FOREST TITHES 
gunshot, but within capital distance for a rook rifle. 
My appearance in the open did not cause the slightest 
difference in their movements : they kept passing over 
me in their wide circles, which was quite contrary to 
their usual cautious method of movement On diving 
into the deep hollow of the moor I discovered the 
cause of this. A sluice at the further end of the pond 
had rotted and given way, letting great quantities ot 
fish down into the moor stream, to the great joy of all 
the prowlers in the district, both furred and feathered, 
particularly of the herons. And the foresters, noting 
the birds at work in the stream, profited by the sight, 
and had fine fish also, for the mere picking of them up 
out of the water, which was too shallow, now that the 
stream had gone down, to cover them. 
When the herons found that the stream was not 
safe for them, they confined their fishing to the centre 
of the water that remained in the large pond, where 
they were in no danger, and where their finny prey 
seemed literally ready to jump into their mouths ; for 
the large fish, pike, perch, trout, and eels, all of them 
that remained there, chased the smaller fry continu- 
ally. So eager were they, that the shallow edges 
were all on the ripple with small fish that had rushed 
thither, where those that fed on them could not follow 
them. But even this did not completely frustrate the 
