280 SEPTEMBER. 



some of the partners of my pleasure are sleeping in 

 the dust. 



Few indeed are the pleasures of rural life that 

 can surpass the enjoyment of Nutting; and nuts 

 are now ripe in the woods. Hops are gathered in 

 this month, as well as in the last. Swallows now 

 betray symptoms of their approaching departure, 

 flying in large flocks, settling on the ground in the 

 fields in vast numbers, whither the increasing chilli- 

 ness of the air has driven the flies, or clustering on 

 the tops of houses, or the dead boughs of trees, 

 making a low universal sort of warble. The robin 

 renews his note, the stone-curlew clamours at the 

 beginning of this month, wood-owls hoot, hares 

 congregate, and young blackbirds and thrushes 

 may be heard in copses, essaying their first powers 

 of song. The wood-lark now having abandoned 

 its summer music, may yet be heard uttering its fine 

 wild autumnal note of lu-lu, lu-lu, u-lu, on the dis- 

 tant uplands of our southern and western counties, 

 particularly Devon and Cornwall, and amongst the 

 hills of South Wales. 



I must not omit the great variety of fungi which 

 flourish this month. These are of every size, shade, 

 and hue, according to species and situation, from 

 the slender filament of scarlet or yellow upon some 

 decaying stump, to the bold, broad agaric of a foot 

 in height and diameter, standing in the forest as a 

 fitting table for King Oberon. No production of 

 nature but is endowed with some portion of that 

 beauty so lavishly diffused through creation; and 



