WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 201 



up above the ground, when they will not suspect your 

 presence ; a ladder is placed against a tree within easy 

 shot of the pigsty, and the gunner, having previously 

 arranged that everything shall be kept quiet, takes 

 his stand on it, and from thence kills a couple perhaps 

 at once. 



On looking back, it appears that the farmhouse, 

 garden, orchard, and rickyard at Wick are constantly 

 visited by about thirty-five wild creatures, and, in 

 addition, five others come now and then, making a 

 total of forty. Of these forty, twenty-six are birds, 

 two bats, eight quadrupeds, and four reptiles. This 

 does not include some few additional birds that only 

 come at long intervals, nor those that simply fly over- 

 head or are heard singing at a distance. 



The great meadow hedge the highway of the birds 

 where it approaches the ha-ha wall of the orchard, 

 is lovely in June with the wild roses blooming on the 

 briers which there grow in profusion. Some of these 

 briers stretch forth into the meadow, and then, bent 

 down by their own weight, form an arch crowned with 

 flowers. There is an old superstition about these 

 arches of brier hung out along the hedgerow : magical 

 cures of whooping-cough and some other diseases of 

 childhood can, it is believed, be effected by pass- 

 ing the child at sunrise under the brier facing the 

 rising sun. 



This had to be performed by the " wise woman." 

 There was one in every hamlet but a few years ago, 



and indeed here and there an aged woman retains 



7* 



