ould protect it from observation in snow, but as far
south as Surrey this would be a danger, and I should scarcely have
noticed it in the thick undergrowth had it been normal in colour.

We had a squirrel's nest, or "drey," as it is called, near my house
last year, and the squirrels have been about my lawn and the Forest
trees ever since. It was charming, in the summer, to watch them
nibbling the fleshy galls produced on the young oaks by a gall-fly
_(Cynips)_. They chattered to each other all the time, holding the
galls between their fore feet, fragments dropping to the ground
beneath the trees. Squirrels are fond of animal food, and I wondered,
as there was so much apparent waste, whether they were not really
searching for the grubs in the galls. Of late years squirrels have
been scarce here; they were formerly abundant, but their numbers were
much reduced by an epidemic. They seem to be increasing again,
possibly the felling of so many Scots-firs has driven them from their
former haunts into adjoining oak and beech woods, such as those which
almost surround my land.

During lunch in a meadow by the roadside, on a cycling ride, we found
a snake with a toad almost down its throat; the snake disgorged the
toad and escaped, but before we had finished lunch it returned and
repeated the process. This time I carried the toad, none the worse for
the adventure, some distance away, where I hope it was safe. Hedgehogs
are said to eat toads, frogs, beetles, and snakes, as well as the eggs
of game, to which I have already referred (p. 264); it is curious that
the old name "urchin" has been superseded in some places by
"hedgehog," but still survives in the "sea-urchin," and is also used
for a troublesome boy.

It is very interesting, when cycling, to notice the changes in passing
from one geological formation to another, and in railway travelling,
with a geological map, one can quickly observe the transition; the
cuttings give an immediate clue, and the contours of the surface and
the agriculture are further guides. The alteration in the flora is
particularly marked in passing from the Bagshot Sands, for instance,
to the Chalk, or from the Lias Clay to the Lias Limestone or the
Oolite; the lime-loving plants appear on the Chalk and Limestone, and
disappear on the Sands and Clays.

The sunken appearance of the old roads is one of the best proofs of
their antiquity, and one is inclined to wonder at their windings, but
in follow