the spot indicated were small, +flickering patches of light and shadow.</p> + +<p>I quietly drew close to Philip, and +murmured in his ear: “Are you sure it's +the badger?” He nodded; and I continued, +“I see a movement in the leaves, but nothing +else.” The old man turned his head slightly,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[Pg 441]</a></span> +and replied, “What you see is the badger +scratching his neck against a tree; the ticks +are evidently tickling him.” And he chuckled +as he recognised his unintentional pun.</p> + +<p>For some minutes I could hardly believe +he was right; then, slowly, I recognised the +shape of the badger's head, and what I had +taken to be flickering lights and shadows on +the leaves changed to the black and white +markings of the creature's face. I had never +before seen a badger under similar conditions; +and I had often wondered what purpose those +boldly contrasted markings could serve. Now, +as their purpose was revealed, I was startled +by the manifestation of Nature's protective +mimicry. Even when, a little later, the +animal ventured out from the oak, and +stood alert for the least sight or sound +or scent of danger, the moonlight and the +shadow blended so harmoniously with the +white and the black of his face markings, +and with the soft blue-grey of his body, that +he seemed completely at one with his surroundings, +and likely to elude the most +observant enemy. Fully a half hour went +by before he decided to cross the glade. +Then, as if irritated by a sense of his own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[Pg 442]</a></span> +timidity, he abandoned his excessive caution, +and hastened along his run-way through the +clearing; and, as he passed, I noted his queer, +rolling gait, and heard his squeaks and grunts +as if he were angrily complaining to himself +of some recent wrong, and vowing vengeance; +I heard, also, the snapping of leaves and twigs +beneath his clumsy feet, and I smelt the sure +and certain smell of a badger.</p> + +<p>Soon, the fisherman and I turned homewards, +and left the poacher to less innocent +sport. As we gained the crest of the hill, +the melancholy cry of the brown owl +came to our ears; and Ianto said, “Philip +is a big vagabond—bigger than me, I think. +No doubt he's fetched his nets from the cave +beneath the Crag, and is down at the river +by now. Promise me, sir, as you'll never go +nigh that cave when he's alive. It's his secret +place, as only him and me knows anything +about. He told me to ask you that favour.”</p> + +<p>Long after both Ianto and Philip were +dead, I happened one day, while in the +woods, to remember the incidents I have +just related, and I made my way to the foot +of the Crag. I found no opening in the +face of the rock, except one—apparently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[Pg 443]</a></span> +a rabbit hole—near a rent in the boulder. +Climbing around the rock, however, I noticed +that a large, flat stone lay in a rather unexpected +position on a narrow cleft. I removed +it, and saw that it covered the entrance to a +dark hollow. At the same moment I heard a +slight rustle behind me, as some animal darted +from the hole I had previously examined. I +scrambled down into the chamber, and there, +when my eyes had become accustomed to the +darkness, I saw three tiny fox-cubs huddled +on the damp, mossy ground. As I knelt to +stroke them gently, and my hand rested for +a moment on the floor beside them, I touched +the remains of an old, rotting net.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/i008.jpg" width="400" height="256" style="border: none" alt="Decoration" title="Decoration" /></div> +<br /> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> In “Ianto the Fisherman, and Other Sketches of Country +Life.”</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX.</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[Pg 445]</a></span></p> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> + +<ul> +<li><span class="smcap">Animals</span>, wild, awakening from hibernation, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + <li>——, ——, dislike rain, <a href="#Page_428">428</a></li> + <li>——, ——, feet made tender by hibernation, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> + <li>——, ——, habit of sociable, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + <li>——, ——, keeping to old haunts, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> + <li>——, ——, selfishness of, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> +<li>Ant, habits of queen, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + <li>——, habits of yellow, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> +<li>Autumn, bird-migration in, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> +<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Badger</span>, and fox-hounds, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> + <li>——, and stoat, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li> + <li>——, attempt to unearth, <a href="#Page_367">367-373</a></li> + <li>——, fondness of, for honey, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a href="#Page_345">345</a></li> + <li>——, food of, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310-313</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a></li> + <li>——, mocked by birds when abroad in daylight, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> + <li>——, persecuted for supposed sheep-killing, <a href="#Page_353">353-355</a></li> + <li>——, regular habits in returning to “set” at dawn, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li> + <li>——, sociability of, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> + <li>——, winter habits of, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></li> +<li>Badger-cub, and wasps, <a href="#Page_337">337</a></li> + <li>——, caught in trap, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li> +<li>Badger-cubs, at play, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a></li> + <li>——, closely confined by parents, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> +<li>Badger-cubs, dying from distemper, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + <li>——, less nervous than fox-cubs, <a href="#Page_321">321</a></li> +<li>Badgers, at play, <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li> + <li>——, carrying bedding to “set,” <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + <li>——, reconnoitring before young leave “set,” <a href="#Page_415">415</a></li> + <li>——, sulking at home if suspicious of danger, <a href="#Page_422">422</a></li> + <li>——, two families inhabiting same “set,” <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li> +<li><a name="Bank-voles" id="Bank-voles"></a>Bank-voles, and kestrel, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> + <li>——, colony of, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> +<li>Basset-hounds, described, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> + <li>——, hunting with, <a href="#Page_280">280-282</a></li> +<li>Bell, use of, hung round ram's neck, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> +<li>Blood, significance of fresh-spilt, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> +<li>Bob, the black-and-tan terrier, <a href="#Page_55">55-62</a></li> +<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Character</span>, differences of, in animals of one species, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + <li>——, human, developed by independence of action, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> +<li>Collie, sheep-killing, <a href="#Page_354">354-356</a></li> +<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Dabchick</span>, oar-like wings of, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> +<li>Ducks, wild, at play, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> + <li>——, ——, wedge-shaped flight of, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> +<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li> +<li>“<span class="smcap">Earth</span>,” fox's artificial, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> +<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Fear</span>, how it affects wild creatures, <a href="#Page_401">401</a></li> +<li>Field-vole, and carrion crow, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> + <li>——, and fox, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> + <li>——, and kestrel, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> + <li>——, and owl, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + <li>——, and weasel, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> + <li>——, avoiding rabbit's “creeps,” <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + <li>——, enemies of, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> + <li>——, food of, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> + <li>——, hibernation of, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + <li>——, home of, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> + <li>——, limbs of, cramped by winter sleep, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + <li>——, restlessness of, in spring, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> +<li><a name="Field-voles" id="Field-voles"></a>Field-voles, described, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + <li>——, harvesting seeds, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + <li>——, plague of, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + <li>——, stung to death by adder, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> +<li>Fox, see also <a href="#Vixen"><i>Vixen</i></a></li> + <li>——, and hedgehog, <a href="#Page_382">382-384</a></li> + <li>——, and moorhen, <a href="#Page_400">400</a></li> + <li>——, and wasp, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + <li>——, avoiding traps, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> + <li>——, burying rat, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + <li>——, careful not to sleep on straight trail, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> + <li>——, careful not to tread on rustling leaves, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + <li>——, entering “breeding-earth” when close pressed, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + <li>——, finding hen's nest in hedgerow, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + <li>——, fight with rival, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + <li>——, hating jays and magpies, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + <li>——, knowledge of the countryside, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_428">428</a></li> + <li>——, luring rabbits, <a href="#Page_403">403</a></li> + <li>——, methods of hunting rabbits, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> + <li>——, robbed of spoil by vixen, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + <li>——, seeks mate, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> + <li>——, taught by mate, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> +<li>Fox-cub, chased by lurcher, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> + <li>——, cleanly habits of, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + <li>——, described, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + <li>——, food of, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + <li>——, killing hare, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> + <li>——, killing polecat, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + <li>——, stealing chickens, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> +<li>Fox-cubs and partridges, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> + <li>——, at play, <a href="#Page_412">412</a>, <a href="#Page_422">422-426</a></li> + <li>——, eagerness of, for flesh, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> +<li>Foxes, method of preparing “breeding earth,” <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> +<li>Fox-hound, “rioting” on cold scent, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> +<li>Fox-hunt, <a href="#Page_186">186-193</a></li> +<li>Frogs, devoured by otters, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> +<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Geese</span>, wild, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> +<li>Gipsy, seeking hedgehogs, <a href="#Page_387">387-389</a></li> +<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Hare</span>, and renegade cat, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + <li>——, and peregrine falcon, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + <li>——, and poacher, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + <li>——, bravely defends young, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> + <li>——, covered with fur at birth, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + <li>——, dislikes entering damp undergrowth, <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li> + <li>——, does not wander far in wet weather, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li> + <li>——, food of, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + <li>——, “form” described, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + <li>——, killed by lightning, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> + <li>——, “leaping places” of, <a href="#Page_434">434</a></li> + <li>——, method of fighting among males, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li> + <li>——, netted by keeper, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + <li>——, productiveness of, probably influenced by food supply, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> + <li>——, recklessness of, in early spring, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + <li>——, running through flock of sheep, <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li> + <li>——, suffers from want of exercise, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + <li>——, suffers less from frost than from rain, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + <li>——, swims across river, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> + <li>——, winter habits of, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> + <li>——, withholds scent when hard pressed, <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li> +<li>Hedgehog, and fox, <a href="#Page_382">382-384</a></li> + <li>——, and moorhens, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>, <a href="#Page_401">401</a>, <a href="#Page_403">403-405</a></li> + <li>——, and owl, <a href="#Page_385">385</a></li> + <li>——, and terrier, <a href="#Page_388">388</a></li> + <li>——, food of, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>, <a href="#Page_399">399</a></li> + <li>——, haunt of, <a href="#Page_377">377</a></li> + <li>——, killing snake, <a href="#Page_396">396</a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a></li> + <li>——, nest of, <a href="#Page_379">379</a>, <a href="#Page_389">389</a></li> +<li>History, vicissitudes of, affecting wild animals, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li> +<li>Hounds, miscellaneous pack, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> +<li>Hunt, rival, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + <li>——, village, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> +<li>Huntsman, feeding fox-cubs, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> +<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Ianto</span>, the fisherman, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429-442</a></li> +<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Joker</span>, the bob-tailed sheep-dog, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58-60</a></li> +<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Kestrel</span>, attacking field-voles, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> +<li>——, preying on bank-voles, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> +<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Man</span>, dreaded by wild animals, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> + <li>——, senses dulled by immunity from fear, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> +<li>Mange, attacking carnivorous animals, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> +<li>March, great changes to wild life in, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> +<li>Minnows, playing about ledges of rock, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> +<li>Moorhen, eluding terrier, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + <li>——, killed by otter, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> +<li>Mouse, singing, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> +<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Nature</span>, haunted by Fear, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + <li>——, spirit of restlessness in, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> +<li>Night, described, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + <li>——, spiritual influence of, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> + <li>—— -watching, difficulties of, <a href="#Page_427">427</a></li> + <li>—— - ——, methods of, <a href="#Page_410">410</a></li> +<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Otter</span>, and big trout, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + <li>——, and dabchick, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + <li>——, and “red” fish, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + <li>——, and water-vole, <a href="#Page_86">86-89</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + <li>——, fighting terrier, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + <li>——, food of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + <li>——, hunting methods of, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + <li>——, inhabiting drain-pipe, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + <li>——, in winter, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + <li>——, migrating to sea, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> + <li>——, playing in heavy stream, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + <li>——, position of, when sleeping, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> + <li>——, related to weasel, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + <li>—— -cub, capturing salmon, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + <li>——, described, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> + <li>——, learns to swim, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + <li>—— -cubs, at play, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + <li>—— -hounds, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> + <li>—— -hunt, <a href="#Page_37">37-39</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41-44</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> +<li>Owl, brown, described, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>, <a href="#Page_386">386</a></li> + <li>——, and fox-cub, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + <li>——, and water-vole, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + <li>——, attacks hedgehog, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>, <a href="#Page_386">386</a></li> + <li>——, preying on field-voles, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> +<li>Owls, as friends of farmer, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> +<li>Owls, inhabiting farm buildings, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> +<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Philip</span>, the poacher, <a href="#Page_429">429-443</a></li> +<li>Polecats, enemies of young hedgehogs, <a href="#Page_384">384</a></li> +<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Rabbit</span>, burrowing in badgers' “set,” <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> +<li>Rabbits, clearing tracks, <a href="#Page_418">418</a></li> +<li>Rat, brown, attacked by water-voles, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + <li>——, ——, habits of, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> + <li>—— -hunting, by riverside, <a href="#Page_58">58-60</a></li> +<li>Rats, migration of, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> +<li>“Redd” of salmon, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> +<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Salmon</span>, migration of, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + <li>—— -fishing, experiences in, <a href="#Page_26">26-30</a></li> + <li>—— -pool, seldom visited, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + <li>—— -spawn, destroyers of, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + <li>—— - ——, guarded by salmon, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> +<li>Sheep-dog, and otter, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> +<li>Sorrel, as medicinal herb for wild animals, <a href="#Page_335">335</a></li> +<li>Sport, winter, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> +<li>Squirrel, harvesting only ripe seeds and nuts, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + <li>——, inquisitive, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> +<li>Stoats, following rats in migration, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> +<li>Stone-fly, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> +<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Teal</span>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> +<li>Terrier, worsted by otter, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> +<li>Thrush, autumn song of, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + <li>——, defending young against hedgehog, <a href="#Page_405">405</a></li> +<li>Trick, poacher's, to capture hare, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> +<li>Trout, an old, carnivorous, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + <li>——, habit of, in spring, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> +<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Viper</span>, attacked by hedgehog, <a href="#Page_397">397</a></li> + <li>——, enemy of young hedgehogs, <a href="#Page_398">398</a></li> +<li><a name="Vixen" id="Vixen"></a>Vixen, dispossessing another of “breeding earth,” <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + <li>——, life spared by hounds, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> + <li>——, routing terrier from “breeding earth,” <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> +<li>Vixen-cubs, quicker to learn than fox-cubs, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> +<li>Voles, see <i><a href="#Bank-voles">Bank-voles</a>, <a href="#Field-voles">Field-voles</a>, <a href="#Water-vole">Water-voles</a></i></li> +<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Water-shrew</span>, described, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + <li>——, food of, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + <li>——, habits of, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> +<li><a name="Water-vole" id="Water-vole"></a>Water-vole, and otter, <a href="#Page_86">86-89</a></li> + <li>——, and owl, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + <li>——, and trout, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> + <li>——, as singer, <a href="#Page_79">79-82</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + <li>——, constructing nest, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> + <li>——, described, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + <li>——, enemies of, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> + <li>——, food of, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + <li>——, habits studied, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + <li>——, home of, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + <li>——, love episodes of, <a href="#Page_117">117-120</a></li> + <li>——, methods of fighting, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + <li>——, winter storehouse of, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> +<li>Water-voles, attacking brown rat, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> +<li>Weasel, ferocity of, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + <li>——, food for fox-cub, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> +<li>Weasels, following rats in migration, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> +</ul> + +<h5>PRINTED AT THE EDINBURGH PRESS, 9 AND 11 YOUNG STREET</h5> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Creatures of the Night, by Alfred W. Rees + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CREATURES OF THE NIGHT *** + +***** This file should be named 29349-h.htm or 29349-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/3/4/29349/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Marcia Brooks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/29349-h/images/frontis.jpg b/29349-h/images/frontis.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ab7810 --- /dev/null +++ b/29349-h/images/frontis.jpg diff --git a/29349-h/images/i001.jpg b/29349-h/images/i001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..13d2d06 --- /dev/null +++ b/29349-h/images/i001.jpg diff --git a/29349-h/images/i002.jpg b/29349-h/images/i002.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..05f493c --- /dev/null +++ b/29349-h/images/i002.jpg diff --git a/29349-h/images/i003.jpg b/29349-h/images/i003.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4c0a3bb --- /dev/null +++ b/29349-h/images/i003.jpg diff --git a/29349-h/images/i004.jpg b/29349-h/images/i004.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fc45b76 --- /dev/null +++ b/29349-h/images/i004.jpg diff --git a/29349-h/images/i005.jpg b/29349-h/images/i005.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2cd6658 --- /dev/null +++ b/29349-h/images/i005.jpg diff --git a/29349-h/images/i006.jpg b/29349-h/images/i006.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c71bf78 --- /dev/null +++ b/29349-h/images/i006.jpg diff --git a/29349-h/images/i007.jpg b/29349-h/images/i007.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..49cbb3a --- /dev/null +++ b/29349-h/images/i007.jpg diff --git a/29349-h/images/i008.jpg b/29349-h/images/i008.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7e000b9 --- /dev/null +++ b/29349-h/images/i008.jpg diff --git a/29349-h/images/titlepage.jpg b/29349-h/images/titlepage.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..35e33b2 --- /dev/null +++ b/29349-h/images/titlepage.jpg diff --git a/29349.txt b/29349.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae5b470 --- /dev/null +++ b/29349.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8555 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Creatures of the Night, by Alfred W. Rees + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Creatures of the Night + A Book of Wild Life in Western Britain + +Author: Alfred W. Rees + +Release Date: July 8, 2009 [EBook #29349] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CREATURES OF THE NIGHT *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Marcia Brooks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + +CREATURES OF THE NIGHT + + +_By the same Author._ + +IANTO THE FISHERMAN + +AND OTHER SKETCHES OF COUNTRY LIFE. + +_Illustrated with Photogravures. Large Crown 8vo._ + +_The Times._--"The quality which perhaps most gives its individuality to +the book is distinctive of Celtic genius.... The characters ... are +touched with a reality that implies genuine literary skill." + +_The Standard._--"Mr Rees has taken a place which is all his own in the +great succession of writers who have made Nature their theme." + +_The Guardian._--"We can remember nothing in recent books on natural +history which can compare with the first part of this book ... +surprising insight into the life of field, and moor, and river." + +_The Outlook._--"This book--we speak in deliberate superlative--is the +best essay in what may be called natural history biography that we have +ever read." + +LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET + +[Illustration: "THE BROAD RIVER, IN WHICH SHE HAD SPENT HER EARLY LIFE." +(_See_ p. 50.) _Frontispiece._] + + + + +[Illustration: Decoration] + + CREATURES OF THE NIGHT + + A BOOK OF WILD LIFE IN + WESTERN BRITAIN + + BY ALFRED W. REES + + AUTHOR OF + "IANTO THE FISHERMAN" + + WITH ILLUSTRATIONS + + LONDON + JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET + 1905 + + + TO + + MYFANWY AND MORGAN + + + "All life is seed, dropped in Time's yawning furrow, + Which, with slow sprout and shoot, + In the revolving world's unfathomed morrow, + Will blossom and bear fruit." + + MATHILDE BLIND. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The Editors of _The Standard_ have kindly permitted me to republish the +contents of this book, and I tender them my thanks. + +The original form of these Studies of animal life has been extensively +altered, and, in some instances, the titles have been changed. + +I am again greatly indebted to my brother, R. Wilkins Rees. His wide and +accurate knowledge has been constantly at my disposal, and in the +preparation of these Studies he has given me much indispensable advice +and assistance. + +Similarity in the habits of some of the animals described has made a +slight similarity of treatment unavoidable in certain chapters. + +I may also remark that, in unfrequented districts where beasts and birds +of prey are not destroyed by gamekeepers, the hare is as much a creature +of the night as is the badger or the fox. + + ALFRED W. REES. + + +[Transcriber's Note: Obvious typographical errors have been corrected, +and standardized the hyphenations, otherwise the text has been left as +the original] + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + THE OTTER. + + I. + + THE HOLT AMONG THE ALDERS. + + PAGE + + Late fishing--A summer night--River voices--A master-fisher-- + The old mansion--Lingering beauty--The otters' "oven"--Observant + youngsters--Careful motherhood--The meadow playground--Falling + leaves--A swollen river--Dabchick's oar-like wings--Mysterious + proceedings--Migrating salmon--Hoar-fringed river-banks--An + adventure with a sheep-dog--Slip-shod builders--Signs of + spring--A change of diet--Fattening trout--The capture of a + "kelt"--"The otter's bite"--Lone wanderings. 1-23 + + II. + + THE POOL BENEATH THE FARMSTEAD. + + A song of autumn--The salmon pool--Angling difficulties--Bullying + a sportive fish--An absent-minded fisherman--At dawn and nightfall--A + deserted home--Practical joking--A moorhen's fate--Playfulness + of youth--The torrent below the fall--The garden ponds--Feasting + on frogs--A watcher of the night--Hounds and hunters--Lutra's + discretion--The spell of fear 24-40 + + III. + + THE GORGE OF ALLTYCAFN. + + The Hunt again--Fury of despair--A "strong place"--The terrier's + discomfiture--Lutra's widowhood--Summer drought--Life at the + estuary--Returning to the river--Scarce provender--A rare and + unexpected sight--The blacksmith's baited trap--The Rock of + Gwion--Peace 41-50 + + + THE WATER-VOLE. + + I. + + OUR VILLAGE HOUNDS. + + Quiet life--Leisure hours--A winter pastime--A miscellaneous + pack--The bobtail, and his fight with an otter--The terrier, + and his friendship with fishermen--A family party--Expert + diving--Hunt membership, and the landlord as huntsman--Fast + and furious fun--A rival Hunt--The bobtail's death--The terrier's + eccentricities--A pleasant study begins--Brown rats--Yellow + ants--Brighteye's peculiarities--Evening sport 51-67 + + II. + + THE BURROW IN THE RIVER BANK. + + At dusk--A picturesque home--Main roads and lanes of the riverside + people--A heron's alertness--A rabbit's danger signal--The + reed-bed--The vole in fear--The wildest of the wild--Tell-tale + footprints--The significance of a blood-stain--A weasel's + ferocity--Maternal warnings--A rat-hunting spaniel--An invaded + sanctuary--The terrier's opportunity--The water-vole chatters + and sings--A gladsome life--Dangers sharpen intellect 68-82 + + III. + + WILD HUNTING. + + An otter-hunt--Fading afterglow--Spiritual influence of night--Lutra + and Brighteye--Brighteye's song--Chill waters--A beacon in + the gloom--A squirrel's derision--A silvery phantom--An old, + lean trout--Restless salmon--Change of quarters--Brighteye's + encounter with a "red" fish 83-98 + + IV. + + SAVED BY AN ENEMY. + + The "redd" in the gravel--In company with a water-shrew--Ravenous + trout--The salmon's attack--An otter appears--Brighteye's + bewilderment--Increasing vigilance--Playful minnows--A new + water-entrance--The winter granary--Careful harvesting--The + dipper's winter carol--The robin and the wren at vespers--Unsafe + quarters--Rats on the move--A sequestered pool--Icebound + haunts 99-115 + + V. + + THE COURAGE OF FEAR. + + The dawn--Restlessness of spring--A bold adventurer--A sharp + fight--Cleared pathways--Differences of opinion--A tight + snuggery--In defence of home--A monster rat--Temporary refuge--The + voles and the cannibal trout--Family troubles--A winter evening + in the village 116-129 + + + THE FIELD-VOLE. + + I. + + HIDDEN PATHWAYS IN THE GRASS. + + A pleasant wilderness--Pitying Nature--Hedgerow sentinels--The + story of the day--Familiar signs--An unknown scent--The agony of + fear--A change of mood--The weasel's raid--A place of slaughter--Autumn + preparations--A general panic--Hibernation--Winter sunshine--The + red bank-voles--Owls and hawks 131-150 + + II. + + THE VALLEY OF OLWEN. + + The last of winter's stores--Renewed activity--The field-vole's + food--A lively widow vole--An unequal encounter--First fond + passion--Ominous sounds--A clumsy rabbit--An unimportant "affair"--An + elopement--Nesting time--A fussy parent--A fox pays a visit--Also + a carrion crow--Repairing damages 151-166 + + III. + + A BARREN HILLSIDE. + + A secluded pasture--Poachers and owls--An astute magpie--The + vole a sire of many families--Plague--Nature's caprice--Privation + and disease--Unexpected destroyers--A living skeleton--Starvation + and death--An owl once more 167-175 + + + THE FOX. + + I. + + THE LAST HUNT. + + A baffled marauder--The flesh of breeding creatures tough and + tasteless--An unsavoury rat--The arrival of the Hunt--The fox sees + his foes--The view-halloo--No respite, no mercy, no sanctuary--The + last hope--A fearless vixen--Defiant to the end 177-193 + + II. + + A NEW HOME. + + Life in an artificial "earth"--Longing and despair--Contentment + of maternity--Prisoners--A way of escape--Careless infancy--A + precocious cub--First lessons--An obedient family--A fox's + smile--Inborn passion for flesh--Favourite food of fox-cubs--The + huntsman's desire 194-209 + + III. + + THE CUB AND THE POLECAT. + + Patience and watchfulness--How to capture field-voles--Winding + trails--Ill-luck--A painful surprise--A fresh line of scent--Cost + of a struggle--A luckless fortnight--The old hound and the "young + entry"--A curiously shaped monster--Pursued by a lurcher-- + Desertion--A vagrant bachelor 210-223 + + IV. + + A CRY OF THE NIGHT. + + The hunting call--A recollection--A joyous greeting--A woodland + bride--The sting of a wasp--Preparation of a "breeding earth"--Meddlesome + jays and magpies--A rocky fastness on the wild west coast--Vulp's + retreat--The end of a long life--The fox's mask--Memories 224-240 + + + THE BROWN HARE. + + I. + + THE UPLAND CORNFIELD. + + Midsummer--The leveret's birth--First wanderings--Instinct and + teaching--The "creeps"--In the stubble--Habits change with + seasons--The "sweet joint" of the rye--Lessons from a net and a + lurcher--Rough methods--The man-scent--On the hills above the + river-mists 241-260 + + II. + + MARCH MADNESS. + + March winds--Reckless jack-hares--Courtship and rivalry--Motherhood--A + harmless conflict--An intruding fox--The faithless lover--Maternal + courage--The falcon's "stoop"--The "slit-eared" hare--Countryside + superstitions--On the river island--Patience rewarded--The hare + as a swimmer--Bloodless sport--Habits of the hare in wet weather--The + "form" in the root-field--Bereavements--Increasing caution-- + Productiveness in relation to food--A poacher's ruse 261-277 + + III. + + THE CHASE. + + The basset-hound--Mirthful and dignified--A method of protecting + hares--A suggestion--Formidable foes--"Fouling" the scent--A + cry of distress--The home in the snow-drift--The renegade cat--An + inoffensive life--A devastating storm 278-291 + + + THE BADGER. + + I. + + A WOODLAND SOLITUDE. + + Haunts of a naturalist--Why certain animals are unmolested--Means + of security--Fear of dogs and men--A place of interest--The + "nocturnal" instinct--Droll revelry--Serious pastimes--Teaching + by reward and punishment--Animals study the disposition of + their young--Voices of the wilderness 293-309 + + II. + + HOME DISCIPLINE. + + Unwelcome attentions--An old badger's watchfulness--A clever + trick--A presumptuous youngster--Instructions in selfishness--Harsh + measures--The badger and the stoat--A long ramble 310-324 + + III. + + FEAR OF THE TRAP. + + Wisdom in Nature's ways--The laggard of the family--A salutary + lesson--Hand-scent and foot-scent--An old Welsh law--The lesson + of a "double" scent--The sorrel as medicine--A wild bees' + nest--"In grease" 325-339 + + IV. + + THE WINTER "OVEN." + + The vixen and the hounds--The wounded rabbit--Old inhabitants + of the wood--In touch with enemies--Twilight romps--Brock's + quarrel with his sire--A bone of contention--Prompt chastisement--A + mournful chorus--Wild fancies of a bachelor--A big battle--The + terror of the flock--Unwarranted suspicion--Caught in the act 340-356 + + V. + + HILLSIDE TRAILS. + + The backward "drag"--Loyalty tested--A spiteful spouse--Spring + cleaning--Carrying litter to the "set"--A numerous family--An + eviction--Vulpicide--Important news--Old traditions of sport + revived--A long day's toil--The secret history of a "draw"--An + old burrow 357-373 + + + THE HEDGEHOG. + + I. + + A VAGABOND HUNTER. + + The nest in the "trash"--Quaint wildlings--Neighbours and + enemies--A feast--Spines and talons--The gipsy boy--A vagabond's + sport--The nest in the wild bees' ruined home--Insects killed + by frost--Winter quarters of the lizard and the snail 377-391 + + II. + + AN EXPERIENCE IN SNAKE-KILLING. + + An iron winter--March awakening--A coat of autumn leaves--The + Rip Van Winkle of the woods--Sunshine and strength--Faulty + eyesight--The hedgehog and the viper--Worsting an enemy--The + moorhen's nest--Antics of weasels and snakes--The hedgehog's + bleat--Odd and awkward courtship 392-406 + + + NIGHT IN THE WOODS. + + I. + + HAUNTS OF THE BADGER AND THE FOX. + + Wild life at night--Long watching--A "set" with numerous inhabitants--The + vixen and her cubs--Tolerant badgers--Vigilance--A moorland + episode--"Chalking the mark"--Fox-signs--A habit of voles and + rabbits--Patience, in vain--Sulky badgers--The vixen's lair--Foxes + at play 407-426 + + II. + + THE CRAG OF VORTIGERN. + + Difficulties of night watching--Powers of observation in wild + creatures--Night wanderers dislike rain--Eager helpers--A tempting + invitation--Cry of young owls--Philip, the silent watcher--The + fern-owl's rattle--The leaping places of the hare--Night gossip--The + meaning of the white and black markings on a badger's head--The + secrets of the cave 427-443 + + INDEX 445-448 + + + + +FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS + +From Drawings by + +Florence H. Laverock. + + + "THE BROAD RIVER, IN WHICH SHE HAD SPENT HER + EARLY LIFE." See p. 50 _Frontispiece._ + + "AN OPPORTUNITY CAME, WHICH, HAD SHE BEEN POISED + IN THE AIR, COULD SCARCELY HAVE BEEN MISSED." _To face p._ 88 + + "THE BIG TROUT, IN HIS TORPEDO-LIKE RUSH TO CUT OFF + BRIGHTEYE FROM SURE REFUGE." See p. 105 " " 104 + + "SHE WAS HOLDING ONE OF HER OFFSPRING BY THE NECK, + IN PREPARATION FOR FLIGHT." See p. 139 " " 138 + + "HE RETIRED TO A ROCKY FASTNESS ON THE WILD WEST + COAST." " " 238 + + "WHEN THE EARLY AUTUMN MOON ROSE OVER THE CORN." " " 290 + + "HE CLIMBED FROM HIS DOORWAY, AND STOOD MOTIONLESS, + WITH UPLIFTED NOSTRILS, INHALING EACH BREATH + OF SCENT." " " 364 + + "AS HE MEASURED HIS FULL LENGTH AGAINST THE TREE." + See p. 419 " " 418 + + + + +THE OTTER. + +I. + +THE HOLT AMONG THE ALDERS. + + +I first saw Lutra, the otter-cub, while I was fishing late one summer +night. Slow-moving clouds, breaking into fantastic shapes and spreading +out great, threatening arms into the dark, ascended from the horizon and +sailed northward under the moon and stars. Ever and anon, low down in +the sky, Venus, like a clear-cut diamond suspended from one of its many +twinkling points, glittered between the fringes of the clouds, or the +white moon diffused soft light among the wreathing vapours that twisted +and rolled athwart the heavens. In the shelter of the pines on the +margin of the river, a ringdove, awakened by a bickering mate, +fluttered from bough to bough; and his angry, muffled coo of defiance +marred the stillness of the night. The gurgling call of a moorhen, +mingling with the ripple of the stream over the ford, came from the +reeds at a distant bend of the river. Nearer, the river, with varying +cadence, rose and fell in uneven current over a rocky shelf, and then +came on to murmur around me while I waded towards the edge of a deep, +forbidding pool. In the smooth back-wash beyond the black cup of the +pool a mass of gathered foam gleamed weirdly in the dark; and, further +away, broad tangles of river-weed, dotted with the pale petals of +countless flowers, floated on the shallow trout-reach extending from the +village gardens to the cornfields below the old, grey church. + +In one of the terraced gardens behind me a cottager was burning garden +refuse; tongues of flame leaped up amid billows of smoke, and from the +crackling heap a myriad sparks shot out on every side. While the +cottager moved about by the fire, his shadow lengthened across the +river, which, reflecting the lurid glare, became strangely suggestive +of unfathomable depths. The moorhen called again from the reeds near the +ford, then flew away over the fire-flushed river and disappeared into +the gloom; and a water-vole dropped with a gentle plash into the pool. + +Casting a white moth quietly over the stream, I noticed beyond the +shadows a round mass rising from the centre of the current, moving +against the flood, and sinking noiselessly out of sight. There could be +no doubt that the shape and motion were those of an otter. To continue +my sport would have been in vain with such a master-fisher in the pool, +so I reeled in my line, and stood still among the ripples as they +circled, muttering, around my knees. Presently the dim form of the otter +reappeared a little further up-stream, and I caught sight of a +glistening trout in the creature's mouth. + +The otter swam, with head just above water, towards the alders skirting +the opposite bank, and then, turning sharply, was lost to sight near the +overhanging roots of a sycamore. Immediately afterwards, a strange, +flute-like whistle--as if some animal, having ascended from the depths +of the river, had blown water through its nostrils in a violent effort +to breathe--came from the whirlpool in the dense shadows of the pines: +the otter's mate was hunting in the quiet water beyond the shelf of +rock. Then a slight, rattling sound on the pebbly beach of a little bay +near the sycamore indicated that the animal had landed and was probably +devouring the captured fish. The leaping flames of the cottager's fire +had been succeeded by a fitful glow, but the moon glided from behind the +clouds and revealed a distinct picture of the parent otter standing on +the shingle, in company with Lutra, her little cub. + + * * * * * + +A deserted mansion--to whose history, like the aged ivy to its crumbling +walls, clung many a fateful legend--nestled under the precipitous woods +in the valley. Time, taking advantage of neglect, had made a wilderness +of the gardens, the lawns, and the orchards, which, less than a century +ago, surrounded with quiet beauty this home of a typical old country +squire. A few garden flowers still lingered near the porch; but the once +well tended borders were overgrown with grass, or occupied with wild +blossoms brought from the fields by the hundred agents employed by +Nature to scatter seed. Owls inhabited the outhouses, and bats the +chinks beneath the eaves. A fox had his "earth" in the shrubbery beyond +the moss-grown pathway leading from the door to the gate at the end of +the drive. A timid wood-pigeon often flew across from the pines and +walked about the steps before the long-closed door. Near the warped +window of the dismantled gun-room the end of a large water-pipe formed a +convenient burrow for some of the rabbits that played at dusk near the +margin of the shrubbery. This water-pipe led to the river's brink; and +there, having been broken by landslips resulting from the ingress of the +stream during flood, one of the severed parts of the tube formed, +beneath the surface of the water, an outlet to a natural chamber high +and dry in the bank. The upper portion of the pipe was choked with +earth and leaves washed down from the fields by the winter rains. + +In this hollow "oven," on a heap of hay, moss, and leaves, brought +hither by the parent otters through an opening they had tunnelled into +the meadow, Lutra was born. Her nursery was shared by two other cubs. +Blind, helpless, murmuring little balls of fur, they were tended +lovingly by the dam. + +Soon the thin membrane between their eyelids dried and parted, and they +awoke to a keen interest in their surroundings. Their chamber was dimly +lit by the hole above; and the cubs, directly they were able to crawl, +feebly climbed to a recess behind the shaft, where they blinked at the +clouds that sailed beneath the dome of June, and at the stars that +peeped out when night drew on, or watched the limpid water as, flowing +past the end of the pipe below, it bore along a twirling leaf or rolled +a pebble down the river-bed. Occasionally a salmon-pink wandered across +from the shallows; for a moment or two the play of its tiny fins was +seen at the edge of the pipe; and the cubs, excited by a sight of their +future prey, stretched their necks and knowingly held their heads +askew, so that no movement of the fish might escape their observation. + +Among flesh-eating mammals of many kinds, the females display signs of +intelligence earlier than the males. Lutra being the only female among +the cubs, she naturally grew to be the most keenly observant, and often +identified the finny visitor before her brothers ventured to decide that +it was not a moving twig. + +The dam spent most of the day asleep in the "holt," and most of the +night fishing in the pools. Inheriting the disposition of their kind, +the cubs also were more particularly lively by night than by day. +Directly the cold dew-mist wreathed the grass at the entrance of the +burrow, they commenced to sport and play, tumbling over each other, +grunting and fighting in mimic anger, or pretending to startle their +mother directly she entered the pipe on returning at intervals from +fishing. + +One night, while the cubs were rougher than ever in their fun, Lutra +slipped off the platform and fell headlong down the pipe into the +stream. But almost before she had time to be frightened she discovered +that to swim was as easy as to play; and she rose to the surface with a +faint, flute-like call. She splashed somewhat wildly, for her stroke was +not yet perfected by practice. Hearing the commotion and instantly +recognising its meaning, the dam dived quietly and swiftly right beneath +the cub, and bore her gently back to the platform, where the rest of the +family, having missed their companion, had for the moment ceased to romp +and fight. + +A few nights after this incident, the mother commenced in earnest to +educate her young. Tenderly taking each in turn, she carried the +nurslings into the water, and taught them, by a method and in language +known only to themselves, how to dive and swim with the least possible +exertion and disturbance. + +Henceforward, throughout the summer, and till the foliage on the trees +near the pool, chilled by the rapid fall of the temperature every +evening, became thinner in the breath of the early autumn wind, the +otter-cubs fished, and frolicked, and slept, or were suckled by their +dam. Sometimes the whole family, together with the old dog-otter, +adjourned to the middle of the meadow, and in the tall, dew-drenched +grass skipped like kittens, though with comical clumsiness rather than +with the agility they displayed in the water. Like kittens, too, the +cubs played with their mother, in spite of wholesome chastisement when +they nipped her muzzle rather more severely than even long-suffering +patience could allow. The dam was at all times loath to correct her +offspring, but the sire rarely endured the familiarity of the cubs for +long. Directly they became unduly presumptuous he lumbered off to the +river, as if he considered it much more becoming to fish than to join in +the sport of his progeny. Perhaps, indeed, he deemed a change of +surroundings essential that he might forget the liberties taken with him +by his disrespectful youngsters. + +When about three months old, Lutra began to show promise of that grace +of form and motion which in later life was to be one of her chief +distinctions. Her body, tail, and head gradually lengthened; and, as her +movements in the water became more sinuous and easy, she tired less +rapidly when fishing. + +Autumn passed on towards winter, the nights were long, the great harvest +of the leaves fell thickly on the meadow and the stream, the mountain +springs were loosed in muddy torrents, and the river roared, swollen and +turbid, past the "holt" under the trailing alder-twigs. The moorhens +came back from the ponds where they had nested in April and May; the +wild duck and the teal flew south from oversea, and in the night +descended circling to the pool; a dabchick from the wild gorge +down-river took up his abode in the sedges. + +The quick jerk of the dabchick's oar-like wings caused much wonder to +Lutra, when, walking on the river-bed, she looked up towards the moonlit +sky, and saw the little grebe dive like a dark phantom into the deep +hole beneath the rocky ledges of Penpwll. Once the otter-cub, acting +under an irresistible impulse, swam towards the bird and tried to seize +him. She managed to grip one of his feet, as they trailed behind him +while he dived, but the grebe escaped, leaving in the assailant's mouth +only a morsel of flesh torn from a claw. + +In the warm evenings of late summer and the first weeks of autumn, the +angler usually visited the shingle opposite the water-pipe, and waded +up-stream casting for trout. The otter-cubs, grown wiser than when the +angler saw them near the sycamore, discreetly stayed at home, for they +had been taught to regard this strange being, Man, known by his peculiar +footfall and upright walk, as a dreaded enemy scarcely less formidable +than the hounds and the terriers that at intervals accompanied him for +the express purpose of hunting such river-folk as otters and rats. + +As yet Lutra had never seen the hounds, nor, till the following summer, +was she to know the import of her instinctive timidity. Roaming, hungry, +and venturesome, she had chanced at nightfall to catch a glimpse, during +an occasional gleam of moonlight, of a large trout struggling +frantically on the surface of the water not far from the angler, had +heard the click of the reel and the swish of the landing net, and had +concluded that these mysterious proceedings gave cause for fear. + +The end of October drew nigh; and, when the last golden leaves began to +fall from the beeches, the angler ceased to frequent the riverside. +Henceforward, except when a sportsman passed with his gun, the otters' +haunt remained in peace. + +Always at break of day, however, when the pigeons left their roosting +places in the pines, an old, decrepit woman tottered down the steps from +the cottage door to the rock at the brim of the pool, and filled her +pails with water. But the creatures felt little alarm: they had become +accustomed to her presence in the dawn. Lonely and childless and poor, +she knew more than any one else of the otters; but she kept their +whereabouts a secret, for the creatures lent an interest to her +cheerless, forsaken life, and recalled to her halting memory the long +past days when her husband told her tales of hunting and fishing as she +sat, a young and pretty girl, at her spinning wheel in the light of the +flickering "tallow-dip." + +Warm, cloudy weather continued from the late autumn through the +winter--except for a few days of frost and snow in December--so that +food was never scarce, and Lutra thrived and grew. The great migration +of salmon took place, but she was not sufficiently big and strong to +grip and hold these monster fish. Her own weight hardly exceeded that of +the smallest of them, so she had to be content with a mixed diet of +salmon-fry and trout, varied with an occasional slug or snail that she +chanced to find in the meadow. For a brief period after the fall of snow +in December, the frost fettered the fields, and the moon shone nightly +on a white waste through which the river flowed, like a black, uneven +line, between its hoar-fringed banks. Then Lutra, bold in the unbroken +stillness of Nature's perfect sleep, climbed the steps leading to a +village garden, and searched the refuse heap for scraps discarded from +the cottager's meagre board. She even wandered further, crossed the +road, and passed under a gate into the fields near the outlying stables +of the inn. Here some birds had roosted in the hazels by the fence, and +the cub stood watching them, like the fox beneath the desired but +distant grapes. + +A rough, mongrel sheep-dog, having missed his master, who had been +carousing in the inn that evening, chanced to be trotting homeward to +the farm on the hill, and, sniffing at the gate, discovered the cub in +the hedgerow. With a mad yell the dog tore through the briars at the +side of the gate-post; but Lutra was equally quick, and by the time her +enemy was in the field she had dodged under the bars and was shuffling +away, as quickly as her short legs permitted, down the garden to the +river. The dog turned, crashed back through the briars, and gained +rapidly on the otter. He reached her just as she gained the top of the +wall that, on a level with the garden, formed a barrier against the +river-floods. Lutra felt a sharp nip on her flank, and was bowled over +by the impetuous rush of her foe; but she regained her feet in an +instant, and jumped without hesitation into the water. The river was +shallow where she fell; the dog followed her; and for a moment she was +in deadly peril. But before the sheep-dog recovered from his sudden +plunge, Lutra swam into the deep water and dived straight for home, +leaving the plucky mongrel standing in the ripples, with a look of +almost human disgust and astonishment on his intelligent face. He may +have reasoned thus: "Surely I caught that otter. But stay, I must have +been dreaming. 