WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 253 



Where a part of the lake comes up to the field is a 

 long-disused quarry, whose precipices face the water 

 like a cliff. Thin grasses have grown over the ex- 

 cavations below : the thistles and nettles have covered 

 the heaps of rubbish thrown aside. The steep, in- 

 accessible walls of hardened sand are green with 

 minute vegetation. Along the edge above runs a 

 shallow red-brown band it is the soil which nourishes 

 the roots of the grasses of the field : beneath it come 

 small detached stones in sand ; these fall out, loosened 

 by the weather, and roll down the precipice. Then, 

 still deeper, the sand hardens almost into stone, and 

 finally comes the stone itself ; but before the work- 

 men could get out more than a thin layer they reached 

 the level of the water in the lake, which came in on 

 them, slowly forming pools. 



These are now bordered by aquatic grasses, and 

 from their depths every now and then the newts 

 come up to the surface. In the sand precipices are 

 small round holes worked out by the martins there 

 must be scores of them. Where narrow terraces 

 afford access to four-footed creatures, the rabbits, 

 too, have dug out larger caves ; some of them rise 

 upwards, and open on the field above, several yards 

 from the edge of the cliff. The sheep sometimes climb 

 up by these ledges ; they are much more active 

 than they appear to be, and give the impression that 

 in their native state they must have rivalled the 

 goats. The lambs play about in dangerous-looking 

 places without injury : the only risk seems to be of 



