THE SUN BEHIND 21 



and looking on the bright side of things. Below 

 them is the mist like a great brown cloud where 

 the earth should be, or is it sparkling in the sun 

 like a sea of very tender hoar-frost ? At any rate, 

 under it the corn is growing to feed their little ones, 

 and all the delights of May are preparing. 



The tops of the junipers on the hillside swim out 

 of the mist as though it was water, the darkness 

 of their foliage making the contrast more sudden. 

 The upper branches are almost dry, and as I come 

 down to them the skirts are fringed with crystals. 

 The hawthorns have some of their berries left, black 

 with age, and perhaps some sweetness is coming in 

 the tips of the leaf buds. An adventurous mouse 

 has climbed far into the tree after something or 

 other. It is a red wood-mouse with white throat 

 and belly, and its bright prominent eye must surely 

 see me as I stand quite near and take note of it. 

 Though the eye sees me the owner does not, or 

 thinks that after the trouble of climbing so high 

 it need not come down till war is actually on foot 

 against it. The spray with the rather brightly- 

 coloured creature on it stands out from the thick 

 background much as the bright finches did. Such 

 pictures are hard to find on a day like this, but 

 they are admirably framed when found. 



The birds are already thinking of bed in the 

 gorse and bramble of the first hill-fields. What is 

 there but bed on such a day ? The open air is full 

 of the * prtt, prtt ' of their wings, and we hear them 

 cannoning through the twigs, yet rarely see them 