'Tis queer, though: I'm in the river instead of on the +road to the farm." This, for Lutra, was perhaps the only noteworthy +episode of her early life. + +The otter-cub was about nine months old when spring came to the valley. +The water-weed grew in long filaments from the gravelly shallows. The +angler, who had ceased to frequent the riverside at the approach of +winter, returned to the pool, but only by day, and then Lutra dozed in +her retreat. In the pines on the margin of the river the blue ringdoves +were busy constructing the rude makeshift that was to serve the purpose +of a nest. Instead of seeking how to construct a perfect dwelling place, +these slipshod builders spent most of their hours in courtship. +Sometimes, owing to the carelessness of the lackadaisical doves, a dry +stick released by bill or claw would fall pattering among the branches, +and drop, with a plash, into the river, where it would be borne by the +current past the otter's lair. From every bush and brake along the +sparkling stream the carols of joyous birds floated on the morning +mists. The first green leaves of the bean peeped in the gardens; the +first broods of the year's ducklings launched forth, like heartstrong +adventurers, into the shallows by the cottage walls. In the sunny glades +the big, fleshy buds of the chestnut and the light-green, tapering +sprouts of the sycamore expanded under the influence of increasing +warmth. Finches and sparrows, on the lookout for flies, hovered above +the ankle-deep drifts of leaf-mould in the lane below the trees, or +crossed and re-crossed between the budding boughs. Only a few of these +many signs were observed by Lutra, it is true, for she spent the day in +hiding. But at dusk she heard the bleating of the lambs, and the musical +note of a bell that had been slung round the neck of the patriarch of +the flock in order to deter foxes from meddling with the new-born +weaklings then under the big ram's care. She was made aware of the +presence of spring by the "scent in the shadow and sound in the light." +The hatching of countless flies in the leaf-mould was not watched by the +birds only: Lutra also knew that the swarms had arrived; and spring was +welcome if only for this. + +For months she had fed on lean and tasteless trout exhausted by +spawning. Now, instead of lying under stones or haunting the deep basin +of the pool, the trout rose to the surface and wandered abroad into the +shallows. There the languid fish became fit for food again, and more +capable of eluding the occasional long, stern chases of the otter. But +Lutra was never disconcerted by the fact that the fish were strong and +active; as with all carnivorous creatures, her sporting instincts were +so highly developed that she revelled in overcoming difficulties, +especially because she felt her own strength growing from day to day. +During winter the trout had fed on worms and "sundries." Now, their best +and heartiest meals were of flies. Daily, at noon, swarms of ephemerals +played over the water, and the trout rose from the river-bed to feed. At +first they "sported" ravenously, rising quick and sure to any insect +their marvellous vision might discern. Afterwards they fed daintily, +disabling and drowning with a flip of the tail many an insect that +fluttered at the surface, and choosing from their various victims some +unusually tasty morsel, such as a female "February red" about to lay her +eggs. At this time, also, the plump, cream-coloured larvae of the +stone-fly in the shallows were growing within their well cemented +caddis-cases and preparing for maturity. So the trout fattened on +caddis-grubs and flies, and the otter-cub, in corresponding measure, +became sleek, well-grown, and spirited. + +In the winter Lutra had imperceptibly acquired the habit of swimming and +diving across-stream, just as an old fox, when hunting in the woods, +quarters his ground systematically across-wind, and so detects the +slightest scent that may be wafted on the breeze. Nature had been +specially kind to her; she was fashioned perfectly, and in the river +reigned supreme. Her body was long, supple, and tapering; her brown fur +was close and short, so that the water never penetrated to her skin and +her movements were not retarded as they would have been had she +possessed the loose, draggling coat of an otter-hound. She seemed to +glide with extraordinary facility even against a rapid current. Her skin +was so tough that on one occasion when, by accident, she was carried +down a raging rapid and thrown against a jagged rock, a slight bruise +was the only result. Her legs were short and powerful, her toes webbed, +and her tail served the purpose of a rudder. Nostrils, eyes, and +ears--all were small and water-tight, and set so high on the skull that, +when she rose to breathe, little more than a speck could be seen on the +surface, unless she felt it safe to raise her head and body further for +the sake of ease in plunging deep. + +When Lutra was nine months old she caught her first salmon; and, though +the fish was only a small "kelt," returning, weak from spawning, to the +sea, the capture was a fair test of the cub's prowess and daring. It +happened thus. She was walking up the river-bed one boisterous night, +when she saw a dark form hovering close to the surface in the middle of +a deep pool. Her eyes, peculiarly fitted for watching objects +immediately above, quickly detected the almost motionless fish. The +eyes of the salmon were also formed for looking upwards, and so Lutra +remained unnoticed by her prey. She stole around the hovering fish, that +the bubbles caused by her breathing might make no noticeable disturbance +as they rose to the surface, and then, having judged to a nicety the +strength of the stream, paddled with almost imperceptible motion towards +the salmon. Before the fish had time to flee it was caught in Lutra's +vice-like jaws and borne, struggling desperately and threshing the water +into foam, to the bank. There the otter-cub killed her victim by +severing the vertebrae immediately behind its gills. + +Otters well nigh invariably destroy large-sized fish by attacking them +in this particular part. And, according to a similar method, stoats and +polecats, whenever possible, seize their victims near the base of the +brain. In yet another way Lutra proved her relationship to the weasel +tribe: just as our miniature land-otters eat only small portions of the +rabbits they kill, so the cub was content with a juicy morsel behind the +salmon's head--a morsel known among sportsmen as "the otter's bite." + +Soon after the cub had killed her first salmon she separated from her +parents and brothers, travelled far down-river, and wandered alone. In +the human character, development becomes especially marked directly +independence of action is assumed; henceforward parental guidance counts +for comparatively little. And so it was with Lutra. + + + + +II. + +THE POOL BENEATH THE FARMSTEAD. + + +Last year, in autumn mornings, when the big round clouds sailing swiftly +overhead reminded me of springtide days and joyous skylarks in the +heavens, but when all parent birds were silent, knowing how dark winter +soon would chill the world, a thrush, that not long since had been a +fledgling in his nest amid a shrubbery of box, came to the fruit-tree +near my window, and, in such low tones that only I could hear them, +warbled that all in earth and sky was beautiful. + +To Lutra, lonely like the thrush, and, like the thrush, not yet aware of +pain and hunger, the world seemed bright and filled with happiness. At +first, like a young fox that, till he learns the fear of dogs and men, +steals chickens from a coop near which an old, experienced fox would +never venture, she was, perhaps, a little too indifferent to danger. In +her perfect health and irresponsible freedom, she paid but slight +attention to the alarm signals of other creatures of the night. + +Up-river, at a bend below a hillside farmstead some distance from our +village, is a broad, deep salmon-pool, fringed with alders and willows. +Right across the upper end of this pool stretches a broken ledge of +rock, over which, in flood, the waters boom and crash into a seething +basin whence thin lines of vapour--blue and grey when the day is dull, +or gleaming with the colours of the rainbow when the sun, unclouded, +shines aslant the fall--ceaselessly arise, and quiver on the waves of +air that catch their movement from the restless swirls beneath. But in +dry summer weather the ledge is covered with green, slippery weed, the +curving fall is smooth as glass, and the rapid loses half its flood-time +strength. + +This pool, though containing some of the finest salmon "hovers" in the +river, is nowadays but seldom fished. Since the old generation of +village fishermen has passed away it seems to have gradually lost its +popularity. The right bank of the river above and below the pool is for +miles so thickly wooded that anglers prefer to pass up-country before +unpacking their rods. From the left bank it is useless for any angler +who has not made a study of the pool to attempt to reach the "hovers." +Under far more favourable conditions than these, the throw necessary to +place a fly on even the nearest of the "hovers" would be almost the +longest that could with accuracy be made. But the angler is baffled at +the outset by the presence of a steep slope behind him. + +I well remember two instances when I was tricked by the self-conceit +which led me to suppose that my skill in casting was of no mean order. +Once, while the river was bank-high after flood, I happened to be +throwing an unusually long line, with careless ease, over the lower end +of a pool, where, before, I had never seen a fish. I was, no doubt, +thinking of something quite unconnected with fishing, otherwise I should +not have wandered thus far from the spot where I generally reeled in my +line. A salmon effectually aroused me by a terrific rush at my fly. I +"struck" hard, and the fly, after a momentary check, flew up into the +air. I am not one of those anglers who give rest to a salmon in the +belief that, after rising, he requires time to recover from his +disappointment at having failed to catch the lure. I believe in +"sticking to" a fish, perhaps because the first I ever hooked was one I +had bullied ceaselessly during the whole of a spring evening. And so I +tried hard and often to tempt that sportive fish again; but after the +careless, easy casting which resulted in the rise, I could not by any +means throw satisfactorily over the tail of the pool. However I tried to +do so, the line would double awkwardly as it reached the water, or would +curl back into the rapid on the near side of the "hover," or the fly +would splash in a most provoking manner as it alighted on the stream. So +at last I left the riverside. + +Henceforth, I attempted the same long cast whenever I passed the pool. I +lost many flies, and never again rose a fish. But I was convinced that I +had discovered a "hover" new to the village fishermen, till my old +friend Ianto chaffed me into the belief that the salmon I had seen was a +"passenger," and, probably, a "spent kelt" in such a weak condition that +for it to stay in the rough water higher up the pool was impossible. + +On another occasion, in early days when my ignorance of the river and of +fishing sorely troubled both Ianto and myself, as I was wading +down-stream along the edge of a pool a grilse rose, "head and tail," +about twenty yards below my fly. Using my long gaff-handle as a staff, I +walked slowly towards the fish, casting carefully all the way. I was so +absorbed in my work that I did not know I was moving into deep water +till I found that my wading stockings had filled. I then stopped, and, +lengthening my line at each successive "throw," sent my fly nearer and +still nearer to the grilse. + +How I managed the long, straight cast that presently resulted in my fly +passing down the "hover," I do not know. The grilse rose sharply at the +lure, but I "struck" too late. I reeled in my line, and after a few +minutes began once more to cast. Now, however, try as I might, I could +not get the line out to the distance required; it would not fall +straight and true. In desperation I endeavoured to overcome the +difficulty by sheer strength. I swung my arms aloft; my old hickory rod +creaked and groaned with the increasing strain, then snapped immediately +the tension was released with the return of the line; and, a second +afterwards, the grilse took my fly and bolted away down-stream. + +All caution left me; I was "into a fish"--that was enough. In haste to +catch my rod-top as it slipped down the line from the butt, I made one +step forward, and fell over head and ears into a deep hole beneath the +shelf of rock on which I had been standing. When I recognised what had +happened I was clinging to an alder-root near the bank; thence, +breathless, I lifted myself till I was safe on a tree-trunk above the +pool. My rod and cap were drifting rapidly away; but, after divesting +myself of half my dripping garments, I recovered the rod in a backwater +below the neighbouring wood. All my line had been taken out, the gut +collar had been snapped, and the fly had undoubtedly been carried off +by the grilse. + +In those old days of which I have elsewhere written,[1] Ianto and I +often resorted to the wide, deep pool under the farm. Sometimes, during +summer, we were there before daybreak, fishing for the salmon that only +then or in the dusk would deign to inspect our "Dandy" fly. And there, +in the summer nights, we frequently captured, with the natural minnow, +the big trout that wandered from the rapids to feed in the quiet waters +by the alders. Ianto knew the pool so well that even in the darkest +night he would wade along the slippery, weed-grown shelf near the raging +fall, to troll in the shadows above him. Had the old man taken one false +step he would have entered on a struggle for life compared with which my +own adventure after hooking the grilse would have been insignificant. + +For several months free, happy Lutra made her daytime abode in a "holt" +among the alder-roots fringing this pool. She loved in the long winter +nights to hear the winnow-winnow of powerful wings as the wild ducks +circled down towards the pool, the whir of the grey lag-geese far in the +mysterious sky, and the whistle of the teal and the gurgle of the +moorhens among the weeds close by the river's brim. + +Crouched on a grassy mound beside the rapids, she could see each +movement on the surface of the pool. The wild ducks splattered and +quacked as they paddled busily hither and thither, visiting each little +bay and reed-clump at the water's edge. Sometimes, surrendering +themselves wholly to sport and play, they formed little groups of two or +three; and now one group, and then another, would race, half-swimming, +half-flying, from bank to bank or from the rock to the salmon "hover" at +the lower end of the pool. The otter remembered her experience with the +dabchick, and believed that to capture a full-grown duck would tax her +utmost strength and cause a general alarm. Once, however, excited by the +wild ducks' sport, she slipped quietly from the mound, dived deep, and +from the river-bed shot up in the midst of the birds just as they had +congregated to settle a point of difference in a recent event, and to +discuss a second part of their sports' programme for the night. + +As the birds, panic-stricken, scattered on every side, and, following +each other in two long lines that joined in the form of a wedge, flew up +into the starlit sky, Lutra watched them eagerly for a few moments; +then, without a ripple, she sank below the surface and returned to her +watch on the mound. For a while after the ducks had left the pool, +nothing could be heard but the ceaseless noise of falling water. But as +the night drew on, a moorhen ventured from the shelter of the alders, +and, like a tiny, buoyant boat, launched out into the pool. The otter, +with appetite whetted by recent sport among the ducks, again left her +hiding place and silently vanished into the stream. Borne by the +current, she reached, with scarcely an effort, a point in the swirling +depths from which she could catch a glimpse of the dim outline of the +floating bird. Then, rising swiftly, she gripped the moorhen from +beneath, dived across to the "hover," and, having killed and skinned her +prey, feasted at leisure. + +There were times in the second summer of her existence when Lutra, like +the wild ducks, seemed to abandon every thought of the possibility of +danger. Simply for the love of exercise and in enjoyment of the tranquil +night, she played about the pool till the dawn peeped over the hills; +then, tired of her frolic, she sought her secret "holt," and, curling +her tail about her face and holding her hind-paws closely between her +fore-paws, fell asleep. + +While she gambolled in the water, even her quickest movements were as +graceful as those of a salmon stemming the rapids and leaping into the +shallows above the rock. Diving into the depths, she avoided with +scarcely an effort the tangled roots and branches, that, washed thither +by the floods, had long been the dread of anglers when heavy fish were +hooked. Ceasing all exertion as she turned into the current, she floated +to the surface and was borne away down-stream. She swam at highest speed +from the tail to the throat of the pool, and drifted idly back to the +place from which she had started; then, changing her methods, she +skirted slowly the edge of the current, and with one long, straight +dive shot down from the head of the rapids to the still water near her +"holt." + +From playing thus about the pool, the otter learned the power of the +current, and how it hastened or retarded her while she pursued her prey. +But most of all, during the hours of the placid night, she delighted to +frolic in the torrent immediately below the rock, where, matching her +strength against that of the river, she leaped and dived and tumbled +through the foam, or, lying on her back amid a shower of spray, +stretched wide her limbs and suffered the whirlpool to draw her, +unresisting, into its vortex deep beneath the fall. + +Lutra sometimes noticed, while she drifted with the current, that the +scent of her kindred lay strong at the surface not far from her "holt." +One still, moonlit night the scent indicated that several full-grown +otters had at intervals come from the trout-reaches down-stream, and had +landed in a reed-bed at the lower end of the pool. It led away from the +river through the valley, along by a number of stagnant ponds in an old +garden near the farm, and thence to a point beyond a bend where the +river flowed almost parallel to its course at the pool. As the otter, +inquisitively following the line of the scent, came to the ponds, she +heard the croaking of countless frogs hidden in the duckweed that lay +over the entire surface of the water. Lutra made ample use of the +opportunity for a feast--frogs were the greatest delicacies known to +her, and she had never before found them to be so plentiful. Dawn was +breaking when, in her onward journey, she reached the river; so she +drifted around the bend, dived over the fall, and returned to her home +beneath the alder-roots. + +It happened that the otters whose "spur" (footprints) Lutra had followed +to the frog-ponds retraced their steps towards the pool, and in doing so +suddenly discovered that the scent of a man lay strong on the trodden +grass. A villager, knowing the eagerness with which otters seek for +frogs, and that they often cross a narrow neck of land at the bend of a +stream, had for a time kept watch at the lower end of the old farm +garden. He was anxious that the hounds, which, on the previous day, had +arrived at the village, should enjoy good sport during their stay in the +neighbourhood. But he saw nothing of the animals he had come to watch; +as soon as they detected his whereabouts they retreated hastily to the +pond at the upper end of the garden, gained the river, and, like Lutra, +swam homewards around the bend. But, less familiar than Lutra with the +strength of the current, they left the water as they approached the +fall, and crept through the deep shadows of the alder-roots till they +reached a point at some distance beyond the pool. + +These events of the night were of the utmost importance to the otters as +connected with the events of the morrow. During the early morning the +villager paid a second visit to the garden, and examined closely the +soft mud at the margin of the ponds. The remains of the otters' +feast--the skins and the eyes of frogs--lay in several places, and, near +the largest of the ponds, the otters' "spur" showed clearly that the +animals had for some time been busy there. Taking a straight course to +the river above the pools, the watcher again detected the marks of the +otters on the sloping bank. By the riverside below the garden, however, +he failed to observe any further sign, and so concluded that the animals +had probably left the water at the opposite bank. + +When, later, the Hunt crossed the bridge on its way up-stream, the +villager told his story to the Master, who immediately led his hounds +over the hill-top in the direction of the ponds. This unexpected +movement drew the followers of the Hunt away from the river; they +imagined that the hounds were to be taken across country to a well known +gorge where, during a previous season, good sport had been obtained. + +At the farm, the Master, leaving the hounds to the care of the +whippers-in, waited till the villagers and the farmers had congregated +in the yard. He then addressed the crowd, telling them that otters had +visited the garden during the night and probably were still in hiding +there, and that, if good sport were desired, it would be wise for his +followers to form two groups and watch the fords above and below the +river-bend, while he, alone, accompanied the hounds to the garden; his +chief reason, he said, for pointing out to them the advisability of +leaving him was that if an otter still remained near the pond it should +be given every chance of reaching the river without molestation. The +crowd, recognising the wisdom of the Master's remarks, moved off with +the whippers-in to the fords; and, when all was in readiness, the pack +was led into the garden. One, and another, and yet another of the "young +entry" soon gave tongue; then, after a minute's deliberation, an old, +experienced hound raised his head from the rushes, uttered a single +deep, clear note, climbed the garden hedge, and galloped across the +meadow towards the river. + +The rest of the hounds speedily found the line of the "drag," but all +came to a check at the water's edge. They were taken back to the ponds, +and thence to the pool by the farm, but the scent was weak above the +waterfall. They again "cast" to the upper end of the garden, and onward +to the river. Carefully searching every hole and corner in the bank, +they drew down-stream around the bend, and at last struck the scent of +the otters among the reeds below the pool. Lutra heard them tearing +madly past, heard also the dull thud of human footsteps above her +"holt," but she discreetly remained close-hidden in her sleeping +chamber. For hours, in a pool beyond the trout-reach, her visitors of +the previous night were hustled to and fro, and frequent cries of "Gaze! +gaze!" and "Bubble avent!" mingled with the clamour of the hounds. Then +the commotion seemed suddenly to subside. After an interval the hounds +splashed by once more among the alder-roots, and the thud of human +footsteps resounded in the "holt." In the silence that followed, Lutra, +reassured, dived from her "holt," and, paddling gently to the surface, +saw the last stragglers of the Hunt climbing the slope towards the farm. + +That night no otter from the down-stream trout-reach wandered to the +salmon-pool beneath the farm. The water-voles and the moorhens were +unusually alert as they swam hither and thither in the little bays along +the edge of the current. The fear of man and his loud-tongued hounds +rested, like a spell, on the creatures of the river. Even Lutra felt its +power; but when the scent of her foes became so faint as to be lost in +the fragrance of the meadow-sweet along the river-bank, she ventured +into the old garden, and, on returning to the pool, played again in the +raging water by the fall. + + + + +III. + +THE GORGE OF ALLTYCAFN. + + +When Lutra had attained her full size and strength she was wooed and won +by a young dog-otter of her own age, and lived with him in a "holt" +among the great rocks of Alltycafn. Now, again, the Hunt arrived in the +neighbourhood. It was a lovely morning in May. The sun shone brightly; +the leaves were breaking from their sheaths; the birds sang blithely in +the trees. Suddenly the otters, resting in their "holt," were awakened +by a loud commotion--the sounds of hurrying feet, reverberating in the +chamber among the boulders, and then the music of the shaggy hounds, +varied occasionally by the yap-yap of the terriers. The noise drew +rapidly nearer. Presently a man, in red stockings and vest, blue +breeches and coat, and a blue hunting cap bearing an otter's "pad" +mounted in silver, poked among the boulders with a steelshod pole. The +dog-otter was now thoroughly alarmed. He rushed from his lair, dived +straight into the stream, headed through the seething current, and rose +in the adjoining pool. Threatened by a hound, he dived again, walked +over the gravel, and swam under the gnarled roots of an oak. The members +of the Hunt stood watching the bubbles, filled by his breath, as they +floated up and broke. The hounds swam pell-mell in hot pursuit, and the +otter was forced to turn up-stream. Moving cautiously under the rocky +ledges, he regained the "holt," where his terrified mate awaited his +return. Sorely pressed, the dog-otter hid close, hoping to baffle his +relentless pursuers. But a bristling, snarling terrier soon came down +the shaft from the bank. Maddened, and courageous with the fury of +despair, Lutra seized the intruder by the muzzle, and, in the combat +that ensued, sorely mangled her assailant's lips and nostrils. Then, as +her mate dived out once more and swam down-stream, she also left the +chamber. She rose immediately among the surrounding boulders, and hid in +the furthest recess. With nostrils, eyes, and ears raised slightly above +the surface of the water, she stayed there, unseen and hardly daring to +breathe, and, with strained senses watched closely every movement of +hounds and hunters. + +Fortunately for Lutra, the arch of the boulders below was shaped so +peculiarly that the scent of her breath and body was sucked into a +cavity and carried down-stream, and, passing beneath the stone, mingled, +at the raging cataract near the rock, with air in the bubbles formed by +the tumult of the waters. These bubbles, instead of bursting, were drawn +into the vortex of a little whirlpool; and the keen-nosed hounds, though +suspicious, could form no definite opinion as to the presence of a +second otter among the rocks. The terrier knew the secret, but he had +been put out of action and sent off, post haste, to the nearest +veterinary surgeon. Lutra saw her tormentors--some of them of the pure +otter-hound breed, some half otter-hound, half fox-hound, and others, +again, fox-hounds trained for otter-hunting--rushing backwards and +forwards in the water and on the bank. Another terrier, led by a boy, +strained at his leash near the river's brink. Women, dressed, like the +men, in smart scarlet and blue, and as ready to wade into the stream as +the huntsman himself, stood leaning on their otter-poles not far away. +At the fords above and below the "pool," the dog-otter's egress was +barred by outposts of the enemy standing and splashing, in complete +lines, from bank to bank. Once, in despair, the otter actually tried to +break through the human chain; but a hunter "tailed" him for a moment, +and then dropped him into the deeper water beyond the ford. + +The sound of horn, the shouts of men, the deep-toned notes of great +hounds, the shrill yapping of eager terriers, and the splashing and the +plunging on every side, almost bewildered Lutra. Fearing to move from +her shelter, she floated in the deep basin of the hidden pool beside the +cataract, till at last the commotion gradually subsided, and hounds and +hunters passed out of sight down-stream. + +Lutra awaited her mate's return, but in vain. Not till night did she +venture from her hiding place. When, however, the stars appeared, she +swam wearily from pool to pool, calling, calling, calling. She explored +each little bay, each crevice in the rock. She walked up the dry bed of +a tributary brook, and searched among the gnarled roots and the dry, +brown grass fringing the gravelly watercourse. She skirted the meadows +and the rocks where the hunters had beaten down the gorse and the +brambles near her home; thence she returned to the pool. Hitherto she +had loved the placid night; to her the stillness was significant of +peace. But now that stillness was full of sadness, and weariness, and +monotony. The shadows were deep within the gorge; from the distant woods +the hoot of an owl mocked her loneliness. She heard no glad answering +cry. Still calling, calling, calling, she floated through the shadows, +and out into the moonlight shimmering on the placid water below the +gorge; but she sought and called in vain. + +Lutra spent the rest of that year in widowhood. In consequence of her +fight with the terrier, and also because of her grief, her two little +cubs were still-born. + +Midsummer came, and the shallows were almost choked with weeds. The +countryside experienced a phenomenal period of drought, and for weeks +the river seemed impure and almost fetid. Night after night, and +steadily travelling westward, Lutra took short cuts across country from +pool to pool. Late in July she reached the estuary of the river; and for +the remaining months of summer fished in the bay, finding there a +pleasant change in her surroundings. Once she was chased by some men in +a boat, who shot at her as she appeared for an instant to breathe. Quick +and watchful, she dived at the flash, and the pellets fell harmlessly +overhead. Again she rose, and again she dived just in time to avoid the +leaden hail. Then she doubled back towards the estuary, and the baffled +sportsmen sailed away across the bay. As autumn came once more she +returned to the river, and fed chiefly on the migrating eels that +swarmed in the hollows near the bank. Presently, by many a nightly +journey, she gained the upper reaches, where she lived, till the +following spring, close to her old home. + +The winter was long and severe. In January, the fields were buried in +snow, the roads were as smooth and hard as glass, and the +well-remembered pool beneath the pines was almost covered with a great +sheet of ice. At this time another young dog-otter began to show Lutra +considerable attention. The village children often saw the pairing +otters, for the animals, hard pressed, had perforce to fish by day +instead of by night. All night the trout lay dormant under the stones in +the bed of the river, and only at noon did they rise to the surface on +the lookout for hardy ephemerals that, in a short half hour of warmth, +were hatched at the margin of the stream. Lutra and her companion +followed the fish, and afforded a rare, unexpected sight as, bold with +hunger, they ascended to breathe between the sheets of ice in the pool +by the village gardens. At night the otters wandered over the snow, and +sometimes visited the hillside farms. There, among rotting refuse-heaps, +they discovered worms and insects sheltering in genial warmth. When +exceptionally hungry, Lutra and her mate would dig into the chambers of +the mole and the field-vole in the meadows, and search ravenously for +the inmates. Among the roots of the spreading oaks, the otters found, +also, such tit-bits as the larvae of moths and beetles. A starved pigeon +fallen from the pine-boughs; an occasional moorhen weak and almost +defenceless; a wild duck that Lutra had captured by darting from beneath +a root while the indiscreet bird was feeding, head downwards, at the +river's brink--these were among the varied items of the hungry otters' +food. Life was indeed hard to maintain. And, to crown the misfortunes of +the ice-bound winter, Lutra's matrimonial affairs were once more cruelly +disturbed: her mate was caught in a steel trap that Ned the blacksmith +had baited and laid in the meadows near the village bridge. He had +marked the otters' wanderings by their footprints in the snow, and had +then matured his plans. + +The calamity occurred one morning, just before daybreak, as the otters +were returning to the river from a visit to a hen-coop, where they had +found an open door and a solitary chicken. The trap was placed on the +grass by the verge of the stream. A light fall of snow had covered it, +but had left exposed the entrails of a chicken which, by coincidence, +formed the tempting bait. Distressed and perplexed, Lutra stayed by the +dog-otter, trying in vain to release him from his sufferings. The +trapped creature, beside himself with rage and fear and pain, attempted +to gnaw through his crunched and almost severed foot; but as the dawn +lightened the east, and before the limb could be freed, Ned the +blacksmith was to be seen hurrying to the spot. Lutra dived out of +sight, and, unable to interpose, watched, for a second time, a riverside +tragedy. Her attachment, however, had not been of so ardent a nature +that bereavement left her disconsolate. Before April she forgot her +trapped friend, and was mated again. + +Lutra's new spouse had his home in the tributary stream of a +neighbouring valley. So, when the snows had melted and the rime no +longer touched with fairy fingerprints the tracery of the leafless +boughs, and when Olwen the White-footed had come once more into the +valley called after her name, Lutra forsook the broad river in which she +had spent her early life, and, with her companion and a promising +family, lived contented under the frowning Rock of Gwion, secure in +peace and solitude, at least for a season, from the shaggy +otter-hounds. + + + + +THE WATER-VOLE. + +I. + +OUR VILLAGE HOUNDS. + + +Not many years ago the pleasures of life among my neighbours here in the +country were simpler and truer than they are to-day. Perhaps in that +bygone time money was more easily made, or daily need was met with +smaller expenditure. It may be, too, that family cares were then less +pressing, or that a prolonged period of general prosperity had been the +privilege of rich and poor alike in this green river-valley around my +home. In those days, to which I often look back with regretful yearning, +everybody seemed to have leisure; the ties of friendship were not +severed by malicious gossip; old and young seemed to realise how good it +was to have pleasant acquaintanceships and to be in the sunshine and the +open air. Fathers played with their children in the street: one winter +morning, when, after a heavy fall of snow and a subsequent frost, the +ground was as slippery as glass, I watched a white-haired shopkeeper, +lying prone on a home-made toboggan, with his feet sprawling behind for +rudder, steer a load of merry youngsters full tilt down a steep lane +behind his house. The sight was so exhilarating that I also forgot I was +not a child; and on the second journey I joined the sportive party, and +came to grief because the shopkeeper kicked too quickly at a turn in the +course and sent me with a double somersault into the ditch. + +It happened in those days that in the miscellaneous pack of mongrels our +village sportsmen gathered together when they went rabbit-shooting among +the dense coverts of the hillsides were two exceptionally clever dogs--a +big, shaggy, bobtail kind of animal, and a little, smooth-coated beast +resembling a black-and-tan terrier. + +The big dog, Joker, lived at a farm in the village, and, during the +leisure of summer, when rabbiting did not engage his attention, took to +wandering by the river, joining the bathers in their sport and poking +his nose inquisitively under the alder-roots along the bank. While, one +sultry noon, the fun in the bathing pool was at its height, Joker routed +an otter from a hiding place near which the bathers were swimming with +the current, and a terrific fight took place in the shallows before the +_dwrgu_ made good his escape. The dog was found to have been severely +worsted in the fray, and was taken home to be nursed till his wounds +were healed. Meanwhile, Joker's fame as an otter-hound was firmly +established in the village, and he was regarded as a hero. + +The little dog, Bob, lived at the inn, and for years his droll ways +endeared him to every villager, as well as to every angler who came to +"the house" for salmon-fishing. He loved nothing better than a +friendship with some unsuspecting fisherman whom he might afterwards use +to further his own ends. The sight of a rod placed by the door in the +early morning was sufficient promise of a day's continuous enjoyment; +the terrier assumed possession of the rod at once, and kept all other +curs at a distance. On the appearance of the sportsman, he manifested +such unmistakable delight, and pleaded so hard for permission to +follow, that, unless the sportsman happened to be one whose experiences +led him to dislike the presence of a fussy dog by the riverside, the +flattery rarely failed of its object. Once past the rustic swing-bridge +at the lower boundary of the waters belonging to the inn, Bob left the +sportsman to his own devices, and stole off into the woods to hunt +rabbits. Unfailingly, however, he rejoined his friend at lunch. + +On Sundays, knowing that the report of a gun was not likely then to +resound among the woods, and depressed by the quietness and disappointed +by the nervous manner with which everybody well dressed for church +resented his familiarities, he lingered about the street corners--as the +unemployed usually do, even in our village--till the delicious smells of +Sunday dinners pervaded the street. The savoury odours in no way +sharpened his appetite, for at the inn his fare was always of the best; +but they indicated that the time was approaching when the watchmaker and +the lawyer set out together for their long weekly ramble through the +woods. Bob knew what such a ramble meant for him. The watchmaker's dog, +Tip, was Bob's respected sire, and Tip's brother, Charlie, dwelt at a +house in "The Square." Bob, scenting the Sunday dinners, went at once to +call for Charlie, and in his company adjourned to the lane behind the +village gardens, till the watchmaker and the lawyer, with Tip, were +ready for their customary walk. + +When the water was low and anglers seldom visited the inn, Bob, during +the summer week-days, followed Joker's course of action, and attached +himself to a bathing party frequenting a pool below the ruined garden on +the outskirts of the village. There, like Joker, he searched beneath the +alder-roots, but without success as far as an otter was concerned. +However, he vastly enjoyed himself digging out the brown rats from their +holes along the bank not far from a rick-yard belonging to the inn, and +then hunting them about the pool with as much noise and bustle as if he +were close at the tail of a rabbit in the furze. He was so fond of the +water that he became a rapid, untiring swimmer; and the boys trained +him, in intervals of rat-hunting, to dive to the bottom of the river +and pick up a white pebble thrown from the bank. Like Joker, also, he +gained a name for pluck and ability; and one night the village +sportsmen, at an informal meeting in the "private room" of the inn, +decided to hunt in the river on Wednesday evenings, with Bob and Joker +at the head of a pack including nearly every game-dog in the near +neighbourhood, except certain aristocratic pointers and setters likely +to be spoiled by companionship with yelping and excited curs. + +A merrier hunting party was never in the world. They would foregather in +the meadow below the ruined garden: the landlord, whose home-brewed ale +was the best and strongest on the countryside; the curate, whose stern +admonitions were the terror of evil-doers; the farmer, whose skill in +ferreting was greater than in ploughing; the watchmaker, whose clocks +filled the village street with music when, simultaneously, they struck +the hour; the draper, whose white pigeons cooed and fluttered on the +bridge near his shop; the solicitor, whose law was for a time thrown to +the winds; and a small crowd of boys ready to assist, if required, in +"chaining" the fords. There they would "cry" the dogs across the stream +till the valley echoed and re-echoed with shouts and laughter. + +The first hunt was started in spirited fashion; the men walked along the +bank thrusting their sticks into crevices and holes; but only Joker and +Bob entered the water, and rats and otters for a while remained +discreetly out of view. Near a bend of the stream, however, Bob +surprised a rat secreted by a stone, and, forcing it to rush to the +river, followed with frantic speed. Here, at last, was a chase; the +other dogs all hurried to the spot, and the landlord, swinging his +otter-pole, waded out to perform the duties of huntsman with the now +uproarious pack. His action proved infectious--watchmaker, draper, +lawyer, and curate splashed into the shallows to help in keeping the rat +on the move; and fun was fast and furious till the prey, fleeing from a +smart attack by Bob, was captured by a spaniel swimming under a big +oak-root between the curate and the bank. + +I hardly think I have enjoyed any sport so well as those Wednesday +evening hunts in the bygone years, when life was unshadowed and each +sportsman of us felt within him the heart of a child. So great was our +amusement that the village urchins instituted a rival Hunt in the brooks +on Saturdays; they notched their sticks for every "kill," and boasted +that they beat us hollow with the number of their trophies. + +We had several adventures with otters, but the creatures always, in the +end, eluded us, and we soon were of opinion that smaller fry were +capable of affording better fun. Some seasons afterwards, when our Hunt +was disbanded, the shopkeepers' apprentices continued, with the +youngsters, to work our mongrel hounds; but eventually Joker's death +from the bite of an adder put an end to their pastime, for the bobtail +and the terrier were the only possible leaders of the nondescript pack. + +Bob, the terrier, was always the most interesting of our hounds. He +manifested a disposition to use the other dogs to serve his purposes, +just as he used the unsuspecting fishermen if he wished to go hunting in +the woods. When with me after game on the upland farms, he often seemed +to forget entirely that I had taken him to hunt, not for his own +amusement only, but also for mine. Directly he discovered a rabbit +squatting in a clump of grass or brambles, perhaps ten or a dozen yards +from a hedge, he signalled his find by barking so incessantly that my +spaniels hastened pell-mell to the spot. This was just as it should +be--for Bob. Dancing with excitement, he waited between the clump and +the hedge till the spaniels entered and bolted the rabbit; then he tore +madly in close pursuit of the fleeing creature, and my chance of a shot +was spoiled through the possibility of my hitting him instead of his +quarry. + +By the riverside, his tricks were precisely similar. Seeing a moorhen +dive, he would call the dogs around him, so that they might bring the +bird again to the surface and thus afford him sport. The moorhen, +meanwhile, invariably escaped; yet Bob failed to understand that he was +the only diver in the pack. + +His antics were comical in the extreme if a vole eluded him by diving to +the lower entrance of its burrow beneath the surface of a backwater. +Having missed his opportunity, but unable to comprehend how he had +missed it, the terrier left the water, stood on the roots of a tree over +the entrance to the vole's burrow, and furiously barked instructions to +his companions swimming in the pool. Disgusted at last by their +inattention to his orders, he plunged headlong into the stream and +vanished for a few moments; then he reappeared, proud of his superior +bravery, sneezing and coughing, and with a mouthful of stones and soil +torn from the bank in his desperate efforts to force his way to the spot +whither the object of the chase had gone from view. + +Bob long survived the big dog Joker, and in his old days loved as well +as ever the excitement of a hunt. His originality was preserved to the +end; stiffened by rheumatism and almost choked by asthma, he always, +when in search of rabbits, ran up-hill and walked down-hill, thus losing +both energy and breath that might with advantage have been kept in +reserve. + +With the passing of the years, many changes have occurred to sunder the +friendships formed during those boylike expeditions. I smile when I +think how impossible it would be, now that the veneer of town life has +been thinly spread over the life of our village, for the man of law to +go wading, with tucked-up trousers, after rats; how impossible, also, +for him to frequent with me the bathing pool, as was sometimes his wont, +and swim idly hither and thither, while the moon peered between the +trees and the vague witchery of the summer night filled his spirit and +my own. My youthful feelings, long preserved, have been irrevocably +lost; and yet, if only for memory's sake, I would willingly hunt with +him again, and, when night had fallen, swim with him once more in the +dim, mysterious pool below the garden. But the old hunting party could +never be complete. Death makes gaps that Time fails to fill. + +Those evenings were delightful, not only because of unrestrained mirth +and innocent sport, but also because we took a keen interest in our +surroundings, seeing the world of small things by the river-bank with +eyes such as belonged to anglers and hunters of the old-fashioned, +leisurely school. They marked for me the beginning of a pleasant study +of the water-voles that lived in their burrows on the brink of the +river, and were sometimes hunted as persistently as were the brown rats, +but far more frequently eluded our hounds than did the noxious little +brutes we particularly desired to destroy. + +Wherever they take up their quarters, about the farmstead during winter +or in the open fields during summer, brown rats are an insufferable +nuisance. There is no courtesy or kindness in the nature of the rat; no +nesting bird is safe from his attacks, unless her home is beyond his +reach in some cleft of a rock that he cannot scale or in some fork of a +tree that he cannot climb. He is a cannibal--even the young and the sick +of his own kind become the victims of his rapacious hunger--and he will +eat almost anything, living or dead, from the refuse in a garbage heap +to the dainty egg of a willow-wren in the tiny, domed nest amid the +briars at the margin of the river. + +The water-vole is often called, wrongly, the water-rat, but it is of +very different habits, and is well nigh entirely a vegetable feeder, and +one of the most charming and most inoffensive creatures in Britain. To +the close observer of Nature, differences in the character of +animals--even among the members of one species--soon become apparent. I +was struck with manifestations of such unlikeness when I kept small +communities of ants in artificial nests between slips of glass, so as +to watch their doings in my hours of leisure. One nest of yellow ants +contained at first a dozen workers and a queen; and when I began to +study them I used to mark with minute spots of white the bodies of the +particular ants under observation. These spots would remain till the +ants had time for their toilet and either licked themselves clean or +were licked clean by sympathetic companions. At the outset I found that +under a magnifying glass two of the dozen workers were readily +distinguishable from the others because of their size and shape. +Gradually, by detecting little peculiarities, I could single out the +ants, and so had no need to mark my tiny pets in order to follow their +movements, except on occasions when they clustered round the queen, or +rested, gossiping in little groups, here and there in the rooms and +passages of their dwelling. One ant was greedy, and, if she was the +first to find a fresh drop of honey I had placed outside the nest, would +feed to repletion without ever thinking of informing her friends of her +discovery. At such times she even became intoxicated, and I fancied +that, when she did at last get home, eager enquiries made as to the +whereabouts of the nectar met with incoherent replies, since the seekers +for information generally failed to profit by what they were told, and +had to cast about aimlessly for some time before finding the food. I +also observed that another ant was perfectly unselfish, and not only +would inform her companions directly she discovered honey, but would +assiduously feed the queen before attending to her own requirements. And +so my pets were separately known because of faults and failings or good +qualities that often seemed quite human. + +A certain vole, living in the river-bank near the place where the +villagers met to hunt, was not easily mistaken for one of his fellows. +Whereas the general colour of a water-vole's coat--except in the variety +known as the black vole--is greyish brown, which takes a reddish tinge +when the light glances on it between the leaves, his was uniformly of a +dark russet. In keeping with this shiny russet coat, his beady black +eyes seemed to glisten with unusual lustre; and so it happened that the +question, "I wonder if Brighteye is from home?" was often asked as we +sent our hounds to search among the willows on the further bank; and +later it became a custom for the Hunt, before the sport of the evening +was begun, to pass up-stream for a hundred yards or so in order that he +might be left in peace. + +He was quite a baby water-vole when first I made his acquaintance, but +the colour of his coat did not change with the succeeding months, and, +evening after evening, when the noisy hounds were safe at home or +strolling about the village street, I would quietly make my way back to +his haunt, and, hidden behind a convenient tree, carefully watch him. In +this way I learned many secrets of his life, noticed many traits in +which he differed from his companions, and could form a fairly accurate +idea of the dangers that beset him, and of the joys and the sorrows that +fell to his lot during the three years when his presence was familiar as +I fished in the calm summer twilight, or lay motionless in the long +grass near the place where he was wont to sit, silent and alert, before +dropping into the backwater and beginning the work and the play of the +night. + + + + +II. + +THE BURROW IN THE RIVER-BANK. + + +The first faint shadows of dusk were creeping over the river when +Brighteye, awakened by a movement on the part of his mother, stole from +his burrow into the tall grass at the edge of the gravel-bank by the +pool. His home was situated in a picturesque spot between the river and +a woodland path skirting the base of a cliff-like ascent clothed with +giant beeches and an under-garment of ferns and whinberry bushes. Alders +and willows grew along the gravel-bank, and through the moss-tangles +among the roots many a twisting, close-hidden run-way led upwards to +what might be called a main thoroughfare, in and out of the +grass-fringes and the ivy, above high-water mark. This road, extending +from the far-off tidal estuary to the river's source in the wild +mountains to the north, communicated with all the dwellings of the +riverside people, and had been kept clear for hundreds of years by +wandering voles and water-shrews, moorhens, water-rails, and coots, and, +in recent days, by those unwelcome invaders, the brown rats. Here and +there it merged into the wider trail of the otter. Sometimes, near a +hedge, it was joined by the track of rabbits, bank-voles, field-voles, +weasels, and stoats, and sometimes, where brooks and rills trickled over +the stones on their way to the river, by other main roads that had +followed the smaller water-courses from the crests of the hills. + +Brighteye's home might be likened to a cottage nestling among trees at +the end of an embowered lane well removed from busy traffic; it +contained four or five chambers wherein the members of his family dwelt; +and to Brighteye the tall reeds and the bramble thickets were as large +as shrubs and trees are to human beings. And, like a sequestered +cottager, he knew but little about the great road stretching, up-stream +and down-stream, away from his haunts; he was content with his +particular domain--the pool, the shallows beyond, a hundred yards of +intersected lanes, and the wide main road above the pool and the +shallows. + +For a time Brighteye sat at the edge of the stream, alert for any sign +of danger that might threaten his harmless existence. Then playfully he +dropped into the pool, dived, sought the water-entrance to his house, +climbed inside his sleeping chamber, and thence to the bank, where again +he sat intently listening as he sniffed the cool evening air. A +quick-eyed heron was standing motionless in a tranquil backwater thirty +yards up-stream; the scent of the bird was borne down by the water, and +the vole caught it as it passed beneath the bank. But he showed no trace +of terror; the heron was not near enough to give him any real cause for +alarm. The rabbits stole down through the woods, the undergrowth +crackled slightly as they passed, and one old buck "drummed" a danger +signal. Instantly the vole dived again, for he interpreted the sound to +mean that a weasel was on the prowl; and, as he vanished, the first +notes of a blackbird's rattling cry came to his ears. + +Brighteye stayed awhile in his burrow before climbing once more to the +upper entrance. Then cautiously he advanced through the passage, and +gained his lookout station. Not the slightest taint of a weasel was +noticeable on the bank; so, regaining confidence, he sat on his +haunches, brushed his long, bristly whiskers with his fore-feet, and +licked his russet body clean with his warm, red tongue. Then he dropped +once more into the pool, and swam across to a reed-bed on the further +margin. There he found several of his neighbours feeding on roots of +riverside plants. He, too, was hungry, so he bit off a juicy flag at the +spot marking the junction of the tender stalk with the tough, fibrous +stem; then, sitting upright, he took it in his fore-paws, and with his +incisor teeth--shaped perfectly like an adze for such a +purpose--stripped it of its outer covering, beginning at the severed +edge, and laying bare the white pith, on which he greedily fed. + +While thus engaged, he, as usual, watched and listened. The spot was +dangerous for him because of its distance from the stream, and because +the water immediately beyond was so shallow that he could not, by +diving, readily escape from determined pursuit. + +His meal was often interrupted for a few moments by some trifling +incident that caused alarm. A moorhen splattered out from the +willow-roots, and Brighteye crouched motionless, till he recognised that +the noise made by the clumsy bird was almost as familiar to him as the +rustle of the reeds in a breeze. The blue heron rose heavily from the +backwater, and winged his slow flight high above the trees. Here, +indeed, seemed reason for fear; but the great bird was not in the humour +for killing voles, and soon passed out of view. Now a kingfisher, then a +dipper, sped like an arrow past the near corner of the pool; and the +whiz of swift wings--unheard by all except little creatures living in +frequent danger, and listening with beating hearts to sounds unperceived +by our drowsy senses dulled by long immunity from fear--caused momentary +terror to the water-vole. Each trifling sight and sound contributed to +that invaluable stock of experience from which he would gradually learn +to distinguish without hesitation between friends and foes, and be freed +from the pain of needless anxiety which, to Nature's weaklings, is at +times almost as bitter as death. + +Brighteye was fated to meet with an unusual number of adventures, and +consequently to know much of the agony of fear. His russet coat was more +conspicuous than that of his soberly gowned companions, and he was on +several occasions marked for attack when they escaped detection. But he +became the wisest, shyest, most watchful vole along the wooded +river-reach, and in time his neighbours and offspring were so influenced +by his example and training that a strangely furtive kindred, the +wildest of the wild, living in secrecy--their presence revealed to +loitering anglers only by tell-tale footprints on the wet sand when the +torrent dwindled after a flood--seemed to have come to haunt the river +bank between the cottage gardens and the swinging bridge above the pool +where Brighteye dwelt. + +Though Brighteye's distinctive appearance attracted the notice of +numerous enemies, his marked individuality was not wholly a misfortune, +since it aroused my kindly interest, and thus caused him to be spared by +the village hunting party. + +As he sat in the first shadows of evening among the reeds and the +rushes, the kingfisher and the dipper, by which a few minutes before he +had been startled, flew back from the direction of the village gardens; +and he quickly decided, while watching their flight, that somehow it +must be connected with the dull, but now plainly audible, thud of +approaching footsteps on the meadow-path. The buck "drummed" again, then +the rustling "pat, pat" of the rabbits ceased in the wood, and one by +one the adult voles feeding in the reed-bed slipped silently into the +shallows and disappeared. + +Brighteye was loath to relinquish the juicy rush that he held in his +fore-paws, but the signs of danger were insistent. After creeping +through the reeds to the water's edge, he proceeded a little way down +the bank till he came to a spot where the view of the meadow-path was +uninterrupted. His sight was not nearly so keen as his scent and hearing +were, but he discerned, in a blur of dim fields, and rippling water, and +evening light peering through the willow-stoles, a number of unfamiliar +moving objects. He heard quick, uneven footsteps, and, now and then, a +voice; and was aware of an unmistakable scent, such as he had already +often noticed in the shallows and amid the grass. + +On several occasions, at dusk, Brighteye, like Lutra the otter, had seen +a trout splashing and twisting convulsively in terror and pain. Each +time the trout had been irresistibly drawn through the shallows towards +a peculiar, upright object on the opposite bank, and after this object +had passed into the distance the vole had found that the familiar scent +of which he was now conscious was mingled, at the edge of the +river-bank, with fresh blood-stains and with the strong smell of fish. + +To all animals, whether wild or domesticated, fresh-spilt blood has a +significance that can never be disregarded. It indicates suffering and +death. Ever since, in far distant years, blood first welled from a +stricken creature's wounds, Nature has been haunted by the grim presence +of Fear. The hunting weasel, coming unexpectedly to a pool of blood, +whence a wounded rabbit has crawled away to die in the nearest burrow, +opens mouth and nostrils wide to inhale with fierce delight the pungent +odour. Once I caught sight of a weasel under such circumstances, and was +startled by the almost demon-like look of ferocity on the creature's +face. + +But the hunted weaklings of the fields and woods read the signs of death +with consternation. When the scent of the slayer is mingled with that of +the victim it is noted with care, and, if often detected in similar +conditions, is committed to memory as inseparable from danger. + +Brighteye had been repeatedly warned by his mother to avoid the presence +of man, and had also learned to fear it because of his experiences with +the angler and the trout. Alarmed at the approach of men and hounds, he +waded out, swam straight up-stream to a tiny bay, and hid beneath a +willow-root to wait till the danger had passed. He strained his ears to +catch each different sound as the "thud, thud" and the patter of feet +came nearer. Then the gravel rattled, a stone fell into the stream, and +a shaggy spaniel poked his nose into a hole between the willow-roots. +The dog drew a long, noisy breath, and barked so suddenly and loudly, +and so close to Brighteye's ear, that the vole involuntarily leaped +from his resting place. + +In full view of the spaniel, Brighteye passed deep down into the clear, +unruffled pool, hurriedly using every limb, instead of only his +hind-legs, and with quick strokes gained the edge of the current, where +for an instant he rose to breathe before plunging deep once more and +continuing his journey towards the willows on the opposite bank. As he +dived for the second time, Bob saw him among the ripples, and with +shrill voice headed the clamouring hounds, that, "harking forward" to +his cry, rushed headlong in pursuit through shallow and pool. A stout, +lichen-covered branch, weighed down at the river's edge by a mass of +herbage borne thither by a recent heavy flood, occupied a corner in the +dense shadow of an alder; and the vole, climbing out of the water, sat +on it, and was hidden completely by the darkness from the eager hounds. +But his sanctuary was soon invaded; the indefatigable terrier, guided by +the tiny bubbles of scent borne down by the stream, left the river, and +ran, whimpering with excitement, straight to the alder. Brighteye saw +him approach, dived silently, and, with a wisdom he had never gained +from experience, turned in a direction quite contrary to that in which +the terrier expected him to flee. The vole moved slowly, right beneath +the dark form of the terrier now swimming in the backwater. On, on, he +went, past the stakes at the outlet of the pool into the trout-reach, +and still on, by a series of dives, each following a brief interval for +breath and observation among the sheltering weeds, till he arrived at +the pool above the cottage gardens, where a wide fringe of brushwood +formed an impenetrable thicket and he was safe from his pursuers. + +Hardly, however, was this long journey needed. The dog was baffled at +the outset; and, casting about for the lost scent, he discovered, on the +pebbles, the strong smell of the weasel that had wandered thither to +quench his thirst while Brighteye was feeding in the reed-bed opposite. +Bob never by any chance neglected the opportunity of killing a stoat or +a weasel; so, abandoning all thoughts of rats and voles, he dashed +upward through the wood, and, almost immediately closing on his prey, +destroyed a bloodthirsty little tyrant that, unknown to Brighteye, had +just been planning a raid on the burrow by the willow-stoles. + +Water-voles, as a rule, are silent little creatures; unless attacked or +frightened they seldom squeak as they move in and out of the lush +herbage by the riverside. But Brighteye was undoubtedly different from +his fellows: he was almost as noisy as a shrew in the dead leaves of a +tangled hedgerow, and his voice was like a shrew's, high-pitched and +continuous, but louder, so that I could hear him at some distance from +his favourite resort in the reeds and the rushes by the willows. He +seemed to be always talking to himself or to the flowers and the river +as he wandered to and fro in search of tit-bits; always debating with +himself as to the chances of finding a tempting delicacy; always +querulous of danger from some ravenous tyrant that might surprise him in +his burrow, or pounce on him unawares from the evening sky, or rise, +swift, relentless, eager, from the depths beneath him as he swam across +the pool. + +When I got to know him well, my favourite method, in learning of his +ways, was to lie in wait at a spot commanding a view of one or other of +the narrow lanes joining the main road of the riverside folk, and there, +my face hidden by a convenient screen of interlacing grass-stems, to +listen intently for his approach. Generally, for five minutes or so +before he chose to reach my hiding place, I could hear his shrill +piping, now faint and intercepted by a mound, or indistinct and mingled +with the swirl of the water around the stakes, then full and clear as he +gained the summit of a stone or ridge and came down the winding path +towards me. Though in his talkative moments Brighteye usually reminded +me of the tiny shrew, there were times when he reminded me more forcibly +of an eccentric mouse that, a few years before, had taken up her +quarters in the wall of my study, and each night, for more than a week, +when the children's hour was over and I sat in silence by my shaded +lamp, had made her presence known by a bird-like solo interrupted only +when the singer stayed to pick up a crumb on her way across the room. + +The times when Brighteye wandered, singing, singing, down the lanes and +main road of the river-bank, were, however, infrequent; and the surest +sign of his approach, before he came in sight, was the continuous, +gossiping twitter I have already described. This habit of singing and +twittering was not connected with amorous sentiments towards any sleek +young female; Brighteye adopted it long before he was of an age to seek +a mate, and he ceased practising his solos before the first winter set +in and the morning sun glanced between leafless trees on a dark flood +swirling over the reed-bed where in summer was his favourite feeding +place. + +Whether or not the other voles frequenting the burrow by the willows had +shown their disapproval of such a habit I was never able to discover. +One fact, however, seemed significant: Brighteye parted from his parents +as soon as he was sufficiently alert and industrious to manage his own +affairs, and, having hollowed out a plain, one-roomed dwelling, with an +exit under the surface of the water and another near some primrose-roots +above the level of flood, lived there for months, timid and lonely, yet +withal, if his singing might be regarded as the sign of a gladsome life, +the happiest vole in the shadowed pool above the village gardens. + +It has been supposed by certain naturalists that the song of the +house-mouse is the result of a disease in its throat, and is therefore a +precursor of death. The mouse that came to my study ceased her visits +soon after the week had passed and was never seen again; and I was +unable to determine how her end was hastened. Brighteye could not, at +any rate, have suffered seriously, else he would have succumbed, either +to some enemy ever ready to prey on the young, the aged, the sick, and +the wounded of his tribe, or to starvation, the well-nigh inevitable +follower of disease in animals. He always seemed to me to be full of +vitality and happiness, as if the dangers besetting his life only +provided him with wholesome excitement, and sharpened his intellect far +more finely than that of the rest of his tribe. + + + + +III. + +WILD HUNTING. + + +Once, during the first summer of the water-vole's life, I saw as pretty +a bit of wild hunting as I have ever witnessed, and my pleasure was +enhanced by the fact that the quarry escaped unharmed. Early in the +afternoon, instead of during twilight, I, in company with the members of +the village Hunt and their mongrel pack, had searched the stream and its +banks for rats, and had enjoyed good sport. Suddenly, however, our +ragamuffin hounds struck the line of nobler game: Lutra, the otter, was +astir in the pool. + +I was not surprised, for on the previous night, long after the moon had +risen and sleep had descended on the village, I, with Ianto the +fisherman, had passed the spot on returning from an angling expedition +eight or ten miles up-stream, and had stayed awhile to watch the most +expert of all river-fishers, as she dived and swam from bank to bank, +and sometimes, turning swiftly into the backwater, landed on the shingle +close by Brighteye's reed-bed, to devour at leisure a captured trout. + +Lutra soon baffled our inexpert hounds, and gained refuge in a "strong +place" well behind a fringe of alder-roots, whence Bob, notwithstanding +his most strenuous efforts, failed to "bolt" her. I then drew off the +hounds, led them towards the throat of the pool, and for a half hour +assisted them to work the "stale drag," till I reached a bend of the +river where Lutra's footprints were still visible on the fine, wet sand +at the brink of a rapid. + +Later, when the dogs were quietly resting at their homes, I returned, +alone, to my hiding place not far from Lutra's "holt." As long as +daylight lasted I saw nothing of vole or otter, though several brown +rats, undeterred by the disturbance of the early afternoon, came from +their burrows and ran boldly hither and thither through the arched +pathways of the rank grass by the edge of the bank. The afterglow faded +in the western sky around the old church beyond the village gardens; and +the night, though one by one the stars were lighted overhead, became so +dark that I could see nothing plainly except the white froth, in large +round masses, floating idly down the pool. I waited impatiently for the +moon to rise, for I feared lest the faint, occasional plashes in the +pool indicated that the otter had left her "holt," and would probably be +fishing in a distant pool when an opportunity for observation arrived. + +The night was strangely impressive, as it always is to me while I roam +through the woodlands or lie in hiding to watch the creatures that haunt +the gloom-wrapt clearings among the oaks and the beeches. In the +darkness, long intervals, during