SOMETHING ABOUT BATS
Natterer's Bat[17]
Lesser Horseshoe Bat[19]
The Noctule[20]
The Noctule[21]
Lesser Horseshoe Bat going to sleep[22]
The Greater Horseshoe[23]
Long-eared Bat[24]
The Greater Horseshoe Bat hanging head downwards[25]
The Pipistrelle[27]
SOMETHING ABOUT TADOLES
Toad's Spawn[29]
Frog's Spawn floating on the water[31]
Frog's Spawn Quite Fresh[33]
Frog's Spawn beginning to Grow[34]
Frog's Spawn showing Young Tadpoles, &c.[35]
Tadpoles getting like Frogs[36]
Tadpoles full grown[39]
A FROG HE WOULD A-WOOING GO
Passable[43]
His Little Eyes were Starting from their Sockets[47]
The Water Rat[48]
The Salamander[51]
The Natterjack[52]
Have you Seen this Trick before[53]
The French Frog[57]
"I see a Natterjack"[58]
"Fetch him," thundered the King Toad[59]
Five Times He Tried[65]
The Shrew Mouse[66]
He Bristled with Apologies[67]
The Green Toad[69]
His Inside was Red Hot[70]
He Lay as He had Fallen[71]
"Ducks," whispered Bombinatrix[73]
ANIMALS' NESTS
Four Moles' Nests Together[77]
The Squirrel[79]
The Harvest Mouse Nest[81]
The Dormouse[83]
A Dormouse's Nursery Nest[85]
The Harvest Mouse[86]
SOMETHING ABOUT BEETLES
The Stag-Beetle[91]
The Stag-Beetle that I ran over[93]
The Female Stag-Beetle[95]
The Great Water Beetle[96]
The Musk Beetle[97]
The Cockchafer[98]
The Churchyard Beetle[99]
BUNNY RABBIT
Landed on his Back six feet below[103]
It wasn't Mother after all[105]
He Combed his Ears Out[106]
He Watched and Heard the Awakening of the Wood[108]
Berus the Adder[110]
Lay full length, eyes closed[113]
Bunny Rabbit Watched him out of Sight[116]
A BUTTERFLY PAINT-BOX
The Brimstone Butterfly[118]
The Red Admiral[119]
The Purple Emperor[120]
The Clifden Blue[121]
The Swallow Tail Butterfly[122]
The Black Pepper Moth[123]
The Silver-washed Fritillary[124]
TWO WONDERFUL WASPS
Spinipes' burrow opened up[128]
Spinipes Bringing up a Grub[129]
Spinipes Grub Feeding[131]
Cocoon which Spinipes' Grubs make[132]
The Little Beetle that Caterpillars turn into[133]
Before and After the Thunderstorm[135]
Crabro[136]
Crabro Looking out of her hole[137]
How the Cocoons Looked[138]
One of the Crabro's Stores of Blue-Bottles[139]
What the piece of Elm-bough looked like[140]
One of the Cocoons of Crabro in Elm-bough[141]
SPINIPES, THE SAND-WASP
The Sand Cliff splits the Old Gravel-Pit in two[144]
First the Wild Bees, Red King, Black Queen[146]
Down Dropped a Red King[147]
"In Sand, Ma'am, in Sand"[148]
"Well, call me when it comes"[149]
Spinipes commenced to Dig in Earnest[151]
"Good Hunting, Sister!" said the Ophion Fly[153]
The Rose Chafer[155]
Out flew the Bees[157]
Hour after Hour she Toiled[158]
The Lowest Chamber of the Shaft now held a precious thing[159]
A Flabby, Green, Blackheaded Grub[160]
Twelve Grubs in all she brought[163]
She Sank five other Curving Shafts[167]
PICTURES ON BUTTER-FLIES' WINGS
The Magpie Moth[171]
The Emperor Moth[173]
The Elephant Hawk Moth's Caterpillar[174]
The Elephant Hawk Moth showing his Trunk[175]
The Peacock Butterfly[176]
The Mother Shipton Moth[177]
A VERY WEE BEASTIE AND A VERY BIG ONE
The Common Shrewmouse[181]
The Water Shrewmouse[183]
The Pygmy Shrewmouse[184]
How the Pygmy Coils Himself Up to Sleep[185]
IN WEASEL WOOD
Again the Fox Cub was Puzzled[188]
He Sank from his Hindquarters forward[191]
The Stoat Tiptoed Towards Him[193]
"My Plumed Tail! you wait till Squirrel grows"[195]
Marten has seen you[197]
"Perhaps you will be good enough to get higher up the tree"[201]
It was another Badger[207]
She came out full charge[209]
And in due course of time, his wife[210]
SHEEP IN WOLVES' CLOTHING
The Lobster Moth Caterpillar[213]
The Spider on the Bramble Blossom[217]
The Dragon in the Water-weed[219]
The Lobster Moth Caterpillar, Angry[220]
The Ichneumon Fly[221]
The Puss Moth Caterpillar[223]
The Giant Wood Wasp[225]
THE BEASTIES' BEDTIME
The Queen Wasp in her Winter Sleep[227]
Bill the Lizard[228]
Toadums[229]
Round Eye the Dormouse[230]
Dormouse in his Winter Sleep[231]
Prickles the Hedge Pig[233]
The Hedge Pig in his Winter Sleep[234]
Lesser Horseshoe Bat Asleep[235]
THE BLUNDERS OF BARTIMÆUS
Bartimæus[237]
He Headed Straight for the Water[239]
The Bank Rose Steeply Over Him[241]
Only one grass-blade stirred, but Tatters saw it[246]
The Harvest Mouse stood up full length[251]
The Harvest Mouse drew herself up indignant[253]
"Weasels!" said the Meadow Mouse[254]
"Don't rush!" the Pygmy screamed behind[257]
His fortress, his own fortress had been breached[258]
SOMETHING ABOUT A CHAMÆLEON
You can see his eye looking back over his shoulder[263]
You can see his hands and feet[265]
The Chamæleon[267]
THE TRAIL OF NIMBLE BEASTS
Nuts Gnawed by Mice[269]
The Weasel's Trail[271]
Where the Weasel met the Mice[272]
Where the Weasel met the Rook[274]
Two Mouse Trails[275]
The Fox's Footprints[276]
THE GREAT GREEN GRASSHOPPER'S BAND
She Never went to Sleep at all[281]
The Cricket was Sitting on the Hearthstone[283]
The pair of them dropped[284]
"I beg your pardon," said the Grasshopper's Wife[288]
The Mole Cricket[291]
The Field Cricket[292]
The Wood Cricket[293]
The First Note sent the Grasshopper's Wife's hind legs straight up[295]
He had backed out of his hole[296]
The Grasshopper's Wife reared herself up[297]
THE PYGMY SHREW
The Woodmouse First[303]
He took the Right-hand Surface run[305]
He could now see and hear as well[306]
His rival feinting, flicked his tail[308]
The Grey Shrew Leant against the Trunk[309]
With Tangled Tails and Rounded Straining Bodies[310]
There they lay head to tail[311]
The Field Voles[312]
The Bat came to a halt and stared[313]
The Pygmy climbed two inches up[314]
Now one was on his back, now the other[315]
The Mole plunged into the air[317]

