J 6 The Ga7nekeeper at Home. 



made by the heat in the earth, and really deposits true 

 honey in the comb. It is very sweet, like that of the 

 hive bee, but a little darker in colour and much less 

 in quantity. The haymakers search for these nests 

 along the hedgerows in their dinner-hour, and eat the 

 honey. There seem to be several sub-species of 

 humble-bee, differing in size and habit. One has its 

 nest as deep as possible in a hole ; another makes a 

 nest with scarcely any protection beyond the thick 

 moss of the bank, almost on the surface of the ground. 

 The badger's hole has before it a huge quantity of 

 sand, which he has thrown out, and upon which the 

 imprint of his foot will be found, a mark, perhaps, 

 more like the spoor of the large game of tropical 

 forests than that left by any other English animal. 

 When seen it can ever afterwards be instantly identi- 

 fied by the most careless observer. 



In the meadows lower down, bounding the wood, 

 the hay is gone or is piled in summer ricks, which lean 

 one one way and another the other, and upon whose 

 roofs, sloping at an obtuse angle, the green snakes lie 

 coiled in the sunshine. Often when the waggon 

 comes, and the little rick is loaded, the ' pitch ' of hay 

 on the prong as it is flung up carries with it a snake 

 whirling in the air. He falls on the sward and is 

 instantly pounced upon by the farmer's dog, who 



