THE FAUNA OF THE RAILROAD 19 



for the sun to rise and warm him, and for the train to 

 pass and leave him a beef-bone to take the edge of 

 hunger off. Something of the same kind happens 

 along the Siberian Railway, where the steppe jackals 

 and foxes are always more numerous round the stations 

 and along the sleeping sidings than elsewhere, and in 

 India the jackals regularly visit the line on the way 

 home from their nightly prowl. 



On our southern railroads leading to Folkestone and 

 Calais a very considerable amount of food is also con- 

 sumed, with its due percentage of waste. Very few 

 people fail to provide themselves with solid refresh- 

 ment when about to cross the Channel, which provisions 

 they consume, or throw away, from a pious feeling that 

 they had better make the best of the good things of 

 this world before venturing on the horrors of the 

 " middle passage." The section of the line at which 

 the psychological moment usually suggests itself that 

 it would be well to eat luncheon or tea happens to be 

 near some covers where pheasants are preserved. The 

 birds have found this out, and regularly hunt that 

 part of the line for sandwiches, biscuits, and bits of 

 bread-and-butter, so much so that they are occasion- 

 ally killed by the engine. In the same way, country 

 people coming up to London nearly always bring 

 large provisions of food to consume on the journey. 

 What is not eaten is left in the carriages, and swept 

 out at the termini. Thus it happens that nearly 

 every great London station provides unlimited free 

 meals for railway rats. If any one has the misfortune 

 to have to await the arrival of a midnight or early 



