$%cfard Barton ,EZ& ff%Qfqgfapffs fy Cherry 'J& W ^X X*^ UC-NRLF B 3 1EE DE7 THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY PROF. CHARLES A.KOFOID AND MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID EXPECTATION. (YOUNG LONG-EARED OWLS) THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS BY RICHARD KEARTON, F.Z.S. AUTHOR OF "BRITISH BIRDS 5 NESTS," ETC. ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN DIRECT FROM WILD FREE NATURE BY CHERRY KEARTON CASSELL AND COMPANY, LIMITED LONDON, NEW YORK, TORONTO AND MELBOURNE MCMIX First Edition October 1907. Reprinted 1908, 1909. School Edition January 1908. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED o PREFACE In this little book I have tried by word and picture to give children a peep into the wonderful fairy-land of the living things of the countryside. It has been my endeavour throughout its pages to interest them in the habits, instincts and characters of the wild creatures that are to be met with every day in field, wood and hedge- row. My object has been to awaken the juvenile mind to the wonders and beauties of Nature rather than to burden it by recounting dry facts. The questions I am constantly being asked by children of all ages and classes to whom I lecture have taught me that by dealing with the romantic and wonderful things in the lives and habits of birds, beasts and insects, young minds are aroused and stimulated into observing, enquiring and thinking for themselves. The pictures in the work represent things as my brother and I have seen them in nearly every part of the British Isles, and, as I am a great believer in teaching through the eye, they have been liberally sprinkled up and down the pages of the book. R. KEARTON. Caterham Valley, October, 1907. CONTENTS THE ROMANCE OF BIRD LIFE: PAGB INTRODUCTION ....... 1 PAIRING AND MATING 4 NEST BUILDING EGGS ........ 19 INCUBATION ....... 20 CHICKS ......... 27 FEEDING CHICKS 30 FEATHERS 37 MOULTING 40 FLIGHT ........ 42 BATHING ........ 45 BREEDING DISTRIBUTION OP BIRDS 40 SONGS AND CALL NOTES 46 BIRD FOOD AND How IT Is OBTAINED .... 50 WHERE BIRDS SLEEP 58 MIGRATION AND ITS MARVELS 61 How TO WATCH BIRDS 64 BRITISH MAMMALS: WHALES, DOLPHINS, AND PORPOISES 66 THE COMMON SEAL, THE GREY SEAL, AND THE OTTER . 69 WILD CATTLE, DEER, SHEEP, AND GOATS . . 71 THE HARE, RABBIT, SQUIRREL, AND DORMOUSE . . 77 RATS AND MICE ....... 34 THE Fox, THE WILD CAT, BADGER, STOAT, AND WEASEL , 89 HEDGEHOGS, MOLES, SHREWS, AND BATS ... 95 BATS 99 vi CONTENTS BRITISH SNAKES, LIZARDS, AND AMPHIBIANS: PAGE THE RING SNAKE, OR GRASS SNAKE . THE ADDER OR VIPER THE SMOOTH SNAKE LIZARDS . THE SLOW WORM, OR BLIND WORM . .107 1 OQ COMMON LIZARD SAND LIZARD . GREEN LIZARD. THE FROG 114- COMMON TOAD THE NATTERJACK, OR RUSH TOAD . NEWTS . THE WONDERS OF PLANT LIFE . U7 WONDERS OF THE IMSECT WORLD: . . H7 149 BUTTERFLIES . MOTHS ' 155 163 BEETLES ... THE COCKROACH AND THE DEVIL'S COACH HORSE GRASSHOPPERS AND CRICKETS . BEES, WASPS, AND FLIES .... .173 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS EXPECTATION (Young Long- eared Owls.) . . Frontispiece Jay 1 Song Thrush at Nest Con- taining Young ... 3 Old Raven at Home on a Rocky Coast ... 5 Wood Pigeon's Nest and Eggs 7 Wryneck about to Enter Nesting Hole ... 8 Gannets, or Solan Gccsc, on their Nest .... 9 The Great Crested Grebe on Nest 10 Long-Tailed Tit's Nest and Fledglings about to Leave it 11 Male Chaffinch at Nest Con- taining Young . . .12 Common Whitethroat on Nest 15 Fulmar Petrel's Egg . . 16 Tree Pipit's Nesting Place before Grass was Parted . 17 Tree Pipit's Nesting Place after Grass was Parted . 17 Wild Duck on Nest ... 18 Red-Crested Merganser's Nest and Eggs . . . .18 Eggs of Raven and Curlew . 19 Ringed Plover's Eggs . . 20 Dipper on the Top of her Nest 21 Oyster - Catcher's Nest and Eggs 22 Sandwich Tern's Eggs . . 22 Common Guillemots on a Breeding Ledge . . .23 Eggs of Guillemot and Tawny Owl . . . .24 Corncrake's Nest and Eggs . 25 Golden Eagle's Eyrie and Eggs 25 The Common Dotterel on Nest 26 Young Lapwings just Hatched 28 Young Curlew: Standing up and Crouching down . 29 Sparrow-Hawk and Young . 31 Short Eared Owl on Nest . 32 Young Carrion Crows and Eggs 33 Young Merlins . . . .34 Bullfinch on Nest ... 35 Down-Tip and Newly-Grown Feather . . . .37 Old Oyster-Catcher and Young One 38 Feather of Owl and Pigeon . 39 Ptarmigan on her Nest . . 41 How the Great Black-backed Gull Alights and Rises . 43 Sedge Warbler . . . .47 Starling 48 Kittiwakes and Young . . 49 Young Screech Owls . . .51 Cormorants at Home . . 52 Snipe Covering her Chicks . 54 Spotted Fly-Catcher on Nest . 55 Night-Jar Covering Young . 57 Great Tit Feeding from Cocoanut . . . .58 Song Thrush Photographed by Flashlight ... 60 Robin 61 Young Cuckoo Waiting for its Foster Mother . . 63 Red Deer 72 Fallow Deer . . . .75 Domesticated Black-Faced Sheep, St. Kilda Wild Sheep 76 Leveret at Home . . .78 Young Rabbits . . . .79 Rabbit Leaving its Burrow . 81 How the Squirrel Carries its Tail 82 Young Dormouse . . .83 Common Rat . . . .84 Young Common Mice . . 86 Long-Tailed Field Mouse . . 87 .Water Vole 89 Fox Cub at Entrance to " Earth " . . . .90 Stoat and Dead Rabbit . . 94 Hedgehog 95 Vlll LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Common Mole Eating a Worm 96 Young Moles . . . .97 Bat 100 Ring Snake 103 Adder 105 Slow Worm 108 Common Lizard .... 109 Green Lizard . . . .111 Tadpoles 112 Prog 113 Toad 114 Natterjack 115 Daisies Awake (1); Daisies Asleep (2) .... 119 Dandelions Asleep . . .120 Dandelions Awake . . .121 Lying Down to Rest before Seeding 122 Seeded 122 Dandelion Heads . . .123 Blackthorn and Whitethorn . 124 Horse Chestnut .... 125 Oak 125 Water Buttercup . . .126 Growth of Bryony (1 and 2) 127 Cuckoo-Pint : Flower (1), Fruit (2) .... 129 Wild Garlic . . . .130 Bryony: Tendril (1), Spiral Spring . . . .130 The Results of Honeysuckle Climbing round Birch and Hazel Stems . . 131 Wind-swept Shrubs . . .132 Female or Silver Willow Cat- kins 133 Male or Golden Willow Cat- kins 133 Pansy Seed 134 Goose Grass 135 Leaves of Sundew Magnified . 136 Wild Strawberry Cultivated Strawberry . . . .138 Wild Cherry Cultivated Cherry 139, Wild Pansy Cultivated Pansy 140 Wild, or Dog, Rose Cul- tivated Rose . 141 PAGE Cultivated Rose Leaves Dog, or Wild, Rose Leaf . . 142 Mushroom and Plant Pot . 143 The Dying Mullein . . 144, 145 Insect Track on Leaf . . 147 Swallow Tail Butterfly : Cater- pillar, Pupa - case, and Butterfly . . . .148 Green Hair-streak Butterfly . 150 White Moth 150 Brimstone Butterfly . . .151 Small Tortoise-shell Butter- fly 152 White Butterflies, with Dew- dr.ops on their Wings . 153 Blue Butterfly . . . .154 Red Admiral Butterfly . . 154 Privet Hawk Moth . . .156 Caterpillar of Privet Hawk Moth 157 Tiger Moth 157 Swallow-Tailed Moth . . 158 Looper Caterpillar . . .159 Magpie or Currant Moth . . 160 Caterpillar of Magpie Moth . 160 Caterpillar of Puss Moth . 161 Six-Spot Burnet Moth . . 162 Stag Beetles . . . .163 Sexton Beetles, and Dead Redstart . . . . 165 Cockchafer 166 Wood Bored by Scolytus . . 167 Glow Worm .... 168 Cockroach and Egg Purse . 169 Devil's Coach-Horse . . .170 Grasshopper . . . .171 Cricket 172 Humble Bee .... 173 Tunnel made by Leaf-cutting Bee 174 Tree Wasp's Nest . . . 175 Dragon Fly . . . .176 Dragon Fly's Wings . . .177 Oak Apples . . . .178 May Fly 179 Spider's Web Covered with Hoar Frost . . . - 180 Spider and Fly . . 181 Snail 182 THE ROMANCE OF BIRD LIFE INTRODUCTION IRDS are creatures of the greatest interest. They are closely related to the sluggish reptiles, and yet are fuller of ac- tivity and spirits than any other living things. The tempera- ture of their bodies is higher than that of the mammals, such as foxes, rabbits and mice, and their lungs, though small, are wonderfully capable of doing their work. They are all marvellously well fitted for the kind of life they have to lead- Grouse, Pheasants and Partridges are at home on the ground, Swifts, Swallows and Martins in the air, Tits in trees and bushes, Ducks and Gulls on the water, and Cormorants and Divers beneath it. In spite of the careful observations that have been made upon them by naturalists of all ages JAY. 2 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS and all countries, there are still a lot of interest- ing things to be found out in regard to their everyday lives and habits. For instance, what sense guides a young bird without knowledge or experience across hundreds of miles of land and trackless ocean from the place where it was bred to the winter quarters of its species in the far-away sunny South ? And why are these immense journeys taken by night instead of by day? Why does a Song Thrush make a nest unlike that of any other bird in the world? By lining it with cow-dung, mud, or dead wood, which dry hard, she does not, so far as we know at present, increase either the safety or comfort of her young, for when she cannot secure any of these materials she makes a nest like a Blackbird's, and rears her family equally well in it. It is a well-known fact that a Cuckoo's egg generally resembles in colour those of the bird into whose nest it has been dropped. But who knows whether the Cuckoo can lay an egg of any colour at will, or if she looks at one when she has produced it and says to herself, " Oh ! that is blue, I must find a Hedge Sparrow's nest to put it in," or, "This is grey, and I must search out a Wagtail's nest for it"? A little thought upon these and many other matters concerning our most familiar birds will show boys and girls what an interesting and plea- sant subject for study and observation feathered friends offer them. Even if they do not make any great discoveries, I can promise them, from SONG THRUSH AT NEST CONTAINING YOUNG. 4 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS life-long experience, a good deal of pleasure through even a little knowledge of birds and their in- teresting ways. PAIRING AND MATING Many different species of birds choose their mates in the spring-time, and when the breeding season is over separate and probably never meet again; whilst others, such as the Raven, Carrion Crow, Long-tailed Tit, and Red-backed Shrike or Butcher Bird, are thought to pair for life. A great deal of fighting goes on amongst the male birds of some species for mates, and some- times these contests end fatally for one of the combatants. Cock Pheasants are great fighters and may often be seen engaged in deadly strife along covert sides. I have even known one enter a farmyard during the pairing season in order to do battle with a rooster. The love-making of some British birds is a most curious and romantic affair. Let us glance at that of the Black Grouse for a moment. The males and females assemble at a given spot about dawn of day, and whilst the latter watch the performance from beneath surrounding bushes the former strut about in the open, with their heads high in air, wings trailing, and tails out- stretched. Every now and then the performers spring high into the air and turn head over heels. At such times desperate battles take place between the performing males, and the victors walk off with the females. A great puzzle to naturalists is the wonderfully OLD RAVEN AT HOME ON A ROCKY COAST. 6 THE FAIRT-LAND OF LIVING THINGS short space of time in which a bird of prey will secure a new mate after the loss of an old one. A Carrion Crow, for instance, has been known to bring back a fresh mate to her nest inside of twenty-four hours of the death of her late one. On the other hand, some birds are very constant to the memory of a dead mate and will, in captivity at any rate, pine and die from grief over their loss. The pretty ways of male Robins, Red-backed Shrikes and other small birds are very interesting to watch during the period of love-making. They collect dainty morsels of food and offer them to the females with great tenderness. Old Ravens are very affectionate and will toy with each other's bills as if they were kissing, even when they have large young ones in the nest. NEST-BUILDING When the pairing has been done the work of nest-building begins. In this work the males of some species assist, and in others the females have to perform the task by themselves. Ravens are the earliest nest-builders, com- mencing in February, and Wood Pigeons the latest, newly hatched young ones having been found even in October, but of course the latter birds rear several broods in a season, and the former only one. Birds' nests are often marvels of skill and industry. Some feathered builders are miners, BIRDS others plasterers, carpenters, weavers, raft-builders and scaffold makers, and a few do not trouble to make any kind of home at all. The Sand Martin belongs to the first class, and with no other tools than its slender beak and feet often digs tunnels three or four feet in length in the bank of a river, the side of a railway cut- ting, or a sandpit. Although the House Martin is closely related to the Sand Martin, it is entirely dif- ferent in its nest- ing habits, for in- stead of digging a tunnel it col- lects pellets of mud or clay and plasters them one by one to the walls of a build- ing, until the little WOQD PIGEO N'S NEST AND EGGS. home upon which it works so hard assumes the shape of half a basin with the top of the rim close against the underside of the eaves. A little entrance hole is left at the top and generally on one side. The inside is lined with straws and feathers, THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS and during breezy weather in May and June boys and girls may get a great deal of amuse- ment by blowing small white feathers into the air, and watching Martins and Swallows catch them and carry them away to their nests. Many people confuse Swallows and Martins. This may be avoided by remembering that the former build on rafters inside houses and the latter under eaves outside. Common Sparrows often steal House Martins nests and rear their own young in them. It has been said that the owners by way of revenge sometimes get their neighbours and friends to help them to plaster up the entrance hole and make the thief a prisoner. I have not much faith in this statement (although I have met people who say they have seen it done), because Sparrows have powerful bills with which they could easily batter down any door made of mud. Woodpeckers are carpenters, and patiently chisel holes in de- caying trees for the reception of their shiny white eggs. These holes are about twelve inches in depth as a rule, and when excavated are often stolen by other birds. I have known a Green Woodpecker work hard every day for a fortnight on a nesting hole and then be turned out of it bag and baggage by a WRYNECK ABOUT NESTING HOLE. pair of dishonest old Starlings. The BIRDS Wryneck also breeds in holes in trees and stumps. It is sad to have to admit that there are other thieves in the GANNETS OR SOLAN GEESE ON THEIR NESTS. world. Rooks steal each other's sticks, as many of my young readers may have noticed for them- selves. Gannets or Solan Geese also steal seaweed from each other's nests, and great battles often follow the discovery of a robbery. This is why some members of this species are blind in one eye. The Great Crested Grebe and the Lesser Grebe as well as the Common Coot build raft-like nests 10 THE FAIRY- LAND OF LIVING THINGS GREAT CRESTED GREBE ON NEST. of dead and decaying reeds and water weeds, and, although they may have their foundations on the bottom of a sluggish river, dyke, or pond, they have to be moored to reeds in a good many cases. I have known the home of the last-named bird get loose, and have watched it float about the BIRDS 11 surface of a large reservoir with the devoted mother still sitting on her eggs. Amongst the weavers perhaps the cleverest is the Long-tailed Tit or Bottle Tit, which con- structs a globular nest with a small hole in one side and near the top. The structure is beauti- fully woven together out of moss, lichens, and spiders' webs, with hair and multitudes of nice soft feathers for a lining. So numerous in fact are the latter that the boys at Aysgarth School in Yorkshire one day counted over 2,000 in a single deserted nest. There is gen- erally a large feather fixed inside in such a way as to form a kind of door which hides the interior. A very strange thing a- bout this species is that the male bird keeps the female company by sitting inside the nest with LONG-TAILED TIT'S NEST AND FLEDG- L|NGS ABOUT T0 LEAVE IT> 12 TEE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS It may be asked But how do they dispose of their long tails whilst sitting in- side such a small bottle- shaped affair as is shown in our illustration ? They get over this difficulty very cleverly by folding them over their backs in such a way that the tips of their tails and the tips of their bills point to wards the entrance hole. The Chaffinch builds a very pretty home in fact, many people consider it the neatest and best constructed nest made by any feathered creature living in our country. Boys and girls will have noticed that the outside is frequently decorated with bits of moss or lichen, so as to make it resemble the branches upon w^hich it rests. I once found one, however, that was studded all over with little pieces torn from an old newspaper. MALE CHAF- FINCH AT NEST CON- TAI N I N G YOUNG. BIRDS 13 The mention of newspapers reminds me of a very interesting thing that once happened to the late Lord Lilford. He was on a natural history expedition in Spain, and whilst examin- ing the contents of a Kite's nest in a tree, he found a piece of old newspaper in it, and by that means learnt for the first time of the murder of President Lincoln of the United States of America. Chaffinches' nests differ in the quality of the workmanship put into them, and it is thought that the best specimens are made by old and experienced birds. This opens up to us a very curious question. Do birds and beasts know everything by instinct which means knowledge that is not gathered bit by bit, as boys and girls gather it at school, and by the experiences of everyday life, but is handed down to all the members of a species alike from one generation to another, without any kind of effort or do they profit by experience? The latter is undoubtedly the case. London Woodpigeons are much tamer than their country cousins, because they know they have nothing to fear from man, whereas the latter have to keep out of the reach of his gunshot, and are consequently wild and shy. Instinct teaches all Moorhens how to build a nest, but experience and reason inform some of the more intelligent members of the species that by bending reeds down over their little homes they will hide the eggs in them. Later on we shall read about young birds 14 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS that go to school and what they have to learn there. The Woodpigeon and the Turtle Dove build platforms of twigs, and these are often so flimsy that the eggs can be seen through them from below. The Common Whitethroat, figured on her nest in the illustration opposite, builds a basket- like little home of slender straws and hair, so flimsy and delicate that I have known her young ones fall through the bottom on to the ground below before they were fledged. Grouse, Partridges, Pheasants, Corncrakes, Pee- wits arid many other birds that breed upon the ground make but very slight nests, and such species as the Kentish Plover, Fulmar Petrel, and Common Guillemot dispense with them altogether. Individual birds of a species will sometimes build a slight nest, whilst their brothers and sisters breeding within a few yards of them do without altogether. This is notably the case amongst Terns or Sea Swallows. Some birds, such as Tree Pipits, Dunlins and Redshanks, hide their nests very carefully amongst grass, whilst Grebes, Mergansers, and Wild Ducks always cover their eggs when leaving them of their own accord. The Grebes do so with the decaying vegetation forming the upper parts of their nests, and the Mergansers and Wild Ducks with nice soft down which they pluck from their own bodies for the purpose. This serves a two- fold use. In the first place it hides the eggs from any enemy flying overhead, and in the second it prevents the heat from escaping. This COMMON WHITETHROAT ON^NEST. 16 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS enables them to leave their eggs in perfect safety for several hours at a stretch. Country boys will have noticed that Hedge Sparrows sometimes hide their eggs, whilst laying, by covering them over with part of the lining of the nest. Birds, like human beings, build their homes very much according to circumstances. If there is no reason to hurry, as is often the case at the beginning of the breeding season, a Robin will take a whole fortnight to make her nest, whereas later on she will accom- plish her task FULMAR PETREL'S EGG. in three days. I have watched a Redbreast working in such breathless haste that she carried moss and dead leaves to her nest five times in as many minutes. Some species, such as the Peregrine Falcon and Kestrel, never build a nest of their own. If the former cannot find the old home of a Raven that will do for her purpose, she drops her eggs into some hollow on a mould-covered shelf of rock in the face of a cliff. The latter bird does the same if she cannot discover the old nest of a Raven, Carrion Crow, or Magpie. BIRDS 17 Great Tits occasionally make their nests inside the old homes of Blackbird s. Last spring I found a Hedge Sparrow occu- pying a Black- bird's nest in which a brood of chicks had TREE PIPIT'S NEST- ING PLACE BEFORE GRASS WAS PARTED. been reared the previous sea- son. She had simply lined the inside of the structure with moss and down. Many species are greatly de- voted to old TREE PIPIT'S NEST AND EGGS AFTER GRASS WAS MOVED ASIDE. haunts, and will return to them year after year to nest with 18 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS the utmost regu- larity, even if they do not suc- ceed in rearing chicks. Birds some- times get turned out of their homes in the oddest manner. I have several times known Brown Wrens' nests taken pos- session of by humble bees WILD DUCK ON NEST and last summer found a Willow Wren's little d o m e-s h a p e d home occupied by a big black slug which had crawled inside and got its fat slimy body so clogged up with the soft feathers lining the nest that it could not get out. RED BREASTED MERGANSER'S NEST AND EGGS BIRDS 19 EGGS Birds' eggs differ in size, shape, colours and numbers in the most astonishing manner, but behind each peculiarity lies some good reason for the benefit of the chicks that will one day burst forth from their little prison-houses. A Raven is larger than a Curlew, yet it lays a much smaller egg, as will be seen from the accompanying picture. The reason is that EGGS OF RAVEN AND CURLEW. the chicks of the former stay in the nest and are fed and tended by their parents until they are almost fully grown, well feathered and able to fly, whereas the young of the latter have to run about, directly they are hatched, amongst rough grass and rushes, and therefore need to be large and strong in order that they may do their work successfully. The eggs of the Golden Plover, Lapwing, Redshank, Snipe, Dunlin and Ringed Plover are all large for the size of the parent birds, because their chicks have to run about directly they leave the shell. These eggs are always four in 20 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS number, and are shaped in such a way that no space shall be lost in the little homes they occupy. Instead of being formed like apples they are shaped like pears, and the pointed ends are always directed toward the centre of the nest. The accompanying pictures will show my readers the value of shape as a space-saving contrivance in a bird's eggs. In the first the wire ring was placed over them exactly as the bird left them, and in the second, I turned them all round about into unnatural positions. 