I40 THE GAMEKEEPER AT HOME. 



ordinary current of ideas as to be certain of attracting the 

 passer-by. It is the work, of course, of some mischievous 

 lout who has set fire to the hollow interior of the tree. 



Such a tree, as previously pointed out, is the favourite 

 resort of bird and insect life. The heedless mischief of 

 the bird-keeping boys, or the ploughlads rambling about 

 on Sunday, destroys this Hotel de Ville of the forest or 

 hedgerow, the central house of assembly of the birds. To 

 light a fire seems one of the special delights of these lads, 

 and sometimes of men who should have learned better ; 

 and to light it in a hollow tree is the highest flight of 

 genius. A few handfuls of withered grass and dead fern, 

 half a dozen dry sticks, a lucifer-match, and the thing is 

 done. The hollow within the tree is shaped like an 

 inverted funnel, large at the bottom and decreasing 

 upwards, where at the pointed roof one thin streak of day- 

 light penetrates. This formation is admirably adapted to 

 ' draw ' a fire at the bottom, and so, once lit, it is not 

 easily put out. The ' touchwood ' smoulders and smokes 

 immensely, and a great black column rises in the air. So 

 it will go on smouldering and smoking for days till nothing 

 but a charred stump be left. Now and then there is 

 sufficient sap yet remaining in the bark and outer ring of 

 wood to check the fire when it reaches it ; and finally it 

 dies out, being unable to burn the green casing of the 

 trunk. Even then, so strong is the vital force, the oak 

 may stand for years and put forth leaves on its branches 



