x CONTENTS 



PAGES 



starlings Perfume of the honeysuckle Beauty of the hedge 

 rose Cult of the rose Lesser whitethroat His low song- 

 Common and lesser whitethroat In the woods A sheet of 

 bracken Effect of broken surfaces Roman mosaics at Silches- 

 ter Why mosaics give pleasure Woodland birds Sound of 

 insect life Abundance of flies Sufferings of cattle Dark 

 Water Biting and teasing flies Feeding the fishes and 

 fiddlers with flies . 57-74 



CHAPTER IV 



The stag-beetle Evening flight Appearance on the wing 

 Seeking a mate Stag and. doe in a hedge The ploughman 

 and the beetle A stag-beetle's fate Concerning tenacity of 

 life Life appearances after death A serpent's skin A dead 

 glow-worm's light Little summer tragedies A snaky spot An 

 adder's basking place Watching adders The adder's senses 

 Adder's habits not well known A pair of anxious peewits 

 A dead young peewit Animals without knowledge of death 

 Removal of the dead by ants Gould's observations on ants . 75-97 



CHAPTER V 



Cessation of song Oak woods less silent than others 

 Mixed gatherings of birds in oak woods Abundance of 

 caterpillars Rapacious insects Wood ants Alarm cries of 

 woodland birds Weasel and small birds Fascination Weasel 

 and short-tailed vole Account of Egyptian cats fascinated 

 by fire Rabbits and stoats Mystery of fascination Cases of 

 pre-natal suggestion Hampshire pigs fascinated by fire Con- 

 jectures as to the origin of fascination A dead squirrel A 

 squirrel's fatal leap Fleas large and small Shrew and fleas 

 Fleas in woods The squirrel's disposition Food -hiding 

 habit in animals Memory in squirrels and dogs The lower 

 kind of memory . ' . . . . ... 98-120 



CHAPTER VI 



Insects in Britain Meadow ants The indoor view of insect 

 life Insects in visible nature The humming-bird hawk-moth, 

 and the parson Lepidopterist Rarity of death's-head moth 

 Hawk-moth and meadow-pipit Silver-washed fritillaries on 

 bracken Flight of the white admiral butterfly Dragon-flies 

 Want of English names A water-keeper on dragon-flies 