1 RINGED PLOVER'S EGGS. 2 I would suggest the following interesting little experiment to any boy or girl who cares to find out what a mother Lapwing thinks of the shape of her eggs. When you find a nest belonging to this species, turn all the eggs round about as shown in the second picture of those of the Ringed Plover, and leave the place altogether for half an hour. Upon returning it will be found that the mother bird has put them all back again into their original positions, so that she may cover them properly and give each one an equal share of necessary warmth. BIRDS 21 Eggs laid upon the ground and be- longing to such species as are un- able to defend them against their enemies, are either covered and hidden, as in the case of the ducks, upon being left, or are coloured in such a way as to match their surroundings and thus render them difficult to see, as in the case of the Oyster Catcher and Kentish Plovers, whilst white or blue eggs, such as those laid by Dippers, Woodpeckers, Sand Martins, Starlings, Redstarts and Wheat- DIPPER ON THE TOP ears, are hidden in covered nests or holes. Some sharp boy might say, " Oh ! but the eggs of the Hedge Sparrow and Song Thrush are blue, and yet are laid in open topped nests." Quite true, but it must be remem- bered that they are generally well hidden from above by shrubs and thick foliage. Eggs vary wonderfully in colour and markings, not only in the same species, but even when laid by the same bird, as will be seen by a reference to the accompanying picture of two belonging to OF HER NEST. THE ENTRANCE HOLE IS IN FRONT. 22 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS a Sandwich Tern. One is of the ordinary type or kind of marking, and the other has a broad band of brown round the larger end. The largest egg laid by any realJy wild bird in our country is that of the Gray Lag Goose, which measures about three and a half inches in length, and the smallest that of the Golden -crested Wren, which is only about half an inch OYSTER-CATCHER'S NEST AND EGGS long. One of the most marvellous things in the whole of the realms of Nature is the suitability of the egg of the Common Guillemot to its purpose and surroundings. Members of this species only lay one egg each season and it is of large size and great length. The bird makes no nest of any kind whatsoever for its re- ception, but simply drops it on the top of a bare flat ocean rock, or on a ledge similar to the one shown in the illustration opposite. When it is stirred by a SANDWICH TERN'S EGGS. COMMON GUILLEMOTS ON A BREEDING LEDGE. 24 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS strong gust of wind, or the sitting bird leaving it in a hurry, instead of rolling away like a marble and falling into the sea below, it simply spins round like a boy's top lying on its side, makes a small circle, and is thus saved from destruction in a great number of instances. If the Brown or Wood Owl, which generally lays its eggs in a hollow tree, or some other EGGS OF GUILLEMOT AND TAWNY OWL equally safe situation such as the old nest of a Carrion Crow or in a hole in an old ruin, were to change places with the Common Guillemot for a little while, its weird hooting would soon cease to awaken the stillness of night, for the eggs would all be lost. Where food is plentiful and dangers many birds lay a large number of eggs. Thus the Common Partridge lays from ten to fifteen or twenty, and the Corncrake from seven to eleven. Whereas in the case of the Eagles that cannot procure food so easily and have few dangers to face, the eggs generally number only two. BIRDS 25 CORNCRAKE'S NEST AND EGGS. Some birds, such as the Gannet, Puffin and Fulmar Petrel, lay only one egg each season. GOLDEN EAGLE'S EYRIE AND EGGS. 26 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS INCUBATION The work of incubation, or sitting on the eggs and hatching out the chicks, is done entirely by the females in some species, such as the Pheasant, Red Grouse, Wild Duck and Sparrow- hawk, and by both sexes in the case of Rooks, Herons, Bearded Tits and Hedge Sparrows. THE COMMON DOTTEREL ON NEST. Occasionally male Blackbirds and Blackcap War- blers may be seen helping their mates by taking a turn on the nest, and it is said that the latter bird sings whilst doing so. In two species of British birds, where the females wear the more gaily-coloured feathers, the males do nearly all the work of incubation. These are the Common Dotterel and the Red-necked Phalarope. I have spent many days with both BIRDS 27 birds, but have never seen the female of either species on the nest, it was always the male. Incubation lasts for various periods of time, from twelve to fourteen days amongst small birds, such as Tits, Wrens, Robins, and House Martins, to a month in the case of Ducks, Seagulls, and Eagles, and even from five to six weeks with the Swan. CHICKS Chicks vary as much in size, appearance and character as the eggs from which they come. A young sparrow is hatched out without a particle of down upon its frail little body, because it does not need any to keep it warm in its covered nest, so plentifully lined with nice soft feathers. A young Snipe, on the other hand, runs about directly it leaves the egg-shell, is large and strong, and covered with a beautiful thick coat of warm down. Chicks that are hatched out on the ground, and run about directly, have coats of down that match their surroundings in colours. This is called protective coloration. The baby birds know its value by instinct on the very day they leave the egg-shell, for if their mother gives a warning cry, or they catch sight of even the shadow of a hawk, they instantly drop flat upon the ground and keep quite still until the danger has passed. It will be noticed that the young Lapwings in the picture overleaf wear a white collar round their necks. This may at first sight appear to be a very 28 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS YOUNG LAPWINGS JUST HATCHED. simple matter to boys and girls, but it is of the greatest importance to the chicks, for it breaks the continuation, so to speak, of their outlines, and makes it appear as if their little bodies consisted of two separate objects instead of one on the ground. This helps them to es- cape the notice of their enemies, and furnishes us with a beautiful instance of the way Nature takes care of her helpless children. Young Terns or Sea Swallows, Lapwings, Red- shanks, Oyster Catchers, Gulls, Dunlins and Curlews all hide by crouching down amongst stones, sand, moss, half dead bent grass and stunted heather. How different the young Curlew seen standing up in the illustration opposite looks from the one of it crouching down and hiding ! When danger suddenly overtakes a brood of young Grouse, Partridges, or Wild Ducks, the old female tumbles about on the ground, just in front of the intruder, pretending she has been badly injured. Whilst she is doing this her young ones scatter north, south, east and west, and hide. BIRDS 29 And yet, in spite of all chicks know by in- stinct, some of them have to go to school. For instance, young Great Crested Grebes have to be taught how to dive. This is done in the first instance by their father, who waits for them to tumble over the edge of the nest on to the water and then gets them on his back. The young birds seize some of the feathers be- hind his neck with their bills and hold on whilst he carries them under the surface of the water. Sometimes the feathers give way and the young G r e b e s promptly rise to the surface with them in their bills. There is a n o t h e r chick that has to be taught how to dive, and in a very rough - and - man YOUNG CURLEW: STANDING UP AND man- CROUCHING DOWN. 30 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS ner, too. It is the young Common Guillemot. When the mother bird gets her chick down to the sea, from the rocks, where it has been hatched and reared, she at once gives it its first lesson in the art of diving. Seizing it by the neck with her bill, she plunges below and takes it with her by main force. This first lesson terrifies the dusky pupil so much that it afterwards takes little dives on its own account, in order to escape from the rough treatment of its teacher, and thus learns the gentle art of diving. Some chicks soon learn how to do things. I have frequently watched young Sparrow-hawks in down try to catch blue-bottle flies when they alighted on the edge of the nest or on the snowy- white back of a brother or sister chick. FEEDING CHICKS In the case of a great number of birds that have chicks that remain in the nest for some time, both the young ones and the old female are fed entirely by the male for the first day or two, unless he takes his share in the work of brooding. When it is safe for the baby birds to be left uncovered, both the old ones engage in the task of feeding. Some birds are of great service to man. I watched the parents of the young Long-eared Owls figuring in the frontispiece to this work, bring mice and voles to them one evening in the Highlands, and, counting their combined efforts, they made a journey every fifteen minutes whilst it remained light enough for me to see them. SPARROW-HAWK AND YOUNG. 32 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS SHORT-EARED OWL ON NEST. The pastures of the Lowlands of Scotland have, from time to time, been visited by plagues of field voles, that have done a great deal of damage to the grass. During the last visitation, numbers of Short-eared Owls ar- rived from the Continent to devour the pests, and a gentleman one day found a bird of this species sit- ting on her eggs with no less than seventeen dead voles lying round her. These had been killed and brought by her mate for her to eat. Owls of various species and Kestrels are, as a rule, very useful to man in ridding the fields and barns of voles and mice, but, occasionally, both the Brown Owl and the Kestrel fall into bad ways, and, instead of hunting for voles and mice, take to killing young Pheasants and Partridges upon which to feed their chicks. One of the greatest enemies of other birds is the Carrion Crow. My brother and I found no less than sixty-eight sucked eggs belonging to the Red Grouse and twelve of the Common Partridge within one hundred yards of the two young Crows figured in our illustration. Young Merlins are fed upon small birds, which are caught almost entirely by the old males and plucked by the females on little knolls at some BIRDS 33 distance from the nest. This is a wise precaution; because the species breeds on. the ground, and, if there were any tell-tale feathers left upon the heather close to the nest, they w^ould attract the attention of the first person who happened to pass by, and lead to the discovery and prob- ably capture or destruction of the fluffy little Merlins. Although some birds do a certain amount oi harm in our gardens and fields, I think we ought YOUNG CARRION CROWS AND SOME OF THE GROUSE EGGS THEY SUCKED. THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS YOUNG MERLINS. situated in a the afternoon hole in the old to remember the other side of the account; namely, the good they do us by clearing away insect pests injurious to crops. Any boy or girl who watches a small bird feed its chicks for half- an-hour will be con- vinced of this. I once watched a pair of Blue Tits feeding a family of ten chicks, a birch - tree. During birds visited the hole five minutes, and they generally or three small caterpillars at a six times in brought two time. My friend, the late Mrs. Brightwen, who was an exceedingly careful observer of Nature, has left it on record that Blue Tits work sixteen hours a day at midsummer, and that a pair with a large family will, in that time, destroy over two thousand caterpillars. All chicks that grow quickly have enormous appetites, and their parents have to work very hard from dawn till dark to find them plenty of suitable food. A gardener one day told me that he had planted all his gooseberry bushes inside a wire- net enclosure so small in the mesh that no fruit- eating bird could get at them. This looked safe BIRDS 35 enough, but it was not. A plague of caterpillars visited the bushes, and would soon have eaten all their leaves off but for the timely arrival of two little feathered friends. These were a pair of Blue Tits that had a family of hungry chicks in a hole not far off. The birds were small enough to get through the wire netting, and discovering the caterpillars, preyed upon them for days until the bushes were all cleared and the gardener's mind set at rest. The young of all hard-billed or seed-eating birds, such as the Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Corn Bunting and Common Sparrow, are fed upon insects. A male Bullfinch will come to his nest contain- ing chicks with apparently nothing in his bill, but presently, like a feathered conjurer, he seems able to fetch caterpillars by the yard out of his throat. BULLFINCH ON NEST 36 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS Birds are not only good to their own chicks but to those of other species, if we leave out of consideration the birds of prey. I have watched an old Cock Robin feeding a family of young Song Thrushes in the nest whilst their mother was away searching for worms, and friends of mine have watched Blue Tits feeding young Hedge Sparrows, and Swifts passing food to baby House Martins in the nest. Many broods of chicks scatter over the face of the countryside soon after they have left the nest and learnt to look after themselves, and their parents begin to think about building a new home and rearing a second family for the season. Amongst such double-brooded birds may be men- tioned the. Robin, House Sparrow, Skylark, Pied Wagtail, Blackbird and Song Thrush. An interesting thing about the Moorhen is that the young ones of the first brood kindly help their parents to look after the chicks of the second family as soon as they are hatched. Rooks, Plovers, Gulls, Eagles, Terns, Grouse and a great number of other birds are single brooded, and, in the cases of such species as the Common Partridge and Long-tailed Tit, the young ones remain with the old ones all the summer, autumn and winter, and if no accident should happen the families do not break up until pairing begins in the spring. Broods of Starlings join other families of their species as soon as they are able to fly and wander about the country in ever-increasing flocks. BIRDS 37 FEATHERS Young birds that have a coat of down where- with to cover their little bodies do not moult it in the ordinary way, as might at first sight be supposed. Curiously enough the tip of a newly growing feather is in the root of the tuft of down, as shown in the illustration, and as the feather increases in size it pushes the down farther and farther away from the chick's body, and it is worn off bit by bit by rubbing against coarse grass, heather and stones. This remarkably wise provision of Nature insures the chick against the loss of one covering before it has got another, and is common to a great number of young birds, such as Plovers, Gulls, Terns and Grouse. In the case of chicks that have gaily-coloured fathers and sober- coloured mothers, such as the Ducks and Pheasants, all the young birds take after their mothers in the colour of their first dress of feathers. The reason for this is plain. It is safer. Gay colours would be a danger to a chick without experience. Where both parent birds are dressed in easily seen colours, as in the case of Oyster-catchers, Sea-gulls, Dippers and Robins, the young are supplied with a special first coat of feathers, as DOWN -TIP AND NEWLY-GROWN FEATHER. 38 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS it were, consisting of varying shades of brown and grey colours, not easily seen when their wearers keep still. Feathers are composed of the same kind of ma- terial as human hair and finger-nails, and are distributed over a bird's body in regular tracts. They vary in size, strength and colour, according to the habits of the creatures upon which they grow, and are marvellously constructed. It has been calculated by a great authority upon the subject that a single one from an Eagle's wing contains upwards of fifty millions of separate parts. YOUNG OYSTER-CATCHER HIDING. BIRDS 39 Some feathers are broad, supple, and covered with minute downy hairs, as in the case of those of the Owls, which need to steal silently upon their prey. The flight feathers of Pigeons on the other hand are narrow, stiff and strong, hence the noisy clatter when the birds rise into the air. Birds that do a great deal of flying have long, sword-like, powerful wings, as in the case of Swifts and Swallows, whereas such poor flyers as the Common Partridge and little Brown Wren have short, rounded ones. Many boys and girls wonder why some birds' feathers get wet when they fall into the water and others do not, although they live upon and in it. The fact is that Ducks, Gulls, Cormorants and water-birds generally are supplied with an oil-gland at the root of their tails, and when preening themselves they squeeze a quantity out with their bills and smear their feathers with it. Nothing definite is known in regard to the ages to which birds live in a wild, free state, and FEATHER OF (1) OWL AND (2) PIGEON. 40 'fHE FAIRYLAND OF LIVING THINGS of course it would be quite unsafe to say that because a tame Haven or Bullfinch has lived so many years, wild ones would do the same MOULTING Moulting is a very serious business for a good many birds, and during the time it is going on our woods and groves are silent. Hawks, Owls, Ducks and Swallows only moult once a year, and that is during the autumn, whereas Gulls, Plovers, Wagtails and Pipits have a spring and autumn moult. Although Nature guards the interests of her wild children like a fairy godmother, she is oc- casionally caught napping. Some members of the Duck family, for instance, lose their wing quills so rapidly that they are unable to fly for a time, and the unfortunate Laughing Owl of New Zealand drops its feathers so suddenly that it is almost naked, and sometimes gets stung to death by bees as a result of its featherless plight. The bird that is best off in point of dress of all those that inhabit our country is the Ptarmigan, which lives on high mountain-tops in Scotland. In summer this species wears a coat of feathers of varying shades of brown and grey, so cunningly mixed that it is difficult to detect the female brooding on her nest, even when you are looking at her sitting at your feet, amongst grey lichen-clad stones, stunted brown heather, and moss of various tints. Although an admirable dress for the summer, BIRDS 41 PTARMIGAN ON HER NEST. i it would be a highly dangerous one for the winter when the Ptarmigan has to live for months amongst pure white snow. This difficulty has been got over in a very ingenious manner. In the early autumn the birds don a new dress 42 THE FAIRY -LAND OF LIVING THINGS of freckled grey feathers that turn pure white when the winter conies on in earnest, and they are thus hidden from their enemies. There is every reason for believing that the Ptarmigan knows the value of colour in dress. When the snows melt in spring and lay bare a lot of ground these birds act with great cunning. Whilst their feathers are white they only spend enough time to secure their food on the bare brown ground, where they are easily seen, and then fly off to some snowdrift where they remain invisible for the rest of the day. As soon as summer tints of browns and greys return to their feathers the birds very wisely desert the drifts that have now become a source of danger rather than one of safety, and live entirely on the bare brown ground. FLIGHT Many species of birds can be recognised at considerable distances by their mode of flight. A Woodpigeon, for instance, may be easily dis- tinguished from a Rook by the fact that its wing-beats are much more rapid. Wagtails rise and fall in their passage through the air, but Swallows dash away in long graceful curves and sweeps. Grouse and Partridges fly straight away from anyone who disturbs them with a great whirring of wings, but Snipe zigzag in their flight. In looking for prey the Common Buzzard glides round and round in great circles, but the HOW THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL ALIGHTS AND RISES. 44 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS Kestrel hovers almost motionless in the air whilst it scans the ground below. Woodpeckers open and close their wings at each stroke and rise and fall a great deal in their flight in consequence. Herons have large wings and comparatively small bodies. They stretch their long legs out behind in order to balance themselves and make the lowest number of wing-strokes each minute of any British bird. By noticing the peculiarities of flight children may learn a great deal about our feathered friends. The Common Swift is probably the fastest flyer we have and has been said to be able to travel at the astonishing speed of over two hun- dred miles an hour. Personally I consider this over the mark, but if we take the bird's speed at only half that number of miles and remember that it is on its tireless wings sometimes sixteen hours a day it is a truly wonderful performance. The Virginia Plover is a very powerful flyer and has been said to be able to take its break- fast in Canada and its supper in Brazil, two countries which a reference to the map will show to be an immense distance apart. The accompanying series of photographs of a Great Black-Backed Gull shows how the bird alights and how it rises into the air again. It will be noticed that the positions of the wings and feet are quite different 111 the first and third pictures. Heavy-bodied birds, such as the ducks and BIRDS 45 swans, like to rise with their heads facing the wind, because the resistance of the air is greater for them to beat their wings upon, and thus lift themselves higher and higher. Nearly all birds dislike flying with a strong wind behind them because it ruffles their feathers. Flight is actually interfered with in the case of one British bird by its wedding garments, for the frill of long feathers round the neck of the Ruff renders its progress slow and wearisome. The bird does not recover its powerful glancing flight until these decorations have been dis- carded. Some birds hop and some run, whilst others can do both. Wagtails and Skylarks run, but Chaffinches and Sparrows hop. Rooks walk as a rule, but when they are in a hurry frequently hop awk- wardly along. Blackbirds can hop or run as they please. They generally resort to the latter method of progress when chasing a rival away. BATHING Most birds are very fond of bathing. Spar- rows, Skylarks, Grouse, Partridges and Pheasants like a dust-bath, whilst Rooks, Starlings, Robins, Thrushes, Bullfinches, and Tits love to bathe in water. I daresay it will sound very curious to many of my readers, when I say that Seagulls often leave the sea and fly considerable distances every day in order to have a dip in fresh water. They do this to rid themselves of parasites. 