218 Pasture. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE WARREN RABBIT-BURROWS FERRETS THE 



QUARRY THE FOREST SQUIRRELS DEER 



DYING RABBIT A HAWK. 



UNDER the trunks of the great trees the hedges are 

 usually thinner, and need repairing frequently ; and 

 so it happens that at the top of the home-field, besides 

 the gap leading into the ash copse, there is another 

 some distance away beneath a mighty oak. By 

 climbing up the mound, and pushing through the 

 brake fern which grows thickly between the bushes, 

 entrance is speedily gained to the wide rolling stretch 

 of open pasture called the Warren. The contrast 

 with the small enclosed meadow just left is very 

 striking. A fresh breeze comes up from the lake, 

 which, though not seen in this particular spot, borders 

 the plain-like field in one part. 



The ground is not level ; it undulates, now sinking 

 into wide hollows, now rising in rounded ridges, and 

 the turf (not mown but grazed) is elastic under the 

 foot, almost like that of the downs in the distance. 

 This rolling surface increases the sense of largeness 

 of width because it is seldom possible to see 

 the whole of the field at once. In the hollows the 

 ridges conceal its real extent ; on the ridges a corre- 

 sponding rise yonder suggests another valley. The 



