150 NATURE NEAR LONDON. 



the tree trunks is brown. Dry dock stems, fallen 

 branches, the very shadows, are not black, but brown. 

 With red hips and haws, red bryony and woodbine 

 berries, these together cause the sense rather than 

 the actual existence of a tawny tint. It is pleasant ; 

 but sunset comes so soon, and then after the trees are 

 in shadow beneath, the yellow spots at the tops of 

 the elms still receive the light from the west a few 

 moments longer. 



There is something nutty in the short autumn day 

 shorter than its duration as measured by hours, for 

 the enjoyable day is between the clearing of the mist 

 and the darkening of the shadows. The nuts are 

 ripe, and with them is associated wine and fruit. 

 They are hard but tasteful j if you eat one you want 

 ten, and after ten twenty. In the wine there is a 

 glow, a spot like tawny sunlight; it falls on your 

 hand as you lift the glass. 



They are never really nuts unless you gather them 

 yourself. Put down the gun a minute or two, and 

 pull the boughs this way. One or two may drop of 

 themselves as the branch is shaken, one among the 

 brambles, another outwards into the stubble. The 

 leaves rustle against hat and shoulders; a thistle is 

 crushed under foot, and the down at last released. 

 Bines of bryony hold the ankles, and hazel boughs are 

 stiff and not ready to bend to the will. This large 

 brown nut must be cracked at once ; the film slips off 

 the kernel, which is white underneath. It is sweet. 



The tinted sunshine comes through between the tall 

 hazel rods ; there is a grasshopper calling in the sward 

 on the other side of the mound. The bird's nest in 



