JANUABY. 63 



considerable diminution from enclosures in all direc- 

 tions, we conclude there is less necessity for the 

 stocking process, and it has probably ceased ; but the 

 name of " Stockings ' frequently occurs in county 

 maps, and we may, therefore, here observe that it has 

 nothing to do with a pair of those useful articles, as 

 many usually siippose, but refers to the original and 

 actual stockings of gorse that took place when the 

 land was first enclosed from the waste. But we have 

 stocked up enough for the present month, though we 

 frankly confess that the stock of flowers here displayed 

 is not likely to fetch much in the market: all that 

 we can say is, that we must " look out " for brighter 

 days. 



Three remarkable aspects of nature may be pre- 

 sented to the notice of a Student of Nature in 

 January. Should the weather be settled frost, the 

 crisp fields will tempt his vagrant steps to thread the 

 meanders of the whimpering brook, overhung with 

 grotesque gnarled oaks, its sides glittering with glassy 

 ice, marking the late height of the stream among the 

 bushes, while crackling fragments keep perpetually 

 falling, and from the unfrozen water perchance he 

 rouses the sapphire-winged Kingfisher. If the frost 

 retreats, all is cairn and brilliant as summer, and the 

 Missel Thrush keeps ceaselessly singing; or, in sterner 

 mood, blasts bellow among the hollows of the moun- 

 tains, clouds scud before the western gale, vapours 

 majestically stalk like phantoms over the distant hills, 

 and though wandering beams burnish, with unwonted 

 brightness, many a wood or rocky ridge in the wide 

 landscape, the transient brilliance only augurs the 

 furious rush of the on-coming stormy commotion. 



