10 MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 



conflicts between them and the dogs, there was 

 something like an exchange of retaliation, and not 

 unfrequently the aggressors were beaten ; and I 

 have with pleasure seen that wonderfully courage- 

 ous animal, the badger (with fair play), beat the 

 dogs of a whole neighbourhood, one after another, 

 completely off. 



In the vermin-hunting excursions, in the depth 

 of winter, while the whole face of nature was bound 

 in frost and covered with deep snow, in traversing 

 through bogs, amidst reeds and rushes, I have 

 often felt charmed with the sight of birds, flushed, 

 and sometimes caught, by the terrier dogs, which 

 I had never seen or heard of before ; and I am still 

 in doubt whether some of them have not escaped 

 being noticed as British birds. 



These were the diversions of the winter months, 

 which I enjoyed in an extreme degree, amidst the 

 storm and the tempest. In that season I was also 

 sometimes better employed in looking after a small 

 flock of sheep on the fell, a part of which was my 

 own.* The extremity of the weather had taught 

 them to seek a place of shelter under a steep but 

 low " brae," overhung with whins, under which, in 

 such weather, I was almost certain to find them 

 and their associates all huddled together. To this 

 place, through wreaths of snow, I early bent my 

 way, with a bundle of hay on my back, and my 

 pockets sometimes filled with oats, which I dis- 

 tributed amongst them. Upon these occasions, 



* They were of the long-legged, black-faced kind, which were 

 almost the only sort at that time kept in this part of the country. 

 The improved breed, with their fatting qualities, were then not known. 

 The mutton of the former eats like dark, juicy venison, while that of 

 the latter puts one in mind of blubber. 



