WITH THE WOODLANDERS. 29 



We shall be goin' to work some morning and find 

 ye stiff and dead, damned if we shan't ! Ye makes 

 me say these things to yer. Ef I sarved ye right, 

 I should lay this 'ere old scrub-broom over your head! 

 What brought ye out this time o' morning ? " 



" To look at a lot of bramble finches feeding under 

 the beeches in the Long Walk when the sun gets 

 up. Charley brought me the news." 



" Jog along with me then, for I be goin' by 

 there." 



It was a sight to be remembered as the sun rose, 

 that long line of fine trees sparkling in all their 

 jewelled bravery. The wind had swept the path 

 clear of snow before it had time to freeze, so that 

 the thick dead leaves were only held by the frost ; 

 here I found that the bramblings were settled in 

 flocks of two and three hundred in order to stock 

 out the beech-mast, which was hidden underneath 

 them. 



From the giant hollies the chuck of the blackbird, 

 followed by the weep of the robin and the chit- 

 chit-chit of the wren, could be heard. Some wood- 

 pigeons clapped off from the woods that fringed 

 the trout-stream, the little tinkling falls of which 



