THE BADGER 



solitude safer from intrusion. Once in the 

 shadow of the firs, softly treading we come 

 up-wind to the badger " set." Here we 

 choose a place among the larch stems which 

 gives us a good view of the most-used 

 entrances to the earth, some fifteen yards 

 from the nearest hole. We turn up our 

 coat-collars, draw our caps over our faces, 

 and settle ourselves in such positions as will 

 least try our patience and muscles during the 

 hour in which we must remain immovable. 

 In idea nothing could be more delightful 

 than to sit in the deepening twilight of a 

 summer's evening, with a soft breath of 

 air stirring the feathery larch tops against 

 the sky above, the ground carpeted with 

 the vivid green of the opening bracken, 

 surrounded by the music of cooing wood- 

 pigeons, the full notes of blackbird and 

 thrush, and listening to the pleasant sounds 

 carried on the breeze from the distant farms. 

 Delightful as is the enjoyment of the con- 

 fidences of Nature in her most hidden soli- 

 tudes, the pleasure has its price, and the 

 angler on a summer's eve can sympathize 



4 



