A RAMBLE THROUGH THE WOOD 
with his bright eyes, in which there seems to be the glimmer of 
wisdom. I imitate the chattering with which he greets me and 
to this he replies with vigour, hurrying off out of sight in the 
depth of the wood. Underneath the nut-bushes there is an 
abundance of broken shells which attest his activity. In the 
midst of the brake the gloom is freshened with the green leaves 
of the brambles, whose green stems also betoken a new lease 
of life. 
Of all our forest trees the oaks stand out the noblest, like 
sentinels guarding the wood. Some of the trunks the bright 
green ivy clasps, as if keeping them warm during their repose, 
and the bark of others is coated with green dust, which always 
presents a welcome shade of colour before the new leaves come. 
Upon the ash the long brown pods containing the seeds still 
hang in bunches, to be forced off at the swelling of the black 
buds. In an open space where all the trees around are bare, a 
bush of holly fresh and green meets the eye and provokes the 
thought of what the dead time would be without the sense of 
welcome relief which it and its kindred afford. On the edge of 
the path lies a stately elm with a mass of earth disturbed by its 
brawny spreading roots, evidently cast down by the storm two 
years ago, for its bed is overgrown by the luxuriance of the 
undergrowth, and the wood and bark are discoloured by 
incipient decay. The crushed saplings near indicate that they 
have been maimed for life in the fall of the giant. 
Here in the middle of the wood there is a gentle hush : no 
song of bird falls sweetly on the ear. Suddenly the calm is 
broken by the nagging scream of a jay from a thicket a little 
distant, and knowing that the busybody has some reason for his 
scolding, I wait quietly a few moments whilst the disturbance 
increases. Then a cock pheasant steps from the vicinity into 
the road, and with his beautiful plumage shining in the sunlight 
and streaming tail, he walks proudly across the open to the 
other side of the wood, closely followed by his more homely 
consort, apparently unconcerned by the impertinence of his 
assailant. 
Proceeding along the path I now come to an open space 
where some acres are cleared of the undergrowth and the best 
trees have been felled, leaving the others to mature, with many 
saplings interspersed. There are numberless shoots of all 
descriptions springing up from the ground, but the view is quite 
clear, and the contrast is strange in comparison with the dense- 
ness of the general growth through which I have already passed. 
A stack of fir-trees lying near in the bracken and the white 
wood of some newly cut posts and rails, give signs of the recent 
handicraft of workmen, and the charm of the solitude is broken, 
and from fairyland I pass again into the everyday world. A 
board on a neighbouring tree gives a salutary warning, which, 
relying on the benevolent good-will of the noble proprietor, I 
interpret as being inapplicable to the man who carries no more 
