66 ON SURREY HILLS. 



standing than some people I knew, it was too much 

 for him. In a perfect torrent of rude eloquence he 

 gave me his opinion about owls, and all fools o' folk 

 who kept such floppin' varmints. As his voice was 

 raised in his excitement, his retriever walked up just 

 to see if anything had gone wrong. Down came 

 the man's ash stick on the poor animal's ribs, with 

 some rough words to the effect that he'd send for 

 him when he wanted him, he warn't talking about 

 him nor yet to him. I suppose the blow relieved 

 the man's feelings. As for myself, I let him talk 

 himself dry, and then as it interested me to keep 

 on friendly terms with him I mildly suggested the 

 fact that the neat little country inn was quite handy. 



Whilst he looked through various glasses of " Irish 

 with a slice of lemon," in which I kept him company, 

 his views on " owls and them as kept 'em " became 

 very much modified ; for when we parted he bade 

 me remember that "if any o' mine went off the 

 hooks he'd git me some more, either old uns or 

 young uns, fur they'd young uns very near all times 

 o' the year." 



In this statement he was perfectly correct. 



When my woodland friends found out that all 



