162 WILD FLOWERS OF SCOTLAND 



of cool black shadow under its banks ! How 

 tempting the distant ripple of currents that scarce 

 cooled the feet at midday ! 



Not far off is a moist patch. Round cushions of 

 pale sphagnum are touched here and there with 

 red by our native insect-eater. I find that the 

 sundew . almost always chooses cushions of sphag- 

 num, where they are to be found. It may be 

 because these retain sufficient moisture in all states 

 of the air ; and also, that they offer a background 

 against which it more easily catches the eye of its 

 insect prey. There is scarcely any other white 

 background over all its hillside or moorland 

 haunts. 



On the same marshy spot grows the cross-leaved 

 heather, easily known by its pale downy look. 

 From the shape of its very large flowers, it gets 

 its familiar name of bell heather, though the so- 

 called bells are almost closed at the mouth into 

 little balloons. 



This is-the earliest of the year's heather. Pale 

 at first, the blossoms blush on the exposed side, 

 where they are kissed by the sun into rose ; after 

 which they swiftly fade into an unsightly brown 

 mass. As these three stages are very often 

 present in the same cluster, one has sometimes 



