48 NATURE IN DOWNLAND 



pale yellow of the grass are complementary colours, 

 and almost as pleasing as the rose-red of sainfoin 

 blossom with the vivid green of June grass. 



When these wild gardens of the old broken-up 

 grounds are sere and flowerless, or the flowers are few, 

 the downs where the turf has never been destroyed 

 still glow with colour as in spring; and it is then 

 most delightful to visit those wilder places where 

 many hours, or even a whole day, may be spent out 

 of sight of any human form, not even excepting 

 a solitary shepherd, standing motionless and statu- 

 esque on the side of a distant hill. 



Happily such desert spots still exist, wild as when 

 the vanished bustard had his home in them ; miles 

 upon miles of rough vegetation; acres of luxuriant 

 furze, flowerless now at the end of summer, darkest 

 green with a bloom of lighter green, bluish in tint, on 

 its tops. The furze is like the pine in this ; and 

 looking down upon it one can fancy oneself a Titan 

 standing waist-deep in a vast pine-forest, with the 

 blue-green feathery tree-tops all about one. Elsewhere 

 the furze may be seen growing among other bushes, 

 appearing as blotches of darkest green among greens 

 of various lighter shades ; trailing brambles, and briars 

 still waving aloft a few white and red roses; and in 

 and out among them, hanging everywhere in beautiful 

 rags, and binding bush to bush with ropes of many- 

 shaped leaves, convolvulus and fragrant woodbine, 

 wild clematis in its silky beard, and bryony beaded 



