HARVEST AND GLEANING TIME 179 



to visit certain lakes, ponds, and meres ; but 

 this, a full-plumaged adult, in August of 1894, 

 was, I think, an exceptional case so far inland, 

 thirty and forty miles from the tide. That 

 large stretches of fresh water, broken by 

 heaths, woods, mosses, and alder swamps, all 

 of them well stocked with fish, should at times 

 attract the fowl at certain seasons, might be ex- 

 pected. The osprey or fish-hawk has not only 

 been seen, but shot in the same line of country. 



The fields are bare ; only the stubble re- 

 mains in those that will, for a time, be left fal- 

 low. Wild fruits and berries have ripened off 

 on trees and bushes, the twigs only remaining 

 on some of them, those that are most favoured 

 by the birds. At this particular time of the 

 year, the border-land so to speak between 

 autumn and winter, all creatures are busy in 

 and about the fields, the greater portion well 

 on the feed while it lasts, and a few busy in 

 storing up for the future. 



" Samples of weather," as the country folks 

 have it, come and go in fitful changes : for a 

 day or two the sun shines out, brightening up 

 the face of the country ; then the wind shifts, 

 and grey tones meet the eye far and near 

 tones that vary in depth from warm purple- 



