112 A HUNT FOR THE NIGHTINGALE. 



in commons ! These commons are frequently met 

 with ; about Selborne they are miles in extent, snd 

 embrace the Hanger and other woods. No one can 

 inclose them or appropriate them to his own use. 

 The landed proprietor of whose estates they form a 

 part cannot ; they belong to the people, to the lease- 

 holders. The villagers and others who own houses 

 on leased land pasture their cows upon them, gather 

 the furze, and cut the wood. In some places the 

 commons belong to the crown and are crown lands. 

 These large uninclosed spaces often give a free and 

 easy air to the landscape that is very welcome. Near 

 the top of the hill I met a little old man nearly hid- 

 den beneath a burden of furze. He was backing it 

 home for fuel and other uses. He paused obsequious, 

 and listened to my inquiries. A dwarfish sort of 

 man, whose ugliness was redolent of the humblest 

 chimney corner. Bent beneath his bulky burden, and 

 grinning upon me, he was a visible embodiment of the 

 poverty, ignorance, and, I may say, the domesticity 

 of the lowliest peasant home. I felt as if I had en- 

 countered a walking superstition, fostered beside a 

 hearth lighted by furze fagots and by branches 

 dropped by the nesting rooks and ravens a figure 

 half repulsive and half alluring. On the border of 

 Leechmere bottom I sat down above a straggling 

 copse, aflame as usual with the foxglove, and gave 

 eye and ear to the scene. While sitting here, I 

 saw and heard for the first time the black-capped 

 warbler. I recognized the note at once by its bright* 



