MAMMALS c 5 



It is still better in the evening. Then the lover of 

 Nature takes his place at the edge of the wood with 

 a telescope or glass. There is a rustle in the bush, 

 and a hare springs swiftly into the meadow, looks 

 round, and, if all is quiet, hops farther on. A louder 

 rustle, and deer come slowly out, to enjoy the succulent 

 green or to regale themselves on the toothsome pasture 

 of the nearest clover-field. 



But the attentive observer learns a good deal about 

 animals without seeing them. Here the bark stripped 

 from a slender twig in the thicket betrays the proximity 

 of a strong buck ; there he notices the much - trodden 

 haunt of the slender deer. On all sides he sees in- 

 dications of the presence of plenty of mammals ; in 

 the winter, especially, he reads whole stories in the 

 footsteps that stand out in the snow. 



Over a broad snow-sheet runs the trace of a hare. 

 It can be seen for a long way in an ever curving line. 

 Then it is joined by the track of a second hare, though 

 the two are distinct. Now there is a trodden spot in 

 the snow that catches the eye with its drops of blood 

 and scattered wool ; it is the wooing or bucking-place 

 of the long-eared game. We look again, and see other 

 steps approaching; a fox has crept up to the timid 

 animals. Now there is a deep pit in the disordered 

 snow, its pure white flecked with blood. Reynard's 

 stratagem has succeeded. He has got his dinner. 



The life of all our mammals is surrounded by constant 

 dangers. Some of them, in particular, have been 

 subjected to so sharp a selection by the unceasing peril 

 that only the finest can survive the struggle. Thus, 



