Pasture-land 199 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE WARREN RABBIT-BURROWS FERRETS THE QUARRY THE 

 FOREST SQUIRRELS DEER DYING RABBIT A HAWK. 



UNDER the trunks of the great trees the hedges are usually 

 thinner, and need repairing frequently ; and so it happens 

 that at the top of the home-field, besides the gap leading 

 into the ash copse, there is another some distance away 

 beneath a mighty oak. By climbing up the mound, and 

 pushing through the brake fern which grows thickly 

 between the bushes, entrance is speedily gained to the 

 wide rolling stretch of open pasture called the Warren. 

 The contrast with the small enclosed meadow just left is 

 very striking. A fresh breeze comes up from the lake, 

 which, though not seen in this particular spot, borders 

 the plain-like field in one part. 



The ground is not level ; it undulates, now sinking 

 into wide hollows, now rising in rounded ridges, and the 

 turf (not mown but grazed) is elastic under the foot, 

 almost like that of the downs in the distance. This 

 rolling surface increases the sense of largeness of width 

 because it is seldom possible to see the whole of the 

 field at once. In the hollows the ridges conceal its real 

 extent : on the ridges a corresponding rise yonder suggests 

 another valley. The two rows of tall elms some hundreds 

 of yards apart the scattered hawthorn bushes and solitary 

 trees, groups of cattle in the shade, and sheep grazing by 



