WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 105 



to his charge ; and if he walks across the parish off 

 duty he still cannot choose but notice how the crops 

 are coming on, and where there is most " keep." 

 The shepherd has been the last of all to abandon the 

 old custom of long service. While the labourers are 

 restless, there may still be found not a few instances 

 of shepherds whose whole lives have been spent 

 upon one farm. Thus, from the habit of observa- 

 tion and the lapse of years, they often become local 

 authorities ; and when a dispute of boundaries or 

 water rights or right of way arises, the question is 

 frequently finally decided by the evidence of such 

 a man. 



Every now and then a difficulty happens in refer- 

 ence to the old green lanes and bridle -tracks which 

 once crossed the country in every direction, but get 

 fewer in number year by year. Sometimes it is desired 

 to enclose a section of such a track to round off an 

 estate : sometimes a path has grown into a valuable 

 thoroughfare through increase of population ; and 

 then the question comes, Who is to repair it ? There 

 is little or no documentary evidence to be found 

 nothing can be traced except through the memories 

 of men ; and so they come to the old shepherd, 

 who has been stationary all his life, and remembers 

 the condition of the lane fifty years since. He always 

 liked to drive his sheep along it first, because it 

 saved the turnpike tolls ; secondly, because they 

 could graze on the short herbage and rest under the 

 shade of the thick bushes. Even in the helplessness 



