'Dying?'
'I don't think so.'
'I'll go and have a look at it,' said Hazel.
'It's savage. For goodness' sake be careful.'
Bigwig and Silver returned with Hazel. The three of them squatted outside the bird's reach as it looked sharply and desperately from one to the other. Hazel spoke in the hedgerow patois.
'You hurt? You no fly?'
The answer was a harsh gabbling which they all felt immediately to be exotic. Wherever the bird came from, it was somewhere far away. The accent was strange and guttural, the speech distorted. They could catch only a word here and there.
'Come keel - kah! kah! - you come keel - yark! - t'ink me finish - me no finish - 'urt you dam' plenty -' The dark brown head flickered from side to side. Then, unexpectedly, the bird began to drive its beak into the ground. They noticed for the first time that the grass in front of it was torn and scored with lines. For some moments it stabbed here and there; then gave up, lifted its head and watched them again.
'I believe it's starving,' said Hazel. 'We'd better feed it. Bigwig, go and get some worms or something, there's a good fellow.'
'Er - what did you say, Hazel?'
'Worms.'
'Me dig for worms?'
'Didn't the Owsla teach - oh, all right, I'll do it,' said Hazel. 'You and Silver wait here.'
After a few moments, however, Bigwig followed Hazel back to the ditch and began to join him in scratching at the dry ground. Worms are not plentiful on the downs and there had been no rain for days. After a time Bigwig looked up.
'What about beetles? Woodlice? Something like that?'
They found some rotten sticks and carried them back. Hazel pushed one forward cautiously.
'Insects.'
The bird split the stick three ways in as many seconds and snapped up the few insects inside. Soon there was a small pile of debris in the hollow as the rabbits-brought anything from which it could get food. Bigwig found some horse-dung along the track, dug the worms out of it, overcame his disgust and carried them one by one. When Hazel praised him, he muttered something about 'the first time any rabbit's done this and don't tell the blackbirds'. At last, long after they had all grown weary, the bird stopped feeding and looked at Hazel.
'Finish eat.' It paused. 'Vat for you do?'
'You hurt?' said Hazel.
The bird looked crafty. 'No hurt. Plenty fight. Stay small time, den go.'
'You stay there you finish,' said Hazel. 'Bad place. Come homba, come kestrel.'
'Damn de lot. Fight plenty.'
'I bet it would, too,' said Bigwig, looking with admiration at the two-inch beak and thick neck.
'We no want you finish,' said Hazel. 'You stay here you finish. We help you maybe.'
'Piss off!'
'Come on,' said Hazel immediately to the others. 'Let it alone.' He began to lollop back to the wood.' Let it try keeping the kestrels off for a bit.'
'What's the idea, Hazel?' said Silver. 'That's a savage brute. You can't make a friend out of that.'
'You may be right,' said Hazel. 'But what's the good of a blue-tit or a robin to us? They don't fly any distance. We need a big bird.'
'But why do you want a bird so particularly?'