THE FALL 223 



secure his potatoes from frost than from the attack 

 of the most numerous of his furred foes. 



With the fall of the leaf we find the things we sought 

 diligently in the summer in vain. Within a foot 

 of the path we trod almost daily, we see, 

 for the first time, where a pheasant brought 

 off her brood ; in the fork of a slender 

 birch-pole is that jay's nest for which we long hunted 

 appearing now as a thick, deep wood-pigeon's nest ; 

 and where the bracken has died down are the whiten- 

 ing bones of a rabbit which, though his death-place 

 was marked by the keeper's eyes, was not to be found. 

 A single leaf of June may hide a bird's secret from 

 prying eyes. By noting the things seen in the fall 

 of the leaf we learn best how to find summer's 

 treasuries. 



W (-9 ' 9 



A man of grumbles, equal to the farmers, yet the 

 gamekeeper is prepared to admit that a late autumn 



brings him one blessing. The leaves so 

 Late and screen his roosting pheasants that there is 

 Autumns ^tle fear of night -shooting in his coverts. 



Accordingly, he sleeps peacefully during 

 many hours which he would have to devote 

 to watching in a wet early season. Deep in his 

 heart, all the same, he has a certain liking for the 

 hours passed in watching over his birds at night. 



