HUNTING AND SHOOTING 115 



the crate in a very exposed truck on a chill autumn 

 night, which killed three-quarters of them at least. 

 The remainder throve at Edstone for a while, the 

 latest survivor being an oyster-catcher, who came to 

 his end thus. It had been freezing hard in the night, 

 followed by soft snow, and then re-freezing. Next 

 morning they found the tracks of a fox on the snow- 

 covered ice, going to a place where the yellow legs 

 and nothing else of the bird remained frozen in. 

 The oyster-catcher's legs had been entrapped by the 

 frost, and his body had been snapped up by the fox. 



During the many weeks and months that I spent 

 in London between 1846 and 1850, which is the time 

 to which this chapter refers, I took walks with 

 friends, and sometimes rides with Harry Hallam, once 

 on a most pleasant riding tour with him in South 

 Wales, and I went to meets of the Queen's Stag 

 Hounds. 



Among many other things, I was eager to know 

 the sensations of ballooning ; I venture to give my 

 own impression of it. There were occasional nightly 

 ascents from the then existing Cremorne Gardens, 

 and foolishly thinking that I could sneak in under 

 cover of darkness, I engaged a seat. The evening 

 arrived, and I found it was advertised as a Gala 

 Festival, and I was anything but secluded from 

 observation. A number of fireworks were attached 

 to the car, and after an oration from the aeronaut, up 

 we went. It was very curious to observe the up- 

 turned faces of the crowd below, which seemed to 

 recede, for I had no sensation of being myself in move- 

 ment. The fireworks went off, and doubtless made 

 an effective display, and then all seemed singularly 



