ANIMALS IN RAIN 1 1 7 



and even the * peat-hags/ in whose hollows they 

 might find shelter. Partridges huddle under the 

 fences, or lie on the driest and barest places on the 

 fallows, apparently caring less for shelter above than 

 for dry soil beneath them. Rooks often flock into 

 thick fir trees, or in summer take refuge in the old 

 and close-growing oaks which line the roadsides. 

 But the small and helpless birds, yellow-hammers, 

 buntings, chaffinches and linnets, seem quite be- 

 wildered by the beating storms. They creep into 

 cart ruts or behind tufts of grass ; often they take 

 refuge under the big swede turnips round the edges 

 of the fields, where they are so numbed and cramped 

 by cold and wet that they may be caught by the 

 hand, or are picked up by stoats and rats, humble 

 and unconsidered victims of the * plague of rain and 

 waters.' 



