76 SPORTS AND ANECDOTES. 



beetles, but they seemed to take everything else 

 that they could lay hands on, at least, their father 

 and mother did. 



They were particularly fond of some little white 

 call ducks that I had, and from the fact of the said 

 earth being within two hundred yards of a piece of 

 water on which my little ducks used to breed, out 

 of twenty-four they took eighteen, and I have more 

 than once seen the little robbers dragging and carry- 

 ing my poor little ducks about, and running after 

 each other, and playing about with them in their 

 mouths, in the middle of the day. It was a beautiful 

 sight, I own, but a bore for my poor little ducks. 

 It was such a pretty sight, and so seldom one which 

 could be seen, except from such a position as the 

 one I am writing of, that I wrote to West, who then 

 hunted the Cottesmore hounds, and begged him to 

 come over and have a look at them. This he did, 

 and luckily, after much watching and waiting about, 

 two of the little fellows put in an appearance* " Now 

 then," I said, "let us go and see what they've got 

 in their larder." 



On arriving at the earth there were plenty of white 

 feathers, legs and heads of hares and rabbits, and, 

 horribile die hi, part of a lamb ! 



