CHAPTEE III 



A favourite New Forest haunt Summer-tide Young blackbird's 

 call Abundance of blackbirds and thrushes and destruction 

 of young Starlings breeding The good done by starlings 

 Perfume of the honeysuckle Beauty of the hedge rose Cult 

 of the rose Lesser whitethroat His low song Common and 

 lesser whitethroat In the woods A sheet of bracken Effect 

 of broken surfaces Koman mosaics at Silchester Why mosaics 

 give pleasure Woodland birds Sound of insect life Abund- 

 ance of flies Sufferings of cattle Dark Water Biting and 

 teasing flies Feeding the fishes and fiddlers with flies. 



LOOKING away from Beaulieu towards Southampton 

 Water there is seen on the border of the wide brown 

 heath a long line of tall firs, a vast dark grove forming 

 the horizon on that side. This is the edge of an 

 immense wood, and beyond the pines which grow by 

 the heath, it is almost exclusively oak with an under- 

 growth of holly. It is low-lying ground with many 

 streams and a good deal of bog, and owing to the dense 

 undergrowth and the luxuriance of vegetation generally 

 this part of the forest has a ruder, wilder appearance 

 than at any other spot. Here, too, albeit the nobler 

 bird and animal forms are absent, as is indeed the case 

 in all the New Forest district, animal life generally is in 

 greatest profusion and variety. This wood with its 

 surrounding heaths, bogs, and farm lands, has been my 

 favourite summer resort and hunting ground for some 



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