THE FAERY YEAR 



dormouse are provident, but both hibernate 

 though the squirrel sleeps so lightly and need a 

 store to draw from when they wake. The nut- 

 hatch, awake all the winter, has various foods 

 besides the nut. 



If he stored the nut in the autumn, would it 

 not argue singular prudence in a bird, a nice regard 

 for menu months hence ? The nearest approach to 

 such prudence among English birds may be the 

 larder of the shrike. But does not the shrike spit 

 the victims on the thorn, because it is able more 

 conveniently there than elsewhere to prepare them 

 for the immediate meal ? We hardly imagine the 

 shrike as thinking, " Here is a place for me to 

 hang my food against to-morrow or next day's 

 meal ! " 



Winter Wood Life 



After a soaking day and night, the sky lightens 

 and the clean December wood is radiant and most 

 glorious in the sun. It is an invigorating scene and 

 time. The sun an hour or two before midday is 

 burning an intense blue in the palest sky, an effect 

 peculiar, I think, to these bright winter days. In 

 such weather I see the lines of gossamer, some of 

 them yards in length, stretching from hazel twig to 

 hazel twig. They are not so numerous as earlier in 

 the season ; still in the right light I have seen them 

 310 



