1 94 Natural Objects observed on 



favourite of mine, and year after year the first plant I find of 

 it is brought home, and commonly killed with kindness. 



{The Little Grebe.'] On the river bank we saw a little 

 grebe. Why it should have got ashore I cannot tell ; I 

 never saw one out of water before. When I observed it first, 

 it was standing bolt upright; but, the moment it espied us, it 

 dropped down on its breast, and tumbled head over heels 

 into the river. 



{The Hare."] As we wound our w r ay up a steep field by 

 Milden's Wood, I was within a tittle of stepping on the back 

 of a hare. She had scratched out just enough of the sandy 

 soil to bring her back level with the surface; one forefoot 

 was stuck straight out before her, and on this rested her 

 head ; her ears fell on her neck on each side, and touched the 

 ground: her eyes, large, bright, and black, were fixed intently 

 on me; and the instant that my own eye caught hers, I saw a 

 slight movement; the nose had slid off her foot to the ground, 

 and the other foot had been stretched out : this movement 

 had lowered her head, which was now but a fraction above 

 the level of the hill-side; and jso exactly was she the colour of 

 the surrounding soil, that but for the lustrous eye I could not 

 have persuaded myself there was a living creature there. I 

 pointed her out to my friend, who, in his eagerness, had as 

 nearly stepped on her as I had. There we stood, about two 

 yards apart, and puss motionless as a stone between us. 

 " I'll trouble you to move, madam," said I, at the same time 

 applying my toe very gently a posteriori : puss took no 

 notice ; and my friend pounced on her, seized her, and held 

 her up by the ears singing out the " wko-oop " at the top of 

 his voice, she kicking with all her might, and crying the 

 same plaintive and piteous "aunt, aunt, aunt," which has 

 often moved my compassion for these harmless creatures when 

 the hounds have once taken their fatal hold of them. How- 

 ever, I sued for her liberty, and he put her down : away she 

 went, scampering up the hill like a mad thing. Hares never 

 run down hill if they can help it ; and if there is no pos- 

 sibility of running up, they take the hill-side at a slant. 

 When at the top, we turned round to gaze on that lovely 

 valley; yes! lovely, even in the bleak dreariness of February. 

 The clumps of gloomy pines, the never-ending twinings and 

 twistings of the silvery Wey, and the thousand hills, small 

 but beautiful, peeping one over the other till overtopped by 

 the blue undulating outline of Hindhead, all tend to make 

 this a view, to me at least, of unceasing interest. We lighted 

 our cigars with a lucifer match, and, talking of the affairs of 

 the nation, reached Northbrook. 



