CHAPTER XVIII 



THE WOODS IN MAY 



A TTRACTIVE as are the woods in winter, when 

 /"\ the bare branches of the trees stand out clearly 

 against the grey sky, attractive as they are in early 

 spring, when signs of awakening life are on every hand 

 and the ground is starred with primroses and anemones, 

 they are perhaps to many persons more attractive still 

 when the voice of the cuckoo is first heard in the land. 



It is difficult to exaggerate the glory of a wood when 

 the bluebells or wild hyacinths carpet the slopes be- 

 neath the beech-trees. Tennyson might well describe 

 the scene as " the heavens uprising from the earth." 

 And with the bluebells a number of other species will be 

 found. The yellow archangel, with its large, handsome 

 flowers, lends a variety of colour to the scene, and in 

 the damp hollows there are masses of the wood forget- 

 me-not. A few wild orchids will be seen here and 

 there, the twayblade and the " long purples " certainly, 

 and perhaps the beautiful butterfly-orchis, and not im- 

 possibly in the more open spaces of the wood the white 

 helleborine or the rare and curious fly-orchis. 



It is these choicer species that give to the woods 

 an additional interest and delight. In many of our 

 Hampshire copses the Solomon's-seal is not uncommon, 

 though, strange to say, it is unknown in the Isle of 

 Wight. The plant, which belongs to the lily tribe, is 



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