xji LETTERS TO MARCO 79 



house, in which it ripens two crops of figs a 

 year, with only the sun to warm it. The 

 subject of seeds is endless, my dear Marco, 

 and the various methods Nature employs in 

 dissemination would demand a volume for 

 themselves ; it is a dry topic, however, and I 

 will not bore you with it more at present. 



Four or five swallows still fly round our 

 sycamore, and still roost in the boat-house of 

 nights ; thrushes and blackbirds have com- 

 menced to sing again at intervals ; the owls at 

 night are very noisy, squeaking and " too- 

 whooing " in quite a comic way at times. I 

 picked up an owl's feather the other day, 

 which I send you ; you will easily see by its 

 extremely soft, downy character that it is an 

 owl's, and it accounts in some way for the 

 perfect silence of the flight of the bird. 



G. D. L. 



