202 WILD LIFE IN HARD WEATHER 



moths. When autumn came these caterpillars 

 spun their robes of silk and passed into the 

 third, the sleeping, stage of their existence. 

 With the fall of the leaf they dropped to the 

 ground. Some, however, when about to sleep, 

 crawled down the trunk and burrowed in the 

 warm soil at the roots, before putting on their 

 garments of " chitine." All this is known to 

 the observant rook. In the thaw of the winter 

 noon the wise bird comes to the foot of the tree, 

 digs beneath the snow among the rotting leaves, 

 and, foraging for the hidden grubs, assists un- 

 consciously the little vole to hollow out a shallow 

 trench around the trunk. 



The increasing cold of night drives every 

 creature to cover. The rooks forsake the elms 

 on the slope for the oaks in the valley below, 

 where they cluster together almost as closely 

 as leaves. Hares and partridges lurk in the furze- 

 brakes near the haunts of man, and at dawn 

 steal through the gaps into the home meadows, 

 to join the pigeons among the turnips or to pick 

 up stray grains near the feeding-troughs. Black- 

 birds, thrushes, and finches collect in the thickets 

 for shelter from the bitter wind. When morning 

 comes they, too, join the wood-pigeons in the 

 fields near the farm. The pheasant goes to roost 

 in the middle of the larch plantation. Shyer 

 than the partridge, the forest-bred " long-tail " 



