50 WITHIN AN HOUR OF LONDON TOWN. 



combination ? He was fain to quit those large 

 fields, forty acres though they measured, and be- 

 take himself to the less guarded upland pastures, 

 although even there he had an uncertain footing. 



No weak -chested lad had the least chance of 

 getting that musical post of crow-frightener. 



" Dang them warmints ! " old Farmer Wills was 

 wont to exclaim, " they pulls the turf up. If some 

 on 'em ain't settled, there wun't be no feed fur the 

 sheep. Go an' git the old double, an' kill some on 

 'em off." 



The worthy man had not the faintest notion that 

 the birds were feeding on the larvae of the cock- 

 chafer that was devouring the roots of the herbage. 

 "Give a dog a bad name," &c. Thanks, however, 

 to the writings of recent field naturalists, these 

 creatures that have been so long unjustly treated, 

 now enjoy many of them, at least comparative 

 security. 



The rook is a specially industrious bird ; he is up 

 early, and he does not roost until dusk ; and when 

 we consider that from his first flight in the morning 

 until he roosts at night, he is continually clearing 

 the fields and pastures from insects that would 



