WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 329 



districts it is even rare, and it requires a considerable 

 search to find a group of these handsome rushes. 

 Water-lilies are equally absent from certain districts. 

 Elms do not seem to flourish near water ; they do 

 not reach any size, and a white, unhealthy-looking 

 sap exudes from the trunk. Water seems, too, to 

 check the growth of ash after it has reached a mod- 

 erate size. Does the may bloom, which is almost 

 proverbial for its sweetness, occasionally turn sour, 

 as it were, before a thunderstorm ? Bushes covered 

 with this flower certainly emit an unpleasant smell 

 sometimes, quite distinct from the usual odour of the 

 may. 



The hedge is so intensely English and so mixed up 

 in all popular ideas that it is no wonder it forms the 

 basis of many proverbs and sayings such as, " The 

 sun does not shine on both sides of the hedge at once," 

 " rough as a hedge," the verb " to hedge," and so on. 

 Has any attempt ever been made to cultivate the earth- 

 nut, pig-nut, or ground-nut, as it is variously called, 

 which the ploughboys search for and dig up with 

 their clasp-knives ? It is found by the small slender 

 stalk it sends up, and insignificant white flower, and 

 lies a few inches below the surface : the ploughboys 

 think much of it, and it seems just possible that cul- 

 tivation might improve it. 



Rare birds do not afford much information as a rule ; 

 seen for a short time only, it is difficult to discover 

 much about them. I followed one of the rarer wood- 

 peckers one morning for a long time, but, not withstand- 



ii a 



