JUNE. 141 



fitful in their movements. A screaming Jay caught sight of me and 

 gave the signal to all around that there was " a Naturalist on the 

 prowl," and one might as well look for a needle in a bundle of hay 

 as for Doves after the sentinel of the woods had sounded the alarm. 

 1 like the Jay, but many a time when I am stalking carefully through 

 the almost impenetrable wood, fearing every step I shall alight on a 

 dead branch or stick and send a shrill crack through the coppice, an 

 artful Jay darts out and shakes the welkin with its " kak-kak-kak." 



Many Brimstone, Orange-tip, Meadow Brown, and Small White 

 Butterflies out to-day. Is not the first-named a delicate species ? 



The foliage of the Ash is worth noting just now; the Honey- 

 suckle is all budded and I hear it is in flower in the district; the 

 Pink and White Chestnuts are simply gorgeous now; also the 

 Rhododendrons. More Frogs about in the ditches to-day than I have 

 noticed all the year. 



Did the reader ever hear uttered that stupid solecism the " Crows 

 in the Rookery?" or, again, the "Hay in the Straw stack?" 



The leaves of the Burdock are very conspicuous now, also those 

 of the Butter Bur. I know a bank by a river where the latter is found 

 for some hundreds of yards. 



A young Rabbit stopped a yard or two in front of me to-day, and 

 refused to move. I stood stiff and rigid until I had to give in, and 

 off he scampered. How shooting has made these animals the nervous 

 nervous creatures they are. 



Amongst the nests found to-day I may mention a Chaffinches 

 containing six eggs; creeping about the eggs were what I took to 

 be small bird lice; and a Garden Warbler's containing five eggs 

 (incubation very far advanced). Nest composed of dead grasses 

 externally and a few pieces of cotton, lined with finer grasses and 

 horsehair; also came across a Bullfinch's nest with five eggs, and a 

 good many Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, and Greenfinches, containing 

 eggs and young. There does not seem to be so many Chaffinches' 

 nests about this year. 



A trusty friend saw the Spotted Flycatcher here on the 27th May, 

 but it was doubtless amongst us some days previously. Under the 

 Fir trees, has the reader ever noticed how pale the Wild Hyacinths 

 are? Many to-day I found almost white. No sun ever penetrates 

 in these thick glades ; hence that dark blue tint of the open is absent. 



Young Rooks still in the nest. What a variety of notes the 



