MELLOW ENGLAND. 161 



And yet, to American eyes, the country seems 

 quite uninhabited, there are so few dwellings, and so 

 few people. Such a landscape at home would be dot- 

 ted all over with thrifty farm-houses, each with its 

 group of painted out-buildings, and along every road 

 and highway would be seen the well-to-do turnouts 

 of the independent freeholders. But in England the 

 dwellings of the poor people, the farmers, are so 

 humble and inconspicuous and are really so far apart, 

 and the halls and the country-seats of the aristocracy 

 are so hidden in the midst of vast estates, that the 

 landscape seems almost deserted, and it is not till you 

 see the towns and great cities that you can under- 

 stand where so vast a population keeps iteelf. 



Another thing that would be quite sure to strike 

 my eye on this my first ride across British soil and 

 on all subsequent rides, was the enormous number of 

 birds and fowls of various kinds that swarmed in the 

 air or covered the ground. It was truly amazing. 

 It seemed as if the feathered life of a whole continent 

 must have been concentrated on this island. Indeed, 

 I doubt if a sweeping together of all the birds of the 

 United States into any two of the largest States, 

 would people the earth and air more fully. There 

 appeared to be a plover, a crow, a rook, a blackbird, 

 and a sparrow, to every square yard of ground. They 

 know the value of birds in Britain that they are 

 the friends, not the enemies, of the farmer. It must 

 be the paradise of crows and rooks. It did me good 

 to see them so much at home about the fields and 

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