46 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS BREEDING DISTRIBUTION OF BIRDS There are many curious things to be noted in regard to the distribution of birds that breed in our islands. Ireland cannot boast a single species that is not found breeding in the rest of Great Britain. Wales can boast one, the Fork-tailed Kite, and England and Scotland a good many against each other. The Black and Red - throated Divers, the Wild Goose, Golden Eagle, Sea Eagle, Ptarmigan, Skuas, and several others do not breed south of the Tweed, whilst the Nightingale, Bearded Tit, Kentish Plover, and a number of others do not rear their young north of it. The breeding area of some birds is strangely limited and no man knows why. Take the Nightingale as an example. It is not found much farther than the valley of the Exe in a westerly direction and not much farther north than the Yorkshire Ouse. Attempts have been made to induce the bird to go farther west and north, but hitherto in vain. SONGS AND CALL NOTES " What is a song bird ? " I am sometimes asked. Strictly speaking, one that uses notes during the breeding season heard during no other period of the year. The songs of birds have been the wonder and praise of mankind throughout all the ages. And what could be more delightful than the sweet, BIRDS 47 rich notes of the Nightingale during a still moonlit June evening, or more cheering than the joyous notes of the Skylark as he leaves the fallow and mounts higher and higher until he be- comes a tiny speck against the bright blue sky on a fine, breezy spring morning ? Many people think that the Nightingale does not sing by day, but this is a great mis- take. The bird does so, but its voice is drowned in the chorus of feathered music to such an extent that it is not noticed. I have heard the Hedge Sparrow and Cuckoo sing by night on several oc- casions, and nearly every country boy who lives by a reed-clad river, lake, or old canal knows that the Sedge Warbler does so. If you throw a handful of gravel or mould into reeds or bushes where Sedge Warblers are sleeping they instantly commence one of their cheerful hurry- ing little ditties which does not at all sound as if they were angry for being suddenly awakened. SEDGE WARBLER GOING ON TO NEST. THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS vOn this date the sun rises at 3.58 a.m. The following account of when birds com- mence to sing in the morning will show boys and girls which are the early risers. On the 24th of May I went out at half- past one o'clock in the morning, and hid in a Surrey hedgerow near a wood to watch some young foxes, and jotted down the times at which the birds began to sing. Cuckoo .... 2.14 a.m. Lesser Whitethroat . 2.20 Skylark. . . . 2.22 Song Thrush . . 2.45 Blackbird . . . 2.50 Bullfinch . . . 3.15 Robin .... 3.25 Tree Pipit . . . 3.26 Common Whitethroat 3.30 Chaffinch . 4.0 Individual birds of the same species differ as widely in the quality of their music as human beings do in their vocal powers. Some birds, such as the Chaffinch, try over their notes thousands of times per day. The Song Thrush, which has been known to pour forth his music for sixteen hours out of the twenty-four, occasionally practises in an under- STARLING AFTER'A BATH. KITTIWAKE AND YOUNG. 50 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS tone, as if doing it only for his own amuse- ment. Many feathered vocalists borrow notes from each other in the most astonishing manner, and some of them even improve upon what they borrow. The Common Starling is perhaps the cleverest of all our native birds in imitating the notes of his friends. He has frequently deceived me by mimicking the Golden Plover, Sandpiper, Ringed Plover, and other birds with whose cries I am quite familiar. Boys and girls will do well to try to learn all they can about the songs and calls of birds. They often help to identify a species when the creatures uttering them cannot be seen. For in- stance, the pretty little Kittiwake Gull always tells its name in the plainest possible language by crying, " Kitti-wake, Kitti-wake," whenever one visits its breeding haunts. Very little can really be learnt from books about many birds' notes because of the difficulties of conveying any clear idea of sounds by means of words, and young naturalists will therefore have to use their ears in fields, lanes and woods. BIRD FOOD AND HOW IT IS OBTAINED Birds procure their food in a multitude of different ways, for each one of which they are in some manner specially fitted by Nature. Eagles, Hawks and Owls all have strong- hooked beaks and sharp-curved claws wherewith to kill and rend their prey. The first and second BIRDS 51 YOUNG SCREECH- OR BARN-OWLS. are swift, powerful flyers, whilst the last are supplied with very large eyes and ears, wherewith to collect light and sound that they may see and hear their victims in the twilight. Owls hear more whilst they are on the wing than any other class of birds because, as we have already learnt, their feathers are specially formed for noiseless flight. There are two things about Owls I must not forget to tell my readers. One is that they sometimes hunt for prey during dull afternoons, and the other is that they cannot see when it is actually dark, as many people suppose they can. This I have proved by experiments. Sparrow-hawks usually surprise their victims by suddenly dashing over a hedge or wall and seizing them whilst they are too frightened to collect their wits and make for cover. 52 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS CORMORANTS AT HOME. It has been said that these birds have actually learnt the value of steam, as a means of hiding, whilst they are trying to pounce upon some small bird. They will fly along beside a railway train in motion, and when they espy an unwary Pipit or Greenfinch, suddenly dash out of a cloud of vapour and capture it. I cannot say whether this is true or not, but they are frequently seen BIRDS 53 near railways, and some years ago one chased a small bird through the open window of a railway carriage, got its claws entangled in the network of the luggage-rack and was killed by a passenger before it could escape. Gannets, or Solan Geese, catch herrings and other fishes that swim near the surface of the sea, by flying along at some height over the water, and when they discover their prey, half closing their wings and dashing headlong upon it. When diving after fishes, these heavy birds strike the water like a stone, leave a patch of foam upon its surface, and are gone from sight for eight or ten seconds. It has been said that the Gannets which live and breed round the British coast catch more herrings during the course of a year than all the fishermen in Scotland put together. Terns, or Sea Swallows, catch small, surface- swimming fishes in the same way as Gannets, but do not fly at such a great height over the water, or plunge so deeply into it. Cormorants and their cousins, the Shags, secure their finny prey in quite a different manner. They dive into the sea and literally fly under water after it, using both their wings and feet to propel them. It may be judged how well equipped the Black- throated Diver is for catching trout in the High- land lochs, where it breeds, when it is mentioned that it can remain under water for two whole minutes, and in that time travel a quarter of a mile. 54 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS SNIPE COVERING HER CHICKS. The Common Heron lives principally on fish but does not dive for them in the same way that the Gannet does. It wades into a suitably shallow part of a river, or pond, and stands as motionless as an old post until some unwary fish swims within its reach, when it darts out its long sharp bill like a lance, and spears its victim right through the body. It does not matter whether it be a water-vole or frog that comes within reach of the Heron's deadly bill, it shares the same fate as a trout 'or perch. This bird, however, occasionally catches a tartar, for when it spears a large eel through the head, the intended victim sometimes turns the tables on its captor by coiling its strong body round the Heron's neck and strangling it. The long, slender bill of the Snipe appears at first sight to be a very ungainly tool, but it is in reality an exceedingly useful one when its owner SPOTTED FLYCATCHER AND NEST. 56 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS goes out in search of a meal. It is soft and full of nerves right down to its very tip, and as sensitive to touch as a human finger. When a Snipe feels hungry, he simply thrusts his bill into a likely piece of mud, and if a worm happens to stir anywhere near by, the information is telegraphed, so to speak, by the nerves in the bird's bill to its brain, and the worm does not live long to tell the story. A Duck's bill is another very sensitive in- strument by which its owner can sift worms, small frogs, snails and other tit-bits from the thickest of mud. Great numbers of birds live upon insects, and they have soft bills by which they may be known to be insect-eaters ; however, some of these, such as the Pied Wagtail and Hedge Sparrow, will eat crumbs and seeds in the winter time, just in the same way that such seed-eaters as the House Sparrow and Chaffinch will devour insects in the summer. Swifts, Swallows and Martins catch flies by darting through the air after them, and during still days one may often hear their bills snap when closing upon their prey. Wheatears, Pipits and Wagtails pursue them on the ground, but the Spotted Flycatcher does neither and yet manages to secure a good supply. It just takes up its station on some gate-post, or the dead branch of a tree, and patiently waits until they come along, when it flutters out and secures them. I watched the male belonging to the female figured in our illustration for half a BIRDS 57 NIGHT-JAR COVERING YOUNG. day, and during the whole of that time he never left the branches of a large open tree close by in search of food for his wife and chicks. He allowed the winged insects to float up a narrow gulch towards him, and then caught them and took them to the nest. The great majority of birds feed by day, Grouse and Partridges taking their heaviest meal late in the afternoon ; a few, such as the Owls and Nightjars, by twilight, arid a number, such as Wild Geese and Ducks, by night. Hips and haws prove a great boon to starving birds in the winter. Many people think that a great show of hedgerow fruit in the autumn foretells a hard winter, and a small show a mild one. There is nothing whatever in it, as boys and girls who observe will soon discover for themselves. 58 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS GREAT TIT FEEDING FROM COCOANUT. Great service may be done to wild birds during severe weather by feeding such as the Song Thrush, Blackbird, and Robin on soaked dog biscuits, and the Tits upon cocoanuts. I always prepare the latter by sawing a piece off either end, and then making a groove round the centre. Into this groove I slip a bit of picture wire, or a piece of string, and then suspend the nut in a bush or tree. Water should always be kept ready for the birds, summer and winter, in a shallow earthen- ware dish. WHERE BIRDS SLEEP There are many very curious things to be observed in regard to the sleeping habits of birds. During long winter nights they have a lot of time for slumber, and during the short summer ones very little, so that they must either get a lot of sleep during the period when the days are short, or spend a good deal of time awake thinking matters over. In the summer months many birds take short naps in the daytime, and I have often watched chicks go to sleep in the nest after being fed. Although all birds sleep lightly, I have known a mother Tree Pipit obliged to tap her chicks' heads with her bill in order to wake them up to take their food. BIRDS 59 In high latitudes, where the sun shines day and night during the summer, birds retire to rest at the usual time and all is silent. As a rule, perching birds, such as Thrushes, Robins, Blackbirds, Starlings, Rooks, and Crows roost in trees and bushes, but there is one curious exception, and that is the Fieldfare, which sleeps on the ground. Another strange thing is that although the Pheasant is hatched on the ground, and sleeps there until it has moulted its first coat of feathers, it afterwards roosts in trees. Starlings roost together in vast flocks, and in Norfolk ruin the reeds that farmers use for thatching by bending and breaking them down under their weight. The Ptarmigan keeps itself warm in winter by making a tunnel in the snow to sleep in. Sparrows roost in trees during the summer, but in the winter they resort to tall evergreens and ivy growing on the walls of houses and round tree- trunks. A good many go to roost in holes in walls and behind signboards in towns, and beneath the thatch of ricks in the country. The little Brown Wren builds a number of extra nests which are never occupied by either eggs or young. It has been said that these are made to roost in during cold winter nights, but I do not think there is much truth in this, as I have nearly always found them occupied by Blue Tits, Cole Tits, and Marsh Tits, and their builders sleeping in holes under the thatches of ricks when I have gone round with my bull's-eye lantern on winter nights. 60 THE FAIRY- LAND OF LIVING THINGS During very severe weather in winter, numbers of Wrens huddle to- gether in holes, and it is thought that they do this for the sake of warmth. There are two questions about sleeping birds that must occur to the mind of every child who reads this little book. Why does not a bird that roosts on a branch lose its balance and fall off when it goes to sleep ? The answer is, because it cannot. When a Thrush, for instance, sits down to roost, as the one is sitting in our illustration, directly it bends its knees, the muscles in its toes are tightened to such an extent that it is locked to the branch upon which it rests and cannot leave it until it straightens its legs again and slackens the muscles in its toes. The second question is, How do birds keep them- selves warm during bitterly cold winter nights? They are supplied with nice fluffy down round the base of their feathers, and when they go to sleep, tuck their heads, not under their wings, as is popularly supposed, but under their SONG THRUSH AT ROOST PHOTO- GRAPHED BY FLASHLIGHT. BIRDS 61 back plumage, and puff out all their feathers. By this action they imprison, so to speak, a lot of air amongst them, which is kept quite still, gets warm, and acts like an overcoat, thus preserving the little body beneath it. Ducks and Gulls sleep both on land and upon the water, and it is said that the former prevent themselves from drifting ashore by mechanically paddling with one leg whilst slumbering. MIGRATION AND ITS MARVELS All birds are more or less migratory, and it is said that those that breed farthest north in the summer, fly farthest south to spend the winter. All movements for the purpose of breeding are made north and south towards the poles and away from the equator. No bird belonging to the Northern Hemisphere ever flies south to breed, and no species belonging to the Southern Hemi- sphere ever flies north to make its nest. Birds that have what is called a complete migra- tion are Swifts, Swallows, Martins, Cuckoos, Ring Ouzels, Nightjars, Turtle Doves, Flycatchers, and others, where all the members of a species leave the country. ROBIN. 62 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS Partial migrants are Crows, Golden - crested Wrens, Robins, Larks, Thrushes, and other species that have their numbers swollen in the winter by arrivals from the more northern parts of Europe, and send representatives, bred within our shores, farther south to spend the winter. Thus Robins and Song Thrushes bred in Norway may spend the winter in the Low- lands of Scotland and the North of England, whilst those reared in that part of our country may spend the cold months in Surrey, Kent, Sussex, and the Western counties, and those that were bred in the counties named winter in France. It has been stated that Robins that have spent the winter months across the English Channel come back to us in the spring with brighter scarlet breasts. Some keenly observant boy or girl may say, " Oh ! but these birds do not all leave their old homes in the winter. We have a very tame Robin, or a Pied Blackbird, that lives in our garden all the year round." Quite true, but these are only exceptions. Our principal winter visitors are the Fieldfare, Redwing, Snow Bunting, Wild Geese and Ducks of various species, Snipe, and Woodcock. Some of these, such as the Snow Bunting, Common Snipe, Grey Lag Goose, Wigeon (which is a species of duck), and Woodcock, breed in our country, but the others do not. What has puzzled naturalists throughout all ages in regard to the migration of birds is by BIRDS YOUNG CUCKOO WAITING FOR ITS FOSTER-MOTHER. what sense they find their way from one country to another, across vast stretches of land and track- less water. I can fancy some young reader saying, " Oh ! the old birds remember the landmarks and act as guides to the young ones." Unfortunately for this solution of the riddle, the young birds go south first in all species excepting the Cuckoo, and we all know how little that bird cares for its offspring. Another very strange thing is that migratory flights are generally taken by night. It would, however, appear as if sight in some way guided the travellers, because in thick foggy weather they get lost, and may often be heard calling to each other at night-time when passing over London and other large towns, by the lights of which they are, no doubt, attracted, in the same way that they are drawn in thousands to many of our lighthouses, 64 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS During foggy weather in the spring, some migratory birds get too far west of the British Islands, and fly on and on, over the Atlantic, until they become too tired and weak to travel any farther, and fall into the sea and perish, unless they are lucky enough to meet with some passing vessel, upon which they can alight and take a rest. They sometimes arrive on our shores in such an exhausted condition that they will suffer themselves to be picked up by human hands. Swallows have been caught in their nests and marked, and by this means it has been proved that the same birds come back to breed in their old haunts year by year if no accident befall them. A great deal more might be said about other interesting features of this fascinating subject, but space will not admit of it. HOW TO WATCH BIRDS When watching birds, keep quite still. Nothing attracts their attention half so much as a moving object. It is also necessary to keep silent. A snapping twig or a word to a companion will often prevent you from taking a peep into the fairy-land of feathered life. When trying to find a shy, wary bird's nest, it will be found very useful for one boy or girl to go into hiding near where it is supposed to be, and for his or her companions to walk away. This takes the bird off its guard. In looking along a hedgerow for a bird's nest BIRDS 65 always walk on the shady side, because the light coming through the foliage will outline the dark structure, and thus help you to discover it. In the case of a nest on a common, moor, the seashore, or in an open field, pay particular attention to the landmarks between you and the place where you saw the bird rise or alight, and drop your hand- kerchief at the place where you were standing when you first espied it. If you do not find the nest when you make your first attempt you can go back to your handkerchief and view the land- scape over again, and in this way correct your movements and try again. A diary should always be kept, and all the inter- esting things seen or heard jotted down in it. Finally, do not rob birds' nests or ill-treat their young. It is far more interesting to learn something about their lives and habits than it is to destroy their happiness. Never be downcast in your studies. I have worked, watched, and waited for a whole week without any kind of success, and then have, quite unexpectedly, secured a good photograph or learnt some interesting fact. There are a good many curious things to be found out, even about our most familiar birds, and some reader of this little book may one day earn lasting fame by discovering them. 66 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS BRITISH MAMMALS BEFORE commencing this chapter I shall have to correct an error into" which many children are apt to fall. They conclude that an animal is a four-footed creature, and that the name cannot therefore apply to a bird, fish, or insect. As a matter of fact, it applies to every living thing that does not belong to the vegetable kingdom. Mammal, on the other hand, is a name with a much narrower meaning, and refers to all animals that are warm-blooded, breathe air, and suckle their young ones. Counting those on land and sea we still have upwards of fifty in and around the British Islands. WHALES, DOLPHINS AND PORPOISES We will begin with the Whales and Porpoises, amongst which are to be found the largest living animals on the face of the earth. About a score of these creatures are considered British. Some of them are quite common round our shores, and others are only met with from time to time. Although wonderfully fish-like in appearance, they were no doubt originally land animals that have successfully adapted themselves to a life on and beneath the ocean wave. Like Cats and Dogs, they could all be drowned if kept under water long enough, in spite of the fact that some BRITISH MAMMALS 67 of them can, through a special arrangement of their blood-vessels, remain submerged for as long as twelve hours without taking breath. Their bodies are covered with a thick layer of fat called blubber. This serves two very useful purposes. First of all, it keeps its owner warm in Arctic regions, and secondly, acts as a kind of elastic cushion which reduces the unpleasant pressure of the water when the whale descends to great depths in the sea. Whales have no external ears, but very tiny holes through which they take in sound. It is said that if they possessed organs of hearing in proportion to their immense size, they would be killed from the shock produced by a single blow of their own tails upon the water. In some Whales the nostrils consist of one hole on the top of the head, and in others two. When they come to the surface to breathe, the moisture in the great volume of air they emit from their lungs condenses into vapour, as it does from the nostrils of a Horse during cold frosty weather. This is called "spouting." Although I have seen plenty of Bottle-nosed Whales in the North