loo THE STUDY OF ANIMAL LIFE 



never on any account rear the cubs if misfortune 

 overtakes the vixen, and Mrs. Reynard is left to 

 bring up the progeny unaided ! 



This sagacious rascal, rather than make a home 

 of its own, takes possession of the burrow of a 

 Rabbit, and will even condescend to enlarge it so 

 as to safely harbour its own body, its consort, and 

 young, or it will share the same earth as the 

 Badger without, curious to relate, the. slightest 

 umbrage on the part of the latter ! On visiting an 

 earth tenanted by a Badger and a Fox it is easy to 

 discern which is the best housekeeper, for, whereas 

 that portion inhabited by the Badger is a model 

 homestead, clean, trim, and neat, that part 

 occupied by the Fox is untidy; it is littered with 

 uneaten food, and is a somewhat disgusting abode 

 both by sight and smell ! 



Animals such as the Deer do not, of course, 

 require a homestead, for, soon after the fawn is 

 born it is able to skip about and even swim across 

 a wide river. 



The various species of Mice and Voles construct 

 interesting homesteads, and I have seen nests of 

 the common House Mouse that would do infinite 

 credit to many kinds of birds. 



Then there is the globular ball of dry grass 

 deftly suspended in a bush by the extremely 

 pretty and Squirrel-like Dormouse, and the nest 

 of the Harvest Mouse cleverly hung among the 



