WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN 

 COUNTY. 



CHAPTER I. 



The downs The entrenchment Ways of larks Hares A com- 

 bat Happiness of animals Ants A long journey. 



THE most commanding down is crowned with 

 the grassy mound and trenches of an ancient 

 earthwork, from whence there is a noble view of hill 

 and plain. The inner slope of the green fosse is 

 inclined at an angle pleasant to recline on, with the 

 head just below the edge, in the summer sunshine. 

 A faint sound as of a sea heard in a dream a sibi- 

 lant " sish, sish " passes along outside, dying away 

 and coming again as a fresh wave of the wind rushes 

 through the bennets and the dry grass. There are 

 the happy hum of bees who love the hills as they 

 speed by laden with their golden harvest, a drowsy 

 warmth, and the delicious odour of wild thyme. 

 Behind the. fosse sinks, and the rampart rises high 

 and steep ; two butterflies are wheeling in uncertain 



