WOOD-DWELLERS 



BADGERS 



HAZELHURST is a long line of woodland, on one side 

 skirted by the sea and on the other by a crumbling 

 limestone escarpment. It is woodland with the 

 deep impress of time upon it a forest primeval. 

 The branches and boles of the oaks are tortured out 

 of all original conception. Save for colour they 

 might be congealed water or duramen muscles. 

 Down in the hollows there is deep moss, elastic 

 and silent, over all. For centuries the pines have 

 shed their needles undisturbed. These and the pine 

 trunks send up a sweet savour from the earth an 

 odour that acts as a tonic to the whole being. There 

 are sunn 1 ashes in the glades, where the jays chatter 

 and the cushats coo, and where ever and anon a 

 rabbit rustles through. Often over these the kestrel 

 hangs and vibrates its shadow on the spot beneath ; 

 or the sparrow-hawk with its clean-cut figure stands 

 with the down on his beak on a dead pine bough. 

 In the summer red creatures that are bits of light 



gracefully glide among green tassels, and the chatter 



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