40 The Amateur Poacher 



lichen, and for a foot or so out ; then there was a 

 long space where the bark and much of the wood had 

 mouldered away ; finally, near the end the bough 

 retained its original size and the bark adhered. At 

 the junction with the trunk and at the extremity its 

 diameter was perhaps three inches ; in the middle 

 Bather less than half as much. The grey central 

 piece, larger and darker at either end, suggested the 

 thought of the bare neck of a vulture. 



Far away, just rising above the slope of the leaze, 

 the distant tops of elms, crowded with rooks' nests 

 (not then occupied), showed the site of the residence 

 of an old gentleman of whom at that time we stood 

 in much fear. The ' Squire ' of Southlands alarmed 

 even the hardened carters' lads as much by the 

 prestige of a singular character as by the chastise- 

 ment he personally gave those who ventured into his 

 domain. Not a bird's nest, not a nut, must be touched : 

 still less anything that could be called game. The 

 watch kept was so much the stricter because he took 

 a personal part in it, and was often round the fields 

 himself armed with a great oak staff. It seemed, 

 indeed, as if the preservation of the game was of far 

 greater importance to him than the shooting of it 

 afterwards. All the fowls of the air flocked to 

 Southlands, as if it had been a refuge ; yet it was not 



