COU^TRT 135 



grey with tufts of lichen. Here the brown squirrel 

 frolics undisturbed, and even the shy jay finds here 

 unbroken sanctuary. 



The hedgerows, like the trees, are shaggy and un- 

 kempt; tangled wildernesses of sloe and bramble, of 

 dogwood and hazel. The butterflies of autumn, Admiral 

 and Painted Lady, sail from bush to bush, lightly touch- 

 ing, as they pass, the rich ripe blackberry clusters. Here, 

 too, the Comma floats along on brown, velvety wings, or 

 settling for a moment shows upon its dark underside the 

 bold white " comma " that has given it its name. 



We are perhaps accustomed to regard insects as 

 especially the children of the summer, but there are 

 many whose prime is at the summer's close. The cricket 

 is pre-eminently a musician of the autumn ; and there 

 are some even of our most brilliant butterflies whose 

 brief life begins only when summer days are nearly past. 

 Round heavy-scented ivy flowers floats the royal Admiral, 

 the soft light brightening further still the white and 

 blue, the black and scarlet of his splendid wings. It 

 was but yesterday that the perfect insect broke the 

 brown husk of his chrysalis and spread his broadening 

 beauty in the sunshine. A few weeks more, only, and 

 he will creep away into some crevice in a tree or wall to 

 sleep out the barren hours of winter, motionless and cold. 

 In the spring-time he will waken with the rest for a few 

 more weeks of sunshine, the showers of April and the 

 smiles of May, though he is less often met with then, 

 than other species which survive the winter. 



Wasps are already beginning to grow drowsy, but for 



