CHAPTER III. 



The hillside hedge: its birds and flowers A green track The 

 springhead. 



ALOW, thick hawthorn hedge runs along some dis- 

 tance below the earthwork just at the foot of the 

 steepest part of the hill. It divides the greensward of 

 the down from the ploughed land of the plain, which 

 stretches two or three miles wide, across to another 

 range opposite. A few stunted ash trees grow at 

 intervals among the bushes, which are the favourite 

 resort of finches and birds that feed upon the seeds 

 and insects they find in the cultivated fields. Most 

 of these cornfields being separated only by a shallow 

 trench and a bank bare of underwood, the birds 

 naturally flock to the few hedges they can find. So 

 that, although but low and small in comparison with 

 the copse-like hedges of the vale, the hawthorn here 

 is often alive with birds chaffinches and sparrows 

 perhaps in the greatest numbers, also yellowhammers. 

 The colour of the yellowhammer appears brighter 

 in spring and early summer : the bird is aglow with 

 a beautiful and brilliant yet soft yellow, pleasantly 

 shaded with brown. He perches on the upper boughs 



