LEAVES FKOM A GAME BOOK. 71 



bridge thus formed reached close to the opposite bank, 

 all the rats in the water meanwhile paddling hard with 

 their feet to keep their bridge from being carried down 

 stream, and as there was but little current, this they 

 easily managed to do. Then, as soon as the remainder 

 of the shore rats, which were chiefly young ones, saw 

 that the bridge was nearly complete, one by one they 

 proceeded to cross over on the backs of their parents and 

 leapt to shore from the back of the last link in the living 

 chain. As soon as the whole of the juveniles had 

 passed, the bridge dissolved itself into individuals, who 

 quickly swam ashore, and the whole party resumed their 

 march. 



During the remainder of 1881 I had many pleasant 

 days of sport with Edward Lawson on his recently 

 purchased estate of Hall Barn, in Bucks. The head of 

 game on this property was not then nearly so heavy 

 as judicious preservation has now made it, but as a 

 specimen sort of day of that period, I see that in company 

 with our host, Sir George Prescott, Sir Roger Palmer, 

 John Edwards Moss, R. Serecold, Willie Lawson, and 



