NATURE IN SEPTEMBER. 213 



following: Field Convolvulus, Silver Weed, Scarlet Poppy, 

 Dandelion, Bulbous Crowfoot, Red Dead Nettle, Harebell, Bush 

 Vetch, Bramble, Small Knapweed, Spear Plume Thistle, Bird's 

 Foot Trefoil, Bladder Campion, Red Meadow Clover, Garlic Mus- 

 tard, Carrot, Corn Mint, Groundsel, Dwarf Thistle, Hemp Nettle, 

 Red Berried Bryony, Goose Grass, Broad Leaved Plantain, 

 Forget-me-not, Scarlet Pimpernel, Nipplewort, Field Scabious, Knot 

 Grass, Self Heal, Corn Crowfoot, Autumnal Hawkbit, Common 

 Mallow, Scentless Mayweed, Sow Thistle, Herb Robert and 

 Woody Nightshade. There is a formidable list indeed, and I 

 have left a dozen or more unmentioned. All these wild flowers 

 I found blooming within a mile and a half of a Midland City 

 of 20,000 inhabitants. It is an interesting and fascinating study, 

 and one I would advise all those desirous of following a blood- 

 less and profitable pursuit and hobby to take up, together with 

 the birds of the air, and the other branches of Natural History 

 Keeping the mind occupied cannot be too often stated as a 

 means of safeguarding the young against all dangers. 



On the morning of our ramble a pair of Spotted Flycatchers 

 again afforded us intense amusement and interest as they have 

 so often done before, and as we sit watching them clusters of 

 nuts now quickly ripening, hanging on the pliant branches 

 overhead - a Green Woodpecker flies quickly across the field 

 skirting the wood and then alights and laughs at the fun he 

 is having. A Blackbird still utters its alarm note, and the 

 Titmice have again found their vocal organs after a temporary 

 cessation during the breeding season. One very late nest of 

 young ones we observe in the hole of a hollow tree. What 

 fluffy -little balls they arel 



A pair of Ring Doves are still found nesting if they do not 

 make haste those youngsters will not be in fit condition for 

 some cockney sportsman to blaze away at on his Christmas 

 holidays. After the Thistle, Charlock, Plantain, Dock and other 

 obnoxious weed seeds on a piece of waste ground, I have lately 

 noticed Goldfinches, Linnets, Lesser Redpolls, Greenfinches, 

 Chaffinches, Wood Pigeons, and Larks, the first three in very 

 small numbers as compared with the others. 



I have missed those delightful last night-flies of the busy 

 careering Swifts, they have gone off to Africa now : I saw them 



