AMONG THE BIRDS IN AUTUMN. 189 



the tree-trunks and in the hollows, we are enabled 

 to observe the actions of many birds that all the 

 summer have been hidden by the foliage. Every 

 day the branches become more bare, and show out 

 naked among the sprinkling of leaves. We can 

 now watch the Woodpeckers pursue their erratic 

 way up the gnarled and rugged trunks in quest of 

 insects, and scan every movement of the Tits and 

 Ring Doves high up in the slender branches. 

 Then on the ground how the various birds betray 

 their whereabouts as they hop among the dead, 

 fallen leaves. The Thrushes and the Blackbirds 

 particularly love to frequent the ground at this 

 season, and hop along under the dark shade of 

 evergreens and hazel bushes with surprising 

 quickness. In our wanderings through the 

 plantations and quiet corners of the coppices we 

 may now flush the Woodcock from its retreat 

 amongst the dead leaves. The Pheasants rise on 

 whirring wing and top the brushwood as they 

 hasten from the fields to the covers. Ever timid 

 and fearful, these handsome birds dislike to be 

 surprised in the open, and will often run with 

 great speed through the herbage and enter the 

 -covers through a rabbit run or even under the 

 arch of the stream. Wherever ploughing is going 

 on in the late autumn we may be pretty certain of 

 meeting a variety of birds. Missel- thrushes love 

 to search the newly-turned ground for worms and 

 grubs ; parties of Wagtails catch the insects ; and 



