AROUND EPSOM AND LEATHERHEAD 167 



he consorts with such, and so steer to the left. 

 More is, I think, to be said for his taking the 

 right edge while he uses the track as a footpath. 

 On the latter course he should be quite safe from 

 anything coming the way that he is going, and 

 with a proper lookout, can make his own 

 arrangements to accommodate himself with what 

 meets his advance. 



One more funny bird. I came on a dis- 

 mounted steeplechase rider hanging on to the 

 end of his reins while he, up a steep bank, was 

 endeavouring to keep his horse in hold and reach 

 some privet berries. " For the bullfinch at 

 home," says he, so we took a department each — 

 he minded the horse and I harvested the little 

 black fruit. Here is where the funny part comes 

 in. Up to then I had not seen a single bully, 

 who is a very attention-attracting chap, because 

 of the brilliant white he shows in flying. I give 

 you my word that going back on my tracks I 

 seemed scarcely ever free from bullfinches. They 

 were for ever zig-zagging across from hedge to 

 hedge, or flitting along them, and seemed almost 

 as plentiful as robins. That bold customer is to 

 be found wherever anything to eat is going. 

 You may not hit on one all day till you pull out 

 food ; so doing, you call him up from the vasty 

 deep. So no one with a bit of bread, and cheese 

 for preference, need ever be without a robin's 

 company. 



