178 WAYFARING NOTIONS 



blundering old stupid of a yofful's society for 

 quite a considerable time. Wood-pigeons' powers 

 of flight are so great that they are bound to occur 

 anywhere, everywhere, and with them were bigger, 

 owl-coloured birds I could not earmark, because 

 of the sun's great glare. Green plovers were few, 

 imitating their relations, the sandpipers, by 

 running instead of wheeling on the wing, com- 

 plaining about being disturbed, and compelling 

 attention which need not be pointed at them 

 at all. 



On the waste's edge big trees made an olive 



setting to a picture quivering in the heat haze 



and of remarkable tone, because of the face of the 



land being coloured by pinky purple patches of a 



starveling sorrel, studded with bosses of dark 



sprouting heather almost flat to the ground, a 



glow that made you look up at the sun and 



wonder what he was doing over the yardarm 



instead of dropping in glory over the western 



horizon. No artist who put the tint on canvas 



would be believed if he dated and time-o-day'd 



his picture, but there it was at your service all 



for you, and the birds and the rabbits, who were 



'* brusselling " very industriously. The scene 



seemed incomplete without a big hawk on the 



watch, but was short of that accessary all the 



same, so his natural prey went about on business 



free enough to annoy a poor chap like myself, 



who, though confessing himself a fool, hates to be 



called one, and a malevolent imbecile at that. 



What annoys me about the tricks played on your 



humble servant is the assumption that little bird 



babies would not be safe with me, and that since 



I go about seeking whom I may wantonly maim 



and destroy, so must I be humbugged. 



