62 



THE EARLY DAYS OF 



would afford a pleasing adjunct to our scenery. But this is a subject 

 that has already been well thrashed out, with hardly any good result 

 whatever. I was standing with a loaded gun by our brook last 

 week, when a pair of sea-gulls came flying by, only a few yards 



THE ANDALUSIAN QUAIL. 



above my head. My companion was most anxious that I should 

 shoot them. I sternly turned on him and asked what would be 

 the use of the birds when slain ? This was a question which he 

 completely failed to answer. 



When I was a schoolboy I would stand in the cold for hours, 



