WHEN MARCH WINDS BLOW. 115 



thinking that I must find fresh hunting - grounds 

 somewhere. Yes; I knew that spot when pere- 

 grines, harriers, kites, buzzards, all passed over 

 that hollow in the hill. The rabbits that were 

 there in hosts proved too great a temptation for 

 some of them, and a few captures were made. A 

 splendid kite in mature plumage, that had come 

 from there, I once examined ; also a falcon in 

 her red plumage that had been shot in the act 

 of carrying off a partridge which she had struck. 

 She was afterwards beautifully set up with her 

 quarry, and I remember very well that so long 

 as the case remained in the bird - preserver's 

 window I spent all my spare time in looking at 

 it. At that period of my life I did not own one 

 single work on natural history ; my studies were, 

 as they still are, from the life, only then exclu- 

 sively so. 



The life of a bird and the study of a dead one 

 will give you the very best knowledge, however. 

 A very careful study of any dead bird or animal 

 will show you why they are able to do the wondrous 

 things that man marvels at, being formed for the 

 very purpose they so admirably carry out. The 



