ii6 MY NATURE NOTEBOOK. 



are thus produced in each English county, until the 

 gathering hosts of July and August fill the fields 

 and darken the sky. 



PRETTY FAMILY GROUPS. 



Less impressive but much more pleasing evidence 

 of Nature's industry may be found in quiet nooks 

 and corners where less obtrusive birds lead their 

 families to learn their first lessons in the work of 

 life ; and perhaps British wild life offers no prettier 

 sight than the dainty fluttering of a group of gold- 

 finches among the cornflowers. Their butterfly wings 

 flicker in the sunlight as the young are taught pretty 

 balancing tricks upon the swaying stems while they 

 pick out the ripening seeds ; and amid the glorious 

 blue of the cornflowers the flashing and dancing of 

 yellow and black, white and red, makes a mixture 

 of bright tints that is rare in British scenery. 



THE CUCKOO'S DEPARTURE. 



July 24. Something has gone wrong with our 

 seasons. North-east winds and rheumatic chills in 

 early summer ; two or three torrid days when the 

 wind set in the south ; and then, with a northerly 

 wind again, in mid-July, snow was "reported from 

 several villages in Suffolk," and overcoats appeared, 

 like mushrooms, all over the country. The cuckoo, 

 who ought to "change his tune" in June, saw no 

 encouragement to do so in a month of midsummer 

 which had intervals like March ; so he repeated his 

 two old notes, " Cuckoo, cuckoo," until, without any 



