24 SEPTEMBER 1898, Page 15

THE SLEEPING HOMES OF ANIMALS.

[TO THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR:1

Sin,—To your interesting article on "The Sleeping Homes of Animals" in the Spectator of August 20th an appen- dix might have been added of the curious names for the sleeping places of animals which the sportsmen and women of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were careful to use correctly. A list of them and also of the names of multitude for different birds and animals will be found in the " Boke of S. Albans," by Dame Juliana Berners, of which there have been many reprints. She tells of a "pride of lions," a "charm of birds;" and as to sleeping places, the hare has its "form," the fox his earth, the badger his hole, the lion his lair, &c. In Dame Juliana's time it was evidently the mark of a true sportsman to use the right word for the right thing. —I am, Sir, &c.,