XX 



INCREASE OF DRAINAGE 



191 



After having opened one of the bucks and rewarded the 

 beagles with the entrails, Hver, etc., we repaired to a cottage at 

 hand, where our host for the day had provided a capital luncheon. 



Frequently when passing these swamps and rugged ground, 

 I have seen roe start up from the rough heather, or feeding, 

 knee-deep in the water, on the rank weeds and herbage. The 

 best part of this ground for wild-fowl is gradually getting drained, 

 and what was (a few years since) a dreary waste of marsh and 

 swamp has now become a range of smiling corn-land. I shall 

 not easily forget my old keeper's exclamation, on his first seeing 

 one of his favourite spots for stalking wild-fowl turned into an 

 oat-field. We had walked far, with little success, but he had 

 depended on our finding the ducks in a particular spot, not being 

 aware that it had been drained since his last visit to it. Having 

 taken a long and sonorous pinch of snuff, according to his usual 

 custom when in any dilemma, he turned to me, muttering, 

 " VVell, well, the whole country is spoilt with their improve- 

 ments, as they ca' them. It will no be fit for a Christian man 

 to live in miich longer." Ife thought that oats and wheat were 

 a bad exchange for his favourite ducks and geese. 



A CAUTIOUS PEEP 



