24 
NATURE NOTES 
Here in the gloaming, if the intruder remain quite still and out 
of sight, he may watch with interest the pretty antics of the 
species at play. There, now, from a tuft of grass one runs, and 
catching a glimpse of me he sits up on his hind legs listening, 
then as I move he darts away in alarm and is soon out of sight. 
There is a solitude in the wood which is always impressive. 
The bracken lies in tangled shapes, a mass of russet on the dead 
grass which is strewn with crisp brown leaves. In the damp 
places is a velvet carpet of moss, through which stray shoots of 
green grass are struggling. The dullish colour of the thick under- 
growth, which presents an almost dark impenetrable barrier, is 
relieved by the healthy yellow flowers which stand out thickly 
from the stray bushes of gorse with their fresh green spikes, and 
the clusters of light green catkins hanging gracefully from 
clumps of nut-bushes near. 
The large trees look blank and bare, but an oak sapling 
here and there is filled with brown shrivelled leaves which will 
not now be shed until pushed off by the new growth. Dotted 
about are birch trees whose white shining bark seems a fitting 
dress to the slender drooping boughs. A touch of life is given 
to the sombre dulness by the Scots firs and pines intermingled 
with the noble oak and the proud larch. Under the pine-trees 
the cones are thickly strewn and suggest the playthings of days 
long ago. 
The bridle road which passes through a section of the wood 
is deep with coarse grass, and there are occasional boggy places, 
where the water lies, which bear the foot-prints of the hare and 
the rabbit. By the side of the road are numbers of dirty light- 
coloured stalks. These are the bare stems of the dead nettles 
which have so biting a sting in life, but now they are harmless 
to the touch and are merely like brittle sticks. From the roots 
the young plants are springing, and an old world recipe is that 
if of these porridge is made and taken during the first nine 
mornings in March it is often beneficial to the health. The road 
is indented with the hoofs of many horses, showing where the 
hunters have lately travelled, and across the path can be seen 
the regular tracks of the game and other occupants of the wood. 
Round a bend in the picturesque road I see a dark object 
moving in the long grass, and standing quietly a few moments, 
reynard emerges into full view, and after looking stealthily about 
him plunges into the wood. In the glade yonder is a flush of 
colour from a bed of the pale yellow primrose, and upon an 
adjoining knoll which is moist from the continually dense shade 
overcast, hosts of blue-bells are peeping through the earth. 
Farther on is a spreading beech tree which still carries some of its 
old brown leaves, presenting an agreeable brightness in contrast 
to the dull brown of the neighbouring oak. There is a noise 
amongst the dead leaves, and following the swaying boughs I see 
a squirrel run swiftly along and leap on to the adjoining tree, 
whence he hastens high up and then intelligently looks down 
