VIGILANT FULFERS 37 



hares swarm in those fields. Probably the reason 

 for the many forms is that a hare likes to face the 

 wind when sleeping, and so scratches out many beds 

 to suit the wind's changing directions. Among 

 animals that sleep very soundly is the hedgehog 

 he has little to fear when asleep ; in case of danger, 

 he has only to erect his spines, to discourage effec- 

 tively any disturber of his dreams. While hedgehogs, 

 dormice, and badgers sleep deeply through the greater 

 part of the winter, the squirrel is the lightest of 

 sleepers ; on dry, bright winter days he enjoys a frolic 

 in the snow. 



j - - 



It is commonly held that fieldfares roost on the 



ground ; yet we never remember to have disturbed 



them when roosting in that way, but have 



Puffers** often done so in the woods, in which they 

 had favourite parts. They come to the 

 chosen haunt on the brink of darkness, after the 

 habit of carrion crows, and they roost in companies 

 apparently of twenty and thirty on the older growths 

 of underwood. At all times the fieldfares are wide 

 awake, and they never fail to take wing and utter 

 their throaty chuckle on the slightest provocation. 



There is a theory that the eyes of wild creatures 

 magnify things seen, so that they appear many times 



