194 THE JONATHAN PAPERS 



lettuce neatly nibbled off down to the central 

 stalks, I almost hardened my heart against 

 them, but the next time I met one of the little 

 fellows I forgave him all. 



I believe that one of the very best things 

 about our way of following a partridge is the 

 sense of intimacy with the countryside which 

 it creates an intimacy which nothing else 

 has ever given us. In most outdoor faring 

 one sticks to the roads and paths, in fishing one 

 keeps to the water-courses, in cross-country 

 tramping one unconsciously goes around 

 obstacles. Nothing but the headlong and 

 undeviating pursuit of a bird along a path of 

 his choosing would ever have given me that 

 acquaintance with ledge and swamp and laurel 

 copse that I now possess. I know our swamp 

 as a hippopotamus might, or to stick to 

 plain Yankee creatures a mud turtle. It is 

 a very swampy swamp, with spring holes and 

 channels and great shallow pools where the 

 leaves from the tall swamp maples scarlet 

 and rose and ashes of roses sift slowly down 

 and float until they sink into the leaf mould 

 beneath. I have favorite paths through it as 

 the squirrels have in the tree-tops; I know 



