BLOOD AND WATER 133 



measure for the absence of water. If you would 

 see rats at their merriest, watch a corn-stack on a 

 summer evening when a shower has come after 

 scorching days. In a little while a rustling will be 

 heard, and the rats steal out to gulp the raindrops on 

 the thatch and the herbage near by. We have seen 

 a rat so thirsty that in spite of being driven back 

 to his hole each time he appeared, every half -minute 

 he would again attempt to reach a farm-yard puddle. 

 A farmer who shot at one rat killed no fewer than seven, 

 which had crowded to drink from a wayside pool. 



F V * 



We have a cat which, when thirsty, sometimes drinks 

 from an open tub, balancing herself on the edge. 



When the water is too low for lapping she 

 Blood w ju <jip m a front paw and lick off the 

 Water water in delicate and dainty fashion. 



Bloodthirsty creatures require deep drinks : 

 stoats and weasels go often to water. But 

 creatures which feed on green-stuffs seldom drink 

 water directly, but in the shape of dew, or the moisture 

 of their food. Sheep, when feeding off root-crops in 

 autumn and winter, have little need of water, and 

 rabbits and hares are not great drinkers. Partridges 

 are among many birds that may drink only of rain- 

 drops or dew, or quench their thirst with juicy seeds 

 or insects. Dry summers always mean plenty of 

 partridges yet one hears, each dry summer, that 

 partridges are dying in numbers from drought. It 



