16 THE RING OF NATURE 



and when they have rested there a moment or two 

 they get up one by one and fly away. Brown 

 sparrows in a brown fog have seized them. This 

 world of mystery ought certainly to be explored, 

 and on returning to the house I take further equip- 

 ment and come out for a longer expedition. 



If I had wanted to end the career of a certain 

 unpopular crow I ought to have brought a gun. 

 Here comes the old rascal hoarsely cawing, a black 

 blot in an umber sea, and so near to me that I can 

 hear his wings whistling like creaky leather in the 

 thickened air. After all, that is not very near, 

 for I have heard many wings of which I could not 

 see the owners. The crow, however, perches for a 

 few moments in a hedgerow sapling that I know 

 to be less than thirty yards away. It is about 

 one-third the minimum distance that he usually 

 considers safe. 



The birds and animals soon get to appreciate the 

 treachery of the fog, but in early days they often 

 fall victims to the gunner astute to seize his oppor- 

 tunity. The wild things are like children, who, 

 for some years, cannot learn the meaning of per- 

 spective, and so speak of objects far away as small. 

 A fog puts a man with a gun four times as far away 

 from a crow as he really is, and the crow thinks 

 that the safety margin has been observed. How 

 foolish of him, yet, dear reader, say off-hand 

 whether he is in a measure saved from his folly ; 

 but the thickness of the fog, which will reduce the 

 range of the gun, reduces the striking power of the 



