66 
IN THE WEALD 
IN an article entitled ' A Roadside Naturalist' I have 
tried to show that to the country roads field naturalists 
are indebted for a very great amount of their insight 
into the life of wild creatures and their ways. From 
our main roads others branch off, leading into the 
Weald lands of Surrey and Sussex. You can go a long 
day's journey, rest for the night, and take a still longer 
walk the next day, all through green lanes. As they 
have been for many generations, they continue to be. 
In one respect they are different. The roads now 
are fit for traffic this is the only alteration ; for the 
land is as it has been for centuries, and the same old 
manor-houses and moated farms are still there. Forty 
years ago these green lanes or roads at certain seasons 
were impassable ; even now the posts which recorded 
the water's depth remain by the side of the bridges 
that span the woodland trout streams, which, in wet 
weather, change from trickling streams to rushing 
torrents. So little was known about this network of 
