Shakespearean villages of which I have written. The 

 brown squirrel is thought by some to be reasserting 

 itself. A group of Oxford biologists specially engaged in 

 the study of &quot; periodicity/ or the temporal rise and fall in 

 the numbers of our mammals, hold that the squirrel 

 multiplies and diminishes in a regular cycle of years, and 

 that the rise is now due. It is to be feared that they have 

 reckoned without the eccentricity of the English seasons. 

 The unhappy squirrels seem to have suffered heavy losses 

 through the long frosts, and the chestnut buds are not 

 eaten because the squirrels to eat them are few or none, 

 like Shakespeare s autumnal leaves. One would have 

 expected the woodland creatures, who have their being 

 within the sanctuary of the woods, to be less liable to 

 frost than creatures of field or lake ; but it is not so ; 

 many squirrels died. Perhaps the heaviest toll among our 

 home animals was taken from green woodpeckers, who 

 could not get at the ants that are their favourite food. 

 They suffered only less than the redwings from the 

 North or our own long-tailed tits. 



It is refreshing to see how quickly a few normal 

 showers and a little warmth may blot out any abnormal 

 defects of the past. Nevertheless the signs are still there, 

 if you look behind the scenes. The greater number of 

 the ground-nesting birds sometimes breed late, though 

 they began to nest at the usual hour. One reason is that 

 their first clutches are ravaged. Food is so short and 

 cover so thin that the thieves have a greater temptation 

 and an easier job than is good for their victims. 

 Thousands of pheasants and partridges* eggs are taken 

 to feed the young rooks as well as the carrion crows. 

 To give another example from Herefordshire, in the last 

 great drought in 1921, the rooks were in such difficulties 

 for suitable food due in part to the hardness of the 



