50 Wild Life in a Southern County 



stone skimming across to the other side of the narrow 

 hollow, and its winding course is apparent. 



Like a deep groove it cuts a channel up towards the 

 hills, becoming narrower as it approaches ; and the sides 

 diminish in height, till at the neck a few rails and a gate 

 can close it, being scarcely broader than a waggon-track. 

 There, at the foot of the down, it ends, overlooked by a 

 barn, the home of innumerable sparrows, whose nests are 

 made under the eaves, everywhere their keen eyes can find 

 an aperture large enough to squeeze into. 



Looking down the steep side of the coombe, near the 

 bottom there runs along a projecting ledge, or terrace, 

 like a natural footway. On the opposite side is another 

 corresponding ledge, or green turf-covered terrace ; these 

 follow the windings of the valley, decreasing in width as 

 it diminishes, and gradually disappearing. In its broadest 

 part one of them is used as a waggon-track, for which it 

 is admirably adapted, being firm and hard, even smoother 

 than the bottom of the coombe itself. If it were possible 

 to imagine the waters of a tidal river rising and ebbing 

 up and down this hollow these ledges would form its banks. 

 Their regular shape is certainly remarkable, and they are 

 not confined to this one place. Such steep-sided narrow 

 hollows are found all along the edge of this range of downs, 

 where they slope to the larger valley which stretches out 

 to the horizon. There are at least ten of them in a space 

 of twelve miles, many having similar springs of water and 

 similar terrace-like ledges, more or less perfect. Towards 

 the other extremity of this particular coombe — where it 

 widens before opening on the valley — the spring spreads 

 and occupies a wider channel, beside which there is a strip 

 of osier-bed. 



When at the fountain-head, and looking down the 