Sea, and on several occasions common Rorquals in the Shetlands and Outer Hebrides, I have only once noticed anything like a column of spray, and that was during a bitterly cold morning. One's attention is frequently attracted to the presence of Whales, during calm weather, by the sound of their breathing when they rise to the surface of the sea. All Whales feed upon some form of marine I A FV^ 68 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS animal life such as Crustaceans, or members of the Crab and Shrimp family, Squids, Cuttles and fish, excepting the AM i iMp^dcaifegBcjpr- Grampus, which is a sort of wolf of the sea, and preys upon other members of its kind "-in" 1 blm^i | *UAS3 > ^ l ntpTrvrr a t^nmTrif^ : v Some have teeth and others baleen, or whalebone, by means of which they sift their food from huge mouth fuls of water containing it. Some of these mammals of the ocean are known to make use of vocal sounds. A specimen of one species of Rorqual frequently seen in the North Sea and English Channel, that wandered up the Medway as far as Rochester a few years ago, uttered a noise like a child crying when it found itself hopelessly stranded on the mud. The Dolphin sometimes gives vent to a gentle lowing sound, and the Porpoise uses its voice when in great distress. Whales differ wonderfully in point of size according to species. The Lesser Rorqual, or Pike Whale, which frequents British waters, rarely exceeds thirty feet in length, whilst Sibbald's Rorqual, otherwise known as the " Blue " Whale, common in the North Sea, reaches the enormous length of ninety or even one hundred feet, and is the largest of all creatures on the face of the earth. Both the Common Porpoise and the Common Dolphin are exceedingly numerous all round our coast, but as boys and girls, to say nothing of their elders, frequently mix these animals up in the most hopeless manner, I will give a hint as BRITISH MAMMALS 69 to how the one may always be distinguished from the other with certainty. The Porpoise has a round and blunted head, and rarely measures more than five feet in length, whereas the Dolphin has the snout lengthened until it looks almost like a duck's bill, and measures from six to eight feet in length. The Common Dolphin has more teeth in its head than any other living mammal ; they vary in number, some specimens having one hundred and sixty, and others upwards of two hundred in their jaws. THE COMMON SEAL, THE GREY SEAL AND THE OTTER We have three other familiar British mammals that live in or by the water, the Common Seal, the Grey Seal and the Otter, all of which subsist principally on fish, and other forms of life pro- duced by that element, and bring forth their young upon land. The Common Seal measures from three to five feet in length, and is of a yellowish-grey colour, spotted above with black and brown, and whitish underneath. It brings forth its young, which number from one to two, in June. The baby Seals are covered with a thick coat of beautifully soft, yellowish-white fur. Curiously enough, this fur is cast off within a few hours of the birth of its owner. Young Seals go to school and have to be taught to swim by their mothers. The Grey Seal is much larger than the common 70 TEE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS one, average-sized males measuring between nine and ten feet in length. This species brings forth its young in the autumn, either in sea-caves or upon isolated rocks, and the calf does not shed its first coat of lemon-yellow fur for several weeks. I have seen the beautiful skin of the young Grey Seal on more than one occasion in the Outer Hebrides, where the species breeds and is hunted on the Heiskar rocks, between North Uist and St. Kilda, every autumn. It seems a pity to kill these inoffensive creatures either for their skins or oil, for they add greatly to the pleasure of the wayfarer who visits the lonely rock-bound shores of many parts of our country. Seals are fond of music, and show great curiosity in regard to anything fresh. My brother and I have often amused ourselves by attracting Grey Seals in the Shetlands. This is easily done by whistling a tune, or making a newspaper up into a ball and throwing it overboard. They will follow a boat, listening to the one, or swim after the other to examine it. It is said that they are fond of the bagpipes, and Sir Walter Scott, no doubt, had a good deal of reason for writing the lines "Rude Heiskar's Seals through surges dark Will long pursue the minstrel's bark." The Common Otter is a sort of Weasel of the water. It lives principally upon fish, although it will eat frogs, birds, and even poultry or lambs BRITISH MAMMALS 71 when other kinds of food are scarce and difficult to procure. A full-sized one measures, from the tip of its nose to the end of its tail, a little over a yard in length. Otters generally live by rivers and the shores of lakes, but in Scotland and Ireland many of them are to be found on the seashore, where they are said to grow larger. Between many lochs in the Outer Hebrides, they make tracks which are as well marked as those made by sheep. They have from two to five young ones each year, and show great courage in defending them from harm. Not long ago a young man was boating on the river Eden in Westmoreland, and seeing an Otter struck it w^ith his oar. The devoted creature no doubt thought that he in- tended some harm to its babies, hidden away in a hole in the bank close by, and courageously got into the boat to attack him. Otters are very playful, easily tamed, and make affectionate pets. Not long ago I stayed with a friend who had one so docile that it would come to his call like a dog. WILD CATTLE, DEER, SHEEP AND GOATS We still have one or two herds of wild cattle roaming over large parks in our small, thickly populated country. They are generally white in colour, with either red or black ears and muzzles. They differ curiously in some of their habits from domestic cattle, feeding by night and sleeping and basking in the sun by 72 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS RED DEER. day. The mothers hide their calves when they are young, but as soon as they grow old enough to travel, they join the herd and are protected by all its members. When disturbed by strangers, they have a curious habit of galloping away for some distance, then wheeling round and coming boldly up, toss- ing their heads in the air in a threatening manner until they are within forty or fifty yards, when they all suddenly stop. The Red Deer is a native of our islands and lives on Exmoor, in the wild parts of Ireland, in the Highlands of Scotland, and in the Hebrides. A full-grown stag, as the male is called, stands about four feet in height at the withers, or where the shoulder bones meet on the top of the back. BRITISH MAMMALS 73 In many respects the Red Deer is a very remarkable animal. In the spring the hind, or female, has to hide her calf very carefully, not only from its natural enemies, but from the stag, who would become one of its most dan- gerous assailants. During the winter the females and the young males under a year old assemble together in herds. The stag sheds his horns every year, and at each fresh growth, up to about the fourteenth, the antlers increase in size, strength, and beauty. The shedding and re-growing of these great horns is one of the most astonishing perform- ances in Nature, and represents the production of the greatest weight of bone in the least given time known to science. A full-grown horn weighs about twenty-four pounds of true bone, and all this is made in ten or twelve weeks. When the animal casts its antlers a very strange thing happens. It frequently eats them; and I have on several occasions picked up horns almost gnawed away in Highland deer forests. After losing his old antlers the stag retires to some thicket or secluded spot and awaits the growth of his new ones. These are at first covered by a soft downy skin filled with blood- vessels, from which the slightest injury will pro- duce a flow. As soon as the antlers have attained their full size and become hard, the blood-vessels in the skin covering them dry up, and the velvet, as this skin is called, is rubbed off against the boughs of trees and other objects. 74 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS The Fallow Deer is not a native of our country. It is thought by some people to have been intro- duced to Britain, along with the Common Phea- sant, by the Romans. It is kept in many parks, and adds greatly to the beauty of the landscape. This species is smaller than the Red Deer, fully grown males only standing three feet in height at the shoulders. In summer both the bucks and does, as the males and females are called, are of a rich, yellowish-brown colour, spotted with white. The antlers of the buck are palmated, or hand-shaped, towards their ends. I daresay it will come as a surprise to many of my young readers to learn that we have per- fectly wild sheep in our country. They are hidden away on a little island in the Atlantic, close to St. Kilda, which a reference to the map will show is about forty odd miles north-west of the Outer Hebrides. Here they have lived all alone for a thousand years. This sounds quite romantic, and so it is, for they have descended from specimens left there by the Vikings when they called at the island, which is named Soa, for a supply of fresh water. They are little brown animals, covered partly by wool and partly by hair. It will be seen by a glance at the two pictures on page 76 how much they differ in appearance from the ordinary black-faced sheep so common on the hills in the North of England and in Scotland. McLeod of McLeod, a Highland Chieftain who lives in the oldest inhabited house in Scotland, Dunvegan Castle, in Skye, owns St. Kilda and FALLOW DEER. 76 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS Soa, and he sells a limited number of these wild sheep to the natives of the former island every year athalf-a-crown each. I once went to Soa with the 1. DOMESTICATED BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 2. ST. KILDA WILD SHEEP. men to catch one, and it was the most curious hunt I ever saw. The little animals were as wild and timid as hares, and skipped along narrow ledges, over boulders, and leapt from rock to rock in the most marvellous manner, with dogs and barefooted men, that no dizzying cliff ever daunts, in hot pursuit. I was heartily sorry for the poor sheep. At last one was caught by a dog and held down until a man secured it, when we returned to our boat. BRITISH MAMMALS 77 Goats have run wild in different parts of our country, and have lived and bred unassisted by man for generations. There are herds on the steep rocky mountain sides of Skye, on Ailsa Craig, Achill Island, off the West Coast of Ire- land, and on some of the Welsh mountains ; but although these animals grow very large horns, it is said they do not reach the size of original wild members of their species. I have seen the herd on Ailsa Craig several times, and tried to photograph them, but their excessive alertness and the marvellous way in which they can skip round the steep rough sides of their rocky home have always defeated me. THE HARE, RABBIT, SQUIRREL AND DORMOUSE Our familiar friend, the Common Brown Hare, is a most interesting animal. How wonderfully its colour helps to conceal it when it is squatting in its form in a fallow field ! It is a defenceless, timid creature, nearly every part of which has been specially formed by Nature to detect danger and flee swiftly from it. Its enormous ears are excellent sound-catchers, and its great round eyes enable it to see everything that is going on behind it. To watch the animal's lolloping gait when moving slowly across a field in search of food, the youthful Nature student would think that its great hind legs, which are nearly twice the length of its fore ones, were a positive disadvantage, but this is by no means the case. They enable their owner to take long leaps with great swift- ness. 78 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS LEVERET AT HOME. These long, powerful hind limbs enable the animal to run more easily up a hill than down- hill. Hares do not burrow in the ground like rabbits, but will sometimes take refuge in drains and amongst loose rocks when hard pressed by their enemies. They bring forth from two to five young ones twice a year, but do not make any kind of nest for them, because Leverets, as baby hares are called, are, like lambs, born with a good coat of down on their bodies, and can see and follow their mothers about directly. The Mountain, or Blue Hare, found in the Highlands of Scotland and Ireland, in which latter country the Brown Hare does not live, by the way, is somewhat smaller than its better-known relative. It is of a dull, yellowish-grey colour in the summer, but, like the Ptarmigan, turns white BRITISH MAMMALS 79 in winter in Scotland, although it never does so completely in Ireland. I have seen a white specimen at midsummer in Sutherlandshire. Although Rabbits are somewhat similar to Hares in appearance, and are sometimes thought to be the young of those animals by town- dwelling children, they differ very widely in their habits. Rabbits live in burrows, which they dig for themselves, or amongst loose rocks. Sometimes they will make their home inside a hollow, half-fallen tree, and on wet moors, where a burrow would quickly fill with water, they skulk about beneath the long heather. When a mother Rabbit is going to have young ones she digs a burrow in the ground, about two feet in length, as a rule, and makes a nice circular chamber at the end of it. This she lines with soft, dead grass and down YOUNG RABBITS. 80 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THING 8 plucked from her own breast and under-parts. She does this because her young ones are born with their eyes closed and not a scrap of down upon their dusky little bodies. The mother Rabbit suckles them by night, and when she leaves the little burrow carefully closes the entrance hole with earth so that enemies guided by scent may not smell her babies snuggled away in their soft bed of warm down. In spite of this care, however, sly old Foxes some- times discover the nest, and, instead of scratch- ing away the mould barring up the hole and enlarging the burrow until they can get at the young bunnies, they simply dig a shaft straight down through the earth into the nest. There are two interesting things about this very common animal which few people know. One is, that when it is engaged in digging a burrow and happens to come across a small stone or piece of chalk obstructing its path it uses its teeth to dislodge it ; and the other is, that a Rabbit can run faster along a track leading to its own burrow than one with which it is not acquainted. I have often been asked by boys and girls why a Rabbit has a white tail, as shown in our illustration opposite. Although at first sight this seems such a simple matter, it is in reality one of the most wonderful things in Nature. When a mother Bunny takes her young ones away from the burrow to feed in the evenings she is, of course, constantly on the look-out for danger. If any enemy suddenly comes upon the scene BRITISH MAMMALS 81 RABBIT LEAVING ITS BURROW. she gives the alarm by stamping the ground with her hind feet and then scampers off to her hole, and her young ones, seeing her white tail bobbing away through the gloom, take it as a guide and follow it to safety. Who does not love the beautiful Common Squirrel and his fascinating ways ? He has the intelligence of a Dog and the impudence and inquisitiveness of a Monkey. When he sits up to eat a nut he carries his handsome, bushy tail over his back, but when he is in the act of skipping from branch to branch, or running along the ground, it is carried behind, as will be seen from our illustrations on the next page. The food of the Squirrel consists of nuts, acorns, beech-mast, and the buds, shoots, and young bark of trees. However, some members of the species will occasionally take birds' eggs and G 82 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THING 8 even chicks from the nest. In the more north- ern parts of the United Kingdom Squirrels spend the greater part of the HOW THE SQUIRREL CARRIES ITS TAIL. winter months curled up in some snug hole in a tree, where they lie, in a torpid or be- numbed state, until a sunny day warms them up to life and activity, when they come forth and enjoy a good meal from one of their stores of nuts or acorns prudently gathered up and hidden away in a number of hollow trees during -the autumn. My readers will see the wisdom of not storing all the food in one place; somebody else might find and consume it ? and that would be awkward for the poor BRITISH MAMMALS Squirrel in its hungry condition. In the South of England, where the weather is warmer and food more plentiful, Squirrels do not store many nuts or spend much time in a torpid condition ; in fact, some of them appear to be active every day during mild winters. Squirrels build beautiful, covered nests, which are generally placed in the forks of trees or at the tops of tall thorn bushes. They are com- posed of moss, dead leaves and dry grass, and frequently lined with wool. Their young number from three to four and are produced in June. The Common Dormouse is a sort of minia- ture Squirrel, with similar habits, which are practised in hazel bushes and hollow stumps rather than in high trees. It differs, however, in one respect most of its food is gathered by night, and the day is spent in sleep in its nest. Upon waking up dition during a warm day in the winter or in the spring, it makes a low, whistling sound, hence it is fre- quently called by woodmen the Singing Mouse. Specimens may oc- casionally be seen with white tips to their tails, from its torpid con- YOUNG DORMOUSE. 84 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS COMMON RAT. RATS AND MICE The Common Brown Rat is, perhaps, the most thoroughly dotonte& creature on the face of the earth, and, it must be confessed, with good reason, for it is a^j-iiLy: 1i m^li n mu, animal. It does not really belong to us at all, but came to our shores as a stowaway on ships trading, it is thought, with Asiatic countries during the middle of the eighteenth century. It can live anywhere, and upon anything, being equally at home in a sewer, down a coal-mine, on board a ship, amongst the foundations of a dwelling- house, in the thatch of a corn-rick, or even on a tiny uninhabited island in the sea. Hardly any kind of food seems to come amiss eat grain, potatoes, fruit, flesh in any condition, BRITISH MAMMALS 85 eggs, fish, leather, and almost anything else that conies in its way. I have watched it climb to incredible heights in hedgerows in order to rob birds' nests, and it has even learnt how to snatch Limpets off the rocks at low tide. This last kind of food, however, sometimes proves dangerous, for if the Rat is not quick the Limpet fixes his nose between its shell and the rock, as in a vice, and there he remains a prisoner until the rising tide drowns him. Rats breed very fast. They have young ones several times a year and produce from ten to fourteen in each family. As many even as twenty-nine have occasionally been found in one nest. The old English Black Rat is smaller than the species we have just learnt something about, but has, for its size, longer ears and tail, and larger eyes that appear to stand out of its head like two boot-buttons. It has been almost banished by its larger and stronger rival. I have seen it in London and in parts of Norfolk on one or two occasions. The Common Mouse is too well-known even to young children to need any kind of description in this little book. It varies somewhat in regard to size and colour, according to the conditions under which it lives. I have seen it in great numbers in pony stables down coal-mines. It is a pity that such a pretty and engaging little animal should be so mischievous as to render itself a pest to mankind. I have on several occasions tamed specimens THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS YOUNG COMMON MICE. until they would come out and feed in the open close to me. The two young ones figured in our illustration lived in a shed in my garden. When 1 hegan to feed them on oatmeal outside the closed door of the structure, they were so timid that if a bluebottle fly came buzzing over them as they sat up eating a grain of meal held between BRITISH MAMMALS 87 their forefeet, they would take fright and scuttle off to their hole ; but as time went on they grew bolder, and would allow an old Cock Sparrow to share their meal without stirring. The Long-tailed Field Mouse is rather larger than the Common species. It is yellowish-brown on its upper parts, and whitish underneath in colour. It lives in fields, woods and gardens, taking up its abode in a hole at the root of a tree, in a mole's run, and less frequently in a little burrow dug by its own exertions in a bank. Grain and seeds form the principal diet of the long-tailed Field Mouse, or Wood Mouse, as it is also called ; however, it will eat insects, and upon occasion, it is said, even members of its own species. During the autumn it works very hard, storing great quantities of nuts, acorns, haws, oats and other kinds of food up for winter use, as it does not hibernate in the strict sense of the term. The pretty little Harvest Mouse enjoys the distinction of being next to the Lesser Shrew, the LONG-TA'LED FIELD MOUSE. 