SHEPHERDS AND WHEATEARS 135 



is a picture of his early shepherding days : " I have 

 sometimes been on the hills in winter from morning to 

 night, and have not seen a single person during the 

 whole day. In the snow I have Avalked to and fro 

 under the shelter of a steep bank, or in a bottom or 

 a combe, while my sheep have been by me scraping 

 away the snow with their forefeet to get at the grass, 

 and I have taken my book out of my pocket, and as I 

 walked to and fro in the snow have read to pass away 

 the time. It is very cold on the downs in such 

 weather. I remember once, whilst with my father, 

 the snow froze into ice on my eyelashes, and he breathed 

 on my face to thaw it off. The downs are very pleasant 

 in summer." 



Yes, they are. 



" At midsummer, 1 799, I removed to Kingston, near 

 Lewes, where I was under- shepherd for three years. 

 The flock was large (1400), and my master, the head 

 shepherd, being old and mfirm, much of the labour 

 devolved on me. While here I had better wages, £6 

 a year ; I had also part of the money obtained from 

 the sale of wheatears, though we did not catch them 

 here in great numbers, a dozen or two a day, seldom 

 more. The hawks often injured us by tearing them 

 out of their coops, scattering their feathers about, which 

 frightened the other birds from the coops. During 

 winter I caught the moles, which, at twopence each, 

 brought me a few shillings." 



It is a pity that Dudeney did not give the name of 



