130 THE STUDY OF ANIMAL LIFE CHAP, vn 



grass and shut the door when winter knocks ; it is again 

 easy to see that this might lead on to a definite hoard- 

 ing of food supplies. Such hoarding is well illustrated 

 by some of the light sleepers, such as dormice, who 

 awaken from their hibernation whenever the weather is 

 mild and are then inclined to have something to eat. 

 In the burrow of the hamster several store-chambers 

 are made, and grain, as well as hay, is accumulated in 

 considerable quantity. We read that the people of 

 Kamschatka rob the granaries made by one of the voles 

 (Microtus ceconomicus), and that the Mongolian herds- 

 man brings his cow in autumn to eat the haystacks 

 which are so diligently built in the summer months by 

 the quaint tailless hares. We have not been able to 

 verify in the field what has been circumstantially des- 

 cribed, that moles make collections of decapitated earth- 

 worms a store for days when the ground is gripped 

 by unusually hard frost. We are told that these col- 

 lected earthworms form a living larder, unable (as they 

 could in summer) to regrow their lost heads, and there- 

 fore unable to crawl away. As moles are experts in- 

 dealing with earthworms and as decapitation interferes 

 with co-ordinated movements, there is nothing incredible 

 in the story. But it is a grim one ! 



4. Making of Homes. Houssay arranges the dwell- 

 ings of animals in three sets (a) those which are hollowed 

 out in the earth or in wood ; (b) those which are con- 

 structed of light materials often woven together ; and 

 (c) those which are built of clay or similar material. We 

 may compare these to the caves, wigwams, and buildings 

 in which men find homes. 



Burrows are simplest, but they may be complex in 

 details. Those of the land-crabs (Gecarcinus), the wood- 

 cutting bees (Xylocopa), the sand-martins, the marmots, 

 the rabbit, the prairie dogs, illustrate this kind of dwell- 

 ing in various degrees of perfection. 



The male stickleback (Gasterosteus) weaves and glues 

 the leaves and stems of water-plants ; the harvest mouse 

 (Mus minutus) twines the leaves of grasses or cereals 

 together ; the squirrel makes a rougher nest ; but the 



