JULY. INSTINCT OF ANIMALS. 265 



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 

 sea-shore seem to have an instinct which teaches 

 them the exact line to which the highest spring- 

 tides ever reach, so do the land birds avoid build- 

 ing their nests in places to which the land floods 

 ever ascend. 



