492 FOX-HOUND, FOREST, AND PRAIRIE. 



to think hardly of him — as Captain Barclay. The deepest 

 sympathy, from all who knew them both, is for the brother, who 

 has lost the companion of his life. 



BEDRIDDEN. 



Better than boardship, anyhow ! Green turf is fairer than 

 green water ; and the point of view of a tressel bed is at 

 least not much worse than that of a deck chair. A flock of 

 starlings — covering the grass to the very window sill — is of far 

 more interest than a bevy of Mother Carey's chickens on the 

 dizzy waters ; and a couple of foxhound puppies are more 

 laughable in their frolic than any school of dolphins in the 

 Atlantic. Nature and her history are almost of necessity the 

 study of every countryman's life. But, it happens, there is 

 beauty of pencilling and nervous grace of movement among 

 these birds as they work a grass field after a shower, that needs 

 an opportunity of close and leisurely observance, They hurry 

 over their food as eagerly as hounds at the trough, or cowboys 

 at their midday meal. And so closely do they tread the sod, no 

 wonder huntsmen expect a check from their foiling presence as 

 readily as from the rush of a flock of sheep. Their bright eyes, 

 at such close quarters, may be seen to twinkle with rapacity as 

 they snatch the worms risen to the morning shower ; and the 

 glossy spots of their mottled backs sparkle like black pearls. 

 The puppies come racing by — the one with a helper's boot in 

 her mouth, the other racing for a worry. And the starlings 

 swirl up, to spread in skirmishing fashion, then wheel into line 

 and resume position, with all the method of a drilled battalion. 

 A few lazy rooks — reminding one of the idle mandarins who 

 dawdle after a regiment of Chinamen soldiery only as passive 

 spectators rather than as officers — flap lazily up on the outskirts 

 of the brisker flock, as the puppies tear past, a Belvoir Governor 

 with the boot and a Pvtchley Solomon snatching alongside. 



