The Brook Path. 175 



in the dry dust a thing they do daily in warm 

 weather. 



Hares were constantly passing from the cornfields 

 to the wood, and the wood to the cornfields ; and they 

 had another reason for using this track, because so 

 many herbs and plants, whose leaves they like better 

 than grass, flourished at the sides of the hedges. No 

 scythe cuts them down, as it does by the hedges in 

 the meadows ; nor was a man sent round with a 

 reaping-hook to chop them off, as is often done round 

 the arable fields. There was, therefore, always a feast 

 here, to which, also, the rabbits came. 



The poachers were perfectly well aware of all this, 

 and as a consequence this narrow lane became a most 

 favourite haunt of theirs. A wire set in the runs that led 

 to the causeway, or in the causeway itself, was almost 

 certain to be thrown. At one time it was occasionally 

 netted ; and now and then a bolder fellow hid himself 

 in the bushes with a gun, and took his choice of 

 pheasant, partridge, hare, or rabbit. These practices 

 were possible, because, although so secluded, there 

 was a public right-of-way along the lane. 



But of recent years, as game became more valued 

 and the keepers were increased, a check was put upon 

 it, though even now wires are frequently found which 

 poachers have been obliged to abandon. They are 



