A Shepherds Life

A Shepherd's Life

The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Shepherd's Life, by W. H. Hudson
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Title: A Shepherd's Life
Author: W. H. Hudson
Release Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7415] [This file was first
posted on April 26, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English

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SHEPHERD'S LIFE ***

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A SHEPHERD'S LIFE
IMPRESSIONS OF THE SOUTH WILTSHIRE DOWNS
BY W. H. HUDSON

NOTE
I an obliged to Messrs. Longmans, Green, & Co. for permission to
make use of an article entitled "A Shepherd of the Downs," which
appeared in the October and November numbers of _Longmans'
Magazine_ in 1902. With the exception of that article, portions of
which I have incorporated in different chapters, the whole of the matter
contained in this work now appears for the first time.

CONTENTS
Chapter.
I. SALISBURY PLAIN
II. SALISBURY AS I SEE IT
III. WINTERBOURNE BISHOP
IV. A SHEPHERD OF THE DOWNS
V. EARLY MEMORIES
VI. SHEPHERD ISAAC BAWCOMBE
VII. THE DEER-STEALERS
VIII. SHEPHERDS AND POACHING
IX. THE SHEPHERD ON FOXES
X. BIRD LIFE ON THE DOWNS
XI. STARLINGS AND SHEEP-BELLS
XII. THE SHEPHERD AND THE BIBLE
XIII. VALE OF THE WYLYE

XIV. A SHEEP-DOG'S LIFE
XV. THE ELLERBYS OF DOVETON
XVI. OLD WILTSHIRE DAYS
XVII. OLD WILTSHIRE DAYS (_continued_)
XVIII. THE SHEPHERD'S RETURN
XIX. THE DARK PEOPLE OF THE VILLAGE
XX. SOME SHEEP-DOGS
XXI. THE SHEPHERD AS NATURALIST
XXII. THE MASTER OF THE VILLAGE
XXIII. ISAAC'S CHILDREN
XXIV. LIVING IN THE PAST

A SHEPHERD'S LIFE
SALISBURY PLAIN

CHAPTER I
Introductory remarks--Wiltshire little favoured by tourists--Aspect of
the downs--Bad weather--Desolate aspect--The bird-scarer--Fascination
of the downs--The larger Salisbury Plain--Effect of the military
occupation--A century's changes--Birds--Old Wiltshire
sheep--Sheep-horns in a well--Changes wrought by
cultivation--Rabbit-warrens on the downs--Barrows obliterated by the
plough and by rabbits
Wiltshire looks large on the map of England, a great green county, yet
it never appears to be a favourite one to those who go on rambles in the
land. At all events I am unable to bring to mind an instance of a lover
of Wiltshire who was not a native or a resident, or had not been to
Marlborough and loved the country on account of early associations.
Nor can I regard myself as an exception, since, owing to a certain kind
of adaptiveness in me, a sense of being at home wherever grass grows,
I am in a way a native too. Again, listen to any half-dozen of your
friends discussing the places they have visited, or intend visiting,
comparing notes about the counties, towns, churches, castles,
scenery--all that draws them and satisfies their nature, and the chances
are that they will not even mention Wiltshire. They all know it "in a

way"; they have seen Salisbury Cathedral and Stonehenge, which
everybody must go to look at once in his life; and they have also
viewed the country from the windows of a railroad carriage as they
passed through on their flight to Bath and to Wales with its mountains,
and to the west country, which many of us love best of all--Somerset,
Devon, and Cornwall. For there is nothing striking in Wiltshire, at all
events to those who love nature first; nor mountains, nor sea, nor
anything to compare with the places they are hastening to, west or
north. The downs! Yes, the downs are there, full in sight of your
window, in their flowing forms resembling vast, pale green waves,
wave beyond wave, "in fluctuation fixed"; a fine country to walk on in
fine weather for all those who regard the mere exercise of walking as
sufficient pleasure. But to those who wish for something more, these
downs may be neglected, since, if downs are wanted, there is the higher,
nobler Sussex range within an hour of London. There are others on
whom the naked aspect of the downs