n8 "TRESPASSERS" 



Indeed, near as I was, my eye would have passed it, 

 though so large and ruddy, had not the white ear-tips 

 arrested it. Seeing these, I recognised that a hare 

 had been resting quietly all the time at so short a 

 distance from us, showing no sign of apprehensive- 

 ness beyond perfect stillness, and a drooping of the 

 eyelid so as partly to conceal the prominent eye. It 

 had probably been drawn to this quiet spot by the 

 presence of so many wild fowl. For animals have 

 their freemasonry ; creatures so far apart as fur and 

 feather recognise at once each others signs of alarm, 

 and are equally indifferent to cries and movements, 

 however violent, that are not expressive of fear. 

 Thus the proverbial March hare may chase as madly 

 as he will among the statuesqe Lapwings, and the old 

 rabbit drive her young round in giddy circles where 

 Thrush and Blackbird feed, the birds remain 

 uninterested in their headlong chase and gambols, 

 much less provoked to fear. So the Lapwing may 

 dash to and fro with his wild love cry where rabbits 

 browse and hares are sleeping ; neither is disturbed. 

 But let a Lapwing rise with querulous alarm-note, 

 and the shapeless brown bundles dotted about the 

 field at once become suspicious hares, erect with ears 

 erect ; and as one lopes across the field, pausing at 

 times with backward glance, birds accept the sign 

 without question and take flight. 



We stayed a long time with the gentle brute, and 

 withdrawing left him undisturbed. The guns were 

 working across the open from a distant covert, and 

 I had no mind to stay and see it hunted from its 

 retreat. 



But fate willed otherwise with me that day. Half 



