292 PARTRIDGES 



along the hedge with the queer distinctive 

 rolling gait of his race, homeward bound 

 from some midnight foray. Though no 

 true vegetarian and as like as not a 

 family of young rabbits have gone to 

 promote that well-fed appearance he 

 presents still with regard to game proper 

 he has a fairly clean record, and the keeper 

 views him with a lenient and comparatively 

 friendly eye, checking the hostile demon- 

 strations low growling and rising hackles 

 of his dog with a muttered "Down, 

 Nero, you fool." 



As the mist rolls slowly away, a fair 

 countryside comes into view. In the 

 near foreground meadows soaked and 

 glistening with dew, each bush and briar 

 covered with the myriad webs of gossamer 

 spiders, delicate threads of lacework 

 shining in all the colours of the rainbow. 

 All around lies a wide stretch of arable 

 country, a land of chalky fallow and 

 broad bare stubbles, of copse and common, 

 heavy wood and rolling down. To the 

 west, where a wide-spreading valley, green 



