72 THE GAMEKEEPER AT HOME. 



much more rapidly than he desires. Not that serious con- 

 sequences would ensue from a roll down forty feet of slope ; 

 but the bed of brier and bramble at the bottom is not so 

 soft as it might be. The rabbits seem quite at home upon 

 the steepest spot ; they may be found upon much higher 

 and more precipitous chalk cliffs than this, darting from 

 point to point with ease. 



Once at the summit under the beeches, and there a 

 comfortable seat may be found upon the moss. The 

 wood stretches away beneath for more than a mile in 

 breadth, and beyond it winds the narrow mere glittering 

 in the rays of the early spring sunshine. The bloom is 

 on the blackthorn, but not yet on the may ; the hedges 

 are but just awakening from their long winter sleep, and 

 the trees have hardly put forth a sign. But the rooks are 

 busily engaged in the trees of the park, and away yonder 

 at the distant colony in the elms of the meadows. 



The wood is restless with life : every minute a pigeon 

 rises, clattering his wings, and after him another ; and so 

 there is a constant fluttering and motion above the ash- 

 poles. The number of wood-pigeons breeding here must 

 be immense. Later on, if you walk among the ash, you 

 may find a nest every half-dozen yards. It is formed of 

 a few twigs making a slender platform, on which the 

 glossy white egg is laid, and where the bird will sit till 

 you literally thrust her off her nest with your walking- 

 stick. Such slender platforms, if built in the hedgerow, so 



