50 NATURE'S STORY OF THE YEAR 



might the thought suggest ? Miserable miner, 

 thou shalt one day go aloft on the wings of the 

 swift, or, like a seagull, bore unharmed through 

 the sulphury strata of a thundercloud ! Weary 

 workers, ye may have the beetle's strength, or 

 enjoy the leisure of the lizard. Prisoner, thou 

 mayest view the glories that the lark surveys ! 

 The dumb shall pour their music in the song of 

 the nightingale, and the dead ear shall drink in the 

 chorus of spring ! Poor human ant, thou mayest 

 rise on golden wings to consort with the butterfly ! 



April, month of the primrose, bluebell, and 

 anemone, of the first cuckoo and swallow, brings 

 also certain forms of life which most of us regard 

 with aversion : it awakens the reptiles from their 

 winter sleep. These creatures have always seemed 

 to the populace to be embodiments of pain and 

 of death, and of danger all the more terrifying 

 because its approach is liable to be unperceived. 

 However true such symbolism may be in respect 

 to the more potent tropical reptiles, it is hardly 

 applicable to such members of the race as are 

 found in Britain. We have but one that can be 



