SUMMER HOURS ON BREYDON 137 



As one enters the closely packed clump of tall Scotch 

 firs and somewhat attenuated ashes, he is greatly impressed 

 by the luxuriant growth of the reeds and bracken that, often 

 together, crowd beneath them, the fronds of the latter 

 shoulder-high in places ; whilst beautiful ferns, tall, vicious 

 nettles, and sprays of red campion abound, and hundreds of 

 red-ripe wild raspberries invite him to pluck and taste them. 

 The height of the trees and their thickly-bushed tops attract 

 attention, as also does one ancient fir, standing in their midst 

 dead and decaying a barked, scarred, and punctured skele- 

 ton. You feel something akin to pity as well as interest in 

 the old thing, which seems ready to totter and fall ; but the 

 sturdy survivors, clustering around it, ward off the evil day, 

 and screen it from every wind. In that dead tree more in- 

 terest seemed centred than in all those living ; it had died of 

 sheer old age, and was now a happy hunting-ground of the 

 lesser spotted woodpecker. The droppings of the herons 

 had not killed it, or why had it suffered alone ? The thickly 

 growing undergrowth had caught much of the herons' excreta 

 before any of it had touched the earth beneath it and, far 

 from suffering, grew the more rankly for it. There was " an 

 ancient and fish-like smell " in the air that tickled the nostrils 

 somewhat, but not offensively, although the bailiff assured me 

 " there was something in it " after a heavy shower of rain. 



Kestrels were here in plenty, and the keen-eyed hawks 

 dashed into the open with emphatic and shrilly cries of 

 " kee, kee, kee ! " at our approach. " You don't kill the 

 kestrels ? " I asked of Preston. " No, I do not," he replied ; 

 " they are far too useful." A remark that spoke much for 

 his forbearance and common sense. 



Wood-pigeons, too, "flip-flapped" away from their slovenly 

 nests, leaving their low-built, loosely-stacked bundles of 

 faggots in hot haste ; in one instance I saw the greater part 

 of an egg showing between the foundations. 



In a few moments we came under the herons' nests, which 

 needed no pointing out, for such huge constructions, although 

 by no means carelessly built, and with several occasionally 

 adorning a single tree, stood out boldly between my bi- 

 noculars and the sky ; while in the few open spaces between 

 the topmost boughs old birds might be seen wheeling around 

 on light, strong wing, in a manner by no means ungraceful, 



