146 By Leafy Ways. 



Woodcocks, like many other birds which seem to 

 belong more to the winter than the summer, breed in 

 our islands to a limited extent, but this fixed popula- 

 tion is always largely recruited by a great influx of 

 strangers. 



Not only is the coast thus taken possession of. 

 There is not a country parish in which troops of field- 

 fares are not quartered for the winter ; which is not 

 visited by flights of redwings. While in more secluded 

 districts the woodcock and the snipe are lying ; per- 

 haps a hawfinch or two, or little company of siskins, 

 may settle down, while the resident population even 

 of goldcrests is augmented by additions from beyond 

 the sea. 



A much rarer autumn guest than these is the cross- 

 bill, a bird which is not often seen in sufficient 

 numbers to attract attention ; but there are quaint 

 allusions in the old writers to its appearance in these 

 islands in vast flights, when the damage done by it in 

 the apple-orchards proved its seemingly malformed 

 beak to be a very serviceable weapon indeed. 



Siskins again are somewhat irregular in their visits. 

 They appear in numbers one winter, and then years 

 may elapse before they are seen again in the same 

 district. 



The haunt of the siskin is among the alder-trees 

 that fringe some quiet stream far from sight or sound 

 of man. As you draw near no birds are visible ; 

 everything is still and silent, but before you reach the 



