BOYS IN THE FOREST 237 



and waved my hand to them, whereupon their faces 

 relaxed, and they immediately dropped into natural 

 attitudes. Very soon they moved away among the 

 trees, but after eight or ten minutes they reappeared 

 near me, and finally, from motives of curiosity, came 

 uninvited to my side. They proved to be very good 

 specimens of the boy naturalist; thorough little out- 

 laws, with keen senses, and the passion for wildness 

 strong in them. They told me that when they went 

 bird-nesting they made a day of it, taking bread and 

 cheese in their pockets, and not returning till the 

 evening. For an hour we talked in the fading light 

 of day on the wild creatures in the forest, until we 

 could no longer endure the cloud of gnats that had 

 gathered round us. 



About three years after the visit to Wolmer I made 

 the acquaintance of a native of Selborne, whose father 

 had taken part as a lad in the famous " Selborne 

 mob," and who confirmed the story I had heard about 

 the horn-blower, whose name was Newland. He had 

 been a soldier in his early manhood before he returned 

 to his native village and married the widow who bore 

 him so many children. It was quite true that he 

 had died at home, in bed, and what was more, he 

 added, he was buried just between the church porch 

 and the yew, where he was all by himself. How he 

 came to be buried there he did not know. 



Lately, in October 1902, I heard the finish of the 



