ROUND A LONDON COPSE 



opening into young leaf; on the Qth a dandelion in 

 flower, and an arum up. A grey veronica was try- 

 ing to open flower on the nth, and hawthorn buds 

 were so far open that the green was visible on the 

 1 6th. On February I4th a yellow-hammer sang, 

 and brambles had put forth green buds. Two 

 wasps went by in the sunshine. The I4th is Old 

 Candlemas, supposed to rule the weather for some 

 time after. Old Candlemas was very fine and 

 sunny till night, when a little rain fell. The 

 summer that followed was cold and ungenial, with 

 easterly winds, though fortunately it brightened up 

 somewhat for the harvest. A chaffinch sang on 

 the 2Oth of February : all these are very early 

 dates. 



One morning while I was watching these plovers, 

 a man with a gun got over a gate into the road. 

 Another followed, apparently without a weapon, 

 but as the first proceeded to take his gun to pieces, 

 and put the barrel in one pocket at the back of his 

 coat, and the stock in a second, it is possible that 

 there was another gun concealed. The coolness 

 with which the fellow did this on the highway 

 was astounding, but his impudence was surpassed 

 by his stupidity, for at the very moment he hid 

 the gun there was a rabbit out feeding within easy 

 range, which neither of these men observed. 



The boughs of a Scotch fir nearly reached to 

 -185- 



