THE FLOWERS OF THE WAYSIDE 



55 



Red Mouse is busy with the nut. He 

 sits back slightly, bends his head, and 

 gnaws the shell at random. You cannot 

 call him skilful. Xuts are unstable things 

 and should be lilted. But Red Mouse 

 never lifts his nut. He fumbles with it on 

 the ground, and this means less control. 

 Though teeth and hands work to a 

 common end, the ground deceives his 

 sense of touch and steals the nut away 

 from him. A Dormouse should instruct 

 him. 



Brown Mouse is well aware of this, yet 

 creeps up unconcernedly. He really does 

 not care for nuts. Red Mouse wheels 

 sharply right about, and sets a furry back 

 at him. Brown Mouse, quite unabashed, 

 steals past his flank and fronts him. 

 Once more Red Mouse swings round. 

 Once more Brown Mouse steals past. 

 Brown Mouse would have the nut between 

 them. Red Mouse would have Brown 

 Mouse behind him. So they go semi- 

 circling. 



Red Mouse gnaws fiercely all the time, 

 but Bro\\Ti Mouse tires the sooner. He 

 sits behind Red Mouse and thinks. Where 

 boldness fails, guile may succeed. 



He squirms beneath Red Mouse's tail. 



Red Mouse tilts uj) obligingly (Mice love 

 to sit in heaps), but, as he tilts, his hind- 

 legs leave the gnmnd. Still he keeps 

 gnawing ; out steal two small aggressive 

 hands and Brown Mouse has the nut. 



Red Mouse is plainly mystified. He 

 hears faint rasps and scratchmgs. They 

 sound from underneath him. \Vhere has 

 that BrowTi Mcmse got to ? Where is that 

 nut ? But presently he topples to one 

 side and Brown Mouse starts off running. 

 Red Mouse pursues, the nut is dropped, and 

 Red Mouse comes once more into his own. 



The pair of them have almost reached 

 your feet. But for the failing light, you 

 might see more. You slowly stretch 

 yourself and rise. Y'ou saw the last three 

 leaps of them — leaps a foot long, two 

 hundred to the minute, for frightened 

 Field Mice bound like kangaroos. 



This leaping power is notable. In 

 France it gives a pretty name to them — 

 Rats sa 11 le relies, Grasshopper Mice. 



The Field Mouse can manage a standing 

 jump of two feet upwards, and I have 

 known one leap boldly downwards from 

 a first-floor window, land on a flower- 

 bed, and proceed unhurt. 



Douglas English. 



HOW TO KNOW THE WILD FLOWERS 



By the REV. H. PUREFOY FITZGERALD, F.L.S. 



With Photographs by HENRY IRVING 



THE FLOWERS OF THE WAYSIDE— II 



THE COLTSFOOT 



THE Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) is a 

 representative of a large family of 

 plants, the Composites. These herbs, 

 in the great struggle for e.xistence, have 

 found it best to amalgamate and co-operate. 

 Each flower really consists of many florets 

 collected together into a single head ; the 

 caly.x of these Compound flowers is called 

 an involucre. Examine the vellow flower 

 of the Coltsfoot and you will see that the 

 florets are of two kinds, the outer ones, 

 forming the ray, are more or less strap- 



shaped, and are all female : that is to 

 say, they have })istils, but no stamens. 

 The inner florets, composing the disc, are 

 smaller and tubular in shai)e, and produce 

 honev and pollen. The Coltsfoot is very 

 common on waste ground, and rejoices 

 especially in a moist clay soil, its presence 

 generally indicating stiff, poor ground. 

 The flowers a])i)ear before the leaves, about 

 the end of February or the beginning of 

 March, each stem rising straight from 

 the ground and bearing a single head of 

 florets ; when the flowers wither the head 



