162 SUMMER 



ously lacks the peculiar grace of growth that all the chalk 

 plants share in greater or less degree. When corn-flower and 

 corn-marigold and poppies and some white flower like campion 

 or mayweed are thickly mingled in a field of vetches at mid- 

 summer, their pure, fresh colours in contrast give a peculiar 

 sense of gaiety to the scene. The filmy and brooding 

 purples of later summer are still absent, though every day 

 the earliest field scabious may open on the grassy balks 

 with its signal of the year's decline. The mixture of blue, 

 yellow, white, and scarlet tells of the longer days, and 

 summer still light-hearted and waxing ; and we enjoy the 

 June scene while there is time. A little later, when the 

 midsummer burst of blossom is over, the first small flocks 

 of goldfinches come to pick the ripening seeds from the 

 fading corn-flower blossoms. Their crimson heads and 

 striped golden wings flash as they flutter at the bending 

 flowers ; and the contrast of their own bright hues with the 

 blue blossoms is one of the most beautiful spectacles in the 

 summer fields. 



All these blossoms are conspicuous for brilliance and 

 mass ; but there are many pleasant cornfield flowers which 

 must be sought before they can be enjoyed. They bloom 

 shyly among the roots of the corn, in the shadowed and 

 shifting sunshine. Heart's-ease or field pansy is one of the 

 most attractive of these smaller plants ; there is a suggestion 

 of a little catlike face which makes the blossom quaint and 

 fascinating. It is very variable in colour, and produces 

 almost endless combinations of purple and yellow and white. 

 This is a distinct plant from the mountain pansy of Wales 

 and the north, which grows on the open turf, and has a 

 rather larger blossom, with purer though still variable 

 colours. The small-flowered field pansy is another common 

 cornfield species, with dwarfed blossoms which might be 



