The sheep, tired of being constantly driven
from their food, now sheered out from the hedge, and allowed me to go
by.
As I passed I gathered a few haws and ate them. The reason why birds do
not care much for berries before they are forced to take to them by
frost is because of the stone within, so that the food afforded by the
berries is really small. Yew-berries are an exception; they have a
stone, but the covering to it is sweet, succulent, and thick, and dearly
loved by thrushes. In the ditch the tall grasses, having escaped the
scythe, bowed low with the weight of their own awn-like seeds.
The corner was not far off now; and I waited awhile behind a large
hawthorn bush growing on the 'shore' of the ditch, thinking that I might
see the pheasant on the mound, or that at least he would recover
confidence if he had previously heard anything. Inside the bush was a
nest already partly filled with fallen leaves, like a little basket.
A rabbit had been feeding on the other side, but now, suspicious, came
over the bank, and, seeing me, suddenly stopped and lifted himself up.
In that moment I could have shot him, being so near, without putting the
gun to the shoulder, by the sense of direction in the hands; the next he
dived into a burrow. Looking round the bush, I now saw the pheasant in
the hedge, that crossed at right angles in front; this was fortunate,
because through that hedge there was another meadow.
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