14 ON SURREY HILLS. 



gave that small animal a pretty wide berth for the 

 future. 



If man will only allow the wild creatures to draw 

 near to him, and to the roads that lead to his placesj 

 they will all do so, no matter what their nature may 

 be. Just out of gunshot of almost any country house 

 or cot, whether it stand in cultivated land or midst 

 rough, rushy, woodland meadow, you may study the 

 animal life that enlivens and adorns the landscape. 

 From a little gravelly pool beside a well-frequented 

 road I have started that most shy wader, the green 

 sandpiper, and that in the very heart of our Surrey 

 woodlands. I fancied that it might have nested 

 somewhere near — for this beautiful bird, though a 

 wader, lays its eggs in the deserted nests built by 

 other birds high up in the trees. 



The hedgehog runs the roads freely. He is a 

 quaint little fellow, our hedge-pig, having far more 

 intelligence than people give him credit for. It is 

 curious, as you stand perfectly still in the middle of 

 a road, to see him come running along, then stopping 

 to sniff and whine and examine the high strange 

 object that hardly breathes lest he startle the little 

 creature. Then with a gentle grunt he will pass you 



