THE PUDMOORS. 



THE FURZE-WREN, OR DARTFORD WARBLER. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE barren, wet, peaty district, called the Pudmoors, 

 is the favourite resort of the FERN-OWL. In the daytime, 

 while walking across the moor, you will every now and 

 then put up one of these singular birds ; their flight is per- 

 fectly without noise, and seldom far at a time : but of an 

 evening it is very different. About twenty minutes after 

 sunset, the whole moor is ringing with their cry, and you 

 see them wheeling round you in all directions. They look 

 like spectres; and, often coming close over you, assume an 

 unnatural appearance of size against a clear evening sky. 



