4 THE FRIENDSHIP OF NATURE 



the English garden-alleys, and the 

 pansy-like variety from the Russian 

 Steppes, which, as they bloom, laugh at 

 our frosty weather. In spots where 

 the sun has rested, the cowslip shows 

 its budded panicles, and a friendly 

 hedge shelters a mat of yellow prim- 

 roses, the flower of Tory dames. The 

 same hedge harbours each season in- 

 numerable birds. Hark! that broken 

 prelude is from the veery, or Wilson's 

 thrush, as he darts into his shelter. 

 Where the stone wall gathers every ray 

 of heat, are rows of hyacinths, with 

 ponderous trusses of bloom, rivalling 

 in variety and richness of colouring any 

 bulbous growth, and hordes of bees are 

 thumping about them. If you wish to 

 study colour, then stay awhile by these 

 pansies, that jostle and overrun the 

 borders like a good-natured crowd of 

 boys. It is strange that we rarely see 



