xx LETTERS TO MARCO 133 



strongly all the last month, and last week I 

 had a poppy in flower. There are also in 

 bloom periwinkles, aubrietia, allysum, mari- 

 golds (the potherb, the common corn, and the 

 African), torchflowers, and winter jasmine. 

 At the same time the crocuses and spring 

 bulbs are all showing up through the ground, 

 whilst several asters, or Michaelmas daisies, 

 are still in flower. To-day the sky is cloud- 

 less and the temperature that of summer. 

 Blackbirds, thrushes, and larks sing nearly 

 all day long, and this is the seventh of 

 December. 



I forgot in my last letter to mention a 

 rather curious phenomenon that occurred 

 sometime this autumn (I am sorry I have lost 

 the date) ; namely, that one fine night the 

 sheep at all the different farms in this 

 neighbourhood, with very few exceptions, 

 broke out of their folds and were found the 

 next morning at considerable distances. The 

 tract of land in which this took place extended 

 on both sides of the river between here and 



