NATURE IN MARCH. II. 49 



lightning rapidity over the water, and frightening the shoals of 

 silvery Minnows as it darts past. 



The budding hedgerows will soon be bursting into their 

 glorious new green foliage ; the Honeysuckle, with its rustic 

 brown stalks, is pleasingly contrasted with its tassels of green. 



The Corn is well up, and in the next field the rich, brown 

 soil has a very charming effect, which is enhanced by the 

 colonnade of fine trees in the distance. Spring ploughing, 

 which Mr. Newman has so excellently illustrated, is still taking 

 place, and it is interesting to stand at the end of the last 

 turned-up furrow and watch the ploughman start on a fresh 

 line. Watch how straight he goes, and how accustomed he 

 has become to the rough ground he has to traverse. He hardly 

 ever seems to stumble over the rough up-turned clods of eartli. 



Bird life is very apparent; all Nature seems glad. The 

 Skylark that minstrel of liberty and love is towering up towards 

 the clouds; a few Starlings flit by at a tremendous speed; 

 some of them are already paired off, others appear to be in a 

 gregarious state all the year round. 



The bird which is so conscious of protection the Wren - is 

 one that never appears to be of a melancholy disposition; on 

 a Winter's morning he seems to be cheered by the transient 

 gleam ; on a Spring morning one finds him in the same happy 

 mood. And what a delicate little songster he is! His matin 

 often reminds me of the Tree Pipit's, but on a lower scale. 

 How nimbly he hops along the bottom of the hedgerow, and 

 how busy he is. Here, there and everywhere is the bird ; in the 

 hedgerow, on the ivy grown wall, in the garden, or, perched 

 on the branch of some sturdy beech, he sings of the coming 

 Spring. 



The Robin has evidently a nest somewhere ; those shining 

 eyes and artful movements tell me that he is playing at hide- 

 and-seek ; then, when danger is past, he signals his happiness 

 by uttering an anthem of praise. 



The Merle and Mavis have long since thought of building 

 their homestead ; young Thrushes are reported ; how sheltered 

 are these fledglings from the cold East winds generally associated 

 with early Spring, in the well-built nest with the cow-dung 

 lining. Mr. Newman was fortunate enough to obtain a very 



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