130 THE LIFE OF RICHARD JEFFERIES 



act from causes quite distinct from those which at first 

 sight appeared sufficient to account for their motions.' 

 And yet again : 



' The joy in life of these animals — indeed, of almost 

 all animals and birds in freedom — is very great. You 

 may see it in every motion : in the lissom bound of the 

 hare, the playful leap of the rabbit, the song that the 

 lark and the finch must sing ; the soft, loving coo of the 

 dove in the hawthorn ; the blackbird ruffling out her 

 feathers on a rail. The sense of living — the consciousness 

 of seeing and feeling — is manifestly intense in them all, 

 and is in itself an exquisite pleasure. Their appetites 

 seem ever fresh : they rush to the banquet spread by 

 Mother Earth with a gusto that Lucullus never knew in 

 the midst of his artistic gluttony ; they drink from the 

 stream with dainty sips as though it were richest wine. 

 Watch the birds in the spring ; the pairs dance from 

 bough to bough, and know not how to express their wild 

 happiness. The hare rejoices in the swiftness of his 

 limbs ; his nostrils sniff the air, his strong sinews spurn 

 the earth ; like an arrow from a bow he shoots up the 

 steep hill that we must clamber slowly, halting half- 

 way to breathe. On outspread wings the swallow floats 

 above, then slants downwards with a rapid swoop, and 

 with the impetus of the motion rises easily. Therefore it 

 is that this skull here * [of a hare], ' lying so light in the 

 palm of the hand, with the bright sunshine falling on 

 it, and a shadowy darkness in the vacant orbits of the 

 eyes, fills us with sadness. " As leaves on leaves, so 

 men on men decay "; how much more so with these 

 creatures whose generations are so short !'* 



The sense of their happiness is born out of his own — a 

 happiness akin to sorrow, because it is so exquisite, and so 

 much a part of youth. The use of a gun and its effects 

 have become habitual, and have left him quite free to 

 feel and reflect exactly as many men do who would not 

 willingly take any life. 



* Wild Life in a Southern County. 



