THE BADGER 



tree, puts up his fore-feet and rubs his neck, 

 smells round the well-known trunk, and 

 having satisfied himself that all is as usual, 

 sits for awhile admiring the limited landscape 

 before him. He then shuffles a few yards 

 from the earth, scratches the soil here and 

 there as if to keep his digging tools in order, 

 and returns to the bottom of the tree. 

 Another pied face appears, and more quickly 

 than the first she trundles off to join her 

 mate, and they bounce along one after another 

 over the earths, round the trees, down one 

 hole and out at another, and then rest awhile 

 outside the earth they first emerged from. 

 Three more come forth, and go through very 

 much the same programme as the first, snort- 

 ing and bumping along one after the other 

 and one against the other. 



Presently one takes off into the thickest 

 covert. You can hear him bumping along, 

 sweeping through the bracken and crackling 

 the dead wood. Presently the others come 

 past you, tumbling along so close that you 

 could hit them with your stick. Probably 

 they take no notice, but if you wink, wince, 



7 



