286 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN. 



or 



in 



gorse replete in its auriferous hues, the sweet bo 

 myrtle or golden willow blushing in its rich ferrugi- 

 nous buds, and the otherwise silent wild, rife with the 

 mellowed chant of birds. The turtle dove, the wood- 

 pigeon, and the black cock, were murmuring their 

 loves ; while the stately pheasant, giving his gleaming 

 plumage to the sun, crowed in reply to others of his 

 land, to dare a distant male to approach his walk. 



What graceful faces peeped from out the gorse! 

 There were the does in their sleek dappled summer 

 coats, selecting the most retired places whereon to 

 " fall" their fViwns ; while, on the more open lawns 

 fed the bucks, their horns just up beneath the velvet. 

 And hark the snipes as they wheel through the air, 

 like swifts upon the wing, make a curious bleat- 

 inof noise ; their females are beneath, either with 

 a late nest, their first nest having been destroyed by 

 some vermin that had escaped the keeper's vigilance, 

 or brooding over their funny-looking, prettily-striped, 

 and lons^-billed youno^ ones. Ah! what is that a 

 wounded bird tliat has flown up from the low 

 bushes beneath yon woodman's feet, and fluttering 

 for the space of twenty yards, seems able to fly no 

 further, but lighting on a bare spot full in sight, sits 

 with extended wings, and shaking them as if in pain ? 

 That is a woodcock endeavouring to lead the intruder 

 either from its nest or young ones. No ; it can't be 

 that, there is another bird just like it with its prey 

 in its claws ; it has risen and carried the bird it 

 was eating some distance further on. That is no 

 bird of prey, but the mate of the first woodcock, and 

 being witli her young, and tending one of them in 

 an exposed situation, she has carried it to a place 

 of safety. On looking at the formation of a wood- 



