Sporting scenes and country characters . y and solitary character, with a certaindegree of slyness and cunning. His dress is peculiarlycharacteristic. It is neither that of the keeper, northat of the agricultural labourer. Yet it partakes, insome degree, of both. His hat is weather-beaten andslouched over a brow and face which bear the tracesof many a keen and bitter day,—many a drenchingstorm, and many a burning sun. His jacket, made offustian, seems all the worse for wear, and is fashionedsomewhat after that of the keeper, with large pocketsinside and outside; yet it hangs upon him in a less
Sporting scenes and country characters . y and solitary character, with a certaindegree of slyness and cunning. His dress is peculiarlycharacteristic. It is neither that of the keeper, northat of the agricultural labourer. Yet it partakes, insome degree, of both. His hat is weather-beaten andslouched over a brow and face which bear the tracesof many a keen and bitter day,—many a drenchingstorm, and many a burning sun. His jacket, made offustian, seems all the worse for wear, and is fashionedsomewhat after that of the keeper, with large pocketsinside and outside; yet it hangs upon him in a lesscomely style. His nether garment is buttoned at theknees; and he wears long gaiters, with huge-nailedshoes, or half-boots. He bears in one hand a basketor small sack, which cwntains his traps and wires: inthe other he holds a small hand-spade. Thus attired 202 THE MOLE-CATCHER. and equipped, he rambles over the fields in search ofthe haunts where the moles have located themselves,and wliicli are easily discovered by the numerous small. hillocks which are thrown up in every direction. Theseare often near the banks of rivers, or small streams,or water-courses, especially after the prevalence of aflood, upon the bosom of which the moles, driven from THE MOLE-CATCHEK. 203 their habitations by the rising waters, are sometimescompelled to swim, seizing, however, the first oppor-tunity, after having been carried to a considerabledistance, of striking into the ground which is suitedto their purpose. The mole-catcher, busily employed in setting histraps, or plodding the fields in search of his victims,has little sympathy with the beauty of the scenes bywhich he is surrounded. To him, there is no feelingof awe, no solemnity in the still depths of the woodsthrough which he passes; no attractions in the variedsongs of its inmates, from the humble note of the chifT-chaff, to the sweet and pure melody of the woodlark;no splendour presented over the face of the comitry,—the cultivated fie
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectf, booksubjecthunting