88 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS smallest four-footed creature in Britain. It is only about five inches in length, and nearly half this measurement is made up by its tail. It is of a bright reddish-brown colour on its upper parts, and white underneath. For its size, its ears are smaller than those of the long-tailed Field Mouse, and its eyes are not so prominent. The movements of this wee animal are very rapid, and it makes use of its long, slender tail by twisting its end round growing corn-stalks and slender twigs, amongst which it may be climbing. It is said to build the prettiest nest of any mammal in the world, and it certainly has no worthy rival in this respect in our country. The tiny structure is somewhat like the egg of a goose in shape and size, and consists of blades of reeds, wheat, or grass split up into threads by the animal's teeth, and beautifully plaited together. It is cleverly hung amongst stalks of corn grass, stems, or the twigs of a small bush. The Water Vole, or Water Rat, as it is often mistakenly called, may be easily distinguished from the Common Brown Rat by boys and girls if they will remember that it is not quite so large, has a much blunter head, smaller ears, and a shorter tail with hairs growing upon it. It lives on the banks of rivers, canals and ponds, and subsists almost entirely upon vegetable food. I have often heard it accused of slaying Ducklings and Chickens and stealing eggs, but this mischief is nearly always done by the Brown Rats that migrate from houses and farmyards to spend BRITISH MAMMALS 89 the summer in hedgerows and alongside streams and ponds. There is no denying, however, that it does a certain amount of harm by burrowing in mea- dows adjoining streams, peel- ing the bark of osiers in withy beds, and occasionally visiting gardens where it will try the taste of vegetable marrows and other things. The Field Vole, or Short- tailed Field Mouse as it is sometimes called, is rather similar in appearance to the last species, although not half its size. It inhabits meadows and pasture-land, and after a series of mild winters often becomes so numerous in the absence of its natural enemies, Owls, Kestrels and Weasels, as to form a plague. The Bank Vole may always be readily distin- guished from the Field Vole by the fact that it is chestnut-coloured on its upper parts, whereas its commoner relative is greyish-brown. It is interest- ing to note that there are no Voles found in Ireland. WATER VOLE. THE FOX, THE WILD CAT, BADGER, STOAT AND WEASEL The Common Fox is one of the most cunning wild animals on the face of the earth. He is fairly numerous in many districts, and is strictly preserved on account of the 90 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS he affords the huntsmen. How- in wild, rocky parts of the FOX-CUB AT ENTRANCE TO EARTH." country, where following the hounds on horseback is impossible, he has to hold his own by stealth and cunning. In the spring Highland game- keepers and shepherds make it their business to find Foxes' " earths," as their breeding holes are called, and to lie in wait all night, in order to shoot the old ones. When this has been accom- plished, they dig out the cubs and sell them for about a pound each, to be turned down in English woods and coverts and hunted later on. Foxes do a great deal of damage to farmers and gamekeepers by killing the Lambs, Geese, Ducks and Chickens of the former, and the BRITISH MAMMALS 91 Grouse, Pheasants and Partridges of the latter. They are so clever that they can even catch the shy, wary Curlew, and so artful that they will not touch a Wild Duck on her nest until the young ones are on the point of hatching out, when they reap a double harvest by consuming the old bird and her Ducklings from the shells. Although they generally hunt by night, I have watched them try to catch both Pheasants and Rabbits in broad light of day. Young Foxes number from five to seven, and, occasionally, even eight in each litter or family. They are exceedingly playful little animals. I have observed them tossing a Rabbit's leg about, just as a puppy Dog would amuse himself with a slipper. As soon as they are old enough, they commence to go to school, and are taught to hunt by their mothers. In the Highlands of Scotland Foxes, as might be expected on account of the greater quantities of snow that fall in those parts, are greyer in colour than they are in England. Although this interesting animal belongs to the Dog family, it is more like a Cat in one respect. The pupil of its eye closes until it becomes only a narrow, upright slit in a bright, strong light, and opens out into a circle again in a dull one. This wonderful arrangement for regulating the amount of light required is usual amongst animals that hunt their prey by night. The Wild Cat proper, as distinguished from members of the domesticated species that have 92 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS deserted their homes and gone wild, is now a rare animal, confined almost entirely to a few High- land forests, where it breeds in holes in trees and rocks. It has a larger head, shorter and bushier tail, and stronger limbs than its domesticated relative, and is most savage and destructive. A good idea of its immense strength may be gained when it is mentioned that it has been known to attack and kill even a man. It hunts by night and is extremely tiger-like in its habits. The Common Badger is the largest and heaviest flesh-eating animal we have in Britain. It is much commoner, and more widely spread than is generally supposed, because its shy, retiring, nocturnal habits render it difficult to observe. It may be mentioned, however, that it lives as close to London as Epping Forest on one side, and Caterham Valley, a few miles beyond Croydon, on the other. The animal has a stout, clumsy body and short legs, upon which it is said to be able to run back- wards with great ease when it chooses to do so. Its head is white, marked by two broad, black bands that run backwards from behind the nose to the shoulders, taking in the eyes and ears, the latter of which are tipped with white. The general colour of the body is grey. Badgers are skilful diggers, and make burrows of great length, even in chalk. They form a round chamber at the end, and line it with dead bracken, fern and grass. Curiously enough, they sometimes gather these materials into little BRITISH MAMMALS 93 heaps, and leave them to dry, in the autumn, before taking them indoors to form a bed for the winter months. The animal hibernates to some extent, but not for such long periods as the Hedgehog. Its food consists of wild fruit, roots, eggs, insects, frogs, and almost anything else it can pick up, being especially fond of the larvae of Wasps and the honey of Wild Bees. The Stoat, or Ermine, is a most interesting little animal of the Weasel family. A full-grown male measures about seventeen inches from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail. The creature's long neck and body, all of about the same thickness, are highly suggestive of a hairy worm with four short legs. During the summer a Stoat is reddish-brown on its upper parts, and white, faintly tinged with yellow, underneath, and has its somewhat lengthy tail tipped with black. In the North of England and Scotland the animal turns pure white in winter with the exception of the end of its tail, which always remains black, and thus becomes the Ermine of commerce. In the South of England, on the other hand, the summer colours are retained throughout the year, or only undergo a partial change by the donning of white patches. This shows us how wonderfully wild animals are adapted to their lives and surroundings. The Stoat is a bloodthirsty little creature, killing Hares, Rabbits, Rats, Voles, Mice or poultry with- out hesitation. A gamekeeper told me that he once saw one drag several eggs from beneath a 94 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS STOAT AND DEAD RABBIT. Pheasant whilst she sat on her nest. I have many times called members of this species out of Rabbit burrows, and watched them climb bushes and small trees with the agility of the Squirrel. When alarmed or angry they throw off a par- ticularly offensive odour, and frequently sham death when injured. The Weasel is like a miniature Stoat, but has no black tip to its tail, and does not turn white in Britain during the winter. Its habits are also very similar, but as a rule it contents itself with smaller victims. It is a great friend of the farmer when confining its activity to the almost number- less mice in his corn-ricks and barns, but a deadly enemy if it happens to pay a visit to the poultry yard. The Pine Marten and the Polecat are now SQ BRITISH MAMMALS rare that they hardly deserve notice in a small book of this kind. It may be mentioned, however, that our Common Ferret is descended from a species of Polecat of African origin. HEDGEHOGS, MOLES, SHREWS AND BATS There is little necessity for me to describe the Hedgehog, which is well known to nearly all children dwelling in the country, and to a good many who live even in large towns , and cities. There are, however, one or two curious things regarding its habits which I will mention. Although it feeds mainly upon insects, it will devour Moles, Mice, Frogs, birds' eggs, Snakes and Lizards. I once watched one attack a Slow- worm, and its methods of warfare were distinctly curious. It bit the inoffensive creature savagely in the back, and then, with lightning-like rapidity, ducked its own head and doubled it under its body in such a way that, had the object of its attack been ever so formidable and deadly, it could have struck at no- thing but the Hedgehog's hard, sharp spines. It is said to attack the Viper in the same way, and to allow that Serpent to injure and 96 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS COMMON MOLE EATING A WORM. exhaust himself by vain attacks, until at last he is worn out and makes an easy meal for his adversary. Hedgehogs are easily tamed, and are very useful in ridding cellars and kitchens of Cock- roaches and Beetles. They are fond of milk, and have been accused of taking it for themselves from Cows lying down in the fields ; but this kind of guilt, although widely believed in, remains for some future naturalist to prove. Baby Hedgehogs cannot roll themselves up when they are quite young and only covered with soft white sprouting spines. When the cold winds of autumn begin to blow the Hedgehog collects quantities of dead leaves and moss, makes himself a thick snug bed, and, curling up inside it, goes to sleep until the early spring, without ever once waking up to take a meal. BRITISH MAMMALS 97 The Common Mole is one of the most wonderful creatures on the face of the earth. He has, for his size, the thickest and toughest skin on his body of any quadruped. His strength is enor- mous, and it is a good thing he is so small, for had he been as large as an Elephant he would have been able to make any number of " tup- penny tubes" under London, and to turn our largest public buildings upside down in a few minutes. I have kept Moles in confinement a good many times, and proved that they can eat their own weight of worms in twenty-four hours, and that they cannot live for more than twelve without food. I once gave one so many worms that he could not eat them all, and watched him YOUNG MOLES. 98 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS disable a number and store them up for another meal. Moles are very savage creatures, and will not only kill and eat Frogs, Slow Worms, and Mice, but occasionally each other. Although the animal's long snout is very strong, and has to be thrust into solid earth to make a way for the powerful spade-like fore-feet, it is an exceedingly sensitive organ so sensitive, in fact, that if it is nicked with the finger in the same way that a boy would flick a fly off his knee, the slight blow instantly kills it. Moles build most ingenious nests, or fortresses, as they are sometimes called, to live in as well as to breed in. These underground homes may be known by the larger hillocks of earth thrown up over them. When opened, the soft dead grass lining the nest is frequently found to be warm. Young Moles generally number four or five in a family, and if touched in the nest before they have grown their velvet coats of fur, are nearly always deserted by their mother, who has a keen scent and a great dislike, as Mole-catchers well know, of the smell of human hands. The Common Shrew is reddish-grey in colour, with a long sharp snout and a medium-sized tail. It is a pity Cats and other beasts and birds of prey kill so many and leave them about on footpaths and roads, because this animal is one of the farmers' best friends, living entirely upon insects, Slugs, and Snails, and leaving his crops alone. Besides, it is of no use when it is killed, for few things will eat it on account of its offensive odour. BRITISH MAMMALS 99 This is how the idea arose amongst country people that the Shrew dies if it tries to cross a road or path. The Lesser Shrew is somewhat similar to the Common one, but smaller, as its name implies, and much rarer. The Water Shrew is considerably larger than its common relative, and has its upper parts coloured blackish-grey instead of reddish-grey. It lives on the banks of streams, and is an excellent swimmer. I have frequently watched it hunting for water insects amongst small stones at the bottom of clear streams in the north of England. BATS Bats are the only mammals on the face of the earth able to fly, in the proper sense of the term. Their classification was a great puzzle to the ancients. The Jews considered they were birds, as is clear from references to them in the Bible, and so did some naturalists down to the sixteenth century. Indeed, some ignorant people do so still, just in the same way that they consider Whales are fishes. A Bat has its body covered with fine soft down, and its fore-limbs, or wings, are like great hands with very long fingers, and a thin, leather-like elastic skin stretched between them and extending along its sides to the hind limbs and tail. From fifteen to twenty different species of these interesting animals have been found in our country, but only thirteen are considered as truly British by one of our greatest authorities on 100 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS the subject. Our smallest and most numerous species is the Common Bat, or Pipistrelle, and our largest the Noctule, which has a wing ex- pansion of nearly fourteen inches. _ Bats, or Flitter-Mice, as country *VHHEHfl| people very appropriately call them, ;. AVV';. are nocturnal animals retiring to \ X?\ v holes in trees, church towers and ; |Y?V>' caves to sleep, hanging head down- 3;fet -^ wards by day and coming forth in %f^hi the evening to hunt for winged in- ''.Y.'-Vl sects. I have, however, seen the v ., 1 common species abroad during a winter's afternoon, and a large one which I could not identify flying about on a September after- J| noon when the sun was shining, _*- -.-| an d Swifts and Swallows were COMMON BAT. hawking flies. These interesting little mam- mals hibernate during the winter months. The common one, however, is sometimes tempted to come forth by a sunny day, even in January. BRITISH SNAKES, LIZARDS AND AMPHIBIANS 101 BRITISH SNAKES, LIZARDS AND AMPHIBIANS WE have only three Snakes in the British Isles, and I can just fancy I hear some youthful naturalist say, "Yes, and I know what they are the Ring Snake or Grass Snake, the Adder or Viper, and the Slow Worm or Blind Worm." In regard to the last you are quite wrong; it is not a Snake at all, but a Lizard, as we shall see by-and-by when we come to consider its history. The third Serpent is by far the rarest and is called the Smooth Snake. It was first discovered at Bournemouth in 1859, when that flourishing watering-place was only a little fishing village. Snakes do not drink, have only one lung, and their jaws are fastened together by a kind of elastic fibre that stretches to such an extent that they can swallow creatures thicker than them- selves, such as Frogs, Toads, Mice and Water Voles. They do not use their teeth to crush food in the same way that Dogs and Cats do, but simply to hold it in their mouths. Strong teeth would be of no use to them because their jaws are not formed to supply the strength to grind food. However, their digestive organs are equal to dealing with anything they swallow. They are cold-blooded and hibernate, or in other words pass the winter months at rest and 102 THE FAIEY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS without food, in holes, in old walls, amongst rocks, in hollow trees and under heaps of manure and dead leaves, in the same way that Snakes in hot climates retire during the dry season, and become active again throughout the rainy one. Excepting odd specimens accidentally introduced they are not found in Ireland. This is popularly supposed to be because St. Patrick decreed their banishment, but is in reality on account of the geographical position of that country, which naturalists believe has been separated by the sea from the Continent of Europe, far longer than England and Scotland. All our Snakes slough, or cast their skins several times during the summer, and emerge from their faded scaly garments in new and brighter colours. The old skins are shed either whole or in pieces, according to circumstances. Even the eye-covering is cast off and replaced by a new one. Many Serpents eat their old skins, although these must, one would think, prove rather dry and indigestible morsels. THE RING SNAKE, OR GRASS SNAKE The Ring Snake, or Grass Snake, so called because of the yellow band behind its head and the fact that it is generally found amongst grass, is the largest Serpent we have in our country, and measures from thirty to thirty-six inches in length, as a rule, although much larger specimens are occasionally met with. It is a good swimmer, and although fond of BRITISH SNAKES, LIZARDS AND AMPHIBIANS 103 RING OR GRASS SNAKE. the water, wherein it catches Frogs and Newts, is common on the dry Surrey hills, where there is little or none which it can reach. In these circumstances it feeds upon Toads, Mice, and such birds' eggs and young as it can find upon the ground. I have never found it climbing a bush or small tree, although I have seen the Adder or Viper doing so on several occasions. Although the Ring Snake hisses and darts out its forked tongue in a threatening manner when molested, I have never known it bite. Its only means of defence is its ability to throw off a particularly offensive odour when in danger. This harmless reptile may be readily dis- 104 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS tinguished from the venomous Adder by the yellow ring, shown dark in our illustration, at the back of its head, want of zig-zag, dark markings along the back, and longer, thinner tail. It lays^ from fifteen or twenty to thirty, or even forty, eggs, which are all strung together, and of about the same size as those laid by a domestic pigeon. They are generally deposited in a heap of manure, or a collection of decay- ing vegetation, and left by the female. THE ADDER, OR VIPER The average length of the Adder, or Viper, is from eighteen to twenty-five inches. It may always be readily recognised by the fact that it carries its monogram V for Viper on the top of its head, and, as already mentioned, has dark, zig-zag markings along its back, and a short, stout tail. This species varies from black to white in colour and occasionally produces a red variety. It feeds upon Field Voles, Mice, Lizards, young Birds and eggs. The Adder is the only venomous reptile we possess and does not bite except in self-defence. Its poison fangs are attached to the upper jaw, and when at rest lie along it like the blades of a pocket-knife in the handle, but when ready for biting stand at right angles to the jaw- bones, like the blades of a half-opened pocket- knife. Each has a small hole in it through which the poison flows, from a special gland, BRITISH SNAKES, LIZARDS AND AMPHIBIANS 105 ADDER OR VIPER. into the wound made by the sharp tooth. These fangs measure about one-third of an inch in length, and in the event of being lost through accident are replaced by new ones. Adder bites generally prove fatal to Dogs or Sheep, but not often to human beings, who are generally attacked through incautiously sitting down on some heather or grass-clad bank, and placing an outstretched hand on the terrified reptile whilst it is sunning itself. I had a narrow escape from being bitten a year or two ago. Scrambling up a steep bank I saw a Viper go into some long, tangled grass growing round the foot of a stunted thorn-bush, and promptly went into a wood near by and cut a hazel stick wherewith to dislodge him. 106 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS Being better able to see what I was doing from the lower side of the bush than the top of the bank, I descended until my head was about a foot above the root of the thorn, and began to probe the grass with my stick. Whilst doing so I touched one of the branches of the bush with my face ; there was a sharp hiss, and, to my horror, I saw the Adder coiled along this branch with his head towards me, and only a few inches away. The fright I got made me leap backwards and roll in a heap down the steep bank. Adders are viviparous, or, in other words, bring forth their young ones, instead of laying eggs. These number from ten to fifteen, accord- ing to Dr. Leighton's experience, and he knows a great deal about all our reptiles, but as many as forty are said to have occasionally been met with in one family. It is a widely popular belief that female Adders open their mouths and swallow their young when the latter are threatened with danger, but few scientific men credit it, and any young naturalist who can prove this marvellous provision of Nature, beyond doubt, will do a great service to Zoology, and at the same time earn lasting fame. Country people have some strange ideas about Vipers. In the part of Yorkshire where I was born the natives used to believe that if you cut one to pieces and did not scatter the frag- ments, such was the creature's great vitality that it could unite again and glide away. BRITISH SNAKES, LIZARDS AND AMPHIBIANS 107 In some parts of our islands there is a belief that if a Spider happens to run over an Adder the reptile is so indignant that it bursts with rage. THE SMOOTH SNAKE This is, by far, the rarest Serpent we have in the British Islands, and, as already mentioned in an earlier part of the present chapter, was first discovered at Bournemouth. It feeds upon Lizards, is a lover of sandy heaths, and has beenfound in Hampshire, Dorset and Surrey. In appearance it is somewhat like an Adder, but is quite harmless. The Smooth Snake is viviparous, and brings forth about a dozen young ones each season. LIZARDS ALL our Lizards but one have four legs. The single exception is the Slow Worm, which may readily be distinguished from the Snakes by the following important differences. It has eyelids, which it can close, the Serpents have none. Its tail is as long as its body, whilst those of the Snakes are all shorter. It is covered by a number of rows of small scales on its under- parts, whereas its relatives have only one row of broad single ones on their under parts. THE SLOW WORM, OR BLIND WORM This harmless and very useful reptile measures from twelve to fifteen inches in length, as a rule. However, I have caught larger specimens from time to time on the Surrey hills. 