Preface.

Chapter One.

The Downs—The Entrenchment—Ways of Larks—Hares—A Combat—Happiness of Animals—Ants—A Long Journey.

Chapter Two.

A Drought—Ancient Garrison of the Entrenchment—Traditions of Forest—Curious Ponds—A Mirage.

Chapter Three.

The Hillside Hedge: its Birds and Flowers—A Green Track—The Spring-head.

Chapter Four.

The Village—The Washpool—Village Industries—The Belfry—Jackdaws—Village Chronicles.

Chapter Five.

Village Architecture—The Cottage Preacher—Cottage Society—The Shepherd—Events of the Village Year.

Chapter Six.

The Hamlet—Cottage Astrology—Ghost Lore—Herbs—The Waggon and its Crew—Stiles—The Trysting-Place—The Thatcher—Smugglers—Ague.

Chapter Seven.

The Farmhouse—Traditions—Hunting Pictures—The Farmer’s Year—Sport—The Auction Festival—A Summer’s Day—Beauty of Wheat.

Chapter Eight.

Birds of the Farmhouse—Speech of a Starling—Population of a Gable—The King of the Hedge—The Thrushes’ Anvil.

Chapter Nine.

The Orchard—Emigrant Martins—The Missel-thrush—Caravan Route of Birds and Animals—A Fox in Ambush—A Snake in a Clock.

Chapter Ten.

The Wood-Pile—Lizards—Sheds and Rickyard—The Witches’ Briar—Insects—Plants, Flowers, and Fruit.

Chapter Eleven.

The Home-Field—Hazel Corner—The Divining-Rod—Rabbits’ Holes—The Corncrake—Ventriloquism of Birds—Hedge Fruit.

Chapter Twelve.

The Ash Copse—The Nightingale—Cloud of Starlings—Hedgehogs—Heron’s Head—Moorhens—Among the Reeds.

Chapter Thirteen.

The Warren—Rabbit-Burrows—Ferrets—The Quarry—The Forest—Squirrels—Deer—Dying Rabbit—A Hawk.

Chapter Fourteen.

The Rookery—Building Nests—Young Birds—Rook-Shooting—Stealing Rooks—Antics in the Air—Mode of Flight—White Rooks.

Chapter Fifteen.

Rooks Returning to Roost—Vast Flocks—Rook Parliament—The Two Rook Armies and their Routes—Rook Laws, Traditions, and Ancient History—“Throws” of Timber—Thieving Jackdaws.

Chapter Sixteen.

Notes on Birds—Nightingales—Chaffinches—Migration—Packing—Intermarriage—Peewits—Crows—Cuckoos—Golden-Crested Wren.

Chapter Seventeen.

Notes on the Year—The Two Natural Eras—Spiders—The Seasons Represented Together—A Murderous Wasp—Feng-Shui—The Birds’ White Elephant—Hedge Memoranda.

Chapter Eighteen.

Snake-Lore—Snakes Swallowing Frogs—Swimming—Fond of Milk—Trapping Snakes—Frogs Climbing—Toads in Trees—The Brook—The Hatch—Kingfishers’ Haunts.

Chapter Nineteen.

Course of the Brook—The Birds’ Bathing-Place—Roach—Jack on their Journeys—The Stickleback’s Nest—Woodcock—The Lake—Herons—Mussels—Reign of Terror in the Lake.

Chapter Twenty.

Wildfowl of the Lake—Sea Birds—Drift Wood—Forces of Nature at Work—Waves—Evaporation—An Eagle—Frost and Snow—Effect on Birds and Animals—Water-Meadows—Shooting Stars—Phosphorescence—Waterspout—Noises ‘in the Air.’