JANUARY IN THE SUSSEX WOODS. Ill 



idea of direction is southerly, both spring and autumn ; 

 no doubt the reason is because this is a northern 

 country. 



Some little green stays on the mounds where the 

 rabbits creep and nibble the grasses. Cinquefoil 

 remains green though faded, and wild parsley the 

 freshest looking of all ; plantain leaves are found 

 under shelter of brambles, and the dumb nettles, 

 though the old stalks are dead^ have living leaves at 

 the ground. Grey-veined ivy trails along, here and 

 there is a frond of hart's-tongue fern, though withered 

 at the tip, and greenish grey lichen grows on the ex- 

 posed stumps of trees. These together give a green tint 

 to the mound, which is not so utterly devoid of colour 

 as the season of the year might indicate. Where they 

 fail, brown brake fern fills the spaces between the 

 brambles ; and in a moist spot the bunches of rushes 

 are composed half of dry stalks, and half of green. 

 Stems of willow-herb, four feet high, still stand, and 

 tiny long-tailed tits perch sideways on them. Above, 

 on the bank, another species of willow-herb has died 

 down to a short stalk, from which springs a living 

 branch, and at its end is one pink flower. A dandelion 

 is opening on the same sheltered bank ; farther on the 

 gorse is sprinkled with golden spots of bloom. A flock 

 of greenfinches starts from the bushes, and their colour 

 shows against the ruddy wands of the osier-bed over 

 which they fly. The path winds round the edge of 

 the wood, where a waggon track goes up the hill ; it is 

 deeply grooved at the foot of the hill. These tracks 

 wear deeply into the chalk just where the ascent 

 begins. The chalk adheres to the shoes like mortar. 



