CHAPTER V 



Cessation of song Oak woods less silent than others Mixed 

 gatherings of birds in oak woods Abundance of caterpillars 

 Kapacious 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 

 Eabbits and stoats Mystery of fascination Cases of pre-natal 

 suggestion Hampshire pigs fascinated by fire Conjectures 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. 



THE nightingale ceases singing about June 18 or 20. 

 A bird here and there may sing later; I occasionally 

 hear one as late as the first days of July. And because 

 the nightingale is not so numerous as the other singers, 

 and his song attracts more attention, we get the*idea 

 that his musical period is soonest over. Yet several 

 other species come to the end of their vocal season 

 quite as early, or but little later. If it be an extremely 

 abundant species, as in the case of the willow- wren, we 

 will hear a score or fifty sing for every nightingale. 

 Blackcap and garden warbler, whitethroat and lesser 

 whitethroat, are nearly silent, too, at the beginning of 

 July; and altogether it seems to be the rule that 

 the species oftenest heard after June are the most 

 abundant. 