which nothing will be seen or heard, +must of necessity be spent by the naturalist; and in such intervals the +mind is often filled with what may, perhaps, be best described as the +spiritual influence of night, when the eyes turn upward to the stars or +to the lights of a lone farmstead twinkling through the trees, and +imagination, wondering greatly at its own daring, links time with +eternity, and the destinies of this little world with the affairs of a +limitless universe. + +At length the rim of the full moon appeared above the crest of the hill +behind the village, and gradually, as the orb ascended, the night became +brighter, till the whole surface of the pool, except for a fleeting +shadow, was clear and white, and a broad silver bar lay across the +ripples between me and the reed-bed on the further side. For a time no +sign of a living creature was visible; then a brown rat crept along the +bank beneath my hiding place; a dim form, which from its size I +concluded was that of Lutra, the otter, crossed a spit of sand about a +dozen yards above the reed-bed, where a moonbeam glanced through the +alders; and a big brown owl, silhouetted against the sky, flew silently +up-stream, and perched on a low, bare branch of a Scotch fir beside the +grass-grown path. + +After another uneventful interval a slight movement was observable in +the reeds directly opposite. Straight in the line of the silver bar a +water-vole came towards me, only the head of the little swimmer being +visible at the apex of a V-shaped wake lengthening rapidly behind him. +More than half-way across the pool a large boulder stood out of the +water, but the vole was heading towards the bank above. Then, apparently +without cause, he turned quickly and made straight for the stone. He had +barely landed and run round to hide in a shallow depression of the stone +when the water seemed to swell and heave immediately beside the boulder, +and Lutra's head, with wide-open jaws, shot above the current. +Disappointed, the otter vanished under the shining surface of the +stream, came to sight once more in an eddy between the boulder and the +bank, and once more disappeared. I was keenly interested, for every +movement of the vole and the otter had been plainly discernible, so +bright was the night, and so close were the creatures to my hiding +place; and, raising myself slightly, I crawled a few inches nearer the +edge of the overhanging bank. + +[Illustration: "AN OPPORTUNITY CAME, WHICH, HAD SHE BEEN POISED IN THE +AIR, COULD SCARCELY HAVE BEEN MISSED."] + +For a long time the vole, not daring to move, remained in the shadow. I +had almost concluded that he had dived through some crevice into the +dark water on the other side of the boulder, when he cautiously lifted +his head to the light, and crept into a grass-clump on the top of the +stone. Thence, after a little hesitation, he moved to the edge, as if +contemplating a second swim. Fastidious as to his toilet, even in the +presence of danger, he rose on his haunches and washed his round, furry +face. The action was almost fatal. The brown owl, that had doubtless +seen him by the grass-clump and had therefore left her perch in the +fir-tree, dropped like a bolt and hovered, with wings nearly touching +the silver stream, above the spot where she had marked her prey. But she +was too late--the vole had dived. Yet, even while, having alighted on +the boulder, the owl stood baffled by the disappearance of the vole, an +opportunity came, which, had she been poised in the air, could scarcely +have been missed. Close to the near bank a wave rose above the surface +of the eddy as Lutra, having seen the vole dive from the stone, again +hurried in pursuit. So fast was the otter that the momentum carried her +well into the shallows. But for the third time the vole escaped. I +indistinctly saw him scramble out, and run, with a shrill squeak, across +a ridge of sand, offering a second chance to the listening owl; and, +from his flight in the direction of the well known burrow, I concluded +that the hunted creature was russet-coated little Brighteye. But the +bird knew that she could not rise and swoop in time; so, probably +disturbed by the presence of the otter, she flew away down-stream just +as Lutra, since the vole was out of reach, glided from the sand and +philosophically turned her attention to less evasive trout and eels. + +Then all was motionless and silent, but for an occasional faint whistle +as Lutra fished in the backwater at the throat of the pool, the wailing +cry of the owl from the garden on the crest of the slope behind me, and +the ceaseless, gentle ripple of the river. At last, when the voices of +the otter and the owl were still, and when the shadows were +foreshortened as the moon gazed coldly down between the branches of the +fir, Brighteye, having recovered from his recent fright, left his +sanctuary by the roots of the willow, and wandered, singing, singing, +down the white, winding run-way and out into the main road of the +riverside people, till he came to a jutting branch above the river's +brim, whence he dived into the placid pool, and swam away towards the +reed-bed. Then the crossed shadows of the flags and hemlocks screened +him from my sight. + +The first autumn in the water-vole's life was a season of wonderful +beauty. A few successive frosts chilled the sap in the trees and the +bushes near the river, but were succeeded by a long period when the air +was crisp yet balmy, and not a breath of wind was noticeable except by +the birds and the squirrels high among the giant beeches around the old +garden, and when the murmur of summer insects was never heard by night, +and only by day if a chance drone-fly or humble-bee visited a surviving +clump of yellow ragweed by the run-way close to Brighteye's burrow. The +elms and the sycamores glowed with purple and bronze, the ash-trees and +the willows paled to lemon yellow, the oaks arrayed themselves in rich +and glossy olive green; while the beeches in the glade, and the brambles +along the outskirts of the thickets, ruddy and golden and glittering in +the brief, delicious autumn days, seemed to filter and yet stain the +mellow sunshine, and to fill each nook with liquid shadow as pure and +glorious as the blue and amber lights on the undulating hills. Spread on +the bosom of the brimming river, and broken, here and there, by creamy +lines of passing foam, the reflections of this beauty seemed to well and +bubble, from unfathomable deeps, around the "sly, fat fishes sailing, +watching all." + +The water became much colder than in summer; but Brighteye, protected by +a warm covering of thick, soft fur through which the moisture could not +penetrate, as well as by an over-garment of longer, coarser hair from +which the drops were easily shaken when he left the stream, hardly +noticed the change of temperature. But he well knew there were changes +in the surroundings of his home. The flags in the reed-bed were not so +succulent as they had been in early summer; the branches that sometimes +guided him as he swam from place to place seemed strangely bare and +grey; the clump of may-weed that, growing near his burrow, had served as +a beacon in the gloom, was faded to a few short brown tufts; and +nightly in his wanderings he was startled by the withered leaves that, +like fluttering birds, descended near him on the littered run-ways or on +the glassy surface of the river-reach. It was long before he became +accustomed to the falling of the leaves, and up to the time when every +bough was bare the rustling flight of a great chestnut plume towards him +never failed to rouse the fear first wakened by the owl, and to send him +on a long, breathless dive to the bottom of the pool. + +Brighteye was a familiar figure to all the river-folk, while he, in +turn, knew most of them, and had learned to distinguish between friends +and foes. But occasionally he made a slight mistake. Though shy, he was +as curious as the squirrel that, one afternoon when Brighteye was early +abroad, hopped down the run-way to make his acquaintance, and frightened +him into a precipitate retreat, then ran out to a branch above the +stream and loudly derided the creature apparently drowning in the +stream. + +An object of ceaseless curiosity to Brighteye was a water-shrew, not +more than half the size of the vole, that had come to dwell in the +pool, and had tunnelled out a burrow in the bank above the reed-bed. +Nightly, after supper, Brighteye made a circuit of the pool to find the +shrew, and with his companion swam hither and thither, till, startled by +some real or imagined danger, each of the playmates hurried to refuge, +and was lost awhile to the other amid the darkness and the solitude of +the silent hours. + +Brighteye soon became aware of the fact that some of the habits of the +shrew were entirely different from his own. While the vole was almost +entirely a vegetable feeder, the shrew, diving to the bed of the river, +would thrust his long snout between the stones, and pick up grubs and +worms and leeches sheltering there. With Brighteye's curiosity was +mingled not a little wonderment, for the shrew's furry coat presented a +strange contrast of black above and white beneath, and, immediately +after the shrew had dived, a hundred little bubbles, adhering to the +ends of his hair, caused him to appear like a silvery grey phantom, +gliding gracefully, though erratically, from stone to stone, from patch +to patch of water-weed, from ripple to ripple near the surface of the +stream. The young brown trout, hovering harmlessly above the rocky +shelves and in the sandy shallows, far from being a source of terror to +Brighteye, fled at his approach, and seldom returned to their haunts +till he had reached the far side of the current. Emboldened by the +example of the shrew, that sometimes made a raid among the minnows, and +desirous of keeping all intruders away from the lower entrance to his +burrow, Brighteye habitually chased the trout if they ventured within +the little bay before his home. But there was one trout, old and lean, +whose haunt was behind a weed-covered stone at the throat of the pool, +and of this hook-beaked, carnivorous creature, by which he had once been +chased and bitten, Brighteye went in such constant fear that he avoided +the rapid, and, directly he caught a glimpse of the long, dark form +roving through the gloomy depths, paddled with utmost haste to his +nearest landing place. + +Since, under the care of his mother, he made his earliest visit to the +reed-bed, Brighteye had seen hundreds of giant salmon; the restless +fish, however, did not stay long in the pool, but after a brief sojourn +passed upward. Often at dusk the salmon would leap clear into the air +just as Brighteye came to the surface after his first dive, and once so +near was a sportive fish that the vole became confused for the moment by +the sudden turmoil of the "rise," and rocked on the swell of the +back-wash like a boat on the waves of a tossing sea. During the summer +Brighteye had suffered nothing, beyond this one sudden fright, from the +visits of the great silvery fish to the neighbourhood of his home; and, +notwithstanding his experience, he was accustomed to dive boldly into +the depths of the "hovers," and even to regard without fear the approach +of an unusually inquisitive salmon. Late in the autumn, however, +Brighteye noticed, with unaccountable misgiving, a distinct change in +the appearance of these passing visitors. The silvery sheen had died +away from their scales, and had been succeeded by a dark, dull red; and +the fish were sluggish and ill-tempered. Besides, they were so numerous, +especially after a heavy rainfall, that the stream seemed barely able +to afford them room in their favourite "hovers," and the old trout, +previously an easy master of the situation, found it almost beyond his +powers to keep trespassers from his particular haunt in mid-current at +the throat of the pool. So occupied was he with this duty that he seldom +roamed into the little bays beneath the alder-fringes; and Brighteye, so +long as he avoided the rapid, was fairly safe from his attack. The +reed-bed, though partly submerged, still yielded the vole sufficient +food; and to reach it straight from his home he had to pass through the +shallows, which extended for a considerable distance up-stream and +down-stream from the gravelly stretch immediately outside the reeds. + +About the beginning of winter, when the migration of the salmon had +become intermittent, and the sea-trout had all passed upward beyond the +pool, two of the big, ugly "red fish," late arrivals at the "hover" +nearest the burrow, made a close inspection of the pool; then, instead +of following their kindred to the further reaches, they fell back toward +the tail of the stream and there remained. After the first week of +their stay, Brighteye found them so ill-tempered that he dared not +venture anywhere near the tail of the stream; and, as the big trout at +the top of the pool showed irritation at the least disturbance, the vole +was forced to wander down the bank, to a spot below the salmon, before +crossing the river on his periodical journeys to the reed-bed. His +kindred, still living in the burrow where he had been born, were +similarly daunted; while the shrew became the object of such frequent +attack--especially from the bigger of the two salmon, an old male with a +sinister, pig-like countenance and a formidable array of teeth--that +escape from disaster was little short of miraculous. + +Having calculated to a nicety his chances of escape, and having decided +to avoid at all times the haunts of the pugnacious fish, Brighteye was +seldom inconvenienced, except that he had to pass further than hitherto +along the bank before taking to the water, and thus had to risk attack +from weasels and owls. But soon, to his dismay, he discovered that the +salmon had shifted their quarters to the shallow close by the reeds. He +was swimming one night as usual into the quiet water by the reed-bed, +and, indeed, had entered a narrow, lane-like opening among the stems, +when he felt a quick, powerful movement in the water, and saw a +mysterious form turn in pursuit of him, and glide swiftly away with a +mighty effort that caused a wave to ripple through the reeds, while the +outer stalks bent and recoiled as if from the force of a powerful blow. +On the following night he was chased almost to the end of the opening +among the reeds, and barely escaped; but this time he recognised his +pursuer. Afterwards, having unexpectedly met the shrew, he crept with +his companion along by the water's edge as far as the ford, and spent +the dark hours in a strange place, till at dawn he crossed the rough +water, and sought his home by a path the further part of which he had +not previously explored. + + + + +IV. + +SAVED BY AN ENEMY. + + +The days were dim and the nights long, and thick, drenching mists hung +over the gloomy river. The salmon's family affairs had reached an +important stage; and the "redd," furrowed in the gravel by the mated +fish, contained thousands of newly deposited eggs. And, as many of the +river-folk, from the big trout to the little water-shrew, continually +threatened a raid on the spawn, the salmon guarded each approach to the +shallows with unremitting vigilance. + +It happened, unfortunately for Brighteye, that, while the construction +of the "redd" was in progress, some of the eggs--unfertilised and +therefore not heavy enough to sink to the bottom of the water--were +borne slowly by the current to the ford below the pool, just as the +shrew was occupied there in vain attempts to teach the vole how to hunt +for insects among the pebbles. + +If Brighteye had been at all inclined to vary his diet, he would at that +moment have yielded to temptation. Everywhere around him the trout were +exhibiting great eagerness, snapping up the delicacies as they drew +near, and then moving forward on the scent in the direction of the +"redd." The shrew joined in the quest; and Brighteye, full of curiosity, +swam beside his playmate in the wake of the hungry trout. The vole found +quite a shoal of fish collected near the reeds; and for a few moments he +frolicked about the edge of the shallow. He could see nothing of the old +male salmon, though he caught a glimpse of the female busy with her +maternal duties at the top of the "redd." + +After diving up-stream and along by the line of the eager trout, he rose +to breathe at the surface, when, suddenly, the river seemed alive with +trout scattering in every direction, a great upheaval seemed to part the +water, and he himself was gripped by one of his hind-feet and dragged +violently down and across to the deep "hover" near his home. The salmon +had at last outwitted the vole. The current was strong, and beneath its +weight Brighteye's body was bent backwards till his fore-paws rested on +the salmon's head. Mad with rage and fright, he clawed and bit at the +neck of his captor. Gradually his strength was giving way, and for want +of air he was losing consciousness, when, like a living bolt, Lutra, the +otter, to save unwittingly a life that she had erstwhile threatened, +shot from the darkness of the river-bed, and fixed her teeth in the neck +of the salmon scarcely more than an inch from the spot to which the vole +held fast in desperation. In the struggle that ensued, and ended only +when Lutra had carried her prey to shore, Brighteye, half suffocated and +but faintly apprehending what had taken place, was released. Like a cork +he rose to the surface, where he lay outstretched and gasping, while the +current carried him swiftly to the ford, and thence to the pool beneath +the village gardens. Having recovered sufficiently to paddle feebly +ashore, he sat for a time in the safe shelter of a rocky ledge, +unnoticed by the brown rats as they wandered through the tall, withered +grass-clumps high above his hiding place. At last he got the better of +his sickness and fright; and, notwithstanding the continued pain of his +scarred limbs, he brushed his furry coat and limped homeward just as the +dawn was silvering the grey, silent pool where the lonely salmon guarded +the "redd" and waited in vain for the return of her absent mate. + +Brighteye took to heart his own escape from death, and for several +nights moped and pined, ate little, and frequented only a part of the +river-bank in proximity to his burrow. As soon, however, as the tiny +scars on his leg were healed, he ventured again to the river; and for a +period danger seldom threatened him. While he was unceasingly vigilant, +and always ready to seek with utmost haste the safety of his home, a new +desire to take precautions against the probability of attack possessed +him. When, at dusk, he stole out from the upper entrance of his +dwelling, he crouched on the grassy ledge at the river's brim and peered +into the little bay below. If nothing stirred between the salmon "hover" +and the bank, he dropped quietly into the pool, inhaled a long, deep +breath, dived beneath the willow-roots, and watched, through the clear +depths, each moving fish or swaying stem of river-weed within the range +of his vision. But not till, after several visits to his water-entrance, +he was perfectly convinced of the absence of danger, did he dare to +brave the passage of the pool. + +The water-entrance to the vole's burrow was situated about a foot below +the summer level of the river, and in a kind of buttress of gravel and +soil, which, at its base, sloped abruptly inwards like an arch. This +buttress jutted out at the lower corner of a little horse-shoe bay; and +hereabouts, during summer, a shoal of minnows had often played, +following each other in and out of every nook and cranny beneath the +bank, or floating up and flashing in sun-flecked ripples faintly stirred +by a breeze that wandered lightly from across the stream. + +Ordinarily, Brighteye found that the hole in the perpendicular bank +served its purpose well; at the slightest disturbance he could escape +thither, and, safe from pursuit, climb the irregular stairway to the +hollow chamber above high-water mark. But it was different in times of +flood. If he had to flee from the big trout, or from the otter, when the +stream rushed madly past his open doorway, he found that an interval, +which, however brief, was sufficient to imperil his life, must +necessarily elapse before he could secure a foothold in his doorway and +lift himself into the dark recess beyond. + +[Illustration: "THE BIG TROUT, IN HIS TORPEDO-LIKE RUSH TO CUT OFF +BRIGHTEYE FROM SURE REFUGE." (_See_ p. 105).] + +Lutra had almost caught him after his adventure with the owl. He had, +however, eluded the otter by diving, in the nick of time, from the stone +to which he clung before the entrance, and then seeking the land. If he +had been an instant later, she would have picked him off, as a bat picks +a moth from a lighted window-pane, and he would never have reached the +down-stream shallow. At that time the water, clearing after a summer +freshet, was fairly low. Brighteye's danger in some wild winter flood +would, therefore, be far greater; so, timorous from his recent +experiences, and sufficiently intelligent to devise and carry out plans +by which he would secure greater safety, he occupied his spare time in +the lengthening nights with driving a second shaft straight inward +from the chamber to a roomy natural hollow among the willow-roots, and +thence in devious course, to avoid embedded stones, downward to a tiny +haven in the angle of the buttress far inside the archway of the bank, +where the space was so confined that the otter could not possibly follow +him. Even the big trout, in his torpedo-like rush to cut off Brighteye +from sure refuge, utterly failed to turn, and then enter the narrow +archway, in time to catch the artful vole. + +The task of digging out the second tunnel was exceedingly arduous; yet, +on its completion, Brighteye, taught by the changes going on around him +that months of scarcity were impending, set to work again about half-way +between his sleeping chamber and the upper entrance of the burrow. Here +he scratched out a small, semicircular "pocket," which he filled with +miscellaneous supplies--seeds of many kinds, a few beech-nuts, +hazel-nuts, and acorns, as well as roots of horse-tail grass and fibrous +river-weed. + +He was careful, like his small relative the field-vole, and like the +squirrel in the woods above the river-bank, to harvest only ripe, +undamaged seeds and nuts; and in making his choice he was helped by his +exquisite sense of smell. He found some potatoes and carrots--so small +that they had been dropped as worthless by a passing labourer on the +river-path--and selected the best, leaving the others to rot among the +autumn leaves. As the "pocket" was inadequate to contain his various +stores, the vole used the chamber also as a granary, and slept in the +warm, dry hollow by the willow-roots. + +In the depth of winter, when the mist-wreaths on the stream were icy +cold and brought death to the sleeping birds among the branches of the +leafless alders, and when Lutra, ravenous with hunger, chased the great +grey trout from his "hover," but lost him in a crevice near the stakes, +Brighteye, saved from privation by his hoarded provender, seldom +ventured from his home. But if the night was mild and the stars were not +hidden by a cloud of mist, he would steal along his run-way to the main +road of the riverside people, strip the bark from the willow-stoles, and +feed contentedly on the juicy pith; while his friend, the shrew, busy in +the shallows near the reed-bed, searched for salmon-spawn washed from +the "redd" by the turbulent flood, or for newly hatched fry no longer +guarded by the lonely parent fish long since departed on her way to the +distant sea. + +The spirit of winter brooded over the river valley. The faint summer +music of the gold-crest in the fir-tops, the sweet, flute-like solo of +the meditative thrush in the darkness of the hawthorn, and the weird, +continuous rattle of the goatsucker perched moveless on an oak-bough +near the river-bend, were no longer heard when at dusk Brighteye left +his burrow and sat, watching and listening, on the little eminence above +the river's brink. Even the drone of the drowsy beetle, swinging over +the ripples of the shadowed stream or from tuft to tuft of grass beside +the woodland path, had ceased. But at times the cheery dipper still sang +from the boulder whence the vole had dived to escape the big brown owl; +and, when other birds had gone to sleep, the robin on the alder-spray +and the wren among the willow-stoles piped their glad vespers to assure +a saddened world that presently the winter's gloom would vanish before +the coming of another spring. + +Like a vision of glory, which, in the first hour of some poor wanderer's +sleep, serves but to mock awhile his awakened mind with recollections of +a happy past, so had the Indian summer shone on Nature's tired heart, +and mocked, and passed away. The last red roseleaf had fluttered +silently down; the last purple sloe had fallen from its sapless stem. + +A sharp November frost was succeeded by a depressing month of mist and +drizzling rain. Then the heavens opened, and for day after day, and +night after night, their torrents poured down the stony water-courses of +the hills. The river rose beyond the highest mark of summer freshets, +till the low-lying meadow above the village was converted into a lake, +and Brighteye's burrow disappeared beneath the surface of a raging +flood. + +Gifted with a mysterious knowledge of Nature's moods--which all wild +animals in some degree possess--the vole had made ready for the sudden +change. On the night preceding the storm, when in the mist even the +faintest sounds seemed to gain in clearness and intensity, he had +hollowed out for himself a temporary dwelling among the roots of a +moss-grown tree on the steep slope of the wood behind the river-path, +and had carried thither all his winter supplies from the granary where +first they had been stored. + +Brighteye was exposed to exceptional danger by his compulsory retirement +from the old burrow in the river-bank. Stoats and weasels were ever on +the prowl; no water-entrance afforded him immediate escape from their +relentless hostilities, and he was almost as liable to panic, if pursued +for any considerable distance on land, as were the rabbits living on the +fringe of the gravel-pit within the heart of the silent wood. If a +weasel or a stoat had entered the vole's new burrow during the period +when the flood was at its highest, only the most fortunate circumstances +could have saved its occupant. Even had he managed to flee to the river, +his plight would still have been pitiful. Unable to find security in his +former retreat, and effectually deterred by the lingering scent of his +pursuers from returning to his woodland haunts, Brighteye, a homeless, +hungry little vagabond, at first perplexed, then risking all in search +of food and rest, would inevitably have met his fate. + +But neither stoat nor weasel learned of his new abode. His burrow was +high and dry in the gravelly soil under the tree-trunk; and before his +doorway, as far as a hollow at the river's verge, stretched a natural +path of rain-washed stones on which the line of his scent could never +with certainty be followed. While many of his kindred perished, +Brighteye survived this period of flood; and when the waters, having +cleansed each riverside dwelling, abated to their ordinary winter level, +he returned to his burrow in the buttress by the stakes, and once more +felt the joy of living in safety among familiar scenes. + +Since the leaves had fallen, the brown rats had become fewer and still +fewer along the river, and, when the flood subsided, it might have been +found that none of these creatures remained in their summer haunts. They +had emigrated to the rick-yard near the village inn; many of the stoats +and weasels, finding provender scarce, had followed in their footsteps; +and Brighteye and his kindred, with the water-shrews, the moorhens, and +the coots, were unmolested in their wanderings both by night and day. + +The vole's favourite reed-bed was now seldom visited. Besides being +inundated, it was silted so completely with gravel that to cut through +the submerged stems would have been an arduous and almost impossible +task. Luckily, in his journeys along the edge of the shallows during the +flood, Brighteye had found a sequestered pond, near an old hedgerow +dividing the wood, where tender duckweed was plentiful, and, with +delicious roots of watercress, promised him abundant food. Every evening +he stole through the shadows, climbed the leaf-strewn rabbit-track by +the hedge, and swam across the pond from a dark spot beneath some +brambles to the shelter of a gorse-bush overhanging the weeds. There he +was well protected from the owl by an impenetrable prickly roof, while +he could readily elude, by diving, any stray creature attacking him from +land. + +Winter dragged slowly on its course, and, just as the first prophecy of +spring was breathed by the awakening woodlands, the warm west breezes +ceased to blow, and the bleak north wind moaned drearily among the +trees. Night after night a sheet of ice spread and thickened from the +shallows to the edge of the current, the wild ducks came down to the +river from the frost-bound moors, and great flocks of geese, whistling +loudly in the starlit sky, passed on their southward journey to the +coast. + +For the first few nights Brighteye left his chamber only when acute +hunger drove him to his storehouse in the wood. Directly he had fed, he +returned home, and settled once more to sleep. At last his supplies were +exhausted, and he was forced to subsist almost entirely on the pith +beneath the bark of the willows. The pond by the hedgerow was sealed +with ice, and he suffered much from the lack of his customary food. +Half-way between his sleeping chamber and its water-entrance, a floor of +ice prevented ready access to the river; and, under this floor, a +hollow, filled with air, was gradually formed as the river receded from +the level it had reached on the first night of frost. Brighteye's only +approach to the outer world was, therefore, through the upper doorway. +All along the margin of the pool, as far as the swift water beyond the +stakes, the ice-shelf was now so high above the river that even to a +large animal like the otter it offered no landing place. Only at the +stakes, where the dark, cold stream flowed rapidly between two blocks of +ice, could Brighteye enter or leave the river. Partly because, if he +should be pursued, the swiftness of the stream was likely to lessen his +chances of escape, and partly because of a vague but ever-present +apprehension of danger, he avoided this spot. It was fortunate that he +did so; Lutra, knowing well the ways of the riverside people, often +lurked in hiding under the shelf of ice beyond the stakes, and, when she +had gone from sight, the big, gaunt trout came slyly from his refuge by +the boulder and resumed his tireless scrutiny of everything that passed +his "hover." At last a thaw set in, and Brighteye, awakening on the +second day from his noontide sleep, heard the great ice-sheet crack, and +groan, and fall into the river. + +When darkness came he hurried to the water's brink, and, almost reckless +with delight, plunged headlong into the pool. He tucked his fore-paws +beneath his chin, and, with quick, free strokes of his hind-legs, dived +deep to the very bottom of the backwater. Thence he made a circle of the +little bay, and, floating up to the arch before his dwelling, sought the +inner entrance, where, however, the ice had not yet melted. He dived +once more, and gained the outer entrance in the front of the buttress, +but there, also, the ice was thick and firm. He breathed the cold, damp +air in the hollow beneath the ice, then glided out and swam to land. The +tiny specks of dirt, which, since the frost kept him from the river, had +matted his glossy fur, seemed now completely washed away, and he felt +delightfully fresh and vigorous as he sat on the grass, and licked and +brushed each hair into place. His toilet completed, he ran gaily up the +bank to his storehouse under the tree, but only to find it empty. Not in +the least disheartened, he climbed the rabbit-track, rustled over the +hedge-bank to the margin of the pond, and there, as in the nights before +the frost, feasted eagerly on duckweed and watercress. On the following +day the ice melted in the shaft below his chamber, and he was thus saved +the trouble of tunnelling a third water-passage--as a ready means of +escape from the otter and the big trout, as well as from a chance weasel +or stoat--which, if the ice had not disappeared, he surely would have +made as soon as his vigour was fully restored. + + + + +V. + +THE COURAGE OF FEAR. + + +The dawn, with easy movement, comes across the eastern hills; the mists +roll up from steaming hollows to a cloudless sky; the windows of a +farm-house in the dingle gleam and sparkle with the light. So came the +fair, unhesitating spring; so rolled the veil of winter's gloom away; so +gleamed and sparkled with responsive greeting every tree and bush and +flower in the awakened river valley. The springs and summers of our life +are few, yet in each radiant dawn and sunrise they may, in brief, be +found. + +Filled with the restlessness of springtide life--a restlessness felt by +all wild creatures, and inherited by man from far distant ages when, +depending on the hunt for his sustenance, he followed the migrations of +the beasts--Brighteye often left his retreat much earlier in the +afternoon than had been his wont, and stole along the river-paths even +while the sunshine lingered on the crest of the hill and on the ripples +by the stakes below the pool. + +Prompted by an increasing feeling of loneliness and a strong desire that +one of his kindred should share with him his comfortable home, he +occupied much of his time in enlarging the upper chamber of the burrow +till it formed a snug, commodious sleeping place ceiled by the twisted +willow-roots; and, throwing the soil behind him down the shaft, he +cleared the floor till it was smooth and level. Then he boldly sallied +forth, determined to wander far in search of a mate rather than remain a +bachelor. He proceeded down-stream beside the trout-reach, and for a +long time his journey was in vain. He heard a faint plash on the surface +of the water, and at once his little heart beat fast with mingled hope +and fear; but the sound merely indicated that the last of winter's +withered oak-leaves, pushed gently aside by a swelling bud, had fallen +from the bough. Suddenly, from the ruined garden above him on the brow +of the slope, came the dread hunting cry of his old enemy, the tawny +owl. Even as the first weird note struck with far-spreading resonance on +the silence of the night, all longing and hope forsook the vole. +Realising only that he was in a strange place far from home, and exposed +to many unknown dangers, he sat as moveless as the pebbles around him, +till, from a repetition of the cry, he learned that the owl was +departing into the heart of the wood. Then, silently, he journeyed +onward. Further and still further--past the rocky shelf where he had +landed after his escape from the salmon, and into a region honeycombed +with old, deserted rat-burrows, and arched with prostrate trees and +refuse borne by flood--he ventured, his fear forgotten in the strength +of his desire. + +Close beside the river's brink, as the shadows darkened, he found the +fresh scent of a female vole. He followed it eagerly, through shallow +and whirlpool and stream, to a spit of sand among some boulders, where +he met, not the reward of his labour and longing, but a jealous admirer +of the dainty lady he had sought to woo. After the manner of their kind +in such affairs, the rivals ruffled with rage, kicked and squealed as +if to declare their reckless bravery, and closed in desperate battle. +Their polished teeth cut deeply, and the sand was furrowed and pitted by +their straining feet. Several times they paused for breath, but only to +resume the fight with renewed energy. The issue was, however, at last +decided. Brighteye, lying on his back, used his powerful hind-claws with +such effect that, when he regained his footing, he was able, almost +unresisted, to get firm hold of his tired opponent, and to thrust him, +screaming with pain and baffled rage, into the pool. + +The female vole had watched the combat from a recess in the bank; and, +when the victor returned from the river, she crept out trustfully to +meet him, and licked his soiled and ruffled fur. But for the moment +Brighteye was not in a responsive mood. Though his body thrilled at the +touch of her warm, soft tongue, he recognised that his first duty was to +make his conquest sure. His strength had been taxed to the utmost, and, +since his rage was expended and his tiny wounds were beginning to smart, +he feared a second encounter and the possible loss of his lady-love. +So, with simulated anger, he drove her before him along the up-stream +path and into the network of deserted run-ways by the trout-reach. There +his mood entirely changed; and soon, in simple, happy comradeship, he +led her to his home. + +Brighteye was a handsome little fellow. At all times he had been careful +in his toilet, but now, pardonably vain, he fastidiously occupied every +moment of leisure in brushing and combing his long, fine, soft fur. Both +in appearance and habits he was altogether different from the +garbage-loving rat. His head was rounder and blunter than the rat's, his +feet were larger and softer, and his limbs and his tail were shorter. On +the under side his feet were of a pale pink colour, but on the upper +side they were covered, like the field-vole's, with close, stiff hair +set in regular lines from the toes to the elbows of the front limbs and +to the ankles of the hind-legs, where the long, fine fur of the body +took its place. A slight webbing crossed the toes of his hind-feet--so +slight, indeed, that it assisted him but little in swimming--and his +tiny, polished claws were plum-coloured. Except when he was listening +intently for some sign of danger, his small, round ears were almost +concealed in his thick fur. His mate was of smaller and more delicate +build--this was especially noticeable when once I saw her swim with +Brighteye through the clear water beneath the bank--and she was clad in +sombre brown and grey. + +Household and similar duties soon began to claim attention in and around +the riverside dwelling. The green grass was growing rapidly under the +withered blades that arched the run-ways between the river's brink and +the woodland path; and, as the voles desired to keep these run-ways +clear, they assiduously cut off all encroaching stems and brushed them +aside. The stems dried, and in several places formed a screen beneath +which the movements of the voles were not easily discernible. Selecting +the best of the dry grass-stalks, the voles carried them home, and, +after much labour, varied with much consultation in which small +differences of opinion evidently occurred, completed, in the sleeping +chamber beneath the willow-roots, a large, round nest. The magnitude of +their labour could be easily inferred from the appearance of the nest: +each grass-blade carried thither had been bitten into dozens of +fragments, and the structure filled the entire space beyond the first of +the exposed roots, though its interior, till from frequent use it +changed its form, seemed hardly able to accommodate the female vole. + +In this tight snuggery, at a time when the corncrake's nocturnal music +was first heard in the meadow by the pool, five midget water-voles, +naked and blind, were born. Brighteye listened intently to the faint, +unmistakable family noises issuing therefrom, and then, like a +thoughtful dry-nurse, went off to find for his mate a tender white root +of horse-tail grass. For several nights he was assiduous in his +attentions to the mother vole; and afterwards, his house-keeping duties +being suspended, he became a vigilant sentinel, maintaining constant +watch over the precious family within his home. + +When the baby voles were about a week old, a large brown rat, that on +several occasions in the previous year had annoyed the youthful +Brighteye, returned to the pool. Wandering through the run-ways, the +monster chanced to discover the opening from the bank to Brighteye's +chamber, and, thinking that here was a place admirably suited for a +summer resort, proceeded to investigate. The vole scented him +immediately, and, though the weaker animal, climbed quickly out and with +tooth and nail fell upon the intruder. An instant later, the mother vole +appeared, and with even greater ferocity than that of her mate joined in +the keen affray in order to defend her home and family to the utmost of +her powers. But the rat possessed great strength and cruel teeth, and +his size and weight were such that for several minutes he successfully +maintained his position. With desperate efforts, the voles endeavoured +to pull the rat into the water, where, as they knew, their advantage +would be greater than on land. They succeeded at last in forcing him +over the bank, and in the pool proceeded to punish him to such an +extent--clinging to his neck by their teeth and fore-feet, while they +used their hind-claws with painful effect on his body--that, dazed by +their drastic methods and almost suffocated, he reluctantly gave up the +struggle, and floated, gasping, down the stream. + +The mother vole, though she and her spouse had proved victorious, was so +unsettled by the rat's incursion, that, as a cat carries her kittens, +she carried each of her young in turn from their nest to a temporary +refuge in a clump of brambles. Still dissatisfied, she removed them +thence to a shallow depression beside one of the run-ways, where, +throughout the night, she nursed them tenderly. At daybreak she took +them back to the warmth and the comfort of the nest. Shortly afterwards, +when their eyes were opened and they were following the parent voles on +one of their customary night excursions, the mother found herself face +to face with a far more formidable antagonist than the rat. + +The baby voles, like the offspring of nearly all land animals that have +gradually become aquatic in their habits, were at first strangely averse +from entering the water, and had to be taken by their parents into the +pool. There the anxious mother, firm yet gentle in her system of +education, watched their every movement, and encouraged them to follow +her about the backwaters and shallows near their home. But if either of +them showed the faintest sign of fatigue, the mother dived quietly and +lifted the tired nursling to the surface. + +Late one evening, while the parent voles were busy with their work of +family training, the old cannibal trout suddenly appeared, rose quickly +at one of the youngsters swimming near the edge of the current, but, +through a slight miscalculation, failed to clutch his prize. The mother +vole, ever on the alert, plunged down, and, heedless of danger, darted +towards her enemy. For a second or two she manoeuvred to obtain a grip, +then, as she turned to avoid attack, the jaws of the trout opened wide, +and, like a steel trap, closed firmly on her tail. Maddened with rage +and pain, she raised herself quickly, clutched at the back of her +assailant, and buried her sharp, adze-shaped teeth--that could strip a +piece of willow-bark as neatly as could a highly tempered tool of +steel--in the flesh behind his gills. So sure and speedy was her action, +that she showed no sign of fatigue when she reached the surface of the +water, and the trout, his spinal column severed just behind his gills, +drifted lifelessly away. + +Though the young voles, in the tunnelled buttress of the river-bank, +lived under the care of experienced parents ever ready and resolute in +their defence, and became as shy and furtive as the wood-mice dwelling +in the hollows of the hedge beside the pond, they were not always +favoured by fortune. The weakling of the family died of disease; another +of the youngsters, foraging alone in the wood, was killed by a +bloodthirsty weasel; while a third, diving to pick up a root of +water-weed, was caught by the neck in the fork of a submerged branch, +and drowned. + +During the autumn and the winter the survivors remained with their +parents; the burrow was enlarged and improved by the addition of new +granaries for winter supplies, new water-entrances to facilitate escape +in times of panic, and a new, commodious sleeping chamber, strewn with +hay and withered reeds, at the end of a long tunnel extending almost +directly beneath the river-path. The supplies in the granaries were, +however, hardly needed: the winter was exceptionally mild, and the voles +were generally able to obtain duckweed and watercress for food. Often, +on my way to the ruined garden, I noticed their footprints--indistinctly +outlined on the gravel, but deep and triangular where the creatures +climbed through soft and yielding soil--along the path leading to the +pond in the pasture near the wood. + +When spring came once more, and the scented primroses gleamed faintly in +the gloom beside the upper entrance to the burrow, and the corncrake, +babbling loudly, wandered through the growing grass at the foot of the +meadow-hedge, the household of the voles was broken up. The young ones +found partners, and, in homes not far from the burrow by the +willow-stoles, settled down to the usual life of the vole, a life of +happiness and yet of peril. + +For still another year Brighteye's presence was familiar to me. I often +watched him as he sat at the water's edge above the buttress, or on the +stone in mid-stream, or on the half-submerged root of a tree washed into +an angle of the pool above the stakes, and as, after his usual toilet +observances, he swam thence across the reed-bed opposite the "hover" +where, in autumn, the breeding salmon lurked. + +Then, for many months, I lived far from the well loved village. But one +winter evening, after a long journey, I returned. The snow, falling +rapidly, blotted out the prospect of the silent hills. The village +seemed asleep; the shops were closed for the weekly holiday; not a +footfall could be heard, not even a dog could be seen, down the long +vista of the straggling street. The white walls of the cottages, and the +white snow-drifts banked beside the irregular pavements, were in +complete contrast to the radiant summer scene on which my eyes had +lingered when I left the village. My feeling of cheerlessness was not +dispelled even by the warmth and comfort of the little inn. Oppressed by +the evidences of change, which in my disappointment were, no doubt, much +exaggerated, I left the inn, and, heedless of the piercing cold and the +driving snow, made my way towards the river. As I approached the stakes +below the pool, a golden-eye duck rose from beside the bank, and on +whistling wings flew swiftly into the gloom. I crouched in the shelter +of a holly tree, and waited and watched till the cold became +unendurable; but no other sign of life was visible; the pool was +deserted. + +In summer I returned home to stay, and then, as of old, I often wandered +by the river. Evening after evening, till long after the last red glow +had faded from the western hill-tops, I lingered by the pool. The owl +sailed slowly past; the goatsucker hawked for moths about the oaks; the +trout rose to the incautious flies; the corncrake babbled loudly in the +long, lush meadow grass. A family of voles swam in and out of the +shallows opposite my hiding place; but none of the little animals +approached the buttress near the stakes. Frequently I saw their +footprints on the sandy margin, but never the footprints of Brighteye. +Somehow, somewhere, he had met relentless fate. + + + + +THE FIELD-VOLE. + +I. + +HIDDEN PATHWAYS IN THE GRASS. + + +The sun had set, the evening was calm, and a mist hung over the +countryside when a field-vole appeared at the mouth of his burrow in a +mossy pasture. The little grey creature was one of the most timorous of +the feeble folk dwelling in the pleasant wilderness of the Valley of +Olwen. His life, like that of Brighteye, the water-vole, was beset with +enemies; but Nature had given to him, as to the water-vole, acute senses +of sight, and smell, and hearing, and a great power of quick and +intelligent action. He had lived four years, survived a hundred dangers, +and reared twenty healthy families; and his wits were so finely +sharpened that he was recognised by a flourishing colony, which had +gradually increased around his moss-roofed home, as the wisest and most +wide-awake field-vole that ever nibbled a turnip or harvested a seed. + +For a moment the vole sat in the mouth of the burrow, with nothing of +himself visible but a blunt little snout twitching as he sniffed the +air, and two beady eyes moving restlessly as he peered into the sky. +Suddenly he leaped out and squatted beside the nearest stone. A robin, +disturbed in his roosting place by another of his kind, flew from the +hedge in furious pursuit of the intruder, and passed within a few inches +of the burrow. The vole, alarmed by the rush of wings, instantly +vanished; but soon, convinced that no cause for fear existed, he again +left his burrow and for several minutes sat motionless by the stone. + +He was not, however, idle--a field-vole is never idle save when he +sleeps--but he was puzzled by the different sounds and scents and sights +around him; they had become entangled, and while he watched and listened +his mind was trying to pick out a thread of meaning here and there. What +was the cause of that angry chatter, loud, prolonged, insistent, in the +fir plantation at the bottom of the field? Some unwelcome creature, bent +on mischief--perhaps a weasel or a cat--was wandering through the +undergrowth, and the blackbirds, joined by the finches, the wrens, and +the tits, were endeavouring to drive it from the neighbourhood. +Gradually the noisy birds followed the intruder to the far end of the +slope; then, returning to their roosting places, they squabbled for the +choice of sheltered perches among the ivied boughs. Silence fell on +upland and valley; and the creatures of the night crept forth from bank +and hedgerow, and the thickets of the wood, to play and feed under the +friendly protection of the fast-gathering gloom. But the field-vole +would not venture from his lair beside the stone. + +A convenient tunnel, arched with grass-bents, led thither from the +burrow, the post of observation being shaped through frequent use into +an oval "form." The vole, though anxious to begin his search for food, +was not satisfied that the way was clear to the margin of the fir +plantation, for the air was infused with many odours, some so strong and +new that he could easily have followed their lines, but others so faint +and old that their direction and identity were alike uncertain. From the +signs that were fresh the vole learned the story of field-life for the +day. Horses, men, and hounds had hurried by in the early morning, and +with their scent was mingled that of a fleeing fox. Later, the farmer +and his dog had passed along the hedge, a carrion crow had fed on a +scrap of refuse not a yard from the stone, and a covey of partridges had +"dusted" in the soft soil before leaving the pasture by a gap beside a +clump of furze. Blackbirds, thrushes, yellow-hammers, and larks had +wandered by in the grass, a wood-pigeon and a squirrel had loitered +among the acorns under the oak, and a hedgehog had led her young through +the briars. Rabbits, too, had left their trails in the clover, and a red +bank-vole had strayed near the boundaries of the field-vole's colony. +Their signs were familiar to the vole from experience; he detected them +and singled them out from the old trails with a sense even truer than +that of the hounds as they galloped past in the morning's chase. + +There was one distinct scent, however, that baffled him. At first he +believed it to be that of a weasel, but it lacked the pungent strength +inseparable from the scent of a full-grown "vear." + +Gathering courage as the darkness deepened, the field-vole rustled from +his lair, ran quickly down the slope, and crept through a wattled +opening into the wood. He found some fallen hawthorn berries among the +hyacinth leaves that carpeted the ground, and of these he made a hasty +meal, sitting on his haunches, and holding his food in his fore-paws as +he gnawed the firm, succulent flesh about the kernel of the seed. Then, +with a swift patter of tiny feet on the leaf-mould, he ran down to a +rill trickling over a gravelly bed towards the brook, stooped at the +edge of a dark pool in the shadow of a stone, and lapped the cool, clear +water. Thence he made for the edge of the wood, to visit a colony of his +tribe which in spring had migrated from the burrows in the uplands. +Half-way on his journey, he again suddenly crossed the line of the +unknown scent, now mingled with the almost overpowering smell of a +full-grown weasel. The mystery was explained: the strange trail in the +upland meadow had evidently been that of a young "vear" passing by the +hedge to join its parent in the wood. + +For a moment the vole stood petrified with terror; then he sank to the +earth, and lay as still as the dead leaves beneath him. But there was no +time to be lost; the "vears" were returning on their trail. In an agony +of fear the mouse turned back towards his home. He ran slowly, for his +limbs almost refused their office of bearing him from danger. Reaching +the mouth of his burrow with great difficulty, he dropped headlong down +a shallow shaft leading to one of the numerous galleries. Then, lo! his +mood immediately changed; his reasoning powers became strong and clear; +his parental instincts whispered that his family, like himself, was in +peril. Squeaking all the while, he raced down one tunnel, then down +another, turned a sharp corner beneath an archway formed by the roots of +a tree that had long ago been felled; and there, in a dry nest of hay +and straw, he found his mate with her helpless little family of six +blind, semi-transparent sucklings only three days old. He heard on every +side the quick scamper of feet as, alarmed by his cries, the voles +inhabiting the side passages of the burrow scurried hither and thither +in wild efforts to remove their young to some imagined place of safety. + +[Illustration: "SHE WAS HOLDING ONE OF HER OFFSPRING BY THE NECK, IN +PREPARATION FOR FLIGHT." (_See_ p. 139).] + +His mate, like her neighbours, had already taken alarm. At the moment of +his arrival she was holding one of her offspring by the neck, in +preparation for flight. The next instant an ominous hiss reverberated +along the hollow passages; the mother vole, with her suckling, vanished +in the darkness of the winding gallery; and the weasels descended into +the labyrinth of tunnels hollowed out beneath the moss. + +Again an almost overwhelming fear possessed the hunted vole, his limbs +stiffened, his condition seemed helpless. He crawled slowly hither and +thither, now passing some fellow-creature huddled in the corner of a +blind alley; now lifting himself above ground to seek refuge in another +part of the burrow; now pausing to listen to cries of pain which +indicated how thoroughly the "vears" were fulfilling their gruesome +work. It seemed that the whole colony of voles was being exterminated. + +Bewildered, after an hour of unmitigated dread, he quitted the place of +slaughter, where every nook and corner reeked of blood or of the +weasels' scent, and limped through the grass towards the hedge. In a +hollow among the scattered stones he stayed till terror no longer +benumbed him, and he could summon courage to seek an early meal in the +root-field beyond the pasture. Directly the day began to dawn, he +cautiously returned to his burrow. Though numerous traces of the havoc +of the night remained, he knew, from the staleness of the weasels' +scent, that his foes had departed. + +At noon his mate came again to her nest, and searched for her missing +offspring. But the taint of blood on the floor of the chamber told her +only too well that henceforth her mothering care would be needed solely +by the young mouse that she had rescued in her flight. The day passed +uneventfully; the weasels did not repeat their visit. At nightfall the +mother mouse, stealing into the wood, found both her enemies caught in +rabbit-traps set beside the "runs" among the hawthorns. + +For a while peace reigned in the underground dwellings of the mossy +pasture, and the young field-vole thrived amazingly; from the very +outset fortune favoured him above the rest of his species. After the +wholesale destruction that had taken place, little risk of overcrowding +and its attendant evils remained, and, for the lucky mice surviving the +raid, food was plentiful, even when later, in winter, they were awakened +by some warm, bright day, and hunger, long sustained, had made them +ravenous. Kweek, having no brother or sister to share his birthright, +was fed and trained in a manner that otherwise would have been +impossible, while his parents were particularly strong and healthy. +These circumstances undoubtedly combined to make him what he eventually +became--quick to form an opinion and to act, and able, once he was fully +grown, to meet in fight all rivals for the possession of any sleek young +she-vole he happened to have chosen for his mate. + +Soon after his eyes were open, the adult voles of the colony began to +harvest their winter supplies. Seeds of all kinds were stored in +shallow hiding places--under stones, or under fallen branches--or in +certain chambers of the burrow set apart for that especial purpose; and +as each granary was filled its entrance was securely stopped by a mound +of earth thrown up by the busy harvesters. + +The first solid food Kweek tasted was the black, glossy seed of a +columbine, which his mother, busily collecting provender, chanced to +drop near him as she hurried to her storehouse. Earlier in the night, +just outside the burrow, he had watched her with great curiosity as she +daintily nibbled a grain of wheat brought from a gateway where the laden +waggons had passed. He had loitered near, searching among the +grass-roots for some fragment he supposed his mother to have left +behind, but he found only a rough, prickly husk, that stuck beneath his +tongue, nearly choked him, and drove him frantic with irritation, till, +after much violent shaking and twitching, and rubbing his throat and +muzzle with his fore-paws, he managed to get rid of the objectionable +morsel. Something, however, in the taste of the husk so aroused his +appetite for solid food, that when his mother dropped the columbine seed +he at once picked it up in his fore-paws, and, stripping off the hard, +glossy covering, devoured it with the keen relish of a new hunger that +as yet he could not entirely understand. His growth, directly he learned +to feed on the seeds his mother showed him, and to forage a little for +himself, was more rapid than before. Nature seemed in a hurry to make +him strong and fat, that he might be able to endure the cold and +privation of winter. + +By the end of November, when at night the first rime-frosts lay on the +fallow, and the voles, disliking the chill mists, seldom left their +burrow, Kweek was already bigger than his dam. He was, in fact, the +equal of his sire in bone and length, but he was loose-limbed and had +not filled out to those exact proportions which, among voles as among +all other wildlings of the field, make for perfect symmetry, grace, and +stamina, and come only with maturity and the first love season. + +When about two months old, Kweek, for the first time since the weasels +had visited the burrow, experienced a narrow escape from death. The +night was mild and bright, and the vole was busy in the littered loam of +the hedgerow, where, during the afternoon, a blackbird had scratched the +leaves away and left some ripe haws exposed to view. Suddenly he heard a +loud, mocking call, apparently coming from the direction of the moon: +"Whoo-hoo! Whoo-hoo-o-o-o!" It was a strangely bewildering sound; so the +vole squatted among the leaves and listened anxiously, every sense alert +to catch the meaning of the weird, foreboding voice. "Whoo-hoo! +Whoo-hoo-o-o-o!"