There seemed no other birds.
Again the forest changed, and the track, passing on higher ground, entered among firs.

These, too, had killed each other by growing so thickly; the lower branches of many were dead, and there was nothing but a little green at the tops, while in many places there was an open space where they had decayed away altogether.

Brambles covered the ground in these open places, brambles and furze now bright with golden blossom.
The jays screeched loudly, startled as the riders passed under them, and fluttered away; rabbits, which they saw again here, dived into their burrows.

Between the first the track was very narrow, and they could not conveniently ride side by side; Oliver took the lead, and Felix followed..