Up in the tree, near the gun, there was a dead branch that had decayed in the curious manner that seems peculiar to oak.

Where it joined the trunk the bark still remained, though covered with lichen, and for a foot or so out; then there was a long space where the bark and much of the wood had mouldered away; finally, near the end the bough retained its original size and the bark adhered.
At the junction with the trunk and at the extremity its diameter was perhaps three inches; in the middle rather less than half as much.

The grey central piece, larger and darker at either end, suggested the thought of the bare neck of a vulture.
Far away, just rising above the slope of the leaze, the distant tops of elms, crowded with rooks' nests (not then occupied), showed the site of the residence of an old gentleman of whom at that time we stood in much fear.

The 'Squire' of Southlands alarmed even the hardened carters' lads as much by the prestige of a singular character as by the chastisement he personally gave those who ventured into his domain.

Not a bird's nest, not a nut, must be touched: still less anything that could be called game.