VORACITY. 69 



I could enumerate many instances of its almost 

 incredible voracity which have come under my 

 notice, but let one suffice. It occurred in the 

 summer of 1842, as I find by reference to my 

 journal for that year, from which the following 

 details are literally transcribed. I should premise 

 that I was at that time living in the weald, about 

 six miles to the north-east of Petworth, and that 

 I had taken considerable pains to increase the 

 number of pheasants in the wild, picturesque han- 

 gers and woods with which my residence was 

 surrounded, and where, when once established, 

 these birds become literally ferce naturd, finding 

 abundance of insect-food during the summer and 

 quantities of acorns in the autumn and winter, and 

 affording an attractive object of pursuit to those 

 who prefer wild sport and hard fagging to assist- 



I once encountered a native who exercised the double calling 

 of bailiff and " varminf-killer, and who, on my remon- 

 strating with him for having shot and crucified so many 

 innocent cuckoos, assured me very gravely that although 

 those birds were called cuckoos during the summer, they 

 became hawks in the winter ; the bill and claws gradually 

 assuming the true falconine character. This was near the 

 coast, where the sparrowhawk is rare during the summer, 

 but where the males abound, as I have shown, during the 

 winter. 



