AN OUTLAW OF THE AIR 151 



with sheep-walks; and more to the left was a small 

 larch wood. Patches of red showed where the dead 

 bracken still lay, and sprinkled about the hills were 

 here and there tiny white dots the sheep. Away 

 yonder a small white cottage is almost hidden by 

 a turn in the valley, and from a wood near here 

 we heard every now and then the sound of an axe 

 striking wood. It is strange how the smallest sound 

 will sometimes rise to such a height With the aid 

 of my glasses I see a woman cutting branches from 

 a tree ; then like a speck we see her trudging home- 

 wards with her burden. Overhead, buzzards were 

 " mewing," adding to the rare wildness of the scene 

 with their wild cries a cry so much in harmony with 

 these lonely hills. Skimming with swift and graceful 

 flight along the ridge of the opposite hill, we saw 

 a kite that rarest of British birds. For as long 

 as it was possible to follow him with our eyes we did 

 so, for even to see a kite is a red-letter day in the 

 lifetime of an ardent naturalist. For a time I sat on 

 a hill, looking out over one of the wildest spots to be 

 found in the British Islands, lost in admiration at the 

 bleak and rugged hills before me, while high up over 

 the valley the two ravens flew, watching our every 

 movement. Sometimes it seemed as though the 

 male was trying to drive his mate back to the 

 nest, for they occasionally had a " set-to " in the air. 

 At length we went on our way, leaving the ravens in 



