74 EASY-CHAIR MEMORIES 



in the midst of this very beautiful scenery. May 

 a like treat befall many of my readers. 



The woods are silent on this cheerful day, and 

 the silence is only broken now and then by the 

 songs of blackbirds and thrushes, and the piping 

 of smaller birds, and now and then by the harsh 

 cry of the great spotted woodpecker. 



RAMBLING NOTES 

 SWALLOWS AND A DOG 



November 1909. I am sure that it is here 

 in Buckinghamshire, and not near " the Castle 

 of Montgomerie," that "Summer first unfaulds 

 her leaves, and here they langest tarrie." It 

 is now nearly the end of November, and I am 

 told that in other parts the trees have long 

 since put off their summer clothing and clad 

 themselves in nakedness for the coming winter. 

 Here the oaks still retain their foliage, but the 

 leaves are brown, whilst the elms in many 

 places are still green. The brown and shrivelled 

 leaves still cleave to the old Burnham Beeches, 

 but Burnham Birches are bare; the graceful 

 "Lady of the Woods" has shed almost her 

 last vestige of clothing. Swallows belonging 

 to this district took their departure some 



