MELLOW ENGLAND. 



145 



pie. Such a landscape at home would be dotted all 

 over with thrifty ferm-houses, each with its group of 

 painted out-buildings, and along every road and high- 

 way would be seen the well-to-do turnouts of the inde- 

 pendent free-holders. But in England the dwellings of 

 the poor people, the farmers, are so humble and incon- 

 spicuous and are really so far apart, and the halls and 

 the country-seats of the aristocracy are so hidden in 

 the midst of vast estates, that the landscape seems al- 

 most deserted, and it is not till you see the towns and 

 great cities that you can understand where so vast a 

 population keeps itself. 



Another thing that would be quite sure to strike my 

 eye on this my first ride across British soil and on all 

 subsequent rides, was the enormous number of birds 

 and fowls of various kinds that swarmed in the air or 

 covered the ground. It was truly amazing. It seemed 

 as if the feathered life of a whole continent must have 

 been concentrated on this island. Indeed, I doubt if a 

 sweeping together of all the birds of the United States 

 into any two of the largest States, would people the 

 earth and air more fully. There appeared to be a plov- 

 er, a crow, a rook, a blackbird, and a sparrow, to every 

 square yard of ground. They know the value of birds 

 in Britain — that they are the friends, not the enemies, 

 of the farmer. It must be the paradise of crows and 

 rooks. It did me good to see them so much at home 

 about the fields and even in the towns. I was glad also 



to see that the British crow was not a stranger to me, 



10 



