4 IN THE GREEN LEAF 



The boy, as the apple-faced old dame his 

 mother still called him, was a fine young fellow, 

 nearly six feet in height, and very strongly set 

 up into the bargain. I was staying for a time 

 in their cottage. This useful combination of 

 strength and stature, together with his keen 

 wits, had placed him in the position of keeper, 

 on the borders of a large estate, a position of 

 great responsibility. A deer-park and the 

 covers near it are, as every little thigh-gaitered, 

 round-frocked, dumpling- eat ing boy well knows, 

 very keeilly watched-'; far more so than the 

 lads appreciate,; wriiv, at' ; rare times they go 

 bird-nesting. 



This border question has been, and will be, 

 a difficult matter to deal with, especially in the 

 consideration of large estates which are bounded 

 by waste grounds to their very park-wall or 

 railings. We must not, however, broach this 

 subject here. Deer and birds'-nests are very 

 different subjects ; but had we not been con- 

 sidering the deer, I certainly should not have 

 seen a couple of herons' nests which were just 

 outside the boundaries of that fine domain ; and 

 then the old couple, finding me " chirrupy," 

 as they termed it, on all woodland matters 

 belonging to their immediate neighbourhood, 



