ROUND A LONDON COPSE 139 



arum up. A grey veronica was trying to open flower 

 on the nth, and hawthorn buds were so far open that 

 the green was visible on the i6th. On February i4th a 

 yellow-hammer sang, and brambles had put forth green 

 buds. Two wasps went by in the sunshine. The i4th 

 is old Candlemas, supposed to rule the weather for some 

 time after. Old Candlemas was very fine and sunny till 

 night, when a little rain fell. The summer that followed 

 was cold and ungenial, with easterly winds, though 

 fortunately it brightened up somewhat for the harvest. 

 A chaffinch sang on the 2oth of February : all these are 

 very early dates. 



One morning while I was watching these plovers, a 

 man with a gun got over a gate into the road. Another 

 followed, apparently without a weapon, but as the first 

 proceeded to take his gun to pieces, and put the barrel 

 in one pocket at the back of his coat, and the stock in a 

 second, it is possible that there was another gun con- 

 cealed. The coolness with which the fellow did this 

 on the highway was astounding, but his impudence was 

 surpassed by his stupidity, for at the very moment he 

 hid the gun there was a rabbit out feeding within easy 

 range, which neither of these men observed. 



The boughs of a Scotch fir nearly reached to one 

 window. If I recollect rightly, the snow was on the 

 ground in the early part of the year, when a golden- 

 crested wren came to it. He visited it two or three 

 times a week for some time ; his golden crest distinctly 

 seen among the dark green needles of the fir. 



There are squirrels in the copse, and now and then 

 one comes within sight. In the summer there was one 

 in the boughs of an oak close to the garden. Once, 

 and once only, a pair of them ventured into the garden 

 itself, deftly passing along the wooden palings and 



