i io WOODLAND, MOOR, AND STREAM 



gets over me. I've been bothered about it ever 

 since.' 



' Well, now, listen ! Was the sound anything 

 like this ? ' I asked, as I imitated the cry of the golden 

 plover. 



' That's it ; what was the meanin' on it all ? ' 



* Why, some flocks of golden plover going to the 

 coast,' I replied, for I had seen them myself that same 

 night. ' They were bothered by the flames and 

 smoke, and for a time lost their reckoning.' 



1 Ah, well, I've learnt somethin'. These 'ere 

 lights in the sky o' nights '11 soon stop. Things '11 

 soon come to a better level ; they're bound to. We 

 has our rights o' common, pasterage in cover for 

 cleftfooted stock, and range o' woods in mast and aker 

 (acorn) time for swine, and grazin' for geese. Now, 

 you gets rummagin' about a good bit, an' I want to 

 ask ye if ye knows what these 'ere village greens 

 was kept for, and why they're in the middle o' the 

 villages ? ' 



' They were used as goose-greens. It is a well- 

 known fact that stock do not care to feed where 

 geese have been grazing, for they foul the pasture. 

 In an old-fashioned village you will find first the 

 church, with the stocks just outside its gates, then 

 the alehouse facing the goose-green and pond, round 



