122 HILLSIDE, ROCK, AND DALE 



which is now falling to pieces, the legal warning being 

 onlyjust decipherable/' Trespassers will be prosecuted." 

 An effective old notice this, and one that has no doubt 

 frightened many a harmless wanderer. To persons 

 who have roamed about the country as I have done, 

 such a warning has no terror, for if they behave 

 well by doing no danger to crops or fences tres- 

 passers cannot be prosecuted ; in point of fact, I 

 believe the law of England permits us to go where 

 we please, providing we do no damage. I knew this 

 as a boy, and several keepers found it out to their 

 very excusable surprise, and many an interesting 

 birdland scene would have had its attractions un- 

 recorded if I had not occasionally entered a private 

 wood, or crawled underneath a hedge, in order to 

 reach a meadow or lake beyond. 



The notice board is old, and is now partially 

 hidden by brambles, and no one takes the trouble 

 to look at the warning, and if they did happen to 

 see it they would pass on, because a right-of-way 

 has been for long established. Thus Chaffinch Lane 

 is one of the most wild, and, until lately, one of the 

 most unfrequented lanes in this charming suburb of 

 North London. 



From no one spot is it possible to see many yards 

 away. The short turns, hidden by high hawthorn 

 bushes, overgrown with brambles, effectually cut off 

 the view on either side. As I wander on alone, the 



