to the
bough and returned again. The jackdaws had their nests in the hollow
places of these elms; for the elm as it ages becomes full of
cavities. These great trees often divided into two main boughs,
rising side by side, and afar off visible as two dark streaks among
the green. For many years no cattle had been permitted in the park,
and the boughs of the trees had grown in a drooping form, as they
naturally do unless eaten or broken by animals pushing against them.
But since the times of agricultural pressure, a large part of the
domain had been fenced off, and was now partly grazed and partly
mown, being called the Out-park. There were copses at the farther
side, where in spring the may flowered; the purple orchis was drawn
up high by the trees and bushes--twice as high as its fellows in the
mead, where a stray spindle-tree grew; and from these copses the
cuckoos flew round the park.

But the thinnest hedge about the wheat-fields was as interesting as
the park or the covers; and this is the remarkable feature of
English scenery--that its perfection, its beauty, and its interest
are not confined to any masterpiece here and there, walled in or
enclosed, or at least difficult of access and isolated, but it
extends to the smallest portion of the country. Wheatfield hedges
are the thinnest of hedges, kept so that the birds may find no
shelter, and that the numerous caterpillars may not breed in them
more than can be helped. Such a hedge is so low it can be leaped
over, and so narrow that it is a mere screen of twisted hawthorn
branches which can be seen through, like screens of twisted stone in
ancient chapels. But the sparrows come to it, and the finches, the
mice, and weasles, and now and then a crow, who searches along, and
goes in and out and quests like a spaniel. It is so tough, this
twisted screen of branches, that a charge of shot would be stopped
by it; if a pellet or two slid through an interstice, the majority
would be held as if by a shield of wicker-work. Old Bartholomew, the
farmer, sent his men once or twice along with reaping-hooks to clear
away the weeds that grew up here under such slight shelter; but
other farmers were not so careful. Then convolvulus grew over the
thin screen, a corncockle stood up taller than the hedge itself; in
time of harvest, yellow St. John's wort flowered beside it, and
later on, bunches of yellow-weed.

A lark rose on the other side, and so caused the glance to be lifted
a