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

The publisher may, perhaps, be allowed to call the reader's attention to the illustrations—particularly to the two of the Sand-Wasps, reproduced in colour. The difficulties of photographing from wild life active creatures of such small dimensions as hymenopterous insects are very great from an optical standpoint. The picture of Spinipes bringing the beetle grub to her tube took several years to accomplish successfully, and the strain involved by the conditions, a blazing June sun on the operator's back, an uncertain foothold, and the necessity of keeping the attention riveted for hours on one particular patch of sunlit sand, was exceptional. It is of course possible, probable even, that with the introduction of an improved lens system, which will enable fast exposures to be made at very short range on minute moving objects, this particular picture may be repeated and improved upon. But the odds against the second picture on the same page, that of Spinipes stinging the jewel-fly, ever being repeated, are enormous. It will be necessary in order to secure the repetition of such a picture, first, that the camera shall be focussed on one out of a score of tubes; second, that the parasitic jewel-fly shall enter that particular tube; third, that the Owner Wasp shall return while the jewel-fly is below; fourth, that the Owner Wasp shall pull the jewel-fly to the surface; fifth, that the jewel-fly shall cling to the rim of the tube; sixth, that the Wasp shall sting it in this position—it will be noticed that the sting is directed at the junction of the thorax and abdomen; seventh, that the observer shall be ready to expose his plate at the exact psychological moment; and eighth, that he shall succeed in doing so. The first six conditions were, in Mr. English's case, fulfilled by chance. As regards the seventh he was unready. He was, in fact, some feet below his camera. But chance befriended him still further.

He caught the jewel-fly's glint, and caught the shadow of the returning Wasp. He flung his arm up, grabbed the dangling bulb, and pressed at random. This action dragged the camera from its moorings—to fix a camera on a Sand Cliff's side is no slight task—and it fell twelve feet down. Yet it had done its work and made the picture.

There are a score of pictures in this book, which are believed to be unique, not only by reason of the rarity of their subjects, but also by reason of the fact that they are the only pictures of such subjects, good or bad, in existence. The most remarkable among them is the picture of Spinipes stinging the jewel-fly.

INTRODUCTION

I know a Boy Scout who has never seen a weasel. Many weasels, I fancy, must have seen that Boy Scout.

And I know a Girl who has never seen a Harvest Mouse, but who might have, often.

There may be other boys and girls like these. There may be grown-ups also.

It is for them that I have written this book. It is to them that I offer its pictures.