Village Trme. 77 
twigs, of which great quantities are left. These they 
pick up from among the grass; and it is noticeable 
that they like twigs that are dead but not decayed: 
they do not care for them when green, and reject 
them when rotten. Have they discovered that green 
wood shrinks in drying, and that rotten wood is un- 
trustworthy? Rooks, jackdaws, and pigeons find 
their building materials in this way, where trees or 
hedges have been cut; yet even then it must require 
some patience. They use also a great deal of 
material rearranged from the nests of last year—that 
is, rooks and jackdaws. 
Stepping out at last into the belfry, be careful 
how you tread; for the flooring is worm-eaten, and 
here and there planks are loose: keep your foot, if 
possible, on the beams, which at least are fixed. It 
is a giddy height to fall from down to the stone pave- 
ment below, where the ringers stand. Their ropes 
are bound round with list or cloth, or some such thing, 
for a better grasp for the hand. High as it is to this 
the first floor, if, you should attempt to ring one of 
these bells, and forget to let the rope slip quickly, it 
will jerk you almost to the ceiling: thus many a man 
has broken his bones close to the font where he was 
christened as a child. 
Against the wall up here are iron clamps to 
strengthen the ancient fabric, settling somewhat in its 
latter days ; and, opening the worm-eaten door of the 
clock-case—the key stands in it—you may study the 
