PARTING FROM OLD FRIENDS 125 



ping on the ground, would defy us all — except 

 Pluto — to discover his whereabouts again. 



I shall never forget my last day's snipe-shoot- 

 ing there, or my farewell look at the merlins. I 

 may say, without affectation, that I parted from 

 them Avith sincere regret. They had been my 

 companions for more than two months, had not 

 only shared my sport, but had added very mate- 

 rially to it, by affording me a contemplation of 

 theirs ; and they convinced me that a friendly, if 

 not a famihar, intercourse, might be established 

 between man and many wild animals which now 

 shun his presence, without any greater sacrifice 

 on his part, than the simple observance of that 

 golden precept, 



"Live and let live." 



