264 COUNTRY RAMBLES. 



blithe bird with the naked eye, as it towers higher and higher until 

 lost in the blue clouds. Then it suddenly commences the descent, 

 falling slowly, slowly, slowly, until finally it drops like a stone to the 

 earth in a slanting direction. It is a wonderfully captivating and 

 interesting sight, and one not easily forgotten. 



At a friend's house this evening I noticed quite a bunch of 

 berries of the Wild Guelder Rose, or Wayfaring Tree, in a vase on 

 the shelf. They looked just like wax, but they were, I am pleased to 

 say, produce from Nature's own bountiful garden. The wine-red 

 leaves, too, are worthy of notice. 



7th Bright but breezy; S.W. 

 winds. Like a Midsummer day 

 almost. The most glorious Summer 

 and Autumn I ever remember in 

 my limited experience, for be it 

 known, gentle reader, the writer of 

 these notes has only reached twenty- 

 eight summers. 



Flowers in bloom : Charlock 

 Dandelion, Shepherd's Purse, Knot 

 GARDEN SPIDER. Grass, Scentless Mayweed, Nipple- 



wort, Creeping Crowfoot, Sow 



Thistle (nearly run its flowering course), White and Red Clovers, 

 Field Thistle, Groundsel, Red Dead Nettle, Autumnal Hawkbit 

 (going to seed), Long-rooted Cat's Ear (the Cat's-ear-shaped leaves 

 very prominent now), Dove's-foot Crane's Bill (not in flower to any 

 extent), Black Horehound (the rains have brought this into flower 

 again), White Dead Nettle, Ragwort, Fumitory (quite a quantity in 

 flower once more), Germander Speedwell, Heartsease, Chickweed, 

 Yarrow, Scarlet Poppy, Wild Carrot, Harebell, Field Scabious, Herb 

 Robert, Cinquefoil, Hedge Calamint, Hedge Mustard, Prickly-headed 

 Poppy, Marsh Mallow, Cow Parsnip, Small Knapweed (very little in 

 flower now), Common Mallow, Scarlet Pimpernel, and Purple Medick 

 (probably the last time of inclusion as in flower). 



Birds singing : Robin and Skylark. The latter almost every- 

 where, the former hardly so much in evidence as of late. In every 

 direction, at every turn, Larks were to be seen and heard ; it has been 

 a day of local Lark song. 



Birds seen or heard : Swallow, House Martin (a good many 

 of these two species still here, the former busy skimming over the 



