8 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



became a sort of spokesman for the company, and 

 replied to most of my questions. 



*'And what about badgers?" I asked. "In such 

 a rough-looking spot with woods and all, it 

 strikes me as just the sort of place where one 

 would find that animal." 



A long dead silence followed. I caught the 

 eye of the man nearest me and repeated the 

 question, "Are there no badgers here?" His eyes 

 fell, then he exchanged glances with some of the 

 others, all very serious; and at length my man, 

 addressing the person who had acted as spokes- 

 man before, said, "Perhaps you'll tell the gentle- 

 man if there are any badgers here." 



At that the rough man looked at me very 

 sharply, and answered stiffly, "Not as I know of." 



A few weeks later, at a small town in the 

 neighbourhood, I got into conversation with a 

 hotel keeper, an intelligent man, who gave me a 

 good deal of information about the country. He 

 asked me where I was staying, and, on my telling 

 him, said "Ah, I know it well — that village in 

 a hole; and a very nasty hole to get In, too — 

 at any rate it was so, formerly. They are get- 

 ting a bit civilized now, but I remember th§ time 



