The hares, unable to find
anything on the hills or the level white plain above, have come down
here and search along the sheltered hedgerows for leaf and blade.
To-night the rabbits will run almost like the hares, to and fro, hither
and thither.
In the thickest hawthorns the blackbirds and lesser feathered creatures
are roosting, preferring the hedgerow to the more open wood. Some of the
lesser birds have crept into the ivy around the elms, and which crowns
the tops of the withy pollards. Wrens and sparrows have gone to the
hayricks, roosting in little holes in the sides under the slightly
projecting thatch. They have taken refuge too in the nest-holes made in
the thatched eaves of the sheds: tits are there also; and sometimes two
or three of the latter are captured at once in such holes.
A dark line across the lower meadows marks the course of the brook; it
is dark because the snow falling on the water melted. Even now there is
a narrow stream unfrozen; though the banks against which it chafes are
hard, and will not take the impression of the moorhen's foot. The
water-rats that in summertime played and fed along the margin among the
flags are rarely seen in winter. In walking in daylight by the brook now
their plunge into the water will not be heard, nor can they be seen
travelling at the bottom.
They lay up a store of food in a hole away from the stream, generally
choosing the banks or higher ground in the withy-beds--places that are
not often flooded.
Pages:
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200