tered
down to his nest. The wood-pigeons are more quiet now; their
whoo-hoo-ing is not so frequently heard. By the sounds up in the elms at
the top of the Brighton road (at the end of Langley Lane) the young
rooks have not yet all flown, though it is the end of the first week in
June. There is a little pond near the rookeries, and by it a row of
elms. From one of these a heavy bough has just fallen without the least
apparent cause. There is no sign of lightning, nor does it even look
decayed; the wood has fractured short off; it came down with such force
that the ends of the lesser branches are broken and turned up, though,
as it was the lowest limb, it had not far to fall, showing the weight of
the timber. There has been no hurricane of wind, nothing at all to cause
it, yet this thick bough snapped. No other tree is subject to these
dangerous falls of immense limbs, without warning or apparent cause, so
that it is not safe to rest under elms. An accident might not occur once
in ten years; nevertheless the risk is there. Elms topple over before
gales which scarcely affect other trees, or only tear off a few twigs.
Two have thus been thrown recently--within eighteen months--in the
fields opposite Tolworth Farm. The elm drags up its own roots, which are
often only a fringe round its butt, and leaves a hollow in the earth, as
if it had been simply stood on end and held by these guy-ropes. Other
trees do, indeed, fall in course of time, but not till they are
obviously on the point of tottering, but the elm goes down in full pride
of foliage. By this pond there is a rough old oak, which is the
peculiar home of some titmice; they were there every day, far back on
the frost and snow, and their sharp notes sounded like some one chipping
the ice on the horse-pond with an iron instrument. Probably, before now,
they have had a nest in a crevice.

The tallest grass yet to be seen is in a little orchard on the
right-hand side of the Long Ditton road. This little orchard is a
favourite spot of mine, meaning, of course, to look at: it is a natural
orchard and left to itself. The palings by the road are falling, and
held up chiefly by the brambles and the ivy that has climbed up them.
There are trees on the left and trees on the right; a fine spruce fir at
the back. The apple-trees are not set in straight lines; they were at
first, but some have died away and left an irregularity. The trees
themselves lean this way and that; they are s