108 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS SLOW WORM. It has very bright eyes that make young naturalists always wonder how it came to earn its name of Blind Worm. Neither is its other name justified if we regard it as having anything to do with the creature's movements, for it can travel at a surprising speed, and especially so down a hillside. Some authorities say that " slow " means "slaying," but even this is wrong, for it neither kills man nor any other kind of mammal, as it lives on Slugs, Caterpillars and insects. Last spring, whilst out hunting for birds' nests, I came upon two Slow Worms fighting. I lifted them gently out of the long grass, at the foot of a hedgerow, on to a fallow field, and ran for my camera. When I returned with it, BRITISH SNAKES, LIZARDS AND AMPHIBIANS 109 I endeavoured to place the combatants in such a position that the one could be seen firmly gripping the head of the other between his jaws in my picture ; but alas ! I scared him until he let go his hold upon his adversary, and I lost my chance of taking an interesting photograph. There is one very curious thing which I must not forget to mention about Lizards. Quite a small amount of violence will serve to break off their long tails. This, at first sight, would appear to be a great calamity for the reptiles, but in reality it is a means of safety without much hardship. It frequently enables the crea- tures to escape when attacked, leaving their wriggling tails in possession of the enemy whilst they go free, with the ability to grow new ones. Slow Worms bring forth from four to a dozen young, and cast their skins several times a year, but do not eat them in the same way that Snakes do. COMMON LIZARD The Common Lizard is about six or seven inches in length. It is brown in colour on its up- per parts, and var- ies from orange to red u n- derneath. COMMON LIZARD. HO THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS Its favourite haunts are dry hillsides, where it loves to bask in the sunshine. When dis- turbed it runs away at great speed, and takes refuge amongst tangled grass or loose stones. I have often been amused by its quick eyesight and alert movements when I have tried to surprise and catch it whilst it was basking on heaps of loose flints on the Surrey hills. The Common Lizard feeds upon slugs, spiders and flies, and brings forth from four to a dozen young ones. SAND LIZARD The Sand Lizard is rather larger than the common species, and very much rarer. One of our greatest authorities on reptiles says that " the adult female is brown or grey above, with large, dark brown, white centred spots, which are arranged in three rows on each side, and the under parts cream coloured." The males, during the breeding season, are of a grass-green colour. This Lizard is found in Southern Hampshire, where it lays its eggs in loose sand, amongst which it burrows with great ease. GREEN LIZARD This beautiful creature, which measures from twelve to fifteen inches in length, is common on the Continent and in the Channel Islands, but is not often met with in our country. The specimen figured in our illustration was dug up in a friend's grounds at Eastbourne, where two were found the same spring. The Green Lizards that have been met with BRITISH SNAKES, LIZARDS AND AMPHIBIANS 111 GREEN LIZARD. in the British Islands have nearly all been found along the south coast of England, where some naturalists say the conditions are practically the same as on the other side of the Channel, and they therefore consider it is a native of our soil. On the other hand, however, some authorities consider that the specimens taken in England have only been escaped captives, or individuals brought over from the Continent, and turned loose by admirers of the reptile, who are anxious to see it establish itself as a breeding species in our country. AMPHIBIANS AMPHIBIANS are creatures that can live either on land or in water, or during one part of their lives exist in the water and at another on land. The Frog, Toad and Newt are three familiar creatures that do this in our country. THE FROG The Common Frog is too well known to need any kind of description, so I will confine myself 112 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS to an account of a few inter- esting facts in regard to its life history. Frogs assemble together in the spring at some favourite pool or in a sluggish stream, and croak in chorus morning and evening. I have sometimes known them do so all day long in dull weather. They deposit their spawn, which every country boy knows at a glance, in the water during March, and in the space of four or five weeks the lively little Tadpoles are hatched out in such vast num- bers that they darken the water wherein they live. During their Tadpole stage they breathe through gills, just like fishes, but in five or six weeks quite a fairy-like change comes over the scene. A pair of hind legs develop, followed by two fore ones, the gills close up, the tail disappears, and they come to land to breathe the air and hop about fully fledged young Frogs. A Frog swims more like a human being than BRITISH SNAKES, LIZARDS AND AMPHIBIANS 113 any other creature on the face of the earth. It can leap more than fifty times the length of its own body at a bound, and, curiously enough, it does not take all the air it requires in through its lungs. Some of it is absorbed through the moist skin. These very useful and quite harmless creatures have many enemies, I am sorry to say. Old scientists show the circulation of the blood in the web of the hind feet, and young ones prod them with sticks to see how far they can leap ; fisher- men bait pike hooks with them ; hungry Kestrels sometimes pick their bones for dinner, and Snakes swallow them whole. Frogs, when in danger of losing their lives, often cry out in the most piteous manner. Upon the arrival of cold weather, in the autumn, they dive to the bottoms of muddy pools and spend the winter embracing each other beyond the reach of Jack Frost. COMMON FROG. Ill THE FAIUY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS COMMON TOAD The Common Toad, although formed like a Frog, may be easily distinguished from one by his warty kind of skin, stouter build, and the fact that he crawls rather than leaps. Of course, I am aware of the fact that he does leap, and especially when naughty boys prod him with a stick, but not nearly as far as a Frog, because he is not such a good gymnast. There is something peculiar about the tongues of Toads and Frogs. Instead of being fastened at the back of the under jaw, and, when lying at rest pointing out of their owners' mouths, they are fixed in exactly the reverse manner, namely, to the front of the under jaw, and when at rest point down their owners' throats. As soon as a suitable item of food, say a Slug, small Worm or insect, has been discovered, the long tongue is darted out with lightning- like rapidity, touches the object with its tip, which is covered with a sticky substance to which the victim adheres, and is pitched down its owner's throat. I have, however, seen Toads COMMON TOAD. BRITISH SNAKES, LIZARDS AND AMPHIBIANS 115 compelled to crowd a rather large worm into their mouths with their fore-feet. The Toad casts its skin and eats it. All sorts of silly stories have been told about the harmless creature's ability to spit poison. There is no truth whatever in them. The utmost damage I have ever seen it do was to make a stupid puppy, that would persist in teasing it, sick. This was accomplished through the Toad being able to protect itself, to some extent, by sweating, as it were, a nasty fluid from the pores of its skin. Toads lay eggs and have a tadpole stage of existence similar to Frogs, but do not always hibernate in the same way. They frequently retire to holes in the ground and spend the winter there. THE NATTER- JACK OR RUSH TOAD This Toad is not nearly as common as our familiar friend just dealt with, and may be distinguished by a yellowish - coloured line running down the centre of its back. NATTERJACK OR RUSH TOAD. 116 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS It is said to have the power of making a smell like burnt gunpowder, but I have never noticed this peculiarity in any of the specimens I have kept in captivity or met with in a wild state. The male has a note which sounds like glonk, glonk. NEWTS We have three species of Newts in this country, the Great Water Newt, which has a warty skin, the Common Water Newt and the Palmated Smooth Newt. They inhabit stagnant water and shady places, and are known in many parts of the country as Efts. All three species live upon insects and have a somewhat similar life history to Frogs, except for the facts that the males wear a kind of crest or mane along their backs in the spring and summer, and when emerging from the Tadpole stage the young ones grow their fore-legs first. All our Newts, although somewhat odd in appearance, are perfectly harmless. TSE WONDERS OF PLANT LIFE 117 THE WONDERS OF PLANT LIFE HAPPY the boy or girl who loves plants, for they are a never-ending source of enjoyment. The grace of their stems, branches and leaves, the beauty of their many-coloured flowers, the sweetness of their scents, the ingenious methods they employ to distribute their seeds, and a hundred other peculiarities make them objects of the greatest wonder and admiration. The study of plants has a great advantage over that of beasts, birds and insects, they cannot hide or fly away, and we can watch them from day to day as they develop and unfold the purpose of their lives like an illustrated story. If we are too late to study a particular species at home one season, we have only to wait until the next when we can return at the right time with a reasonable hope of finding it, whereas members of the animal kingdom frequently shift about from place to place. Another great advantage is that often the commonest plant is the most interesting and beautiful. Let us consider the Daisy for a minute. Chaucer, who was a great Nature lover, declares it to be "the floure of floures all," and shows his knowledge of its habits in a couple of lines the accuracy of which is proved by our two photographs on p. 119. "As soon as ever the sun ginneth west To leve this floure, how it will go to rest." H8 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS Daisies grow more profusely in some of the islands on the west side of Scotland than in any other part of our country known to me. I have passed through fields that were one vast expanse of dazzling white at noon, and upon returning in the evening after the sun had set and the flowers had closed their petals and gone to sleep, the whole landscape had changed in appearance. The fields were simply sheets of green. It has been stated that Daisies in a dark cellar will open their petals in response to sun- shine outside, but this is not so. Some years ago I conducted a lot of experi- ments upon these flowers in the following way: Taking an old zinc pail out into a field before sunrise, I turned it upside down over a growing root and then stamped upon it so as to drive the rim into the ground and thus exclude all light and air. When the sun was high overhead and all the Daisies round about were wide-awake, I turned the bucket over and found the flowers underneath only half awake and half asleep. Then I altered my experiments by placing the pail over flowers that were open-eyed, and leaving them until after sunset, with precisely the same kind of result. Boys and girls will remember some plants, such as the Evening Primrose, that open their petals after sunset and close them again before sunrise. Linnaeus, the great Swedish naturalist, could tell the time of day by the opening and closing of the flowers of different species of plants. The Dandelion, although such an exceedingly 1, DAISIES AWAKE. 2. DAISIES ASLEEP. 120 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS DANDELIONS ASLEEP. common plant, is one of the most wonderful. Even the origin of its popular name is romantic. Its leaves, as my readers will have noticed, are somewhat sawlike on either side. The teeth, or projecting parts, bearing a resemblance to the fangs of a Lion induced the French to christen the plant Dent-de-Lion, which we have altered to Dandelion. When the head, which is really a mass of about one hundred small flowers all growing in a cluster, is developing, it is thrust higher and higher into the air by its bare round stem, whose business it is to see that it gets its full share of THE WONDERS OF PLANT LIFE 121 DANDELIONS AWAKE. sunshine and attention from insects that do so much useful work in cross-fertilising plants. The stem of a Dandelion may vary in length from a few inches to upwards of a couple of feet, according to the situation in which it grows. In bare, wind-swept positions it is comparatively short, but in sheltered, gloomy ones, such as thick old hedgerows or dark crevices of rock, every effort has to be put forth to secure the head light and air. After the flowers have been fertilized, the head closes up and its long stem, as if tired by constantly waving to and fro in the wind, droops 122 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS LYING DOWN TO REST BEFORE SEEDING AND RE-ERECTED WITH R I PE SEEDS READY TO BE BLOWN AWAY. change takes place. The limp stem again c o mme n ces work, and rises from a hori- zontal into a perfectly up- right position But this time, instead of the to the ground and lies there for a few days as flat as if a garden - roller had passed over it. It is only resting, and when the seeds in the head have com- menced to ripen, another wonderful SEEDED. THE WONDERS OF PLANT LIFE 123 DANDELION HEADS WITH RIPE SEED3 READY TO BE CARRIED AWAY BY WIND. head being yellow and flat, it is white and becomes globular, as shown in the illustration above. It now consists of ripe seeds, to which are attached fine plume-like parachutes. When the wind blows, the seeds are torn away from the cushion of the Dandelion head and float over hill and dale, upheld by their feathery parachutes and carried by the breeze away from the parent plant. Whilst I was photographing the mass of Dan- delion heads shown in the illustration above, a breeze sprang up, and, tearing away millions of seeds from their cushions, filled the air with them like a thick shower of snow. The vast 124 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS number of these floating seeds set me wondering how very few of them would alight upon suitable ground and grow into Dandelions. Plants provide against the difficulties of main- taining their existence by producing a great number of seeds. In order to give my readers some idea of what they really do in this direction, I recently made a calculation of the number of seeds produced by one Foxglove stem. Taking an average - sized pod, I counted over si x t een hundred seeds in it, and then multiply- ing by seventy- five, the num- ber of pods I found on one THORN, stem gave me the remarkable number J of upwards of one hun- dred and twenty thousand seeds produced in a season by a single ordinary stem! It is interesting to note the curious differences that exist in the growth and habits of plants. For instance, the Blackthorn produces flowers first THE WONDERS OF PLANT LIFE 125 and leaves afterwards, whereas its relative, the Whitethorn, grows leaves first, as shown in our illus- tration, and flowers HORSE CHESTNUT. YOUNG LEAVES AND BUD. afterwards. The first-named shrub has a smaller flower and larger fruit, though far less abundant in quantity than the latter. \ The Horse Chestnut shoots its flowers straight into the air, whilst its young leaves OAK. YOUNG LEAVES AND FLOWERS. 126 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS hang downwards in a death-like droop. The Oak, on the other hand, grows its leaves upwards and its flowers down wards. The Water Butter- cup, or Ranunculus, al- though so common in our ponds that it almost hides the water with its profusion of white flowers, is a great curiosity in its way. It produces two distinct kinds of leaves, those above water being club- shaped and green, and those underneath thread- like and brown. The growth of plants in relation to temperature is a most interesting study. I have proved by experiments that the growth of a Common Bracken will vary from two inches down to a quarter of an inch during twenty-four hours, according to the high or low temperature prevailing at the time. In order to show my readers exactly what goes on in the plant world, I one day ruled a number of horizontal lines, an inch apart, on a piece of board, and fixed it up behind a Bryony, which I trained up the stem of a dead Briar. Each picture in the series printed opposite WATER BUTTERCUP. GROWTH OF BRYONY (1). GROWTH OF BRYONY (2). 128 TEE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS was taken exactly at the same time every day, and a careful inspection will show how the plant responds in the rate of its upward course to the variations in the temperature of the air. Although some plants grow very quickly, others develop with exceeding slowness. Last spring and summer I made some observations upon a piece of Ivy climbing up the trunk of a tree, and found that in three months it only grew four and a half inches. Plants encourage bees and other winged insects, and show them every kind of hospitality by pro- viding honey for them to sip and soft cushions to rest upon, because they are of great service in conveying fertilizing Pollen from one flower to another. They have all sorts of ways, how- ever, of protecting themselves against unwelcome visitors, such as Ants, that are of no use to them, and are therefore prevented from climbing to the honey stores by objectionable hairs, prickles, or gummy substances. A great curiosity of our hedgerows and woods is the Cuckoo Pint, or Wild Arum, which is quite unlike any other plant that grows on British soil. The flower stem is enclosed in a pale green hood, the bottom end of which folds round the base of the purple-coloured club shown dark in our illus- tration. In order to reveal the wonderful interior of the enclosed portion of the hood, I cut a piece of it away with my penknife. At the place marked A a number of stiff hairs grow. These will bend downwards but not upwards, and any THE WONDERS OF PLANT LIFE 129 insect that comes along in search of honey is admitted and kept a prisoner until the dust-bags B have burst, and the visitor has con- veyed the Pollen to the seed boxes c ; then the hairs wither, and the in- sect is released. Our second illus- tration shows the Arum in autumn, when its columns of clustering scarlet berries bear no re- semblance what- ever to the appear- ance of the plant in spring. The powerful smell of some plants is a subject of wonder. In the north of England Wild Garlic is very common in some parts, where it is known by the name of Rampe, and much hated by the farmer. It has such a powerful and disagreeable smell that if cows eat it their butter is flavoured by it, and fetches an inferior price in the market, and it even taints the eggs of hens that peck pieces off it. In the plant world there is a fierce and constant J CUCKOO-PINT. 1. FLOWER. 2. FRUIT.. 130 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS struggle for existence going on year in and year out. Some slender- stemmed species have to depend on stronger ones for support, and how admirably they are constructed for their work ! Let us take the Common WILD GARLIC. Bryonyas an example. It sends out a slender arm, or tendril, that has a curve at the end of it. When this curve touches a small branch it curls round it, and thus supports the parent stem from which io springs. In course of time the tendril curls itself up into a fine spiral spring, which is of considerable benefit during windy weather, for whilst holding the Bryony securely in position it pre- vents the stem being broken BRYONY. by stretching under any 1. TENDRIL. 2. SPIRAL SPRING. THE WONDERS OF PLANT LIFE 131 severe strain brought about by the bush supporting it being violently swayed to and fro. Some climbing plants, such as the Honeysuckle, grip their supports so tightly that the wood is w^arped in its growth, as shown in our illustra- tions of Birch and Hazel stems. This frequently ends in the death of either the climber or its support. The former often strangles the latter, or is buried beneath the growing folds of wood and choked out of existence. A very curious thing about climb- ing plants is that some of them always travel the same way round their supports. Take the Scarlet Runner Bean as an example, it always follows the sun from east to west and west to east. Wind has a great influence on plant life. I dare say that a good number of my readers will have noticed that in many exposed parts THE RESULTS OF of the country all the trees and "LIMBING "ROUND shrubs lean over in the same direc- BIRCH AND HAZEL tion, as shown in our illustration overleaf. This is on account of the fact that the wind blows longer and stronger throughout the year from the point of the compass they are leaning away from than from any other direction. The methods employed by plants for the dis- tribution of their seeds are most romantic. We 132 THE FAIRY- LAND OF LIVING THINGS THE EFFECT OF WIND ON THE GROWTH OF SHRUBS. have already seen how the Dandelion sends the germs of its future generations away on the wings of the wind, and may mention that the Willows and Poplars do so in a similar manner. It is not the Golden, but the Grey Willow Catkin that sends out millions of specks of down every spring. Last May our Surrey woods were grey with Willow-seed on the ground, tree-trunks, leaves, and everywhere. Even the spiders' webs were so smothered with them that they must have proved most useful for catching flies. The Common Pansy scatters its seeds in the most novel manner. When the seeds are ripe the egg-shaped box, shown in our first illustration, containing them divides into three parts, which bend backwards, THE WONDERS OF PLANT LIFE 133 as shown in the second picture of the series overleaf. These three ves- sels look like minia- ture boats filled with shot. The hot sun dries and contracts them, thus bringing their sides closer and closer together and grip- ping the seeds between them tighter and tighter (see third illustra- tion in series), until they are MALE OR GOLDEN WILLOW CATKINS. ., FEMALE OR squeezed out, SILVER one by one, under great pressure, and shot away to a considerable dis- tance on the chance of finding new ground in which to grow. Some plants that grow near the ground, such as Burdock and 134 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS ^^^^k-^-^K^^^W 1. PANSY SEED 2. OPEN AND GETTING READY 3. EMPTY SEED BOX CLOSED. TO SHOOT SEEDS. BOXES. Goosegrass, produce fruit covered with minute hooks. These hooks fasten on to the coats of ani- mals, and are thus carried to new homes far afield. Birds are great seed-distributors in various ways, as we shall see. The Rowan tree, Holly, Briar, Bramble and Mistletoe have been scattered far and wide through Blackbirds, Thrushes and Ring Ouzels feeding upon their fruit, and passing the undigested seeds through their bodies. These birds also do a great deal in spreading Cherry-trees, Whitethorns and Ivy, but not quite in the same way. After the fruit has been swallowed and digested the seeds are ejected from the bill in the same way that an owl ejects the fur and bones of mice upon which it has made a meal. The Great Tit, or Oxeye, is one of the best Hazel-planters we have in Britain. In the winter time this bird will frequently hunt for Hazel-nuts amongst dead leaves, and upon finding one fly to a branch and endeavour to hammer it open. Whilst doing so I have, on several occasions, seen the nut slip from beneath the bird's toes, strike a THE WONDERS OF PLANT LIFE 135 branch in its descent to the ground, fly off at a tangent, and go astray in the long grass or beneath leaves, to produce a young Hazel- bush in all probability some day, if not discovered by a dormouse or squirrel. Birds that run a good deal on the ground carry plants from place to place, especially in parts of the country where a heavy clay soil prevails. During wet weather young partridges sometimes die through get- ting balls of earth too large and heavy to be dragged about affixed to their feet, and, as sportsmen know, old ones are occasionally easier to shoot, because their flight is rendered slower through their toes being weighted by balls of clay. The great naturalist, Charles Darwin, once took a ball of earth from the leg of a wounded partridge, and, after keeping it for three years, broke it up and watered it, with the astonishing result that no less than eighty odd plants sprang from it. Thus we see what a very important part birds play in conveying the seeds of plants from one part of the country to another. We have two or three insect-eating plants in GOOSEGRASS SEEDS. SEEDS OF GOOSEGRASS CLINGING TO PART OF A SPORTSMAN'S JACKET. 