170 Wild Life in a Southern County 



CHAPTER XI. 



THE HOME-FIELD — HAZEL CORNER — THE DIVINING-ROD — RABBITS' 

 HOLES — THE CORNCRAKE — VENTRILOO.UISM OF BIRDS — HEDGE-FRUIT. 



A wicket-gate affords a private entrance from the orchard 

 into the home-field, opening on the meadow close to the 

 great hedge, the favourite highway of the birds. Tracing 

 this hedge away from the homestead, in somewhat more 

 than two hundred yards it is joined by another hedge cross- 

 ing the top of the field, thus forming a sheltered nook or 

 angle, which has been alluded to as the haunt of squir- 

 rels. Here the highway hedge is almost all of hazel, 

 though one large hawthorn tree stands on the ' shore ' of 

 the ditch. Hazel grows tall, straight, and is not so bushy 

 as some underwood ; the lesser boughs do not interlace or 

 make convenient platforms on which to build nests, and 

 birds do not use it much. 



The ancient divination by the hazel wand, or, rather, 

 the method of searching for subterranean springs, is not 

 yet forgotten ; some of the old folk believe in it still. I 

 have seen it tried myself, half in joke, half in earnest. A 

 slender rod is cut, and so trimmed as to have a small fork 

 at one end ; this fork is placed under the little finger in 

 such a way that the rod itself comes over the back of the 

 other fingers ; it is then lightly balanced, and vibrates 

 easily. The magician walks slowly over the ground 

 selected, watching the tip of the wand ; and should it bend 



