A BOY NATUKALIST 



and head, is quite pale on the body, fading almost to 

 white on some parts ; and the down, too, is very pale, 

 fading to whitish tow-colour on the sides and back. 



When seeking for a ring-dove in down I had an 

 amusing adventure. At a distance of some miles from 

 the Itchen, near the Test, one day in September, I was 

 hunting for an insect I wanted in a thick copse by 

 Tidbury King, an ancient earthwork on the summit 

 of a chalk hill. Hearing a boy's voice singing near, I 



peeped out and saw a lad of about fifteen tending some 

 sheep: he was walking about on his knees, trimming 

 the herbage with an old rusty pair of shears which 

 he had found ! It startled him a little when I burst 

 out of the cover so near him, but he was ready to 

 enter into conversation, and we had a long hour to- 

 gether, sitting on the sunny down. I mentioned my 

 desire to find a newly-hatched ring-dove, and he at 

 once offered to show me one. There were two nests 

 with young close by, in one the birds were half-fledged, 

 the others only came out of their shells two days 