136 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS LEAVES OF SUNDEW MAGNIFIED. our country. The best known is the Common Sundew, which is very plentiful in many boggy moorland districts. I have seen it in greater abundance on the Surrey hills near Hindhead than anywhere else in Britain. At one particular spot its leaves gave the prevailing hue of reddish- brown to the ground. The leaves of the Sundew are shaped like a salt-spoon, and studded with a number of hairs, or tentacles, each one of which is tipped with a sparkling drop of sticky fluid that adheres to any fly unlucky enough to touch it. The more the victim struggles, the sooner it comes in contact with other hairs, tipped with the same deadly fluid. These hairs, or tentacles, are longest on the outside edges of a leaf, and shortest in the centre, which is hollow. When a .fly is caught by any THE WONDERS OF PLANT LIFE 137 of the long outside hairs, they bend inward with it like a ship's davits swinging a boat on deck, and the unfortunate creature is thus brought into contact with the shorter hairs and their fluid. Once fairly on board the captured insect soon dies, the sticky fluid which has secured it turns acid, and assists the leaf to digest all the soft parts of the victim. I once watched a spider, of average size, run over the leaf of a Common Sundew, and, although the creature was not handicapped by frail wings, it had a great struggle to escape, and only did so after the loss of a leg. The domestication of wild plants has been of far greater importance to mankind than the in- vention of the steam-engine, or any other time- and labour-saving contrivance born of human ingenuity. Had it not been for the probability that some thoughtful savage far down the long-forgotten ages took the seeds of certain wild grasses and planted them in good soil which he carefully manured and weeded, so that the seeds should have a better chance of growing larger, stronger and more productive plants of their kind than had ever grown before in a wild state, we should never have had our grains of Wheat, Barley and Oats as we now know them. The first experiment being a success, he no doubt saved the largest and best seeds of his small harvest and planted them next year, when his thought and labour were again rewarded by another advance in the size and quality of his 138 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS WILD AND CULTIVATED STRAWBERRIES. grain, and the primitive grinding mill and meal and flour followed as a natural consequence. A fellow savage living in a neighbouring cave watched his friend's experiments with interest, and remembered that on one occasion when his hunting trips after wild animals were a failure and he and his wife and children were starving, they ate the large ragged leaves of a plant growing by the sea-shore, and it agreed with them and kept them alive until he could again use his bow and arrow with success. This man followed his friend's example, and as a consequence we have to-day the Green Cabbage, the Red Cabbage, Cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts and Broccoli, which have all by man's thought and labour sprung from the Wild Cabbage of the sea-shore. Of course, the above is only an imaginative picture so far as the savages are concerned, but it is quite true in regard to the origin of our grain and vegetables. THE WONDERS OF PLANT LIFE 139 Although the influence of man's intelligence and labour has been great upon the plant world, the influence of plants upon him and his race has been far greater. Had we had no grain or vegetables in a cultivated state, man would in all probability have remained a hunter pure and simple, and we should only have had a fraction of our population upon the earth's surface. There would have been no large towns, railroads, or ocean-going steamers, and no need for any. And in spite of the fact that man and plants have been working so long together for each other's benefit, they have by no means reached the end of their wonderful successes. 1. WILD CHERRY. 2. CULTIVATED CHERRY. 140 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS Scientific agriculturalists have been hard at work during recent years, both in this country and America, experimenting upon the still further improvement of plants that produce something useful to man. The labours of these men go to prove that at small cost the corn crops of the world can be made to yield even a quarter more than they do at the present time. Let us glance for a moment at the effects of domestication on some of the fruit we eat. Wild Strawberries, although very numerous, are small and of poor flavour, but by careful selection of the plants upon which they grow, liberal manuring, and freeing them from encum- bering weeds that rob them of sunlight and nourishment, they have been made to yield enormous crops of valuable fruit. The wild and domesticated Strawberries figured in the illustration on page 138 were picked quite at random from a field and a gar- den situated close to each other. The differ- ences between wild and culti- vated Cherries are very strik- 1. WILD PANSY. 2. CULTIVATED PANSY. THE WONDERS OF PLANT LIFE 141 1. WILD OR DOG ROSE. 2. CULTIVATED ROSE ing, not only in point of size but character. The former has little more than a thick skin round the stone, and rarely shows the rich colour that the latter does when it is ripe and juicy. Let us turn for a moment from what has been done by the hand of man on the useful side of things, and glance at what he has by care and ingenuity accomplished in the ornamental world. The two Pansies shown opposite were photographed in the same part of the country and at exactly the same distance from the camera in each instance. In addition to enormously increasing the size of the flower by rearing it under better conditions, the gardener has through careful selection multiplied its colours. In a wild state, Pansies are generally either yellow or blue, but by cultivating any that 142 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS showed a slight variation from these colours the florist has been able to produce flowers of almost every imaginable hue. Perhaps the greatest change wrought in the character of any plant by cultivation and selection has been that made in the Dog Rose. Not only have the flowers been enormously in- creased in size and varied in colours, but the CULTIVATED ROSE LEAVES. DOG OR WILD ROSE LEAF. scent has been improved and the leaves altered in form, in the majority of varieties, as will be seen by a glance at the illustrations reproduced above. My readers will do well to remember that they can generally distinguish a Dog Rose from domesticated varieties by the fact that it has seven leaflets on its leaf shafts, whereas cul- tivated plants never have more than live, and sometimes only three, except in what are known THE WONDERS OF PLANT LIFE 143 as Rambler Roses, which, like the Wild Dog Rose, have seven. The strength of growing plants is enormous; even a soft fungus, like the Common Mushroom, can lift a considerable weight. A gardener one day placed the plant and mould, shown on the right-hand side of the picture printed below, in the pot on the left, and was surprised to find that some mushroom MUSHROOM, AND PLANT AND MOULD LIFTED OUT OF POT BY IT. spawn, which had been lying at the bottom of the pot, had germinated and lifted everything bodily outside. The roots of some plants take up a great deal of water from the ground, and, in order to show what happens when the circulation of this in stems and leaves is interfered with, I one day made an experiment upon a Great Mullein growing in a field near my home. 144 THE FA1EY-LAND OF LIVING THJNGS Securing a piece of board I ruled horizontal lines an inch apart upon it and then perpendicular ones the same distance aw^ay from each other. Driving this piece of board into the ground close s^ i ** behind the plant I photo- graphed it as it grew. When this had been done, I drove : MULLEIN BEFORE INJURY. a little stick into the ground close to the stem of the Mullein, and tied them together with a piece of string so that the former might support the latter, which I seriously injured below where it was attached to the stick. Placing my HALF AN HOUR AFTER. THE WONDERS OF PLANT LIFE 145 THREE QUARTERS OF AN HOUR AFTER. work in during the winter; but, al- though their s tern s may be bare or their leaves dead, how pretty they look when clothed with hoar frost or a sprinkling of pure white snow ! A few years ago we had a succession of foggy days and nights, accompanied by heavy hoar frosts, just be- fore Christmas ; and when a change in the weather came, and the sun shone forth, the whole countryside was K watch at the top of the board I photographed the Mullein every fifteen minutes, for an hour after it had been in- jured, and the accompanying series of pictures shows the astonishing results. The drooping of a plant is caused by its cells becoming flabby through not being properly filled with water. Plants do most of their summer, and rest ONE HOUR AFTER INJURY 146 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS one vast sparkling fairy-land. Every blade of grass, branch, bough, and dead leaf bore a thick coating of crystals of ice. The beautiful scene did not last long, however, for the warm rays of sunshine melted the ice almost in as many minutes as it had taken days and nights to form it. DEAD LEAVES COVERED WITH HOAR FROST. WONDERS Of THE INSECT WORLD 147 WONDERS OF THE INSECT WORLD EVERY boy and girl ought to know something about insects, because a study of their wonderful forms, curious habits and marvellous instincts will take them right into the very capital, as it were, of Nature's fairy-land, and they can therein behold many things far more romantic and interesting than were ever imagined by the brain of any story wril er. Unfortunately, in a wee look of this kind, we can only take a passing glimpse at some of the most familiar creatures dwell- ing in the amazing world of small , things, and con- tent ourselves with a hope that readers will be sufficiently interested to extend their acquaintance with it and its tiny inhabitants. First of all, let us consider what an insect really is according to the ideas of naturalists. It has six legs ; a head with two horns or feelers called antennae ; thorax, or front body, from which the legs grow; and an abdomen, or hind body, INSECT TRACK ON BRAMBLE LEAF. 148 THE FAIUY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS which consists of a number of rings made as a rule of a hard substance and joined together by skin. It has no lungs, but breathes through a number of tiny holes situated along its sides, and branching in all directions through its body. That is why we see the abdomen of a Wasp con- stantly moving as if the creature were pan ting for a chance to sting. Insects pass through several different stages of existence be- CATERPILLAR OF SWALLOW-TAIL BUTTERFLY. fore reach- ing a perfect state. They all lay eggs, and those of Butterflies and Moths produce Caterpil- lars ; those of Beetles, Grubs ; and such as are laid by Crickets and Grasshoppers, fully- formed young ones, except that they are without wings. Caterpillars and Grubs are called larvae (singular larva), and when they are fully grown they cease to eat and become CHRYSALIS OF SWALLOW-TAIL BUTTERFLY. SWALLOW-TAIL BUTTERFLY. WONDERS OF THE INSECT WORLD 149 enclosed in a shell in the case of Butterflies and Moths, and in a skin in that of Beetles, when they are named pupae (singular pupa) or chrysa- lides (singular chrysalis). They have now changed so utterly in appearance that it is difficult to believe they are the same creatures, and here they lie at rest for some time and then burst forth perfect Butterflies, Moths or Beetles, to enjoy a new life of a more active and varied character. Some insects, such as Butterflies, Moths and Bees, feed upon honey, which they extract from flowers ; whilst others, such as the Cockchafer, eat plants; Dragon Flies prey upon all kinds of insects; Wasps will eat almost anything, from fruit and jam to House Flies, and even their own relations; and May Flies never eat at all, because they have not properly developed mouths where- with to do so. Such creatures as Spiders, Centipedes and Woodlice are popularly called insects, but they are not, because they are not constructed like the true insects. BUTTERFLIES Now that we have learnt what an insect really is we must find out how to distinguish one class from another. For instance, how are we to tell a Butterfly from a Moth ? The following simple rules will always guide us: A Butterfly has a knob or club at the end of its horns or feelers, and these horns always stand out from the head, 150 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS \ F GREEN HAIR-STREAK BUT- TERFLY. THIS CREATURE IS DIFFICULT TO SEE WHEN AT REST. quence does not show such a pretty figure. At first sight it would appear as if a Butterfly's inability to fold its wings would be a great disadvantage, but this is really not so, because their varied colours make them look so much like a decaying leaf, or the whereas in the Moth they are pointed, instead of clubbed, and can generally be folded back on or against the body of the insect when it is at rest. A Butterfly's wings stand up when it is at roost, but a Moth's either lie flat along the body or are spread out to right and left of it. A Butterfly has a small waist, but a Moth has none, and in conse- WHITE MOTH. VERY CONSPICUOUS. WONDERS OF THE IN 8 EOT WORLD 151 petal of a flower, that they are often mistaken for these and passed by unseen. The emerald undersides of the hind wings of the Green Hair-Streak Butterfly make it very difficult to see when it is at rest on a leaf, and this protective colouration is the more BRIMSTONE BUTTERFLY. remarkable when we compare the picture with that of the small Moth figured on the same page. The latter is probably bitter in taste, and birds do not like to eat it, so there is no need for it to be hidden by protective resemblance. One of our earliest and commonest Butterflies, especially in woods in the South of England, is the Brimstone. It is said that this strong-winged, hardy insect gave the general name of Butterfly 152 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS SMALL TORTOISESHELL BUTTERFLY. to all its kind "the Butter-coloured Fly." It is by no means easy to see when it alights on a bunch of prim- roses, because its brimstone-yellow col- our matches that of the flowers so well. During the winter months it hibernates, or goes to sleep under- neath bramble leaves and in holly bushes, where its soft body sometimes becomes frozen solid ; but in spite of this it frequently re-awakens in the spring. I once saw one alive and well under a bramble leaf at Christmas. The Caterpillar of this species feeds upon the leaves of the buckthorn. The small Tortoiseshell is another of our early and most beautiful Butterflies. It hibernates in outhouses, hollow trees and old rabbit burrows during the winter months. This species is astir during warm sunny days very late in the autumn, and remarkably early in the spring. It is com- mon almost everywhere in gardens and on waste weed-covered land. Like other insects, it fre- quently gets blown out to sea, and I have met with it in numbers taking refuge in old ruins on small islands, such as the Fames off the coast of Northumberland. Every boy and girl knows the Common WONDERS OF THE INSECT WORLD 153 Cabbage White Butterfly, which is very numerous almost everywhere during hot summers. I have sometimes seen as many as a dozen waltzing close round each other in the sunshine, and mounting higher and higher in the air on our Surrey hill- sides during a hot summer's day. Their Cater- pillars are great enemies of the gardener, because of the damage they do to his crops. At night-time, and during rainy weather, Butter- flies go to roost on the undersides of leaves and other similarly sheltered situa- tions. It occasion- ally happens, how- ever, that they are overtaken by such a sudden gust of cold air that they have no time to seek shelter of this kind. A few years ago I discovered the two Cabbage Whites shown in our illustration, in a benumbed con- dition one evening, and tried to photo- graph them, but the light was too poor, so I got up very early the following morning and went out with my camera. A very heavy dew had fallen in the night, and the wings of the WHITE BUTTER- FLI ES WITH DEWDROPS ON THEIR WINGS. 154 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS Butterflies and petals of the flower were covered with small glit- tering beads of moisture. After taking a number of photographs, I stood on one side and waited to see what would happen when the sun had risen and dried up the dewdrops from the wings of the insects. No sooner had this taken place than they both jumped up and fluttered merrily away, not a bit the worse, so far as I could see, for their cold, damp sleep in the open. The pretty little Blue Butterfly nearly always sleeps in the open, but with its head pointing downwards, and does not appear to take any harm from either cold dew, rain or wind. The handsome Red Admiral Butterfly with its bold rich colouring, graceful flight and confiding ways, is a most easy insect to observe. It is exceedingly fond of RED ADMIRAL BUTTERFLY SIPPING , HONEY FROM CHILD'S HAND. honey, and not at all WONDERS OF THE INSECT WORLD 155 difficult to tame. Some years ago one of my little daughters used to feed the winged insects visiting our garden upon honey which she smeared upon sun-flower heads. A Red Admiral, that had no doubt been hatched amongst some nettles growing on a piece of waste land not far away, appreciated the child's kindness so much that it grew bold enough to alight on her hand, where I photographed it sipping honey from her fingers. I have tamed Blue-bottle Flies in the same way, and children have been known to make pets of even such hungry monsters as Dragon Flies. MOTHS Although Moths are more numerous than Butter- flies, they are not so much seen, because the majority of them feed by night and rest in hiding by day. However, there are some, such as the Humming- bird Hawk Moth, that not only feed by day, but actually do so whilst on the wing. The Hawk Moths, of which there are several species, have been so named because their method of flight and swiftness of wing so much resemble those of the Hawk tribe. The Humming-bird Hawk Moth has received the first part of its name on account of the fact that it hovers in front of flowers and extracts the honey with its long trunk in the same way that a Humming Bird does with its bill. The Privet Hawk Moth is sometimes brought for me to photograph by boys, and no wonder they consider it a great prize and admire it so much, for it is one of our very handsomest insects. Its warm 156 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS PRIVET HAWK MOTH. brown upper wings, mottled with a darker tint of the same colour, and its rose-coloured under-wings crossed by bold black bands, together with its pink body banded and striped with black, all go to the making of a very beautiful creature. In its Cater- pillar stage it is also very pretty, the body being green, and the stripes (seen white in our illustration) on its sides violet on their upper parts and fading into white as they descend the sides of its body. WONDERS OF TEE INSECT WORLD 157 CATERPILLAR OF PRIVET HAWK MOTH. It feeds upon Privet, from which habit the insect has derived its popular name. The Tiger Moth has gained its name not from any ferocity of character, as might be supposed, but from the fact that the bold cream and black markings on its upper wings bear some resemblance to those on the body of a Tiger. Its Caterpillar, which is known as the "Woolly Bear," is familiar to a 1 m o s t every c h i 1 d whose father keeps anything in the nature of a garden. When it changes from condition as a larva to that of a pupa it spins for itself a little hammock, which is so slight of texture that the creature can be seen through it. Although the Tiger Moth is so large, having a wing-expanse of be- tween two and three inches, it is surprising how swiftly it can ri n through long grass. TIGER MOTH, 158 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS SWALLOW-TAILED MOTH. The Swallow-tailed Moth belongs to the Loopers, a name given to a group of Moths whose Cater- pillars walk in a certain curious way, which I will describe. An ordinary Caterpillar has six legs in front, where the true legs of the perfect Butterfly or Moth will be on the thorax, or front body, and four or five pairs of false legs, or claspers, behind, that are absent in the perfect insect. The Loopers have only two pairs of these false legs or claspers, and they are situated right at the end of the body, WONDERS OF THE INSECT WORLD 159 so that when the creature walks it draws its claspers close up to its true feet, and the body thus forms a loop. When the claspers are fixed to a twig, the body is stretched out in search of another foothold for the true feet. When a Looper Caterpillar is at rest it stretches itself out from the twig it is holding on to by its true feet (as shown in our illustration), and is thus very difficult to see by its enemies on account of the fact that it resembles a twig in form and colour so closely. In order to make the deception quite complete, it has a number of small humps on its body resembling buds on a twig. This is what naturalists call mimicry. The Swallow - tailed Moth is quite easy for any child to recognise. It is of a delicate yellow colour, with two narrow brown lines running across its wings, which have pointed tips. The specimen figured in our illustra- tion had had one of its wings injured, probably by some bat that had made a snatch at it for supper, and missed its aim. The Currant, or Magpie, Moth is very familiar, because it flies by day as well as by night, and is hated by all gardeners on account of the harm it does to their goose- berry and currant bushes. The female lays an egg on LOOPER CATERPILLAR. 