--again, from directly overhead, the cry rang out into +the night. A low squeak of warning, uttered by the father vole as he +dived into his burrow, caused the young mice foraging in the undergrowth +to bolt helter-skelter towards home. Kweek, joining in the general +panic, rushed across the field, and had almost disappeared underground +when he felt the earth and the loose pebbles falling over him, and at +the same time experienced a sharp thrill of pain. Fortunately, his speed +saved him--but only by an inch. The claws of the great brown owl, +shutting like a vice as the bird "stooped" on her prey, laid hold of +nothing but earth and grass, though one keen talon cut the vole's tail +as with a knife, so that the little creature squealed lustily as he ran +along the gallery to seek solace from his mother's companionship in the +central chamber beyond. Yet even there he was not allowed to remain in +peace. Maddened by the scent of a few drops of blood coming from his +wound, the adult voles chased him from the burrow, and drove him out +into the field. Luckily for him the brown owl had meanwhile flown away +with another young vole in her claws. Kweek remained in safety under the +hawthorns till the grey dawn flushed the south-east sky; then, his +injured tail having ceased to bleed, he ventured without fear among his +kindred as they lay huddled asleep in the recesses of their underground +abode. + +The year drew to its close, the weather became colder, and an +irresistible desire for long-continued rest took possession of Kweek. +His appetite was more easily satisfied than hitherto; hour after hour, +by night as well as by day, he drowsed in the snug corner where lay the +remains of the nest in which he had been born. Winter, weary and +monotonous to most of the wildlings of the field, passed quickly over +his head. Scarce-broken sleep and forgetfulness, when skies are grey and +tempests rage--such are Nature's gifts to the snake, the bee, and the +flower, as well as to the squirrel in the wood and the vole in the +burrow beneath the moss. Occasionally, it is true, when at noon the sun +was bright and spring seemed to have come to the Valley of Olwen, the +snake would stir in his retreat beneath the leaves, the bee would crawl +to and fro in her hidden nest, the flower would feel the stir of rising +sap, the squirrel would venture forth to stretch cramped limbs by a +visit to some particular storehouse--the existence of which, as one +among many filled with nuts and acorns, he happened to remember--and the +vole would creep to the entrance of his burrow, and sit in the welcome +warmth till the sun declined and hunger sent him to his granary for a +hearty meal. These brief, spring-like hours, when the golden furze +blossomed in the hedge-bank near the field-vole's home, and the lark, +exultant, rose from the barren stubble, were, however, full of danger to +Kweek if he but dared to lift his head above the opening of his burrow. + +On the outskirts of the wood, in a rough, ivy-grown ridge where, years +ago, some trees had been felled, a flourishing colony of +bank-voles--little creatures nearly akin, and almost similar in shape +and size, to the field-voles--dwelt among the roots and the undergrowth. +These bank-voles, probably because they lived in a sheltered place +screened from the bitter wind by a wall of gorse and pines, moved abroad +in the winter days far more frequently than did the field-voles. For +several years a pair of kestrels had lived in the valley, and had reared +their young in a nest built on a ledge of rock above the Cerdyn brook +and safe beyond the reach of marauding schoolboys. The hen-kestrel, when +provender became scarce, would regularly at noon beat her way across the +hill-top to the ridge where the red voles lived, and, watching and +waiting, with keen eyes and ready talons, would remain in the air above +the burrow as if poised at the end of an invisible thread. Chiefly she +was the terror of the bank-voles; but often, impatient of failure, she +would slant her fans and drift towards the burrows in the mossy pasture, +hoping to find that the grey voles had awakened for an hour from their +winter sleep. + +Once, when the breeze blew gently from the south and the sun was bright, +Kweek, sitting on a grassy mound, saw a shadow rapidly approaching, and +heard a sharp swish of powerful wings. Though drowsy and stiff from his +winter sleep, he was roused for the moment by the imminence of danger, +and, barely in time, scurried to his hole. A fortnight afterwards, when, +again tempted out of doors by the mildness of the weather, the vole was +peeping through an archway of matted grass, the hawk, with even greater +rapidity than before, shot down from the sky. Had it not been that the +long grass screened an entrance on the outskirts of the burrow, Kweek +would then have met his fate. He fell, almost without knowing what was +happening, straight down the shaft; and the sharp talons of the hawk +touched nothing but grass and earth, and the end of a tail already +scarred by the claws of the owl. Next day, as, moving along the +galleries to his favourite exit, the vole passed beneath the shaft, he +saw, straight overhead, the shadowy wings outstretched, quivering, +lifting, gliding, pausing, while beneath those spreading fans the +baleful eyes gleamed yellow in the slant of the south-west sun, and the +cruel claws, indrawn against the keel-shaped breast, were clenched in +readiness for the deadly "stoop." Fascinated, the vole stayed awhile to +look at the hovering hawk. Then, as the bird passed from the line of +sight, he continued his way along the underground passage to the spot +where he usually left his home by one of the narrow, clean-cut holes +which, in a field-vole's burrow, seem to serve a somewhat similar +purpose to that of the "bolts" in a rabbit's warren; and there he again +looked out. The hawk still hovered in the calm winter air, so Kweek did +not venture that day to bask in the sun outside his door. As soon as he +had fed, and shaken every speck of loose loam from his fur, and washed +himself clean with his tiny red tongue, he once more sought his cosy +corner and fell asleep. + +Presently a pink and purple sunset faded in the gloom of night, and a +heavy frost, beginning a month of bitter cold, lay over the fields. In +continuous slumber Kweek passed that dreary month, till the daisies +peeped in the grass, the snowdrops and the daffodils thrust forth their +sword-shaped leaves above the water-meadows, and the earliest violet +unfolded its petals by the pathway in the woods. + + + + +II. + +THE VALLEY OF OLWEN. + + +Eastward, the sky was covered with pale cobalt; and in the midst of the +far-spreading blue hung a white and crimson cloud, like a puff of +bright-stained vapour blown up above the rim of the world. Westward, the +sky was coloured with brilliant primrose; and on the edge of the distant +moorlands lay a great bank of mist, rainbow-tinted with deep violet, and +rose, and orange. For a space immediately on each side of the mist the +primrose deepened into daffodil--a chaste yet intense splendour that +seemed to stretch into infinite distances and overlap the sharply +defined ridges of the dark horizon. The green of the upland pasture and +the brown of the ploughland beyond were veiled by a shimmering twilight +haze, in which the varied tints of the sky harmoniously blended, till +the umber and indigo shadows of night loomed over the hills, and the +daffodil flame flickered and vanished over the last red ember of the +afterglow. Thus the first calm day of early spring drew to its close. + +Kweek, the little field-vole, asleep in his hidden nest beneath the +moss, was roused by the promise that Olwen, the White-footed, who had +come to her own beautiful valley among our western hills, whispered as +she passed along the slope above the mill-dam in the glen. He uncurled +himself on the litter of withered grass-bents that formed his winter +couch, crept towards the nearest bolt-hole of his burrow, and peeped at +the fleecy clouds as they wandered idly overhead. He inhaled long, deep +breaths of the fresh, warm air; then, conscious of new, increasing +strength, he continued his way underground to the granary in which, some +months ago, his mother had stored the columbine seeds. But the earth had +been scratched away from the storehouse door, and nothing remained of +the winter supplies. Hungry and thirsty, yet not daring to roam abroad +while the sun was high, the vole moved from chamber to chamber of his +burrow, washed himself thoroughly from the tip of his nose to the tip of +his tail, then, feeling lonely, awakened his parents from their heavy +sleep, and spent the afternoon thinking and dreaming, till the sun sank +low in the glory of the aureolin sky, and the robin's vesper trilled +wistfully from the hawthorns on the fringe of the shadowed wood. +Becoming venturesome with the near approach of night, but still +remembering the danger that had threatened him before the last period of +his winter sleep, he lifted himself warily above the ground, and for a +little while stayed near the mound of earth beside the door of his +burrow. Cramped from long disuse, every muscle in his body seemed in +need of vigorous exertion, while with each succeeding breath of the cool +twilight air his hunger and thirst increased. + +Determined to find food and water, Kweek started towards the copse. No +beaten pathway guided his footsteps; wind and rain, frost and thaw, and +the new, slow growth of the grass, had obliterated every trail. But by +following the scent of the parent voles that had already stolen into +the wood, he reached in safety the banks of the rill. Having quenched +his thirst, he scratched the soft soil from beneath a stone and +satisfied his hunger with some succulent sprouts of herbage there +exposed to sight. Soon, tired from his unwonted exertion, and feeling +great pain through having torn the pads of his feet--which, like those +of all hibernating animals, had become extremely tender from want of +exercise--he crept home to his burrow, and rested till the soreness had +gone from his limbs, and he felt active and hungry again. + +For the vole, guided as he was by his appetite, the most wholesome +vegetable food was a ripe, well-flavoured seed. It contained all that +the plant could give; leaf and stalk were tasteless compared with it, +and were accepted only as a change of diet, or as a medicine, or as a +last resource. Next to a seed, he loved a tender root, or a stem that +had not yet thrust itself through the soil, and was therefore crisp and +dainty to the taste. But the vole did not subsist entirely on vegetable +food. Occasionally, when the nights were warm, he surprised some little +insect hiding in the moss, and pounced on his prey almost as greedily +as the trout in the stream below the hill rose to a passing fly. And +just as the cattle in the distant farm throve on grain and oil-cake, and +the pheasant in the copse near by on wood-ants' "eggs," and the trout in +the Cerdyn brook on ephemerals hatched at the margin of the pool, so +Kweek, the field-vole, abroad in the nights of summer, grew sleek and +well conditioned on good supplies of seeds and grubs. But now, worn out +by long privation, he was tired and weak. + +Gradually, from the bed of winter death, from the rotting leaf-mould and +the cold, damp earth, the fresh, bright forms of spring arose. The +purple and crimson trails of the periwinkle lengthened over the stones; +then the spear-shaped buds, prompted by the flow of pulsing sap, lifted +themselves above the glossy leaves and burst into flowers. The dandelion +and the celandine peeped from the grass; the primrose garlanded each +sunny mound on the margin of the wood; and the willow catkins, clothed +with silver and pearly grey, waved in the moist, warm breeze as it +wandered by the brook. The queen-ant, aroused by the increasing warmth, +carried her offspring from the deep recess where, in her tunnelled nest, +she had brooded over them while the north-east wind blew through the +leafless boughs, and laid them side by side in a roomy chamber +immediately beneath the stone that screened the spot to which, in the +autumn dusk, the father vole resorted that he might watch and wait +before the darkness deepened on the fields and woods. The bees from the +hives in the farm garden, and innumerable flies from their winter +retreats in the hedgerows, came eagerly to the golden blossoms of the +furze near the bank-voles' colony. The bees alighted with care on the +lower petals of the flowers, and thence climbed quickly to the hidden +sweets; but the flies, heedless adventurers, dropped haphazard among the +sprays, and were content to filch the specks of pollen dust and the tiny +drops of nectar scattered by the honey-bees. A spirit of restlessness, +of strife, of strange, unsatisfied desire, possessed all Nature's +children; it raised the primrose from amid the deep-veined leaves +close-pressed on the carpet of the grass, it tuned the carols of the +robin and the thrush, it caused the wild jack-hare to roam by daylight +along paths which hitherto he had not followed save by night. Kweek felt +the subtle influence; long before dark he would venture from his home, +steal through the "creeps," which had now become evident because of +frequent "traffic," and visit the distant colonies of his kindred beyond +the wood. + +Of the flourishing community living in the burrow before the weasels' +raid none survived but Kweek and his parents. One night, however, the +father vole, while foraging near the hedgerow, was snapped up and eaten +by the big brown owl from the beech-wood across the valley. In the +woodlands the greatest expert on the ways of voles was the brown owl. +His noiseless wings never gave the slightest alarm, and never interfered +with his sense of hearing--so acute that the faint rustle of a leaf or a +grass-blade brought him, like a bolt, from the sky, to hover close to +the earth, eager, inquisitive, merciless, till a movement on the part +of his quarry sealed its doom. + +The mother vole, feeling lonely and more than ever afraid, wandered far +away, and found another mate in a sleek, bright-eyed little creature +inhabiting a roomy chamber excavated in the loose soil around a heap of +stones on the crest of the hill. Kweek, nevertheless, remained faithful +to the place of his birth. Though most of his time was spent near the +colony beyond the wood, he invariably returned to sleep on the shapeless +litter which was all that now remained of the neat, round nest in which +he had been nursed. + +Kweek's frequent visits to his kindred beyond the wood led to numerous +adventures. Every member of the colony seemed suddenly to have turned to +the consideration of household affairs, and a lively widow-vole flirted +so outrageously with bachelor Kweek that, having at last fallen a victim +to her persistent attentions, he was never happy save in her company. +Unfortunately a big ruffian mouse also succumbed to the widow's wiles, +and Kweek found himself awkwardly placed. He fought long and stubbornly +against his rival, but, unequally matched and sorely scratched and +bitten, was at last forced to rustle away in the direction of his burrow +as quickly as his little feet could carry him. He slept off the effects +of his exhaustion and the loss of a little blood and fur, then returned, +stealthily, to his well-known trysting place, but found, alas! that his +fickle lady-love had already regarded with favour the charms of the +enemy. Kweek caught a glimpse of her as she carried wisps of withered +grass to a hole in the middle of the burrow, and at once recognised that +his first fond passion had hopelessly ended. + +Fortune continued to treat him unkindly: that night, while returning +homewards, he was almost frightened out of his wits by the shrieks of +some little creature captured by the cruel owl, and, immediately +afterwards, a rabbit, alarmed by the same ominous sounds and bolting to +her warren in the wood, knocked him topsy-turvy as he crouched in hiding +among the leaves. These adventures taught him salutary lessons, and +henceforth the confidence of youth gave place to extreme caution; he +avoided the risk of lying near a rabbit's "creep," and was quick to +discern the slightest sign, such as a shadowy form above the moonlit +field, which might indicate the approach of the slow-winged tyrant of +the night. + +Among animals living in communities it is a frequent custom for a young +male, if badly beaten in his first love episode by a rival, to elope +with a new spouse, and seek a home at some distance from the scene of +his defeat. Kweek suffered exceedingly from his disappointment; it was a +shock to him that he should be bullied and hustled at the very time when +his passion was strongest and every prospect in his little life seemed +fair and bright. + +For a time he dared not match himself against another of the older +voles. But in an unimportant squabble with a mouse of his own age, he +soon proved the victor, and, finding his reward in the favour of a young +she-vole that had watched the quarrel from behind a grass-tuft, ran off +with her at midnight to his old, deserted burrow in the pasture. After +thoroughly examining the various galleries in the underground +labyrinth, the fastidious little pair dug out a clean, fresh chamber at +right angles to the main tunnel, and, contented, began in earnest the +duties of the year. + +April came; and often, as he sat by his door, Kweek watched the gentle +showers sweep by in tall pillars of vapour through the moonbeams falling +aslant from the illumined edges of an overhanging cloud, and through the +shadows stretching in long, irregular lines between the fallow and the +copse; and night after night the shadows near the copse grew deeper, and +still deeper, as the hawthorn leaf-buds opened to the warmth of spring. + +The grass-spears lengthened; the moss spread in new, rain-jewelled +velvet-pile over the pasture floor; the woodbine and the bramble trailed +their tender shoots above the hedge; a leafy screen sheltered each +woodland home; and even the narrow path from the field-voles' burrow to +the corner of the copse led through a perfect bower of half-transparent +greenery. The birds were everywhere busy with their nests in the +thickets; sometimes, in the quiet evening, long after the moon had +risen and Kweek had ventured forth to feed, the robin and the thrush, +perched on a bare ash-tree, sang their sweet solos to the sleepy fields; +and, with the earliest peep of dawn, the clear, wild notes of the +missel-thrush rang out over the valley from the beech-tree near the +river. The rabbits extended their galleries and dug new "breeding +earths" in their warren by the wood; and often, in the deep stillness of +the night, the call-note of an awakened bird echoed, murmuring, among +the rocks opposite the pines far down the slope. + +During the past few weeks great events had happened in the new-made +chamber of the field-voles' burrow. Hundreds of dry grass-bents, +bleached and seasoned by the winter frosts and rains, had been collected +there, with tufts of withered moss, a stray feather or two dropped from +the ruined nest of a long-tailed titmouse in the furze, and a few fine, +hair-like roots of polypody fern from the neighbouring thicket. And now, +their nursery complete, four tiny, hairless voles, with disproportionate +heads, round black eyes beneath unopened lids, wrinkled muzzles, and +abbreviated tails--helpless midgets in form suggestive of diminutive +bull-dog puppies--lay huddled in their tight, warm bed. It was a time of +great anxiety for Kweek. While his mate with maternal pride went +leisurely about her duties, doing all things in order, as if she had +nursed much larger families and foes were never known, he moved fussily +hither and thither, visiting his offspring at frequent intervals during +the night, creeping into the wood and back along his bowered path, +scampering noisily down the shaft if the brown owl but happened to hoot +far up in the glen, and doing a hundred things for which there was not +the slightest need, and which only served to irritate and alarm the +careful mother-vole. + +Kweek inherited his timorous disposition from countless generations of +voles that by their ceaseless watchfulness, had survived when others had +been killed by birds and beasts of prey; and though, in his zeal for the +welfare of his family, he often gave a false alarm, it was far better +that he should be at all times prepared for the worst than that, in some +unguarded instant, death should drop swiftly from the sky or crawl +stealthily into his hidden home. + +During spring, more frequently than at any other season, death waited +for him and his kindred--in the grass, in the air, in the trees along +the hedge-banks, and on the summit of the rock that towered above the +glen. Vermin had become unusually numerous in the valley, partly because +in the mild winter their food had been sufficient, and partly because +the keeper, feeble with old age, could no longer shoot and trap them +with the deadly certainty that had made him famous in his younger days. +Bold in the care of their young, the vermin ravaged the countryside, +preying everywhere on the weak and ailing little children of Nature. But +fate was indulgent to Kweek; though his kindred in the colony beyond the +wood, and the bank-voles in the sheltered hollow near the pines, +suffered greatly from all kinds of enemies, he and his mate still +managed to escape unhurt. + +One night a fox, prowling across the pasture, caught sight of Kweek as +he hurried to his lair. Suspicious and crafty, Reynard paused at one of +the entrances to the burrow, thrust his sharp nose as far as possible +down the shaft, drew a long, deep breath, and commenced to dig away the +soil from the mouth of the hole. Suddenly changing his mind--perhaps +because the scent was faint and he concluded that his labour would not +be sufficiently repaid--he ceased his exertions and wandered off towards +the hedge. Next day a carrion crow, seeing the heap of earth that lay +around the hole, and shrewdly guessing it to mean a treat in store, flew +down from an oak-tree, and hopped sideways towards the spot. He peered +inquisitively at the opening, waddled over to another entrance, +returned, and listened eagerly. Convinced that a sound of breathing came +from midway between the two holes he had examined, he moved towards the +spot directly above the nest, tapped it sharply with his beak, and again +returned to listen near the entrance. But all his artifice was quite in +vain; the voles would not bolt; they were not even inquisitive; so +presently, baffled in his hopes of plunder, he moved clumsily away, +stooped for an instant, and lifted himself on slow, sable pinions into +the air. + +The mother vole, assisted in questionable fashion by meddlesome Kweek, +spent several hours of the following night in repairing the damage done +by the fox. She drew most of the soil back into the shaft, and then, +where it accumulated in the passage beneath, made the opening towards +the inner chamber slightly narrower than before. Soon, moistened and +hardened by the constant "traffic" of tiny feet nearly always damp with +dew, the mound of earth formed a barrier so artfully contrived that even +a weasel might find it difficult to enter the gallery from the bottom of +the shaft. + + + + +III. + +A BARREN HILLSIDE. + + +Living a secluded life in the pasture with his little mate, Kweek +escaped the close attention paid by the "vermin" to his kindred in the +colony beyond the wood. The brown owl still remembered where he dwelt, +but, loath to make a special nightly journey to the spot, seldom caused +him the least anxiety. She seemed to content herself with a strict watch +over the bank inhabited by the red voles, and over the fields on the far +side of the copse, where the grey voles, notwithstanding that they +supplied her with many a delicious supper, were becoming numerous. She +awaited an almost certain increase among the "small deer" of the +pasture, before commencing her raids on the grey voles there. As events +proved, however, her patience was unrewarded. + +Kweek's first experience in rearing a family ended disastrously. Two of +the nurslings died a few hours after birth; one, venturing from the nest +too soon in the evening, was killed by a magpie; and two, while sitting +out near the hedge, were trampled to death by a flock of sheep rushing, +panic-stricken, at the sight of a wandering fox. By the middle of May, +when another vole family of six had arrived, the number of vermin in the +valley had perceptibly diminished. The old, asthmatic keeper in charge +of the Cerdyn valley died, and a younger and more energetic man from a +neighbouring estate came to take his place. Eager to gain the favour of +his master by providing him good sport in the coming autumn, the new +keeper ranged the woods from dawn till dusk, setting pole-traps in the +trees, or baiting rabbit-traps in the "creeps" of stoat or weasel, and +destroying nests, as well as shooting any furred or feathered creature +of questionable character. The big brown owl from the beech-grove, the +kestrel from the rock on the far side of the brook, the sparrow-hawk +from the spinney up-stream, together with the weasels, the stoats, the +cats, the jays, and the magpies--all in turn met their doom. + +A pair of barn-owls from the loft in the farm suffered next. These owls +were great pets at the old homestead. For many years they had lived +unmolested in their gloomy retreat under the tiles, and regularly at +nightfall had flown fearlessly to and fro among the outbuildings, or +perched on the ruined pigeon-cote watching for the rats to leave their +holes. + +The farmer, less ignorant than the keeper, recognised the owls as +friends, and treated them accordingly. They were his winged cats, and +assisted to check the increase of a plague. Like the brown owl, they +knew well the habits of the voles; but their attention was diverted by +the rats and the mice at the farm, and they seldom wandered far afield +except for a change of diet or to stretch wings cramped by a long summer +day's seclusion. The rats, however, were far from being exterminated; +and so, when a little child who was all sunshine to his parents in the +lonely homestead died from typhoid fever, the village doctor, fearing an +epidemic, advised that the pests should be utterly destroyed. Loath to +use strychnine, since he knew that in a neighbouring valley some owls +had died from eating poisoned rats, the farmer sought the aid of the +village poachers, who, with their terriers and ferrets, thoroughly +searched the stacks and the buildings. During the hunt it was noticed +that about a score of rats took refuge in a narrow chamber under the +eaves. The farmer, directing operations in another part of the yard, was +unaware of what had occurred. The poachers, knowing nothing of the +presence of the owls, pushed a terrier through the opening beneath the +rafters of the loft, and blocked the hole with the rusty blade of a +disused shovel. For a few moments the quick patter of tiny feet +indicated that the terrier was busily engaged with his task; then cries +of rage and terror came from the imprisoned dog, while with these cries +were mingled the sounds of flapping wings. When at last the poachers +unstopped the hole and dragged the terrier out, they found that every +rat had been killed, and that the place was thickly strewn with the +feathers of two dying owls. + +During the rest of the summer, Kweek led a strangely peaceful life, +having little to fear beyond an occasional visit from Reynard, or from +an astute old magpie that, evading with apparent ease the keeper's gun +and pole-traps, lived on till the late autumn, when, before a line of +beaters, he broke cover over some sportsmen waiting for their driven +game. As soon as the leaves began to fall and exhausted Nature longed +for winter's rest, the burrow in the pasture became the scene of +feverish activity. Kweek was now the proud sire of five or six healthy +families, and the grand-sire of many more. Even the youngest voles were +growing fat and strong; and, when the numerous members of the colony set +about harvesting their winter stores, ripe, delicious seeds were +plentiful everywhere along the margin of the wood. + +The winter was uniformly mild, with exception of one short period of +great cold which brought a thorough, healthful sleep to the voles; and +in the earliest days of spring, when the love-calls of chaffinches and +tits were heard from almost every tree, Kweek and his tribe resumed +their work and throve amazingly. Every circumstance appeared to favour +their well-being. But for the fox, that sometimes crouched beside an +opening to the burrow and snapped up an incautious venturer peeping +above ground, a young sheep-dog, whose greatest pleasure in life seemed +to be found in digging a large round hole in the centre of the burrow, +and an adder, that stung a few of the weaklings to death, but found them +inconveniently big for swallowing, the voles were seldom troubled. Their +numbers, and those of every similar colony in the neighbourhood, +increased in such a fashion that, before the following autumn, both the +pasture and the near ploughland were barren wastes completely +honeycombed with their dwellings. Every grass-root in the pasture was +eaten up; every stalk in the cornfield was nibbled through so +that the grain might be easily reached and devoured; and the +root-crops--potatoes, turnips, and mangolds--on the far side of the +cornfield were utterly spoiled; and in the hedgerows and the copse the +leaves dropped from the lifeless trees, each of which was marked by a +complete ring where the bark was gnawed away close to the ground. + +But capricious Nature, as if regretting the haste with which she had +brought into the world her destructive little children, and desiring, +even at the cost of untold suffering and the loss of countless lives, to +restore the pleasant Cerdyn valley to its beauty of green fields and +leafy woods, sent her twin plagues of disease and starvation among the +voles, till, like the sapless leaves, they withered and died. And from +far and near the hawks and the owls, the weasels, the stoats, and the +foxes hastened to the scene. The keeper, at a loss to know whence they +came, and not understanding the lesson he was being taught, bewailed his +misfortune, but dared not stay their advent. At almost any hour of the +day, five or six kestrels might be seen quartering the fields or +hovering here and there among the burrows. And, long before dark, the +stoats and the weasels, as if knowing that, fulfilling a special +mission, they were now safe from their arch-enemy, the keeper, hunted +their prey through the "trash" of the hedge-banks, or in and out of the +passages underground. + +The farm labourers, in desperate haste, dug numerous pitfalls, wide at +the bottom but narrow at the mouth, and trapped hundreds of the voles, +which, maddened by hunger but unable to climb the sloping sides, +attacked one another--all at last dying a miserable death. Not only did +the customary enemies of the voles arrive on the scene: Nature called to +her great task a number of unexpected destroyers--sea-gulls from the +distant coast, a kite from a wooded island on a desolate, far-off mere, +and a buzzard from a rocky fastness, rarely visited save by keepers and +shepherds, near the up-country lakes. Food had gradually become scarce +even for the few hundred voles that yet remained. No longer were they to +be seen at play together, in little groups, during the cool, hazy +twilight, that, earlier in the year, shimmered like a wonderful +afterglow on the mossy pasture-floor. Now their only desire was for +food and sleep. + +Unnoticed by a passing owl, Kweek, worn to a skeleton by sickness and +privation, crawled from his burrow into the moonlight of a calm, clear +autumn night, and lay in the shadow of the stone where the old male vole +had watched and listened for the cruel "vear." A big blow-fly, +attracted, with countless thousands of his kind, to the place of +slaughter and decay, had gone to sleep on the side of the stone, and +Kweek, in a last desperate effort to obtain a little food, moved forward +to secure his prize; but at that moment his strength failed him, his +weary limbs relaxed, and the dull, grey film of death overspread his +half-closed eyes. + +The owl, hearing a faint sound like the rustle of a dry grass-bent, +quickly turned in her flight; then, slanting her wings, dropped to the +ground, and presently, with her defenceless quarry in her talons, flew +away towards the woods. + + + + +THE FOX. + +I. + +THE LAST HUNT. + + +A dark and wind-swept night had fallen over the countryside when Reynard +left the steep slope above the keeper's cottage, and stole through gorse +and brambles towards the outskirts of the covert, where a narrow dingle, +intersected by a noisy rill and thickly matted with brown bracken, +divided the furze from some neighbouring pine-woods. + +For months nothing had occurred to disturb the peace of his woodland +home. Once, about a year ago, he had fled for his life before the +hounds; and again, during the last autumn, while lying hidden in the +ditch of the root-crop field above the pines, he had been surprised by +two sheep-dogs that nipped him sorely before he could make good his +escape. But at no other time had he been in evident peril, and so, +though naturally cunning and suspicious, he had grown bolder, and better +acquainted with the neighbourhood of cottage and farmstead than were +certain members of his family living on the opposite side of the valley, +among thickets hunted regularly, where guns and spaniels might be heard +from early morning till close of day. + +Here and there, as the fox crept stealthily among the blackthorns and +the gorse-bushes, he stopped for a moment on the scent of a rabbit; but +the night was not such as to induce Bunny to remain outside her cosy +burrow in the bank. He examined each "creep" in the tangled clumps along +his way, and sometimes, resting on his haunches, sniffed the air and +listened intently for any sign to indicate the presence of a feeding +coney; but even the strongest taint was "stale," and no sound could be +detected that might betray the whereabouts of any creature feeding in +the grass. Disappointed, the fox turned towards the uplands and crossed +the hedgerow into the nearest stubble. Louping leisurely along, he +surprised and killed a sleeping lark. Further on he crossed the scent +of a hare, but Puss was doubtless some distance away, feeding in a quiet +corner of the root-crop field. Reynard now instinctively made for the +farmyard among the pines, trusting meanwhile that luck would befriend +him. Across the gap, by the side of the hedgerow, and through an open +gateway, he went, seeking spoil everywhere, but finding none. With all +his senses alert, he climbed the low wall around the yard, peeped into +the empty cart-house, and stealthily approached an open shed. There, +unluckily, the dogs were sleeping on a load of hay in the furthest +corner. Careful not to arouse his foes, the fox retreated, and, passing +the pond at the bottom of the yard, moved silently towards another shed, +in which, as he knew from a former visit, the poultry roosted. Though +the door was shut, an opening for the use of the fowls seemed to afford +the possibility of success. With difficulty Reynard managed to squeeze +himself in, only, however, to no purpose. Just beyond the door lay a +loose coil of wire, brought home by the labourers after fencing and +thrown here out of the way. The fox, fearing a trap, reluctantly +abandoned his project, returned to the bank by the pond, and crept down +the lane to a spot where the ducks were housed in a neat shelter built +in the wall. But here he found everything securely fastened. At this +moment a door of the farmstead creaked loudly, the light of a lantern +flooded the yard, and the baffled marauder sprang over the wall and +trotted across the field towards the wood. + +His pace soon slackened when he found himself free from pursuit; and +before he reached the end of the meadow he had regained all his cool +audacity and was busily planning a visit to the cottage at the foot of +the dingle. Hardly had his thoughts turned once more to hunting when +fortune favoured him. A hen from the farmyard had laid her eggs in the +hedgerow bordering the wood, and was brooding over them in proud +anticipation of one day leading home a healthy family, thus causing an +agreeable surprise to the farmer's wife. The fox almost brushed against +her as he sprang over the hedge, and she paid to the utmost the penalty +of indiscretion. + +After feasting royally on the eggs, the fox took up the dead bird, and +moved slowly away through the trees towards his home. Re-entering the +covert, he was met by a prowling vixen that, in company with her four +young cubs, inhabited an "earth" not many yards away. Reckless through +hunger and maddened by the scent of blood, she attacked him savagely, +bullied him out of the possession of the dead fowl, and bore her prize +away in triumph to her den. The fox endured his ill-treatment with the +submission of a Stoic--he happened to be the pugnacious vixen's mate, +and the sire of her family. Soon recovering from the chastisement, he +set off, and skirted the covert as far as the cottage garden. Finding +the gate of the hen-coop closed, he sprang on the water-butt, climbed to +the roof of the shed, and tried to enter the coop from above; but there, +as at the farm, he feared a trap, and dared not creep beneath the loose +wire netting overhanging the shed. As he jumped from the coop to the +wall of the stye, he caught sight of several rats scampering to their +holes. Lying flat on the wall, he awaited patiently their re-appearance. +At last one of them ventured out beneath the door of the cot, and was +instantly killed. But, much to his chagrin, Reynard found the carcass a +decidedly doubtful tit-bit, and so, having conveyed it gingerly to the +margin of the covert, he scratched a shallow hole among the rotting +leaves, and buried his prey, that, perhaps, its flavour might improve +with keeping. Afterwards, till the sky lightened almost imperceptibly, +and a steel-blue bar, low down beneath the clouds, first signalled the +coming of day, he lay motionless among the undergrowth near a warren in +the dingle. Then an unsuspecting rabbit hopped out into the grass, and +Reynard, his watch rewarded, disappeared with his spoil into the +wilderness of the gorse. + +Dawn was breaking over the hills. Blue smoke curled up into the sky from +the lodge cottage at the foot of the tree-clad slope. The door of the +cottage stood wide open, and the scent of the wood-fire hung on the +chill, damp air filling the narrow lane. A blackbird flew into the +apple-tree overlooking the thatch, shook the moisture from his wings, +and cleaned his bright orange bill on a bough. Then his full, reed-like +music floated over the fields. The skylarks soared above the upland +pastures, and a shower of song descended to the valley out of the +pearl-blue haze just lifting in a cloud from the hill-top. Presently the +blackbird flew from the apple-tree to feed beside the hedge, and the +larks dropped from the mist into the grass. But for the crackle of the +cottage fire as the keeper busied himself with the preparation of his +morning meal, and the rustle of a withered leaf as the blackbird moved +to and fro in the ditch, not a sound disturbed the silence of the dawn. +Soon the haze lifted, leaving the dew thick on the grass by the ditch, +and on the moss and the ivy in the hedgerow bank. The larks soared once +more into the sky; a robin sang wistfully in the ash; a brown wren, with +many a flick of her tiny wings and many a merry curtsy, hopped in and +out among the trees, trilling loudly a gleeful carol. The tits flew +hither and thither, twittering to each other as they flew. The +hedge-sparrows' metallic notes sounded clear amid all the varied music, +as the birds, moving among the hazels and gently flirting their wings, +pursued their coy mates from bough to bough. Through the raised curtain +of the mist the sun--a white globe hardly too brilliant to be boldly +looked at--illumined the dewy fields with its faint beams, till the +cloud-streaked sky became a clear expanse, and the blue and brown +countryside glowed with the splendour of a perfect morning. The wind +changed and freshened, so that the call of a farm labourer to his team +and the constant voice of the river were distinctly heard in the level +valley below the wood. + +As the morning advanced, signs of unusual stir and bustle were apparent +in the neighbourhood of the lodge. Messengers came and went between the +cottage and the mansion at the bend of the river, or between the mansion +and the distant village. The keeper appeared at his door, and, after +satisfying himself that the lane seemed clean and well-kept, walked off +briskly in the direction of the "big house." Scarlet-coated horsemen, +and high-born maids and matrons, with all the medley of the Hunt in +their train, cantered along the winding road--a mirthful, +laughter-loving company. There were the General, stout and inelegant, +wont to take his fences carefully, who changed his weight-carrying +mount thrice during the day, and liked a gateway better than a thorny +hedge, and for the last fifteen years had never been in at the death; +and his wife, the leader of fashion, but not yet the leader of the Hunt; +the Major, an old shekarry from India, who still could ride as straight +and fast as any man in the west; and his niece, the belle of the +countryside, whose mettlesome hunter occasionally showed a sudden +fondness for taking the bit between his teeth, and carrying his +mistress, with reckless abandon, over furrow and five-barred gate and +through the thickest hedgerow--anywhere, so long as he had breath and +the music of the hounds allured him onward in his impetuous career. The +sun glanced between the trees as they passed the cottage door. Then came +the Magistrate's Clerk, faultlessly attired, with florid face and +glittering eyeglass, who, in an ambitious youth, finding his name too +suggestive of plebeian blood, changed a vowel in it, and thereby gave an +aristocratic flavour to the title of his partnership, and who acquired, +with this new dignity, the taste for a monocle, a horse, and a good +cigar. Following were the members of the medley--the big butcher on his +sturdy pony, the "dealer" on his black, raw-boned half-bred, the +publican on his stolid old mare, farmers, drovers, after-riders, on +cropped and uncropped mounts more accustomed to the slow drudgery of +labour than to the rollicking, hard-going hunt; and after them the crowd +on foot--village children, farm labourers, and apprentices from forge +and counter. Riding side by side, and earnestly conversing, were the +"vet," whose horse at the last hunt bolted and left him clinging to a +bough, and the shopkeeper, whose grave attire and sober mien seemed +strangely out of keeping with the bright, hilarious throng. These were +soon met by the main party from the meet, and hounds and hunters sped +away in the direction of the hillside covert, while the onlookers +adjourned to the uplands, whence an almost uninterrupted view of the +valleys for miles around might be enjoyed, and the movements of the fox +and his enemies followed more closely than from the hollows beneath the +woods. + +Reynard, abundantly satisfied with his supper of eggs and early +breakfast of rabbit, was lying asleep in a tuft of grass at the top of +the thicket when the huntsman passed down the dingle after the meet. +Awakened by the noise that reached him from below, he arose, stretched +his limbs, and listened anxiously--the clatter of hoofs seemed to fill +the valley. Suddenly, from the outskirts of the wood, came the deep, +sonorous note of a hound, followed by the sharp rebuke of the +whipper-in; Jollity, the keen-nosed puppy, was "rioting" on the cold +scent near the stream. Peering between the bushes, the fox could as yet +see nothing moving in the covert, but a few minutes afterwards his sharp +eye caught a glimpse of a hound leaping over the bank above the gorse, +followed by another, and another, and yet another, till the place seemed +alive with his foes. + +Whither should he flee? The dingle was occupied; men and horses were +everywhere in the lane; and the hounds were closing in above the gorse. +The far side of the covert offered the only chance of escape, and +thither he must hie, else the hounds, now pouring down the slope, would +cut off his retreat. Quickly he threaded his way through the gorse, by +paths familiar only to himself and the rabbits, till he reached the +bank by the willows; but, even while he ran, the full chorus of the +hounds echoed from hillside to hillside, as, having "struck the line," +they tore madly in pursuit. He reached the edge of the covert at a point +furthest from his foes--then, as he crossed the meadow, a single +red-coated horseman, standing sentinel far up the hillside, gave the +"view-halloo," and over the brow of the slope streamed the main body of +the Hunt. + +It was at once evident to Reynard that by skirting the margin of the +covert he could not for the present escape, so he headed down-wind +towards the opposite hill, hoping to find refuge in a well-known "earth" +amid the thickets. To his surprise he found the entrance "stopped" with +clods and prickly branches of gorse, and had perforce to continue his +flight. Having well out-distanced his pursuers, he stayed to rest for a +while near the stream that trickled by the hedgerow; then, with the +horrid music of the hounds again in his ears, he turned, by a long +backward cast, in the direction of his home. + +But he was wholly unable to shake off his pursuers. For four long hours +he was hustled from covert to covert, and hillside to hillside, finding +no respite, no mercy, no sanctuary. Breathless, mud-stained, footsore, +and sick with fright, his draggling "brush" and lolling tongue betraying +his distress, he sought at last the place he had long avoided, and, +entering the mouth of the den where the vixen and her cubs were hiding, +lay there, almost utterly exhausted. Some minutes elapsed, during which +no sound but that of his laboured breathing, and of the tiny sucklings +busy by the side of the dam, disturbed the stillness. + +Suddenly, a deep-voiced hound broke through the bushes and bayed loudly +before the entrance. His fellow joined him, and their foreboding clamour +reverberated in the chamber. Terrified, the fox crawled slowly into the +recess of the den. Presently a shaggy terrier came down the tunnel, and +bit him sorely on the flank. He scarcely had the courage to turn on the +aggressor; but the enraged vixen, thrusting her mate aside, quickly +routed the daring intruder, and followed his retreat to the very mouth +of the "earth," where she turned back, threatened by the great hounds +that stood without. But even the reckless courage of maternity was +unavailing. Soon the noise of blows and of falling earth was heard, as +the passage was gradually opened by brawny farm labourers, working with +spade and pick, and assisted in their task by the eager huntsman, who +ever and anon thrust a long bramble-spray into the tunnel and thus +ascertained the direction of its devious course. + +At last the tip of the fox's "brush" was seen amid the soil and pebbles +that had fallen into the chamber. The huntsman had cut two stout hazel +rods; these he now thrust into the hollow, one along either flank of the +fox; then, grasping their ends firmly about the exposed tail, he drew +poor Reynard from his hiding place, and thrust him, defiant to the last, +and with his teeth close-locked on one of the hazel rods, into an old +sack requisitioned at the nearest farm. The vixen met a similar fate, +while the sleek, furry little cubs, treated with the utmost gentleness, +were wrapped together in the Master's handkerchief and given to the care +of an attendant. + +Reynard's life was nearing its close. In the meadow behind the keeper's +cottage the hounds were summoned by the huntsman's horn, and the bag was +opened. The scene that followed marred, for some of us at least, the +beauty of the bright March morning. The vixen and her cubs were carried +away, and found a new home in an artificial "earth" prepared for their +reception near a distant mansion. + + + + +II. + +A NEW HOME. + + +When the vixen recovered from the excitement and distress consequent on +her capture, she found herself in a commodious, well ventilated chamber, +circular in shape and slightly above the level of two low and narrow +passages leading into the covert. The sack had been opened at the +entrance of one of these passages, and the vixen had crawled through the +darkness till, finding further retreat impossible, she had lain down, +with wildly beating heart, on the floor of her hiding place. + +Her senses seemed to have forsaken her. Had she dreamed? Often, during +the warm, quiet days of a bygone summer, while lying curled in a cosy +litter of dry grass-bents--which she had neatly arranged by turning +round and round, and with her sensitive black muzzle pressing or lifting +into shape each refractory twig--she had dreamed of mouse-hunting and +rabbit-catching; her body had moved, her limbs twitched, her ears +pricked forward, and her nostrils quivered as the delightful incidents +of past expeditions were recalled. And when, with a start, she had +awakened, as some venturesome rabbit frisked by her lair, or a nervous +blackbird, startled by her movements, made the woodlands ring with news +of his discovery, she had retained for a moment the impressions of her +vivid dreams. But never in her sleep had she been haunted by such a +bewildering sense of mingled dread and anger, such an awful apprehension +of the presence of men and hounds, as that which had recently possessed +her. Now, however, all was mysteriously tranquil; the full-toned clamour +of the hounds and the sharp, snarling bark of the terriers had ceased; +no longer was she confined and jostled in the stuffy, evil-smelling sack +that yielded to, and yet restrained, her every frantic effort to regain +liberty. Her heart still beat violently, as though at any moment it +might break; and she crept back towards the entrance, where she might +breathe the free, fresh air. + +Suddenly she realised, to the full, that the day's bitter experiences +were not a dream--the scent of the human hand remained on her brush, her +fur was damp and matted with meal-dust, and, alas! her little ones were +missing from her side. She was furious now; at all risks she would +venture forth on the long, straight journey back towards home; her +helpless cubs might still be somewhere under the bushes--perchance in +sore need of warmth and food, and whining for their dam. + +With every mothering instinct quickened, the vixen crept down the +slanting passages in the direction of a faint moonlight glimmer beyond. +Reaching the end of the tunnel, she, in her impetuosity, thrust her +muzzle into a mass of prickles--the "earth" had been stopped with a +branch of gorse. Baffled for the time, she returned to the central +chamber; then cautiously, for her eyes and nostrils were smarting with +pain, she tried the other outlet, but here, too, a gorse-bush baulked +her exit. Now, however, a faint, familiar scent seemed to fill the +passage, some tiny creatures moved and whimpered, and, with almost +savage joy, the vixen discovered her cubs, alive and unharmed, huddled +together near the furze. Quickly she carried them, one by one, into the +chamber; then, lying beside the little creatures, which, though blind +and helpless, eagerly recognised the presence of their mother, she +gathered them between her limbs, covered them with her soft, warm brush, +and, in a language used only amid the woodlands, soothed and comforted +them, while they nestled once more beneath her sheltering care. When she +had fed them and licked them clean from every taint of human touch, and +when she had shaken herself free from dust and removed from her brush +the man-scent left by the huntsman's right hand while "drawing" her, she +became more collected in her mind and more contented with her strange, +new situation. + +Leaving her cubs asleep, she moved along the passage, determined, if +possible, to explore the thickets in hope of finding a young rabbit or a +few field-voles wherewith to satisfy her increasing hunger. The +entrance was still blocked with furze, but just in the spot where she +had found her cubs a couple of dead rabbits lay, and from one of these, +though after much misgiving, she made a hearty meal. She endeavoured, +but vainly, to dig a shallow trench in which to hide the rest of her +provisions; the floor of the artificial "earth" was tiled, and only +lightly covered with soil. Her efforts to scratch out a tunnel around +the furze-bush proved alike unavailing, so she returned to her cubs, lay +down between them and the narrow opening from the chamber, and slept. + +That night and the following day were spent in drowsy imprisonment, +till, towards the afternoon, the vixen began to feel the pangs of thirst +and made fresh efforts to escape. As she was endeavouring to dislodge +the tile nearest the furze, she heard the tramp of heavy feet and the +sound of human voices. + +"They be nice cubs," said the "whip" to the huntsman; "as nice a little +lot as ever I clapped eyes on. If only they can give us such a doing as +the old vixen gave us twice last December, they'll pass muster. Them +Gwyddyl Valley foxes be always reg'lar fliers. Their meat ain't got too +easy-like; that's why, maybe, they're always in working order. Any road, +their flags o' distress (tongues) don't flop over their grinders without +the hounds trim 'em hard on a straight, burning scent." "Well, we'll +give 'em a good start, whatever happens," replied the huntsman; "here's +two more bunnies for the larder. If the old girl shifts her quarters, +find out her new "earth," and feed her well. I shouldn't like to be near +the guv'nor if the young uns turn out mangy when we hustle 'em about a +bit in the autumn." + +The voices ceased, the furze-bushes were removed from the tunnel +entrances, a cold, steady current of air filled the chamber and the +passages, and the vixen knew that a way had been made for her escape. +She was not, however, so foolhardy as to venture forth while the scent +of her foes remained strong in the thicket; she lingered, in spite of +extreme thirst, till the shadows of evening deepened perceptibly in her +underground abode. + +When the vixen stole out into the grass, the pale moon was brightening +in the southern sky, and a solitary star glimmered faintly above the +tree-tops. A thrush sang his vesper from the bare branch of an oak near +by, and a blackbird, startled by the sight of a strange form squatting +beside the brambles, sounded his shrill alarm and dipped across the +clearing towards a clump of blackthorn bushes. As soon as she heard the +blackbird's warning, the vixen vanished; but, presently reappearing, she +trotted across the open space and sat beneath the thorns. For some +minutes she remained motionless in the dark patch of shadow, listening +intently; then, passing slowly down a narrow path, she reached a +trickling streamlet that fell with constant music from stone to stone +between luxuriant masses of moss and lichen; and there, at a gravelly +pool among the boulders, she cautiously stooped to drink. With exceeding +care, she now proceeded to make a thorough inspection of the covert. The +night was so calm and bright that the rabbits were feeding everywhere on +the margin of the thickets, but the vixen passed them by with nothing +but a casual glance; her mind, for the present, was not concerned with +hunting. After skirting the covert, she turned homewards by a pathway +through the trees. + +At the end of the path she paused, with head bent low and hackles +ruffled along the spine--the scent of another vixen lay fresh on the +ground. The peculiar taint told her a complete story. The strange vixen +was soon to become a mother, and probably, in anticipation of the event, +inhabited an "earth" close by. Casting about like an experienced hound, +she picked up the trail, and followed it into a great tangle of heather, +brambles, and fern, where the scent led, by many a devious turn, to the +spreading roots of a beech, beneath which a disused rabbit warren had +been prepared for the little strangers presently to be brought into the +world. The dwelling place was empty. + +Retracing her steps as far as the spot where first she had struck the +trail, then turning sharply towards the clearing, the crafty creature +hastened back to the "earth," determined to remove her cubs without +delay to the newly discovered abode. One by one she bore her offspring +thither, holding them gently by the loose skin about their necks, and +housed them all before the dispossessed tenant returned from a slow and +wearisome night's hunting. The evicted vixen, seeking to enter her home, +speedily recognised that in her distressed condition she was no match +for her savage, active enemy, and so, reluctantly retiring, took up her +quarters in the artificial "earth." + +Henceforth, through all the careless hours of infancy, till summer ended +and the nights gradually lengthened towards the time of the Hunter's +Moon, the stillness of the woodlands was never broken by the ominous +note of the horn, or by the dread, fascinating music of the hounds in +full cry. Three of the cubs grew stout and strong, but the fourth was a +weakling--whether from injury at the hands of the huntsman or from some +natural ailment was not to be determined. He died, and mysteriously +disappeared, on the very day when the rest of the cubs first opened +their eyes in the dim chamber among the roots of the beech. + +Vulp was the only male member of the happy woodland family. His +indulgent sisters tolerated his bouncing, familiar manners as if they +were born to be his playthings--he was so serious and yet so droll, so +stupidly self-assertive and yet so irresistibly affectionate! He seemed +to take his pleasures sadly, wearing, if such be possible to a fox, an +air of melancholy disdain; and yet his beady eyes were ever on the +lookout for mischief, and for the chance of a helter-skelter romp with +his sisters round and round the chamber, or to the entrance of the +"earth," where the sprouts of the green grass and the flowers of the +golden celandine sparkled as the sunlight of the fresh spring morning +flickered between the trees. + +As yet, Vulp was unacquainted with the wide, free world. It seemed very +wonderful and awe-inspiring, as he sat by the mouth of the tunnel in the +shadow of an arching spray of polypody and, for sheer lack of something +better to do, half lifted himself on his hind-legs to rub his lips +against the edge of a fern, or to peep, with a feeling that his +whereabouts were a secret, between the drooping fronds. His mother +restrained his rashness; once, when he actually thrust his head beyond +the ferns, she with a stern admonition warned him of his mistake; and +he promptly withdrew to her side, frightened at his own boldness, but +grunting in well assumed defiance of the imagined danger from which he +had fled. + +This, in fact, was the first lesson learned--that a certain sign from +the vixen meant "No," and that disobedience was afterwards punishable +according to the unwritten laws of woodland life. Another sign that he +learned to obey meant "Come." It was a low, deep note, gentle and +persuasive; and directly Vulp heard it he would hasten to his mother to +be not only fed but also cleansed from every particle of dirt. Such +toilet operations were not always welcome to the youngsters, and were +sometimes vigorously resented. But the vixen had a convincing method of +dealing with any refractory member of her family; she would hold the cub +firmly between her fore-feet while she continued her treatment, or +administered slight, well-judged chastisement by nipping her wayward +offspring in some tender spot, where, however, little harm could be the +result. + +The cubs were ten days old when they opened their eyes, but more than +three weeks passed before they were allowed beyond the threshold of +their home. Then, one starlight night, their mother, having returned +from hunting, awoke them, and, withholding their usual nourishment, gave +the signal "Come." The obedient little family followed her along the +dark passage, and ventured, close at her heels, into the grass-patch in +the middle of the briar-brake. Vulp was slightly more timid than his +sisters were; even at that early age he showed signs of independence and +distrust. While the other cubs played "follow-my-leader" with the dam, +he hung back, hesitating and afraid. Even an unusual show of affection +by his mother failed to reassure him. A rabbit dodged quickly across a +path, and immediately he stood rigid with fright. Hardly had he +recovered before an owl flew slowly overhead. Enough! He paused, +motionless, till the awful presence had disappeared; then darted, with +astonishing speed, straight towards the "earth," and vanished, with a +ridiculously feeble "yap" of make-believe bravado, into the darkness of +the den. Confidence, however, came and increased as the days and the +nights went by, till, at the close of a week's experiences, Vulp was as +bold in danger as either of his playmates. He learned to trust his +mother implicitly, and, in her absence, became the guardian of the +family when some fancied alarm brought fear. He was always last in +learning his lessons; but, as if to make amends, he always profited most +by the teaching. + +Happy, indeed, were those hours of innocence--filled with sleep, and +love, and play. Till Vulp was six weeks old, he was wholly unconscious +of that ravenous hunger for flesh which was fated to make him the +scourge of the woodlands. Nevertheless, his instincts were slowly +developing, and so, when on a second occasion the old buck rabbit that +had frightened him in the thicket bolted before his eyes across the +path, the little fox bristled with rage and, but for his mother's +presence, would doubtless have tried to pursue the exasperating coney. +Invariably, when the night was fine, the cubs gambolled about the vixen +on the close-cropped sward beyond the den, climbing over her body, +pinching her ears, growling and grunting, tugging at each other's +brushes, and in general behaving just as healthy, happy fox-cubs might +be expected to behave; while the patient, careful mother looked on +approvingly--save when, uniting in one strong effort, they endeavoured +to disjoint her tail by pulling it over her back--and smiled, as only a +fox can smile, with eyes asquint and a single out-turned fang showing +white beside the half-closed lip. + +A great event occurred when the mother first brought home her prey that +she might educate her youngsters in the matter of appetite and prepare +them for an independent existence. The victim was an almost full-grown +rabbit. Laying it down close to the entrance of the "earth," the vixen +called her cubs, and instantly they rushed from the den, tumbling over +each other in their haste, till they gained the spot where she was +waiting. At that moment, however, they caught sight of the strange grey +object in the grass, and, leaping back, bolted round to their mother's +side. Then, feeling safe under her care, they cautiously advanced in a +row to sniff the rabbit, and wondered, yet instinctively guessed, at the +meaning of the situation. The vixen growled, and, picking up her prey, +carried it to the bramble-clump. The cubs followed, making all sorts of +curious noises in mimicking their dam, and evincing the utmost +inquisitiveness as to the reason of her unexpected conduct. Presently, +having succeeded in arousing their inborn passion for flesh, the vixen +resorted to a neighbouring mound, and left her offspring in possession +of the dead animal, on which they immediately pounced, tooth and nail. +How terribly in earnest they became, how bold and reckless in their vain +attempt to demolish the subject of their wrath! Vulp fastened his +needle-like teeth in the throat, and each of his sisters gripped a leg, +while together they jerked, strained, scolded, and threatened, till the +mother, fearing lest the commotion would betray their whereabouts to +some lurking foe, rated her noisy progeny and in anger drove them away. +But as soon as she had gone back