

THE OLDEST WRITING 161 



remember that charlock buds, served up with pigeon's 

 milk, form the pigeons' favourite food for their 

 nestlings. 



Day after day the keeper, going his rounds, reads 

 stories of life and death. Here a bent leaf gives the 

 clue : there a stray feather : the snout of 

 a rat tells of a poaching cat that killed the 

 Writing rat > ^ ut k^ *^ e head with its sharp front 

 teeth and strong and long jaw-bone un- 

 touched. A shrew's body is seen, snapped up by a cat, 

 but left uneaten on account of the bad taste. The 

 remains of a feast are found, carelessly covered by 

 only a few leaves ; another sign of cats' work. A 

 determined cat will kill almost anything that a fox 

 might take ; but whereas a cat leaves all the feathers 

 of an old bird, and the skin and fur of old furred 

 creatures, the fox swallows feathers, fur, skin, bones, 

 and all but the wings of birds, and the stomach and 

 clawed feet of ground game. Feathers in a circle by 

 a field hedge tell of a hawk's killing. Feet of little 

 pheasants, and bits of downy skin by the coops in the 

 ride, speak of murdering rooks. A dead rabbit is 

 seen, and four tiny holes are discovered beneath the 

 damp, mouthed fur of the pole a weasel has sucked 

 the life-blood. 



All through the long, anxious months of spring and 

 early summer the keeper has been sifting and weighing 



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