10 WILD NATURE IN STRATHEARN. 



when she goes out to feed, so that prowling 

 enemies may not get them, is also natural to 

 the Wild Duck, which covers the eggs in her 

 nest with dead leaves, grass, &c., when she 

 goes in search of food. My old terrier knows 

 I suppose by smell, as do also foxes that there 

 are young rabbits below, and very quickly 

 scrapes them out, not to eat them, but simply 

 for the pleasure of killing them. She is like 

 the Highland keeper's dog, which was so " full 

 o' sariousness, that he could never get eneuch 

 o' fechtin' " ; only, in her case, it is worrying 

 vermin. 



I can see by the upturned excrement of the 

 cattle that a Hedgehog has been furrowing for 

 beetles, slugs, and insects, shortly since, but as 

 he is a night feeder, he had gone to his lair in 

 the wood before our arrival, otherwise the terrier 

 would have found him. Hedgehogs have the 

 power of rolling themselves up into a ball with 

 the spines standing erect. In this state they 

 are safe from the attack of most dogs, but a 



