motives of curiosity.[3] Many thousands were caught for the London and
Brighton markets for lark pies and puddings, a wicked bathos, when we
remember Wordsworth's lines:

"There is madness about thee, and joy divine
In that song of thine."

One severe winter an immense flock of golden plovers haunted my land
and neighbouring farms for some weeks, but they were exceedingly shy,
and being perfect strangers, they were difficult to identify, until I
brought one down by a very long shot, and we could see what a
beautiful bird it was. We could always tell when really severe winter
weather was coming, by the flocks of wild geese that passed overhead
in V-shaped formation. They were said to be leaving the mouth of the
Humber and the East Coast for the warmer shores of the Bristol
Channel, evidently quite aware that the latter, within the influence
of the Gulf Stream, were more desirable as winter-quarters. Evesham is
in the direct line between the two places, and we often heard them
calling at night as they passed. In the early spring when the severe
weather was-over they returned by the same route.




CHAPTER XXII.

PETS: SUSIE--COCKY--TRUMP--CHIPS--WENDY--TAFFY.

"The heart is hard in nature and unfit
For human fellowship, as being void