42 The Amateur Poacher 



change in the temperature of the earth ; if it slackens 

 they begin to labour, and cast up, unwittingly, food 

 for the thrushes. 



It would have been easy to kill three or four of 

 the covey, which was a small one, at a single shot ; 

 but it had been a late summer, and they were not 

 full-grown. Besides which, they roosted, I knew, 

 about the middle of the meadow, and to shoot them 

 near the roost would be certain to break them up, 

 and perhaps drive them into Southlands. ' Good 

 poachers preserve their own game : ' so the birds fed 

 safely, though a pot shot would not have seemed the 

 crime then that it would now. While I watched them 

 suddenly the old bird * quat,' and ran swiftly into the 

 hedge, followed by the rest. A kestrel was hovering 

 in the next meadow : when the beat of his wings 

 ceased he slid forward and downwards, then rose and 

 came over me in a bold curve. Well those little brown 

 birds in the blackthorn knew that, fierce as he was, 

 lie dared not swoop even on a comparatively open 

 bush, much less such thick covert, for fear of ruffling 

 his proud feathers and beating them out. Nor could 

 he follow them through the intricate hidden passages. 



In the open water of the pond a large jack was 

 basking in the sunshine, just beneath the surface ; 

 and though the shot would scatter somewhat before 



