200 WITH THE WOODLANDERS. 



heath-lands we have a goodly number of these moor 

 birds. 



Scattered grains of corn, various seeds from the 

 vegetation of the fields, far too numerous for us 

 to mention, and those creeping and flying hosts 

 that frequent the corn-lands slugs, worms, beetles 

 in their mature and their immature stages, flies 

 and green food, with bits of green sharp gravel, 

 swallowed to help digestion, form the principal 

 bill of fare of this bird. Those that live on the 

 moors eat the green tender shoots of the heather, 

 and in their season the whortleberries and those of 

 the dewberry or trailing bramble. 



The finest birds for size and plumage are found 

 in some of the southern and eastern counties. 

 Where the corn and marsh lands join each other, 

 there is the perfect home for our birds. How often 

 have I seen the coveys come whirring from the 

 yellow corn on to the wide green flats which were 

 quivering in the heat, in order to visit some of 

 the countless ant - hills, where the great hares 

 resting between the old mole - heaps started up 

 as the birds dashed over them ! Golden corn-fields, 

 vast stretches of green flats bordered by the tide, 



