IN THE WOODLAND 101 



shows his face above the ridge for two hours at 

 midday. Sometimes he is fain to cut it down for 

 green food. 



The age of the wood is shown in several ways, 

 chiefly by the trees. The backbone, so to speak, is 

 Scots fir. One half -expects this from the ridgy 

 nature of the ground, and the bareness of the 

 soil, which help to account for any trees being 

 left at all. 



The rest is mainly oak. Let no one suppose 

 these to be of the brawny or spreading kind, out of 

 whose giant trunks battleships were wont to be 

 made. Such are not Scots oaks; at least, not 

 those that share old woods with the fir trees. 

 Straggling growths are these, suffering from 

 poverty beneath, and shooting up their starved and 

 lanky length in search of the upper light and air. 



A few beech trees touch the sombreness with 

 their fresh spring green. Though not perhaps to 

 the manner born, or so ancient in their date, the 

 beeches of our Scots woods more than hold their 

 own. They grow to even greater size than the 

 oaks, or carry more width along with their height. 

 Than their shining trunks nothing statelier is 

 there. Scots rooks select the branches for their 

 nests. 