to her seat among the grass-bents, the +youngsters returned to their work. Anyhow, anywhere, they hurled +themselves on the dead creature, sometimes biting each other for sheer +lack of knowing exactly what else they should bite, and sometimes simply +for the excitement of a family squabble. + +At last, their unwonted exertions began to tire them; then the careful +vixen, desirous of bringing the lesson to its close, "broke up" her +prey and divided it among her hungry children. They fed daintily, +choosing from each portion no more than a morsel, and soon afterwards, +exhausted by excitement and fatigue, and forgetful of their differences, +were fast asleep, huddled together as usual in the roomy recess of the +den. For a while the vixen remained to satisfy her hunger; then, having +buried a few tit-bits of her provender, she also retired to rest; and +silence brooded over the woodlands till the break of day set every +nesting bird atune. + +The vixen proved to be an untiring teacher, and the education of the +cubs occupied a part, at least, of every night. The young foxes were +growing rapidly, and accompanied their dam in her wanderings about the +thickets. She never went far afield, food being easily procured at that +time of year, particularly as in a certain spot additional supplies for +the larder were frequently forthcoming because of the vigilance of the +huntsman, whose one desire was to fit the cubs to match his hounds in +the first "runs" of the coming season. + + + + +III. + +THE CUB AND THE POLECAT. + + +The young fox's education, varied and thorough, steadily proceeded. +Though the vixen-cubs were slightly quicker to learn, they were more +excitable, and consequently did not benefit fully by each lesson. Vulp +soon began to hunt for his own sport and profit. In the meadow above the +wood he would sit motionless, his eyes fixed on the ground, till the +voles came from their burrows to play beneath the grass-bents; then, +with a quick rush, he would secure a victim directly its presence was +betrayed by a waving stalk. With the same patience he would watch near a +rabbit warren, till one of the inhabitants, hopping out to the mound +before her door, gave him the sure chance of a kill. But in the +wheat-fields on the slope his methods were altogether different. To +capture partridges required unusual cunning and skill, and such +importance did the vixen attach to this branch of her field-craft, that, +before initiating her youngsters into the sport of hunting these birds +at night, she instructed them diligently in the methods of following by +scent, training them how to pursue the winding trail left by the larks +that fed at evening near their sleeping places, or by the corncrakes +that wandered babbling through the green wheat. Vulp's first attempt to +capture a partridge chick resulted in failure. The vixen-cubs "fouled" +the line he had patiently picked out in the ditch around the cornfield, +and, "casting" haphazard through the herbage, alarmed the sleeping +birds, and sent them away to a secure hiding place in the clover. But +his second attempt was crowned with success, and he proudly carried his +prey into a sequestered nook amid the gorse, where he enjoyed a quiet +meal. + +The cub was fully six months old before he knew the precise difference +between stale and fresh scent, or between the scent of one creature and +that of another, and how to hunt accordingly; and several years, with +many dangers and hair-breadth escapes, were destined to pass before he +became expert in avoiding or baffling the numerous enemies--chiefly +dogs, and men, and traps--that threatened his life. And yet, during the +first few months of his existence, he gained sufficient knowledge for +the needs of the moment; and when August drew on towards the close of +the summer, and he was three parts grown, he had so extended his nightly +rambles that the "lay of the land" was familiar for miles around the +covert. His outdoor existence--for now he was wont to sleep in a lair +among the gorse and the bracken, instead of in the stuffy "earth"--gave +him strength in abundant measure, while his scrupulously clean habits, +the care with which he removed even the slightest trace of a burr from +his sleek, brown coat, and the plentiful supplies of fresh food which he +was able to obtain, naturally preserved him from mange and similar +ailments to which carnivorous animals are always prone. For the present, +indeed, life meant nothing more to him than the sheer enjoyment of +vigorous health, at home by day amid the grateful shadows of the bushes +and the trees, or basking in the sun, and abroad at night in the cold, +clear air of the dewy uplands. + +Just as sportsmen occasionally meet with a run of ill-luck, when for +some apparently unaccountable reason they either fail to find game, or +fail to kill it, and, to intensify the annoyance, an accident occurs +that leaves a bitter memory, so Vulp, during one of his long rambles +over the countryside, failed entirely to find sport, and gained a +decidedly unpleasant experience. If only his mother had not taught him +that in a season of scarcity a weasel might reasonably be considered an +article of food! One summer night, as he started on his usual prowl, the +covert seemed strangely silent. With the exception of a solitary rabbit +that bolted to its burrow when the young fox crossed the clearing, and +another that disappeared in similar fashion when nothing more than a +slight crackle of a leaf betrayed Vulp's whereabouts near a +bramble-clump, every animal had apparently deserted the thickets. So, +leaving his accustomed haunts, he crossed the furze-clad dingle, and +watched near a large warren in the open. But there, again, not a rabbit +could be seen. A field-vole rustled by over the leaves; the cub made a +futile effort to capture it, stood for an instant listening to its +movements, then thrust his nose into the herbage in another vigorous but +vain attempt; the vole, like the rabbits, had sought refuge underground. +An owl, that had frightened the cub about five months before when first +he ventured outside his home, rose from the hedge, and flew slowly down +the valley with a little squealing creature in her talons; she, at any +rate, had not hunted in vain. + +At last Vulp struck a fresh line of scent which, though particularly +strong and uninviting, he took to be that of a weasel. It was mingled +with the faint odour of a field-vole that, doubtless, had been pursued +and carried away by its persistent enemy. The cub followed the trail, +hoping to secure both hunter and victim, but it soon led him to a hole +in the hedgerow, and there abruptly ceased. He was about to turn from +the spot, when the eyes of the supposed weasel suddenly gleamed at the +mouth of the hole, but disappeared when the presence of the cub was +recognised. The fox, retreating to a convenient post of observation +behind a tuft of grass, settled down to await his opportunity. A few +minutes elapsed, and the pursued creature came once more in sight. It +appeared like a shadow against the sky, lifted its nose inquiringly, +quitted the burrow, sat bolt upright for a moment, then, reassured, +proceeded towards the covert on the opposite side of the path. With a +single bound, the cub cleared the grass-tuft, reached out at his prey, +missed his grip, bowled the animal over, and, turning rapidly, caught it +across the loins instead of by the throat. Unfortunately for himself, +the fox had made a slight miscalculation. With a scream of rage and +pain, the polecat--for such the creature proved to be--turned on the +aggressor, and instantly fastened its formidable teeth, like a steel +trap, on his muzzle. Vulp had been taught that his fangs, also, were a +trap from which there should be no escape, and so he held on firmly, +trying meanwhile to shake the life from his victim. He pressed the +polecat to the ground, and frantically endeavoured to disengage its hold +by thrusting his fore-paws beneath its muzzle; but every effort alike +was useless. A scalding, acrid fluid emitted by the polecat caused the +lips and one of the eyes of the cub to smart unbearably, and the +offensive odour of the fluid grew stronger and stronger, till it became +almost suffocating. At last the polecat convulsively trembled as its +ribs and spine were crushed in the fox's tightening jaws, its teeth +relaxed their hold, and the fight was over. + +Sickened by the pungent smell, and with muzzle, lips, and right eye +burning horribly from his wounds and the irritant poison, Vulp hastily +dropped his prey, and ignominiously bolted from the scene of the +encounter. Soon, however, he stopped; the pain in his eye seemed beyond +endurance. He tried to rub away the noxious fluid with his paws, but his +frantic efforts only increased the irritation by conveying the poison to +his other eye and to his wounds. He rolled and sneezed and grunted in +torment; he drew his muzzle and cheeks to and fro on the ground, +wrestling with the great Earth-Mother for help in direst agony. He could +not open his eyes; he stumbled blindly against a tree-trunk, and at last +became entangled in the prickly undergrowth. This was Nature's method +of succour--she forced her wildling to remain quiet, in helpless +exhaustion, till the pain subsided and life could once again be endured. +Panting and sick, the cub lay outstretched among the thorns, while the +tears flowed from his eyes and the froth hung on his lips. Presently, +however, relieved by the copious discharge, he recovered his senses, +and, miserably cowed, with head and brush hanging low, returned before +dawn to the covert. But the vixen in fury drove the cub away; the scent +still clung to him, and rendered him obnoxious even to his mother. In +shame he retired to a dense "double" hedge of hawthorn, where he hid +throughout the day, till he could summon sufficient courage at dusk to +hunt for some dainty morsel wherewith to tempt his sickened appetite. +But before taking up his position above the entrance to a rabbit warren, +he drank at the brook, dipped his tainted fore-paws in the running +water, and, sitting by the margin, removed from his face, as far as +possible, the traces left by the previous night's conflict. Repeatedly, +at all hours of the day and the night, he licked his paws and with them +washed his wounded muzzle and inflamed eyes; but so obstinately did the +offensive odour cling to him that a fortnight elapsed before the last +vestige of the nuisance disappeared. Meanwhile, he narrowly escaped the +mange; and, to add to the discomfort of his wounds, he experienced, now +that his mother's aid was lacking, some difficulty in obtaining +sufficient fresh food. + +At length he recovered, and new, downy hair clothed the wounds and the +scratches on his muzzle and throat. Sleek and strong once more, he was +welcomed as a penitent prodigal by the relenting vixen, and, having in +the period of his solitary wanderings learned much about the habits of +the woodland folk, was doubtless able to assist his mother in the future +training of the vixen-cubs. + +In that luckless fortnight he had acquired a taste for young pheasants, +had picked up a few fat pigeon-squabs belonging to the last broods of +the year, and had sampled sundry articles of diet--frogs, slugs, snails, +a young hedgehog or two, and a squirrel that, overcome with +inquisitiveness, descended from the tree-tops to inspect the young fox +as he dozed among the bilberries carpeting the forest floor. + +Another incident occurred, to which, at the time, the cub attached +considerable importance. He had killed what seemed to be a large, heavy +rabbit, which, though evidently possessed of a healthy appetite, was +almost scentless, and differed in taste from any he had hitherto +captured. He was not particularly hungry, so he buried the insipid +flesh, and resolved never to destroy another rabbit that did not yield a +full, strong scent. Shortly afterwards, when, under the eye of the +bright August moon, Vulp and the vixen were hunting in the wheat-fields, +he detected a similarly weak scent along the hedgerow, and learned from +his wise mother it was that of a doe-hare about to give birth to her +young, and therefore hardly worth the trouble of following. The vixen +further explained that, except when other food was scarce, creatures +occupied, or about to be occupied, with maternal cares--even the lark in +the furrow and the willow-warbler in the hole by the brook--were far +less palatable than at other times. The cub was also told how, just +before he came into the world, the hounds had chased his mother from the +thicket, and how old Reveller, the leader of the pack, had headed the +reckless puppies, and, rating them for their discourtesy, had led them +away to scour another part of the covert. + +With the advance of autumn, a great change passed over the countryside. +The young fox now found it necessary to choose his paths with care as he +wandered through the darkness, lest the rabbits should be warned of his +approach by the crisp rustle of his "pads" on the leaves that had fallen +in showers on the grass. Hitherto he had associated the presence of man +with that of something good for food. An occasional dead rabbit was +still to be found near the old "earth," and, strange to relate, the +man-scent leading to the place was never fresher or staler than that of +the rabbit. In another spot--a wood-clearing not far from the keeper's +lodge--the strong scent of pheasants always seemed to indicate that the +birds had ventured thither in numbers to feed, and there, too, the +man-scent was strong on the grass. The tracks of innumerable little +creatures intersected the clearing in all directions, and, if but for +the sport of watching the pheasants, the pigeons, the sparrows, and the +voles playing and quarrelling in the undergrowth or partaking of the +food provided by the keeper, the fox loved to lurk in the gorse near by. +He evinced little real alarm even at the sight of man, though he felt a +misgiving and instinctively knew that he must hide or keep at a distance +till the curiously shaped monster had gone. The vixen warned him +repeatedly; and she herself, after giving the signal "Hide!" would slink +away, and wander for miles before returning to her family, if only the +measured footfall of a poacher or a farm labourer sounded faintly +through the covert. + +But soon the young fox learned, in a way not to be misunderstood, that +the presence of man meant undoubted danger. One day in October, as he +was intently watching the movements of a sportsman in the copse, a big +cock pheasant rose with a great clatter from the brambles, a loud report +rang through the covert, and a shaggy brown and white spaniel dashed +yelping into the bushes. Darting impetuously from his lair, the cub +easily out-distanced the dog, and quickly found refuge in an adjoining +thicket, where he remained in safety during the rest of the day. Night +brought him another adventure. While crossing a pasture towards a wooded +belt on the hillside, he discovered, to his surprise, that a man was +creeping stealthily towards him through the shadows. A moment later, a +great lurcher came bounding over the field. The fox turned, made for the +hedgerow, and gained the friendly shelter of the hawthorns just as the +dog crashed into the ditch. The frightened creature now ran along the +opposite side of the hedge in a straight line towards the wood, and for +a second time narrowly escaped the lurcher's teeth; but, by keeping +close to the ditch and among the prickly bushes on the top of the +hedge-bank, he at last succeeded in baffling his long-legged foe and +reached the wood unharmed. + +Vulp had thus awakened to the dangers which, during winter and the +earliest days of spring, were always to beset him. But the apprehensions +caused by his little affair with the spaniel, and even by his narrow +escape from the lurcher, were trifling compared with the dread and +distress of being driven for hours before the hounds. And so full of +perils was the first winter of his life that nothing but a combination +of sheer luck with great endurance could then have sufficed to save him +from destruction. Quickly, one after the other, the young vixens were +missing from the thickets; soon afterwards, three of the cubs belonging +to the litter that had been reared in the artificial "earth" +disappeared; and an old fox, the sire of that litter, was killed after a +long, wearisome chase almost to the cliffs on the distant coast. + +One dark and dismal night in December, Vulp, on returning to the home +thickets, failed to find his dam. Her trail was fresh; she had evidently +escaped the day's hunt; but all his efforts to follow her met with no +sort of success. Nature had brought about a separation; in the company +of an adult fox, whose scent lay also on the woodland path, the vixen +had departed from her haunts. The fox-cub remained, however, among the +woodlands where he had learned his earliest lessons, and, for another +year, hunted and was hunted--a vagrant bachelor. + + + + +IV. + +A CRY OF THE NIGHT. + + +One starlit night, when in early winter the snow lay thick on the +ground, Vulp heard the hunting call of a vixen prowling through the +pines. A similar call had often reached his ears. Not long after his dam +deserted him, the cry had come from a furze-brake on a neighbouring +hill-top, and, hastening thither, he had wandered long and wearily, +recognising, though with misgiving, his mother's voice. But the exact +meaning of the call, not being a matter for his mother's teaching, was +unknown to him at the time. Now, however, he was a strong, well fed, +fully developed fox, able to hold his own against all rivals, and the +cry possessed for him a strange, new significance: "The night is white; +man is asleep; I hunt alone!" Almost like a big brown leaf he seemed to +drift across the moonlit snow, nearer and nearer to the pines. He paused +for a moment to sniff the trail; then, with a joyous "yap" of greeting, +he bounded over the hedge, reached the aisles of the wood, and +gambolled--again like a big, wind-blown leaf--about the sleek, handsome +creature whose call he had heard. The happy pair trotted off to hunt the +thickets, till, just before dawn, Vulp, eager to show his skill and +training, surprised two young rabbits sitting beneath a snow-laden +tangle of briar and gorse, and gallantly shared the spoil with his +woodland bride. They feasted long and heartily, afterwards journeying to +the banks of a rill, that, like a black ribbon, flowed through the glen; +and there, crouching together at the margin, they lapped the water with +eager, thirsty tongues. + +Presently, happening to glance behind along the line of the trail, Vulp +caught sight of another fox, a rival for the vixen's affections, +crouching in some bracken scarcely a dozen yards away. With a low grunt +of rage, he dashed into the fern, but the watchful stranger simply +moved aside, and frisked towards the vixen as she still crouched at the +edge of the stream. In response to this insulting defiance, Vulp hurled +himself on the intruder, and bowled him over into the snow. The fight +was fast and furious; now one gained the advantage, then the other. The +grass beneath them became gradually bared of snow by their frantic +struggles, and marked here and there by a bunch of fur or a spot of +blood. At last the rival fox, his cheek torn badly beneath the eye, +showed signs of exhaustion; his breath came in quick, loud gasps; and +Vulp, pressing the attack, forced him to flee for life to a thicket on +the brow of the slope. There he dwelt and nursed his wounds, till, when +the snow melted, the huntsman's "In-hoick, in-hoick, loo-loo-in-hoick!" +resounded in the coverts, and he was routed from his lair for a last, +half-hearted chase, that ended as Melody pulled him down at a ford of +the river below the woods. + +During the period of their comradeship--a period of privation for most +of Nature's wildlings--Vulp taught the vixen much of the lore he had +learned from his mother, while the vixen imparted to him the knowledge +she herself had gained when a cub. He taught her how to steal away from +the covert along the rough, rarely trodden paths between the +farm-labourers' cottages--where the scent lay so badly that the hounds +were unable to follow--directly the first faint notes of a horn, or the +dull thud of galloping hoofs, or the excited whimper of a "rioting" +puppy, indicated the approach of enemies. She taught him to baffle his +foes by chasing sheep across the stubbles, and then passing through a +line of strong scent where his own trail could not readily be +distinguished; also that to cross the river by leaping from stone to +stone in the ford was as sure a means of eluding pursuit as to swim the +pools and the shallows. He taught her, when hard pressed, to leap +suddenly aside from her path, run along the top rail of a fence, return +sharply on her line of scent, and follow, with a wide cast, a +loop-shaped trail, which, with a tangent through a ploughed field or dry +fallow, was usually sufficient to check pursuit till the scent became +faint and cold. And gradually each of these woodland rovers grew +acquainted with the peculiar whims and habits of the other. Vulp loved +to follow stealthily the trail of the rabbit, and then to lie in wait +till some imagined cause of alarm sent Bunny back through the "creep" +and almost straight into her enemy's open jaws. The vixen preferred to +hide in the brambles to leeward of a burrow till an unsuspecting rabbit +crept out into the open. Vulp, since his adventure with the polecat, +bristled with rage whenever he crossed the track of a weasel, but never +dreamed of following; polecat and weasel were the same animal for aught +he knew to the contrary. The vixen, however, was not daunted by the +unpleasant memory of any such adventure; having chanced to see a weasel +in the act of killing a vole, she had recognised a rival and acted +accordingly. And so Vulp's repeated warnings to his mate on this matter +produced no effect beyond making her slightly more careful than she had +hitherto been to obtain a proper grip when she pounced on her savage +little quarry. The vixen was exceedingly fond of snails, and would +eagerly thrust a fore-paw into the crannies of any old wall or bank +where they hibernated; but Vulp much preferred to scratch up the moss +in a deserted gravel-pit, and grub in the loosened soil for the drowsy +blow-flies and beetles that had chosen the spot for their winter abode. +This was the reason for such different tastes: the vixen, when a cub, +had often basked in the sun near a snails' favourite resort, and had +there acquired a liking for the snails; while the fox, on the other +hand, had times out of number amused himself, in the first summer of his +life, by leaping and snapping at the flies as they buzzed among the +leaves when the mid-day sun was hot, and at the beetles as they boomed +along the narrow paths in the thicket near the "earth" when the moon +rolled up above the hedge, and the dark, mysterious shadows of +intersecting boughs foreshortened on the grass. But Vulp knew well, from +an unpleasant experience, the difference between a fly and a wasp. + +One day in August, as he lay in his outdoor lair, the brightness and +heat of the sunshine were such that his eyes, blinking in the drowsiness +of half-awakened slumber, appeared like mere slits of black across +streaked orbs of yellow, and gave no indication of the fiery glow that +lit the round, distended pupils when he peered at nightfall through the +tangled undergrowth. His tongue lolled out, and he panted like a tired +hound, but from thirst rather than weariness. The flies annoyed him +greatly, now settling on his brush, till with a flick of his paw he +drove them away, then, nothing daunted, alighting on his back, his ears, +his haunches, till his fur wrinkled and straightened in numberless +uneasy movements from the tormenting tickling of the little pests. +Presently, with a shrill bizz of rapid wings, a large, yellow-striped +fly passed close to his ears. He struck down the tormenting insect with +a random flip of his paws, snapped at it to complete the work of +destruction, and proceeded leisurely to eat his victim. To his utter +surprise, he seemed to have captured a living, angry thorn, which, +despite his most violent efforts to tear it away with his paws, stuck in +his lip, and produced a smarting, burning sensation that was +intolerable. He rolled on the ground and rubbed his muzzle in the grass, +but to no purpose. No wonder, then, that subsequently his manner +towards an occasional hibernating wasp among the moss-roots in the +gravel-pit was deferential in the extreme! + +Vulp and his mate soon learned that in rabbit-hunting it was exceedingly +profitable to co-operate. Thus, while the vixen "lay up" near a warren, +Vulp skirted the copse and chased the conies home towards his waiting +spouse. After considerable practice, the trick paid handsomely, and food +was seldom lacking. The vixen possessed, perhaps, a slightly more +delicate sense of smell than the fox. Frequently she scented a rabbit in +a clump of fern or gorse after Vulp had passed it by; suddenly stopping, +she would tell her lord of her discovery by signs he readily understood, +and then, while he kept outside the tangle, would pounce on the coney in +its retreat, or start it helter-skelter into his very jaws. But of all +the tricks and the devices she taught him, the chief, undoubtedly, were +those concerned with the capture of hens and ducks from a neighbouring +farmstead. An adult fox, as a rule, does not pay frequent visits to a +farmstead; but Vulp, like his sire, was passionately fond of poultry, +and so, in after years, the vixen's instructions caused him to become +the dread of every henwife in the district. Undoubtedly he would have +been shot had he not been the prize most sought for by the Master of the +Hounds, who cared little for the frequent demands made on his purse by +the cottagers, so long as the fox that slaughtered the poultry gave +abundant sport when running fast and straight before the pack. + +The months drifted by, and signs of spring became more and more abundant +in the valley. About the beginning of March, Vulp deserted the "earth" +prepared by himself and the vixen for their prospective family, and took +up his abode among the hazels and the hawthorns in a thick-set hedge +bounding the woods. + +In preparing the "breeding earth," Vulp and the vixen observed the +utmost care in order that its whereabouts should not be discovered. The +chosen site was a shallow depression, scratched in the soil by a +fickle-minded rabbit that had ultimately fixed on another spot for her +abiding place. This depression was enlarged; a long tunnel was +excavated as far as the roots of an oak, and there broadened. Then +another long tunnel was hollowed out towards the surface, where it +opened in the middle of a briar-brake. The foxes worked systematically, +digging away the soil with their fore-paws, loosening an occasional +stubborn stone or root with their teeth, and thrusting the rubbish +behind them with their powerful hind-legs. As it accumulated, they +turned and pushed it towards the mouth of the den, where at last a +fair-sized mound was formed. When the burrow had been opened into the +thicket, the crafty creatures securely "stopped" the original entrance, +so that, when the grass sprouted and the briar sprays lengthened in the +woodlands, the "earth" would escape all notice, unless a prying visitor +penetrated the thicket and discovered the second opening--then, of +course, the only one--leading to the den. + +When summer came, and the undergrowth renewed its foliage, and the grass +and the corn grew so tall and thick that Vulp could roam unseen through +the fields, he left his haunts amid the woodlands at the first peep of +dawn, and as long as daylight lasted lay quiet in a snug retreat amid +the gorse. There all was silent; no patter of summer rain from leaves +far overhead, no rustle of summer wind through laden boughs, prevented +him hearing the approach of a soft-footed enemy; no harsh, mocking cry +of jay or magpie, bent on betraying his whereabouts, gave him cause for +uneasiness and fear. Of all wild creatures in the fields and woods, he +detested most the meddlesome jay and magpie. If he but ventured by day +to cross an open spot, one of these birds would surely detect and follow +him, hopping from branch to branch, or swooping with ungainly flight +almost on his head, meanwhile hurling at him a thousand abuses. Unless +he quickly regained his refuge in the gorse, the blackbirds and the +thrushes would join in the tantalising mockery, till it seemed that the +whole countryside was aroused by the cry of "Fox! fox!" After such an +adventure, it needed the quiet and solitude of night to restore his +peace of mind; and even when he had escaped the din, and lay in his +couch among the bleached grass and withered leaves, his ears were +continually strained in every direction to catch the least sound of dog +or man. When in the winter he ran for life before the hounds, and tried +by every artifice to baffle his pursuers, these "clap-cats" of the woods +would jeer him on his way. Once, when he ventured into the river, and +headed down-stream, thinking that the current would bear his scent below +the point where he would land on the opposite bank, the magpie's clatter +caused him the utmost fear that his ruse might not succeed. But luckily +the hounds and the huntsman were far away. The birds, however, were not +the only advertisers of his presence; the squirrel, directly she caught +sight of him, would hurry from her seat aloft in fir or beach, to the +lowest bough, and thence--though more wary of Vulp than of Brighteye, +the water-vole--fling at him the choicest assortment of names her varied +vocabulary could supply. Still, for all this irritating abuse Vulp had +only himself and his ancestry to blame. The fox loved--as an article of +diet--a plump young fledgling that had fallen from its nest, or a tasty +squirrel, with flesh daintily flavoured by many a feast of nuts, or +beech-mast, or eggs. It was but natural that his sins, and those of his +forefathers, should be accounted to him for punishment, and that it +should become the custom, in season and out of season, when he was known +to be about, for all the woodland folk to hiss and scream, and +expostulate and threaten, and to compel his return to hiding with the +least possible delay. Thus it happened that he scarcely ventured, during +the day, to attack even a young rabbit that frisked near his lair, lest, +screaming to its dam for help, it should bring a very bedlam about his +ears. + +While roaming abroad in the summer night, Vulp gradually became +acquainted with all sorts of vermin-traps used by the keepers. Once, +treading on a soft spot near a rabbit "creep," he suddenly felt a slight +movement beneath his feet. Springing back, he almost managed to clear +the trap; but the sharp steel teeth caught him by a single claw and for +a moment held him fast. He wrenched himself loose, and retired for a +while to examine his damaged toe-nail. Then, reassured, he again +approached the trap, so that he might store up in memory the +circumstances of his near escape. He learned his lesson thoroughly, and +never afterwards did the smell of iron, or the slightest taint of the +trapper's hand, escape him. He even walked around molehills; they +reminded him too much of the soft soil about the trap. And, for the same +reason, he avoided treading on freshly excavated earth before the holes +of a rabbit warren. + +The succeeding years of Vulp's eventful life were in many respects +similar to the year that began with his courtship of the sleek young +vixen in the white wilderness of the winter fields. His fear of men and +hounds increased, while his cunning became greater with every passing +day. He never slept on a straight trail, but cast about, returned on the +line of his scent, and leaped aside, before retiring to sleep in his +retreat amid the bracken. Often he heard the wild, ominous cry of the +huntsman, "Eloa-in-hoick, hoick--hoick, cover--hoick!" as the hounds +dashed into the furze; and the loud "Tally-ho!" as he himself, or, +perchance, a less fortunate neighbour, broke into sight before the +loud-tongued pack. And more than once, from a safe distance, he heard +the awful "Whoop!" that proclaimed the death of one of his kindred. + +As the years wore on, Vulp gradually wandered far from his old home. The +countryside, for twenty or thirty miles around, was known as intimately +to him as a little garden, nestling between sunny fruit-tree walls, is +known to the cottager who makes it the object of his daily care. His +ears were torn by thorns and fighting; his russet coat was streaked with +grey along the spine. At last, when age demanded ease and comparative +safety from the long, hard chase over hill and dale, he retired to a +rocky fastness on the wild west coast, and there, far above the leaping +waves and dashing spray, lived his free, lonely life. And there he died. + +[Illustration: "HE RETIRED TO A ROCKY FASTNESS ON THE WILD WEST COAST."] + +It was a bright, hot day in July. Lying among the boulders on the shore, +I watched through a field-glass the antics of some birds that wheeled +and soared above the cliffs, when, to my surprise, I saw Vulp crawl +slowly along a shelf of rock above a deep, dark cavern. His movements, +somehow, appeared unnatural. Instead of crouching, with legs bent under +him and brush curled gracefully about his "pads," to bask, his eyelids +half-closed, in the sun, he lay on his side. Guided by a companion, who, +with waving hand, directed my course as I climbed, I gradually mounted +the steep ascent, and peeped over the edge of the rock on which the fox +lay. Despite my excessive caution, he was aware of my presence. Slowly +and drowsily he lifted his head, uttered a feeble half-grunt, half-whine +of alarm, and for a moment bared his teeth defiantly. I remained +absolutely still. Then his head fell back, and with a tremor of pain he +stretched a stiffened limb. I crawled across the ledge to a rugged path +among the cliffs, and descended to the shore. Next day I found him on +the rock again, lying in the same position, but dead, while far up in +the blue the sea-birds circled and called, and far below, at the edge of +the flowing tide, the crested billows leaped and sang. + +His "mask" hangs above my study door. It has been placed there--not as +a thing of beauty. The hard, set pose devoid of grace, the bent, dried +ears once ever on the alert, the glassy, artificial eyes in sockets once +tenanted by living balls of fire that glowed in the darkness of the +night--all are unreal and expressionless. Yet the "mask" suggests a +hundred pictures, and when I turn aside and forget for a moment the +unreality of this poor image of death, I wander, led by fancy, among the +moonlit woods, where the red mouse rustles past, and the mournful cry of +the brown owl floats through the beeches' shadowed aisles. Then I hear a +sudden wail, that echoes from hillside to hillside, as the vixen calls +to Vulp: "The night is white; man is asleep; I hunt alone!" And the fox, +standing at the edge of the clearing, sends back his sharp, glad answer, +"I come!" + + + + +THE BROWN HARE. + +I. + +THE UPLAND CORNFIELD. + + +In midsummer, when the sun rises over the hillside opposite my home its +first bright beams glance between the branches of a giant oak in the +hedgerow of a cornfield above the wooded slope, and sparkle on my study +window. And when at evening the valley is deeply shadowed, the light +seems to linger in benediction on the same cornfield, where the great +oak-tree, no longer silhouetted darkly against a golden dawn, shines +faintly, with a radiance borrowed from the west, against the pearl-blue +curtain of the waning day. Except during the early morning or at dusk, +the cornfield does not stand out conspicuously in the landscape. The eye +is attracted by the striking picture of the woodland wall stretching +across the slope from the brink of the river, or by the lower prospect +of peaceful meadows and orchards through which the murmuring stream +wanders towards the village bridge; but the peaceful uplands beyond +rarely greet the vision. For many years I was wont to look from my +window only at the woods and the meadows, and somehow I was accustomed +to imagine that the line of my vision was bounded by the top of the +wood. It was not till more than usual interest had been awakened in me +concerning the wild life inhabiting the cornfield, that my eyes were +daily turned in the direction of the uplands, where, every evening, the +rooks disappear from sight on their way to the tall elms in a +neighbouring valley. + +Except during harvest, the cornfield is seldom visited by the country +folk. It lies away from the main road, and the nearest approach to it is +by a grass-grown lane leading from some ruined cottages to a farmstead +in the middle of the estate. Many years ago, it was a wilderness of +furze and briar, one of the thickest coverts on the countryside, +affording safe sanctuary for fox and badger. But gradually it has been +reclaimed, till now only a belt of undergrowth, scarcely twenty yards +wide, stretches along the horizon between the upper hedgerow and the +wheat. + +Here, one starry April night, in a snug "form" prepared by the mother +hare, a leveret was born. The "form" was hardly more than a depression +in the rank grass, to which, for some time past, the doe had been in the +habit of resorting at dawn, that she might hide secure through the day, +till the dusk brought with it renewed confidence, and tempted her away +into the open meadows beyond the cornfield, where the young clover grew +green and succulent. A thick gorse-bush, decked with a wealth of yellow +bloom, grew by the side of the "form," and, all around, the matted grass +and brambles made a labyrinth, pathless, save for the winding "run" by +which the hare approached or left her home. + +Unlike the offspring of the rabbit--born blind and naked in an +underground nest lined with its parent's fur--the leveret was covered +with down, and her eyes were open, from the hour of birth. Nature had +fitted her for an existence in the open air. At first she was suckled by +day as well as by night, but as she grew older she seldom felt the want +of food till dark. While light remained, she squatted motionless by her +mother's side in the "form," protected by the resemblance in colour +between her coat and the surrounding herbage, where the browns and greys +of last autumn might still be seen among the brambles, with here and +there a weather-worn stone or the fresh castings from a field-vole's +burrow. In the gloaming, she followed her mother through the "creeps" +amid the furze-brake, and sometimes to the edge of the thicket as far as +the gap, where she learned to nibble the tastiest leaves in the grass. +But soon after nightfall, she was generally alone for some hours while +the doe wandered in search of food. + +Before daybreak, the doe always returned to suckle her little one. Often +in the quiet night, the leveret, feeling lonely or afraid, would call in +a low, tremulous voice for help. If the doe was within hearing she +immediately responded; but frequently the cry, "leek, leek," did not +reach the roaming hare, and the leveret, crouching in the undergrowth, +had to wait till she heard her mother's welcome call. Soon the little +home in the thicket was deserted, and the leveret accompanied her +mother on her nightly journeys till the fields and the woods for miles +around became familiar. + +About a month after her birth, the leveret, having grown so rapidly that +she was able to take care of herself, parted from her mother, and, +crossing the boundary hedge of the estate, took up her quarters on the +opposite side of the valley. The doe and her leveret had lived happily +in the cornfield and the meadows above the wood. The mother had attended +with utmost solicitude to the wants of her offspring, allowing no +intruder among her kindred to trespass on her own particular haunts, and +careful to select for each day's hiding place some sequestered spot +where a human footstep was seldom heard, and the noise of the farmyard +sounded faint and remote. + +The leveret had learned, partly through a wonderful instinct and partly +through her mother's teaching, how to act when there was cause for +alarm. Immediately on detecting the presence of an intruder, she lay as +still as the stone beside the ant-heap near, trusting that she would not +be distinguished from her surroundings. But if flight was absolutely +necessary, she sped away towards the nearest gap, and thence over +pasture and cornfield, always up-hill if possible, out-distancing any +probable pursuer by the marvellous power of her long hind-limbs. + +During the late summer and the early autumn, nothing occurred to +endanger the leveret's life. The corn grew tall and slowly ripened. Amid +its cool shadows the leveret dwelt in solitude. Her "creeps" were out of +sight beneath the arching stalks. A gutter for winter drainage, dry and +overgrown with grass, formed a tunnel in the hedge-bank between the corn +and the root-crop field beyond; and through this gutter the leveret, +when at night she grew hungry, could steal into the dense tangle of +thistles and nettles fringing the turnips, thence, between the ridges +under the wide-spreading leaves, to the narrow pathway dividing the rape +from the root-crop, and across the field to a furrow where sweet red +carrots, topped with dew-sprinkled plumes, tempted her dainty appetite. + +When the calm night was illumined, but not too brightly, by the moon and +stars, the leveret would venture far away from her retreat to visit a +cottage garden where the young lettuces were crisp and tender. Her +depredations among the carrots and lettuces were scarcely such as to +deserve punishment. She ate only enough of the lettuces to make a slight +difference in the number of seeding plants ultimately devoured by the +cottager's pig, or thrown to the refuse-heap; and from the great pile of +carrots, to be gathered and stored in the peat-mound by the farmstead, +the few she destroyed could never by any chance be missed. On all the +countryside she was the most inoffensive creature--the harmless gipsy of +the animal world, having no fixed abode, her tent-roof being the dome of +the sky. + +As autumn advanced, the reapers came to the corn. She heard them enter +by the gate; and presently, along the broad path cut by the scythe +around the field, the great machine clanked and whirred. All day the +strange, disturbing noise continued, drawing gradually nearer the spot +where the leveret lay. Through the spaces between the stalks she watched +the whirling arms swinging over, and the horses plodding leisurely by +the edge of the standing wheat. At last, but almost too late, she +leaped from her "form" as the cruel teeth cut through the stalks at her +side; and, taking the direction of her "creep," rushed off towards the +nearest gap and disappeared over the brow of the hill. + +In the middle of the night she wandered back to the wheat-field. The +scene before her eyes revealed a startling change. The corn stood in +"stooks" on the stubble; no winding paths led here and there through a +silent sanctuary, where countless waving, nodding plumes, bent and +released by a gentle-flowing wind, had shimmered in the bright radiance +of the harvest moon, when, coming home late at night from the marsh +across the hill, she had stayed for a while on the mound by the gate, +and tiptoe, with black-fringed ears moving restlessly, had listened to +some ominous sound in the farmyard. The prickly stubble felt strange to +her feet, so, carefully picking her way by the ditch, she crossed to the +nearest gate and ambled down the lane. But the change noticed in the +wheat-field seemed to have passed over the whole countryside. It was +more and more pronounced during the following week, till, in October, +the late harvest had all been cleared. The habits of the hare altered +with the season. Having at last grown accustomed to the varied +conditions of her life, she sometimes frequented the old tracks over the +upland, but rarely resorted to the "forms" in which she had lain amid +the summer wheat. + +October brought her an experience which might have proved disastrous, +but which, fortunately, resulted in nothing more than a passing fright. +In the stalk of the rye occurs a knot, forming a slight bulge known to +the peasantry as the "sweet joint." Rabbits and hares are extremely fond +of this succulent morsel, and, in consequence, the rye-crop, if near a +large warren, is in danger of being totally destroyed. Puss one night +had wandered far to a field, where, some time before, she had discovered +a patch of standing rye. The few remaining stalks were hard and +uninviting, but there were some delicious parsnips among the root-crops. +At dawn she settled down to hide between the rows of swedes close by, +and remained secreted for the day; but towards evening a sportsman came +in at the gate, and, with a low word of command and a wave of the arm, +"threw off" his brace of red setters to range the field. Working +systematically to right and left, the dogs sought eagerly for game. Soon +the hare was scented, and while Juno, with stiffened "stern" and +uplifted paw, stood almost over her, Random, "backing" his companion, +set towards the furrow where Puss, perfectly rigid, and with ears well +over her shoulders, crouched low, prepared for instant flight. Step by +step the sportsman, with gun in readiness, moved towards Juno, +cautioning her against excitement; while Random, sinking on his +haunches, awaited patiently the issue of events. Suddenly, convinced +that in flight lay her surest chance of escape, the hare leaped from her +"seat," and with the utmost speed, though from the ease of her motions +appearing to run slowly, made her way towards the hedgerow. There was a +quick rush behind her as she started from the furrow, and then a loud, +rasping exclamation from the sportsman, but nothing more; no shot was +fired. She owed her life to several circumstances. The dogs were young, +and in strict training; their master, knowing the natural fondness of +"first season" setters for "chasing fur," had purposely refrained from +killing the hare, and had turned his attention to the behaviour of his +dogs. Then, again, he cherished a certain fondness for Puss, believing +her to be the most persecuted, as well as the most innocent and +interesting, of Nature's wildlings in the wind-swept upland fields. + +Henceforward, but for one other incident, the life of the hare was +singularly uneventful till the early spring. That incident occurred +within a week of her escape from the setters, and once more her luck was +due to the humanity of him who had found her among the turnips. The +farm-lands frequented by the leveret were a favourite resort of many of +her kind, and when moving about in the darkness of the night she often +found signs of their presence near the gaps and gateways. The sportsman, +knowing well that after harvest the poaching instincts of the peasantry +and of the professional village "mouchers" would receive fresh stimulus, +determined to forestall his enemies, and render futile some, at least, +of their endeavours. So it came about that one night a keeper, assisted +by several of the guests at the "big house" in the valley, and having +previously made every preparation for the event, placed a net near each +gate and before each likely gap within a radius of half a mile from the +heart of the estate. + +Unless hard pressed, a hare seldom leaves a field except by certain +well-known openings in the hedgerow. Unlike the rabbit, she will not +readily leap over any obstacle beneath which she can crawl; and whereas +the "creep" of a rabbit through a gateway or a hedgerow is well-nigh +invariably at right angles to the line of that gateway or hedgerow, the +"creep" of a hare tends sideways and is sometimes slightly curved. To +net hares successfully it is necessary to know their habits; and the +keeper, having served a lifelong apprenticeship in field-craft, was +prepared for every emergency. His object at this time was not to kill +the hares, but simply to educate them, to warn them thoroughly once for +all against the wiles of their worst enemy, the poacher. + +As Puss was busily feeding in the dewy clover, she heard the quick, +continuous gallop of a dog. This time, however, she had not to deal with +Juno, the setter, but with a trained lurcher, borrowed for the occasion +from a keeper who had captured the animal during a poaching affray. The +leveret, peeping over the grass-tops, saw the dog coming rapidly on. He +was over and past her in an instant. As he turned, she started off +straight towards an opening where some sheep had partly broken down the +hedge. The lurcher closed in, and drove her thither at tremendous speed. +She strained every nerve, and, gaining the ditch, blundered blindly +through the gap, and fell, helpless and inert, entangled completely +within the treacherous folds of the unseen net. Her piteous cries, +tremulous, wailing, heart-rending--similar to the cries of a suffering +infant--were borne far and wide on the wind. The keeper soon reached the +spot, and, placing his hand over her mouth to stop the cries, tenderly +extricated the frightened creature from the treacherous meshes and +allowed her to go free. For a few seconds, she lay in abject fright, +panting and unable to move. Then, hearing the cries of another hare +entangled in a bag-net some distance away, she bounded to her feet, and +darted off--somewhere, anywhere, so long as she might leave the awful +peril behind. Bewildered, but with every instinct assisting her in the +desire for life, she ran along by the hedgerow, and, unexpectedly +catching sight of a familiar gate, crouched and passed quickly through +the "creep" beneath the lowest bar. But here, again, a net was spread; +again the hare fell screaming and struggling into the meshes; and again +the keeper released her. Exhausted by intense excitement and fear, she +crawled into the "trash" in the ditch, and kept in hiding, not daring +the risk of another capture. Luckily for Puss, the lurcher had already +hunted the field in which she was now secreted, and so the timid +creature remained undisturbed beneath the fern. When her wildly +throbbing heart had been quieted by rest and solitude, she stole from +her hiding place to nibble the clover at the side of the path. Towards +dawn, she journeyed to a wide stretch of moorland on the opposite hills, +and there made a new "form" on a rough bank that separated a reedy +hollow from the undulating wilderness of heather and fern. + +The leveret's adventures were destined to effect a considerable change +in her habits. She was being roughly taught that to preserve her life +she must be ever cautious and vigilant. Though danger threatened her by +day and by night, she lived beyond the usual period of a hare's +existence, partly because her early education was thorough and severe. +Thus taught, she would pause for an instant at every gap and gateway +before she passed through, and, if she found a net in her path, would +turn aside, creep along by the hedge, and seek an exit at another place. + +The perils to which she had been exposed created a feeling of intense +restlessness, which harassed her throughout the winter months, and +caused her to travel long distances, by the loneliest lanes and fields, +to and from the moorland where now she had made her home. She remembered +the scent of a human being since her experiences with the keeper, and, +her powers of smell being wonderfully acute, was able to detect even the +faintest signs which indicated that her dread enemy--man--had crossed +her path. One night she smelt the touch of a hand on the grass-bents +near her "form," and found also that the herbage had been moved aside. +Though the scent was faint--the intruder having visited the spot soon +after the leveret had set out in quest of food--the cautious creature +forsook her lair, and spent the day in a sheltered retreat beside a heap +of dry and withered leaves near the outskirts of a copse on the slope +overlooking the moor. + +Gradually she grew big and strong, becoming unusually fat as the autumn +advanced, so that she would be able, if required, to withstand the +rigour and the waste of a severe winter. Her coat was thick and +beautifully soft, for protection against cold and damp. But while she +increased in weight, she remained in hard condition because of her long +journeys and frequent change of quarters. + +It happened, however, that her first winter was helpful to the welfare +of animal life in general. The heavy rains, it is true, greatly +distressed the leveret. The nights were so dark, and the constant patter +of the rain so interfered with even her highly trained powers of +hearing, that, while the wet weather lasted, she seldom dared to leave +the neighbourhood of her favourite resort, but crouched in the grass at +the margin of the copse, and tried to obtain a meal as best she could +from the sodden herbage. + +Though on certain occasions Puss might have been discovered in hiding +on the marsh, yet there, whenever possible, she chose a dry spot for her +"seat." She loved, best of all, the undulating hills far above the +river-mists, which, chilled at nightfall by an occasional frost, +descended on the fields like crystal dust, and almost choked her if she +chanced to pass within these wreathing drifts that brought discomfort +and disease to man and beast alike. + +But the want of exercise so affected her, that, when again the weather +was fine and she ventured from her lair, she found herself unable to +cover the usual distance of her nightly rambles. As the first cold +glimmer of the dawn appeared in the south-eastern sky, she started back, +in alarm at her fatigue, to complete the remaining mile of her journey +home. Her weakness soon became apparent. Then, finding herself powerless +to proceed, she turned reluctantly aside, and crouched, with Nature's +mimicry for her protection, on the brown ploughland where the winter +wheat was thrusting up its first green sprouts above the soil. But after +a few days she was well and strong again. She suffered far less from +the short, sharp frost that bound the countryside with its icy fetters, +than from the rains. The frost scarcely interfered with her movements; +indeed, it made exercise more than ever necessary. Forced to seek +diligently for her food, she found it in a deserted stubble; there, when +the sheep lay sleeping in the bright winter moonlight, she would squat +beside them, nibbling the turnips scattered over the field as provender +for the flock. + + + + +II. + +MARCH MADNESS. + + +March came in "like a lion." The wind whistled round the farmstead on +the hill, and through the doorway of the great kitchen, and down the +open chimney. It woke up the old, grey-haired farmer who dozed on the +"skew" in the ingle-nook by the crackling wood-fire; it almost made him +feel young again with the vigour of the boisterous spring. It sang in +the key-hole of the door between the passage and the best parlour; the +mat at the threshold flapped with a sound as of pattering feet; and the +gaudy calendars on the wall flew up like banners streaming in the +breeze. The old man turned, and eagerly watched the hailstones, as they +dropped tinkling on the roofs of the outhouses, or, driven aslant by +the wind, crashed hissing against the ground, and, rebounding, rolled +across the pebbled yard. The labourers came home to the mid-day meal, +and, pausing at the door, shook the hail from their garments. + +"Lads," said the farmer, "I've been spared to hear the whisper of +another spring." + +"God be thanked!" said the hind, "for seasonable weather at last. Every +man to his trencher! the broth is in the bowls." + +Out on the marsh the reeds beat in the wind. Every grass-fibre twisted +and swung; the matted tussocks, drooping over stagnant pools near which +the snipe, with ruffled feathers, probed the soil in search of food, +were shaken and disentangled, so that the bleached blades of last year's +growth fell apart, and exposed the fresh young sprouts rising from the +bed of winter's death. Over the wide waste the March wind drove +furiously, with blessing in the guise of chastisement, while, far above, +the grey-blue clouds whirled fast across a steely sky, till the ashen +moon gazed coldly on the waning day, as one by one the stars flashed +overhead, the clouds rolled down into the pink and silver west, and the +song of the wind became only a murmur in the leafless willows by the +brook. + +With the advent of March, a great change passed over the wild life of +the uplands. The jack-hares threw aside their timidity, and wandered, +reckless of danger, over the marsh, across the stubbles, and through the +woods. Even in broad daylight, they frisked and quarrelled, in courtship +and rivalry. + +The leveret was now full-grown, and Nature's mothering instincts were +strong within her. One evening, as she louped along her accustomed trail +towards the turnip-field, she discovered a suitor following in her wake. +Half in misgiving, half in wantonness, she turned aside and hid in the +ditch. Presently she felt a soft touch on her neck: the jack-hare was +pushing his way through the undergrowth. For a moment she stopped to +admire him as the moonlight gleamed on a white star in the centre of his +forehead. Then away she jumped, dodging round the bushes and hither and +thither among the grassy tangles, while her admirer followed, frisking +and leaping in sportive gaiety. Another jack-hare now came along the +hedgerow. In utter mischief, Puss called "leek, leek, leek," as if +pretending to be in distress and in need of help. "Leek, leek," came the +low response, as, quickening his pace, the second hare sprang into the +fern. But his audacity was not to go unchallenged. The first suitor +immediately showed himself, and, making a great pretence of reckless +bravery, prepared to give the second a warm reception. The doe-leveret, +apparently indifferent, but nevertheless keenly interested in the +combat, crouched on a little knoll by the path, while the jack-hares, +sitting on their haunches, boxed and scratched, and rolled over each +other in a singularly harmless conflict, neither suffering more than the +loss of a few tufts of fur. The comedy might, however, have had a tragic +ending. Presently one of the combatants--the hare that had come late on +the scene--became slightly exhausted, and, ignominiously yielding to his +rival's superior dexterity, ran back towards the distant hedge. Almost +at once a fox crept out from the furze at the corner of the field, and +trotted away on the scent of the fleeing hare, while Puss and her mate +made off in the direction of a more secluded pasture. + +A month passed--a month of general hilarity and indiscriminate fighting +among all the hares in the district--and then, within a neat, dry +"form," that Puss, with a mother's solicitude, had made in a carefully +selected spot on a mound where the grass was tall and thick, her little +leveret was "kittled." The doe-hare tended her offspring as carefully as +she herself had been tended a year before. Her faithless lover had gone +his own way. But Puss cared little for his desertion: she wished to live +alone, under no monopoly as far as her affections were concerned, though +for the time her leveret wholly engaged her mothering love. + +So strong was her strange new passion that she was ready, if needs be, +to brave death in defence of her young. And, not long after the +leveret's birth, the mother's courage was tested to the utmost. A +peregrine falcon, from the wild, rocky coast to the west, came sailing +on wide-reaching wings across the April sky. Puss was resting in a clump +of brambles not far from her "form," and saw the big hawk flying swiftly +above. Any movement on her part would have instantly attracted the +attention of her foe, so she squatted motionless, while her leveret +also instinctively lay still in its "form." But the keen eyes of the +falcon detected the young hare, and the bird descended like a stone on +his helpless victim. Instantly, the doe rushed to the rescue, and, +effectually warding the attack, received the full force of the "stoop" +on her shoulders. As the hawk rose into the air, the doe felt a sharp +pain in one of her ears--the big talons, closing in their grasp, had +ripped it as with the edge of a knife. She screamed, then, grunting +savagely, leaped hither and thither around the leveret, meanwhile urging +it to escape into the adjacent thicket. The bird, aloft in the air, +seemed perplexed, and eventually prepared to "stoop" again. In the nick +of time, Puss vanished with her little one beneath an impenetrable +tangle of friendly thorns, while the baffled peregrine proceeded on his +way. + +For some weeks, the hare languished under the effects of the falcon's +blow. When her leveret was old enough to find food for itself, she +rested, forced by the wound to live quietly in hiding, till the scar +healed and life once more became enjoyable. But she always bore the +marks of the talons, and so was spoken of by the country folk as "the +slit-eared hare." + +The superstitious recalled the tales of a bygone century, and half +believed the hare to be a witch in disguise, for she seemed to bear a +charmed life, and, though known everywhere in the parish, successfully +eluded to the end all the devices that threatened her. No matter how +artfully the wire noose was set above the level of the ground in her +"run," she brushed it by and never blundered into the treacherous loop. +A net failed even to alarm her: it might almost be imagined that she +became an experienced judge of any such contrivance, and knew every +individual poacher by the method with which his toils were spread across +her path. + +Not having bred during the year in which she was born, Puss had thrived, +and weighed about nine pounds in the late autumn of her second season. +But according to popular opinion she was much heavier. Will, the +cobbler, who was fond of coursing, stoutly maintained, to a group of +interested listeners in the bar-parlour of the village inn, that she +seemed like a donkey when she escaped from his greyhound into the wood. + +Family cares again claimed the hare's attention in July; and, having +taken to heart her experience with the peregrine, she left the uplands +and made her home