NATURE NOTES 
1 24 
even when the over-arching boughs are swaying through the 
violence of a storm. Sometimes there is an indraught of air 
from the entrance of the lane, and the dead leaves are disturbed 
from the hollows between the tree roots ; but in spring, autumn, 
and winter the air is warmer here than it is on the other side 
of the fences. Indeed, on certain days it seems to derive a 
kind of humidity from the dew on the grass and the sap in the 
stems of the wild flowers. In the summer the lane is ever a 
pleasant retreat, whether from the scorching rays of the sun or 
the drenching effect of a sudden rain squall. So dense is the 
leafage overhead that in places the sunlight is unable to pene- 
trate it, while where it does get through it falls on the grass and 
footpath amid a flickering fretwork of shadows. When it rains, 
the drops patter on the oak and holly leaves as on a roof, and, 
unless the storm lasts very long, one is safely sheltered from it 
nearly anywhere in the Lokeway. Loiterers in the lane might 
almost imagine themselves in the heart of the woodlands, except 
when they come to an occasional gap in the hedge, and obtain 
a view of the cornfields or a purple carpet of clover. At such 
places it is possible to perceive that the Lokeway occupies a 
slight hollow in the midst of the tilled lands, and there are 
indications that it was once the site of an old watercourse which 
has disappeared with the advent of better drainage of the fields. 
Such an origin of the Lokeway would account for its unusual 
luxuriance of vegetation amid the comparative barrenness of 
the surrounding district. Now the “ holl ” by the side of the 
path is often dry in summer, and in winter it is seldom full 
enough to float from its bed the fallen branches which are 
decaying there. Thrushes nest beneath the hedge parsley, 
farther down its banks than would be safe in many of the field 
ditches, and insects which cannot live in water are to be found 
swarming under the rotting leaves. 
Half-way down the Lokeway is a small pond, partially 
“ grown up ” with sedges and fringed with reeds. White 
blossoms of the water crowfoot float on its surface like snow- 
flakes which haA^e fallen on the green weed and amid the 
feather-like leaves of the milfoil. The banks of the pond are 
honeycombed by the water rats, whose tracks on the bordering 
grass are as clearly defined as those of rabbits about a Avarren. 
A patch of lily leaA^es forms a floating platform Avhich bears the 
Aveight of the reed birds and wagtails, and is resorted to by the 
natterjacks which rest their heads upon its edges Avhile they 
respond to each other’s vibrative trilling. Most of the birds 
Avhich haunt the Lokeway come to drink at this secluded pool, 
and anyone avIio approaches it silently may hear them chirping 
and fluttering about its banks. In open spaces amid the float- 
ing Aveed Avhirligigs dart about in mazy circles, and Avater 
beetles can be seen chasing the Avater spiders among the sub- 
merged stalks. Occasionally a heron flies from the distant 
marshes to feast upon the frogs Avhich frequent the pond, and 
