100 THE RING OF NATURE 



patches of campion which will make the wood 

 fairly blaze before the blue-bells have done spread- 

 ing their wonderful nebulous intangible azure, 

 like a very brilliant blue smoke among the trees. 

 Here conies, too, a ' bloody man's finger,' as our 

 country people call the purple orchid. If I live 

 to be ninety I shall never fail to find the purple 

 orchid richer and brighter every year. You seem 

 to see it again and with a new brilliance when you 

 have taken it in hand and felt the luscious weight 

 and fullness of its sap. I have not nearly exhausted 

 even the May beauties of my Lily Wood. 



Hullo ! there they go from their basking place 

 close to the path. One, two, six or seven long 

 grey bodies shooting through the dog's mercury, 

 and rapidly reaching safety under the thick rods 

 of the hazel. I caught one, however, as it made 

 off to a too distant shelter, and another I hauled 

 out from a shallow cavity under a nut stowl where 

 it had coiled itself. One for me and one for you, 

 dear reader, to put in a handkerchief and take 

 back to your pupils and make them see its harm- 

 lessness and its beauty. But you must not mind 

 its strong smell, the only means it has of persuading 

 one who laughs at its ' fangs ' and hissing to let 

 it go. 



The smell of the grass snake, that is the effluvium 

 that it emits when it is angry, hangs on the hands 

 through several washings. You can for the most 

 part escape it if you notice that it has origin in a 

 yellow oil that it exudes near the tail. If you have 



