292 Stray Notes. 



erally plenty of wood ; and this again — if hedges 

 and small covers extend in a corresponding degree 

 with pasture — may affect bird life. 



A young dog may be taught to hunt almost any- 

 thing. Young pointers will point birds' nests in 

 hedges or trees, and discover them quicker than any 

 lad. If a dog is properl}- trained, of course this is 

 not allowed ; but if not trained, after accompanying 

 boys nesting once or twice they will enter into the 

 search with the greatest eagerness. Laborers occa- 

 sionally make caps of dog-skin, preserved wdth the 

 hair on. Cats not uncommonly put a paw into the 

 gins set for rabbits or rats. The sharp teeth break 

 the bone of the leg, but if the cat is found and let 

 out she will often recover — running about on three 

 legs till the injured fore-foot drops off at the joint, 

 when the stump heals up. Foxes are sometimes seen 

 running on three legs and a stump, having met with a 

 similar disaster. Cats contrive to climb some way 

 up the perpendicular sides of wheat ricks after the 

 mice. 



The sparrows are the best of gleaners : the}' leave 

 verj' little grain in the stubble. The women who go 

 gleaning now make up their bundles in a clums}^ way. 

 Now, the old gleaners used to tie up their bundles in 

 a clever manner, doubling the straw in so that it 

 bound itself and enabled them to carry a larger 

 quantity. Even in so trifling a matter there are two 

 ways of doing it, but the ancient traditionary work- 

 manship is dying out. The sheaves of corn, when 

 set up in the field leaning against each other, bear a 

 certain likeness to hands folded in prayer. By the 

 side of corn-fields the wild parsnip sometimes grows 



