FROM WEIR TO MILL. 75 



domestic cat, very full of something, where they 

 would not be expected to be ; and one morning I 

 was fortunate enough to meet with a wild bred 

 house-cat — that is, one of a lot of kittens littered far 

 from any house. Unless they got shot or trapped, 

 these wild litters do become wild in the full sense of 

 the word, and they grow large. When this is the 

 case they are mistaken at times for the real wild cat, 

 but one feature alone will at all times distinguish 

 them : the genuine but at the present time very 

 rare wild cat has a thick bushed-out tail, which 

 the ordinary house cat, or domestic cat that has run 

 wild, never has. When met with, the wild things 

 are always eager to get away, if by chance they are 

 cornered : unless you have a gun or a good dog 

 with you that can bite hard and hold fast, you had 

 best let them alone. 



The sun is well up over the hills that rise on 

 either side of the beautiful Holmesdale valley, and 

 light mists float over the tops of the firs that 

 cover the sides of the warren. Box - Hill shows 

 clear, the light clouds of vapour having drifted 

 up the valley and over the hill. The cattle rise 

 up from their resting-places in the meadows and 