in the thickets of a river-island. At that time the +river was low, and, on one side of the island, the bed of the stream had +become a dry, pebbly hollow, save for a large pool fed by the backwater +at the lower end, where the minnows played, and whither the big trout +wandered from the rapids to feed during the hot summer nights. + +Late one afternoon, when long shadows lay across the mossy bank of the +river beyond the tall beeches standing at the entrance to the island +thickets, Puss was waiting for the dusk, and dozing meanwhile, but with +wide-open eyes, beside her leveret. Since there was another little mouth +besides her own requiring food, she generally felt hungry long before +nightfall, and so, when the afterglow began to fade in the west, was +wont to steal away to the clover above the woods that fringed the long, +still pool up-stream. + +As the day wore on, the hare heard the unmistakable tread of human feet +approaching through the woods. The sounds became increasingly distinct; +then a pebble rattled and splashed into the water as the intruder walked +across the river-bed. He passed close to the "form," and, turning +down-stream, was lost to sight amid the bushes. At intervals, the hare +imagined that the faint, muffled sounds of footsteps came from the +distance; but again the sounds drew near, ceasing, however, when the man +was a few yards from the nest. + +I can complete the story. Since spring I had been studying the wild life +of this lonely island below the rocky gorge extending hither from the +village bridge. The wood-wren, the willow-wren, and the garden-warbler +had nested in the thickets, and every evening I had visited the place to +pry on their doings, and to note how the flowers in glad succession +blossomed and faded--their presence in this lonely sanctuary known only +to myself, and to the birds, bees, and butterflies, and to the little +shrews that rustled over the dry leaves beneath. But now the +garden-warblers had left for the copse on the far side of the river, and +the wood-wrens and the willow-wrens had retreated to the inner recesses +of the thickets, where, amid the luxuriant verdure of midsummer, their +movements baffled my observation. + +On the July evening, as I lay in the matted grass at the edge of the +copse by the pebbles, watching a whitethroat among the bushes opposite, +my eye happened to rest for an instant on a patch of bare mud +immediately before me. There, to my surprise, I discovered the +footprints of the hare. The five toes of the fore-feet, and the four +toes of the hind-feet, were as clearly outlined as if each impression +had been taken in plaster. And yet, when I stood up to look at the spot, +the marks seemed to have wholly disappeared. On nearer examination I +found that the track of the hare was in the direction of the island. +From their shape, and the distance between each, the footprints +indicated that the movements of the hare had not been hurried. Similar +footprints were visible in a straight line between the bank and the +island. Only one conclusion seemed possible--the hare had crossed to the +island early that morning, after the heavy shower that had fallen just +before dawn. It would have been contrary to her habits had she crossed +later; and, had she passed the place at any time before, the rain would +have washed away the marks in such an open spot, or, at any rate, would +have blurred them beyond recognition. + +After placing a white stone by the footprints to indicate their +whereabouts, I searched along the river-bed for signs that would show a +track towards the bank; but not a single mark could be found pointing in +that direction. It was obvious that the hare had not left the island +till, at any rate, some hours after the rain. Then, however, the sun +would have been so high that Puss would have been loath to leave her +lair. Faintly discernible beside a large pebble, one other footprint +appeared, leading like the rest towards the island. The mark was old, +and had been saved from obliteration by the sheltering stone; but it +suggested that the hare had made her home not far away. Taught by +experience, I decided not to penetrate the copse and risk disturbing its +probable tenant. I approached it only so far as to examine another bare +place in a line with the footprints on the mud, where, to my delight, I +found fresh footprints similar to those at the dried-up ford, together +with other and much smaller marks undoubtedly made by a tiny leveret. + +I now re-crossed the ford and went home. But before nightfall I +returned, and, hiding behind the hedgerow on the bank, watched, unseen, +the approach to the island. My patience was soon rewarded. Just as the +dusk was deepening over the woodlands, "the slit-eared hare" left her +"form" and stood in full view by the ford. There, having lazily +stretched her long, supple limbs, she played awhile with her leveret, +sometimes pausing to nibble a few clover-leaves as if to direct the +little one's attention towards its suitable food. Then she ambled +leisurely across the river-bed, and, with graceful, swinging gait, +passed through the meadow beyond--while her offspring disappeared within +the thickets of the island. + +The hot weather broke up in July, and henceforth, till late September, +rain descended almost every day. The shower that had revealed the +whereabouts of the hare was the first sign of the change. On the +following night, a thunderstorm broke over the countryside, washed down +the soil from the pastures, and sent the river roaring in flood through +the gorge. While on the far side of the island the main torrent raged +past beneath the willows, the divided stream under the near bank formed +salmon-pools and trout-reaches, where, before, the pebbles had been bare +and dry. + +Anxious to know how the flood would interfere with the movements of the +hare, I came back on the following evening to my hiding place by the +hedgerow. In the dusk, Puss appeared at the margin of the copse, and +moved down the bank to the edge of the stream. There she paused, +apparently perplexed, and called to her leveret. Presently the young +hare joined her mother at the water's edge, and both hopped along the +brink, seeking a dry place by which they might reach the field on the +slope. Finding none, they adjourned to the mossy bank where I had seen +the leveret's footprints. Then the doe went down boldly to the stream, +called to her companion, waded in, and swam across. Ascending into the +field, she shook the water from her fur, and again called repeatedly. +The young one hesitated, and ran to and fro crying piteously, +"leek--leek." Suddenly, in the excitement, it missed its footfall and +fell into the river. Bewildered, but hearing its mother's call, it swam +down the pool through the still water below the little rapid, and landed +on the opposite bank, where it joined its parent, and, following her +example, shook the water from its downy limbs. Soon both disappeared +within the wood; and, satisfied with my evening's sport, I turned +homewards across the fields. + +During the rest of the summer, the hare frequented the rough pastures +skirting the ploughlands, and visited the cornfields only when the +weather was dry. Hares suffer little discomfort in rainy weather, if +only the fine fur beneath the surface of the coat remains dry--after a +shower they can easily shake off any outside moisture. But they dislike +entering damp places where the vegetation is tall and their fur may get +matted and soaked by the raindrops collected on the herbage. In wet +weather hares may often be found in cover, especially near thick +furze-brakes on a well drained hillside, but their presence in such a +situation may imply that they sought shelter before the rain began to +fall. + +In September, for the third time during the year, Puss was occupied with +family affairs. Now, three tiny leverets were "kittled," and the nest +occupied an almost bare place on the top of a ridge in the root-field +where last season the succulent carrots grew. The hare had been greatly +distressed by the unusually wet summer, and one of her leverets was in +consequence a weakling; another leveret was killed by a prowling polecat +while the mother wandered from the "form"; and only the third grew up +robust and strong. + +The approach of winter brought Puss many strange experiences, from some +of which she barely emerged with her life. When the season was passed, +it had become more than ever difficult to approach her; she would slip +away to cover directly her keen senses detected the presence of a +stranger in the field where she lay in her "form." As she grew older, +her leverets sometimes numbered four or five, but as a rule she gave +birth to three only, her productiveness being probably dependent on the +ease with which she obtained food. + +One day in February, just before bringing an early little family into +the world, she almost met her death. A village poacher, ferreting on the +hillside, chanced to see her, as she lay not far off in a patch of +clover. Without waste of time, he proceeded to attempt the capture of +the hare by a well-known trick. Thrusting a stake into the ground, he +placed his hat on it, and strolled unconcernedly away. Then, as though +he had changed his mind, he walked round the clump, in ever narrowing +circles, gradually closing on his prey. Meanwhile, the hare, her +attention wholly diverted by the improvised scarecrow, remained +motionless, baffled by the artifice. Suddenly she felt the touch of the +man's hand. The poacher had thrown himself down on the tuft, hoping to +clutch the hare before she could move. But in endeavouring to look away +from the spot, and, at the same time, measure the distance of his fall, +he had miscalculated the hare's position. She sprang up, and with ears +held low sped away towards the wood, leaving the poacher wild with rage +at the failure of his ruse, and vowing vengeance on the timid creature, +whose life, at such a time, would hardly, even to him, have been worth +an effort. + + + + +III. + +THE CHASE. + + +Of all the hounds employed in the chase of the hare, the basset promises +to become the prime favourite among some true-hearted sportsmen who love +sport for its own sake, and not from a desire to kill. He is a loose, +lumbering little fellow--resembling his relative, the dachshund--low and +long, with out-turned legs, sickle-shaped "flag," and features which, in +repose, seem to suggest that he has borne the grief and the care of a +hundred years, but which, when the huntsman comes to open the kennel +doors, are radiant with delight. Mirthfulness and dignity seem to seek +expression in every movement of the quaint, old-fashioned little hound, +and in every line of his face. As for his music--who would expect such a +deep, bell-like note from this queer midget among hunters, standing not +much higher than the second button of the huntsman's legging? Withal, he +is a merry, lively little fellow, with a good nose for the scent of a +rabbit or a hare, and, when in fit condition, is able to follow, follow, +follow, if needed, from earliest dawn till the coming of night. The +chase being ended, he with his companions, Harlequin and Columbine, and +all the stragglers of the panting pack, will surround the tired hare, +and will wait, bellowing lustily, but without molesting the quarry, till +the Master appears and calls them to heel. + +If the ten to twenty sportsmen often to be found in a village would +combine, each keeping a basset for the common Hunt, they might derive +the utmost pleasure from following their pets afield, and incidentally +would assist to prevent the extermination of an innocent wildling of our +fields and woodlands. For the sake of the sport shown by the +basset-hounds, many of the farmers near the villages, who dearly love to +hear the deep music of a pack in full cry, would protect Puss from those +more cunning and powerful enemies of hers, who, lurcher in leash or gun +in hand, steal along the hedgerows at nightfall, so that, from a secret +transaction thereafter with some local game-dealer, they may get the +wherewithal for a carouse in the kitchen of the "Blossom" or the "Bunch +of Grapes." + +One morning in December, when the rime lay thick on the fields, and the +unclouded sun, rising in the steel-blue sky, cast a radiance over the +glittering countryside, our village basset-hounds found the "cold" scent +of the hare in the woods above the church, where Puss had sheltered +beside a prostrate pine-trunk before returning to her "form" at dawn. +After endeavouring in vain for some time to discover the direction of +her "run," they set off, "checking" occasionally, across the stubble, +through the root-crop field, and down over the fallow to the bottom of +the dingle. There, near a bubbling spring, Puss had hidden since +daybreak. Hearing the far-off music, she slipped out of the field +unobserved, till, reaching the uplands, she was seen to pass leisurely +by in the direction of the furze-brake. + +Directly the bassets came to the spring, a chorus of deep sounds +announced that the quarry had been tracked to her recent lair. All +through the morning they continued their quest; they streamed in a long, +irregular line up the hillside, their black and tan and white coats +gaily conspicuous in the sunlight; they trickled over the hedgerows, and +dotted the furrows of the deserted ploughlands; they moved in "open +order" through the copse, and plodded along by the furze-brakes or +through the undergrowth where the sharp-thorned brambles continually +annoyed and impeded them; they worked as if time needed not to be taken +into the slightest account. The least scent met with loud and hearty +recognition; fancy ran riot with the excited puppies; the atmosphere at +every turn seemed to betray the near presence of Puss. But every +condition of weather and fortune was against good sport. The ground was +steadily thawing in the warmth of the sun, and the rising vapour, +trembling in the light, seemed to carry the scent too high for accurate +hunting. + +So the hare ambled along her line of flight--a wide, horse-shoe curve +that began and ended in the fallow on the slope. When a considerable +distance had been placed between herself and her pursuers, she ceased +to hurry. Indeed, the music of horn and hounds seemed almost to +fascinate the creature, and frequently she lingered for a few moments to +listen intently to the clamour of her enemies. A farm labourer, who +tried to "grab" her as she passed down the grassy lane, said that she +"was coming along as cool as a cucumber. Sometimes she'd sit down to +tickle her neck with her hind-feet. Then she'd give a big jump, +casual-like, to one side of the path, and sit down again, with her ears +twitching and turning as if she thought there was mischief in every +flutter of a leaf or creak of a bough." + +Frightened almost out of her wits by the labourer's sudden and well-nigh +successful endeavour to secure her, Puss rushed back along the lane, +crossed a gap, and sped over the uplands once more, leaving her usual +horse-shoe line of flight, and taking a much greater curve towards the +fallow. But gradually her pace slackened as she discovered she was no +longer followed; and then, not far from her lair by the spring, she +paused to rest. The music of the hounds was faint, distant, and +intermittent; and at last it entirely ceased. Somewhat exhausted +towards the end of her journey, she had withheld her scent, and had thus +completely outwitted her slow but patient pursuers. + +Once, and once only, towards the end of January, she found herself +chased by her more formidable foes, the beagles. At first she eluded +them by stealing off without yielding the faintest scent; but she was +"viewed" in crossing the meadow, and the hounds, making a long, wide +cast, "picked up" as soon as a slight, increasing taint in the air was +perceptible, then followed for several miles. But, ultimately, they were +baffled, and Puss made good her escape. + +It had happened that, after creeping through a gutter in the hedgerow of +a stubble, she had come in sight of a flock of sheep grazing on the +opposite side. Like Vulp, the fox, she knew how to hinder the chase by +mingling her scent with that of other animals; so without hesitation she +passed through the flock, and made straight for an open gateway in the +far corner of the field. When the beagles, in hot pursuit, appeared on +the scene, the startled sheep, rushing away, took the line of the hunted +hare through the opening, and thus "fouled" the scent so thoroughly +that the hunt came to a "check." After the hare had left the fields +frequented by the sheep, she took the direction of a path leading over a +wide bog towards the woodland. On the damp ground the scent lay so +badly, that when, some time later, the beagles crossed her line, they +were unable, even after repeated "casts," to follow her track. Presently +the impatient huntsman, with hounds at heel, moved away to the nearest +road and relinquished his quest. + +Luckily for Puss, the harriers never visited her neighbourhood, and only +on special occasions was coursing permitted on the estate. If at night a +lurcher entered the field in which she grazed amid the clover, her +knowledge of the poacher's artifices immediately prompted her to slip +over the hedge and past the treacherous nets. Her life, beset with +hidden dangers, was preserved by a chain of wonderfully favourable +circumstances, that befriended her even when the utmost caution and +vigilance had been unavailing. + +Once, so mild was the winter that the hare's first family for the year +came into the world in January. A few weeks afterwards, when she was +about to separate from her leverets, an incident occurred that might +have been attended with fatal results. A poacher, prowling along the far +side of the hedgerow, and occasionally stopping to peep through the +bushes for partridges "jugging" in the grass-field, caught sight of the +leverets nibbling the clover near a small blackthorn. In the feeble +afterglow, he was uncertain that the objects before him were worth the +risk of a shot, so he crawled towards a gap to obtain a nearer view. To +his astonishment, when he reached the gap nothing was visible by the +thorn-bush; the leverets had vanished in the ferns. But the poacher was +artful and experienced. He hid in the undergrowth of the ditch, where, +after waiting awhile, and seeing no sign of movement in the grass, he +gave utterance to a shrill cry like that of a young hare in distress. +Five minutes passed, and the cry was repeated--tremulous, prolonged, +eloquent of helpless suffering. At intervals, the same artifice was +employed, but apparently without success. + +The poacher was about to crawl from his hiding place, when suddenly, +close beside the hedgerow, the head of the doe hare came into sight. +Startled, in spite of expectation, by her sudden appearance, and excited +as he recognised the "slit-eared hare," the poacher involuntarily moved +to grasp his gun. He looked down for an instant to make sure that his +gun was in readiness, but when he lifted his eyes again the hare was +gone. Do what he might, not another glimpse of his quarry was to be +obtained, and so, half believing that he had seen a witch or that he had +dreamed, he stole away into the darkening night. + +Deceived by the poacher's cries, the doe-hare had hurried home, but had +found her young alive and well. Then, scenting danger, she had vanished +with her offspring into the nearest bramble-clump, and in the deep +shadow of the hedgerow had led them safely away. + +During the last year of her life, she frequented the hawthorn hedges and +the furze brakes of an estate diligently "preserved" by a lover of +Nature as a sanctuary whither the furred and feathered denizens of the +countryside might resort without fear of hounds or poachers, and where a +gun was never fired except at vermin. The winter was severe; on two +occasions snow lay thick on the ground for more than a week. But Puss +was fairly comfortable; she had her "form" on a dry, rough heap of +stones, gathered from the fields and thrown into a disused quarry near +the woods; and for four or five nights she remained at home, the snow +covering her completely but for a breathing hole in the white walls of +her tiny hut. At last, impatient of confinement, and desperately hungry, +she broke through the snow-drift, and sought the nearest root-crop +field, where, after scratching the snow from a turnip, she was able to +make a hearty meal. While returning slowly towards the wood through the +soft, yielding snow that rendered her journey difficult and tiresome, +she unexpectedly discovered, near the hedge beyond the furrows, a tasty +leaf or two of the rest-harrow, together with a few yellow sprouts of +young grass where a stone had been kicked aside by a passing +sheep--these were the tit-bits of her provender. + +In the early morning, the hare, too cautious to re-enter the "form," +which, now that its surroundings were torn asunder, had become a +conspicuous rent in the white mantle of the old quarry, crept over the +hedge into the woods, and, moving leisurely beneath the snow-laden +undergrowth, where her deep footprints could not easily be tracked, +selected a suitable spot for a new "form" in the friendly shelter of a +fallen pine. + +But even in this woodland sanctuary she encountered an enemy. A cat from +the farm on the hill, having acquired poaching habits, had strayed, and +taken up her abode among the boulders at the foot of a wooded precipice +adjoining the lower pastures of the estate. In a gallery between these +boulders, she had made her nest of withered grass and oak-leaves, where, +at the time of which I write, she was occupied with a family of kittens. +The wants of the kittens taxed the mother's utmost powers; she prowled +far and wide in search of food, and was as much a creature of the night +as were the fox and the polecat that also lived among the rocks. + +There is no greater enemy of game than the renegade cat. She is far more +destructive than a fox. Many animals that can evade Reynard are helpless +in the grip of a foe armed so completely as to seem all fangs and +talons. The special method of slaughter adopted by the cat towards a +victim of her own size is cruel and repulsive in the extreme. Grasping +it with her fore-claws and holding it with her teeth, she lies on her +back and uses her hind-claws with such effect that often her prey is +lacerated to death. + +Roaming at night in the shadow, the cat came unexpectedly on the scent +of the hare and traced it to the "form," but the desired victim was not +at home. The cat returned to the spot before dawn, and lurked in hiding +beneath the hawthorns. The hare, however, was not to be easily trapped. +Coming into the wood against the wind, she fortunately detected the +enemy's presence quite as readily as the cat had discovered her "form" +amid the grass-bents. With ears set close, and limbs and tail twitching +with excitement, the cat crouched ready for the deadly leap. But the +hare suddenly sprang aside from her path, climbed the hedgerow, and +disappeared, outpacing with ease the cat's half-hearted attempt at +pursuit. + +At length the "slit-eared hare" met her death, in a manner befitting the +wild, free existence she had led among the hills and the valleys. Her +dead body was brought me by the head keeper of the woodland estate, and, +as it rested on my study table, I gazed at it almost in wonder. The +russet coat, turning grey with age, was eloquent of the brown earth, the +sere leaf, and the colourless calm of twilight, and told me of the +creature's times and seasons. The big, dark eyes, their marvellous +beauty and expressiveness dimmed by death, and the long, sensitive ears, +one ripped by the falcon's talon and both slightly bent at the tip with +age, were suggestive of persecution, and of a haunting fear banished +only with the coming of night, when, perchance, the early autumn moon +rose over the corn, and the hare played with her leverets among the +shadowy "creeps." My hands rested on the fine, white down that took the +place of the russet coat where Nature's mimicry was needed not; it was +pure and stainless, like the lonely wildling's inoffensive life. + +[Illustration: "WHEN THE EARLY AUTUMN MOON ROSE OVER THE CORN."] + +A terrible thunderstorm had raged over the countryside all the evening +and throughout the night. Ben, the carter, coming home to the farm with +his team, had dropped at the very threshold of the stable, blasted in +a lurid furnace of sudden fire. A labourer's cottage had been +wrecked; many a stately forest tree had been rent or blighted; the +withering havoc had spread far and wide over the hills. On the following +morning, the keeper, going his rounds, had found the dead hare beside a +riven oak. + + + + +THE BADGER. + +I. + +A WOODLAND SOLITUDE. + + +Even in our own densely peopled land, there are out of the way districts +in which human footsteps are seldom heard and many rare wild creatures +flourish unmolested. Near such parts the naturalist delights to dwell, +in touch, on one side, with subjects that deserve his patient study, +and, on the other side, with kindly country folk, who, perhaps, supply +him with food, and are the means of communication between him and the +strenuous world. In this western county, however, the naturalist, in +order to gain expert knowledge, does not need to live on the fringe of +civilisation. Here, among the scattered upland farms around the old +village, creatures that would elsewhere be in daily danger because of +their supposed attacks on game are almost entirely free from +persecution. In several of our woods, polecats seem to be more numerous +than stoats, and badgers are known, but only to the persistent observer, +to be more common than foxes; and both polecats and badgers are seldom +disturbed, though the farmers may regularly pass their burrows. + +The immunity of such animals from harm is, to some extent, the result of +the farmer's lack of interest in their doings. He strongly resents the +presence of too many rabbits on his land, "scratching" the soil, +spoiling the hedges, and devouring the young crops, and, therefore, +cherishes no grudge against their enemies so long as his stock is +unmolested. He is no ardent protector of game, and, if a clutch of eggs +disappears from the pheasant's nest he has chanced to discover in the +woods, thinks little about the incident, and concludes that Ned the +blacksmith's broody hen has probably been requisitioned as a +foster-mother, and that some day he will know more of the true state of +affairs when he visits the smithy at the cross-roads. + +Another circumstance to which the badger hereabouts is indebted for +security is that terriers are not the favourite dogs of the countryside. +When shooting, the sportsman prefers spaniels, particularly certain +"strains" of black and brown cockers--untiring little workers with a +keen, true power of scent--which for many years have been common in the +neighbourhood; and the farmer's sheep-dog is unfitted for any sport +except rabbiting. Here and there, among the poaching fraternity, may be +found a mongrel fondly imagined by its owner to be a terrier--a good +rabbit "marker," and wonderfully quick in killing rats, but no more +suited than the sportman's spaniel for "lying up" with a badger. + +Undoubtedly, however, the security of some of our most interesting wild +animals, and especially of the badger, is to be accounted for by their +extreme shyness. They venture abroad only when the shadows of night lie +over the woods. For countless years, dogs and men have been their +greatest foes, and their fear of them is found to be almost as strong in +remote districts as where, near towns, their existence is continually +threatened. Wild life in our quiet valley will be deemed of unusual +interest when I say that less than six hours before writing these lines +I visited a badger's "set"--a deep underground hollow with several main +passages and upper galleries, where, as I have good reason to believe, a +fox also dwells--an otter's "holt" beneath gnarled alder-roots fringing +the river-bank, and another fox's "earth," all on the outskirts of a +wooded belt not more than a mile from my home, and all showing signs of +having long been inhabited. + +Unless systematically persecuted, the fox, the otter, and the badger +cling to their respective haunts with such tenacity that, season after +season, they prowl along the same familiar paths through the woods or by +the river, and rear their young in the same retreats. This is the case +especially with the badger; from the traditions of the countryside, as +well as from the careful observation of sporting landowners, it may be +learned that for generations certain inaccessible "sets" have seldom, if +ever, been uninhabited. Always at nightfall the "little man in grey" has +climbed the slanting passage from his cave-like chamber, ten or--if +among the boulders of some ancient cairn--even from twenty to thirty +feet below the level of the soil, and sniffed the cool evening air, and +listened intently for the slightest sound of danger, before departing on +his well worn trail to hunt and forage in the silent upland pastures. +And with the first glimpse of light, when the hare stole past towards +her "form," and the fox, a shadowy figure drifting through the haze of +early dawn, returned to the dense darkness of the lonely wood, he has +sought his daytime snuggery of leaves and grass industriously gathered +from the littered glades. + +In a deep burrow at the foot of a hill, about a quarter of a mile from a +farmstead built on a declivity at a bend of the broad river, Brock, the +badger, was born, one morning about the middle of spring. Three other +sucklings, like himself blind and wholly dependent on their parents' +care, shared his couch of hay and leaves. Day by day, the mother badger, +devoted to their welfare, fed and tended her unusually numerous +offspring, lying beside them on the comfortable litter, while the sire, +occupying a snug corner of the ample bed, dozed the lazy hours away; and +evening after evening, when twilight deepened into darkness as night +descended on the woods, she arose, shook a few seed-husks from her coat, +and with her mate adjourned to an upper gallery leading to the main +opening of the "set," whence, assured that no danger lurked in the +neighbourhood of their home, both stole out to forage in the clearings +and among the thickets on the brow of the hill. + +Just as with Lutra, the little otter-cub in the "holt" above the river's +brim, the first weeks of babyhood passed uneventfully, so with Brock, +the badger, nothing of interest occurred till his eyes gradually opened, +and he could enjoy with careless freedom the real beginning of his +woodland life. Even thus early, what may be called the nocturnal +instinct was strong within him. He was alert and playful chiefly at +night, when, deep in the underground hollow, nothing could be heard of +the outer world but the indistinct, monotonous wail of the wind in the +upper passages of the "set." Droll, indeed, were the revels of the young +badgers when the parents were hunting far away. The little creatures, +awakened from a heavy sleep that had followed the last fond attentions +of their mother, were loath to frolic at once with each other in the +lonely, silent chamber. In their parents' absence they felt unsafe; that +mysterious whisper of admonition, unheard but felt, which is the voice +of the all-pervading spirit of the woods forever warning the kindred of +the wild, bade them be quiet till the dawn should bring the mother +badger to the lair once more. So, huddled close, they were for a time +satisfied with a strangely deliberate game of "King of the Castle," the +castle being an imaginary place in the middle of their bed. Towards that +spot each player pushed quietly, but vigorously, one or other gaining a +slight advantage now and again by grunting an unexpected threat into the +ear of a near companion, or by bestowing an unexpected nip on the flank +of the cub that held for the moment the coveted position of king. Withal +this was a sober pastime, unless Brock, the strongest and most +determined member of the family, chanced to provoke his playmates +beyond endurance, and caused a general, reckless scramble, in which tiny +white teeth were bared and tempers were uncontrolled. + +As the night wore on, it almost invariably happened, however, that the +"Castle" game gave place to a livelier diversion akin to "Puss in the +Corner," when, on feeble, unsteady legs, the "earth-pigs" romped in +pursuit of each other, or squatted, grunting with excitement, in +different spots near the wall of their nursery. But, tired at last, they +ceased their gambols an hour or so before dawn, lay together in a warm, +panting heap, and slept, till, on the return of their mother to the +"set," they were gathered to the soft comfort of her folded limbs, and +fed and fondled to their hearts' content. + +Though Brock grew as rapidly as any young badger might be expected to +grow, a comparatively long time passed by before he and the other small +members of the family ventured out of doors. Repeatedly they were +warned, in a language which soon they perfectly understood, that, except +under the care of their parents, a visit to the outer world would end +disastrously; so, while the old ones were abroad, the little creatures +dared not move beyond the opening to the dark passage between the +chamber and the gallery above. Sometimes, following their dam when she +climbed the steep passage to her favourite lookout corner within a mouth +of the burrow, they caught a glimpse of the sky, and of the trees and +the bracken around their home; but a journey along the gallery was never +made before the twilight deepened. + +The purpose of such close confinement was, that the young badgers should +be taught, thoroughly and without risk, the first principles of +wood-craft, and thus be enabled to hold their own in that struggle for +existence, the stress of which is known even to the strong. Obedience, +ever of vital importance in the training of the forest folk, was +impartially exacted by the mother from her offspring. It was also taught +by a system of immediate reward. The old badger invariably uttered a low +but not unmusical greeting when she returned to her family at dawn. +Almost before their eyes were open, the sucklings learned to connect +this sound with food and comfort, and at once turned to the spot from +which it proceeded. Later, when the same note was used as a call, they +recognised that its meaning was varied; in turn it became, with subtle +differences of inflection, an entreaty, a command, and a warning that it +would be folly to ignore; but, whatever it might indicate, they +instinctively remembered its first happy associations, and hurried to +their mother's side. Hardly different from the call, when it conveyed +the idea of warning, was a note of definite dissent, directing the +youngsters to cease from squabbling, and to become less noisy in their +rough-and-tumble play. After they had learned each minute difference in +the call notes, their progress in education was largely determined by +that love of mimicry which always prompts the young to imitate the old; +and in time they acquired the tastes, the passions, and the experiences +of their watchful teachers. + +While prevented from wandering abroad, they nevertheless were not +entirely ignorant of what was happening in the woods. They were not +quickly weaned; it was necessary, before the dam denied them Nature's +first nourishment, that they should have ready access to the brook that +trickled down the hillside hollow not far from the "set." But +meanwhile, young rabbits, dug from the breeding "stops" of the does, +were frequently brought to them, and the badgers were encouraged to +gratify a love for solid food which nightly became stronger. + +In this part of the education of their young, the parent badgers adopted +methods similar to those of the fox and other carnivorous animals. When +first the mother badger brought a rabbit home, she placed it close +beside her cubs, so that they could not fail to be attracted by its +scent. For a moment, aware of something new and strange, they showed +signs of timidity, and crouched together in the middle of the nest; but +the presence of their mother reassured them, and they sniffed at the +warm body with increasing delight. The dam seemed to know each trifling +thought passing through their minds; and, observing their eager +interest, she dragged the rabbit into a corner of the bed, making great +show of savagery, as if guarding it from their attacks. Time after time, +she alternately surrendered and withdrew her victim, till the tempers of +the little animals, irritated beyond control by her tantalising methods, +blazed out in a free fight among themselves for possession of the +prize. The mother now retired to a corner of the "set," and listened +attentively to all that happened, till they had finished their quarrel, +and Brock, the middle figure in a group of tired youngsters, lay fast +asleep with his head on the rabbit's neck. Then she turned, climbed +quietly to the upper galleries, and, stealing out among the shadows of +the wood, came again to the breeding "stop," where she unearthed and +devoured a young rabbit that had been suffocated in the loose soil +thrown up during her former visit. After quenching her thirst at the +brook in the hollow, she journeyed to the upland fields, crossed the +scent of her mate in the gorse, and then "cast" back across the +hillside, making a leisurely examination of each woodland sign, to +satisfy herself that no danger lurked in the neighbourhood of her home. + +For the badger, as for the tiny field-vole in the rough pastures of the +Cerdyn valley, the various scents and sounds were full of meaning, and +constituted a record of the night such as only the woodland folk have +learned fully to understand. The smell of the fox lay strong on a path +between the oaks; with it was mingled the scent of a bird; and a white +feather, caught by a puff of wind, fluttered in the grass: young +Reynard, boldest of an early family in the "earth," had stolen a fowl +from a neighbouring farmyard near the river, and had carried it--not +slung over his shoulders, as fanciful writers declare, but with its tail +almost touching the soil--into the thicket beyond the wood. Rabbits had +wandered in the undergrowth; and, near a large warren, the stale, +peculiar odour of a stoat that had evidently prowled at dusk lingered on +the dewy soil. The signs of blackbirds and pigeons among the loose +leaf-mould were also faint; as soon as night had fallen, the birds had +flown to roost in the branches overhead. The short, coughing bark of an +old fox came from the edge of the wood; and then for some time all was +quiet, till the musical cry of an otter sounded low and clear from the +river beneath the steep. + +These familiar voices of the wilderness caused the badger no anxiety; +they told her of freedom from danger; they were to her assuring signals +from the watchers of the night. But the howl of a dog in a distant +farmstead, and the bleat of a restless sheep in the pasture on the far +side of the hill, told her a different story; they reminded her, as the +smell of the fowl had done, that man, arch-enemy of the woodland people, +might in any capricious moment threaten her existence, seeking to +destroy her even while by day she slumbered in her chamber under the +roots of the forest trees. + +She crossed the gap, where the river-path joined the down-stream +boundary of the wood, then, with awkward, shambling stride, climbed the +steep pasture, and for a few moments paused to watch and listen in the +deep shadows of the hedge on the brow of the slope. A rabbit, that had +lain out all night in her "seat" beneath the briars, rushed quickly from +the undergrowth, and fled for safety to a burrow in the middle of the +field. A small, dim form appeared for a moment by a wattled opening +between the pasture and the cornfield above, then, with a rustle of dry +leaves, vanished on the further side--a polecat was returning to her +home in a pile of stones that occupied a hollow on the edge of the wood. + +Day was slowly breaking. A cool wind, blowing straight from the +direction of a homestead indistinctly outlined against the dawn, stirred +the leaves in the ditch, and brought to the badger's nostrils the +pungent scent of burning wood--the milkmaid was already at work +preparing a frugal breakfast in the kitchen of a lonely farm. Fearing +that with the day the birds would mock her as she passed, and thus +reveal her whereabouts to some inquisitive foe, the badger sought the +loneliest pathway through the wood, and returned, silently but hastily, +to her home. + + + + +II. + +HOME DISCIPLINE. + + +During the mother badger's absence from home, an unlooked-for +event--almost the exact repetition of an incident in the training of +Vulp, the young fox--had happened in the education of her cubs. Her +mate, hunting in an upland fallow, had been surprised by a poacher, and, +long before daybreak, had discreetly returned to the "set." The success +he had met with had enabled him to feed to repletion, so he was not +tempted by the dead rabbit carried home by the mother and left in the +chamber. Fearing to leave his hiding place, he wisely determined to +devote the time at his disposal, before settling to sleep, to his +children's instruction. With a grunt like that of the mother when she +greeted her offspring, he at once aroused the slumbering youngsters, +and then, heedless of their attentions, as, mistaking him for the dam, +they pressed at his side, he laid hold of the rabbit and dragged it into +a far corner. Full of curiosity, the cubs followed, but with well +assumed anger he drove them away. As if in keen anticipation of a feast, +he tore the dead animal into small pieces which he placed together on +the floor of the chamber. This task complete, he retired to his +accustomed resting place, and listened while the cubs, overcoming their +timidity, ventured nearer and nearer to the dismembered rabbit, till, +suddenly smelling the fresh blood, they gave way to inborn passion, and +buried their teeth in the lifeless flesh. An inevitable quarrel ensued; +Brock and his companions could not agree on the choice of tit-bits, and +a medley of discordant grunts and squeals seemed to fill the chamber, +though now and again it partly subsided, as two or three of the cubs, +having fixed on the same portion of the rabbit, tugged and strained for +its possession--so intent on the struggle that they dared not waste +their breath in useless wrangling. + +The old badger, satisfied that his progeny gave excellent promise of +pluck and strength, was almost dropping off contentedly to sleep, when +one of the excited combatants, retreating from the fray, backed +unceremoniously, and awoke him with an accidental blow on the ribs. This +was more than the crusty sire could endure, and he administered such +prompt and indiscriminate chastisement to the youngsters, that, in a +subdued frame of mind, they forgot their differences, forgot also the +toothsome remnants of their feast, and nestled together in bed, desiring +much that their patient dam would come to console them for the ill-usage +just received. + +On returning to the "set," the mother badger stayed for a few minutes at +the edge of the mound before the main entrance, and, rearing herself on +her hind-legs, rubbed her cheek against a tree-trunk, and sniffed the +air for the scent of a lurking enemy. Then, satisfied that all was safe, +she entered the deep chamber, and was greeted by the little creatures +that for an hour had expectantly awaited her arrival. Unusually +boisterous in their welcome, they instantly disregarded the presence of +their sire; and such, already, was the magic effect of the meal of raw +flesh on their tempers, that, with an eagerness hitherto unknown, they +followed every movement of their dam, till, submitting to their +importunities, she lay beside them, and fed and fondled them to sleep. + +Almost nightly, she brought something new with which to tempt their +appetites--young bank-voles dug from their burrows on the margin of the +wood, weakling pigeons dropped from late nests among the leafy boughs, +snakes, and lizards, and, chiefly, suckling rabbits unearthed from the +shallow holes which the does had "stopped" with soil thrown back into +the entrance when they left to feed amid the clover. + +Though young rabbits, in breeding "stops" barely a foot below the level +of the ground, were never safe from the badger's attack, a flourishing +colony dwelt within the precincts of the "set." Early in spring, when +the badgers were preparing for their expected family, a doe rabbit, +attracted by the great commotion caused by their efforts to remove the +big heap of soil thrown up at the entrance to their dwelling, hopped +quietly out of the fern, and sat for a long time watching from between +the bushes the occasional showers of loam which indicated the progress +of the work. Judged by the standard of a rabbit, Bunny was a fairly +clever little creature, and the plans she formed as she hid in the +undergrowth seemed to show that she possessed unusual forethought. She +waited and watched for several nights, till the badgers had ceased to +labour, and the mound before the "set" remained apparently untouched. +Then, one evening, after she had seen the badgers go off together into +the heart of the wood, she entered, and moved along the gallery, pausing +here and there to touch the walls with her sensitive muzzle. Coming to a +place where a stone was slightly loosened, she began to dig a shaft +almost at right angles to the roomy gallery, and for a time continued +her work undisturbed; but an hour or so before dawn she retired to sleep +in a thicket, some distance beyond the plain, wide trail marking the +badger's movements to and from the nearest fields. + +The badgers, on returning home, were sorely puzzled at the change that +had taken place during their absence. To all appearance, a trick had +been played on them, for, whereas their house had been left neat and +tidy at dusk, there was now a pile of earth obstructing the main +passage. However, they accepted the situation philosophically, and +completed the rabbit's work by clearing the gallery and adding to the +heap beyond the entrance. + +Night after night, the wily rabbit watched for the badgers' departure, +carried on her work, and gave them a fresh task for the early morning, +till a short but winding burrow, some depth below the level of the +ground, formed an antechamber where the little family to which she +presently gave birth was reared in safety. + +Though the badgers, aware that the shallow "stops" in the woods were +more easily unearthed than this deeper burrow near the mouth of the +"set," did not seek to disturb their neighbours, the mother rabbit, +directly her family grew old enough to leave the nest, became +increasingly vigilant, and, when about to lead them to or from their +dwelling, was ever careful to be satisfied that all was quiet in the +chambers and the galleries below. Generally she ventured abroad before +the badgers awoke from the day's sleep, came back during their absence, +and once more stole out to feed when they had returned and were resting +in their snuggery. The danger that lurked in her surroundings supplied a +special excitement to life, and she never heard without fear the ominous +sounds that vibrated clearly through every crack and cranny when the +badgers occasionally arose from their couch, stretched their cramped +limbs, shook their rough grey coats, and grunted with satisfaction at +the feeling of health and strength which nearly all wild animals delight +occasionally to express. + +The forest trees had donned their verdure; the tall bracken had lifted +its fronds so far above the grass that the mother rabbit no longer found +them a convenient screen through which to peer at the strange antics of +the old badgers as they came from their lair and sat in the twilight on +the mound by the entrance of their home; and the rill in the dingle, +which, during winter and early spring, leaped, a clear, rushing torrent, +on its way to the river below the steep, had dwindled to a few drops of +water, collected in tiny pools among the stones, or trickling +reluctantly down the dank, green water-weed. The young badger family +had grown so strong and high-spirited that their dam, weakened by +motherhood, and at a loss to restrain their increasing desire for +outdoor air and exercise, determined to wean them, and to teach them +many lessons, concerning the ways of the woodland people, which she had +learned long ago from her parents, or, more recently, from her own +experiences as a creature of the dark, mysterious night. + +Brock, in particular, was the source of considerable anxiety to her. He +was the leader in every scene of noisy festivity; she was repeatedly +forced to punish him for following her at dusk to the mound outside the +upper gallery, and for disobedience when she condescended to take part +in a midnight romp in the underground nursery. He tormented the other +members of the family by awakening them from sleep when he desired to +play, also by appropriating, till his appetite was fully appeased, all +the food his dam brought home from her hunting expeditions, and, again, +by picking quarrels over such a trifling matter as the choice of a place +when he and his little companions wished to rest. + +Nature's children are wilful and selfish; and in their struggle for +existence they live, if independent of their parents, only so long as +they can take care of themselves. Among adult animals, however, +selfishness seems to become inoperative in the care they take of their +offspring. But though the mother badger was unselfish towards her little +ones, she spared no effort to instruct them in the ways of selfishness. + +The night of Brock's first visit to the woods was warm and unclouded. +For an hour after sunset, he played about the gallery by the door, while +his mother, a vigilant sentinel, remained motionless and unseen in the +darkness behind. Now and again, he heard the rabbits moving in the +burrow, but they, aware of his presence, stayed discreetly out of view. +Under his mother's guidance, or even if his playmates had been bold +enough to accompany him, he would at once have been ready to explore the +furthest corner of the rabbit-hole. But the old badger was too big, and +the youngsters were too timid, to go with him into the mysterious +antechamber; so, after repeated attempts to explore the passage as far +as the bend, and finding to his discomfort that there the space became +narrower, he gave up the idea of prying on the doings of his neighbours, +and contented himself with droll, clumsy antics, such as those by which +wild children often seek to convince indulgent parents that they are +eager and fearless. + +As the darkness deepened, the dog-badger, after hunting near the +outskirts of the wood, returned to the "set." His manner indicated that +he was the bearer of an important message. He touched his mate on the +shoulder; then, as she responded to his greeting, he thrust his head +forward so that she could scent a drop of blood clinging to his lip; +and, while she sniffed enquiringly along the fringe of his muzzle, he +seemed to be assuring her that his message was of the utmost +consequence. As soon as she understood his meaning, he vanished into the +gallery, and for a few moments was evidently busy. Faint squeals and +grunts, which gradually became louder and louder, proceeded from the +central chamber, and, again, from the inner passages; and presently the +big badger appeared in sight, driving his family before him, and +threatening them with direst punishment if they attempted to double past +him and thus regain their dark retreat. + +Wholly unable to appreciate the real position of affairs, Brock, +perplexed and frightened, found himself hiding among the ferns and +brambles outside the "set," while the sire, standing in full view on the +mound, and grunting loudly, forbade the return of his evicted family. +Unexpectedly, too, the mother badger, when the little ones looked to her +for sympathy in their extraordinary treatment, took the part of the +crusty old sire, and snapped and snarled directly they attempted to move +back towards the mound. Utterly bewildered and much in fear, since their +dam, hitherto the object of implicit trust, had suddenly deserted their +cause, the young badgers crouched together under the bushes, and watched +distrustfully each movement of their parents. The sire stuck to his post +on the mound, and, with hoarse grunts, varied occasionally by thin, +piping squeals that did not seem in the least to accord with his +wrathful demeanour, continued to keep them at a distance. + +Soon the dam moved slowly away, climbed the track towards the top of the +wood, and then called to the cubs as they sat peering after her into the +darkness. Released from discipline, and eagerly responsive to her cry, +they lurched after her, and followed closely as she led them further and +still further from home. Presently, the dog-badger overtook his family. +His manner, as well as the dam's, had changed; and though great caution +was exercised as they journeyed along paths well trodden, and free from +twigs that might snap, or leaves that might rustle, and though silence +was the order of the march, the little family--proud parents and shy, +inquisitive children--seemed as happy as the summer night was calm. The +distant sound of a prowling creature, heard at times from the margin of +the wood, caused not the slightest alarm to the cubs: the intense +nervousness always apparent in young foxes was not evinced by the little +badgers. + +In comparison with the fox-cubs, they were not easily frightened; they +already gave promise of the presence of mind which, later, was often +displayed when they were threatened by powerful foes. Brock, +nevertheless, betrayed astonishment when a dusky form bolted through the +whinberry bushes close by; and several moments passed before he was +able, by his undeveloped methods of reasoning, to connect the scent of +the flying creature with that of the rabbits often carried home by his +mother, and, therefore, with something good for food. + +At the top of the wood, the old badgers turned aside and led the way +through a thicket, where, in obedience to their mother, the youngsters +came to a halt, while their sire, proceeding a few yards in advance, +sniffed the ground, like a beagle picking up the line of the hunt. +Having found the object of his search, he called his family to him, that +they might learn the meaning of the various signs around. But the doings +of the woodland folk could not yet be learnt by the little badgers, as +by the experienced parents, from trifling details, such as the altered +position of a leaf or twig, the ringing alarm-cry of a bird, the fresh +earth-smell near an upturned stone, or the taint of a moving creature +in the grass. Beside them lay a small brown and white stoat, its head +almost severed from its body by a quick, powerful bite, and, just +beyond, the motionless form of a half-grown rabbit, unmarked, save by a +small, clean-cut wound between the ears. The scent of both creatures was +noticeable everywhere around, and with it, quite as strong and fresh, +the scent of the big male badger. Walking up the path, soon after +nightfall, the badger had arrived on the scene of a woodland tragedy, +and had found the stoat so engrossed with its victim that to kill the +bloodthirsty little tyrant was the easy work of an instant. Afterwards, +mindful of the education of his progeny, he had hurried home to arrange +with his mate a timely object lesson in wood-craft. + +The stoat was left untasted, but the rabbit was speedily devoured; and +then the badger family resorted to the riverside below the "set," where +the cubs were taught to lap the cool, clear water. Thence, before +returning home, they were taken to a clearing in the middle of the wood, +and, while the sire went off alone to scout and hunt, the mother badger +showed them how to find grubs and beetles under the rotting bark of the +tree-butts, in the crevices among the stones, and in the soft, damp +litter of the decaying leaves. + + + + +III. + +FEAR OF THE TRAP. + + +Night after night, the cubs, sometimes under the protection of both +their parents, and sometimes under the protection of only the dam, +roamed through the by-ways of the countryside. From each expedition they +gleaned something of new and unexpected interest, till they grew wise in +the ways of Nature's folk that haunt the gloom--the strong, for ever +seeking opportunities of attack; the weak, for ever dreading even a +chance shadow on the moonlit trail. + +A strange performance, which, for quite a month, seemed devoid of +meaning to the cubs, but which, nevertheless, Brock soon learned to +imitate, took place whenever the tainted flesh of a dead creature was +found in the way. The old badgers at once became alert, moved with the +utmost caution, smelt but did not touch the offensive morsel, and, +instead of seizing it, rolled over it again and yet again, as if the +scent proved irresistibly attractive. One of the cubs, that had always +shown an inclination to act differently from the way in which her +companions acted, and often became lazy and stupid when lesson-time +arrived, was destined to pay dearly for neglecting to imitate her +parents. Lagging behind the rest of the family, as in single file they +moved homeward after a long night's hunting in the fallow, she chanced +to scent some carrion in the ditch, turned aside to taste it, and +immediately was held fast in the teeth of an iron trap. Hearing her +cries of pain and terror, the mother hastened to the spot, and, for a +moment, was so bewildered with disappointment and anger that she +chastised the cub unmercifully, though the little creature was enduring +extreme agony. But directly the old badger recovered from her fit of +temper, she sought to make amends by petting and soothing the frightened +cub, and trying to remove the trap. Finally, after half an hour's +continuous effort, she accidentally found that the trap was connected +by a chain with a stake thrust into the ground. Quickly, with all the +strength of her muscular fore-paws, she dug up the soil at the end of +the chain, and then, with powerful teeth, wrenched the stake from its +position. Dragging the cruel trap, the young badger slowly followed her +dam homeward, but when she had gone about a hundred yards pain overcame +her, and she rolled down a slight incline near the hedge. For a few +minutes, she lay helpless; then, grunting hoarsely, she climbed the +ditch, and continued her way in the direction of a gap leading into the +wood. There, as she gained the top of the hedge, the trap was firmly +caught in the stout fork of a thorn-bush. Further progress was +impossible; all her frantic struggles failed to give her freedom. The +dam stayed near, vainly endeavouring to release her, till at dawn a +rustle was heard in the hedge, and a labourer on his way to the farm +came in sight above a hurdle in the gap. Reluctantly, the old badger +stole away into the wood, leaving the cub to her fate. It came--a single +blow on the nostrils from a stout cudgel--and all was over. + +The lesson thus taught left a salutary impression on the minds of the +other cubs. From it they learned that the presence of stale flesh was +somehow associated with the peculiar scent of oiled and rusty iron, or +with the taint of a human hand, and was fraught with the utmost danger. +They somehow felt that their dam acted wisely in rolling over any +decaying refuse she happened to find on her way; and later, when Brock, +seizing an opportunity to imitate his mother, sprang another trap, +which, closing suddenly beneath his back, did no more harm than to rob +him of a bunch of fur, they recognised how a menace to their safety +might be easily and completely removed by the simple expedient taught +them by their careful parent. + +Though she invariably took the utmost precaution against danger from +baited traps, the old she-badger was nevertheless surprised, almost as +much as were the cubs, at the incidents just described. At various times +she had sprung more than a dozen traps, but in each case her attention +had been directed to the trap only by the scent of iron, or of the human +hand. However faint that scent might be, and however mingled with the +smell of newly turned earth or of sap from bruised stalks of woodland +plants, she immediately detected it, rolled on the spot, and then noted +the signs around--the disturbed leaf-mould, and the foot-scent of man +leading back among the bilberry bushes, or down the winding paths +between the oaks, where, occasionally, she also found faint traces of +the hand-scent on bits of lichen, or on rotten twigs, fallen from the +grasp of her enemy as he clutched the tree-trunks in his steep descent +towards the riverside. But never before had she seen a baited trap. Her +dam had never seen one; her grand-dam had been equally ignorant; and yet +both, like herself, had always rolled on any tainted flesh they chanced +to come across on their many journeys. + +For generations, in this far county of the west, the creatures of the +woods, except the fox, had never been systematically hunted. The +vicissitudes of history had directly affected the welfare of wild +animals. The old professional hunting and fighting classes had become +unambitious tenant farmers; and, partly through the operations of an old +Welsh law regarding the equal division of property, the land beyond the +feudal tracts of the Norman Marches were, in many instances, broken up +into small freeholds owned by descendants of the princely families of +bygone ages. But hard, incessant work was the lot of tenant and +freeholder alike. When the aims and the experiences of the old fighting +and sporting days had passed away, and nothing was left but ceaseless +toil, these essentially combative people, to whom violent and continuous +excitement was the very breath of life, became, for a while at least, +knavish and immoral, sunk almost to one dead social level, and totally +uninteresting because, in their new life of peaceful tillage--a life far +more suited to their English law-givers than to themselves--they were +apparently incapable of maintaining that complete, vigilant interest in +their ordinary surroundings which