COUNTRY LIFE
THE wind blows along the top of the hill, and the scrub bends away from it, pointing over the slope. Everything that grows is affected by the strength of the wind in such a place. Thistles have a list, and the gorse seems to be heavy-headed, bowing with the gale. A look at the grass itself shows that gales have combed it in one direction so that it grows like the hair on a man's head, with a preference for lying one way and one way only. If the wind changes, it lifts the grass and the scrub and makes them untidy for a while, but a prevailing wind smooths it all once more. Small birds flutter and creep among the scrub, search- ing for insects, and an odd rabbit is to be found; but in the main wild life is not fond of such places, and they are therefore lonely and lost, like the tops of desolate mountains.
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