42 HAMPSHIRE DAYS 



furze mixes with or gives place to the bog myrtle, or 

 golden withy ; and on the spongiest spots the fragrant 

 yellow stars of the bog asphodel are common in June. 

 These spots are exceedingly rich in colour, with greys 

 and emerald greens and orange yellows of moss and 

 lichen, flecked with the snow-white of cotton-grass. 



Here, then, besides that cause of contentment which 

 we find in openness, there is fragrance in fuller measure 

 than in most places. .One may wade through acres of 

 myrtle, until that subtle delightful odour is in one's 

 skin and clothes, and in the air one breathes, and 

 seems at last to penetrate and saturate the whole 

 being, and smell seems to be for a time the most 

 important of the senses. 



Among the interesting birds that breed on the 

 heath, the nightjar is one of the commonest. A 

 keen naturalist, Mr. E. A. Bankes, who lived close by, 

 told me that he had marked the spot where he had 

 found a pair of young birds, and that each time he 

 rode over the heath he had a look at them, and as they 

 remained there until able to fly, he concluded that it 

 is not true that the parent birds remove the young 

 when the nest has been discovered. 



I was not convinced, as it did not appear that he 

 had handled the young birds: he had only looked at 

 them while sitting on his horse. The following 

 summer I found a pair of young not far from the 

 same spot: they were half-fledged and very active, 

 running into the heath and trying to hide from me, 



