WHEN MARCH WINDS BLOW. 127 



mouse. These grand creatures watch for their 

 quarry from their perch on the edge of the cover. 

 Pot-hunters, some call them ; but this is not fair 

 or just. To see one of these sparrow-hawks dash 

 after a partridge and cut it down is a fine sight 

 for a naturalist, though of course a sorry one for 

 a game-preserver. 



Ten or fifteen miles are as nothing to a bird 

 of prey : if in the course of his hunting the bird 

 finds a place to suit him, and has a good kill with- 

 out much trouble, he remembers it and comes again 

 next day, very frequently bringing his mate with 

 him. Sometimes large estates, owing to compli- 

 cated questions of law, are not worked for a few 

 years : then is the time for wild creatures to make 

 a settlement, and it is an opportunity which they 

 are prompt to avail themselves of. All wild crea- 

 tures are quite capable of taking care of number 

 one to perfection, and the real work of a game- 

 keeper is simply to prevent poaching if he can. 

 As to "looking after things," as the saying goes, 

 none of them require that any more than do the 

 wood-pigeons. I know it is a very easy matter 

 to make any creature that is wild, in a state of 



