66 
NATURE NOTES 
The commencement of our walk led through a cluster of 
trees, in summer a favourite place for a picnic, but now desolate 
and silent, save for the chirping of a robin and the hoarse cackle 
of the blackbird disturbed by our approach. A tree-creeper 
pursued his spiral course up a lofty elm seeking for some ill- 
concealed insect, and the blue tits on the bending sprays of an 
adjoining willow were enjoying themselves heartily, swinging 
upside down in the wirfd. Emerging from the trees we noted 
a flock of field-fares rising up from a spot of recently flooded 
land in the next meadow, their wings glittering brightly against 
the dark background of an ivy-covered stump ; while to the left 
a couple of chaffinches quietly slipped over the intervening 
hedge. 
A jump over a dyke and a scramble through the hedge 
brought us beside a backwater of the river Ouse lined with 
willows, whose roots extending above the stream were the 
summer haunt of many a fat chub. Plop ! and from under the 
curved brown rushes a rat, hastily terminating his cleaning 
operations, slips into the water — a few bubbles alone showing 
the course taken in a somewhat hasty departure for the welcome 
refuge afforded by the overhanging bank. Ahead we caught 
sight of a brace of moorhen fluttering into an island of reeds, 
which in the not far distant spring was to provide a site for 
their nest, similar in colour to its bountiful store of eggs, and 
stealthily hidden by the bending rushes. 
A marshy piece of land covered with newly thrown up 
molehills had now to be crossed, and in doing so we started 
the very bird one would expect to find here, a snipe, which 
arose with much fluttering and twirling from the side of the 
bank, well probed by his long bill, and after many gyrations, 
swept in a long curve overhead and finally disappeared in the 
distance. Through a hedge, and we came to a willow holt, 
noticing how already the sheeny white of the so-called “palm ” 
was appearing, testifying to the recent mildness of the weather. 
A tree broken by the gales stood in front, and the boughs 
wrenched away exposed to view a succession of fairly large 
holes, the winter quarters of some insects, but now rudely 
devastated by the combined efforts of the elements and the 
ever hungry tits. We pushed our way among the osiers, occa- 
sionally receiving a stinging blow from the resentful green 
switches, and startling a tiny rabbit, making its first acquain- 
tance with man, which, but for the white bob-tail, might have 
been mistaken for a rat. The presence of a pile of feathers 
close by, and the fact that from afar a hawk had been espied 
hovering near this spot, caused us to wonder if a dark tragedy 
had been performed here. From the holt we passed by a 
desolate marshy place, where in severe weather wild duck in 
plenty may be seen. How utterly dreary this spot looked, 
as we lingered gazing at the tangled rushes and tufts of brown 
grass discoloured by flood and with pools of open water, here 
