lC>ara5fse Circle 



under the grass and leaves. At the same 

 moment out of the corner of an eye I saw 

 five plover drop lightly upon a patch of 

 green marsh, where the grass had lately 

 been burnt off and renewed. Embarrass- 

 ment of riches ! Not often does the archer 

 thus find his fortunes clashing so merrily 

 one against another. And the limpkin 

 continued to cry at intervals right in the 

 center of a mere patch — scarcely more than 

 an armful — of rushes not sixty yards away. 

 From where I was the plover could be 

 reached by a long shot, and the whole wisp 

 was huddled within a circle three feet 

 across ; but the woodcock lay under light 

 cover at half the distance. 



Chaucer's heady wine may have over- 

 stimulated my mind ; at all events, a greedy 

 desire to bag every bird — woodcock, 

 plover, Hmpkin — mastered me, and the 

 plan of campaign was instantaneously 

 formed. First come, first served. The 

 woodcock had the floor ; I would give him 

 honorable notice, to begin with, for which 

 I selected a heavy, blunt, broad-feathered 

 arrow suited to short range ; then I crept 

 40 



