WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 
CHAPTER I. 
THE DOWNS—THE ENTRENCHMENT—WAYS OF LARKS. 
HARES—A COMBAT—HAPPINESS OF ANIMALS, ANTS—A 
LONG JOURNEY. 
THE most commanding down is crowned with the 
grassy mound and trenches of an ancient earthwork, 
from whence there is a noble view of hill and plain, 
The inner slope of the green fosse is inclined at an 
angle pleasant to recline on, with the head just below 
the edge, in the summer sunshine. A faint sound as 
of a sea heard in a dream—a sibilant ‘sish, sish,’— 
passes along outside, dying away and coming again 
as a fresh wave of the wind rushes through the 
bennets and the dry grass. There is the happy hum 
of bees—who love the hills—as they speed by laden 
with their golden harvest, a drowsy warmth, and the 
delicious odour of wild thyme. Behind the fosse 
sinks, and the rampart rises high and steep—two 
B 
