CHAP. XX. ] FCXES OF THE SANDHILLS. 163 
agree with the popular story of their having been overwhelmed 
with it by the wind; but in some parts the ground is covered to 
a good depth by shingle and water-worn stones of a size to pre- 
clude the possibility of their having been brought there by the 
action of the wind. In certain places, too, there are curious 
regularly formed pyramids of shingle, about sixteen feet high, 
and of the same diameter at the base. ‘These, and long banks of 
shingle, having exactly the appearance of the sea-beach, make 
me suppose that the destruction of what was once a fertile coun- 
try was brought about by some sudden and unaccountable inroad 
of the sea. Indeed, the appearance of the whole of this barren 
district would lead one to the same conclusion. At any rate, 
amongst the numerous traditions regarding the origin of the sand- 
hills, I never heard one that quite satisfied my mind. Whatever 
it once was, it is now a mere barren waste, or, as a friend of mine 
named it, a kind of Arabia Infelix, inhabited only by wild animals ; 
and it seems a wonder that even these have not long ago been 
starved out of it. Whatever the rabbits and hares feed on, they 
are larger there than in the more cultivated and fertile parts of 
the country ; and the foxes are like wolves in size and strength. 
Owing to the solitude and quietness of the place, I have seen the 
foxes at all hours of the day prowling about, or basking in the 
sun, or sometimes coolly seated on the top of a sandhill watching 
my movements. I have occasionally fallen in with their earth 
or breeding-place. The quantity of remains of different animals, 
which they have brought to these places to feed their young, 
proves the fox to be a most universal depredator. Turkeys which 
have been caught at several miles’ distance, tame geese from the 
farms, and wild geese from the sea-shore ; fowls, ducks, pheasants, 
and game of every kind, including old roe that have been wounded, 
and young roe too weak to resist their attacks, all appear to form 
part of this wily robber’s Jarder. He also takes home to his 
young any fish that he finds on the shore, or that he can 
catch in the shallow pools of the streams during the nighttime 
No animal is cunning enough to escape the fox ; wild duck or 
wood-pigeon (the most wary of all birds) fall to his share. 
Patient and cunning, the fox finds out the pool where the mallard 
and his mate resort to in the evenings, and lying in wait to the 
leeward of the place, in some tuft of rushes, catehes the bird 
M2 
