70 WITH THE WOODLANDERS. 



bells showing conspicuously. Mothmullein plants 

 are abundant here on the hedge-banks, their cool 

 green leaves looking as if they were covered with 

 the richest velvet pile. They are not in flower yet : 

 they will show their towers .of delicate blossoms 

 presently. One of the richest bits of colour I have 

 seen was made up with three cock-pheasants and 

 some mullein in flower. The flashing reddish purple, 

 golden-yellow, and blue colouring, as the birds moved 

 in and out of the soft primrose mullein blossoms and 

 their cool green leaves, was a beautiful sight for one 

 who is contented with small pictures. 



Nothing can equal the perfume from wild hedge- 

 blossoms in their dewy prime : there is a mingling 

 of all that is good and fresh from Nature's own 

 distillery. 



Mole-heaps show all along the hedge-banks. I 

 think the little gentleman in the black velvet coat is 

 the means, to a certain extent, of turning up a food- 

 supply for the soft -billed birds, so called. The 

 robin and the hedge - sparrow, however, clear the 

 floor at times. They are, in their way, determined 

 fighters when it comes to a disputed point about 

 food. Blackbirds, thrushes, sparrows, and finches 



