Buried Alive !
On a farm in Berkshire, very familiar to me, an agricultural labourer was asked whether he remembered the date when a certain field was last sown with Sainfoin. Labourer; always remember such dates ; and in this case memory was assisted by the coincidence of a very strange event. " I remember well," he said, " because when I was drilling the field I saw some feathers, and getting down I pulled out a hen that had been buried there ; and I threw the body into the box. When I opened it to put in more seed the hen fluttered out." The man's explanation was that a fox had buried the hen alive. Now foxes are confirmed buriers, surpassed by no domestic dog ; but they are also confirmed killers, often killing many more fowls than they can ever hope to carry away. The trouble is to find another cause for the strange event. The nearest parallel in my own experience is the burying of a black-headed gull by the plough. It was covered over except for the tip of one wing and when dug out on the return of the plough flew away apparently unhurt.
W. BEACH THOMAS. W. BEACH THOMAS.
Previous page
