3 o JANUARY 



parcelled by hedgerows into the likeness of garden closes, 

 some hedges so high that, like the trees, they filter the 

 dove and fawn-coloured hues of our twilight winter. 

 The pucker, that is the bed of the brook, edges two of 

 the spinneys, much more populous with life than the 

 hamlet, with rabbit and squirrel and mouse ; and the 

 nearer one holds or used to hold a number of tunnelled 

 stools of old coppice wood, mossed over, and peculiarly 

 attractive to hibernating hedgehogs. A peaceful inti 

 macy, a congruent mood, envelops the village and all 

 about it ; and as you take from the tower a last look 

 before the bells begin their brave jangle you see spires 

 and other towers rising above other villages, each bound 

 into its individual unity by the mere quality of being 

 English. 



This is a simple tale about three birds of different 

 tribes met during one winter, in Norfolk, in Herts 

 and in Wiltshire. They have a common quality in 

 their appreciation of the service rendered them by their 

 human neighbours and the winter tameness of birds, 

 sharply contrasted with their spring shyness. They were 

 all very tame, and learnt that what looks dangerous to 

 instinct may prove to be a way of comfort and decent 

 safety. Perhaps such a change of view increases in the 

 tribe of birds, as sanctuaries multiply beyond numbers, 

 for every garden is a sanctuary ; and the back of a line of 

 suburban houses may claim some virtues common to 

 itself, and such a line of full-dress sanctuaries as the 

 Norfolk Naturalists Trust is drawing along the coast of 

 North- West Norfolk and behind it. 



One is accustomed to the tameness of birds at the 

 famous Norfolk sanctuaries : at Scolt Head or Alderfen, 



