The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1893-04-01

The writer has sometimes seen hares.
not lying1n their foS,n, but sitting up
in such places, just as a laborer shell
ters behind a havstack. Where there
| are no woodlands they creep under the
irregular overhanging cornice made by
the crumbling away of the IN Id be-
meath the roots in the hedge ba nlss and
there scratch out a snug and dry re-
treat
Rabbits usually keep under ground
in their burrows, only coming out to
feed, unless their holes are flooded, as
often happens after a long course of
wet They then leave the warren alto.
getber, and lie out among the turnips.
or even on the open stubbles, huddled
tip into the smallest possible space. as
if they had lost all faith in the posi-.
bility of finding further shelter. Rats
have the strongest possible dislike to
damp, and the first approach of
settled wet swarm into the stacks and
farm buildings Those which spend
their lives along the banks of rivers
and brooks-a semi-aquatic. breed of
land rats which resemble the
true water rats in all but
their vegetarian det-have sim
pie and clever resource for wet
weather They leave their holes in the
banks, and go up into the crowns of
the pollard willows which fringe the
streams and line the hedges; in these
they find warm, dry, and wel;-drained
winter lodgings, safe even in food-time;
for their powers of swimming enable
them to shift from tree to tree, and the
swarms of snails and insects which
shelter in the hollow trunks provide
them with food for 'rainy day"
Foxes often lie in these largo hollow
pollards during very wet weather; and
the writer has seen an otter slip from
the crown of one of them into the Cher
ry<N1 r,
foxes more often prefer to lie still for
hours curled up in the high grass and
branbles in some thick dou ble-fencc,
dry furze-bral<e. Some times, in
heavy rain. they are SO reluctant to
leave their dry quarters, that they do
not move until their disturbcr is close
upon them; and the coInical, half-rc-
luctant, and wholly sullSy look of an
old dog-fox, as he stands hesitatiug be-
tween prudence and comfort, should q n.
peal to tstis'Fistsst lie trnsym pathetic sports
man.
Horses and cattle never look so mis-
cradle as when standing exposed to
cold and driving rain. Every field in
which cattle are turned loose should
have some rude shelter provided, how
ever rough and hardy the stock. If left
to themselves in a state of nature, they
would travel miles to some bank or
thiclSet, which would at least give cover
against the wind. Shut up between
four hedges, they are denied alike the
aid of human forethought and of their
own instinct Bewic!<'S vigncttes of old
horses or unhappy donl1eys, huddlcd
together in driving showers somc
bleak common, express a vast amount
of animal misery in an inch of woodcut
1t seems strange that no animal, unless
it be the squirrel, seems to build itself
a shelter with the express object of
keeping off the rain, which they all SO
much dislike. Monkeys are misera ble
in wet, and could easily build shelters,
if they had the sense to do So LAS the
creatures hop disconsolately along in
the rain," writes Mr.. Kipling, in his
'Beast and Man in India'' .'or crouch
on branches, with dripping backs set
against the tree-trunk shelter from
Il driving storm, they have the air of
being very sorry for themselves But
even the ourang-outang, which builds q
small platform in the trees on. which to
sleep at night, never seems to think of
a roof, though the Dyaks say that when
it is very wet it covers itself with the
leaves OF the pandanus, a large fern.
Birds, some of which carefully
roof in the nests in which they
in the case of the swallow, choose
some existing roof, such as the caves of
house or a projecting cliff, to cover
the nest. when built of materials which
wet would destroy, seem incapable of
making a waterproof house for them
selves Grouse and all the fowls of the
open moorlands go to the most open
and exposed spots, in rain avoiding the
thick heather and even the peat
hags," in whose hollows they might
find shelter Partridges huddle under
the fences, or lie on the dricst and
barest places on the fallows, apparent
1y caring less for shelter above than for
dry soil beneath them. Rocks often
flock into thick fir-trees, or in summer
take refuge in the old and close-grow-
ing oaks which line the roadsides. But
the small and helpless birds, yellow
hammers. bun ntings, chatfi ches and
linnets seem quite bewildered by the
beating storms. They creep into cart
ruts or behind tufts of grass: often they
take refuge under the big Swcde tur-
nips round the edges of the fields,
where they are so numbed and cramped
by cold and wet that they may be
caught by the hand, are picked up
by stoats and rats, humble and uncon-
sidered victims of the plague of rain
and waters.''-London Spectator.
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\ N!o(iish Material.
For tho best dresses that women OF
moderate means keep for special occa-
sions there are various Inexpensive
satin fn hricS that and 1oDl- ,,,,,,l,