74 IN THE GREEN LEAF 



Birds do not come in or about a garden any- 

 how ; as a rule, they have one way to come in 

 by, and another by which they go out. It is 

 at their place of exit that trouble waits for 

 them, on the outer side of the garden wall. 

 The yaffle generally gets off scot-free, but not 

 always, for at times he loops up just over 

 the top of the wall, only clearing it, and 

 loops down with extreme rapidity on the other 

 side a most difficult and deceiving shot to 

 take. 



Knowing from experience that no shot will 

 be taken over the lawn, our little nut-cracker 

 goes that way. More than once I have seen 

 nuthatches, wrynecks, and wagtails on a lawn 

 at one time, with a cheeky weasel looking 

 after them. 



Very beautiful are the places we wander 

 over, even in the whiteness and silence of the 

 snow. But the cold bites hard, and folks 

 suffer as they ever have, and will do, from 

 the ills of life. 



" You're up then, mother?" says my old 

 friend, a woodman; "ah, well, I be glad fur 

 tu see it ; when I went off this marnin' yer 

 rheumatiz wus about as much as ye culd put 

 up with, I reckins." 



