84 FOREST CREATURES. 



though the while, and let the invaders advance even 

 close to his very lair. Should he be sure that he is 

 unperceived, he will let them pass by without a move- 

 ment or a breath giving sign of his neighbourhood. Yet 

 he may deem it safer not to tarry ; and when you are 

 but a step — not more — from him, he will bm'st out 

 of the thicket, crash through the entangling and snap- 

 ping branches, and rushing on, go thundering through 

 the solitude. In his flight he perhaps will rouse some 

 other game, which, scared at the suddenness of the alarm, 

 will rush off panic-stricken in all directions. 



At other times he will slowly retreat before the ad- 

 vancing intruder, and so quietly does he move over the 

 ground that not a twig is disturbed, not a dead leaf 

 rastles. On he goes deliberately, step by step, listening, 

 then stopping, peering with outstretched neck through 

 the bushes. Thus he will reach the border of the forest, 

 and there with head low down and nostrils distended, 

 and nothing moving save his eyes, he will watch if no 

 danger be nigh. He then will gently emerge, and, 

 pausing, look round him with a stare. But it is for an 

 instant only ; for with a light step he crosses the road 

 and is lost in the sheltering wood. 



It is such a moment which is described in the following 

 lines. 



" Oh, that's delight to be in the green wood, 

 When all is solemnly still. 

 And there's hardly a breeze to more the leaves 

 Atop of the wooded hiU ; 



