AUGUST. 251 



RURAL OCCUPATIONS. 



Hay-ricks are trimmed and thatched, mown fields 

 manured, and meadows watered before corn-harvest, 

 which sets in this month, and forms its great business. 

 Potatoes require earthing-up. Cabbage-seed is sown, 

 and poultry watched upon the stubbles. Honey is 

 gathered. Old grass-lands are pared and burnt for 

 wheat, and the ashes spread and ploughed in. In 

 the garden, withered stems of flowers, and remains 

 of exhausted crops, require removing, and the 

 ground digging afresh. Bulbs are taken up, seeds 

 gathered, and some kinds sown for the next spring. 



ANGLING. 



Tench spawn. All other fresh-water fish may 

 be considered in season. From this time till late in 

 the year, roach is taken in great quantities in the 

 Thames and other rivers. Evening is the best time 

 during this month for fly-fishing. 



Flies, the same as in July ; then the ant-fly, the 

 fern-fly, a white hackle, a Harry-long-legs, and all 

 the browns and duns, as in May. 



MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS. 



The business of incubation being now over with 

 most birds, the migratory motions again commence ; 

 some seeking the bounteous provisions of autumn, 

 and some their winter-quarters. The siskin, the 

 mountain finch, and the crossbeak, are not very 



