92 The Amateur Poacher 



owls seem almost rare. But a wood is a place to which 

 they all flock ; and any wanderer from the north or west 

 naturally tends thither. This wood is of large extent ; 

 but even to the smaller plantations of the Downs it is 

 wonderful what a number come in the course of a 

 year. Besides the shed just visited there would be 

 certain to be another more or less ornamented near 

 the keeper's cottage, and probably others scattered 

 about, where the commoner vermin could be nailed 

 without the trouble of carrying them far away. Only 

 the owls and hawks, magpies, and such more striking 

 evidences of slaughter were collected here, and almost 

 daily renewed. 



To get into the wood was much easier than to get 

 out, on account of the thick hedge, palings, and high 

 sharp-sparred gates ; but I found a dry ditch where 

 it was possible to creep under the bushes into a 

 meadow where was a footpath. 