160 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS CURRANT OR MAGPIE MOTH. a number of differ- ent leaves, and in a short time a Cater- pillar emerges from each and at once com- mences to devour everything green withinits reach. When it is fully grown it be- gins to prepare its winter quarters, and goes about its work with such wonderful forethought that we cannot deny it a certain amount of reasoning power. It draws together the edges of a gooseberry leaf, and when it has prepared its cradle, actually fastens the stalk of the leaf to the twig with silken threads, so that when the time comes for it to fall off in the autumn it will not do so. This wise Caterpillar, though easily seen because of its creamy white body marked with orange and black, must have a very nasty taste, for birds will not eat it ; and if a toad happens to snap it up he soon turns it out of his mouth again and crawls off in disgust. Thus the gardener's usual friends do not help him to deal with this pest. Another creature which has been well provided by Nature CATERPILLAR OF MAGPIE MOTH. WONDERS OF THE INSECT WORLD 161 CATERPILLAR OF PUSS MOTH. to look after its own safety is the Caterpillar of the Puss Moth. Its appearance is calculated to frighten away any enemies, and when angry or alarmed it adds a new terror by shooting two horny pink threads from its tails, and waving them about in the most threatening manner. If seized it can send out a nasty fluid, which must make it a very disagreeable morsel for any bird intending to eat it. This Caterpillar spins a cocoon of silk, but not a thread is visible ; and a specimen now before me looks and feels as if it were made of horn. This, again, is a great protection against its enemies. L 162 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS The Six-spot Burnet Moth is one of the very commonest insects we have on the Surrey Hills. It breeds in such vast numbers on a piece of waste land near my home that its cocoons give a distinct straw-coloured tinge to the landscape, nearly every grass stem containing one, and some two and even three cocoons each. During very favourable seasons I have known the Caterpillar build these cocoons on window - panes, doors, and even zinc pails in daily use. The life and actions of this pretty little Moth are regulated very much by the character of the weather. During hot sunny days the air fairly quivers with the vast multitude on the wing; but if the temperature should fall below a certain point, not a Moth is to be seen until you come to look for them in the grass, when B'URN'E? as man y as half a score may be MOTH ON found together clinging to some PUPA CASE. flower an( j to eac h ot ] ier m a more or less benumbed condition. When the Six-spot Burnet Moth emerges from its pupa case its fore-wings are blackish-blue or green in colour with six crimson spots on each, but as time goes on the insect loses much of its brilliancy of coloration and becomes a faded bedraggled-looking creature with little strength whereby to fly or crawl about amongst the grass. WONDERS OF THE INSECT WORLD 163 STAG BEETLES, (1 FEMALE) (2 MALE). BEETLES The Beetles are a very numerous family. We have over 3,000 different species in the British Islands, and new ones are being added almost every year. These insects have their two front wings har- dened until they become horny coverings for the hind ones, which lie neatly folded between them and the body of the Beetle when not in use. The Stag Beetle is the largest creature of its kind met with in our country, and has derived its name from the resemblance of the jaws of the male to the horns of a Stag. These great organs are only used for fighting its rivals. It feeds upon juices, which it obtains by injuring twigs and fruit. Although common in Kent, the Stag Beetle is not often met with on the northern side of the River Thames. My friend Mr. Martin Duncan, who has made a life-long study of insects, tells me that if one of these huge creatures happens to roll over 164 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS on its back upon a flat surface it has such great difficulty in regaining its feet that it is frequently set upon by wood ants and calmly taken to pieces joint by joint and devoured. The Dor Beetle is an exceedingly common creature almost everywhere. It is, however, a remarkable insect in more respects than one. For instance, when molested it generally rolls over on to its back, and, drawing all its legs close up to its body, lies perfectly still for some little time, pre- tending to be dead. In the autumn it digs a number of deep holes in the ground, lays an egg in each, and with admirable forethought for the welfare of its offspring, carries a supply of food down, so that the grub will have something to eat directly it is hatched. I have watched Curlews pushing their long bills down these holes in search of the grubs. One of our most useful insects is the Burying, or Sexton, Beetle, which is black in colour, with two bold orange bands across its back. The peculiarity of this species is that it searches out the dead bodies of mice, small birds and frogs, and buries them, thus doing the world a twofold service by preventing their decaying bodies from poisoning the air, and at the same time enriching the soil. The creature does not, however, labour with these useful ends in view, but for a purpose more closely connected with its own interests, namely, the welfare of its young. Male and female Sexton Beetles hunt in couples, and find the dead bodies for which they search by scent. When they have discovered a lifeless WONDEKS OF THE INSECT WORLD 165 SEXTON BEETLES AND DEAD REDSTART. mouse or bird, a grave is dug for it, and as soon as it has been buried the female burrows through the soft earth covering the little carcase, and lays a number of eggs on it. In a little while the grubs are hatched out, and feed upon the carrion till they are fully-grown, bury themselves in the ground, and rest until it is time for them to corne forth as perfect Beetles. The Cockchafer is right through its whole life one of the most mischievous Beetles in our country. As soon as ever the grub is hatched it commences to eat the roots of plants, and goes on doing so whenever the weather will permit for three long years, by which time its fat, white, maggot-like body will contain as much as a thimbleful of earth. 166 THE FATRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS Where it is very numer- ous it consumes the grass roots so completely that the turf can be rolled off just as if it had been cut away with a spade. Rooks are very useful COCKCHAFER. in destroying the grubs of the Cockchafer, just in the same way that Starlings do us a great service by eating those of the Daddy Long-legs. When fully grown the grub of this Beetle makes for itself a cocoon in the earth, and the following year comes forth in the shape of the familiar Cockchafer, to continue its work of destruction amongst the leaves of trees. I must not forget to mention one little Beetle whose work is familiar to every child living in the country. It has no popular name, but scientists call it Scolytus Destructor, which means a destroyer that makes winding passages, or burrows. The head of this mischievous insect is black, and its wing-cases sometimes of the same colour and at others chestnut brown. The female Bark Borer, we will christen her in English, selects some tree in an unhealthy condition, or piece of cut timber, and burrows a round hole down to the wood. She then drives a tunnel from half an inch to an inch and a quarter in length, partly in the wood and partly in the bark, and lays her eggs along it. When she has finished she frequently dies near the entrance hole, and her dead body thus prevents enemies getting inside the burrow to interfere with VONDEItS OF THE INSECT WORLD 167 WOOD EORED BY SCOLYTUS DESTRUCTOR BEETLE AND LARV/E. the eggs, or the wee white grubs that in due time come from them. As soon as the grubs are hatched they com- mence to make burrows to right and left of the one made by their mother, and their tunnels vary from an inch and a half to three and three-quarters in length. When fully grown each larva changes into a pupa, and then becomes transformed into a Beetle, and eats its way out through the bark to fly off in search of a mate and fresh trees to de- stroy. This is how all the little round holes we see in the bark of decaying trees are formed. Our illustration shows the work of this interest- ing Beetle and its grubs, and it will be noticed that the burrows made by the latter increase in width according to the growth of their makers. The Glow-worm is one of our most wonderful 1G8 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS FEMALE GLOW-WORM. and interesting Beetles. The female has neither wings to fly with nor covers to protect her body, although her mate has both. She possesses the marvellous power, however, of being able to give out a bluish-green light from the under parts of the last three rings of her body ; and this little lamp shines so brightly that it shows the grass blades round it, and can be seen at a considerable distance in the night-time. Gilbert White says, in his " Natural History of Selborne," that she puts her lamp out between eleven and twelve o'clock. The male Glow-worm also carries a light, but his is not nearly so bright as that of his mate. Some naturalists think that the female Glow-worm carries her bright light in order to attract her mate during the hours of darkness, but others seem to doubt it. This little Beetle should never be harmed under any circumstances, because its grub does a lot of service to the farmer by feeding upon injurious snails. WONDERS OF THE INSECT WORLD 169 THE COCKROACH AND THE DEVIL'S COACH- HORSE The common Cockroach, which is generally, though quite mistakenly, called a Blackbeetle, is one of the most disliked insects inhabiting human dwellings. It is not a native of our country at all, but is supposed to have been brought by trading vessels visiting countries on the Eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. This loathsome-smelling creature, although so active when we have all retired to bed, hunting round kitchens and sculleries in search of crumbs and any other scraps it can find, is a hater of light. The specimen figured in our illustra- tion was so stupefied by the daylight that I had no difficulty whatever in pho- tographing it. The dark object in front of the Cockroach is the egg-purse of the insect. It is shaped very much like a hand-bag without the handle, and is so elastic that when the young ones emerge from it the sides close together again and it is difficult to see by what means they escaped. The Devil's Coach-horse is a most interesting creature that may be met with and studied in COCKROACH AND EGG-PURSE. 170 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS DEVIL'S COACH-HORSE. almost any field or garden. It ought never to be des- troyed, because, although quite harmless to man, it is a great destroyer of other insects injurious to his crops. I greatly admire it be- cause of its wonderful courage. It does not ap- pear to know what fear is, and never seems daunted by any enemy, however large. The specimen figured in the illustration attacked me whilst I was trying to photograph it, and it w r as quite laughable to watch it savagely squeezing a piece of the skin of my left thumb between its jaws. Children frequently think, when they see this little insect raise the hind part of its body into the air and strike a defiant attitude, that it in- tends to sting ; but this is not the case, as it has nothing to sting with, and the only harm it can do is to give a sharp nip with its powerful jaws. A Devil's Coach-horse will attack almost any other insect that may happen to come near it. I have even seen one kill another in the same way that a Ferret would slay a Rat. It seized its adversary fiercely by the upper part of the thorax or front body, and driving its sharp powerful jaws into it by a series of gripping movements slew the unfortunate creature in a few moments. WONDERS OF THE INSECT WORLD 171 GRASSHOPPERS AND CRICKETS I must now tell my readers as briefly as possible something of the history of two familiar insects that do not have a Caterpillar or grub stage at all, but are hatched from eggs more or less like young birds. They are the Common Grasshopper and House Cricket. The young ones have no wings when they first appear, and cast their skins several times before reaching the adult stage of their existence. That is why we often see what looks like the bleached skeleton of a Grasshopper at- tached to some piece of herbage in the fields. The Common Grasshopper, which is so numerous and noisy during dry, hot summers, does not pro- duce its chittering noise by means of its mouth, but by rubbing the file-like in- side edges of its powerful hind-legs a- gainst its wings. At one time it was thought that these insects had no sense of hearing, but that is not the case, and I have watched two specimens find each other under circumstances-" that left no 4oubt but that they did so by sound GRASSHOPPER. 172 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS alone. They are quarrelsome creatures and will sometimes fight until they maim each other. The female lays her eggs in the ground, making a hole for the purpose with a long, curiously con- structed tube situated at the end of her body. We have several different species of Grass- hoppers, and the Great Green one, which is the largest of all, is common in some parts of the country, but hardly ever seen or heard in others. Who does not know the shrill chirrup of the homely Cricket ? Many boys and girls think that its "song" is produced by its mouth, but this is not the case. As a matter of fact no insect makes a noise of any kind with its mouth. The male House Cricket produces his music by rubbing his wing-cases against each other. A curious thing about these homely little insects is that they sometimes fly away and desert their old haunts quite suddenly, and when they do so, travel through the air in a wavy, up and down manner, like a Woodpecker fly- ing across an open space from one spinney to another. Crickets jump, but they are not such good athletes as Grasshoppers, and would come off second best in a competition with those insects. Beside the House Cricket we have the Mole and Field Crickets, which are both larger, living in our country. CRICKET. WONDERS OF THE INSECT WORLD 173 BEES, WASPS AND FLIES Bees and Wasps have four wings. Those forming the second pair are smaller than the first and have fewer veins. They are without hair and quite smooth. A curious thing about them is that directly they commence to fly they hook the edges of the front and hind wings together, and thus form two large surfaces to beat the air with instead of four small ones. We have a good many different kinds of Wild Bees in our country ; some of them are called social because they live in communities or families, and others solitary on account of the fact that they live only in pairs. The history of the Humble Bees is quite dif- ferent from that of our Domesticated or Hive Bees. Only a number of the healthy, strong young fe- males of the former live through the winter, and these not in nests or hives, but in hollow trees, the thatches of ricks, and other dry situations. When the warm spring sunshine wakes them up they make nests of moss either on the sur- face of the ground or in holes. As soon as the rough little nest has been built, the females collect HUMBLE BEE. 174 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS a quantity of pollen and honey, and with- out attempting to make any cells lay a number of eggs in it. Directly the grubs are hatched they commence to feed on this, and when they have reached their full size, spin cocoons for themselves and go to rest for a few days, emerg- ing again as completely formed young Bees that soon begin to help their mother. The empty cocoons are afterwards used as honey-pots. In this way more workers are gradually added to the nest, then small females that are said to produce only drones or males, and later on large females, which are the only members of the family that live through the winter and carry on the work of their f oremothers. The Leaf -cutter Bee is perhaps the best known of the solitary kinds. It ex- cavates tunnels, such as that shown in our illus- tration, in deadwood, old walls, and the ground, and lines them with pieces of green leaves, those of the rose appearing to form favourite materials. When she has cut these pieces of leaf off with her sharp jaws she flies away and TUNNEL MADE BY LEAF- packs them very neatly CUTTING BEE WITH EGG inside the tunnel already CARTRIDGES OR PACKAGES dug WONDERS OF THE INSECT WORLD 175 TREE WASP'S NEST. makes separate packages of these pieces of leaf, and lays an egg in each. These packages measure about three-eighths of an inch in diameter and five-eighths in length, and are separated from each other by several circular pieces of leaf. Each package contains a supply of food, and thus this wonderful creature provides for young she will never live to see and the continuance of her species upon the face of the earth. I have noticed that if one of these interesting insects happens to fall on to a flat surface with her piece of leaf whilst she is carrying it home, she cannot rise again with it, and is obliged to desert it. We have a good many different kinds of Wasps in the British Islands. Like the Bees, some of them are social and some solitary. The Common Wasp makes its nest in holes in the ground, and the Tree Wasp, as its name suggests, in trees and bushes. Both make globular nests, which are constructed from fibres of decay- 176 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS ing or green wood ground into pulp and mixed with some sticky substance that gives them the quality and appearance of rough paper. Wasps feed their grubs upon honey and the bodies of other insects. I have frequently watched them catch House Flies, and cut up and carry away the bodies of dead Hive Bees for this purpose. Amongst these singular creatures the neuters, or workers, are produced first, then the young females, and lastly the males. Curiously enough, after the last two have left the old home in the autumn, the workers seem to lose heart, and recognise that all is over, for, instead of continuing to feed the young grubs upon which they have hitherto lavished such an amount of tender care, they carry them out of the nest and leave them to die. The largest Wasp in the British Islands is the Hornet, which nests in hollow trees and is capable of inflicting a very painful sting. The most beautiful and the largest of what are called by naturalists our Lace-winged Flies, are to be found amongst the Dragon Flies, of which we can boast some fifty different species. These creatures are widely known as Horse Stingers and dreaded by children, DRAGON FLY. who labour under the WONDERS OF TEE INSECT WORLD 177 DRAGON FLY'S WINGS. quite mistaken idea that they are able to do them some harm. In its first stages of existence a Dragon Fly lives entirely in the water, where it catches and devours all kinds of insects and even small fishes and tad- poles. In this element it breathes through its tail by taking a quantity of water into a wonderful apparatus situated there, and extracting the air from it. By suddenly forcing the water out of this organ it can drive itself along like a rocket, and it is said that the idea of a propeller-driven steamer was borrowed from this interesting creature. When the insect has lived its appointed time in the water it crawls up some reed stem into the air, and there waits until the skin splits at the shoulders and it can wriggle forth and unfold its wings a perfect fly. The light parts, shown in our illustration, of a Dragon Fly's wings are hollow tubes filled with air. They are, of course, not white in the live insect, but have been repro- duced in this way in order to show them more clearly and exactly. A Dragon Fly can travel backwards almost as well as forwards when necessary, and its ability to do this must be of great assistance in catching the winged insects upon which it feeds from early 178 THE FAIRY-LAND OF LIVING THINGS morn till dewy eve during fine hot weather. Although every boy and girl knows that OAK APPLES. the Acorn and not the Oak Apple is the fruit of our noblest British tree, I wonder how many are really aware how the latter is formed ? I will tell them. The Gall Fly, that infests the Oak, bores a hole with an apparatus with which it is specially WONDERS OF THE INSECT WORLD 179 armed, in some suitable part, and then drops an egg into it. As soon as the Grub or Maggot is hatched the Gall or Oak Apple commences to grow and supplies the creature with very rich food. It seems as if the Grub has some power by which it compels the apple to grow, because if the former happens to die the latter ceases to develop. During its imprisonment the Grub grows too large for its skin, and casts it several times over before it changes into the pupa stage. When it becomes a perfect Gall Fly it eats its way out of the apple and takes wing. Occasion- ally, however, it happens that it has no chance of doing this, for in spite of the thick strong walls of its prison-house some Tit hammers open the Gall and devours the insect during its resting- time in the winter, as shown in the illustratioL opposite. The May Fly is one of the most wonderful insects in the whole realms of Nature. It spends two years in the water to prepare it for a perfect state which only lasts for a few hours. After it leaves the water it does not require any kind of food, and, as already stated, has no mouth wherewith it can eat. Although in a state MAY FLY. of freedom its life only lasts for a day, I have kept it longer in cap- tivity. This is a very curious thing in regard to other insects. Two naturalists once caught a 180 THE FAIRY- LAND OF LIVING THINGS certain fly, which in all its stages does not live more than six weeks, and imprisoned it in a box, where it was forgotten for three months, and then, to their great surprise, was still found to be alive. In this condition it existed for a whole year without food of any kind. If a man could be kept alive under similar conditions he would not die until he was about five hundred and sixty years old. We will now take a passing glance at some SPIDER'S WEB COVERED WITH HOAR FROST WONDERS OF THE INSECT WORLD 181 SPIDER SEIZING A FLY. creatures which are not insects, but still exceed- ingly interesting objects to study. Spiders are numerous almost everywhere, and their skill in making webs, cunning in capturing their prey, and great affection for their young claim our attention and admiration. The beauty of their workmanship is hardly ever realised until their webs are covered with dew or hoar frost, when it shows us fairyland indeed. Many spiders weave webs of great strength as well as beauty. Some years ago a gentleman found a Golden-crested Wren, our smallest British bird, entangled in one. This, at first sight, appears difficult to believe, but I can 182 THE FAIRY- LAND OF LIVING THINGS credit it, as I made a number of experiments on a funnel-shaped web, similar to the one shown in our illustration, and discovered that it would stand a pull equal to about four ounces avoirdupois. Snails and Slugs, although such lowly creatures, will well repay a little time spent in studying them. I wonder how many of my young readers are aware of the fact that the Edible Snail, figured below, builds a nest and lays eggs like a bird, except that the latter are quite round and have a thick skin covering instead of a shell ? The inside of this Snail's nest, which is dug in the ground, would hold an average-sized walnut, and I have known its builder lay as many as twenty- four eggs in it in the same number of hours. When the eggs have all been deposited, the hole through which they are dropped is closed up and the sun left to do the hatching. In conclusion, I would earnestly urge all boys and girls to use their eyes and ears, and to jot down in a diary everything of interest observed in the Fairy-land of Living Things. EDIBLE SNAIL AND TWO OF ITS EGGS, 20. 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