84 FLASHLIGHTS ON NATURE 



and wounded by " a mousing owl," but not quite 

 killed at the time, and now abandoned on the 

 open. The burying-beetles, all agog, proceed to 

 cover it with a layer of earth not, indeed, out 

 of such instinctive piety as that which induced 



NO. 5. BURYING-BEETLES AND FIELD-MOUSE. BEETLE 

 PROPOSES, BUT SHRIKE DISPOSES. 



the robin-redbreast and the wren in the story to 

 cover the Babes in the Wood with mouldering 

 leaves, but for a much more prosaic and practical, 

 though none the less praiseworthy, motive. They 

 want to lay their eggs in it, so that the maggots 

 may have plenty to eat when they hatch out for 



