48 WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



the horizon. It happened one summer evening, after 

 just such a day of continuous showers, that I was in 

 a meadow about two miles distant from the hills. The 

 rain had ceased, and the sky was clear overhead of all 

 but a thin film of cloud, through which the blue was 

 visible in places. But westward there was still a bank 

 of vapour concealing the sinking sun ; and eastward, 

 towards the downs, it was also thick and dark. I 

 walked slowly along with a gun, on the inner side of 

 a great hedge which hid the hills, waiting every now 

 and then behind a projecting bush for a rabbit to 

 come out a couple being wanted. In heavy rain, such 

 as had, lasted all day, they generally remain within 

 their " buries ; " or if one slips out, he usually keeps 

 on the bank, sheltered by stoles and trees, and nibbling 

 a little of the grass that grows there and is compara- 

 tively dry. But as evening approaches and the rain 

 ceases they naturally come forth to break a long fast, 

 and may then be shot. 



Some little time passed thus, when, in sauntering 

 along, I came to a gap in the hedge, and glanced 

 through it in the direction of the downs, there partly 

 visible. The idea at once occurred to me that the part 

 of the hills seen through the gap was remarkably 

 high very much higher and more mountainous than 

 any I had ever visited ; and actually, in the abstrac- 

 tion of the moment, half intent on the rabbits and 

 half, perhaps, thinking of other things, I resolved to 

 explore that section more thoroughly. Yet, after 

 walking a few yards further, somehow it seemed singu- 



