Chapter I: Preface

The Editors of _The Standard_ have kindly permitted me to republish the contents of this book, and I tender them my thanks.

The original form of these Studies of animal life has been extensively altered, and, in some instances, the titles have been changed.

I am again greatly indebted to my brother, R. Wilkins Rees. His wide and accurate knowledge has been constantly at my disposal, and in the preparation of these Studies he has given me much indispensable advice and assistance.

Similarity in the habits of some of the animals described has made a slight similarity of treatment unavoidable in certain chapters.

I may also remark that, in unfrequented districts where beasts and birds of prey are not destroyed by gamekeepers, the hare is as much a creature of the night as is the badger or the fox.

ALFRED W. REES.

[Transcriber's Note: Obvious typographical errors have been corrected, and standardized the hyphenations, otherwise the text has been left as the original]

CONTENTS.

THE OTTER.

I.

THE HOLT AMONG THE ALDERS.

PAGE

Late fishing--A summer night--River voices--A master-fisher--
The old mansion--Lingering beauty--The otters' "oven"--Observant
youngsters--Careful motherhood--The meadow playground--Falling
leaves--A swollen river--Dabchick's oar-like wings--Mysterious
proceedings--Migrating salmon--Hoar-fringed river-banks--An
adventure with a sheep-dog--Slip-shod builders--Signs of
spring--A change of diet--Fattening trout--The capture of a
"kelt"--"The otter's bite"--Lone wanderings. 1-23

II.

THE POOL BENEATH THE FARMSTEAD.

A song of autumn--The salmon pool--Angling difficulties--Bullying
a sportive fish--An absent-minded fisherman--At dawn and nightfall--A
deserted home--Practical joking--A moorhen's fate--Playfulness
of youth--The torrent below the fall--The garden ponds--Feasting
on frogs--A watcher of the night--Hounds and hunters--Lutra's
discretion--The spell of fear 24-40

III.

THE GORGE OF ALLTYCAFN.

The Hunt again--Fury of despair--A "strong place"--The terrier's
discomfiture--Lutra's widowhood--Summer drought--Life at the
estuary--Returning to the river--Scarce provender--A rare and
unexpected sight--The blacksmith's baited trap--The Rock of
Gwion--Peace 41-50

THE WATER-VOLE.

I.

OUR VILLAGE HOUNDS.

Quiet life--Leisure hours--A winter pastime--A miscellaneous
pack--The bobtail, and his fight with an otter--The terrier,
and his friendship with fishermen--A family party--Expert
diving--Hunt membership, and the landlord as huntsman--Fast
and furious fun--A rival Hunt--The bobtail's death--The terrier's
eccentricities--A pleasant study begins--Brown rats--Yellow
ants--Brighteye's peculiarities--Evening sport 51-67

II.

THE BURROW IN THE RIVER BANK.

At dusk--A picturesque home--Main roads and lanes of the riverside
people--A heron's alertness--A rabbit's danger signal--The
reed-bed--The vole in fear--The wildest of the wild--Tell-tale
footprints--The significance of a blood-stain--A weasel's
ferocity--Maternal warnings--A rat-hunting spaniel--An invaded
sanctuary--The terrier's opportunity--The water-vole chatters
and sings--A gladsome life--Dangers sharpen intellect 68-82

III.

WILD HUNTING.

An otter-hunt--Fading afterglow--Spiritual influence of night--Lutra
and Brighteye--Brighteye's song--Chill waters--A beacon in
the gloom--A squirrel's derision--A silvery phantom--An old,
lean trout--Restless salmon--Change of quarters--Brighteye's
encounter with a "red" fish 83-98

IV.

SAVED BY AN ENEMY.

The "redd" in the gravel--In company with a water-shrew--Ravenous
trout--The salmon's attack--An otter appears--Brighteye's
bewilderment--Increasing vigilance--Playful minnows--A new
water-entrance--The winter granary--Careful harvesting--The
dipper's winter carol--The robin and the wren at vespers--Unsafe
quarters--Rats on the move--A sequestered pool--Icebound
haunts 99-115

V.

THE COURAGE OF FEAR.

The dawn--Restlessness of spring--A bold adventurer--A sharp
fight--Cleared pathways--Differences of opinion--A tight
snuggery--In defence of home--A monster rat--Temporary refuge--The
voles and the cannibal trout--Family troubles--A winter evening
in the village 116-129

THE FIELD-VOLE.

I.

HIDDEN PATHWAYS IN THE GRASS.

A pleasant wilderness--Pitying Nature--Hedgerow sentinels--The
story of the day--Familiar signs--An unknown scent--The agony of
fear--A change of mood--The weasel's raid--A place of slaughter--Autumn
preparations--A general panic--Hibernation--Winter sunshine--The
red bank-voles--Owls and hawks 131-150

II.

THE VALLEY OF OLWEN.

The last of winter's stores--Renewed activity--The field-vole's
food--A lively widow vole--An unequal encounter--First fond
passion--Ominous sounds--A clumsy rabbit--An unimportant "affair"--An
elopement--Nesting time--A fussy parent--A fox pays a visit--Also
a carrion crow--Repairing damages 151-166

III.

A BARREN HILLSIDE.

