not seen at his best when he goes nutting. His beautiful swift
movements are checked by the thickness of the hazels. In a beech
grove he has more liberty to run and leap. Sometimes you will see
twenty at once all nibbling the beech nuts on the ground. On hearing
you they make for a tree trunk, and, rushing up it for a yard or two,
stop suddenly, absolutely still, with fearful eyes, and ears intently
and intensely cocked. If you stand equally still the squirrel will
stay there, motionless, like a piece of the tree, for a minute or so,
and then, in a very bad temper, disappear from view on the other side
of the trunk, and probably, though you run round the tree quickly
several times and search every branch with your eyes, never come into
sight again. It is a good thing to sit under a tree some distance from
the beech trees, making as little movement as possible; and by and by
you will cease to be considered as anything but a regular part of the
landscape and the squirrels may come quite close to you.

A Country Diary

If you are fond of writing you might find a good deal of interest in
keeping a country diary: that is to say, a small note-book in which
you set down evening by evening all things seen during the day that
seemed to be sufficiently out of the way to be worth recording.

A Camera in the Country

Nothing is said in this book about amateur photography, because to own
a camera is still the exception rather than the rule, and if once we
began to say anything practical about photography we should have to
say very much more than the scheme of the volume permits. But we might
urge any reader who has a camera to use it in the country in taking
pictures of animal life and old buildings. Old-fashioned farmhouses
and cottages are disappearing so rapidly that we ought to keep as many
records of them as possible, and well-chosen photographs of animals
are not only beautiful pictures, but are also very useful. Mr.
Kearton's work in this way, which may be studied in _With Nature and
a Camera_, is extremely valuable.

Country Books

In the "Reading" chapter will be found the titles of several books
which describe life in the country, and tell you all about the habits
of animals, birds, and insects.

DOLLS' HOUSES

The most magnificent ready-made dolls' house in the world, with gables
and windows, stairs, front garden, and the best furniture, cannot
quite make up to its own