WILD FLOWERS. 



which we perceive on a minuter examination of the 

 different species ; some blooming 



* * " With bells like amethyst, and then 



Pale and shaded, like a maiden's cheek 

 With gradual blushes, other-while as white 

 As rime that hangs upon the frozen spray." 



These varied beauties are, however, familiar to 

 the reader, and I will, therefore, only lay before him 

 the descriptive lines of Mrs. Grant, of Laggan, before 

 I enter into the drier botanical details relating to 

 the differences of the species. 



" Flower of the waste ! the heath-fowl shuns 

 For thee the brake and tangled wood ; 



To thy protecting shade she runs, 

 Thy tender buds supply her food ; 



Her young forsake her downy plumes 



To rest upon thy opening blooms. 



Flower of the desert* though thou art ! 



The deer that range the mountain free, 

 The graceful doe, the stately hart, 



Their food and shelter seek from thee ; 

 The bee, thy earliest blossom greets, 

 And draws from thee her choicest sweets. 



Gem of the heath ! whose modest bloom 



Sheds beauty o'er the ample moor, 

 Though thou dispense no rich perfume, 



Nor yet with splendid tints allure, 

 Both valour's crest and beauty's bower, 

 Oft hast thou decked a favourite flower. 



* I really must protest against the application, even in 

 poetry, of the word desert, to spots clothed with such vigorous 

 vegetation ; it is almost as anomalous as the American name 

 of " Pine barrens," as applied to the majestic pine woods of 

 the Southern States ! 



