60 Poplars and Firs. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE VILLAGE THE WASHPOOL VILLAGE INDUSTRIES 



THE BELFKY JACKDAWS VILLAGE CHKOK- 



ICLES. 



A SHORT distance below the cottagers ' ' dipping- 

 place ' jnst mentioned, the same stream, leaving the 

 deep groove or gull}^, widens suddenly into a large 

 clear pool, shaded by two tall fir trees and an equally 

 tall poplar. The tops of these trees are nearh' level 

 with the plain above the verdant valle}' in which the 

 stream flows, and, being side by side, the difference 

 in the manner of their growth is strongly contrasted. 

 The branches of the fir gracefull}' depend, as if 

 weighted downwards by the burden of the heavy deep 

 green fringe they carr}^ — a fringe tipped with bullion 

 in the spring, for the young shoots are of so light a 

 green as to shade into a pale yellow. The branches 

 of the poplar, on the contrary, point upwards — grow- 

 ing nearly vertically ; so that the outline of the tree 

 resembles the tip of an immensel}' exaggerated artist's 

 brush. This formation is ill adapted for nest-build- 

 ing, as it affords little or no surface to build on, and 

 so the poplar is but seldom used hy birds. 



The pool beneath is approached b}' a broad track — 

 it cannot be called road — trampled into innumerable 

 small holes by the feet of flocks of sheep, driven down 



