372 Charadriadce. 



fortunately to be an observer of birds, he immediately remarked 

 that this was one he had never seen before, and pointed it out to 

 his shepherd who was with him, desiring him to watch the bird 

 well while he returned to his home, at the distance of a mile, for 

 his gun. Before he went, however, he saw the bird suddenly 

 rise from the ground, and after a short flight of the most marvel- 

 lous velocity, return again to the fold, where it seemed to enjoy 

 the shelter from the bleak east wind, and to care nothing for the 

 presence of the sheep, the men and the dogs. This short 

 excursionary flight was renewed several times, which made Mr. 

 Hussey hesitate whether he should take the trouble to return 

 home on so remote a chance of still finding on his return so 

 singularly restless and swift a bird ; however, as the bird always 

 came back to the same spot after each successive excursion, Mr. 

 Hussey hesitated no longer, but hurried home for his gun, 'giving 

 strict charge to the shepherd to keep quiet, and on no account 

 to lose sight of the bird. Now the shepherds of Salisbury Plain 

 (in the midst of the bleakest part of which the parish of Tilshead 

 lies) are not remarkable for their sharpness ; indeed, I fear we 

 must own them to be the perfection of all that is dull, heavy, 

 and ignorant ; no wonder, then, that a bird so very rapid in its 

 movements as the Collared Pratincole should soon elude the slow 

 gaze of the heavy-eyed Argus, and that on Mr. Hussey's return, 

 in answer to his inquiries as to the whereabouts of the strange 

 bird, he should be met with the provoking reply " Doant knaw, 

 zur ; he flee'd away so terrible sudden that I could'n zee 'en 

 nowhere, I could'n : I never zee sech a bird to flee." Upon this, 

 it may be supposed that Mr. Hussey walked on somewhat dis- 

 appointed, when, in a moment, at the distance of about thirty 

 yards, up sprang the bird, and was darting off at a prodigious 

 rate, but a well-aimed shot laid it dead on the ground. On 

 picking it up, the long wings and forked tail caused Mr. Hussey 

 and others to suppose it to belong to the Swallow tribe ; and the 

 dull- eyed shepherd, seeing no brilliant hues in the dead bird, as 

 if to excuse his slowness, exclaimed with a sneer of contempt, 

 "Well, zur, 'taint much of a bird, arter all, I'm zure." ' In 



