W.  There was a flock of lapwings upon a marshy part of the heath, that amused me much.  As I came near them, some of them kept flying round and round just over my head, and crying pewet so distinctly one might fancy they almost spoke, I thought I should have caught one of them, for he flew as if one of his wings was broken, and often tumbled close to the ground:  but as I came near, he always made a shift to get away.

Mr. A. Ha, ha! you were finely taken in then!  This was all an artifice of the bird’s to entice you away from its nest; for they build upon the bare ground, and their nests would easily be observed, did they not draw off the attention of intruders by their loud cries and counterfeit lameness.

W. I wish I had known that, for he led me a long chase, often over shoes in water.  However, it was the cause of my falling in with an old man and a boy who were cutting and piling up turf for fuel, and I had a good deal of talk with them about the manner of preparing the turf, and the price it sells at.  They gave me, too, a creature I never saw before—­a young viper, which they had just killed, together with its dam.  I have seen several common snakes, but this is thicker in proportion, and of a darker color than they are.

Mr. A. True.  Vipers frequent those turfy, boggy grounds pretty much, and I have known several turf-cutters bitten by them.

W. They are very venomous, are they not?

Mr. A. Enough so to make their wounds painful and dangerous, though they seldom prove fatal.

W. Well—­I then took my course up to the windmill on the mount.  I climbed up the steps of the mill in order to get a better view of the country round.  What an extensive prospect!  I counted fifteen church steeples; and I saw several gentlemen’s houses peeping out from the midst of green woods and plantations; and I could trace the windings of the river all along the low grounds, till it was lost behind a ridge of hills.  But I’ll tell you what I mean to do, sir, if you will give me leave.

Mr. A. What is that?

W. I will go again, and take with me Carey’s county map, by which I shall probably be able to make out most of the places.

Mr. A. You shall have it, and I will go with you, and take my pocket spying-glass.

W. I shall be very glad of that.  Well—­a thought struck me, that as the hill is called Camp-mount, there might probably be some remains of ditches and mounds with which I have read that camps were surrounded.  And I really believe I discovered something of that sort running round one side of the mount.

Mr, A. Very likely you might.  I know antiquaries have described such remains as existing there, which some suppose to be Roman, others Danish.  We will examine them further, when we go.