BIRDS AND MAN 51 



He has a way, after a quiet interval, of leaping 

 into activity with startUng suddenness, darting 

 violently away as if scared out of his senses; 

 but his eccentric movements do not in the least 

 alarm his feathered companions. One evening 

 early in the month of March I witnessed an 

 amusing scene near Ockley, in Surrey. I was 

 walking towards the village about half an hour 

 after sunset, when, hearing the loud call of a 

 partridge, 1 turned my eyes in the direction of 

 the sound and saw five birds on a slight eminence 

 nearly in the centre of a small green field, sur- 

 rounded by a low thorn hedge. They had come 

 to that spot to roost ; the caUing bird was stand- 

 ing erect, and for some time he continued to call 

 at intervals after the others had settled down at 

 a distance of one or two yards apart. AU at 

 once, while I stood watching the birds, there 

 was a rustling sound in the hedge, and out of 

 it burst two buck rabbits engaged in a frantic 

 running fight. For some time they kept near 

 the hedge, but fighting rabbits seldom continue 

 long on one spot ; they are incessantly on the 

 move, although their movements are chiefly 

 round and round, now one way^ — flight and 



