246 THE RING OF NATURE 



its shoulder. That is perhaps a reason why it 

 lives in communities, or perhaps the result. 

 ' Father,' asked the inquiring youngster, ' why 

 does the sole have its eyes both on one side of 

 its head ? ' ' Because, my son, it lives on the 

 bottom of the sea, and so has no use for eyes on 

 the lower side of its head.' ' And, father, why 

 does it live on the bottom of the sea ? ' ' Because 

 both its eyes are on the upper part of its head.' 



All these ghostly shapes of the hedgerows are 

 busy gathering their hoards for the winter. Such 

 a provision on the part of the dormouse seems 

 uncalled for and scarcely defensible. If it has 

 the faculty of sleeping through the cold, what 

 need is there to lay up a store ? Perhaps this 

 fat gentleman with two strings to his bow is in 

 a state of transition from the storing habit to 

 the hibernating habit. He stores in obedience 

 to an instinct a million years old which the 

 sleeping habit ought to have removed. And be- 

 cause he cannot get rid of the habit of taking a 

 nibble in the middle of the night he cannot become 

 so perfect a sleeper as the bear, who goes to bed 

 fat, and never moves until it is time to get up in 

 spring. 



As for the vole and the field mouse, or wood 

 mouse, they are awake all the winter. There 

 can be little real work for old farmer Vole to do 

 in his snug underground retreat with his well- 

 stocked granary beside him. Yet the snow is 

 never down many hours before his footsteps are 



