174 BIRDS AND MAN 



deal of old hedgerow timber and many large trees 

 scattered about the fields. These the owl inhabits 

 and is abundant simply because the gamekeeper is 

 not there with his everlasting gun ; while the farmers 

 look on the bird rather as a friend than an enemy. 



To go a little further into the matter, there are no 

 gamekeepers because the landowners cannot afford 

 the expensive luxury of hand-reared pheasants. The 

 country is, or was, a rich one ; but the soil is clay so 

 extraordinarily stiff that four or five horses are 

 needed to draw a plough. It is, indeed, strange to 

 see five huge horses, all in line, dragging a plough, and 

 moving so slowly that, when looked at from a dis- 

 tance, they appear not to move at all. If here and 

 there a little wheat is still grown, it is only because, 

 as the farmers say, " We mun have straw." The 

 land has mostly gone out of cultivation, many vacant 

 farms could be had at about five shillings an acre, and 

 the landlords would in many cases, when pay day came 

 round, be glad to take half a crown and forgive the rest. 



The fields that were once ploughed are used for 

 grazing, but the sheep and cattle on them are very 

 few ; one can only suppose that the land is not suit- 

 able for grazing purposes, or else that the farmers 

 are too poor to buy sufficient stock. 



Viewed from some eminence, the wide, green 



