I04 The Amateur Poacher 



dislodged from the nests or broken off by the 

 motions of the old birds, came rustling down. One 

 or two nests that had been blown out strewed the 

 sward with half a bushel of dead sticks. After the 

 rookery the path passed a lonely dairy, where the 

 polished brazen vessels in the skilling glittered like 

 gold in the sunshine. Farther on came wide open 

 meadows with numerous oak-trees scattered in the 

 midst — the outposts of the great wood at hand. The 

 elms were flourishing and vigorous ; but these de- 

 tached oaks were decaying, and some dead, their 

 hoar antiquity contrasting with the green grass and 

 flowers of the mead. 



The mansion was hidden by elm and chestnut, 

 pines and sombre cedars. From the edge of the 

 lawn the steep slope of the down rose, planted with 

 all manner of shrubs, the walks through which were 

 inches deep in dead leaves, needles, and fir-cones. 

 Long neglect had permitted these to accumulate, and 

 the yew hedges had almost grown together and 

 covered the walk they bordered. 



The woods and preserves extended along the 

 downs, between the hills and the meadows beneath. 

 There was one path through these woods that led into 

 a narrow steep-sided coombe, one side of which was 

 planted with firs. On the other was a little grass, 



