22 WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



is feeding : you can tell even so far off that it is feed- 

 ing, because the sheep are scattered about, dotted 

 hither and thither over the surface. It is their habit 

 the moment they are driven to run together. Farther 

 away, slowly travelling up a distant down, another 

 flock, packed close, rises towards the ridge, like a 

 thick white mist stealthily ascending the slope. 



Just outside the trench, almost within reach, there 

 lies a small white something, half hidden by the 

 grass. It is the skull of a hare, bleached by the winds 

 and the dew and the heat of the summer sun. The 

 skeleton has disappeared, nothing but the bony casing 

 of the head remains, with its dim suggestiveness oi 

 life, polished and smooth from the friction of the 

 elements. Holding it in the hand the shadow falls 

 into and darkens the cavities once filled by the wistful 

 eyes which whilom glanced down from the summit 

 here upon the sweet clover fields beneath. Beasts of 

 prey and wandering dogs have carried away the bones 

 of the skeleton, dropping them far apart ; the crows 

 and the ants doubtless had their share of the carcass. 

 Perhaps a wound caused by shot that did not imme- 

 diately check his speed, or wasting disease depriving 

 him of strength to obtain food, brought him low ; 

 mayhap an insidious enemy crept on him in his form. 



The joy in life of these animals indeed, of almost 

 all animals and birds in freedom is very great. You 

 may see it in every motion in the lissom bound of 

 the hare, the playful leap of the rabbit, the song that 

 the lark and the finch must sing ; the soft, loving coo 



