A Quiet Mead. 237 
a labourer will cook a hedgehog and eat it; some of 
them will eat a full-grown rook at any time they 
chance to shoot it, notwithstanding the bitter flavour 
of the bird, only taking out a part of the back. Those 
who have had some Association with the gipsies or 
semi-gipsies seem most addicted to this kind of 
food. 
In the opposite direction to the ash copse, and 
about half a mile north of Wick farmhouse, there rises 
above the oak and ash trees what looks like the top- 
mast and yard of a ship lying at anchor or in dock, 
"the hull hidden by the branches. It is the top of an 
immensely tall and gaunt fir-tree, whose thin and 
perhaps dying boughs project almost at right angles. 
This landmark, visible over the level meadows for a 
considerable distance, stands in that little enclosed 
meadow which has once before been mentioned as 
one of the favourite resorts of birds and wild 
animals. 
From the ash copse the travelling parties come 
down the highway hedge to the orchard: then, cross- 
ing the orchard and road, they enter another thick 
hedge, which continues in the same general direction ; 
and finally, following it, arrive at this small green 
mead walled in by trees and mounds so broad as to 
resemble elongated copses. The mead itself may 
perhaps be two acres in extent, but it does not appear 
so much: the part visible on first glancing over the 
gateway can hardly exceed an acre. The rest is 
