A Book of Nimble Beasts: Bunny Rabbit, Squirrel, Toad, and "those Sort of People"

Part 1

Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/bookofnimblebeas00engliala

Transcriber's note:

Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (italics).

Small capitals have been replaced by full capitals.

Text in bold face is not designated as such.

A BOOK OF NIMBLE BEASTS

A BOOK OF NIMBLE BEASTS

Bunny Rabbit, Squirrel, Toad, and "Those Sort of People"

DOUGLAS ENGLISH

Fellow and Medalist of the Royal Photographic Society

With Over 200 Illustrations from Photographs of Living Animals Taken by the Author

London Eveleigh Nash & Grayson Ltd. 148 Strand 1922

Printed by Woods & Sons, Ltd., 338-340, Upper Street, London, N. 1.

IN MEMORY C. J. E.

CONTENTS

PAGE JANUARY SOMETHING ABOUT BATS 17

FEBRUARY SOMETHING ABOUT TADPOLES 29

VALENTINE'S DAY A FROG HE WOULD A-WOOING GO 41

MARCH ANIMALS' NESTS 75

APRIL SOMETHING ABOUT BEETLES 89

LADY DAY BUNNY RABBIT 101

MAY A BUTTERFLY PAINT-BOX 117

JUNE TWO WONDERFUL WASPS 127

MIDSUMMER DAY SPINIPES THE SAND-WASP 143

JULY PICTURES ON BUTTERFLIES' WINGS 171

AUGUST A VERY WEE BEASTIE AND A VERY BIG ONE 179

LAMMAS DAY IN WEASEL WOOD 187

SEPTEMBER SHEEP IN WOLVES' CLOTHING AND WOLVES IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING 213

Part 2

OCTOBER THE BEASTIES' BED-TIME 227

MICHAELMAS DAY THE BLUNDERS OF BARTIMÆUS 237

NOVEMBER SOMETHING ABOUT A CHAMÆLEON 261

DECEMBER THE TRAIL OF NIMBLE BEASTS 269

CHRISTMAS DAY THE GREAT GREEN GRASSHOPPER'S BAND 279

BOXING-DAY THE PYGMY SHREW 301

ILLUSTRATIONS

ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR PAGE

IN WEASEL WOOD

HE HELD HIMSELF WITH AN AIR, HIS BODY ARCHED, ONE BROAD WHITE PAD UPLIFTED, HIS TAIL CURVED DECOROUSLY Frontispiece

A FROG HE WOULD A-WOOING GO

THE GREEN TOAD SLOWLY STRETCHED HIMSELF. "THAT?" SAID HE, "THAT'S NOT FRENCH" 60

AT THE FIFTH STONE--A BULKY SLANTING ONE-- HE SIGHTED THE FRENCH FROG 60

SPINIPES, THE SAND WASP

AN INSTANT'S PAUSE TO SHIFT HER GRIP, AND SHE HAD PUSHED THE GRUB WITHIN THE ENTRANCE 162

"TAKE THAT--AND THAT--AND THAT," SAID SPINIPES, AND DROVE HER SHARP STING HOME 162

THE GREAT GREEN GRASSHOPPER'S BAND

AND THE LAST THING WINNIE REMEMBERS WAS THE GREAT GREEN GRASSHOPPER'S WIFE HURRYING THE LITTLE SKIPJACKS OFF TO BED 279

ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT PAGE

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 The Greater Horseshoe Bat hanging head downwards 24 Long-eared Bat 25 The Pipistrelle 27

SOMETHING ABOUT TADPOLES Toad's Spawn 29 Frog's Spawn floating on the water 31 Frog's Spawn Quite Fresh 33 Frog's Spawn showing Young Tadpoles, &c. 34 Frog's Spawn beginning to Grow 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

Part 3

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 264 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.

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