28 THE CANADAN NATURALIST. [Vol. Vlii. 



A SUMMER STROLL IN ENGLAND. 

 By G. E. Bulger, F. L. S. 



Happening to spend the whole of May and the greater portion 

 of June, last year, at Upnor, in Kent, I enjoyed many a pleasant 

 ramble through the sweet, green lanes and picturesque country- 

 roads of the vicinity — especially in the neighbourhood of Chat- 

 tenden, where new barracks are in course of construction, almost 

 in the midst of the ordnance plantations — young, tender wood- 

 lands, full of delicious, shady nooks, and be-gemmed with thou- 

 sands of lovely wild flowers. 



The portion of Kent I allude to is said to be famous for its 

 primroses and its nightingales — the blossoms of the former ap- 

 pearing in countless myriads very early in the season, and the 

 latter congregating, about the beginning of June, in such num- 

 ber, and singing so lavishly, as to render the spring and summer 

 nights absolutely vocal with their sweet and rapturous strains. 

 The primroses had all but gone before my arrival ; but the 

 nightingales were in the full heyday of their happiness, and, 

 during the whole of my stay, they serenaded me nightly with 

 such continuous and wondrous bursts of melody, that it almost 

 seemed to me as if the little birds could never tire, or that their 

 sole mission upon earth was to sing until they died. 



One bright and glorious day, early in June, I wandered out 

 in the direction of Chattenden, along a lovely and secluded road, 

 almost hidden between luxuriant hedgerows, in which the bloom 

 and fragrance of the hawthorn had but recently given place to 

 the frail, soft beauty of the delicate, wild ro^e ; though, ever and 

 anon, an elder-bush flaunted its broad corymbs of white flowers 

 amidst the sweeter and more attractive, though less conspicuous, 

 blossoms of its modest and blushing neighbour. 



On either side of this charming pathway, the country present- 

 ed a succession of smiling meadows and picturesque woodlands — 

 typical of that fair and gentle pastoral beauty which seems to be 

 the especial attribute of sweet, yet rich and peerless England : 

 the former intensely green with the bright verdure of early sum- 

 mer, and spangled with millions of gay flowers, amongst which 

 the white stars of the great moon-daisy {Chrysanthemum hucan- 

 themum) were conspicuously abundant. 



