204 NATURE NEAR LONDON. 



and plants, they also attract the birds, without which 

 the grandest plantation is a vacancy, and another 

 interest, too, arises from watching the progress of 

 their growth and the advance of the season. Our 

 own trees and shrubs literally keep pace with the 

 stars which shine in our northern skies. An astro- 

 nomical floral almanack might almost be constructed, 

 showing how, as the constellations marched on by 

 night, the buds and leaves and flowers appeared 

 by day. 



The lower that brilliant Sirius sinks in the western 

 sky after ruling the winter heavens, and the higher 

 that red Arcturus rises, so the buds thicken, open, 

 and bloom. When the Pleiades begin to rise in the 

 early evening, the leaves are turning colour, and the 

 seed vessels of the flowers take the place of the petals. 

 The coincidences of floral and bird Ufe, and of these 

 with the movements of the heavens, impart a sense 

 of breadth to their observation. 



It is not only the violet or the anemone, there are 

 the birds coming from immense distances to enjoy 

 the summer with us ; there are the stars appearing in 

 succession, so that the most distant of objects seems 

 brought into connection with the nearest, and the 

 world is made one. The sharp distinction, the line 

 artificially drawn between things, quite disappears 

 when they are thus associated. 



Birds, as just remarked, are attracted by our own 

 trees and shrubs. Oaks are favourites with rooks and 

 wood-pigeons ; blackbirds whistle in them in spring ; 

 if there is a pheasant about in autumn he is sure to 

 come under the oak; jays visit them. Elms are 



