278 COUNTRY RAMBLES. 



Heal, Wild Carrot, Cow Parsnip, Knot Grass, Oxeye Daisy (only a 

 couple seen in flower), Small Knapweed, Hedge Bedstraw, Spear- 

 plume Thistle, Ox Tongue, Corn Sow Thistle, Goosegrass, Autumnal 

 Hawkbit, Scarlet Poppy, Honeysuckle, and Bramble (surely very late). 



Birds singing. Robin and Skylark, the former more conspicuous 

 than recently. 



Birds seen or heard: House Sparrow (a row of over thirty on 

 the garden fence looked very curious this morning), Starling (large 

 flocks; how light the under plumage seems to be at this season), 

 Rook, Chaffinch (small flock of females seen), Hedge Sparrow, Black- 

 bird, Nuthatch (watched several of these birds to-day; how interesting 

 to watch them coming down a tree head foremost, then uttering the 

 human-like whistle), Jay (several shrieking in the woods), Bullfinch, 

 Ring Dove, Great Tit (busy searching for insects, &c., in the tree 

 tops; now underneath, now on top, now swinging, now jerking), 

 Song Thrush, Lapwing (a large flock of these birds and Starlings in a 

 Potato field. These two birds seem to cog in very well together, and 

 the former, as seen through a pair of good glasses, look a picture in 

 their snowy breasts and engaging manners. The field had been 

 cleared of its crop, and the Potatoes were stored away in straw stacks 

 over 100 yards in length. What a fine store 1 The birds must have 

 been after grubs, and they seemed to be having a right royal feast). 



The N.W. winds to-day were very cold, and it is difficult now to 

 write comfortably when out. Is it not comforting to get out of the 

 open and round a bend in the wood where it is sheltered! One may 

 now hear dead and decaying branches tinkling to the ground. The 

 pathways are becoming strewn with leaves and Acorns. At times 

 nought can be heard but the sighing of the wind, then one hears the 

 song of a Robin or a soaring Lark. Down the old lanes it is getting 

 very moist now, and the leaves of the Wild Cherry have assumed 

 quite a dark tint. 



If one wishes to find wild flowers, obviously 'the best place is to 

 go to the nearest rubbish heap or piece of waste ground. It is really 

 astonishing the varieties one may stumble across in these situations. 



The dead bunches of keys on the Ash very noticeable, although 

 the tree still retains its colour and foliage pretty well. 



Noticed a clump of golden Marigolds at the country railway 

 station. The botanical studies at such a place are often many and 

 interesting. 



