ioo IN THE GREEN LEAF 



migrant. In pursuit of the rarer birds or we 

 had better say the shyest, for birds are only 

 rare comparatively speaking I have lately 

 been led into places of great beauty, quite away 

 from all tracks or paths of any kind. N ot that 

 life is abundant in such places, for it is not so ; 

 indeed, all I have seen that might be called 

 worth seeing, with very few exceptions, has 

 come before me not far from the dwelling- 

 places of man. 



Robin has often found me out in lonely 

 places, where, sitting on the toe of my boots, 

 he has shared the mid-day meal. Crouched 

 up day after day in rough shelter, miles away 

 from any house, he has been for the time 

 being my only companion. How he found 

 me out, or why he should have come and so 

 quickly made friends with me, is a matter far 

 beyond my conjecture. 



How far back in the dim past the " ruddock " 

 has been so intimately associated with man, 

 who can tell ? It must have been long before 

 St. Guthlac, to Wilfrid's great wonder, made 

 answer in the Fens of Crowland, " Know you 

 not that he who hath led his life according to 

 God's will, to him the wild beasts and the wild 

 birds draw the more near." Pure minds have 



