OUR INDIAN SUMMER 



the fact that it has not reached the 

 full physical vitality of the mating 

 season. The song-thrushes are 

 only just beginning to recover 

 their songs in October ; they utter 

 a scrannel piping from the elm 

 boughs, on the soft wet afternoons 

 that seem most to encourage them 

 with a suggestion of spring. A 

 rare but characteristic October 

 singer is the woodlark, which 

 can be heard pouring out its 

 singularly rich and skilful song 

 from a tree-top or telegraph 

 wire. A few bright insects of 

 true summer are still active in 

 these October days and nights, 

 though most have sunk to 

 sleep. Red admiral and small 

 tortoiseshell butterflies linger in 

 warm corners on the ivy-bloom, 

 and small coppers flicker among 

 the gorse, and settle on the 

 last hawkweed blooms on the 

 common. In the calm and un- 

 chilled nights the glow-worm 

 shines by the roadside with a 

 pale greenish light. Her lamp 

 changes with the warmth of the 

 season ; in the hottest weeks of 

 July it burns almost as red as 

 the end of a cigar. 



A great change is wrought 



197 



SMALL COPPERS SETTLE ON THE 

 LAST HAWKWEED 



