140 FROM SPRING TO FALL. 



It will be bad for the hedgehog if the badger meets 

 with him, in spite of his prickly jacket. Nothing 

 comes amiss to him. It is a pity to kill him, a 

 poor wandering grey friar whom our trains on the 

 railway confuse so much at night, for if he. is on 

 the track he is almost sure to come to grief. While 

 he listens and wonders what the noise is, the engine 

 is on him, killing him instantly. I saw a couple 

 that the guard-irons had caught and hurled on one 

 side. Their hides are very tough, for they were not 

 broken, and, so far as outward signs went, they might 

 have died a natural death ; but when they were 

 skinned for preserving, their internal arrangements 

 were found to be terribly upset. Why the badger 

 runs on railway-tracks is this : lots of birds that fly 

 by night come in contact with the telegraph wires 

 and kill themselves, and these the creature hunts 

 for and eats. 



The badger is not the only wild thing that is fond 

 of the line. I have known birds make their nest 

 and bring out their young under the metals that 

 the trains were rushing over by day and night. 

 This I can vouch for. 



All creatures, from game to vermin, frequent the 



