Thomas Alfred Coward

“ A rabbit screams, or the hunger cry of some young birp turns to a shrill note of terror and ends in a gasping sob; the stoat or fox is at work, the fierce sparrowhawk or relentless carrion crow has secured a victim. ”

“ The gentle dunnock, the trustful robin, the ever-busy little wren killed the spider when it was thrusting its poison fangs into the nerve ganglia of the predaceous fly, whose beak was plunged into a smaller member of its order when it blundered into the fatal snare. ”

“ The stout and bustling humble-bee leads with a deep bass rumble as it blunders from blossom to blossom on the bramble or stirs the dust amidst the tree roots as it searches for something, the bee alone knows what. ”

“ The dragonfly and other hovering insects are keenly seeking possible victims; the wasp bears off the dismembered but still moving prey to the ever-hungry grubs. The solitary wasp laboriously drags the paralysed spider or caterpillar to be entombed alive for the edification of its still unborn children, children which it will never see; sealed in the tunnel the captive, inert but alive, will be consumed by a future wasp. ”

“ We are predatory, flesh-eating animals ourselves; we, too, live in an atmosphere of accident, outrage, and sudden death. We know it, and are constantly reminded of it, yet we live hopefully, peacefully, with an easy, often thoughtless confidence that we and ours are immune, will escape the dangers which surround us. ”

“ An ancient oak is struggling for breath in the strangle-hold of the ivy; woody nightshade, honeysuckle, and other climbers trail over and smother any bush or shrub in their way. For yards the young reeds are already bruised and broken, for the weight of hundreds of roosting starlings has exceeded their power of endurance. ”

“ The hover fly hangs motionless in the ride, its whirring wings—a mere blurr to our slow sight—singing tenor; the annoying banded gnat produces a shrill treble scream two inches from our ear. Reflexly we raise an arm and sweep the air, but never hit the singer. ”

“ It is difficult to push one's way through the undergrowth, the saplings are so tough, and brambles, armed with clinging, tearing hooks, trail everywhere in the waist-high grass. The litter of old reed-stems is hidden by the new growth, but jagged broken staves wait for the unwary foot, and the ancient stocks of cut osiers cause one to stumble ”

“ The young thrush sees the bumble-bee and disables it with a peck, then, scared by the angry buzz, leaves it to perish; the ants hasten the end. The lumbering dor-beetle, wandering across the ride, carries with it a host of parasitical mites ”

“ When they are hunting, feeding, playing, or paying court, their every action suggests the real enjoyment of perfected power. May we not reasonably believe that they do enjoy life, and that the other actions, suggestive of anxiety or fear, are merely the outcome of heredity, the inborn necessity of "keeping the eyes skinned"? ”

“ We may even go further, and believe that their wiles to escape from their enemies, either by speed or concealment, are as reflex as our effort to whisk away the blood-sucking gnat. Unconsciously they see, hear, or scent danger, and without thought act in the promptest and most effective way to avoid it. ”

“ And at night the cries of fear, the shrieks of pain are frequent and startling, for then the nocturnal carnivores and the owls are hunting. The stoat and weasel attack the rat, itself a ferocious marauder; the fox stalks and captures the rabbit, or rudely disturbs the slumbers of the roosting bird ”

“ These other creatures, their methods of living and their actions moulded by heredity and the manifold forces of environment, may exist in the same careless, trustful way. Were they not keen of sight for prey, swift to pursue and strike, they would starve; were they not keen to sight pursuer, smart and active so as to escape, they would be slain. ”

“ THE wealth of foliage, leaves at their largest, is responsible for the gloom of the wood; beneath the trees all is in shade, though dappled with circular light patches, where a beam has found a pinhole or crack to penetrate. ”

“ Everywhere is evidence of the larval insatiability of moth, beetle, sawfly, and dipteron, and everywhere ichneumons and other predaceous insects have attacked the caterpillars. Fungi push their brown or lurid red caps through the rotting leaf-mould, flourishing on decay; spongy fungus galls knob the half-submerged roots of the alder; fungi spot the decaying broken twigs and branches. One huge limb of the old white willow is down, and decomposition is destroying good timber ”