windings of the river all along the low grounds, till it was lost behind 

 a ridge of hills. But, I'll tell you what I mean to do, sir, if you will 

 give me leave. 



Jlr. A.— What is that? 



^^'- — I will go again and take with me the county map, by which I 

 shall probably be able to make out most of the places. 



ilr. A. — You shall have it, and I will go with you, and take my 

 pocket spying glass. 



^V. — I shall be ver^- glad of that. Well — a thought struck me, that 

 as the hill is called Camp-mount there might probably be some re- 

 mains of ditches and mounds, with which I have read that camps 

 were surrounded. And I really believe I discovered something of that 

 sort running aroimd one side of the mound. 



^Ir. A. — Very likely you might. I know antiquarians have de- 

 scribed such remains as existing there, which some suppose to be 

 Eoman, others Danish. We will examine them further, when we go. 



W. — From the hill, I went straight down to the meadows below, and 

 walked on the side of a brook that runs into the river. It was all bor- 

 dered with reeds and flags, and tall flowering plants, quite different 

 from those I had seen on the heath. As I was getting down the bank, 

 to reach one of them, I heard something plunge into the water near 

 me. It was a large water rat, and I saw it swim over to the other side 

 and go into its hole. There were a great many large dragon flies all 

 about the stream. I caught one of the finest and have got him here in 

 a leaf. But how I longed to catch a bird that I saw hovering over 

 the water, and that every now and then darted down into it. It was 

 all over a mixture of the most beautiful green and blue, with some 

 orange color. It was somewhat less than a thrush, and had a large 

 head and bill and a short tail. 



Mr. A. — I can tell you what that bird was — a Idng-fisher, the cele- 

 brated halcyon of the ancients, about which so many tales are told. 

 It lives on fish, which it catches in the manner you saw. It builds in 

 holes in the banks, and is a shy, retired bird, never to be seen far 

 from the stream where it inhabits. 



W. — I must try to get another sight of him, for I never saw a bird 

 that pleased me so much. Well, I followed this little brook till it 

 entered the river, and then took the path that runs along the bank. 

 On the opposite side I observed several little birds running along the 

 shore, and making a piping noise. They were brown and white and 

 about as big as a snipe. 



Mr. A. — I suppose they were sand-pipers, one of the numerous fam- 



