WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 149 



before the flowers begin to fade at the approach of 

 autumn. 



It is noticeable that those who labour on their own 

 land (as at Wick) keep up the ancient customs much 

 more vigorously than the tenant who knows that he 

 is liable to receive a notice to quit. And farms, for 

 one reason or another, change tenants much more fre- 

 quently now than they used to do. Here at Wick the 

 owner feels that every apple tree he grafts, every 

 flower he plants, returns not only a money value, 

 but a joy not to be measured by money. So the bees 

 are carefully watched and tended, as the blue tomtits 

 find to their cost if they become too venturesome. 



These bold little bandits will sometimes make a 

 dash for the hive, alighting on the miniature platform 

 before the entrance, and playing havoc with the busy 

 inmates. If alarmed, they take refuge in the apple 

 trees, as if conscious that the owner will not shoot 

 them there, since every pellet may destroy potential 

 fruit by cutting and breaking those tender twigs on 

 which it would presently grow. It is a pleasant sight 

 in autumn to see the room devoted to the honey 

 great broad milk-tins full to the brim of the translu- 

 cent liquid, distilling slowly from pure white comb, 

 from the top of whose cells the waxen covering has 

 been removed. 



All the summer through fresh beauties, indeed, wait 

 upon the owner's footsteps. In the spring the mow- 

 ing-grass rises thick, strong, and richly green, or hidden 

 by the cloth-of-gold thrown over it by the buttercups. 



