60 THE GREEN WOODPECKER 



anxiety about a fine specimen covering the end of a 

 toolhouse here. Planted as a cutting in 1851, it reaches 

 twenty feet high, the stem is twenty inches in circum- 

 ference, and each autumn it bears a load of fragrant, 

 creamy blossoms. 



Every lover of Nature has cause to rejoice at one 

 result of the great wind of March 24, 1895, namely, 

 the righteous ruin which has overtaken many of those 

 odious field advertisements, which disfigure the land- 

 scape all along the principal lines of railway. Hundreds 

 of these have been blown down: may Priapus, god 

 of gardens, blister every hand put forth to erect them 

 again ! 



XXVII 



The voice of spring is manifold. Hardly had the 

 grip of the cruellest winter of this generation been 

 The Green re ^ axe( i ere tne ^ familiar sounds began to 

 wood- be heard in the woods. The chiffchaff and 

 the wheatear, ever among the earliest arrivals, 

 seem to have landed together; for both are reported 

 on the same day (March 21) from the counties of 

 Surrey, Devon, Worcester, and Dorset. But one of the 

 most trustworthy of spring heralds is never absent 

 from English woodlands the yaffle or green wood- 

 pecker. The throstle and the merle are often beguiled 

 into song by fallacious February sunshine, and let no 

 wayfarer leave his wraps because the ringdove coos 

 smooth assurance from the elm. There is no trust to 



