294 WOODLANDERS AND FIELD FOLK 



keeper brought his pheasants to rear among the 

 bushes the nuts were beginning to form. 



The squirrel had built its airy nest far out among 

 the swaying branches of a pine; the call of a nut- 

 hatch came up from the glade, and the red wood- 

 mouse again rustled among the leaves. Still the 

 nuts grew and shaped until the clusters stood out 

 prominently among the leaves. The wood-doves 

 cooed, and had their wicker-like nests among the 

 branches. Moles threw up their runs across the 

 green rides, and at the shadow of a hawk the pheasants 

 ran to the shelter of the bushes. I met armies of 

 black ants marching along the paths, saw the 

 goat-sucker basking among bits of burning lime- 

 stone, and one day discovered that the green corn 

 was just tinged with gold. 



The heyday of leafy June was some weeks past, 

 the young pheasants had grown too large for the 

 sparrow-hawks, and now the richness of the hazel 

 harvest was to fulfil the promise of spring. 



A month passed, and I looked again. The 

 branches bent, and the rosy clusters shook in shaggy 

 plenty. The hazel copse seemed to centre about it 

 the whole life of the district. Not only animals and 

 birds, but butterflies, beetles and moths seemed to 

 favour the hazel. The rippling laughter of sunny 

 school-girls rang through the woods, and young and 

 old seemed to be out " a-nutting." 



