WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 209 



make similar pipes of straw to suck up the new cider 

 fresh from the cider-mill, as it stands in the tubs 

 directly after the grinding. Under the shady trees 

 of the orchard the hare's parsley flourishes, and im- 

 mediately without the orchard edge, on the " shore " 

 of the ditch, grow thick bunches of the beautiful blue 

 crane's-bill, or wild geranium, which ought to be a 

 garden flower and not left to the chance mercy of the 

 scythe. There, too, the herb Robert hides, and its 

 foliage, turning colour, lies like crimson lace 6n the 

 bank. 



Even the tall thistles of the ditch have their beauty 

 the flower has a delicate tint, varying with the 

 species from mauve to purple ; the humble-bee visits 

 every thistle bloom in his path, and there must there- 

 fore be sweetness in it. Then in the autumn issues 

 forth the floating thistle down, streaming through the 

 air and rolling like an aerial ball over the tips of the 

 bennets. Thistle down is sometimes gathered to fill 

 pillow-cases, and a pillow so filled is exquisitely soft. 

 There is not a nook or corner of the old place where 

 something interesting may not be found. Even the 

 slates on a modern addition to the homestead are each 

 bordered with yellow lichen perhaps because they 

 adjoin thatch, for slates do not seem generally to 

 encourage the growth of lichen. It appears to prefer 

 tiles, which therefore sooner assume an antique tint. 



To the geraniums in the bow-window the humming- 

 bird moth comes now and then, hovering over the 

 scarlet petals. Out of the high elms drops a huge 



