WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 327 



thing. Young pointers will point birds' nests in 

 hedges or trees, and discover them quicker than any 

 lad. If a dog is properly trained, of course this is not 

 allowed ; but if not trained, after accompanying boys 

 nesting once or twice they will enter into the search 

 with the greatest eagerness. Labourers occasion- 

 ally make caps of dogskin, preserved with the hair 

 on. Cats not uncommonly put a paw into the gins 

 set for rabbits or rats. The sharp teeth break the 

 bone of the leg, but if the cat is found and let out 

 she will often recover running about on three legs till 

 the injured fore foot drops off at the joint, when the 

 stump heals up. Foxes are sometimes seen running 

 on three legs and a stump, having met with a similar 

 disaster. Cats contrive to climb some way up the 

 perpendicular sides of wheat ricks after the mice. 



The sparrows are the best of gleaners : they leave 

 very little grain in the stubble. The women who go 

 gleaning now make up their bundles in a clumsy way. 

 Now, the old gleaners used to tie up their bundles in 

 a clever manner, doubling the straw in so that it bound 

 itself and enabled them to carry a larger quantity. 

 Even in so trifling a matter there are two ways of 

 doing it, but the ancient traditionary workmanship is 

 dying out. The sheaves of corn, when set up in the 

 field leaning against each other, bear a certain likeness 

 to hands folded in prayer. By the side of cornfields 

 the wild parsnip sometimes grows in great profu- 

 sion. If dug up for curiosity the root has a strong 

 odour, like the cultivated vegetable, but is small and 



