They prefer old trees; where there is much large and decaying timber, there the woodpeckers come.

Such little meadows as these about the copse are the favourite resort of birds and the very home of flowers--more so than extensive woods like the Chace, or the open pastures and arable fields.

Thick hedgerows attract birds, and behind such cover their motions may be watched.

There is, too, more variety of bush and tree.
In one such hedgerow leading from the copse the maple-bushes in spring were hung with the green flowers which, though they depend in their season from so many trees, as the oak, are perhaps rarely observed.
The elder-bushes in full white bloom scented the air for yards around both by night and day; the white bloom shows on the darkest evening.
Besides several crab-stoles--the buds of the crab might be mistaken for thorns growing pointed at the extreme end of the twigs--there was a large crab tree, which bore a plentiful crop.

The lads sharpen their knives by drawing the blade slowly to and fro through a crab-apple; the acid of the fruit eats the steel like aquafortis.