NOVEMBER. 323 



during winter, and which are ready to deposit their 

 young in, the following spring. Salmon now begin 

 to ascend the rivers to spawn. Bees require to be 

 removed under shelter, and their hives to be covered 

 with their winter coat ; pigeons also require feeding. 



Many wild creatures now retire to their winter 

 retreats. The frog sinks to the bottom of ponds 

 and ditches, and buries itself in the mud. The 

 lizard, the badger, the hedgehog, creep into holes 

 in the earth, and remain torpid till spring. Bats 

 get into old barns, caves, and deserted buildings, 

 where, suspending themselves by the hind feet, and 

 wrapping themselves in the membranes of their 

 fore feet, they sleep winter away, except some 

 unusual interval of mild weather should awake and 

 call them out for a little while occasionally. Squir- 

 rels, rats, and field-mice shut themselves up with* 

 their winter stores : and the dormouse betakes itself 

 to slumber. 



When the hedges are bare, numbers of old birds' 

 nests become visible : and when they are near the 

 dogrose, they are found full of the seeds of the hips ; 

 the field-mice being in the habit of climbing up the 

 hedges for this fruit, and using the nests as stations 

 where they may sit and eat. 



RURAL OCCUPATIONS. 



Threshing and wintering of cattle are resumed. 

 Many operations of manuring, draining, levelling 



