38 Wild Life in a Southern County. 
nears the horizon. It happened one summer evening, 
after just such a day of continuous showers, that I was 
in a meadow about two miles distant from the hills, 
The rain had ceased, and the sky was clear overhead 
of all but a thin film of cloud, through which the blue 
was visible in places. But westward there was still 
a bank of vapour concealing the sinking sun; and 
eastwards, towards the downs, it was also thick and 
dark. I walked slowly along with a gun, on the inner 
side of a great hedge which hid the hills, waiting every 
now and then behind a projecting bush for a rabbit to 
come out—a couple being wanted. In heavy rain, 
such as had lasted all day, they generally remain 
within their ‘buries '—or if one slips out, he usually 
keeps on the bank, sheltered by stoles and trees, and 
nibbling a little of the grass that grows there and is 
comparatively dry. But as evening approaches and 
-the rain ceases, they naturally come forth to break a 
long fast, and may then be shot. 
Some little time passed thus, when, in sauntering 
along, I came to a gap in the hedge, and glanced 
through it in the direction of the downs, there partly 
visible. The idea at once occurred to me that the 
part of the hills seen through the gap was remarkably 
high—very much higher and more mountainous than 
any I had ever visited ; and actually, in the abstraction 
of the moment, half-intent on the rabbits and half | . 
perhaps thinking of other things, I resolved to explore 
‘that section more thoroughly. Yet, after walking a 
