MAY 131 



by its side grows tall and ready to show its well-known yellow 

 flowerets beside the hedge. Bugle, speedwell, the two plain- 

 tains (especially P. lanceolata) and woodrush grow lusty in the 

 fields and meadows, where among them play the children, 

 telling the fair fleeting hours of May by blowing the " dande- 

 lion clocks " ; or, heedless of flying time, vainly they try to 

 fetter the sweet moments with their fragile daisy-chains. The 

 butterflies pass from field to field, blown by the May-time 

 wind, like twin leaves fluttering from a white rose. Woods 

 are filled with birds, the air is full of their voices, and that 

 " wandering voice " the note of the cuckoo is the chiefest 

 of them all. The tree-creeper nimbly climbs the rugged oak ; 

 blackbirds spread their dark wings in flight across the golden 

 buttercups, calling shrilly when disturbed. How shy the 

 birds are ! yet, however much we may love the trust which 

 they sometimes give us, in their timidity they seem a 

 creature more ethereal, and in their shyness belonging more 

 to fairyland. 



The ferns uncurl, rising from the ground like a miniature 

 fountain sending out liquid emerald. From the clefts of 

 many a rockery seems to issue forth golden foam in the 

 massed blossoms of Sedum aureum ; along the border the 

 aubrietia shows a thousand tiny purple crosses, and an endless 

 array of bright flowers is bidden by the sovran voice of 

 May to help swell with its beauty the loveliness of coming 

 Summer. 



