MAT. 179 



copsy places the fair Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris,) 

 oft shows its blue flowers as well as purple and white 

 varieties; and within the thickest woods the Milkwort 

 (Polygala vulgaris) presents its curious wing-like 

 purple flowers, where, though unseen, the Turtle-dove 

 is traced by its low solemn coo, like a voice from the 

 trees, amidst the tangled foliage. To the sensitive 

 mind and the scrutinizing eye such objects cannot fail 

 to impart delight, nor is it necessary to go very far to 

 enjoy them, for quiet nooks of rural beauty are often 

 nearer to towns and the busy haunts of men than are 

 imagined by dwellers at home. As a specimen of 

 scenery on a small scale almost as enchanting as in 

 wilder districts, I may mention the Sapey brook run- 

 ning on the western border of Worcestershire, and 

 especially wild and cliffy about Tedstone-de-la-mere, a 

 Herefordshire parish. To this locality when I ram- 

 bled with the "Worcestershire Naturalist's Club, I 

 made a note of our doings as follows. From the lofty 

 site of Clifton church we descended to Sapey brook, 

 whose deep course in the sandstone glen, half choked 

 with great broken slabs of sandstone and environed 

 about with lofty banks and dense foliage, is quite of 

 a Welsh character. Little waterfalls and deep pools 

 continually occur, and the dingle deeply overshadowed 

 and made musical by bubbling waters has a truly sub- 

 alpine aspect. We proceeded to the Hope Mill, where 

 the stream is crossed by a rustic foot-bridge, and then 

 followed its course to Lower Sapey. From Hope Mill 

 to the bridge of Lower Sapey, the brook offers a con- 

 tinual scene of excitement sometimes leaving a little 

 islet in its midst overgrown with enormous coltsfoot 

 leaves (Tussilago petasites), and throughout having 



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