150 Idylls of the Field. 



among the apples is the crossbill, whom old writers 

 describe as appearing in great numbers in the time of 

 harvest, and cutting the fruit in two at one stroke of 

 its strangely shaped bill, merely to get at the pips 

 i aside ; or, as another writer says : 'haveinge a bill 

 with one beake wrythinge over the other, which would 

 presently bore a greate hole in the apple and make 

 way to thekernells ; they were of the bignesse of a bull- 

 finch, the henne right like the henne of the bull- 

 finch in coulour ; the cock a very glorious bird, in a 

 manner, al redde or yellowe on the brest, back, and 

 head. The oldest man never hearde or reade of any 

 such-like bird.' 



The increased cultivation of larch and pine trees 

 since the date (1593) of this inroad has probably 

 turned the attention of the birds elsewhere, for little 

 has been heard of such depredations in modern times. 



Beyond the orchard a lane leads towards the hills, a 

 pleasant way, a road seldom trodden by foot of man, 

 marked by wheel -tracks only when, in the late 

 autumn, the bracken-gatherers bring down their loads 

 of brown litter. The steep banks are a very jungle of 

 bramble and fern and travellers' joy. Few flowers 

 linger by the way ; a few spikes of agrimony scented 

 still ; dark blue scabious and rich purple loose-strife. 

 The great convolvulus still hangs its white bells on 

 the hedgerow, but its leaves are burnt and brown. 



Under a broad oak, that spreads green arms over- 

 head, a few grey feathers scattered on the grass show 



