FLOCKS OF BIRDS. 29 



to have as many as possible of the same species close 

 together. 



The blue bells in this hedge are unseen, except by 

 the rabbits. The latter have a large burrow, and 

 until the grass is too tall, or after it is cut or grazed, 

 can be watched from the highway. In this hedge the 

 first nightingale of the year sings, beginning some 

 two or three days before the bird which comes to 

 the bushes in the gorse, which will presently be 

 mentioned. 



It is, or rather was, a favourite meadow with the 

 partridges; one summer there was, I think, a nest in 

 or near it, for I saw the birds there daily. But the 

 .next year they were absent. One afternoon a brace 

 of partridges came over the hedge within a few inches 

 of my head ; they had been flushed and frightened 

 at some distance, and came with the wind at a 

 tremendous pace. It is a habit with partridges to fly 

 low, but just skimming the tops of the hedges, and 

 certainly, had they been three inches lower, they 

 must have taken my hat off. The knowledge that 

 partridges were often about there made me always 

 glance into this field on passing it, long after the 

 nesting season was over. 



In October, as I looked as usual, a hawk flew 

 between the elms, and out into the centre of the 

 meadow, with a large object in his talons. He 

 alighted in the middle, so as to be as far as possible 

 from either hedge, and no doubt prepared to enjoy 

 his quarry, when something startled him-^ and he 

 rose again. Then, as I got a better view, I saw it 

 was a rat he was carrying. The long body of the 



