CHAPTER XIII. 



The Warren Rabbit -burrows Ferrets The quarry The forest 

 Squirrels Deer Dying rabbit A hawk. 



T TNDER the trunks of the great trees the hedges 

 l^J are usually thinner, and need repairing fre- 

 quently ; and so it happens that at the top of the 

 home-field, besides the gap leading into the ash copse, 

 there is another some distance away beneath a mighty 

 oak. By climbing up the mound, and pushing through 

 the brake fern which grows thickly between the bushes, 

 entrance is speedily gained to the wide rolling stretch 

 of open pasture called the Warren. The contrast with 

 the small enclosed meadow just left is very striking. 

 A fresh breeze comes up from the lake, which, though 

 not seen in this particular spot, borders the plain-like 

 field in one part. 



The ground is not level ; it undulates, now sinking 

 into wide hollows, now rising in rounded ridges, and 

 the turf (not mown but grazed) is elastic under the 

 foot, almost like that of the downs in the distance. 

 This rolling surface increases the sense of largeness 

 of width because it is seldom possible to see the 

 whole of the field at once. In the hollows the ridges 



