256 Wild Life in a Southern County 



Clouds of tiny gnats circle in the sheltered places near 

 houses or thatch. In February ' fill-ditch/ as the old folk 

 call it, on account of the rains, although nominally in the 

 midst of the winter quarter, there is a distinct step for- 

 ward. If the clouds break and the wind is still, the beams 

 of the sun on the southern side of the wall become plea- 

 santly genial. In the third week they bring forth the 

 yellow butterfly, fluttering gaily over the furze ; while the 

 larks on a sunny day, chasing each other over the ploughed 

 fields, make even the brown clods of earth seem instinct 

 with awakening life. The pairing off of the birds is now 

 apparent in every hedge, and at the same time on the 

 mounds, and under sheltering bushes and trees a deeper 

 green begins to show as the plants push up. 



The blackthorn is perhaps the first conspicuous flower ; 

 but in date it seems to vary much. On the 2 2nd of Feb- 

 ruary, 1877, there were boughs of blackthorn in full bloom 

 in Surrey, and elder trees in leaf; nearly three weeks 

 before that, at the beginning of the month, there were 

 hawthorn branches in full leaf in a sheltered nook in Kent. 

 A degree further west, on the contrary, the hawthorn did 

 not show a leaf for some time after the blackthorn had 

 bloomed in Surrey. The farmers say that the grass which 

 comes on rapidly in the latter days of February and early 

 days of March, ' many weathers ' (in their phrase), often 

 ' goes back ' later in the season, and loses its former pro- 

 gress. 



Lady-day (old style) forms with Michaelmas the two 

 eras, as it were, of the year. The first marks the departure 

 of the winter birds and the coming of the spring visitors ; 

 the second, in reverse order, marks the departure of the 

 summer birds and the appearance of the vanguard of the 

 winter ones. In the ten days or fortnight succeeding 



