328 HAMPSHIRE DAYS 



honeysuckle ; it ripened plentifully on the plants grow- 

 ing against the cottage, and the cole-tits came in bands 

 to feed on it. It was pretty to see these airy little acro- 

 bats clinging to the twine-like pendent sprays hanging 

 before an open window or door. They were like the 

 little birds in a Japanese picture which one has 

 seen. Then came the elderberries, which all fruit- 

 loving birds feast on together. But the tits and finches 

 and warblers and thrushes were altogether out-num- 

 bered by the starlings that came in numbers from the 

 pasture-lands to take part in the great fruit-feast. 



The elder is a common tree here, but at the cottage 

 we had, I think, the biggest crop of fruit in the neigh- 

 bourhood ; and it now occurs to me that the vast old 

 chalk pit in which the trees grew has not yet been 

 described, and so far has only been once mentioned 

 incidentally. Yet it was a great place, but a few yards 

 away at the side of the old lime trees and the small pro- 

 tecting fence. The entrance to it and its wide floor was 

 on a level with the green valley, while at its upper end 

 it formed a steep bank forty feet high. It was doubt- 

 less a very old pit, with sides which had the appearance 

 of natural cliffs and were overhung and draped with 

 thorn- trees, masses of old ivy, and traveller's joy. In- 

 side it was a pretty tangled wilderness; on the floor 

 many tall annuals flourished knapweed and thistle 

 and dark mullein and teazel, six to eight feet high. 

 Then came some good-sized trees ash and oak, and 

 thorn, bramble and elder in masses. It was a favourite 



