244 IN HIGH SUFFOLK 



sheep-dog that has discovered them. The ground, of 

 course, swarms with insects that have fallen from the 

 grass ; and the whole surface of the newly-cut field is 

 one great table of food for birds and beasts. They do 

 not wait to be invited. Starlings and sparrows rush 

 down upon the grubs and spiders, and eat till they can 

 eat no more. The rooks march over the field in 

 black battalions, and gobble up every lark's, landrail's, 

 and partridge's egg uncovered, pull to pieces the voles' 

 nests, and swallow with infinite relish the young and 

 helpless voles. The dogs do their best to eat the 

 young hedgehogs, and thereby prick their mouths 

 sadly ; and then scratch out the young rabbits and 

 catch the moles, which, being stupid and subterranean, 

 are npt aware that the covering grass has gone, and 

 work too near the surface. In the evening the cats 

 come shyly to the field, and catch the disconsolate mice 

 which venture back to look for their children. But 

 perhaps the most curious evidence of the universal 

 attractiveness of a hayfield which the writer has yet 

 seen, was the invasion of a meadow by fish ! A 

 summer flood had come down the upper waters of the 

 Cherwell, and spread over the meadows near Kidlington 

 Church, drowning millions of insects and small animals. 

 The water still lay among the haycocks, covering the 

 ground to the depth of a few inches, and of course 

 filling all the ditches and deeper channels. Up these 

 the fish had come, leaving the muddy river, and had 

 spread themselves in shoals over the field ; great chub 

 and carp and roach were pushing and flapping among 



