206 ROUND THE GREAT WHITE HORSE 



to the bare wood. In some places the rabbits had 

 first stripped the bark from the lower part of a clipped 

 thorn fence ; then mounted to the top and nibbled 

 the shoots ; and lastly, using the thick top as a seat, 

 had nibbled the ivy bark from the trees in the hedge- 

 row, eight feet from the ground. It is easy to guess 

 what damage the starving rabbits do in young planta- 

 tions, if the drifted snow enables them to scramble 

 over the wire fencing. 



When snow melts on the grass, any one may notice 

 a number of dead, frozen earth-worms lying on the 

 flattened sward. This may account for a habit which 

 moles have of working just between the earth and 

 snow. When the thaw comes, the lower half of the 

 burrow may be seen for yards along the surface of 

 the ground, unless the upper crust was frozen before 

 the snow fell. While all the harmless animals are 

 obliged to spend the greater part of the day and night 

 seeking food, their enemies profit exceedingly. The 

 stoats and weasels find that they have only to prowl 

 down the stream-side to catch any number of thrushes 

 and soft-billed birds which crowd the banks where 

 the water melts the snow, and little piles of feathers 

 and a drop or two of red on the snow show where 

 the fierce little beasts have murdered here a redwing 

 and there a wagtail, or even a water-hen. The tracks 

 show well their method of hunting. Once we followed 

 the tracks of a fox for a long distance from a large 

 earth on the downs. He had begun by visiting a farm 

 near, going round all the ricks, and then close to the 



