LITTLE BEASTS OF FIELD AND WOOD 



paddle about in the shrunken streams and ponds, 

 or doze, huddled into a ball, on the edge of the 

 bank, hidden by the rank growth of flags and 

 bulrushes among which they have well-trodden 

 paths leading from place to place. The young 

 are born and brought up in the burrows, but only 

 spend a short time there ; for they grow with 

 amazing rapidity, and learn to shift for themselves 

 in a remarkably short time. 



Once when I was wading across a stream about 

 knee-deep, a little fellow, somewhat less than half 

 grown, came swimming along close to the bottom; 

 on coming to the place where my boots had 

 stirred up the mud, he seemed bewildered, and 

 rose to the surface to get his bearings, and, after a 

 look around, dived again, and in so doing exposed 

 his tail, which I immediately grasped, lifting him 

 half out of water. He did not appear to be 

 greatly alarmed at the circumstance, and, after 

 some futile attempts at climbing up his own tail 

 to bite my hand, seemed perfectly resigned to 



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