254 EXTHACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CU. XXXV 



perish miserably. The foxes on some of the more 

 inaccessible mountains still keej3 their ground, and 

 in the lambing season do an immensity of damage, 

 for this animal has the destructive inclination to 

 kill not only as many as she requires for the food 

 of her young cubs, but every lamb which she can 

 manage to get hold of, leaving the bodies on the 

 ground, or slightly concealing them. 



I imagine that all animals who, like foxes, hide a 

 part of their prey, only return to this reserve of 

 food in the case of their not being successful in 

 their hunting for fresh game. All hiding birds and 

 animals prefer feeding on a newly killed prey, the 

 blood of which is still warm. Sometimes, if driven 

 by hunger or unsuccessful hunting, they return 

 immediately and dig up what they had laid by : 

 sometimes several days elapse before they return, 

 and often the hidden bodies are never re-visited 

 at all. 



Eagles kill a considerable number of lambs, 

 carrying them up to their eyrie without difficulty ; 

 indeed a good shepherd, if he does his duty by his 

 master, has constant employment in watching and 

 guarding his charge. Without the aid of his dogs 

 the best shepherd would be perfectly helpless on 

 our extensive mountain ranges ; in fact, without 

 sheep-dogs the sheep would, in spite of all the shep- 



