ANIMALS IN RAIN 1 1 5 



in these they find warm, dry and well-drained winter 

 lodgings, safe even in flood-time ; for their powers 

 of swimming enable them to shift from tree to tree, 

 and the swarms of snails and insects which shelter 

 in the hollow trunks provide them with food for 

 a ' rainy day/ Foxes often lie in these large hollow 

 pollards during very wet weather ; and the writer 

 has seen an otter slip from the crown of one of them 

 into the Cherwell during an autumn flood. But foxes 

 more often prefer to lie still for hours curled up 

 in the high grass and brambles -in some thick double- 

 fence, or dry furze-brake. Sometimes, in heavy rain, 

 they are so reluctant to leave their dry quarters that 

 they do not move until their disturber is close upon 

 them ; and the comical, half-reluctant, and wholly 

 sulky look of an old dog-fox as he stands hesitating 

 between prudence and comfort should appeal to the 

 most unsympathetic sportsman. Horses and cattle 

 never look so miserable as when standing exposed 

 to cold and driving rain. Every field in which cattle 

 are turned loose should have some rude shelter pro- 

 vided, however rough and hardy the stock. If left 

 to themselves in a state of nature, they would travel 

 miles to some well-known bank or thicket, which 

 would at least give cover against the wind. Shut 

 up between four hedges they are denied alike the 

 aid of human forethought and of their own instinct. 



