No Road this Way 231 



other branches ; for nothing but the most strenuous care will 

 keep the sheep from invading a hayfield, and a way, once 

 discovered, quickly becomes a beaten track by which the 

 whole flock seek the field, morning and night, if not 

 prevented. 



The way down from Llyn Lliwbran is intersected by 

 several of these walls, shutting off the fields of Plas from 

 the mountain, and of one of them we were glad to avail 

 ourselves, and to make a wide detour under its shelter, to 

 escape the attentions of a black bull, whose angry bellow 

 most effectually proclaimed that there was no road that way. 

 By way of retaliation, he was snap-shotted from the top of 

 the wall, and thereby, maybe, his memory may survive long 

 after he himself has sought new pastures, and the broad and 

 easy way that leads to Bovril ! 



On the side of the wall facing the hill was a Ring Ouzel's 

 nest, containing young ones, the parents greeting us with 

 noisy clatter as we passed, and a little further on a Stoat 

 was seen in active pursuit of a Rabbit. This was only one 

 of several similar hunts I witnessed in this locality, always 

 terminating in the death of the Rabbit. Indeed, unless 

 baffled of his prey by human intervention, the Stoat 

 probably seldom pursues in vain. Perhaps, instinctively, 

 he does not hunt on bad scenting days, and thus always 

 shows to advantage ; but the resolution with which he sticks 

 to a line, and casts himself like the little hound he is, when 

 thrown out, is rarely equalled even by the staunchest beagle. 

 The pace at which he hunts, too, is by no means to be 

 sneered at. What sport could be had with a pack of Stoats, 

 would someone only take the trouble of taming them ! 

 With a couple or two, any rabbit could be easily killed, 

 while rats could be turned to good account when other 

 quarry failed ; and on a hare, in fairly open country, such as 

 many of our mountains yield, they would drive along at a 

 pace quite fast enough for most men to follow, a-foot. The 

 only thing lacking would be the music ; and even that might 

 be supplied, to some extent, by tiny bells such as are worn 

 by falcons. 



A Hare one day passed me, lolloping along, and occasion- 



