CH. V. WILD CAT. 75 



belonging to Ross, the keeper at Tongue, had 

 peculiar wildness and antipathy to strangers, not 

 suffering himself to be caressed, or indeed scarcely 

 to be looked at, by any one excepting the keeper's 

 wife, for whom the animal showed great attach- 

 ment. When I entered the house he bolted out, 

 and it was with difficulty that Mrs. Ross caught 

 him; and when she brought him in again in her 

 arms, the animal showed the greatest fear of and 

 animosity to me, and was constantly endeavouring 

 to escape. 



It was delightful to hear in the plantations at 

 Tongue the coo of the woodpigeon and the songs of 

 thrush, siskin, &c. &c. The trees seemed to be 

 full of birds, most of which, to reach these woods, 

 must have wandered over many miles of ground 

 very uncongenial to their habits and tastes. Indeed 

 it is difficult to understand how many of the birds, 

 such as the golden-crested wren, the little blue tit- 

 mouse, &c., could ever have found their way here. 

 The landrails too seemed to be numberless ; in 

 every patch of corn they were calling and answering 

 each other in such quantities, that it was impossible 

 to tell how many were croaking at once. I also 

 heard two or three goatsuckers (^Caprimulgus) 

 making their whirring noise about the stone walls 

 and belts of plantations. All night the sedge- 



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