DABCHICK. 
117 
and flourishing* with plenty of earth on a sixpence : it has 
nineteen leaves, and five full-blown flowers, yet no part of 
it extends to the circumference of the sixpence. Is not 
this the smallest flowering plant known? It has long 
been a favourite of mine, and year after year the first plant 
I find of it is brought home, and commonly killed with 
kindness. 
On the river bank we saw a Dabchick. Why it 
should have got ashore I cannot tell ; I never saw one out 
of water before. When I observed it first, it was standing- 
bolt upright; but, the moment it spied us, it dropped 
down on its breast, and tumbled head over lieels into the 
river. 
As we wound our way up a steep field by Milden's 
Wood, I was within a tittle of stepping on the back of a 
Hare. She had scratched out just enough of the sandy 
soil to bring her back level with the surface ; one fore foot 
was stuck straight out before her, and on this rested her 
head ; her ears fell on her neck on each side, and touched 
the ground : her eyes, large, bright, and black, were fixed 
intently on me ; and the instant that my own eye caught 
hers, I saw a slight movement ; the nose had slid ofi" her 
foot to the ground, and the other foot had been stretched 
out : this movement had lowered her head, which was 
now but a fraction above the level of the hill-side ; and so 
exactly was she the colour of the surrounding soil, that, 
but for the lustrous eye, I could not have persuaded myself 
there was a living creature there. I pointed her out to my 
fiiend, who, in his eagerness, had as nearly stepped on her 
as I had. There we stood, about two yards apart, and 
puss motionless as a stone between us. " Fll trouble you 
to move, madam," said I, at the same time applying my 
