JUNE 159 



restoring its original surface of dazzling ivory. Some 

 of the tapestries which hang within doors at Chaumont 

 may scarcely be rivalled elsewhere, notably those in 

 Catherine de' Medici's bedroom, with marvellous shades 

 of red, rose, and pink the hues most seldom preserved 

 in perfection in ancient fabrics and tissues. 



But this is venturing upon the province of guide- 

 books. Let me rather make mention of matters they 

 make no note of the living beauties of the field and 

 wood and roadside. Birds, so sorely persecuted in 

 winter, abound along the Loire in summer. During 

 a ride on the left bank from Amboise to Blois, I 

 reckoned that for several miles there was one nightin- 

 gale singing in every hundred yards. The brightest of 

 the finches the goldfinch was pretty frequent, a pair 

 of hoopoes displayed their quaint attire, a redbacked 

 shrike sat on the telegraph wire, deeply depressed by 

 pangs of guilty conscience; blackbirds and thrushes 

 sang in the oak copse ; magpies, jays, a sparrowhawk, and 

 a solitary carrion crow represented the criminal classes, 

 while elegant little terns and vivacious ringed plover 

 flitted about the sand banks in the river. Further on, 

 near Beaugency, a remarkable company of six lesser 

 grey shrikes were busy among the poplars, where, no 

 doubt, they found good store of puss and kitten cater- 

 pillars. Crowds of bullfrogs, with tepid water awash 

 upon their backs, croaked their content with matters 

 in general, viewed from a marshy standpoint, and 

 exactly expressed the cyclist's sentiments as, with a 

 strong westerly breeze astern and a bright sun over- 



