42 NATURE NEAR LONDON 



But these become monotonous. Therefore, I am con- 

 strained to describe it as a district somewhat lacking 

 flowers, meaning, of course, in point of variety. 



Compared with the hedges and fields of Wiltshire, 

 Gloucestershire, Berkshire, and similar south-western 

 localities, it seems flowerless. On the other hand, 

 southern London can boast stretches of heath, which, 

 when in full bloom, rival Scotch hillsides. These re- 

 marks are written entirely from a non-scientific point of 

 view. Professional botanists may produce lists of thrice 

 the length, and prove that all the flowers of England are 

 to be found near London. But it will not alter the fact 

 that to the ordinary eye the roads and lanes just south 

 of London are in the middle of the summer compara- 

 tively bare of colour. They should be visited in spring 

 and autumn. 



Nor do the meadows seem to produce so many 

 varieties of grass as farther to the south-west. But 

 beetles of every kind and size, from the great stag beetle, 

 helplessly floundering through the evening air and cling- 

 ing to your coat, down to the green, bronze, and gilded 

 species that hasten across the path, appear extremely 

 numerous. Warm, dry sands, light soils, and furze and 

 heath are probably favourable to them. 



From this roadside I have seldom heard the corn- 

 crake, and never once the grasshopper lark. These 

 two birds are so characteristic of the meadows in south- 

 western counties that a summer evening seems silent to 

 me without the " crake, crake ! " of the one and the 

 singular sibilous rattle of the other. But they come to 

 other places not far distant from the road, and one 

 summer a grasshopper-lark could be heard in some 

 meadows where I had not heard it the two preceding 

 seasons. On the mounds field crickets cry persistently. 



