34 MARCH. 



And now, with returning spring, the country begins 

 to wear a smiling face, the young and tender buds of 

 the hawthorn, if the weather is mild, begin to show 

 themselves, ornamenting the young wood with little 

 green spots ; the birch, too, puts forth her shiny buds, 

 in which the larvae of Argyresthia Gcedartella and 

 Argyresthia Brockeella live at ease, making a dainty 

 meal upon the yet unexpanded leaves, as well as under 

 its shiny bark while in open places in the woods, 

 at the root of the forest monarch, the pretty little 

 " wind-flower" (Anemone nemorosa) opens its delicate 

 white flowers to the yet feeble beams of the sun, closing 

 them immediately if but a cloud obscures his bright- 

 ness, while on the hedge-bank, sheltered by the over- 

 hanging whitethorn, the modest violet " ope's her pale 

 blue e'e," and lower down, in the moist places on the 

 ditch side, nestled amid tufts of rushes and rank grass, 

 the primrose, " sweet harbinger of spring," puts forth 

 her attractive and beautiful yellow blossoms. 



"Welcome, pale primrose starting up between 

 Dead matted leaves of ash and oak, that strew 

 The every lawn, the wood, and shining through, 

 'Mid creeping moss and ivy's darker green ; 



How much thy presence beautifies the ground ! 

 How sweet thy modest, unaffected pride, 

 Glows on the sunny bank and wood's warm side." 



The insect world now begins to feel the effect of the 

 returning spring ; for many of those that hybernate 

 during the winter season now begin to move, and may 

 be seen flitting heavily along the hedges at dusk, or 

 busily engaged upon that "bonne bouche" the sallow 

 blossoms j or, if the Entomologist has been sugaring, 



