FEB. WINGED SWAN WILD CATS. 191 



him up ; and got away again, leaving her antago- 

 nist flat in the water. Then, and not till then, he 

 began to load his gun, which he had to my great 

 wonderment contrived to carry all the time high 

 over his head ; but, of course, notwithstanding all 

 his care, it had got quite wet and would not go off, 

 and the conflict ended at last by a lucky blow from 

 the barrels which stunned the swan. I was amused 

 at the boyish eagerness of so old a stager ; particu- 

 larly as we never lost a shot at ducks or anything 

 else without his laying it to my fault. I " had 

 lifted my head too high,'' or done something else 

 showing my want of tact. The poor fellow was in 

 a sad plight, being ducked to the skin all over 

 with half frozen water. However, I made him walk 

 quickly home, and he got no damage from his ex- 

 ploit. The swan weighed 18 lbs., and measured 

 above seven feet from tip to tip. We found that 

 many shots had struck the wing feathers without 

 breaking them. 



Towards the end of February whenever the 

 ground is soft the badgers leave their holes, and 

 wander far and near, digging up the ground like 

 pigs, in the fields as well as in the woods. 



The wild cats are brindled grey, and I have ob- 

 served that domestic cats of the same colour are 

 more inclined to take to the w^oods and hunt for 



