The Wise Woman. 197 
feed with them at the same trough. Those old rats 
that come to the farmstead are cunning fierce beasts, 
not to be destroyed without much difficulty. They 
will not step on a trap, though never so cleverly laid ; 
they will face a ferret, unless he happens to be parti- 
cularly large and determined, and bite viciously at 
dogs. But with all their cunning there is one simple 
trick which they are not up to: this is to post your- 
self high up above the ground, when they will not 
suspect your presence; a ladder is placed against a 
tree within easy shot of the pigsty, and the gunner, 
have previously arranged that everything shall be 
kept quiet, takes his stand on it, and from thence kills 
a couple perhaps at once. 
On looking back, it appears that the farmhouse, 
garden, orchard, and rickyard at Wick are constantly 
visited by about thirty-five wild creatures, and, in 
addition, five others come now and then, making a 
total of forty. Of these forty, twenty-six are birds, 
two bats, eight quadrupeds, and four reptiles. This 
does not include some few additional birds that only 
come at long intervals, nor those that simply fly 
overhead or are heard singing at a distance. 
The great meadow hedge—the highway of the 
birds—where it approaches the ha-ha wall of the 
orchard, is lovely in June with the wild roses blooming 
on the briars which there grow in profusion. Some 
of these briars stretch forth into the meadow, and 
then, bent down by their own weight, form an arch 
