174 WOODLAND, MOOR, AND STREAM 



make the harbour tide, would whistle and keep close 

 to one another when they left the open downs and 

 entered that long narrow stretch of graveyard. 



I have seen it many a time by moonlight when 

 the great walnut trees threw fantastic shadows over 

 the graves and upon the long path, a large portion of 

 the yard lying in the mass of shadow thrown by the 

 church ; in the distance a weird flash of water, the 

 open sea. The hiss and snore peculiar to the owls, 

 with their surroundings, gave the old churchyard the 

 reputation of being haunted. And so it was at certain 

 times, for on dark gusty nights, when the branches 

 creaked and ground against each other, and the old 

 fishing crones who sat huddled up round the fire said 

 to one another that the devil was blowing the dust 

 out of his streetdoor key and getting cross over it, 

 the churchyard would be haunted by the living. The 

 owls on such nights screamed their loudest, and 

 ghostly-looking figures would glide through, each 

 carrying a burden. They moved swiftly and si- 

 lently, the burden being a tub which had come from 

 Holland. 



To all who cultivate the land in any form white 

 owls are valuable allies, and ought not to be killed or 

 driven away from any spot where they make a settle- 

 ment. As a rule farmers recognise the fact that they 



