28 WOODLAND CREATURES 



instances in which I have found it scratched 

 up were due to wasps' nests beneath its roots ! 

 However, I have known a badger eat crocus 

 bulbs, which came about in this way: I had 

 had for some time a badger called Grumps, but 

 he was a surly unsociable creature, and I turned 

 him loose in the woods, thinking when I did so 

 that I had said " good-bye " to him. Some 

 six months later strange tales crept about con- 

 cerning some animal, kind unknown, that night 

 after night was digging up the bulbs planted in a 

 neighbour's garden. It appeared that the gardener 

 had been planting a quantity of crocuses and 

 other bulbs in the grass, using for the purpose 

 an instrument that removed a little piece of sod, 

 which was afterwards dropped back on to the 

 top of the bulb like a cork into the neck of a bottle ; 

 but each night the mysterious animal came, 

 drew these corks, and ate the bulbs. The keeper 

 was called in, pronounced the tracks to be those 

 of a badger, and traced the culprit to a big drain 

 in the meadow. The pipes were soon pulled up, 

 the bulb-eater secured, and placed in a bag, when 

 the keeper lost no time in bringing it to me. 

 The badger, a fine male, was turned out in a 

 building, when I was startled to see that it was 

 my old friend Grumps. It walked with a slight 

 limp, as did Grumps, it had a white mark on its 

 left fore-paw, just as he had, moreover it knew 

 where it was, and did not seem in the least put 

 out of the way. Next day I took him to the 

 great sett and turned him into that stronghold. 



