vi PREFACE 



familiar notes in the little copse hard by. Even a heron 

 went over now and then, and in the evening from the 

 window I could hear partridges calling each other to 

 roost. 



Along the roads and lanes the quantity and variety of 

 life in the hedges was really astonishing. Magpies, jays, 

 woodpeckers both green and pied kestrels hovering 

 overhead, sparrow-hawks darting over gateways, hares by 

 the clover, weasels on the mounds, stoats at the edge of 

 the corn. I missed but two birds, the corncrake and the 

 grasshopper lark, and found these another season. Two 

 squirrels one day ran along the palings and up into a 

 guelder-rose tree in the garden. As for the finches and 

 sparrows their number was past calculation. There was 

 material for many years' observation, and finding myself 

 so unexpectedly in the midst of these things, I was led 

 to make the following sketches, which were published in 

 The Standard^ and are now reprinted by permission. 



The question may be asked : Why have you not indi- 

 cated in every case the precise locality where you were 

 so pleased ? Why not mention the exact hedge, the par- 

 ticular meadow ? Because no two persons look at the 

 same thing with the same eyes. To me this spot may be 

 attractive, to you another ; a third thinks yonder gnarled 

 oak the most artistic. Nor could I guarantee that every 

 one should see the same things under the same condi- 

 tions of season, time, or weather. How could I arrange 

 for you next autumn to see the sprays of the horse-chest- 

 nut, scarlet from frost, reflected in the dark water of 

 the brook? There might not be any frost till all the 

 leaves had dropped. How could I contrive that the 

 cuckoos should circle round the copse, the sunlight glint 



