8o Wild Life in Wales 



their way upwards to the distant floes that serve them as a 

 summer residence. All is haste and bustle to take 

 advantage of the good time that has arrived, and only 

 man has leisure to dream of the frosts of yesterday, or the 

 possibilities of to-morrow. In the shepherd's garden 

 Crocuses are expanding to the sun, and under the shelter 

 of the rocks by the pathway their diminutives, the modest 

 Celandines, spread wide their golden petals to greet the 

 passer-by, and assure him that winter is indeed past and 

 done with. Wordsworth, with an eye ever open to the 

 beautiful in Nature's lowliest gems, could not overlook the 

 charms of " The Small Celandine " : how says he ? 



" I have not a doubt but he, 

 Whosoe'er the man might be, 

 Who, the first, with pointed rays, 



(Workman worthy to be sainted), 

 Set the signboard in a blaze, 



When the risen sun he painted, 

 Took the fancy from a glance 

 At thy glittering countenance." 



The bee, yellow-legged and pollen-covered, hastening 

 from flower to flower, is humming the song of spring not 

 less ardently than yonder wanton Lapwing that beats the 

 higher air with resounding pinions. Peesweep-weep-weep- 

 wMledy-weep he cries as he turns somersaults in sheer 

 exuberance of spirits, or, swooping down upon his mate, 

 urges her to leave grub-hunting and follow him in his 

 mad gambol. Anon a pair of Partridges draws his atten- 

 tion further afield, and, curveting overhead, he dashes down 

 upon them in well-simulated anger. The cock ruffles out 

 his neck feathers, bending low his head to meet the 

 onslaught, and leaps into the air as the plover passes, 

 giving vent to an angry Ker-r-r-wick y as who would say, 

 " Just stop that silly flapping and come down here a moment 

 and see if I don't show you which of us two is the better 

 bird." But the Peewit is already off on nimble pinion, 

 and pays no more serious attention to Sir Partridge's 

 challenge than he does to the bluster of the cock Grouse 



