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CREATURES OF THE NIGHT


_By the same Author._

IANTO THE FISHERMAN

AND OTHER SKETCHES OF COUNTRY LIFE.

_Illustrated with Photogravures. Large Crown 8vo._

_The Times._--"The quality which perhaps most gives its individuality to
the book is distinctive of Celtic genius.... The characters... are
touched with a reality that implies genuine literary skill."

_The Standard._--"Mr Rees has taken a place which is all his own in the
great succession of writers who have made Nature their theme."

_The Guardian._--"We can remember nothing in recent books on natural
history which can compare with the first part of this book...
surprising insight into the life of field, and moor, and river."

_The Outlook._--"This book--we speak in deliberate superlative--is the
best essay in what may be called natural history biography that we have
ever read."

LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET

[Illustration: "THE BROAD RIVER, IN WHICH SHE HAD SPENT HER EARLY LIFE."
(_See_ p. 50.) _Frontispiece._]




[Illustration: Decoration]

    CREATURES OF THE NIGHT

    A BOOK OF WILD LIFE IN
       WESTERN BRITAIN

      BY ALFRED W. REES

          AUTHOR OF
    "IANTO THE FISHERMAN"

      WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

             LONDON
  JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
              1905


         TO

  MYFANWY AND MORGAN


    "All life is seed, dropped in Time's yawning furrow,
      Which, with slow sprout and shoot,
    In the revolving world's unfathomed morrow,
      Will blossom and bear fruit."

                                        MATHILDE BLIND.




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--Hed