200 WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



or stonechats also in summer often visit the rickyard, 

 though they do not build in it. Some elm trees shade 

 the ricks, and once now and then a wood pigeon 

 settles in them for a little while. The coo of the dove 

 may be heard frequently, but she does not build very 

 near the house. 



On this farm the rookery is at some distance in the 

 meadows, and the rooks rarely come nearer than the 

 field just outside the post and rails that enclose the 

 rickyard, though they pass over constantly, flying low 

 down without fear, unless some one chances just then 

 to come out carrying a gun. Then they seem seized 

 with an uncontrollable panic, and stop short in their 

 career by a violent effort of the wings, to wheel off 

 immediately at a tangent. Perhaps no other bird 

 shows such evident signs of recognizing a gun. Chaf- 

 finches, it must not be forgotten, frequent the rick- 

 yard in numbers. 



Finally come the rats. Though trapped, shot, and 

 ferreted without mercy, the rats insist on a share of the 

 good things going. They especially haunt the pigsties, 

 and when the pigs are served with their food feed with 

 them at the same trough. Those old rats that come 

 to the farmstead are cunning, fierce brutes, not to be 

 destroyed without much difficulty. They will not 

 step on a trap, though never so cleverly laid ; they 

 will face a ferret, unless he happens to be particularly 

 large and determined, and bite viciously at dogs. 

 But with all their cunning there is one simple trick 

 which they are not up to : this is to post yourself high 



