AN IMPRESSION OF AXE EDGE 123 



not so persistent; there were better intervals; then 

 came a beautiful warm day — the first fine really warm 

 day, the natives proudly assured me, which they had 

 experienced since the previous August. The little stone- 

 enclosed fields had taken on a livelier green, and on wet 

 spots and by tlic burns the shining yellow marsh- 

 marigolds were in bloom. But the chief change to 

 spring on the high wintry moor was in the appearance 

 of the bilberry bushes, growing everywhere in dense 

 patches among the heather. They had now put on their 

 first leaves and they were like the young leaves of the 

 oak in spring 



Against the sun shcne — 

 Some very red and some a glad light grene. 



And this wild place was a habitation of birds, and these 

 were the people I had come to see and listen to, who 

 were, indeed, more to me than tlie human inhabitants. 



