THE GATEWAY OF THE DUCHY 31 crowded together for lack of nesting-places, instead of being spread thinly over the district. As can easily be understood, there is no difficulty in nest- ing for the larks, who make joyous the wide uplands, or for the sea-birds who haunt the rugged coast, and only come inland at times of storm, or to follow in a white, restless cloud close at the heels of the ploughman as he turns up the sod and exposes the fat white slugs and delicious grubs. Nor is there any difficulty for the smaller hedge- birds, least of all the wrens, who, like red-brown butterflies, flit in perfect safety to the roomy depths of the age-old " hedges." These hedges in Corn- wall are, particularly in the west, but a core of hard stone piled loosely together and covered with mud or sod and the growth of many generations of plant-life, and knitted by creeping plants till they stand broad-based and immovable like ramparts, and are used as paths by the inhabitants, who pass quickly and safely from one swampy field to another along their turfy tops. Indeed in flooded winter- time it is often the only possible path, and when the main road lay deep in water I have been re- duced to dragging my bicycle on to the summit of a " hedge " and wheeling it precariously along. Such places are paradises for Jenny Wren, who
