156 COUNTRY RAMBLES. 



county. It does not possess the magnificence and grandeur of some 

 parts of our Country, but for me it has an attraction in its many woods 

 and coppices, green lanes, and meadows, which sticketh so close that 

 the more I get about the county the more I am enamoured with it. 



15th. Showery. Heavy rains last night. They will do a great 

 amount of good to the crops and gardens. They were wanted badly; 

 but the early haymakers will not receive them with pleasure, I am afraid. 



I am pleased to hear from a friend that he has heard a Nightjar 

 near my house on more than one occasion this Spring. I have not 

 come across the bird since I resided in Bedfordshire, five years ago. 

 There, it was no uncommon occurrence to hear as many as half a- 

 dozen in one evening uttering their curious song The district there, 

 however, is very sandy. They are very partial to a soil of this nature. 



It may interest my readers to know that this bird does not usually 

 perch on the branch of a tree crosswise, a birds in general do, but 

 lengthwise. As it moves about as dusk it has the appearance of a 

 large, sombre Swallow. 



16th. Bright sunshine. Over 100 degrees at 8 a.m. Chaffinch 

 "pinking" in the garden-, Skylark singing overhead. Nice rains 

 towards evening, but these did not stop the Swifts from having their 

 accustomed night fly. I think there is no more striking sight in the 

 bi'd world than the last night fly of these interesting birds. How 

 they rush and screech through the air, whirling and twisting, reeling 

 and turning ! It is very rare that they alight on the ground, and when 

 they do so it is difficult for them to rise again owing to the shortness 

 of the tarsi. Being on the wing so many hours out of the twenty- 

 four, it seems extraordinary that the Swift does not get thoroughly 

 tired out*, but a bird's endurance on the wing is wonderful. The 

 Albatross has been known to follow a ship for days, and I believe 

 weeks, together, without resting. 



17th.-Fitful sunshine, but fine; warm. 



Wild flowers found blooming to-day: Garlic Mustard (very 

 nearly finished, the long seed pods very prominent now), Red, White, 

 and Bladder Campions, Germander Speedwell (not nearly the mass 

 it was some few weeks since), Common Fumitory (the foliage of this 

 is very delicate), Charlock (found some White Charlock to-day), White 

 Clover (the reader would do well to look at this flower through a glass ; 

 each petal is like a large Sweet Pea; those who haver never examined 

 it would be much surprised at the effect as seen through a microscope; 

 Red Clover, Hedge Mustard (the little patches of yellow on the tall 



