FLOWERS AND SONG 



the earth, and each spoon-shaped leaf is so arranged 

 in a mosaic as to have its full share of sunshine. 

 The white, barren florets, an advertisement to insects, 

 are also a warning banner flown in the sheep's face, 

 but their main task is the unfolding of the fertile florets 

 when asleep. It is curious to observe how by the raising 

 of a cone each floret, as it swells in ripening its fruit, is 

 given a fair standing-place in the sun. The daisy is a 

 warrior, admirably equipped for battle. 



FLOWERS AND SONG 



A SETTING of flowers adds delight to birds' songs, as 

 when a chaffinch is in his element, on a 

 The flowery orchard bough ; or Pettichaps, the 



Orchard garden warbler, sings tirelessly on from 

 Bough his perch on a white mountain of cherry- 

 blossom. The chaffinch has but one short 

 stave; the willow- wren's song lasts three seconds; the 

 nightingale sings as he listeth ; but Pettichaps emulates 

 the feats of the sedge-warbler that sings by the hour. 

 The meadow of his cherry-tree platform has an em- 

 broidered verge of cowslip, primrose, violet, anemone, 

 stitchwort and purple orchis, and the warbler sets the 

 whole flowery picture to appropriate music. 



PETTICHAPS is among the six or seven songsters whose 



supremely sweet voices place them in the 



The foremost rank. Though he has no special love 



Blackcap 's for gardens, he often makes one musical 



Understudy by his presence, and will nest among the 



peas or in a gooseberry bush; the name 



may carry a tinge of reproach, suggesting that this 



61 



