us scatters his treasures to avoid the risk of
losing all at one stroke, although this prudence complicates his task
when he needs to utilise his provisions. The fox, however, loses
nothing, and knows very well where to find his stores. The very nature
of the game prevents him from keeping it more than a few days.

_Provisions laid up for a long period._--The Rodents, who live on dry
fruits or grains, can on the other hand preserve them for a long time
in their barns. The Squirrel, who may be seen all the summer leaping
like a little madman from branch to branch, and who seems to have no
cares except to exhibit his red fleece and show off his tail, is,
contrary to appearance, a most sensible and methodical animal. He
knows that winter is a hard time for poor beasts, and that fruits are
then rare or hidden beneath the snow; in the autumn, therefore, when
all the riches of the earth are abundant, and beech-nuts, acorns, and
chestnuts have ripened, he harvests quantities of them and hides them
wherever he can. Making use of the cavities he is acquainted with
around his domain, hollow trees, holes that he makes in the earth
beneath bushes, etc., he fills them with fruits, and when winter has
come he extracts them to munch.

_Animals who construct barns._--The Field Rat of Hungary and Asia
(_Psammomys_) gathers wheat during the summer. He cuts the blades and
transports them to his home, where he stores them up in very
considerable quantities; and during rigorous winters when famine
appears also among men, gleaners of another species appear on the
scene and seek for corn under the earth in the nests of the
_Psammomys_. A single rat can store up more than a bushel. Those who
are skilful in finding their holes can thus in a day glean a good
harvest, to the detriment of the rats who are thus in their turn
reduced to beggary.

The Hamster also makes provision of grain, but he introduces two
improvements: the first at the harvest by only taking the edible part
of the ear, and the second by constructing barns distinct from his
home. Each possesses a burrow composed of a sleeping chamber, around
which he has hollowed one or two others communicating with the first
by passages, and intended to serve as barns. The old and more
experienced animals prepare even four or five of these storehouses.
The end of summer is their season for work. They scatter themselves in
the fields of barley or wheat, pull down the stalks of the cereals
wi