4O Wild Life in a Southern County 



germinating power for a length of time, till the plough 

 brings them near enough to the surface, when they are 

 sure to shoot up unless the pigeons find them. Here also 

 may be found the wild garlic, which sometimes gets 

 among the wheat and lends an onion-like flavour to the 

 bread. It grows, too, on the edge of the low chalky 

 banks overhanging the narrow waggon track, whose ruts 

 are deep in the rubble worn so in winter. 



Such places, close to cultivated land yet undisturbed, 

 are the best in which to look for wild flowers ; and on the 

 narrow strip beside the hedge and on the crumbling rubble 

 bank of the rough track may be found a greater variety 

 than by searching the broad acres beyond. In the season 

 the large white bell-like flowers of the convolvulus will climb 

 over the hawthorn, and the lesser striped kind will creep 

 along the ground. The pink pimpernel hides on the very 

 verge of the corn, which presently will be strewn with the 

 beautiful ' blue-bottle ' flower, than whose exquisite hue 

 there is nothing more lovely in our fields. The great 

 scarlet poppy with the black centre, and ' eggs and butter ' 

 curious name for a flower will, of course, be there : 

 the latter often flourishes on a high elevation, on the very 

 ridges, provided only the plough has been near. 



At irregular intervals along the slope there are deep 

 hollows shallow near the summit, deepening and widen- 

 ing as they sink, till by the hedge at the foot they broaden 

 out into a little valley in themselves. These great green 

 grooves furrow the sides of the downs everywhere, and for 

 that reason it is best to walk either on the ridge or in the 

 plain at the bottom : if you follow the slope half-way up 

 you are continually descending and ascending the steep 

 sides of these gullies, which adds much to the fatigue. At 

 the mouths of the hollows, close to the hedge, the great 



