v WOODS AND FIELDS 173 
England is concerned, the larger forest 
animals have vanished almost as completely. 
The Elk and Bear, the Boar and Wolf have 
gone, the Stag has nearly disappeared, and 
but a scanty remnant of the original wild 
Cattle linger on at Chillingham. Still the 
woods teem with life; the Fox and Badger, 
Stoat and Weasel, Hare and Rabbit, and 
Hedgehog, : 
The tawny squirrel vaulting through the boughs, 
Hawk, buzzard, jay, the mavis and the merle,! 
the Owls and Nightjar, the Woodpecker, Nut- 
hatch, Magpie, Doves, and a hundred more. 
In early spring the woods are bright with 
the feathery catkins of the Willow, followed 
by the soft green of the Beech, the white or 
pink flowers of the Thorn, the pyramids of the 
‘Horse-chestnut, festoons of the Laburnum and 
Acacia, and the Oak slowly wakes from its 
winter sleep, while the Ash leaves long linger 
in their black buds. 
Under foot is a carpet of flowers— Anem- 
- ones, Cowslips, Primroses, Bluebells, and 
1 Tennyson. 
