These birds, being tame and common, are not much regarded either for sport or the table, yet a moorhen shot at the right time of the year--not till the frosts have begun--is delicious eating.

If the bird were rare it would be thought to rival the woodcock; as it is, probably few people ever taste it.

The path to Lucketts' Place from this rickyard passed a stone-quarry, where the excavated stone was built up in square heaps.

In these heaps, in which there were many interstices and hollows, rabbits often sat out; and by stopping the entrance and carefully removing the stones they might occasionally be taken by hand.

Next by the barn where in spring the sparrows made a continuous noise, chirping and quarrelling as they carried on their nesting operations: they sometimes flew up with long green bennets and grass fibres as well as with dry straws.
Then across the road, where the flint-heaps always put me in mind of young Aaron; for he once gravely assured me that they were the very best places in the world on which to rest or sleep.