188 HAMPSHIRE DAYS 



look on it as some rare exotic, and wonder at its 

 being there by that lowly green mound. But to the 

 residents it was a musk mallow and nothing more 

 a weed in the churchyard. 



When one morning I found two men mowing the 

 grass, I called their attention to this plant and asked 

 them to spare it, telling them that it was one which 

 the daily visitors to the village would admire above 

 all the red geraniums and other gardeners' flowers 

 which they would have to leave untouched. This 

 simple request appeared to put them out a good 

 deal; they took their hats off and wiped the sweat 

 from their foreheads, and after gravely pondering the 

 matter for some time, said they would " see about it " 

 or <c bear it in mind" when they came round to that 

 side. In the afternoon, when the mowing was done, 

 I returned and found that the musk mallow had not 

 been spared. 



During my stay I was specially interested in two 

 of the common Selborne birds the cirl bunting and 

 the swift. At about four o'clock each morning the 

 lively, vigorous song of the cirl bunting would be 

 heard from the gardens or ground of the Wakes, at 

 the foot of the hill. From four to six, at intervals, 

 was his best singing time; later in the day he sang 

 at much longer intervals. There appeared to be three 

 pairs of breeding birds : one at the Wakes, another on 

 the top of the hill to the left of the Zigzag path, and a 

 third below the churchyard. The cock bird of the 



