ap=-=ag NATURE NEAR LONDON 



at the outside of the tree. I hear that this scorch- 

 ing up of elm leaves has been noticed in other 

 districts for several seasons. 



The dewdrops of the morning, preserved by the 

 mist, which the sun does not disperse for some 

 hours, linger on late in shaded corners, as under 

 trees, on drooping blades of grass, and on the 

 petals of flowers. Wild bees and wasps may 

 often be noticed on these blades of grass that are 

 still wet, as if they could suck some sustenance 

 from the dew. Wasps fight hard for their exist- 

 ence as the nights grow cold. Desperate and 

 ravenous, they will eat anything, but perish by 

 hundreds as the warmth declines. 



Dragon-flies of the larger size are now very 

 busy rushing to and fro on their double wings ; 

 those who go blackberrying or nutting cannot fail 

 to see them. Only a very few days since it does 

 not seem a week there was a chiff-chaff" calling 

 in a copse as merrily as in the spring. This little 

 bird is the first, or very nearly the first, to come 

 in the spring, and one of the last to go as autumn 

 approaches. It is curious that, though singled out 

 as a first sign of spring, the chiff-chaff has never 

 entered into the home life of the people like the 

 robin, the swallow, or even the sparrow. 



There is nothing about it in the nursery rhymes 



or stories, no one goes out to listen to it, children 



170 