makes for enlightenment and success. + +Having lost the love of "venerie" possessed by their forefathers, the +farmers cared little about any wild creatures but hares and rabbits; a +badger's ham was to them an unknown article of food. The fear of a +baited trap had, therefore, probably descended from one badger to +another since days when the green-gowned forester came to the farm, from +the lodge down-river, and sought assistance in the capture of an animal +for the sport of an otherwise dull Sunday afternoon in the courtyard of +the nearest castle; or even since ages far remote, when a badger's flesh +was esteemed a luxury by the earliest Celts. + +Unbaited traps, in the "runs" of the rabbits, had at intervals been +common for centuries; but now the carefully prepared baits and the +unusually strong traps seemed to indicate nothing less than an organised +attack on other and more powerful night hunters. The badger's fears, +however, were hardly warranted. Five traps had been placed in the wood +by a curious visitor staying at the village inn. In one of these, +Brock's sister had been caught; but the owner of the trap knew nothing +beyond the fact that it had mysteriously disappeared from the spot where +he had seen it fixed. Another was sprung by Brock; two at the far end of +the wood were so completely fouled by a fox that every prowling creature +carefully avoided the spot; while in the fifth was found a single +blood-stained claw, left to prove the visit of a renegade cat. + +It may well be imagined that a large and interesting animal like the +badger, keeping for many years to an underground abode so spacious that +the mound at its principal entrance is often a quite conspicuous +landmark for some distance in the woods, would be subject to frequent +and varied attacks from man, and thus be speedily exterminated. It may +also be imagined that the habits of following the same well worn paths +night after night, of never ranging further than a few miles from the +"set," and of living so sociably that the community sometimes numbers +from half-a-dozen to a dozen members, apart from such lodgers as foxes, +rabbits, and wood-mice, would all combine to render the creature an easy +prey. + +But if the badger's ways are carefully studied, the very circumstances +which at first seem unfavourable to him are found to account for much of +his immunity from harm. The depth of his breeding chamber and the length +of the connecting passages are, as a rule, indicated by the size of the +mound before his door. The fact that he regularly pursues the same paths +in his nightly excursions enables him to become familiar, like the fox, +with each sight and scent and sound of the woods, so that anything +strange is at once noticed, and danger avoided. His sociability is a +distinct gain, because he receives therefrom co-operation in his sapping +and mining while he aims to secure the impregnability of his fortress; +and his tolerance of cunning and timid neighbours gains for him this +advantage: sometimes in the dusk, before venturing abroad, he receives a +warning that danger lurks in the thickets around his home--perhaps from +a double line of scent indicating that the fox has started on a journey +and then hurriedly turned back, or from numerous cross-scents at the +mouth of the burrow, where the rabbits and the wood-mice have passed to +and fro, deterred by fear in their frequent attempts to reach feeding +places beyond the nearest briar-clumps. His methods, however, when +either his neighbours or the members of his own family become too +numerous, are prompt and drastic. + +Shy, inoffensive, and, for a young creature unacquainted with the +responsibilities of a family, deliberate to the point of drollery in all +his movements, Brock grew up beneath his parents' care; and, with an +intelligence keener than that possessed by the other members of the +little woodland family, learned many lessons which they failed to +understand. When his mother called, he was always the first to hasten to +her side. Each incident of the night, if of any significance, was +explained to her offspring by the mother. Often Brock was the only +listener when she began her story, and the late arrivals heard but +disconnected parts. + +Beautiful beyond comparison were those brief summer nights, silent, +starlit, fragrant, when the badgers led their young by many a devious +path through close-arched bowers amid the tangled bracken, or under +drooping sprays of thorn and honeysuckle in the hidden ditches, or +through close tunnels, as gloomy as the passages of their underground +abode, in the dense thickets of the furze. Sometimes they wandered in +the corn and root-crop, or in the hayfield where the sorrel, a cooling +medicinal herb for many of the woodland folk, grew long and succulent; +and sometimes they descended the steep cattle-path on the far side of +the farm, where the big dor-beetles, as plentiful there as in the +grass-clumps of the open pasture, were easily struck down while they +circled, droning loudly, about the heaps of refuse near the hedge. + +Once, late in July, when the badgers were busily catching beetles by the +side of the cattle-path, Brock, thrusting his snout into the grass to +secure a crawling insect, chanced to hear a faint, continuous sound, as +of a number of tiny creatures moving to and fro in a hollow beneath the +moss-covered mound at his feet. He listened intently, his head cocked +knowingly towards the spot whence the sound proceeded; then, scratching +up a few roots of the moss, he sniffed enquiringly, drawing in a long, +deep breath, at the mouth of a thimble-shaped hole his sharp claws had +exposed. + +Unexpectedly, and without the help of the dam, he had discovered a +wild-bees' nest. His inborn love of honey was every whit as strong as a +bear's, and he recognised the scent as similar to that of insects known +by him to be far more tasty than beetles; so, without a moment's +hesitation, he began to dig away the soil. The nest was soon unearthed, +and the little badger, completely protected by his thick and wiry coat +from the half-hearted assaults of the bewildered bees, greedily devoured +the entire comb, together with every well-fed grub and every drop of +honey the fragile cells contained. His eagerness was such that these +spoils seemed hardly more than a tempting morsel sufficient to awaken a +desire for the luscious sweets of the wayside storehouses. He carefully +hunted the hedgerow, as far as a gate leading to a rick-yard, and at +last, close to a stile, found another nest, which, also, he quickly +destroyed. + +Henceforth, till the end of August, there were few nights during which +he did not find a meal of honey and grubs. The summer was fine and warm, +a lavish profusion of flowers adorned the fields and the woods, and +humble-bees and wasps were everywhere numerous. As if to taunt the +badgers with inability to climb, a swarm of tree-wasps lived in a big +nest of wood-pulp suspended from a branch ten feet or so above the +"set," and, every afternoon, the badgers, as they waited near the mouth +of their dwelling for the darkness to deepen, heard the shrill, long +continued humming of the sentinel wasps around the big ball in the +tree--surely one of the most appetising sounds that could ever reach a +badger's ears. But the wasps that had built among the ferns near the +river-path, and in the hollows of the hedges, were remorselessly hunted +and despoiled. Their stings failed to penetrate the thick coat and hide +of their persistent foes, while a chance stab on the lips or between the +nostrils seemed only to arouse the badgers from leisurely methods of +pillage to quick and ruthless slaughter of the adult insects as well as +of the immature grubs. But Brock never committed the indiscretion of +swallowing a full-grown wasp. With his fore-paws he dexterously struck +and crippled the angry sentinels that buzzed about his ears, and, with +teeth bared in order to prevent a sting on his tender muzzle, disabled +the newly emerged and sluggish insects that wandered over the comb. + +As autumn drew on, the cubs grew strong and fat on the plentiful +supplies of food, which, with their parents' help, they readily found in +field and wood. Brock gave promise of abnormal strength, and was already +considerably heavier than his sister. They fared far better than the +third cub, a little male, that, notwithstanding a temper almost as fiery +as Brock's, was worsted in every dispute and frequently robbed of his +food, and still, never owning himself beaten, persisted in drawing +attention to his success whenever he happened on something fresh and +toothsome. At such times, instead of hastily and silently regaling +himself, he made a great a-do, grunting with rage and defiance, like a +dog that guards a marrow-bone but will not settle down to gnaw its juicy +ends. + +Brock's brother was so often deprived of his legitimate spoils, that, +while his surliness was increased, his bodily growth was checked. He was +small and thin for his age; and so, when a kind of fever peculiar to +young badgers broke out in the woodland home, he succumbed. His grave +was a shallow depression near the path below the "set," whither his +parents dragged his lifeless body, and where the whispering leaves of +autumn presently descended to array him in a red and golden robe of +death. + +The other young badgers quickly recovered from their fever; and by the +end of October all the animals were, as sportsmen say, "in grease," and +well prepared for winter's cold and privation. The old badgers became +more and more indisposed to roam abroad; and, whereas in summer they +sometimes wandered four or five miles from the "set," they now seldom +went further than the gorse-thicket on the fringe of the wood. + + + + +IV. + +THE WINTER "OVEN." + + +The badger-cubs, while not so well provided against the cold as were +their parents, grew lazy as winter advanced, and spent most of their +time indoors on a large heap of fresh bedding, that had been collected +under the oaks and carried to a special winter "oven" below the chamber +generally occupied in summer. Here, the sudden changes of temperature +affecting the outer world were hardly noticeable; and so enervating were +the warmth and indolence, that the badgers, in spite of thick furs and +tough hides, rarely left their retreat when the shrill voice of the +north-east wind, overhead in the mouth of the burrow, told them of frost +and snow. + +About mid-winter, the first of two changes took place in the colour of +the young badgers' coats; from silver-grey it turned to dull brownish +yellow, and the contrasts in the pied markings of the cheeks became +increasingly pronounced. This change happened a little later with Brock +than with his sister. Eventually, late in the following winter, the +young female, arriving at maturity, donned a gown of darker grey, and +her face was striped with black and white; shortly afterwards, Brock, +too, assumed the livery of a full-grown badger. + +Meanwhile, till events occurred of which the second change was only a +portent, all remained fairly peaceful in the big burrow under the whins +and brambles. Occasionally, in the brief winter days, Brock was awakened +from his comfortable sleep by the music of the hounds, as they passed by +on the scent of Vulp, the fleetest and most cunning fox on the +countryside, or by the stamp of impatient hoofs, as the huntsman's mare, +tethered to a tree not far from the "set," eagerly awaited her rider's +return from a "forward cast" into the dense thicket beyond the glade. + +One afternoon in late winter, a young vixen, that, without knowing it, +had completely baffled her pursuers, crept, footsore and +travel-stained, into the mouth of the "set," and lay there, panting +loudly, till night descended, and she had sufficiently recovered from +her distress to continue her homeward journey. Now and again, the sharp +report of a shotgun echoed down the wood; and once, late at night, when +Brock climbed up from the "oven" to sit awhile on the mound before his +door, the scent of blood was strong in the passage leading to the +rabbit's quarters. Unfortunate bunny! Next night, stiff and sore from +her wounds, she crawled out into the wood, and Vulp and his vixen put an +end to her misery long before the badgers ventured from their lair. + +Winter, with its long hours of sleep, passed quietly away. Amid the +sprouting grasses by the river-bank, the snowdrops opened to the breath +of spring; soon afterwards, the early violets and primroses decked the +hedgerows on the margin of the wood, and the wild hyacinths thrust their +spike-shaped leaves above the mould. The hedgehogs, curled in their beds +amid the wind-blown oak-leaves, were awakened by the gentle heat, and +wandered through the ditches in search of slugs and snails. One +evening, as the moon shone over the hill, the woodcock, that for months +had dwelt by day in the oak-scrub near the "set," and had fed at night +in the swampy thickets by the rill, heard the voice of a curlew +descending from the heights of the sky, and rose, on quick, glad +pinions, far beyond the soaring of the lark, to join a great bird-army +travelling north. Regularly, as the time for sleep drew nigh, the old +inhabitants among the woodland birds--the thrushes, the robins, the +finches, and the wrens--squabbled loudly as they settled to rest: their +favourite roosting places were being invaded by aliens of their species, +that, desirous of breaking for the night their northward journey, +dropped, twittering, into every bush and brake on the margin of the +copse. And into Nature's breast swept, like an irresistible flood, a +yearning for maternity. + +The vixen, that once had rested inside the burrow to recover from her +"run" before the hounds, remembered the sanctuary, returned to it, and +there in time gave birth to her young; and, though almost in touch with +such enemies as the badger and the fox, a few of the rabbits that had +been reared during the previous season in the antechamber of the "set" +enlarged their dwelling place, and were soon engaged in tending a +numerous offspring. The timid wood-mice, following suit, scooped out a +dozen tiny galleries within an old back entrance of the burrow, and +multiplied exceedingly. But, while all other creatures seemed bent on +family affairs, Brock's parents, following a not infrequent habit of +their kindred, deferred such duties to another season. + +As spring advanced, food became far more abundant than in winter, and +the badgers' appetites correspondingly increased. Directly the evening +shadows began to deepen, parents and cubs alike became impatient of the +long day's inactivity, and adjourned together to one or other of the +entrances, generally to the main opening behind the big mound. There, +unseen, they could watch the rooks sail slowly overhead, and the +pigeons, with a sharp hiss of swiftly beating wings, drop down into the +trees, and flutter, cooing loudly, from bough to bough before they fell +asleep. Then, after a twilight romp in and about the mouth of the +burrow, the badgers took up the business of the night, and wandered away +over the countryside in search of food, sometimes extending their +journeys even as far as the garden of a cottage five miles distant, +where Brock distinguished himself by overturning a hive and devouring +every particle of a new honeycomb found therein. + +Autumn, beautiful with pearly mists and red and golden leaves, again +succeeded summer, and the woods resounded with the music of the +huntsman's horn, as the hounds "harked forward" on the scent of fleeing +fox-cubs, that had never heard, till then, the cries of the pursuing +pack. + +One morning, Brock lay out in the undergrowth, though the sun was high +and the rest of his family slept safely in the burrow. At the time, his +temper was not particularly sweet, for, on returning to the "set" an +hour before dawn, he had quarrelled with his sire. Among the dead leaves +and hay strewn on the floor of the chamber usually inhabited by the +badgers in warm weather, was an old bone, discovered by Brock in the +woods, and carried home as a plaything. For this bone Brock had +conceived a violent affection, almost like that of a child for a +limbless and much disfigured doll. He would lie outstretched on his bed, +for an hour at a time, with his toy between his fore-feet, vainly +sucking the broken end for marrow, or sharpening his teeth by gnawing +the juiceless knob, with perfect contentment written on every line of +his long, solemn face. If disturbed, he would take the bone to the +winter "oven" below, and there, alone, would toss it from corner to +corner and pounce on it with glee, or, with a sudden change of manner, +would grasp it in his fore-paws, roll on his back, and scratch, and +bite, and kick it, till, tired of the fun, he dropped asleep beside his +plaything; while overhead, the rabbits and the voles, at a loss to +imagine what was happening in the dark hollows of the "earth," quaked +with fear, or bolted helter-skelter into the bushes beyond the mound. + +When, just before the quarrel, Brock sought for his bone, as he was wont +to do on returning home, he scented it in the litter beneath a spot +completely overlapped on every side by some part or other of his +recumbent sire. For a few moments, he was nonplussed by the situation; +then, desperate for his plaything, he suddenly began to dig, and, in a +twinkling, was half buried in the hay and leaves; while to right and to +left he scattered soil and bedding that fell like a shower over his +mother and sister. Before the old dog-badger had realised the meaning of +the commotion, Brock had grabbed his treasure, and, withdrawing his head +from the shallow pitfall he had hurriedly fashioned, had caused his +drowsy parent to roll helplessly over. This was more than a +self-respecting father could possibly endure in his own home and among +his own kin, so, with unexpected agility, as he turned in struggling to +recover his balance, he gripped Brock by the loose skin of the neck, and +held him as in a vice from which there seemed no escape. Brock, +doubtless thinking that his right to the bone was being disputed, strove +vigorously to get hold of his sire, but the grip of the trap-like jaws +was inflexible, and kept him firmly down till his rage had expended +itself, and he was cowed by his parent's prompt, easy show of tremendous +power. When, at last, the old badger relinquished his hold, Brock shook +himself, and sulkily departed from the "set," followed to the door by +his relentless chastiser. An hour before noon, Brock heard the note of a +horn--sounding far distant, but really coming only from the other side +of the hill--succeeded by the eager baying of a pack of fox-hounds. +Then, for a while, all was silent, but soon the cries of the hounds +broke out again, away beyond the farm by the river. Evidently something +was amiss. Brock, though hardly, perhaps, alarmed, shifted uneasily in +his retreat under the yellow bracken, and finally, almost fascinated, +lay quiet, watching and listening. Presently the ferns parted; and a +fox-cub appeared in full view, treading lightly, his tongue lolling out, +his jaws strained far back towards his ears, and his face wearing the +look of a creature of excessive cunning, though for the time frightened +nearly out of his wits. The fox-cub paused an instant, turned as if to +look at something in the dark thickets by the glen, climbed the mound, +and, after another hasty glance, entered his home among the outer +chambers of the "set." Unknown, of course, to Brock, the leading hounds +were running mute on the fox-cub's scent down the path by the river. +They swerved, and lost the line for a moment, then, "throwing their +tongues," crashed through the briars into the fern; and at once Brock +was surrounded. + +Luckily, he had neither been punished too severely by his sire, nor had +exhausted himself in hotly resisting the chastisement. For a few +seconds, however, as the hounds pressed closely in the rough-and-tumble +fray, trying to tear him limb from limb, he was disconcerted. But +quickly regaining his self-possession, he began to make the fight +exceedingly warm for his assailants. A hound caught him by the leg; +turning, he caught the aggressor by the muzzle. His strong, sharp teeth +crashed through nose and lip clean to the bone, and the discomfited +hound, directly one of the pack had "created a diversion," made off at +full speed, running "heel," and howling at the top of his voice. One +after another, Brock served two couples thus, till the wood was filled +with a mournful chorus altogether different from the usual music of the +hounds. + +Little hurt, except for a bruise or two on his loose, rough hide, and +feeling almost as fresh as when the attack began, Brock, with his face +to the few foes still remaining to threaten him hoarsely from a safe +distance, retired with dignity to the mound, and disappeared in the +tunnel just as reinforcements of the enemy hastened up the slope. + +Henceforth, even in leafy summer, he seldom remained outside his +dwelling during the day, and any fresh sign of a dog in the +neighbourhood of his immediate haunt never failed to fill him with rage +and apprehension. + +Since the time when their silvery-grey coats had turned to +brownish-yellow, the badger cubs had become more and more independent of +their parents; and before long, familiar with the forest paths, they +often wandered alone. Yet so regular was their habit of returning home +during the hour preceding dawn, that, unless something untoward +happened, the last badger to reach the "earth" was rarely more than a +few minutes after the first. Towards the end of autumn, however, the +female cub seemed to have lost this habit; on several occasions dawn was +breaking when she sought her couch; and one morning she was missing +from the family. Her regular home-coming had given place to meeting, in +a copse over the hill, a young male badger reared among the rocks of a +glen up-stream; and by him she had at last been led away to a home, +which, after inspecting several other likely places, he had made by +enlarging a rabbit burrow in a long disused quarry. + +Brock was in no hurry to find himself a spouse; he waited till the end +of winter. Meanwhile, the colour of his coat changed from yellow to +full, dark grey, and simultaneously a change became apparent in his +disposition. Wild fancies seized him; from dusk to dawn he wandered with +clumsy gait over the countryside, little heeding how noisily he lumbered +through the undergrowth. The gaunt jack-hare, that, crying out in the +night, hurried past him, was not a whit more crazy. + +At one time, Brock met a young male badger in the furze, attacked him +vigorously, and left him more dead than alive. At another time, he even +turned his rage against his sire. The old badger was by no means +unwilling to resent provocation: he, too, felt the hot, quick blood of +spring in his veins. The fight was fierce and long--no other wild animal +in Britain can inflict or endure such punishment as the badger--and it +ended in victory for Brock. His size and strength were greater than his +father's; he also had the advantage of youth and self-confidence; but +till its close the struggle was almost equal, for the obstinate +resistance of the experienced old sire was indeed hard to overcome. +Brock forced him at last from the corner where he stood with his head to +the wall, and hustled him out of doors. Then the victor hastened to the +brook to quench his thirst, and, returning to the "set," sought to sleep +off the effects of the fight. When he awoke, he found that the mother +badger had gone to join her evicted mate. The inseparable couple +prepared a disused part of the "set" for future habitation; there they +collected a heap of dry bedding, and, free from further interruption, +were soon engaged with the care of a second family. + +For nearly a week after his big battle, Brock felt stiff and sore, and +altogether too ill to extend his nightly rambles further than the +boundaries of the wood. But with renewed health his restlessness +returned, and he wandered hither and thither in search of a mate to +share his dwelling. A knight-errant among badgers, he sought adventure +for the sake of a lady-love whose face he had not even seen. + +Sometimes, to make his journeys shorter than if the usual trails from +wood to wood had been followed, he used the roads and by-ways leading +past the farmsteads, and risked encounter with the watchful sheep-dogs. +For this indiscretion, he almost paid the penalty of his life. Crossing +a moonlit field on the edge of a covert, he saw a flock of sheep break +from the hurdles of a fold near the distant hedge, and run +panic-stricken straight towards him. Long before he had time to regain +the cover, they swept by, separating into two groups as they came where +he stood. Immediately afterwards, he saw that one of the sheep was lying +on her back, struggling frantically, while a big, white-ruffed collie +worried her to death. The dog was so engrossed with his victim that the +badger remained unnoticed. Having killed the sheep, the dog sat by, +panting because of his exertions, and licking the blood from his lips. +Suddenly, raising his head, he listened intently, his ears turned in the +direction of the fold. Then, growling savagely, he slunk away, with his +tail between his legs, and disappeared within the wood. + +He had scarcely gone from sight, when the farmer and his boy climbed +over the hedge near the field and hastened across the pasture. They saw +the sheep lying dead, and, not far from the spot, the badger lumbering +off to the covert. Instantly believing that Brock was the cause of their +trouble, they called excitedly for help from the farm, and dashed in +pursuit. As Brock gained the gap by the wood, he felt a sharp, stinging +blow on his ribs. On the other side of the hedge, he reached an opening +in the furze, and the sticks and stones aimed at him by his pursuers, as +he turned downwards through the wood, fell harmlessly against the trees +and bushes. The noise he made when crashing through the thickets was, +however, such a guide to his movements, that he failed to baffle the +chase till he reached a well worn trail through the open glades. Luckily +for him, as he emerged from cover a cloud obscured the moon, and he was +able to make good his escape by crossing a deep dingle to the lonely +fields along his homeward route, where, in the shadows of the hedges, +though now the moon again was bright, he could not easily be seen. + +It was fortunate for the badger, not only that the moon was hidden by a +cloud as he crossed the dingle when fleeing from the wood, but also that +his home was distant from the scene of the tragedy in the upland pasture +near the farm. A hue-and-cry was raised, and for days the farmer's boy +searched the wood around the spot where Brock had disappeared, hoping +there to find the earth-pig's home. Other sheep were mysteriously killed +on farms still further from the badger's "earth"; then watchers, armed +with guns, lay out among the cold, damp fields to guard the sleeping +flocks; and the collie, a beautiful creature whose character had +hitherto been held above reproach, was shot almost in the act of closing +on a sheep he had already wounded, close to the corner of a field where +a shepherd lay in hiding. + +The farmer and his boy were chaffed so unmercifully--for this story of +the badger was now considered a myth--that they grew to hate the very +name of "earth-pig," and to believe that after all they must have chased +through the wood some incarnation of Satan. + + + + +V. + +HILLSIDE TRAILS. + + +Several times during his search for a mate, Brock struck the trail of a +female badger, and followed its windings through the thickets and away +across the open fields towards the distant valley, only, however, to +lose it near some swollen brook or on some well trodden sheep-path. The +female had evidently come to a little copse on the crest of a rugged +hill overlooking the river, and, after skirting a pond where wild duck +sheltered among the flags, had retraced her steps. Brock's most +frequented tracks led close to the spot where the stranger's return +trail joined the other near an opening from an almost impenetrable +gorse-cover into a marshy fallow. There, late one night, he found, as he +crossed the opening, that the female badger had travelled forward, but +had not yet returned. Revisiting the spot some minutes afterwards, he +discovered that the backward "drag" was strong on the damp grass. He +followed it quickly, and, in a stubble beyond the gorse, came up at last +with the object of his oft-disappointed quest. She was a widow badger, +older and more experienced than Brock, but smaller and of lighter build. + +Perhaps because she wished to test the loyalty of her new lover, and to +find whether he would fight for her possession with any intruder, she +resisted his advances, and refused to go with him to his home. So he +followed her far away to her own snug dwelling on the fringe of the +moorlands. Thence, with the first streak of dawn in the south-eastern +sky, he hurried back to his lair. + +Early next evening, Brock went forth to meet his lady-love; and +throughout the long night and for nights afterwards he wandered at her +side, till, concluding that no other suitor was likely to appear, she +accompanied him to his home, and entered on the season's house-keeping +in the central chamber of the great "set" where he had been born. There +they lived happily, and without the slightest annoyance from the old +badgers; and, since the time of the spring "running" was over, they +wandered no further afield than in the cold winter nights. Filled with +the joy of the life-giving season, they often romped together in the +twilight for half an hour at a time, chasing one another in and out of +the entrances to the "set," or kicking up the soil as if they suddenly +recollected that their claws needed to be filed and sharpened, or +standing on their hind-feet and rubbing their cheeks delightedly against +a favourite tree--grunting loudly in their fun the while, and in general +behaving like droll, ungainly little pigs just escaped from a stye. At +last, their frolic being ended, they "bumped" away into the bushes, and, +meeting on the trail beyond, proceeded soberly towards the outskirts of +the wood. + +As in the previous spring, the big burrow was soon the scene of family +affairs other than those of the badgers. By the end of February, there +were cubs in the vixen's den, and both the wood-mice and the rabbits +were diligently preparing for important family events. Brock's +companion, unlike himself was not accustomed to a house inhabited by +other tenants. None but members of her own family had dwelt in the +"earth" near the moor; and, being somewhat exclusive in her ideas, she +strongly resented the presence of the vixen in any quarter of her new +abode. A little spiteful in her disposition, she lurked about the +passages, and by the mound outside the entrance, intending to give her +neighbour "a bit of her mind" at the first opportunity. But since she +did not for the present care to enter the vixen's den, that opportunity +never came till her own family arrangements claimed her undivided +attention, and effectually prevented her from following the course of +action she had planned. + +In the first week of April, the badger's spring-cleaning began in +downright earnest. The old bedding of fern, and hay, and leaves was +cleared entirely from the winter "oven," and, after a few windy but +rainless days and nights, when the refuse of Nature's woodland garden +was dry, new materials for a cosy couch were carried to the lair, and +arranged on the floor of the roomy chamber where Brock's mother had +brought him into the world. The badgers' methods of conveying the +required litter were quaintly characteristic, for the animals possessed +the power of moving backward almost as easily and quickly as forward. +They collected a pile of leaves, and, grasping it between their +fore-legs, made their way, tail first, to the mound, and thence, in the +same manner, along their underground galleries, as far as the place +intended for its reception, strewing everywhere in the path proofs of +their presence, quite sufficient for any naturalist visiting their +haunts. + +On a dark, wet night rather less than a fortnight after they had +completed their preparations, when Brock returned to his home for +shelter from the driving storm, three little cubs were lying by their +mother's side. + +The training of the badger-cubs during the first two months was left +wholly to their dam; but afterwards Brock shared the work with his mate, +teaching the youngsters, by his example, how to procure food, and, at +the same time, to detect and to avoid all kinds of danger. In so doing, +he simply acted towards his cubs as his sire had acted towards him. +Apart from family ties, however, his life--that of a strong, deliberate +animal, self-possessed in peril and in conflict, yet shy and cautious to +a fault--was of extreme interest to both naturalist and sportsman. + +Five young foxes, as well as the vixen, now dwelt in the antechamber +near the main entrance of the "set," and the presence of this numerous +family became, for several reasons, so objectionable to the she-badger, +that, about the middle of May, the antipathy which, since her +partnership with Brock, she had always felt towards the vixen, was +united with a fixed determination to get rid of her neighbours. She was +too discreet, however, to attempt to rout them during the day, when some +dreaded human being might be attracted by the noise; so she endeavoured +to surprise the vixen and her cubs together at night. + +For a while, she was unsuccessful. She happened to frighten them by an +impetuous, blustering attack in the rear, from which they easily +escaped; thus her difficulties had been increased, since the objects of +her aversion became loath to stay in the "earth" after nightfall. But +at last, probably more through accident than set purpose, the badger +out-manoeuvred the wily foxes. + +Lying one evening in the doorway, she heard the vixen, followed by the +young foxes, creeping stealthily from the den. Retreating quickly, she +barred their exit, thus compelling them to return to their lair; then +she took up her position in the neck of the passage, and waited +patiently till midnight before commencing her assault. At last, in the +dense darkness, she crawled along the winding tunnel, and, directly, the +den was the scene of wild confusion and uproar, as its inmates leaped +and tumbled over each other in their frantic efforts to escape. For a +few minutes, the advent of danger unnerved them; then, as if peculiarly +fascinated by the grim, motionless enemy blocking their only outlet, +they began an aimless, shuffling dance, baring their teeth and hissing +as they lurched from side to side. Their suspense was soon ended. The +badger, emerging partly from the passage, gripped one of the cubs by a +hind-leg, and dragged it backwards along the passage to the thicket +outside, where, after worrying her victim unmercifully, she ended its +life by crushing its skull, above the muzzle, into fragments between +her teeth. + +Once more, but this time furious with the taste of blood, she hurried to +the den; and the scene of fear and violence was repeated. Her third +visit was futile: the vixen with the other cubs had bolted into the main +gallery, and escaped thence to the wood, through an old opening, almost +choked with withered leaves, at the back of the "set." + +They never returned, but the following spring a strange vixen from the +rocks across the valley came to the burrow, gave birth to her young, +and, in due course, without loss, was evicted by Brock's relentless +mate. + +[Illustration: "HE CLIMBED FROM HIS DOORWAY, AND STOOD MOTIONLESS, WITH +UPLIFTED NOSTRILS, INHALING EACH BREATH OF SCENT."] + +On the night after the death of the fox-cubs, when Brock was led by the +she-badger to the spot where her victims lay, he noticed that man's +foot-scent was strong on the grass around, and also that his hand-scent +lingered on the fur of the slain animal. Often, during the succeeding +two months, he was awakened in the day by quick, irregular footsteps +overhead; and later, when he climbed from his doorway, and stood +motionless, with uplifted nostrils, inhaling each breath of scent, he +found that the dreaded signs of man were numerous on the trail, on +the near beech-trunk, and even on the mound before the "set." Once, on +returning home with his family, he was greatly alarmed to discover that +in the night the man had visited his haunts, and that a dog had passed +down the galleries and disturbed the bed on which he slept. +Henceforward, he used the main opening as an exit only, and invariably +entered the "set" by the opening through which the vixen had escaped +from his mate, passing, on his way, the mouth of a side-gallery +connected with the apartments occupied by his old sire and dam, together +with their present family. Eventually, through these precautions, he +saved his principal earthworks from destruction. + +Had Brock been able to ascertain the meaning of man's frequent visits to +the neighbourhood of his dwelling, he would have sorely lamented the +killing of the young foxes by the female badger. In the eyes of the +Hunt, vulpicide was an unpardonable crime, whether committed by man or +beast; and, when the dead fox-cubs were shown to the huntsman, he vowed +vengeance on the slayer. Because of a recent exchange, between the two +local Hunts, of certain outlying farms, it happened that this huntsman +was not he who in past seasons had tethered his horse near the "set" +while he "drew" the cover on foot. The new-comer soon discovered the +"earth"; but after a brief examination, from which he concluded, because +of the strong taint still lingering, that it was tenanted by a fox, he +walked away towards the farm. Fearing a reprimand from the Master if the +mysterious slaughter of the foxes could not be explained, he made +careful enquiries of the farmers, by whom he was told of the badger and +the sheep, as well as of the poacher who had seen Brock's sire in the +upland fields two years ago; but he laughed at the first tale, and for +want of adequate information paid no heed to the second. Nevertheless, +when he again visited the "earth," and, stooping, saw the withered +leaves and fern, and detected, not now the scent of a fox, but the scent +of half a dozen badgers, his sluggish brain began to move in the right +direction. Stories he had heard by the lodge fireside when he was a lad, +casual remarks dropped by followers of the Hunt, questions asked him by +an inquisitive boy-naturalist--he slowly remembered them all; and then +the revealing light dawned on his mind, that no animal but a badger +could with ease have broken the limbs of a fox-cub, and cracked the +skull as though it were a hazel-nut. Filled with a sense of +self-importance, befitting the bearer of a momentous message, the +huntsman rode away in the breathless summer twilight to the country +house where the Master lived, and presently was shown into the gun-room +to wait till dinner was over. + +The Master prided himself on his love of every kind of sport; and before +the huntsman had finished a long, rambling story of the woodland tragedy +he had formed his plans for the punishment of the offender and was +writing a brief, urgent letter to a distant friend. As the result, a few +days afterwards three little terriers, specially trained for "drawing" a +badger, arrived at the Master's house, and were accommodated in a vacant +"loose-box" in the stables. Late at night, one of these was introduced +to the "set," and from the experiment the Master was led to believe +that, though the place, as he surmised, was empty of its usual tenants +at the time, it held sure promise of sport for an "off" day, as soon as +the otter-hounds, now about to hunt in the rivers of the west, had +departed from the neighbourhood. Meanwhile, according to his strictest +orders, the little terriers were well fed, regularly exercised, and kept +from quarrelling, and their coats were carefully brushed and oiled that +they might be as fit as fiddles for the eventful "draw." + +The Master was a rigid disciplinarian in all matters concerned with +sport. His servants, one and all, from the old, white-haired family +butler down to the little stable-boy, idolised him, but never presumed +to disobey his slightest command. For many years before he came to live +at the mansion, the Hunt had fallen into a state of extreme neglect; the +pack was one of the worst in the kingdom, the subscriptions were +irregular, the kennel servants were ill-paid, the poor cottagers never +received payment for losses when Reynard visited their hen-coops, and +even the farmers began to grumble at needless damage to their hedges, +and to refuse to "walk" the puppies. But the new Master had changed all +this. He bore his share, but no more, of the expense caused by the +reforms he at once introduced, and he reminded his proud yet stingy +neighbours that the pack existed for their sport as much as for his own, +that arrears were shown in his secretary's subscription-books, and that, +unless the funds were augmented, he would reconsider the step he had +taken in accepting the Mastership. Useless servants, useless hounds, and +merely ornamental members of the Hunt, alike disappeared; and with +system and discipline came season after season of prosperity, +contentment, and justice, till it seemed that the best old traditions of +British sport were revived in a community of hard-working, rough-riding +fox-hunters, among the isolated valleys of the west. + +As might be inferred from the personality of the Squire, everything was +in apple-pie order on the glorious summer morning when he and his +huntsmen made their way down river to the wood inhabited by Brock. A +complete collection of tools--crowbar, earth-drill, shovels, picks, a +woodman's axe, and a badger-tongs that had been used many years ago to +unearth a badger in a distant county, and ever since had occupied a +corner in the Squire's harness-room--had already been conveyed to the +scene of operations, together with a big basket of provisions and a cask +of beer, it being one of the Squire's axioms that hard work deserved +good hire. Four brawny labourers were also there; and, near by, each in +leash, the three little terriers lay among the bilberries. Punctually at +the time appointed, the work of the day began. A terrier was led to the +main entrance of the "set," but, to the dismay of the huntsman, he +refused to enter. When, however, he was brought to the entrance that +artful Brock had lately used, he at once became keenly excited, dragged +at his leash, and, on being freed, disappeared in the darkness of the +burrow. The Master knelt to listen; and presently, as the sound of +furious growls and barks came from the depths, he arose, saying: "Now, +my men, we may begin with picks and shovels; our badger is at home." + +What followed, from that early summer morning till twilight shadows fell +over the woods, and men and dogs, completely beaten, wended their way +homewards along the river-path, may best be told, perhaps, in a bare, +simple narrative of events as they occurred. + +When the terrier went "to ground," he crawled down a steep, winding +passage into a hollow, from twelve to fifteen feet below the entrance. +Thence, guided by the scent of a badger, he climbed an equally steep +passage, to a gallery about six feet below the surface. Following the +gallery for a yard or so, he came to a spot where it was joined by a +side passage, and here, as well as in the gallery beyond, the scent was +strong. He chose the side passage, crept down a slight declivity, and +came where Brock's sire had, a few minutes before, been lying asleep, +while his mate and cubs occupied the centre of the chamber. Awakened by +the approach of the terrier, the she-badger and her offspring had +hurried to another chamber of the "set," and the male had retreated to a +blind alley recently excavated back towards the main gallery. The +terrier, keeping to the line he had struck at the sleeping place, found +the male badger at work there, throwing up a barrier between himself and +his pursuing enemy, and at once diverted his attention by feinting an +attack in the rear. For two hours, the game little dog, avoiding each +clumsy charge and yet not giving the badger a moment's peace, remained +close by, while the men cut further and further into the "set," till +they stood in the first deep chamber through which the terrier had +passed. Then the terrier came out to quench his thirst, and was led away +by the huntsman to the river, while the second dog was speedily +despatched to earth, that the badger might be allowed no breathing space +during which he could bury himself beyond the reach of further attack. +The second dog, on coming to the junction of the passage and the +gallery, chose the alternative line of scent in the gallery, and +wandered far away into the chamber where Brock, whose family had +descended some time before to the winter "oven," awaited his coming. +When the faint barking of the second terrier told that the badger had +seemingly shifted his quarters to an almost incredible distance from the +trench, the faces of the Squire and his assistants evinced no little +surprise. For a moment, the men were inclined to believe that the dog +was "marking false," but, presently, their doubts were dispelled, and +their hopes revived, as the sounds indicated that the terrier, +contesting hotly every inch of the way, was retreating towards them +before his enraged enemy. The labourers resumed work, though not with +the confidence of the early morning, when their task seemed lighter than +the experienced Master would admit. Hour after hour they toiled; the +dogs were often changed; and at last the trench was long enough to be +within a yard or so of the spot where the dog was engaged. Then, to the +mortification of the sportsmen, the sounds of the conflict suggested +another change: Brock was retiring leisurely to his chamber. The +earth-drill was soon put into play, and the badger's position +discovered, but directly afterwards the animal again moved, this time to +the deep "oven" below. + +Night was now rapidly closing over the woods, and the weary, +disappointed men and dogs reluctantly gave up their task. The Squire +admitted that on this occasion, at any rate, he was fairly and squarely +beaten. Brock and his mate are still in possession of the old burrow +beyond the farm; and Brock's sire, a patriarch among badgers, lives, as +the comrade of another old male, among the boulders of a rugged hillside +a mile from the "set." + + + + +THE HEDGEHOG. + +I. + +A VAGABOND HUNTER. + + +At the lower end of our village, the valley is joined by a deep ravine +through which a sequestered road--hidden by hawthorn hedges, and crossed +by numerous water-courses where the hillside streams, dropping from +rocks of shale, ripple towards a trout-brook feeding the main +river--winds into the quiet country. The rugged sides of the ravine are +thickly clothed with gorse and brambles, and dotted with hazels, +willows, and oaks. This dense cover is inhabited by large numbers of +rabbits; in a sheltered hollow half-way up the slope a badger has dug +his "set"; and in the pastures above the thickets a fox may be seen +prowling on almost any moonlit night. Past the gorge, the glen opens out +in rich, level pastures and meadows bounded on either side by the +hills. The nearest farmsteads are built high among the sunny dingles +overlooking the glen, and the corn and the root-crops are grown on the +slope beyond the broad belts of gorse and bramble. + +In winter, the low-lying lands are seldom visited by the peasantry, +except when the dairymaid drives the cattle to and fro, or the hedger +trims the undergrowth along the ditches. Though the sportsman with gun +and spaniels and the huntsman with horse and hounds are frequently heard +in the thickets, they never visit the "bottom," unless the partridges +fly down from the stubble, or the hare, pursued by the beagles, takes a +straight line from the far side of the glen to a sheep-path leading up +the gorge. And in summer, except when the fisherman wanders by the +brook, and the haymakers are busy in the grass, the glen is an +undisturbed sanctuary, given over to Nature's wildlings, where, in +safety, as far as man is concerned, they tend their hidden young. + +In this quiet, windless place, on the day when first the haymakers came +to the meadows, five little hedgehogs were born in a nest among the +roots of a tree, deep in the undergrowth of a tangled hedgerow. The +nest was made of dry grass and leaves, and with an entrance so arranged +amid the "trash," that, when the parent hedgehogs went to or from their +home, they pushed their way through a heap of dead herbage, which, +falling behind them, hid the passage from inquisitive eyes. + +It may be asked why such a warm retreat was necessary, inasmuch as the +hedgehog sucklings came into the world in the hottest time of the year. +Nature's reasons were, however, all-sufficient; the little creatures, +feeble and blind, needed a secure hiding place, screened from the +changeful wind of night and from every roving enemy. The haymakers, +moving to and fro amid the swathes, knew nothing of the hedgehogs' +whereabouts; but when the dews of night lay thick on the strewn wild +flowers, the parent "urchins," leaving their helpless charges asleep +within their nest, wondered greatly, while they hunted for snails and +slugs in the ditch, at the quick change that had passed over the silent +field. + +For a week or more, the spines sprouting from round projections on the +bodies of the young hedgehogs were colourless and blunt, and so +flexible that they could have offered no defence against the teeth or +the claws of an enemy; while every muscle was so soft and feeble that +not one of the little animals was as yet able to roll itself into the +shape of a ball. The spines, however, served a useful purpose: they kept +the tender skin beneath from being irritated by the chance touch of the +mother hedgehog's obtrusive quills. + +Soon the baby hedgehogs' eyes opened wide to the pale light filtering +between the leaves at the entrance to the chamber, and their spines, +gradually stiffening, assumed a dull grey colour. Then, one still, dark +night, the little creatures, with great misgiving, followed their +parents from the nest, and wandered for a short distance beside the +tangled hedge. Presently, made tired and sleepy and hungry by exercise +and fresh air, they were led back to their secret retreat, where, after +being tended for a few moments by their careful mother, they fell +asleep, while their parents searched diligently for food in the dense +grass-clumps left by the harvesters amid the briars and the furze. + +Henceforth, every night, they ventured, under their mother's care, to +roam afield, their journeys becoming longer and still longer as their +strength increased, till, familiar with the hedgerow paths, they were +ready and eager to learn the rudiments of such field-craft as concerned +their unpretending lives. + +A glorious summer, far brighter than is usual among the rainy hills of +the west, brooded over the countryside. The days were calm and sunny, +but with the coming of evening occasional mists drifted along the +dingles and scattered pearl-drops on the after-math; and the nights were +warm and starlit, filled with the silence of the wilderness, which only +Nature's children break. The "calling season" for the hare had long +since passed, and for the fox it had not yet arrived; so the voices of +the two greatest wanderers on the countryside were not at this time +heard. + +A doe hare had made her "form" hardly twenty yards from the hedgehogs' +nest, and night after night, just when the "urchins" moved down the +hedge from the old tree-root, she ambled by on her way to the +clover-field above the heath. + +Once, a little before dawn, a fox, coming to drink at the brook, +detected the scent of the hedgehogs near a molehill, followed it to the +litter of leaves by the tree, and caused considerable alarm by making a +vigorous attempt to dig out the nest; but, probably because of the +dampness of the loamy soil, he failed to determine the exact whereabouts +of the hedgehog family; and, after breaking a tooth in his vain efforts +to cut through a tough, close-fibred root, he made his way along the +hedge, and soon disappeared over the crest of the moonlit hill. But the +next night, when the wind blew strong, and the rain pattered loudly on +the leafy trees, he came again to the "urchins'" haunt. The doe hare had +long since rustled by, and the hedgehogs were busy munching a cluster of +earthworms discovered in a heap of refuse not far from the gate, when +Reynard stole over the fence-bank, and sniffed at the nest. Not finding +the family at home, he followed their scent through the ditch, and soon +surprised them. To kill one of the tiny "urchins" was the work of a +moment; then, made eager by the taste of blood, the fox turned on the +mother hedgehog and tried to fix his fangs in the soft flesh beneath the +armour of her spines. But, feeling at once his warm breath, she, with a +quick contraction of the muscles, rolled herself into a prickly ball, +and remained proof against his every artifice. He was a young fox, not +yet learned in the wiles of Nature's feebler folk, and so, when he had +recovered from his astonishment, he pounced on the rigid creature, and, +thoughtlessly exerting all his strength, endeavoured to rend her in +pieces with his powerful jaws. He paid dearly for his temerity. The +prickly ball rolled over, under the pressure of his fore-paws, the sharp +points of the spines entered the bare flesh behind his pads, and as, +almost falling to the ground, he bit savagely to right and left in the +fit of anger which now possessed him, his mouth and nostrils dripped +blood from a dozen irritating wounds. Thoroughly discomfited, he leaped +back into the field, where, sick with pain, he endeavoured to gain +relief by rubbing his muzzle vigorously in the grass and against his +aching limbs. Then, sneezing violently, and with his mouth encrusted +with froth and loam, he bolted from the scene of his unpleasant +adventure, never pausing till he reached his "earth" on the hillside, in +which, hidden from the mocking gaze of other prowlers of the night, he +could leisurely salve his wounds with the moisture of his soft, warm +tongue, and ponder over the lessons of his recent experience. + +By far the most intelligent and powerful enemy of the young hedgehogs +was the farmer's dog; but, as he slept in the barn at night, and +generally accompanied the labourers to the upland fields by day, they +escaped, for a while, his unwelcome attentions. Foes hardly less +dreaded, because of their insatiable thirst for blood, were two polecats +living in a hole half-way up the wall of a ruined cottage not far from +the hillside farm-house. The polecats, however, were so occupied with +the care of a family, that, finding young rabbits plentiful in the +burrows on the heath, they seldom wandered into the open fields, till +the little "urchins," ready, at the first sign of danger, to curl +themselves within the proof-armour of their growing spines, were well +able to resist attack. + +The hedgehogs were about three months old, and summer, brief and +beautiful, was passing away, when an incident occurred that might have +proved disastrous, though, fortunately, it resulted only in a practical +joke, such as Nature often plays on the children of the wilds. One calm, +dark night, while they were busy in the grass, a brown owl, hunting for +mice, sailed slowly by. Now, the brown owl, in spite of proverbial +wisdom gained during a long life in the dim seclusion of the woods, is +occasionally apt to blunder. Her character, indeed, seems full of quaint +contradictions. As she floats through the moonlight and the shadows of +the beech-aisles of Dollan, she appears to be a large bird, with a +philosophic contentment of mind--an ancient creature that, shunning the +fellow-ships of the garish modern day and loving the leisure and the +solitude of night, dreams of the past. But, beneath its loose feathery +garments, her body, hardly larger than that of a ringdove, is altogether +out of proportion to her long, narrow head and wide-spreading talons. +Visions of the past may come to her, as, blinking at the light of day, +she sits in the hollow of the tree, but at night she is far too +wide-awake to dream. And so great are the owl's powers of sight and +hearing, and so swift is her "stoop" from the sky to the ground, that +the bank-vole has little chance of escape should a single grass-stalk +rustle underfoot when she is hovering near his haunt. Far from being shy +and retiring in her disposition, the brown owl, directly night steals +over the woodlands, is so fearless that probably no animal smaller than +the hare can in safety roam abroad. + +As the owl flew slowly past the fence, she heard the faint sound of a +crackling shell--the hedgehogs were feeding on snails. She could barely +distinguish a moving form in a tangle of briars, but its position +discouraged attack; so she flew away and continued to hunt for mice. +Presently, returning to the spot, the owl was once more attracted by the +sound of some creature feeding in the grass; and, detecting a slight +movement beside the briars, she swooped towards the ditch, grasped one +of the "urchins" in her claws, and rose into the air. Her quarry, +feeling the sudden grip of the sharp talons, made a desperate, +convulsive movement, and the owl found, to her astonishment, that her +grasp had shifted, and that she was holding, apparently, a hard bunch of +thorns. Nevertheless, she tightened her grasp; but an unendurable twitch +of pain, as the spines entered her flesh immediately above the scales of +her talons, caused her to drop the hedgehog into the leaf-mould of the +ditch. Immediately afterwards, she herself, eager to find out the cause +of her discomfiture, dropped also to the earth, and, standing beside the +hedgehog, clawed savagely at the motionless creature, seeking some +defenceless point among the bristling spines. At last, her patience +exhausted, the owl gave up the ineffectual assault, and glided away into +the gloomy night. Unhurt, but for a slight wound inflicted when first +the bird descended, the hedgehog crawled back to the brambles, where the +rest of her family were still busy with the snails, and joined them in +their feast. + +Autumn's sere leaves had fallen from the trees, and the hedgehogs had +found such a plentiful supply of all kinds of food that they were ready +for their winter sleep, when a gipsy boy, the proud possessor of a +terrier trained for hunting hedgehogs, set forth in haste one evening +from his tent by the wayside above the farm. The boy was smarting from +cruel blows inflicted by his drunken parents, who, after unusual success +in disposing of baskets and clothes-pegs, had spent much of the day's +profit in a carouse at the village inn. Having escaped a continuance of +his parents' brutalities, and eluded their ill-conducted pursuit, the +young gipsy, in the company of his only friend, soon forgot his miseries +as his thoughts turned to a vagabond's rough sport in the stillness of +the harvest night. Thrusting a long stick here and there into the +briars, he strolled along by the fence, till his dog, diligently beating +in line amid the undergrowth, gave a quick yelp of delight, and, an +instant later, a curled-up hedgehog rolled down into the ditch. The boy +placed the animal in his ragged handkerchief, the corners of which he +was proceeding to tie together when the terrier again attracted +attention with unmistakable signs of a "find." For a few brief minutes +sport was keenly exciting, but at last all the "urchin" family, with the +exception of one member, were captured, and the boy, now thoroughly +happy, his pockets and handkerchief heavy with spoil, turned homewards +through the darkness. Next morning, the slain hedgehogs, baked in clay +among the hot ashes of a fire of rotten twigs, formed the principal item +in the gipsies' bill of fare, and the terrier enjoyed the remnants of +the meal. + +The hedgehog surviving the gipsy's raid was a young female, that, while +the terrier beat the fence, remained quietly munching a large lob-worm +at the foot of a mound a dozen yards away, and so knew nothing of the +fate of her kindred. + +The last weeks of the year passed uneventfully, as far as her little +life was concerned; then, as the nights grew longer and the cold +increased, she set about preparing in earnest for her long, deep sleep. + +In a sheltered spot close to the woodlands, where, a month before, a +badger had unearthed a wild bee's nest, she collected a heap of withered +oak-leaves, hay, and moss, and with these simple materials made a large, +snug nest, a winter house so constructed that the rain might trickle +down to the absorbent soil beneath. For a little while, however, she +did not enter into her unbroken rest. Still, nightly, she roamed abroad, +moving in and out of the dried herbage everywhere strewn in her paths +among the tree-roots, till the sapless leaves impaled on the sharp +points of her spines formed such a cluster that she lost all semblance +of a living creature. Insects were becoming rarer and still rarer as the +year drew to its close, and those surviving the frosts retired to +countless secret chambers at the roots of the moss and under the tough +bark of the trees. The lizards sought shelter in warm hollows deep below +the piles of stones left here and there by the labourers, when, every +spring, they cleared the freshening fields. And the big round snails, +the luscious tit-bits of the hedgehog's provender, crept into the holes +of the red mice and into the chinks of walls and banks, where, protected +by their shells, each being fastened to its resting place by a neat rim +of hardened glue, they lived unconscious of decay and gloom. Then the +hedgehog, having become drowsier and still drowsier with privation and +cold, ceased to wander from her nest at dark, and began that slumber +which was to last till the sweet, warm breath of spring awoke her, and +other wildlings of the night, to a life among the early primroses and +violets. + + + + +II. + +AN EXPERIENCE IN SNAKE-KILLING. + + +The many changes of winter passed over the