22 CORRACH-BAH j OR, 



We never saw them eat grass or hay, and should as soon 

 have thought of giving such food to a dog as of insulting 

 them with it. What they call u badger's hay-making " is 

 neither more nor less than the routing up the moss, which 

 they are obliged to do to get at beetles, grubs, &c., among 

 its roots. This dries, and the badger brings home a little 

 for its winter bed. We used to notice as much of this hay 

 made as would suffice for a good-sized stack, and more 

 than would fill up every badger's hole in the country. I 

 need scarcely say that what they carried was never 

 missed. 



My reveries were now broken by Sandy pointing out 

 the nest of the a salmon-tailed gled," and there are the 

 owners wheeling their graceful circles. Two roes were 

 also looking at us from the shore, and another a little 

 further on. They seemed not the least afraid, as we 

 pulled slowly past. I was admiring the beautiful hanging 

 wood, in which the kite's nest held a prominent place near 

 the top of one of the finest old oaks, when a pull, that bent 

 my rod's top to the water, and spun round my large 

 wooden pirn, brought me to my legs at a spring. To 

 seize the rod and place the butt above my knee, with a 

 good bend at the top, was the work of an instant. Sandy 

 was also active : he gave both oars to Johnny, and began, 

 with his shaky hands, to wind up the other rod out of the 

 way, in case of a collision. I told him always to do so 

 when I hooked a trout. At this moment the gorgeous 

 fish sprang a yard out of the water, coming down with a 

 splash that made the rocks echo. Sandy, at no time very 



