Blackthorn. 279 



mercifully ferreted, for they will before long begin to 

 breed. On the milder mornings the thrushes are 

 singing sweetly. Clouds of tiny gnats circle in the 

 sheltered places near houses or thatch. In February, 

 ' fill-ditch,' as the old folk call it, on account of the 

 rains, although nominally in the midst of the winter 

 quarter, there is a distinct step forward. If the 

 clouds break and the wind is still, the beams of the 

 sun on the southern side of the wall -become pleas- 

 antly genial. In the third week they bring forth the 

 yellow butterfly, fluttering gaily over the furze ; while 

 the larks on a sunny day, chasing each other over the 

 ploughed fields, make even the brown clods of earth 

 seem instinct with awakening life. The pairing off 

 of the birds is now apparent in every hedge, and at 

 the same time on the mounds, and under sheltering 

 bushes and trees a deeper green begins to show as 

 the plants push up. 



The blackthorn is perhaps the first conspicuous 

 flower ; but in date it seems to vary much. On the 

 22d of February, 1877, there were boughs of black- 

 thorn in full bloom in Surrey, and elder trees in leaf; 

 nearly three weeks before that, at the beginning of 

 the month, there were hawthorn branches in full leaf 

 in a sheltered nook in Kent. A degree further 

 west, on the contrary, the hawthorn did not show a 

 leaf for some time after the blackthorn had bloomed 

 in Surrey. The farmers say that the grass which 

 comes on rapidly in the latter d&ys of February and 

 early da3's of March, ' many weathers ' (in their 

 phrase), often 'goes back' later in the season, and 

 loses its former progress. 



Lady day ( old style ) forms with Michaelmas the 



