58 MY NATURE NOTEBOOK. 



tree he does not disappear as would be the case in 

 summer, but remains plainly visible to any naked 

 eye that turns that way. Besides, there is nothing 

 on the bare earth and bare hedges to attract your 

 attention, and so your eyes are always ranging far 

 afield, while from horizon to horizon the thin veil of 

 leafless trees scarcely prevents you from noticing any 

 bird that flies. But in summer the country closes in 

 upon you. Every tree in leaf shuts out a whole 

 wedge of landscape from view ; and every hedge 

 presents an impenetrable barrier to your eyes; while 

 in the fields the crops, and even the growing grass, 

 spread like a green sea over the land, and the small 

 life of the countryside sports under the waves, out of 

 sight. 



SPRING'S MULTIPLIED INTERESTS. 



Another, stronger, reason why you see less in 

 summer of the birds and most animals, is that there 

 are so many things of interest all round you in flower 

 and leaf, and the ubiquitous activity of insect life 

 in bee, butterfly, and beetle. In March, when you 

 looked across the pasture, you could count every 

 skylark in it ; now you notice that, besides the 

 daisies and dandelions in the lush grass, the cowslip 

 buds are opening, and here and there the green is 

 already starred with the pale blooms of the cuckoo- 

 flower. You stray a few steps from the path to 

 gather some, and a skylark, whose presence you 

 never suspected, gets up under your feet. Along 

 the hedge where a month ago a yellowhammer pre- 

 ceding you by short flights, or a wren creeping about 



