NOVEMBER. 



"The Wind Flower and the Violet, they perished long ago, 

 And the Briar Rose and the Orchis died amid the Summer glow ; 

 The south wind searches for the flowers whose fragrance late he bore, 

 And sighs to find them in the wood and by the stream no more," 



1st. Very heavy but much-needed rains. Afterwards bright, 

 and the rain again. Still very close. Noticed to-day the beautiful 

 yellow of the Mountain Ash leaves and the scarlet berries. What a 

 study for an artist skilled in his profession 1 



'2nd. Dull and misty. Skylark singing. The leaves are rapidly 

 falling now; the Limes are almost stripped. 



3nd. - Dull, but fine. Hedge Sparrow, Robin, and Skylark singing. 

 Many Red-legged Partridges, Widgeon, and Lapwings in London 

 poulterers. What a great shame it is to shoot such an eminently 

 useful and ornamental bird as the latter. Two flocks of Golden 

 Plovers went over this afternoon. I was looking at a clump of trees 

 from the railway train to-day near Elstree, Herts. I never before 

 appreciated the Autumn tints so much; they were so exquisite, 

 graceful, and beautiful No artist can do such a scene justice. 



With further reference to my recent notes as to Ivy being injurious 

 to trees, Professor G. S. Boulger, F.L.S., F.G.S , answering a note of 

 mine on the subject in the November issue of " Nature Notes," writes 

 as follows : " One of the best authorities on the dangers of wood- 

 lands, Dr. Furst, of Aschaffenburg, in his edition of Kawschinger's 

 Lehre von Waldschutzy (1889), merely says of Ivy that it is "no 

 parasite, for it derives all its nourishment from the soil, and all the 

 rootlets appearing on stems and branches are merely supporting 

 rootlets.' We seldom or never see horizontal branches of Ivy 

 embrace a stem, nor does it become embedded in and distort the three 

 as Honeysuckle distorts Hazel; so that on the whole, I think that 

 the war waged upon it is largely prejudice." 



