142 NATURE NEAR LONDON. 



NUTTY AUTUMN. 



THERE is some honeysuckle still flowering at the tops 

 of the hedges, where in the morning gossamer lies 

 like a dewy net. The gossamer is a sign both of 

 approaching autumn and, exactly at the opposite 

 season of the year, of approaching spring. It 

 stretches from pole to pole, and bough to bough, in 

 the copses in February, as the lark sings. It covers 

 the furze, and lies along the hedge-tops in September, 

 as the lark, after a short or partial silence, occasion- 

 ally sings again. 



But the honeysuckle does not flower so finely as 

 the first time ; there is more red (the unopened petal) 

 than white, and beneath, lower down the stalk, are 

 the red berries, the fruit of the former bloom. Yellow 

 weed, or ragwort, covers some fields almost as thickly 

 as buttercups in summer, but it lacks the rich colour 

 of the buttercup. Some knotty knapweeds stay in 

 out-of-the-way places, where the scythe has not 

 been ; some bunches of mayweed, too, are visible in 

 the corners of the stubble. 



Silverweed lays its golden flower like a buttercup 

 without a stalk level on the ground; it has no 

 protection, and any passing foot may press it into the 

 dust. A few white or pink flowers appear on the 