A secluded pasture--Poachers and owls--An astute magpie--The
vole a sire of many families--Plague--Nature's caprice--Privation
and disease--Unexpected destroyers--A living skeleton--Starvation
and death--An owl once more 167-175

THE FOX.

I.

THE LAST HUNT.

A baffled marauder--The flesh of breeding creatures tough and
tasteless--An unsavoury rat--The arrival of the Hunt--The fox sees
his foes--The view-halloo--No respite, no mercy, no sanctuary--The
last hope--A fearless vixen--Defiant to the end 177-193

II.

A NEW HOME.

Life in an artificial "earth"--Longing and despair--Contentment
of maternity--Prisoners--A way of escape--Careless infancy--A
precocious cub--First lessons--An obedient family--A fox's
smile--Inborn passion for flesh--Favourite food of fox-cubs--The
huntsman's desire 194-209

III.

THE CUB AND THE POLECAT.

Patience and watchfulness--How to capture field-voles--Winding
trails--Ill-luck--A painful surprise--A fresh line of scent--Cost
of a struggle--A luckless fortnight--The old hound and the "young
entry"--A curiously shaped monster--Pursued by a lurcher--
Desertion--A vagrant bachelor 210-223

IV.

A CRY OF THE NIGHT.

The hunting call--A recollection--A joyous greeting--A woodland
bride--The sting of a wasp--Preparation of a "breeding earth"--Meddlesome
jays and magpies--A rocky fastness on the wild west coast--Vulp's
retreat--The end of a long life--The fox's mask--Memories 224-240

THE BROWN HARE.

I.

THE UPLAND CORNFIELD.

Midsummer--The leveret's birth--First wanderings--Instinct and
teaching--The "creeps"--In the stubble--Habits change with
seasons--The "sweet joint" of the rye--Lessons from a net and a
lurcher--Rough methods--The man-scent--On the hills above the
river-mists 241-260

II.

MARCH MADNESS.

March winds--Reckless jack-hares--Courtship and rivalry--Motherhood--A
harmless conflict--An intruding fox--The faithless lover--Maternal
courage--The falcon's "stoop"--The "slit-eared" hare--Countryside
superstitions--On the river island--Patience rewarded--The hare
as a swimmer--Bloodless sport--Habits of the hare in wet weather--The
"form" in the root-field--Bereavements--Increasing caution--
Productiveness in relation to food--A poacher's ruse 261-277

III.

THE CHASE.

The basset-hound--Mirthful and dignified--A method of protecting
hares--A suggestion--Formidable foes--"Fouling" the scent--A
cry of distress--The home in the snow-drift--The renegade cat--An
inoffensive life--A devastating storm 278-291

THE BADGER.

I.

A WOODLAND SOLITUDE.

Haunts of a naturalist--Why certain animals are unmolested--Means
of security--Fear of dogs and men--A place of interest--The
"nocturnal" instinct--Droll revelry--Serious pastimes--Teaching
by reward and punishment--Animals study the disposition of
their young--Voices of the wilderness 293-309

II.

HOME DISCIPLINE.

Unwelcome attentions--An old badger's watchfulness--A clever
trick--A presumptuous youngster--Instructions in selfishness--Harsh
measures--The badger and the stoat--A long ramble 310-324

III.

FEAR OF THE TRAP.

Wisdom in Nature's ways--The laggard of the family--A salutary
lesson--Hand-scent and foot-scent--An old Welsh law--The lesson
of a "double" scent--The sorrel as medicine--A wild bees'
nest--"In grease" 325-339

IV.

THE WINTER "OVEN."

The vixen and the hounds--The wounded rabbit--Old inhabitants
of the wood--In touch with enemies--Twilight romps--Brock's
quarrel with his sire--A bone of contention--Prompt chastisement--A
mournful chorus--Wild fancies of a bachelor--A big battle--The
terror of the flock--Unwarranted suspicion--Caught in the act 340-356

V.

HILLSIDE TRAILS.

The backward "drag"--Loyalty tested--A spiteful spouse--Spring
cleaning--Carrying litter to the "set"--A numerous family--An
eviction--Vulpicide--Important news--Old traditions of sport
revived--A long day's toil--The secret history of a "draw"--An
old burrow 357-373

THE HEDGEHOG.

I.

A VAGABOND HUNTER.

The nest in the "trash"--Quaint wildlings--Neighbours and
enemies--A feast--Spines and talons--The gipsy boy--A vagabond's
sport--The nest in the wild bees' ruined home--Insects killed
by frost--Winter quarters of the lizard and the snail 377-391

II.

AN EXPERIENCE IN SNAKE-KILLING.

An iron winter--March awakening--A coat of autumn leaves--The
Rip Van Winkle of the woods--Sunshine and strength--Faulty
eyesight--The hedgehog and the viper--Worsting an enemy--The
moorhen's nest--Antics of weasels and snakes--The hedgehog's
bleat--Odd and awkward courtship 392-406

NIGHT IN THE WOODS.

I.

HAUNTS OF THE BADGER AND THE FOX.

Wild life at night--Long watching--A "set" with numerous inhabitants--The
vixen and her cubs--Tolerant badgers--Vigilance--A moorland
episode--"Chalking the mark"--Fox-signs--A habit of voles and
rabbits--Patience, in vain--Sulky badgers--The vixen's lair--Foxes
at play 407-426