countryside; tempests raged, +rain beat down in slanting sheets or enveloped the fields in mist, snow +fell heavily and then vanished before the breath of a westerly breeze, +black frost held the fields for days in an iron clutch, and sometimes, +from late dawn to early dusk, the sun shone clearly in the southern sky. +The sportsman with his spaniels wandered by the hedge, the huntsman with +his beagles chased the hare across the sodden meadows, and the report of +a gun or the note of a horn echoed among the surrounding hills. But in +spite of changing weather and dangers from unresting foes, the hedgehog +slept peacefully within her nest of withered leaves till awakened by +the whisper of the warm south-western wind. + +It was a calm day towards the end of March when the hedgehog awoke. +Gradually, since the winter solstice, the shadows of noon, cast from the +wooded slope across the meadows in the glen, had become shorter; and +now, when the sun reached its meridian, its beams fell directly on the +spot where the hedgehog rested among the littered leaves. She felt the +strange and subtle influence of spring, and crawled feebly from her +retreat. The light above her nest was far too brilliant for her eyes, +which had been closed for three long months, and were at best only +accustomed to the gloom of night, so she sought the shadow of a +tree-trunk near, and there, for a while, remained quite motionless. With +the leaves of last autumn still clinging thickly to her spines, she +seemed an oddly fashioned creature belonging to a distant age, a little +Rip Van Winkle of the woods, with a new, quick world of unfamiliar joys +and sorrows claiming her half-conscious life. Extremely feeble from cold +and privation, and knowing, as all Nature's wildlings seem to know, +that sunlight brings with it health and strength, she presently left the +shadow of the tree-trunk, and, closing her eyes, basked in complete +enjoyment of the balmy day. The heat and the gentle wind soon dried her +armour of spines and surcoat of leaves. Stealing in through the tunnel +left open when the hedgehog came forth from her sleep, the wind cleansed +and ventilated the nest, and soon all traces of winter's mustiness had +vanished from both herself and her home. By sundown, the "urchin" had +gained strength that enabled her to wander slowly into the meadow, where +she found sufficient food to stay her growing hunger. + +During the first few nights, her appetite, though keen, was easily +satisfied, for the digestive organs, unaccustomed to their work, could +not retain much nutriment, and hours of slumber seemed necessary after +every trifling meal. But gradually her powers were restored, till almost +any kind of fresh animal matter that came in her way was greedily +devoured. A spider sleeping in a folded leaf, a fly hiding beneath a +stone, a snail, a slug, a worm, a frog, a weakling bird fallen from an +early nest, a lizard, or a snake--all alike were welcome as she thrust +her damp, blunt snout, that looked like a little fold of black rubber, +here and there amid the herbage. + +Her eyesight was faulty--she had no great need of it; her enemies were +few, and she did not live the life of the hunted that fear each footfall +on the grass; but, as if to balance all deficiencies, her sense of smell +was singularly acute, so that she could follow with ease the trail of a +beetle or of an earthworm in its windings over the soil. The eggs and +young of the lark, the corncrake, the partridge, or of any other bird +that built on the ground, were never safe once the hedgehog had crossed +the lines of scent left by the parents around their nest. Even the robin +and the wren, nesting in holes along the hedge, and the field-mouse in +its chamber sheltered by the moss, were at any time likely to have their +family affairs most cruelly upset. The wild-bee's sting could not save +her honeyed cells and helpless grubs, and the sharp-fanged adder, +writhing from the hedgehog's sudden bite, would hurl itself in vain +against the prickly ball that instantly confronted each counter attack. + +The hedgehog's first experience of snake-killing occurred late one +evening, when she discovered a viper, some distance from its hole, +coiled asleep on a bare patch of soil where the sunlight had lingered at +the close of day. Her manner instantly changed; she became eager and +alert. Pausing only a second to make sure of her attack, she bit the +snake sharply near the neck, then, withdrawing her head and limbs into +the shelter of her spines, rolled over, an inanimate ball. The viper, +mad with pain, thrust back its head from its sinuous coils, rose, and +struck with open jaws at its assailant. Its fangs closed strongly, but +failed to get a grip, and the smooth underside of its throat glanced +past the hedgehog's slanting prickles with such force that the whole +body of the snake was lifted from the ground, and fell, like a bent +arrow, about a yard behind its foe. Again the snake rose, and struck +with no effect; but this time the stroke, coming from the rear, was met +by the sharp points of the spines, and the adder's mouth dropped blood +from a clean-cut wound on the upper edge of the palate. Repeatedly, the +snake, hissing loudly and fighting for its life, attacked its armoured +enemy--at first dashing itself senselessly against the sharp points of +the hedgehog's spines, then, with caution, swaying to and fro its +bleeding head and snapping harmlessly at an apparently unguarded spot, +till, from sheer exhaustion and pain, and with its store of poison +almost exhausted, it retired from the unequal combat and slowly wriggled +into the grass. Presently, the "urchin" uncoiled, and, as soon as the +inquisitive little snout discovered the whereabouts of the snake, +started in pursuit. With a hard, firm bite, she luckily managed to break +the backbone of the viper; then, at once, she again assumed the shape of +a ball. Desperate now, the snake expended all its remaining strength in +wild attacks, till, limp and helpless, and utterly at the mercy of the +hedgehog, it lay outstretched. Then the relentless hedgehog, assured +that her prey was quite defenceless, severed almost every bone in its +body, tore the scales from the flesh, and fed to repletion. + +Such a struggle often happens in the fields and the woodlands. During +the first few weeks of life, the hedgehog, if its parents are absent, +may be at the adder's mercy; but, later, the tables are completely +turned, the once helpless creature becomes the strong aggressor, and is +revenged by removing, not only an enemy, but a rival subsisting on food +often similar to that which is its own. + +For a while after her awakening, the hedgehog fed chiefly on the big +earthworms which, induced by the increasing warmth, forsook the deep +recesses of their burrows, and tunnelled immediately beneath the +grass-roots, coming forth at night to lie outstretched amid the +undergrowth. She had, of necessity, to match their fear by her excessive +cunning. They frequently detected her presence by the slight vibrations +of the soil beneath her soft, slow-moving feet, and hurriedly withdrew +from her path, but more often she surprised and captured them by the +simple artifice of waiting and watching beside the burrows where scent +was fresh, and where, notwithstanding the noises reaching her from +above, she could readily distinguish the sounds of stretching, gliding +bodies moving to the surface through the tortuous passages below. + +She soon became a wanderer, deserting her winter nest, and roaming +nightly further and yet further from the valley meadows, till she +reached a rough pasture at the end of the glen. In a thick hedgerow +skirting a secluded pond among alders and willows, she found food +unexpectedly varied and plentiful. Luscious snails, with striped yellow +and brown shells, were so common in the ditch beyond a certain +cattle-path, that, even after a whole day's fast, her hunger was quickly +appeased. + +April drew near, the leaves of the trees expanded, and the voice of the +night wind in the branches changed from a moan to a whisper. At noon, +flies came forth to bask on the stones; the furze, decked with yellow +flowers, was visited by countless bees; and bronze-winged beetles crept +among the thorny branches of the hawthorn and the sloe. The hedgehog +knew little of the pulsing life of mid-day, but at dusk she sometimes +found a tired fly, or bee, or beetle, hiding in the matted grass +beneath the gorse, and so was made aware of summer's near approach. + +Among the flags and the rushes of the pond, a pair of fussy moorhens +built their nest on an islet of decayed vegetation clustered round a +stone. At all hours of the day, the birds sailed gaily hither and +thither, or wandered, happy and impulsive, along the margin of the pool. +No care had they, and the solitude of their retreat seemed likely never +to be disturbed, till, one moonlit night, the fox, that last year had +killed the baby hedgehog in the glen, stole through the shadows of the +alders, caught the scent of the moorhens, and approached the nest where +the female was brooding over her eggs. The bird had watched the fox's +movements since first he appeared on the bank beyond the trees. Quietly +she dropped into the pond beside the nest, dived, came up on the far +side of the islet, and stayed there, with only her head above the +surface of the water. She saw, with fear, the fox approach her nest, and +recognised that it was hardly possible for her treasures to be saved, +when, suddenly, her mate, having doubtless watched the marauder as +closely as she herself had done, walked out of a reed-clump two or three +yards from her hiding place, and, in full view of the fox, swam slowly +to and fro, beating his wings as if in mortal pain. Without the +slightest hesitation, Reynard, thinking to obtain an easy prize, plunged +into the pond, but the bird just managed to elude him, and to flutter +into another reed-clump a short distance away. Completely deceived by +the ruse, the fox was drawn further and further from the nest, till he +reached a distant corner of the pond, when, to his astonishment, the +moorhen vanished, leaving him to a vain search which at last so much +annoyed him that, instead of returning along the bank towards the nest, +he crossed the glen, trotted up the cattle-path, and entered the dense +thicket on the slope. + +With most wild creatures, fear seems to be a feeling that quickly comes +and quickly goes. But over some of Nature's weaklings, fear seems to +throw a spell that remains long after the danger has passed; as, for +instance, in the case of a rabbit hunted by a stoat, or of a vole +pursued by a weasel. The animal trembles with fright, cries as if in +pain, and limps, half-paralysed, towards its home, some time after its +pursuer may have turned aside to follow a line of scent leading in a +quite opposite direction. Now and then, a young rabbit is so overcome by +fright, that the sly, watchful carrion crow obtains, with little +trouble, an unexpected meal. The birds of the hedgerow--finches, robins, +and the like--are also subject to the distressing influence of fear, +directly they catch sight of a hungry weasel "performing" in the ditch. +When the weasel sets itself to lure any such creatures, its movements +are remarkably similar to the contortions of a snake; and the birds, +fascinated as their enemy's strange actions are rapidly repeated, +flutter helplessly from spray to spray, till one or other becomes a +victim and the weasel ambles off with its prey. Then, released from the +spell, the birds proceed to mob the bloodthirsty tyrant, and, at times, +with such effect that he is compelled, before making good his escape, to +resort to stratagems similar to those that previously held the birds +enthralled. Reynard seems to have learned from the weasel's manoeuvres, +for he, too, is wont to entice the rabbits towards him by extraordinary +methods, twirling round, like a cat, in pursuit of his tail, and +affording such a spectacle to any onlookers that they must needs, from +sheer curiosity, find out the meaning of a woodland farce, which, alas! +is often followed by a tragedy. It is not known that the fox ever +succeeds in fascinating the moorhen; the bird, directly she caught sight +of his circling form, would probably dive, and in the cool refuge of the +water, her sharp eyes peeping from between the flags, would wisely +conclude that such an unaccountable display meant danger. It is, +however, tolerably certain that the influence of fear seldom causes a +nesting bird, or a breeding mammal, to become helpless in the presence +of an enemy, though when family cares are over the conditions might be +entirely reversed. Even such timid creatures as rabbits and hares +sometimes strenuously defend their young from the attacks of weasels and +stoats. + +As the fox trotted up the hillside path, the moorhen joined her mate in +the tangle of the reeds, and, without fear, wandered over the marshy +ground in the neighbourhood of her nest. Then she swam out across the +narrow channel, and settled down, in fancied security, to brood once +more over her speckled eggs. She had just taken her accustomed position, +when the hedgehog, pushing the reeds aside, became aware of the strong +scent on the margin of the pond. The hungry "urchin's" intelligence, +though limited, at once suggested that the scent of a mothering bird +might lead to a clutch of delicious eggs, or to a brood of plump and +juicy nestlings. Following the trail, the hedgehog came to the marshy +ground at the margin of the narrow passage where the bird had crossed, +and, with head erect, sniffed the tainted wind blowing gently shorewards +from the brooding moorhen. In her eagerness, she lifted herself slightly +at the edge of the bank, missed her footing, and fell into the pond, not +more than two or three feet from the moorhen. The bird, hearing the +splash, dived instantly; her mate again came quickly to the scene and +tried to lead the enemy away, but the hedgehog, heedless of every +artifice, paddled slowly to the platform of dry flags, and helped +herself to a repast more appetising than any she had recently enjoyed, +while the birds, flapping their wings, circled angrily about the pond, +and pecked vigorously, but vainly, at the marauder's prickly coat. + +Late the next evening, the hedgehog discovered a fledgling thrush hidden +in the grass beyond the alders. In response to the cry of the young +bird, the mother thrush flew straight to the spot, and, with a lucky +blow struck full at the hedgehog's snout, so intimidated her enemy that +she curled up immediately and allowed the fledgling to escape unharmed. + +The tender grass was reaching up to seed, the may blossom was burdening +the air with rich perfume, and summer had almost come, when, late one +night, the hedgehog, hunting among the shadows of the trees, chanced to +hear a low, bleating sound, like the voice of a leveret calling to the +mother hare out feeding in the clover. She had never heard that sound +before, but its meaning, nevertheless, was plain, and without hesitation +she replied. Again the sound broke the stillness, as a dim form lifted +itself clumsily from the ditch and came towards her. Presently she felt +an inquiring touch, and, turning, found herself face to face with a male +hedgehog that had followed her path through the undergrowth. Nature had +not been lavish in his adornment; like the female, he was a plain little +creature, brown and grey, fitted to sleep unnoticed among the wind-blown +leaves and twigs beside a sheltering mound. + +Theirs was an odd and awkward courtship--its language a medley of +unmusical squeals and grunts; and if a difference arose it was settled +by one curling up into a ball till the other had forgotten the quarrel. +But soon they became good friends, hunted together all night and slept +together all day, while the year drew on to summer and then, almost +imperceptibly, declined. Devoting much of their attention to domestic +affairs, they built a large, dry nest among the foxgloves near the +stream; where, towards the end of hay harvest, three naked little +"urchins" came into the world, to be reared, just as the mother hedgehog +herself had been reared, till autumn merged into winter, and winter's +cold induced each to go in loneliness and build a snuggery for sleep. + + + + +NIGHT IN THE WOODS. + +I. + +HAUNTS OF THE BADGER AND THE FOX. + + +Comparatively little seems to be known of the night side of wild life in +this country. Night watching involves prolonged exposure, unremitting +vigilance, absolute quietness; and yet, to the most alert observer, it +often results in nothing but disappointment and vexation. + +Some time ago, during the moonlit nights of several months, I kept +watch, near a "set" inhabited by half-a-dozen badgers, a vixen and her +cubs, a rabbit and her numerous progeny, and a solitary little buck +wood-mouse, whose close acquaintanceship I made after I had captured him +in a butterfly-net placed as a spring-trap above his narrow run-way in +the grass. This "set"--which I have already partly described, in writing +of Brock, the badger--seemed to be the common lodging house of the +wood. Its numerous inhabitants, though not on terms of friendship, were, +apparently, not at enmity. The wood-mouse and the rabbits, while +entering or leaving the underground passages, and wandering through the +paths in the wood, took care to avoid their powerful neighbours; the +foxes, believing that out of sight is out of mind, avoided with equal +care all chances of encountering the badgers; and the badgers, sluggish +in movement and tolerant in disposition, refrained from evicting the +foxes or digging out the rabbits. + +In the undergrowth, but away from the well worn tracks used by the +creatures as they stole out to feed, I had chosen three hiding places, +representing in their relative positions the corners of a triangle the +centre of which was the main entrance to the "set." I was thus able, +whatever might be the direction of the wind, to lie to leeward and +obtain a clear view of the principal opening, while I incurred but +slight risk of detection, unless the rabbits or the wood-mouse crept +into the brambles. + +It was during the last week of watching that my patience received its +best rewards. Almost regularly then, as the shadows deepened before +moonrise, the rabbits stole out, and, sometimes with no hesitation, +sometimes after much cautious reconnoitring and sniffing the air and +"drumming" alarm signals on the mound before their door, hopped along +the paths towards the clover-fields outside the wood. Soon after the +rabbits appeared, the wood-mouse timidly peeped around the corner of the +entrance, and, seeing nothing of his enemy, the brown owl, disappeared, +with a rustle, among the dead leaves that filled a hollow where the old, +disused workings of the "set" had "shrunk." + +On several occasions, the vixen led forth her cubs long before the +badgers came in view, and while the light yet lingered on the crests of +the neighbouring hills. The little family went away silently to a dense +furze-brake about a hundred yards distant on the lower edge of the wood, +and, till the sun had gone down, remained close-hidden in a lair that I +afterwards discovered amid the long grass in the heart of the thicket. + +More frequently, however, I saw nothing of the vixen till nightfall, +though the cubs, impatient of confinement, now and again visited the +mound outside the "set," and for a few moments played together on the +bare soil thrown up by the hard-working badgers, as, in spring, they +enlarged their breeding chamber. But, in the first calm hour of night, +when the red afterglow had faded from the hills, and the moon, ascending +cloudless in the southern sky, cast long, mysterious shadows down the +aisles of the wood, the fox-cubs and their dam came boldly out, and, +instead of moving off towards the furze, adjourned to a rill close by, +whence, after quenching their thirst, they repaired to a glade above the +"set," and in this favourite playground frisked and romped, +unremittingly guarded from danger by their devoted mother. My presence +unsuspected, I watched them, little dim figures, flitting to and fro. + +When they had gone far up the winding pathway to the cornfields, and the +silence was no longer broken by their low cries of dissembled rage and +fear, I sometimes lingered in my hiding place; and as on the grass I +lay, looking towards the stars that twinkled between the motionless +leaves of the trees above me, my thoughts went back to a time long +before our village had been built beside the river; before Giraldus +Cambrensis had journeyed hence with the pilgrim band towards Sant Dewi's +shrine; before the great Crag of Vortigern, across the near dingle, had +resounded with the blare of the trumpets of war; before even, in the +primitive hut-circle on the opposite hill, wild little children had +played about the twilight fires kindled in readiness for the home-coming +of the weary hunters--a time when the fox, the badger, and the tiny +mouse had nightly journeyed through the woods, and the call of the gaunt +wolf to his mate had weirdly echoed and re-echoed in the valley, +startling the innocent hare in the open waste above the slope, and the +busy beaver on the dam below in the pool at the bend of the river. + +The badgers--or "earth-pigs" as the country folk have named them--were +the original occupants of the "set," unless, however, the earliest +excavations had been made by the ancestors of the old doe-rabbit now +inhabiting a side apartment. The foxes and the wood-mouse might have +been looked upon as interlopers, but they often played the part of +scouts and sentinels, quick to give alarm to the tolerant, easy-going +badgers, in case of imminent danger from the visit of a dog or a man to +the neighbourhood of their retreat. + +The badgers were more irregular as to the time when they left the "set" +than were any of the other inhabitants. Perhaps they suspected a human +presence, because of some peculiar vibration in the earth through a +false step of mine. Perhaps, during certain conditions of the +atmosphere, a taint--borne from me, on a wave rather than a current of +air, to the wide archway beneath the tree-roots in front of the main +entrance, and then drawn down into the draughty passages--was detected +by them immediately they passed beyond the stagnant atmosphere of the +blind-alley where they slept. Evening after evening, one of the old +badgers would appear at the mouth of the "set," and, with snout uplifted +in the archway of the tree-roots, would stay as motionless, but for the +restless twitching of the alert nostrils, as were the trees and the +stones around his home, while I, not even daring to flick an irritating +gnat from my forehead or neck, would wait and long for the philosopher +in grey to make up his slow-moving mind. + +With regard to the badger's habit of staying for some time in the +doorway of his home, it may be mentioned that years afterwards, when one +night I compared my notes with those of a companion who had hidden near +the main opening of the "set" while I had watched by a hole higher in +the wood, I found that each entrance had, simultaneously and for long, +been occupied by a vigilant badger; and, as both animals were full-grown +"greys," I concluded that parent badgers not unusually took ample +precautions against surprise before allowing their cubs to venture out +into the night. + +Once away from the "set," the old male badger seemed to lose suspicion +of any obnoxious presence. Then, lumbering after him, every member of +his family would appear in full view on the mound, and, with little fits +and starts of pretended rage and fright, would roll over and over each +other, rush helter-skelter back to the underground dwelling and out +again, and round and round the tree-trunks. A favourite trick, indulged +in by young and old alike, was that of raising themselves on their +hind-legs close beside a broad beech-trunk near the "set," and then, on +tiptoe, stretching out their fore-claws to the fullest extent and +scratching vigorously at the bark. + +This trick irresistibly reminded me of an incident connected with a +shooting expedition to the moors, when, one evening, after much gossip +in the ingle-nook, I accompanied my jolly host to the barn, and there, +much to the merriment of all concerned, acted as judge, while, by the +light of a lantern, the farmer measured and recorded the height of his +wife, as well as of each of his six children and his servants, against +the oaken door-post, and finally insisted that he himself, a veritable +giant, should submit to the test, and gave orders for a chair to be +fetched that "mother," a stout little woman of some sixty inches in +height and, also, in circumference, might mount to the level necessary +for "chalking his mark." + +One day a keen naturalist and sportsman, whose acquaintance I had +recently formed, proposed to join me in my vigil near the badger's home. +In the declining afternoon, we left the village, crossed the bridge, and +made a detour of the river path. As we passed along, I showed him an +otter's "holt" under a shelving bank, where, on the fine, wet sand, the +prints of the creature's pads were fresh and clearly outlined. We then +visited an "earth" within the wood, in which dwelt a lonely old fox I +had often watched as he stole along the rabbit-tracks towards the Crag +of Vortigern; and there I pointed out how crafty Reynard, having +selected a convenient rabbit burrow, had blocked up every hole--but one, +in a thick clump of brambles--with soil thrown out in digging, and how +the grass and the ground-ivy had luxuriantly covered the bare mounds, +and so encroached on the fox's winding track through the wood and about +the bramble clump, that even to an experienced visitor the only fox-sign +likely to be detected was in the loose arrangement of the bents and the +twigs by the arch of the run-way as it entered the thicket. + +Rabbits, as well as water-voles and field-voles, are particularly +careful to nibble off wind-blown or sprouting twigs that encroach on +their tracks through the undergrowth; but foxes, otters, and badgers +simply brush them aside as they pass. + +The sun had not yet gone down when we arrived at the "set." I had +planned an early visit, so that my friend might have an opportunity of +examining the much frequented track-ways, the footprints of the badgers +on the soft earth of the mound, and the scratches on the tree-trunk +where the badgers had sharpened their claws and incidentally measured +themselves. These numerous claw-marks were especially interesting, and, +on a certain tree by the "set," they formed irregular lines extending +from a foot above the ground to a height of three feet or rather more. +The lowest scratches had been made by the cubs seated on their haunches +and facing the tree; a little higher, the marks were those of the parent +animals while in a similar position; after a space in which a few +abrasions occurred, the marks showed how the cubs had gradually grown +till they could reach within a few inches of the clear, deep furrows +scratched by the old male badger as he measured his full length against +the tree. + +[Illustration: "AS HE MEASURED HIS FULL LENGTH AGAINST THE TREE." (_See_ +p. 419).] + +After making observations with the utmost wariness, we hurried away, so +that, before dusk, our scent might evaporate, and become almost +imperceptible in the vicinity of the principal entrance to the lonely +burrow. + +After a second ramble by the riverside, we returned in the face of the +wind, and at twilight began our silent watch. A robin sang plaintively +from the hawthorns on the outskirts of the wood; the rooks sailed slowly +above us, and then, gossiping loudly of the day's events, congregated +around their nests in the great elms dimly outlined against the pearly +southern sky; the wood-pigeons dropped one by one into the beech-trees +near us; and a jay, uttering his harsh alarm, hopped in and out of some +young hazels fringing the glade beyond the "set." Presently, a brown +owl, in a group of tall pines near the little rill that made faint music +in the woods, began to mutter and complain, in those low, peculiar notes +that are often heard before she leaves her daytime resting place. Then +no sound disturbed the stillness but the far-off cawing of the rooks, +and the only creatures visible were some rabbits playing in the moonlit +glade, and a glow-worm shining with her soft green light on a bramble +spray within my reach. + +Nearly half an hour passed by, and no sign of life came from the +badgers' home. Then the familiar white and black striped head, framed in +the darkness beneath the gnarled tree-root, suddenly appeared, and as +suddenly vanished. Another half-hour went by, and yet another, but no +further sign was given. My companion, unused to such a long vigil, +shifted uneasily, and protested that he was tingling with cramp and +longing for sleep; presently, unable to endure his discomfort, he arose, +and stretched his limbs before settling down again amid the briars. + +Our patience was in vain. Once more the badger came in sight, but my +companion did not see what I myself had noticed, for sleep had sealed +his tired eyes, and when I nudged him he awoke with such a start that +the badger instantly withdrew into the burrow. + +By the glow-worm's lamp, I found from my watch that midnight had long +passed; and so, since the hour was towards dawn and the moon was not +favourable for close observation of the "earth-pigs," even if they +crossed the open glade, I whispered to my friend that the proceedings, +in which his interest had manifestly waned, were over for the night. His +disappointment was keen, and though to me the night seemed warm, he, +accustomed to a tropical climate, chattered with the cold. He had not +even noticed the first appearance of the "earth-pig," and henceforth +night watching held no charm for him. + +My own disappointment, if only for my friend's sake, was also keen; but, +on the evening following those hours of fruitless watching, I discovered +the vixen's lair in the furze-brake, and learned why she resorted +thither with her cubs, before the badger family had awakened from their +day-dreams, or the pale glow-worm's rays had lit up the dew-besprinkled +spider-webs. + +Knowing that badgers are, as the country folk say, _pwdu_ (pouty) +creatures, likely to sulk at home for several nights if they consider +it unsafe to roam abroad, I carefully examined the mound of earth and +the beech-trunk near the "set," that I might learn whether the animals +had been out of doors since my previous visit. On the soil, fresh +footprints could be seen, their outlines clearly lit and deeply shadowed +as the sun sank in the west, and, in some of the scratches on the beech, +the pith had barely changed its colour from creamy white to the faintest +tinge of brown. I concluded, therefore, that the badgers had been out, +as usual, some time before the dawn. My eyes, however, were not +sufficiently trained to detect any sure evidence of the recent movements +of the vixen and her cubs. + +Walking along the tracks, I chanced to notice that the path by which the +vixen sought the shelter of the furze-brake branched off at a sharp +angle, and led into the thicket at a bend that was hidden from my sight +while I watched near the "set." Picking my way in a line straight +through the tangle and parallel with this path, I came to an opening +where the grass was beaten down for about six square yards--more +particularly for two or three yards in the part nearest the spot at +which the tunnelled run-way entered it. Along the margin of this open +place, I could find no second entrance; everywhere at the foot of the +surrounding gorse-bushes the long grass grew in an unbroken line, except +close to the mouth of the run-way. There I found a shallow depression, +not unlike the "form" of a hare, but longer and broader, and I +determined to keep strict watch evening after evening, till I learned +the reason for the occasional visits of the vixen and her cubs to the +brake. But I little imagined that the secret would quickly be disclosed, +for it was my belief that, should the vixen venture to the mouth of the +"set" before the gloom was deepening into night, she would cross the +line of my scent, and either move away from the direction of the +furze-brake or return to her underground chamber. And yet previous +experiences led me to hope that, if certain atmospherical conditions +should prevail, the scent would probably become so weak that she would +recognise no cause for alarm. + +It was the work of a few minutes for me to make couch of grass and twigs +behind a screen of broken furze-branches well in from the grassy +opening. Then, by raising with a prong-shaped stake the grass I had +trodden down, and by thrusting back the bramble-trails and fern-fronds I +had brushed aside, I carefully removed as far as possible all traces of +my visit. + +I had scarcely settled down to watch and listen, when the faint snap of +a twig reached my ears, and I saw that the vixen with her cubs had +arrived on the scene. She walked around the enclosure, sniffing now and +again in the grass, while the young foxes frisked and gambolled with +each other, or trotted demurely by her side. She was at first +suspicious, but for some reason she soon gained confidence; then she +squatted in her lair, and surrendered herself, with patient motherhood, +to be the plaything of her healthy, headstrong youngsters. + +For more than a half hour I watched the happy family, the little ones +climbing over the mother's back, and licking or biting her ears, her +pads, her brush, or racing over the grassy plot, frolicking with each +other till some little temper was aroused and play degenerated into a +fight. In general, they behaved like wild children without a thought of +care, yet they never went beyond the grass-fringe into the thicket, and +to each low note of warning or encouragement from their dam they gave +immediate attention. Sometimes the vixen bounded gaily about the edge of +the gorse, stooping again and again to snap with pretended rage at one +or another of her offspring. But for most of the time she remained in +her lair, listening intently for the slightest sound of danger, and +guarding the only approach through the bushes. + +I longed to discover what she would have done had I suddenly come upon +her and cut off her retreat, but I dared not move for fear of raising +alarm. It is more than likely that, finding me in the path, she, +snarling and hissing, would have dashed without hesitation into any part +of the furze-brake, and her young would have followed with desperate +haste and vanished at her heels within the shadows. + +By-and-by she led her little ones back through the run-way, and when, a +few minutes afterwards, I stole to the outer edge of the thicket, I saw +the merry family stooping in a row beside the rill, and lapping the +cool, delicious water, which refreshed them after their rough-and-tumble +sport. From the rill they wandered off into the gloom beneath the +beech-trees, and I, satisfied with having added to my knowledge of the +life of the woods, returned homewards in the light of the rising moon. + + + + +II. + +THE CRAG OF VORTIGERN. + + +One of the chief difficulties with which the naturalist has to contend +while watching at night is the frequent invisibility of wild creatures +among the shadows, even when the full moon is high and unclouded. The +contrasts of light and shade are far more marked by night than by day; +by night everything seems severely white where the moonbeams glance +between the trees, or over the fields, or on the river, and the shadows +are colourless, mysterious, profound; whereas by day variety of tone and +colour may be observed in both light and shade, and every hour new and +unexpected charms are unfolded in bewildering succession. + +The wild creatures of the night often seem to be aware of their +invisibility in the gloom, and of the risk they run while crossing open +spaces towards trees and hedgerows where an enemy may lurk awaiting +their approach. A fox is so familiar with his immediate surroundings +that, till his keen senses detect signs of danger, he will roam +unconcernedly hither and thither in the dark woods near his "earth," +frolicking with his mate, or hunting the rabbits and the mice, or +sportively chasing the wind-blown leaves, as if a hound could never +disturb his peace. The fox knows the shape of each tree and bush, and of +each shadow thrown on the grass; he notes the havoc of the tempest and +the work of the forester. When the wind roars loudly in the branches +overhead, or the raindrops patter ceaselessly on the dead herbage +underfoot, or the mists blot out the vistas of the woods, he seldom +wanders far from home, for at such times Nature plays curious tricks +with sound and scent and sight, and danger steals upon him unawares. + +The hunted creatures of the night so dislike the rain, that during a +storm Reynard would have difficulty in obtaining sufficient food; but +down in the river-pools below the wood, fearless Lutra, unaffected by +the inclement weather, swims with her cubs from bank to bank, and learns +that frogs and fish are as numerous in the time of tempest as when the +moon is bright and the air is warm and still. + +Since my earliest years of friendship with Ianto the fisherman and +Philip the poacher, I have regarded night watching in the woods or by +the riverside as a fascinating sport, in which my knowledge of Nature is +put to its severest test. By close, patient observation alone, can the +naturalist learn the habits of the creatures of the night; and if it +should be his good fortune to become the friend of such men as I have +mentioned he would find their help of inestimable value. + +To Ianto and Philip I owe a debt of gratitude, of which I become +increasingly conscious with the passing of the years. I could never make +them an adequate return for their kindness; but I am solaced by my +recollection that I was able to comfort such staunch old friends when +they were passing into the darkness of death--haply to find, beyond, +some fair dawn brighter than any we had together seen from the hills +around my home. Often, as I write, I see them sitting in the evening +sunlight of my little room; often, in my garden, I see them walking up +the path attended by my dogs that now are dead; often, in the river +valley, whether I wander by night or by day, I see them at my side. + +Ianto and Philip were always eager to help me by every means in their +power, but Philip, because of the risk to my health, would never invite +me to accompany him when the night was cold and stormy. One afternoon, +as Ianto and I were returning home from the riverside, the old fisherman +remarked: "I met Philip last night, sir, and he wants you and me to come +along with him for a ramble to the woods above the Crag. He's got +something to show you; I think it's an old earth-pig that lives in the +rocks. What do you say to joining me by the church as soon as you've had +something to eat? Then we'll go together as far as the bridge, but I'll +leave you there, for I've got a little job on hand that'll keep me till +sundown, I think. You'll find Philip at the 'castell' (prehistoric +earth-work) above the Crag, and I'll wade the river and be with you +again sometime 'between the lights.' Keep to cover, or to the hedges and +the lanes, and look about you well, most of all afore you cross a gap, +and when you're going out of cover or into it. Nobody must have a chance +of following you to-night to the Crag; so, if you meet a farm labourer +sudden-like, make off to the furze by the river farm, and double back +through the woods. You'll get to Philip early enough. He's going to net +the river after we leave him. It's a game I don't care much for--maybe +because I've given it up myself--but I've promised to do something +aforehand, that, if Philip didn't want you particular, he'd be bound to +do hisself. That's why I'm to leave you at the bridge." + +I was tired after a day's hard fishing, but I readily fell in with the +arrangements my two old friends had made. On the way to the bridge, +Ianto gave me further instructions. "If, when you're nigh the Crag, sir, +you happen to come across a farm servant, or even if you think, from +seeing a _corgi_ (sheep-dog), that a farm servant is near, get right +away, and, as soon as you're sure nobody knows where you are, give that +signal I taught you--four quick barks of a terrier with a howl at the +end of 'em. Philip'll understand. But if everything goes well till you +get to the Crag, make that other signal--the noise of young wood-owls +waking up for the night--and Philip's sure to answer with a hoot. Then +let him come up to you; but, mind, don't you go to him." + +A little mystified by Ianto's last injunction, I crossed the bridge, +passed through a succession of grassy lanes that for years had fallen +into disuse, picked my footsteps cautiously through the woods, and +arrived without adventure at the top of the Crag. + +Getting down into the oak-scrub, I stood within the deep shadows at the +base of the great rock, and gave the signal--a harsh, unmusical cry, +such as a hungry young owl would utter at that time of the evening. + +The cry had scarcely gone forth, when I was startled by a voice from +some hollow quite close to my side: "I'm Philip. Don't move--don't +speak. A man's watching you from the blackthorns at the top of the wood. +He hasn't seen me. Don't look his way, but walk along the path below, +and when you reach the end of the wood turn up and hide in the +cross-hedges, so that you can watch him if he comes out anywhere in the +open. And, mind, don't let him see you then. If he goes back to the +farm, give the signal again; or, if I give two hoots, one about ten +seconds after the other, come to me, but don't pass this place. The +fellow isn't of much account, but we must get rid of him before I can +stir. He's kept me here for the last half-hour." + +Philip ceased speaking, and I walked carelessly down the wood, pausing +here and there to peep through a patch of undergrowth and to satisfy +myself that the man at the top of the wood had not moved. When outside +the wood, I turned rapidly up the hill and found an excellent hiding +place among some brambles on a thick hedge. From this spot I could +command a view of the meadows above the wood, and could easily retreat +unseen if the farm labourer happened to come towards me. + +I watched patiently for twenty minutes or so, then heard Philip's +welcome signal from a fir-spinney on the far side of the Crag, and +hastened to his side. In reply to my question as to what had become of +the man who had watched from the blackthorn thicket, he pointed to the +opposite hillside, where a dim figure could be seen ascending the +ploughland in the direction of a distant farmstead. "I expect to be able +to show you a badger to-night," he said, "but of course I'm not sure +about it. A badger's comings and goings are as uncertain as the weather. +But first we'll climb further up the hill. You were asking me about the +leaping places of the hares: I know of one of these leaping places, and +I think I know of two hares that use them and have lately 'kittled' in +snug little 'forms' not far away. We must hurry, else the does will have +left the leverets and gone to feed in the clover. You go first. Wait for +me in the furze by the pond on the very top of the hill." + +When Philip had rejoined me on the hill-top, he rapidly led the way to +the fringe of the covert, where he pointed to a low hedge-bank between +the gorse and a peat-field partly covered with water. "Hide in the hedge +about ten yards from this spot," he said, "so that you can see on +either side of the bank, then watch the path on this side." With a smile +he added: "This isn't a bad locality for a fern-owl. So, if you happen +to hear the rattle of that bird, you'll know the hare has started from +her 'form.'" Then, turning quickly into the furze and taking a bypath +through the thickest part of the tangle, Philip left me, and, soon +afterwards, I moved to my allotted hiding place. + +Before I had waited long, the cry of the fern-owl reached me with +astonishing clearness from an adjoining field. Presently, I saw a hare +emerge from the gorse and come along the path towards me. At the exact +spot indicated by the poacher, she paused, and then with a single bound +cleared the wide space between herself and the hedge. With another bound +she landed on the marsh beyond, where she splattered away through the +shallow water till a dry reed-bed was reached on a slight elevation in +the marsh. There she was lost to view; the rank herbage screened her +further line of flight. + +A minute afterwards, the fern owl's rattle once more broke on the quiet +evening, now from a few fields away to my right. For some time, I +closely watched the open space around the hedge-bank, but no animal +moved on the path. Suddenly, however, I thought I detected a slight +movement in a bracken frond beside the furze. It was not repeated, and I +had concluded that it signified nothing, when, to my amazement, I caught +sight of a second hare squatting in the middle of the path near the +bracken. How she came there I was unable to understand; for some time my +eyes had been directed towards the spot, and certainly I had not seen +her leave the ferns. She seemed to have risen from the earth--something +intangible that had instantly assumed the shape of a living creature. +She took a few strides towards my hiding place, but, exactly where the +first hare had leaped, she turned sharply at right angles to the path, +and with a long, easy bound sprang to the top of the hedge-bank; then +with another bound she flung herself into the marshy field. Making +straight for the reed-bed, she, too, was soon out of sight. + +All that thus happened appeared to be the outcome of long experience; +the adoption by the hares of a more perfect plan to mislead a single +enemy pursuing by scent could hardly be conceived. A pack of hounds, +"checking" on the path, would in all probability have "cast" around, +and, sooner or later, would have struck the line afresh in the marshy +field, but a fox or a polecat would surely have been baffled, either at +the leaping places or where the hares had crossed through the shallow +water. + +Man's intelligence, united with the intelligence, the eagerness, the +pace, the endurance, and the marvellous powers of scent possessed by a +score of hounds, and then pitted against a single creature fleeing for +its life, should well nigh inevitably attain its end. Nature has not yet +taught her weaklings how to match that powerful combination. And so a +naturalist, in studying the artifices adopted by hunted animals, should +be interested chiefly as to how such artifices would succeed against +pursuers unassisted by human intelligence. I am inclined to believe that +even a pack of well-trained harriers would have been unable to follow +the doe-hares I have referred to, unless the scent lay unusually well on +the surface of the marsh. + +I stayed in the covert awhile, but when the call came for me to rejoin +Philip I hastened to the field in which he was waiting. I told him what +I had seen, and, together, we paid a visit to the doe-hares' "forms." +One of the "forms" lay in a clump of fern and brambles near the corner +of a fallow, the other on a slight elevation where a hedger had thrown +some "trash" beside a ditch in a field of unripe wheat. + +While we stood in the wheat-field, Philip remarked: "We mustn't stay +long before going back to the Crag; but I'll call the doe I sent you +from this 'form,' and perhaps you'll see one of her tricks to mislead a +fox as she returns home. She's very careful of her young till they're +about a fortnight old, though soon afterwards she lets them 'fend' for +themselves. We'll hide in the ditch, and I'll imitate a leveret's cry. +But I mustn't imitate it so that she may think her little one is hurt, +else she's as likely as not to come with a rush, and you won't see how +she'd act under ordinary circumstances." + +When we were comfortably settled in the fern, the poacher twice uttered +a feeble, wailing cry, and, after being silent for some minutes, +repeated the quavering call. Then, after a long interval, he again, +though in a much lower tone, repeated the cry. No answering cry was +heard, but suddenly, as she had appeared on the path by the furze, the +doe-hare came in sight at the edge of the ditch a little distance away. +She approached for several yards, then disappeared, with two or three +long, graceful bounds, into the corn that waved about her as she leaped. +She appeared once more, and squatted in the ditch on the other side of +the field; hence she jumped high into the air, and alighted on the +hedge; then, by a longer bound than any I had previously seen, she +gained a spot well out into the field, and raced along, till, directly +opposite us, she yet again leaped into the hedge, and from the hedge +into the wheat-field, where she immediately lay down with her little +ones in the "form." + +Ianto, Philip, and I at last settled quietly to watch for the badger's +visit to the clearing. Philip told in a whisper of jokes he had played +on the keeper; Ianto capped these stories with reminiscences of younger +days and nights; and I, though hating bitterly the ruffian loiterers of +the village who subsisted on the spoils of the trap, the snare, and the +net, and were guilty of cowardly acts of revenge when checkmated in the +very game they chose to play, felt a certain sympathy with the two old +men by my side, who, as I was convinced, had fairly and squarely entered +into the game, and taken their few reverses without retaliation, only +becoming afterwards keener than ever to avoid all interference. + +In the height of my enjoyment of an unusually good story, Philip, with a +slight movement, drew my attention to a faint, crackling noise coming +from the margin of the glade, where moonlight and shadow lay in sharp +contrast at the foot of the trees; he then whispered that the old badger +was standing there. Ianto almost simultaneously drew my attention +thither, but all that I could see at the spot indicated were small, +flickering patches of light and shadow. + +I quietly drew close to Philip, and murmured in his ear: "Are you sure +it's the badger?" He nodded; and I continued, "I see a movement in the +leaves, but nothing else." The old man turned his head slightly, and +replied, "What you see is the badger scratching his neck against a tree; +the ticks are evidently tickling him." And he chuckled as he recognised +his unintentional pun. + +For some minutes I could hardly believe he was right; then, slowly, I +recognised the shape of the badger's head, and what I had taken to be +flickering lights and shadows on the leaves changed to the black and +white markings of the creature's face. I had never before seen a badger +under similar conditions; and I had often wondered what purpose those +boldly contrasted markings could serve. Now, as their purpose was +revealed, I was startled by the manifestation of Nature's protective +mimicry. Even when, a little later, the animal ventured out from the +oak, and stood alert for the least sight or sound or scent of danger, +the moonlight and the shadow blended so harmoniously with the white and +the black of his face markings, and with the soft blue-grey of his body, +that he seemed completely at one with his surroundings, and likely to +elude the most observant enemy. Fully a half hour went by before he +decided to cross the glade. Then, as if irritated by a sense of his own +timidity, he abandoned his excessive caution, and hastened along his +run-way through the clearing; and, as he passed, I noted his queer, +rolling gait, and heard his squeaks and grunts as if he were angrily +complaining to himself of some recent wrong, and vowing vengeance; I +heard, also, the snapping of leaves and twigs beneath his clumsy feet, +and I smelt the sure and certain smell of a badger. + +Soon, the fisherman and I turned homewards, and left the poacher to less +innocent sport. As we gained the crest of the hill, the melancholy cry +of the brown owl came to our ears; and Ianto said, "Philip is a big +vagabond--bigger than me, I think. No doubt he's fetched his nets from +the cave beneath the Crag, and is down at the river by now. Promise me, +sir, as you'll never go nigh that cave when he's alive. It's his secret +place, as only him and me knows anything about. He told me to ask you +that favour." + +Long after both Ianto and Philip were dead, I happened one day, while in +the woods, to remember the incidents I have just related, and I made my +way to the foot of the Crag. I found no opening in the face of the rock, +except one--apparently a rabbit hole--near a rent in the boulder. +Climbing around the rock, however, I noticed that a large, flat stone +lay in a rather unexpected position on a narrow cleft. I removed it, and +saw that it covered the entrance to a dark hollow. At the same moment I +heard a slight rustle behind me, as some animal darted from the hole I +had previously examined. I scrambled down into the chamber, and there, +when my eyes had become accustomed to the darkness, I saw three tiny +fox-cubs huddled on the damp, mossy ground. As I knelt to stroke them +gently, and my hand rested for a moment on the floor beside them, I +touched the remains of an old, rotting net. + +[Illustration: Decoration] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] In "Ianto the Fisherman, and Other Sketches of Country Life." + + + + +INDEX. + + + Animals, wild, awakening from hibernation, 146 + ----, ----, dislike rain, 428 + ----, ----, feet made tender by hibernation, 154 + ----, ----, habit of sociable, 160 + ----, ----, keeping to old haunts, 298 + ----, ----, selfishness of, 318 + + Ant, habits of queen, 156 + ----, habits of yellow, 65, 66 + + Autumn, bird-migration in, 12 + + + Badger, and fox-hounds, 349 + ----, and stoat, 323 + ----, attempt to unearth, 367-373 + ----, fondness of, for honey, 335, 336, 345 + ----, food of, 305, 310-313, 324, 335 + ----, mocked by birds when abroad in daylight, 309 + ----, persecuted for supposed sheep-killing, 353-355 + ----, regular habits in returning to "set" at dawn, 350 + ----, sociability of, 332, 333 + ----, winter habits of, 340, 341 + + Badger-cub, and wasps, 337 + ----, caught in trap, 326, 327 + + Badger-cubs, at play, 301, 302, 346 + ----, closely confined by parents, 303 + Badger-cubs, dying from distemper, 338 + ----, less nervous than fox-cubs, 321 + + Badgers, at play, 359 + ----, carrying bedding to "set," 361 + ----, reconnoitring before young leave "set," 415 + ----, sulking at home if suspicious of danger, 422 + ----, two families inhabiting same "set," 359 + + Bank-voles, and kestrel, 147 + ----, colony of, 147 + + Basset-hounds, described, 278 + ----, hunting with, 280-282 + + Bell, use of, hung round ram's neck, 18 + + Blood, significance of fresh-spilt, 75 + + Bob, the black-and-tan terrier, 55-62 + + + Character, differences of, in animals of one species, 64 + ----, human, developed by independence of action, 23 + + Collie, sheep-killing, 354-356 + + + Dabchick, oar-like wings of, 12 + + Ducks, wild, at play, 31 + ----, ----, wedge-shaped flight of, 32 + + + "Earth," fox's artificial, 194 + + + Fear, how it affects wild creatures, 401 + + Field-vole, and carrion crow, 165 + ----, and fox, 164 + ----, and kestrel, 148, 149 + ----, and owl, 144, 145, 157, 167, 175 + ----, and weasel, 137, 140 + ----, avoiding rabbit's "creeps," 160 + ----, enemies of, 164 + ----, food of, 137, 142, 143, 154, 155 + ----, hibernation of, 145, 146, 150 + ----, home of, 149 + ----, limbs of, cramped by winter sleep, 153 + ----, restlessness of, in spring, 157 + + Field-voles, described, 162 + ----, harvesting seeds, 141, 142 + ----, plague of, 173, 174 + ----, stung to death by adder, 172 + + Fox, see also _Vixen_ + ----, and hedgehog, 382-384 + ----, and moorhen, 400 + ----, and wasp, 229 + ----, avoiding traps, 236 + ----, burying rat, 184 + ----, careful not to sleep on straight trail, 237 + ----, careful not to tread on rustling leaves, 220 + ----, entering "breeding-earth" when close pressed, 191 + ----, finding hen's nest in hedgerow, 182 + ----, fight with rival, 227 + ----, hating jays and magpies, 234 + ----, knowledge of the countryside, 238, 428 + ----, luring rabbits, 403 + ----, methods of hunting rabbits, 180 + ----, robbed of spoil by vixen, 183 + ----, seeks mate, 225 + ----, taught by mate, 227 + + Fox-cub, chased by lurcher, 222 + ----, cleanly habits of, 212 + ----, described, 203 + ----, food of, 218, 235 + ----, killing hare, 219 + ----, killing polecat, 215, 216 + ----, stealing chickens, 24 + + Fox-cubs and partridges, 211 + ----, at play, 412, 422-426 + ----, eagerness of, for flesh, 209 + + Foxes, method of preparing "breeding earth," 232 + + Fox-hound, "rioting" on cold scent, 189 + + Fox-hunt, 186-193 + + Frogs, devoured by otters, 35 + + + Geese, wild, 31 + + Gipsy, seeking hedgehogs, 387-389 + + + Hare, and renegade cat, 288 + ----, and peregrine falcon, 265, 266 + ----, and poacher, 276, 285, 286 + ----, bravely defends young, 265 + ----, covered with fur at birth, 245 + ----, dislikes entering damp undergrowth, 274 + ----, does not wander far in wet weather, 258 + ----, food of, 248, 249, 251, 260 + ----, "form" described, 245 + ----, killed by lightning, 291 + ----, "leaping places" of, 434 + ----, method of fighting among males, 264 + ----, netted by keeper, 255 + ----, productiveness of, probably influenced by food supply, 276 + ----, recklessness of, in early spring, 263 + ----, running through flock of sheep, 283 + ----, suffers from want of exercise, 259 + ----, suffers less from frost than from rain, 260 + ----, swims across river, 273 + ----, winter habits of, 287 + ----, withholds scent when hard pressed, 283 + + Hedgehog, and fox, 382-384 + ----, and moorhens, 400, 401, 403-405 + ----, and owl, 385 + ----, and terrier, 388 + ----, food of, 394, 395, 398, 399 + ----, haunt of, 377 + ----, killing snake, 396, 397 + ----, nest of, 379, 389 + + History, vicissitudes of, affecting wild animals, 329 + + Hounds, miscellaneous pack, 54, 83 + + Hunt, rival, 60 + ----, village, 77, 78, 83 + + Huntsman, feeding fox-cubs, 209 + + + Ianto, the fisherman, 28, 30, 83, 429-442 + + + Joker, the bob-tailed sheep-dog, 54, 55, 58-60 + + + Kestrel, attacking field-voles, 148 + ----, preying on bank-voles, 147 + + + Man, dreaded by wild animals, 13, 40 + ----, senses dulled by immunity from fear, 72 + + Mange, attacking carnivorous animals, 212 + + March, great changes to wild life in, 263 + + Minnows, playing about ledges of rock, 103 + + Moorhen, eluding terrier, 61 + ----, killed by otter, 32 + + Mouse, singing, 82 + + + Nature, haunted by Fear, 75 + ----, spirit of restlessness in, 156 + + Night, described, 3, 85, 86 + ----, spiritual influence of, 85 + ---- -watching, difficulties of, 427 + ---- - ----, methods of, 410 + + + Otter, and big trout, 106 + ----, and dabchick, 12 + ----, and "red" fish, 101 + ----, and water-vole, 86-89, 101 + ----, fighting terrier, 42 + ----, food of, 15, 35, 47, 48 + ----, hunting methods of, 20 + ----, inhabiting drain-pipe, 9 + ----, in winter, 15, 47 + ----, migrating to sea, 46 + ----, playing in heavy stream, 33, 34 + ----, position of, when sleeping, 33 + ----, related to weasel, 22 + ---- -cub, capturing salmon, 22 + ----, described, 21 + ----, learns to swim, 9 + ---- -cubs, at play, 11 + ---- -hounds, 36 + ---- -hunt, 37-39, 41-44, 84 + + Owl, brown, described, 385, 386 + ----, and fox-cub, 205, 214 + ----, and water-vole, 88, 89 + ----, attacks hedgehog, 385, 386 + ----, preying on field-voles, 157 + + Owls, as friends of farmer, 169 + + Owls, inhabiting farm buildings, 7 + + + Philip, the poacher, 429-443 + + Polecats, enemies of young hedgehogs, 384 + + + Rabbit, burrowing in badgers' "set," 314, 315 + + Rabbits, clearing tracks, 418 + + Rat, brown, attacked by water-voles, 123 + ----, ----, habits of, 64, 110 + ---- -hunting, by riverside, 58-60 + + Rats, migration of, 110 + + "Redd" of salmon, 99 + + + Salmon, migration of, 95, 96 + ---- -fishing, experiences in, 26-30 + ---- -pool, seldom visited, 25 + ---- -spawn, destroyers of, 99 + ---- - ----, guarded by salmon, 98, 100, 101 + + Sheep-dog, and otter, 17 + + Sorrel, as medicinal herb for wild animals, 335 + + Sport, winter, 54 + + Squirrel, harvesting only ripe seeds and nuts, 105 + ----, inquisitive, 92 + + Stoats, following rats in migration, 110 + + Stone-fly, 20 + + + Teal, 31 + + Terrier, worsted by otter, 44 + + Thrush, autumn song of, 24 + ----, defending young against hedgehog, 405 + + Trick, poacher's, to capture hare, 276 + + Trout, an old, carnivorous, 95 + ----, habit of, in spring, 19 + + + Viper, attacked by hedgehog, 397 + ----, enemy of young hedgehogs, 398 + + Vixen, dispossessing another of "breeding earth," 201 + ----, life spared by hounds, 219 + ----, routing terrier from "breeding earth," 191 + + Vixen-cubs, quicker to learn than fox-cubs, 210 + + Voles, see _Bank-voles, Field-voles, Water-voles_ + + + Water-shrew, described, 93 + ----, food of, 93, 94, 106, 107 + ----, habits of, 93, 94 + + Water-vole, and otter, 86-89 + ----, and owl, 89, 118 + ----, and trout, 94, 125 + ----, as singer, 79-82, 89 + ----, constructing nest, 121, 122 + ----, described, 121 + ----, enemies of, 79 + ----, food of, 71, 105, 106 + ----, habits studied, 80 + ----, home of, 68, 69, 103, 109, 110, 117, 126 + ----, love episodes of, 117-120 + ----, methods of fighting, 119, 123 + ----, winter storehouse of, 105, 109, 126 + + Water-voles, attacking brown rat, 123 + + Weasel, ferocity of, 76 + ----, food for fox-cub, 213 + + Weasels, following rats in migration, 110 + +PRINTED AT THE EDINBURGH PRESS, 9 AND 11 YOUNG STREET + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Creatures of the Night, by Alfred W. Rees + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CREATURES OF THE NIGHT *** + +***** This file should be named 29349.txt or 29349.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/3/4/29349/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Marcia Brooks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/29349.zip b/29349.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f8d4d1 --- /dev/null +++ b/29349.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d62018e --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #29349 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29349) |
