Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/180

148 his temperament. For a few yards from the shore the waters were placid, lying as they did beneath the lee of the high banks. Farther away they rippled with the motion of the Coots, which swam round and round as near to the centre of the mere as they could get. The water looked dark and mysterious, as if fabled monsters lurked in the unknown depths. An old gentleman who remembered it becoming totally dry said that there was quite a deep hole in the centre of the mere, and that in its dry bed sprung up nettles of gigantic height, which proved an almost impenetrable phalanx. On this particular afternoon the tree shadows in the water looked blurred and indistinct; whilst from the distant woods came the lingering murmur of the wind, departing with the set of sun. From the rim of the crater acres and acres of seared bracken could be seen, rarely broken by a hawthorn bush, or a clump of furze, whilst the glory of the heather had departed. In different directions could be seen boundary banks, whose significance has long been lost, only useful in case of parish disputes; although one would think that hereabouts there is little worthy of disputation.

On the great heathland surrounding the various meres, Moles are extremely common. Stoats and Weasels are frequently caught; and at the end of April, 1895, a Badger, suckling two young ones, was trapped at West Wretham. The mother was stuffed, and is preserved at the hall. An attempt was made to rear the two cubs at the Home Farm, but did not succeed. The gamekeeper saw the footprints of this animal in the snow, and thought they belonged to a barefooted man; but being apprised of their real nature he set a trap, and caught the Badger. Rabbits are very plentiful; and the ungainly gallop of a Hare is also by no means an uncommon sight. Vipers and Ringed Snakes are also not infrequently seen; while the borders of the meres form happy hunting-grounds for Frogs and Toads. The birds of the heathland are many. Wheatears and Stockdoves nest in disused rabbit-holes; Whinchats, Stonechats, Linnets, various species of Finches, Thrushes, Blackbirds, and Hedge Sparrows nest in the furze; and in the neighbouring plantations Long-eared Owls and numerous other birds of the woodland find a home. But Mother Earth is the place upon which most of the characteristic birds of the locality deposit the eggs which con-