180 THE LIFE OF THE FIELDS. 



SPORT AND SCIENCE. 



KINGFISHER CORNER was the first place I made for 

 when, as a lad, I started from home with my gun. 

 The dew of September lies long on the grass, and by 

 the gateway I often noticed wasps that had spent the 

 night in the bunches, numbed and chilled, crawling 

 up the blades bent into an arch by the weight of the 

 drops. Thence they got on the gate, where, too, the 

 flies congregated at that time in the morning; for 

 while it was still cool at the surface of the ground, the 

 dry wood soon absorbed the heat of the sun. This 

 warmth brought them to life again, and after getting 

 well charged with it, the insects flew off to any apples 

 they could discover. These heavy dews, as the summer 

 declines, keep the grass fresh and green, and maintain 

 the leaves on hedge and tree ; yet they do not reach 

 the earth, which remains dry. It is a different dew to 

 the spring dew, or acts in another manner : the spring 

 dews moisten the earth, and from the arable lands as 

 the sun shines forth you may see the vapour rise and 

 drift along the surface, like the smoke of a gun on a 

 damp day. The mottled geometrical giant spiders find 

 their webs thick with this September dew, which 

 seems as if a little unctuous. Stepping through the 



