AUTUMN 



ii 



A good Darwinian prefers therefore to think of the year 

 developing from this point, from general warfare to general 

 peace. First the solitary life of the grown things, then the 

 pairing, then the family. With the rearing of the young the 

 circle is finished. The circle is imperfect enough to show 

 where the circumference was begun, but it is a true enough 

 circle on the whole, as we see it in England, and without too 

 obvious breaks. Spring and summer and autumn and winter 

 run into one another so that at no moment can any one say, 

 the change is here. We may feel spring in midwinter. 



'THE FRAIL NEST OF THE WHITETHROAT' 



Indeed, if we pay any heed to the foolish almanac, we see 

 the very picture of spring in the lap of autumn. For autumn 

 ends technically on December 22. Yet many a Christmas 

 holiday begins to the sound of spring songs from thrush and 

 missel-thrush, and the tits and robins and wrens which is 

 almost a complete list of the premature singers. It is usually 

 possible to pick primroses and violets on these final days of 

 technical autumn : and spring is thus actively present though 

 it is a whole season off according to the diaries. Autumn, 

 indeed, is all the seasons, borrowing songs from spring, green 

 leaves and flowers from summer, and snow maybe from winter. 

 One may see September root-fields red with poppies in early 

 October and the ground white with snow on November the 



