Death Out of Doors
There was no doubt that the hedgehog was dead. He lay on his back among the leaves and grass, and his helplessness made him a sorry sight. He was old. His claws were horny, and the hair on his under- parts was grizzled. Perhaps a dog had killed him, or some internal parasite had become too much for his system. I turned him with my foot, and found the burying beetle. Grubs were working on the under- taker's business. The casualties of the wild are quickly put out of sight. No sooner has a field-mouse died that the eggs of the blowfly begin to hatch. In a few days the little corpse has shrunk. Among other scavengers, the magpie may help the funeral along. Before a month has passed the shrivelled skin is lost in the grass, and in less than a season the bones have crumbled and fertilised the earth. Some- times one comes across the skull of a rabbit in the undergrowth, but most creatures crawl a_way to die in holed. There are many badgers and foxes in my locality, and I have never come across the body of one that appeared to have died from natural causes.
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