October 21, 1920] 



NATURE 



247 



for them, it seems almost certain that the small 

 animals enjoy their life to its utmost." We come 

 next to a sympathetic study of frogs and toads. 

 The toad's eyes are described as of "a pale metal- 

 lic brown with reddish lights like flickering fires 

 in their depths." This is good, but we do not 

 like the suggestion that iris and pupil are syno- 

 nymous, and we should not ourselves speak of 

 the toad ejecting its poison. It is interesting to 

 learn that toads will go over a mile to a particular 

 breeding-pond- — perhaps a sort of "homing." Miss 

 Pitt's workmanship is first-class throughout, but 

 she excels herself in dealing with mammals. What 

 a fine picture she gives of the long-tailed field- 

 mouse, with "great black eyes looking ready to 

 jump out of its head," which washes itself when 

 the least upset, a great climber, a burglar of bee- 

 hives. If the tail is suddenly seized, it skins, and 

 the animal escapes, very like "a special arrange- 

 ment to enable its owner to get away from hawks 

 and owls." The mouse does not bite off the 

 skinned bone, as some books say ; the caudal 

 vertebrae dry up and fall off of their own 

 accord. 



We thought we knew something about moles, 

 but we have learned much from Miss Pitt. For 

 their size they are extraordinarily fierce and 

 strong ; they fight furiously, and it is doubtful 

 whether a weasel could master one. On one occa- 

 sion a mole moved a nine-pound brick, which is 

 like a man moving more than three tons. Their 

 rate of digestion is past belief, and they require 

 meals almost continuously. One that was supplied 

 with forty worms in the late afternoon was dead 

 next morning — with an empty stomach. "What- 

 ever you do, don't despise the 'poor little mole,' 

 ... in its dark tunnels it fights, hunts, feasts, 

 mates, and enjoys life with quite as much gusto 

 as the creatures of the light and air." 



Miss Pitt made a fine experiment with a very 

 young common rat, still blind, feeble, and very 

 naked. She gave it in a diplomatic way to a cat, 

 whose litter had been reduced to one — about ten 

 days old. " I could hardly hope that the cat would 

 be so good, or shall I say so foolish, as to nurse 

 such an utterly different baby as the rat ! " But 

 that was what happened. The rat was acceprted, 

 cleaned, fed, fondled, tended, and treated just like 

 the kitten along with which it was reared. Even 

 after another family came to occupy the cat's 

 attention, she remained on friendly terms with the 

 rat and often paid him a visit. The cat in ques- 

 tion had been a good ratter, but after the adoptio 1 

 ratting was done with ! 



In the study dealing with the pied-wagtails, 

 willow-wrens, and great tits of a garden, the 

 author notes that the parent w-agtails worked for 

 sixteen hours a dav, and in that time brought 

 fwKl about 102 times to the nest; and it is not 

 merely the going to and fro ; there is the search- 

 ing for insects in between. It is suggested, by 

 the way, that the willow-wren's domed nest serves 

 to keep the sun off the young birds, which are 

 greatly distressed by heat. There is a lively 



NO. 2660, VOL. 106] 



account of the slow- worm, the common lizard, and 

 the grass snake; thus in reference to the local 

 life of the discarded tail of the slow-worm we 

 read : " Fancy being able, when threatened by a 

 foe, to throw off such an important part as a 

 tail, and slip away, while it dances on the ground 

 and occupies his attention." We have often found 

 students puzzled by the expression "casting or 

 shedding the skin " ; and as Miss Pitt explains 

 that the skinned tail of a field-mouse dies, perhaps 

 she may be faiHy asked to explain why a snake 

 which sheds "many skins" is able to live on. It 

 is new to us that the skeleton of the slow-worm 

 shows rudiments of legs. We make such 

 trivial observations because the book is so 

 perfect. 



Fl(.. 2— Ihe lonii tailed ln-l'l moms. Krom"Wild t re»lurc» of 

 Garden and Hedgerow." 



A .study of the short-tailed field-vole, prolific, 

 harmful, greedy, but very likeable, raises a number 

 of interesting points. The dull, dark brown fur 

 is a good instance of prolonged sifting : " It is 

 not that it matches either the stems of the grass, 

 or the bare earth, but it goes wonderfully well 

 with the shadowy places between the plants." 

 Who can explain why a comfortably caged mother, 

 captured along with her litter of six, will coolly 

 and collectedly, after a careful toilet, remove one 

 baby after another from the nest, and give each 

 a sharp and fatal bile? The wavs of mice and 

 men ! Wc have left to the end the story of the 

 hedgehog, which Mi.ss Pitt defends from many 



