WILD LIFE AT HOME, AND ABROAD. 2O5 



As you pass by the village green notice the lads and lasses 

 who are sporting there. Here many a British boy has been 

 raised who in after years has done noble duty for his Country 

 on some far off land or sea. How rural the scene, how truly 

 restful, yet grand ! 



Let us go to some quiet farmyard, and watch the Poultry; 

 the gay old Chanticleer, the frugal Swine, the broad-limbed Cart 

 Horses, the dappled hides of the Cows, the faithful Sheep Dog, 

 the tumbling Pigeons, the well shaped Hay ricks; and let us 

 chat awhile with the proud owner of this ' Three Acres 

 and a Cow ' 1 



Let us stop the cowman or the shepherd, or perchance the 

 ploughman may cross our path ; these are three of Britain's 

 truest sons, and it pays to take time by the forelock, and chat 

 with them as to the progress of the various departments of 

 farming in which they are engaged. If it be April, ask them 

 if they have seen a Swallow yet, or heard the Summer Warblers, 

 and, if they have not, they will willingly direct you to the 

 spot where they are sure to be first seen or heard. 



Let us stroll through the standing grass that is along the 

 winding, well trodden pathway and notice the hundreds of 

 Grasses with which our land is blessed, and the Oxeye 

 Daisies; nothing could please us more than to listen to the 

 Skylark as we watch it soaring cloudwards, singing perhaps 

 for entrance at the very gates of Heaven ; or the mellow notes 

 of a sweet- voiced Thrush. Shew me that cow-dung lined nest, 

 and those shells of unpaintable blue, ink-spotted over; the silver- 

 lichened nest of the Long Tailed Titmouse; the huge nests of 

 the Sea Birds ; the Field Mouse with his merry little family ; 

 the burrows of the Rabbits; the heaps of the Mole; all, all 

 will interest me, and fresh sights and sounds crop up at 

 every turn. 



Let me watch the Weasel or the Fox; may I linger by the 

 time-worn river posts, and observe the Caddis, and examine 

 that marvellous homestead he so dexterously models 1 Even 

 the Sticklebacks which the children hasten to eternity by 

 catching and bottling in receptacles where the finnies have no 

 chance to breathe are worthy of a close attention and study 



The love of Sport is born in these young Britishers, little Eng- 



