Text 1.

The History & Legends Of The Scottish Thistle

This tough little weed has always grown across Scotland's landscape, but we can
say its place in the country's symbolism and written history, begins in the 13th
century.

One of the best-known thistle legends takes place in the mid 13th century during a
surprise invasion by the Vikings. These soldiers of the Norse king, Haakon, landed
at Largs, one of northern Scotland's coastal towns.

The story says that after coming ashore, this Viking force planned to creep up
on(*) the Scottish Clansmen and Highlanders, and attack them while they slept.

This amount of silence required them to go barefoot - which proved to be their

worst decision.

Unfortunately for these incompetent invaders, one of their soldiers bare feet
stepped on a Scottish thistle and his cries of shock and pain were enough to wake
the sleeping Scots.

Leaping to their feet, the clansmen charged into battle and the rest, as they say, is

history... and yes, the brave Scots were victorious

Legend says that because of the heroic role the plant played in the result of the
battle, the thistle was immediately chosen as a national emblem.

Now, how much of this is true? No-one knows, but we do know that by the 15th
century, the Scottish thistle was used as a national emblem.

*Creep up on= to move towards someone quietly, so that the person is suddenly
surprised.

Source: http://www.scottish-at-heart.com/scottish-thistle.html
Text 2. The Red Fox

The Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) is a member of the Canidae family (like dogs, wolves,
foxes, coyotes, dingoes, jackals and African Wild Dogs).

The Red fox is the most widely distributed and populous canid in the world, and is
present in many parts of Europe, America, Asia and Africa. In the British Isles,
there is an estimated population of 258,000.

A male fox is called a 'Dog', a female fox is called a 'Vixen', a young fox is called
either a 'Kit', 'Pup' or 'Cub'. A group of foxes is called a 'Skulk'.

Although foxes are the smallest members of the dog family, the largest species of
Red Fox may reach an adult weight of 3 - 11 kilograms and an average length of 46
to 86 centimetres. Size can vary from country to country, foxes living in Canada
and Alaska are normally larger than foxes in the Britain, which are in turn larger
than those living in the Southern United States.

The Red Fox is primarily crepuscular with a tendency to becoming nocturnal in

areas of great human presence, this means it is most active at night and at twilight.
Foxes are generally solitary hunters, looking for food alone in the summer;
however, they very occasionally group together in a pack and it pairs up(*) only in
winter.

They have the ability to live well around humans. They are not considered to be
endangered and are the most abundant wild carnivore in the world.

Foxes are considered a pest by many farmers although it is difficult to judge their
impact on the land, they provide a service in keeping rabbit and rat numbers
controlled. The banning(*) of fox hunting in the UK has increased the number of
animals being shot or poisoned.

*pair up= form a couple.

*ban= prohibit, forbid.

Source: http://www.animalcorner.co.uk/britishwildlife/redfox.html