MARCH 61 



be placed in these. But as soon as you hear the 

 yaffle's laughing note you may be sure the sap is rightly 

 astir, and that the grove will presently grow dim with 

 new greenery. The jay, harshly garrulous at all 

 other times, falls cunningly silent in the nesting 

 season; but the yaffle cannot hold his tongue in the 

 honeymoon. 



Many green woodpeckers perished in the great frost ; 

 for, as is well known to those who study their habits, 

 these birds depend almost as much on ants and other 

 terrestrial insects as on those harbouring in trees. A 

 heavy snowfall cuts them off from this source of supply. 

 It was, therefore, with special pleasure that I listened 

 to their notes this morning (March 20) among the old 

 oaks of the Forest of Arden, giving assurance that the 

 tribe is far from extinct. The yaffle is one of the 

 bonny birds that run heavy risks by reason of their 

 gay plumage. His sage-green mantle, flaming crest, 

 yellow rump, and chequered tail-coverts have brought 

 him into great request with the ' plume ' trade, which 

 our gentle ladies, by their passive obedience to despotic 

 milliners, so deplorably encourage. Not that the other 

 sex can be acquitted of purblind guilt in this matter. 

 There are very few, if any, English manors where the 

 death register of game and ' vermin ' has been kept for 

 so many years, or in such minute detail, as at Lord 

 Malmesbury's beautiful place, Heron Court, near Christ- 

 church. There are some mournful entries in the 

 following list of vermin destroyed by the keepers on 

 this estate during the year 1852 : 



