130 WITH THE WOODLANDERS. 



eared owl will run through tussocks like a moor- 

 hen. All owls are nimble on their feet, but some 

 of the more lightly formed ones the bird under 

 notice is one of them can run with great speed. 

 The brown owl when on the ground runs like a 

 Cochin China fowl, and he looks not unlike one, 

 with the exception of his head. 



So far as rabbits are concerned, they swarm 

 here. In past years I have known them sold at 

 ridiculous prices; and I have also known them 

 carted off, strange as it may read now, to be put 

 on the manure-heap in the Valley farmyard. So 

 no one misses those that are taken as food by the 

 creatures above-named. 



A pair of magpies had been here shortly before 

 my visit, but I was told they were not on the estate 

 now. It may not be generally known that in the 

 woodlands this bird is credited with unlimited know- 

 ledge of a peculiar kind ; in fact, you will hear the 

 folks there say frequently that a couple of magpies 

 are a match for the devil. How they arrived at 

 that conclusion I do not know ; but one thing I 

 certainly do know, and that is a pair of magpies' 

 wings fixed on the door inside, are firmly believed 



