46 NATURE IN DOWNLAND 



and enchanting the sight may be as long as the vision 

 rests on it, does not leave as distinct and vivid a 

 picture on the mind as masses of flowers of any other 

 colour seen in similar conditions. It is true that a 

 sheet of wild hyacinths in a wood in spring is a 

 beautiful sight that we never forget. But in this case 

 there is a background of trees, and deep shadow and 

 green above, between the blue of the flowers and the 

 blue of the sky. 



My mention of the big or woolly thistle reminds me 

 of another pretty effect of a colonising flower on the 

 downs which I should not perhaps have thought much 

 about but for an incident and an attractive human 

 figure in the picture. 



During a walk among the South Downs one day 

 in June, looking up from the valley I was in, I saw 

 far up near the top of the hill in front of me a 

 shepherd boy standing motionless, his crook in his 

 hand, his dog, held by a cord or chain, at his side. 

 Wishing to have a talk with him I began the ascent 

 of the rather steep slope, and he, divining my inten- 

 tion, waited for me. As I came close to him he made 

 a very pretty picture, standing against the blue sky, 

 knee-deep in the tall grass, just beginning to flower, 

 which covered that part of the down. Among the 

 grass sainfoin grew abundantly, and the green grass 

 was sprinkled ever3rvvhere with the rose-red of its 

 blossoming spikes. Even a very few flowers of any 

 other colour would have taken something from the 



