INSTINCT OF ANIMALS. 151 



Presently, the flood brought down, right upon the island, a 

 gigantic tree, with all its roots and branches, and it seemed 

 certain that he must be swept away at once. He was given 

 up by all the spectators, and they turned away their eyes, 

 not daring to look at this last act of the scene. However, 

 the very moment when the danger seemed the greatest, was 

 that of his deliverance ; for the tree, in consequence of its 

 great size and weight, grounded when within a yard of the 

 man. He managed to scramble on to its branches, and to 

 maintain his position until the waters subsided. 



What becomes of the trout during these sudden floods it is 

 not easy to say, unless, warned by instinct of the approaching 

 danger, they retire to the deep holes and recesses under the 

 banks, where the force of the water cannot reach them. It 

 is very seldom that, on the receding of a flood, fish are found 

 on the land, though certainly it occasionally happens that 

 they are bewildered, and are either left high and dry or in 

 the small pools at the sides of the river. When, also, the 

 same cause that has made the stream overflow has filled the 

 water with clay and dirt, the trout become sick and weak, 

 and are unable to contend with a force of current which they 

 could easily have withstood in clear water. 



As the flood decreases both trout and eels take to all the 

 eddies and corners to feed on the numerous worms and grubs 

 which are washed off the banks and fields into the water. 



Very few birds or, comparatively speaking, even land 

 animals, fall victims to floods. The rabbits manage to climb 

 up into the highest furze bushes, or even into the branches 

 of trees, and it is very seldom that any birds make their nests 

 within reach of this danger. In the same manner that terns 

 and other birds who lay their eggs on the seashore seein to 

 have an instinct which teaches them the exact line to which 

 the highest spring tides ever reach, so do the land birds avoid 

 building their nests in places to which the land floods ever 

 ascend. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



AUGUST. 



Golden Plover Ring Dottrel Migratory Birds Butterflies Cral>s ; their 

 manner of casting their shells The Sea Angler The Deal Fish Habits 

 of Woodcocks A pet Roe Grouse Shootings and Grouse Wild Fowl. 



DURING the first part of this month the mountain-bred birds, 

 such as golden plover, dottrel, curlew, &c., are daily seen to 



