i2 ANIMALS AT WORK AND PLA Y 



ness and knowledge of the ground as if it had been 

 surprised on the prowl with all its wits awake. It may 

 have allowed the pack to approach fatally near ; but 

 when once roused, it is wholly awake not drowsy, 

 bewildered or confused. 



Hares seem never to sleep ; however closely they 

 may lie in their forms, the eye is alert and vigilant. 

 Stags sleep soundly when watched by their hinds. 

 But a solitary stag, sleeping on a hill-side, retains 

 the two senses of hearing and scent in full vigour. 

 Deerstalkers have discovered by experiment that the 

 sleeping senses of the stag are sensitive up to a 

 distance of at least two hundred yards on the wind- 

 ward side. Between the drowsy sleep of the nocturnal 

 animals and the hyper-sensitive sleep of those which 

 spend their lives in constant fear of their enemies, a 

 place must be found for the form of slumber enjoyed 

 by the large carnivora, and that of domestic animals. 

 The former have no enemies to fear, except man, and 

 the latter, protected by man, enjoy to the full the 

 blessing of natural rest. Tigers are frequently found 

 fast asleep in the daytime. Native hunters have been 

 known to track them after a ' kill ' to the place in 

 which they were lying fast asleep and gorged with 

 food, and to shoot them as they lie. When taking 

 its mid-day repose in districts where it is little dis- 

 turbed, the tiger does not always retire to a place 



