JOYS AND SORROWS 299 
snout and head of the creature to be seen: its body 
remained in one of those shallow surface-runs. 
With amazing swiftness the snout felt all round, and 
each dry leaf within reach would be grabbed and 
drawn under; in about ten seconds the mole would 
return, When there were no more leaves within 
reach of one opening, the mole would thrust through 
the surface in a fresh place, and continue its leaf- 
gathering with incredible energy. I have crept 
beneath a wood-pigeon in a little tree, and at a 
distance of a few feet have watched it perform its 
toilet and scratch its head. And I have watched a 
hare come out of a wood and roll cat-fashion on a 
dusty cart-way. I saw soil flying from a hole some 
distance down a ride, crept quietly up, and caught a 
busy rabbit by a hind-leg. Again, I was standing 
waiting with my gun for an assistant to walk 
through a beat for rabbits, when a woodcock flew 
towards me, and pitched within ten feet. For 
fully five minutes its eye was fixed on mine. 
Neither of us dared to breathe naturally. Suddenly 
it shot itself from the ground over the hazel-stems 
and was gone; never have I seen anything fly so 
fast as that woodcock. Had I tried, I do not think 
I could have shot it. Curiously enough, just before 
the woodcock came, a rabbit had crept to the mouth 
of its burrow, twitched its nostrils, and retreated. 
Why should a keeper be considered a sort of 
honorary executioner, at the beck and call of every- 
