CHASSE AU MIEOIE. 129 



haps at this moment, the shooters, having all re- 

 loaded during a pause in the battle, are await- 

 ing the approach of the next detachment. The 

 newly-arrived stranger casts his eyes about and 

 sees heaps of the dead and dying, but nothing as 

 yet on the wing to explain the meaning of all 

 those anxious upturned glances that he notices 

 around him. Presently a voice exclaims, " Here 

 they are, look out ! '' and a cluster of dark specks 

 becomes visible at a great distance. In a few 

 moments he perceives that this is a flock of larks : 

 but surely it is not possible that they will notice 

 that miserable toy which is now spinning rapidly, 

 urged by the frantic exertions of a gentleman in 

 bright yellow gaiters and bran-new shooting-coat, 

 crossed with a virgin shot-belt, who pulls the 

 string violently with one hand, while with the 

 other he wields his full-cocked gun as carelessly 

 as if it were a shillelagh ! He is mistaken: they 

 suddenly descend with rapidly closed pinions, to 

 within a few yards of the very spot where he 

 stands, or perhaps to a rival lure in the same or 

 in an adjoining field, and, hovering over it in 

 apparent delight and admiration, patiently suffer 

 themselves to be shot at and massacred in con- 

 siderable numbers. 



The birds thus killed are comparatively lean 

 and worthless, not fetching, in the market, within 



G 5 



