THE VOICE OF NATURE 



791 



retreats young rabbits by the score may be 

 observed. They have many endearing 

 ways, and one's heart instinctively softens 

 toward them when, from some point of 

 vantage on a sunny afternoon, they are 

 seen claintily performing their elaborate 

 toilet, often assuming attitudes and poses 

 so comical and grotesque that one is 

 obliged to laugh, 

 and then an 

 array of white 

 tails bobbing for 

 shelter as fast 

 as legs can carry 

 them is seen. 

 After a few mo- 

 ments one pair 

 of sharp little 

 eyes after an- 

 other will peep 

 out until they 

 are all once more 

 enjoying the 

 sunshine, and on 

 the watcher con- 

 tinuing his way, 

 scamper off 

 again to their 

 underground 

 homes. 



As summer 

 advances, the air 

 grows thick with 

 insects of all 

 descriptions, 

 varying in size 

 from the largest 



dragon-flies to 



tiny microscopic 



creatures bej'ond the ken of our naked 



eyesight. 



Butterflies flutter aimlessly from 

 flower to flower ; dragon-flies dart swiftly 

 to and fro on gauzy wings, glistening and 

 shimmering in the sunlight ; humble 

 bees buzz lazily by, overtaken by the 

 more energetic hive bees and wasps ; 

 bluebottle flies bask in the sun, and ich- 

 neumon flies flit quickly past on the look- 

 out for the larvae of other insects, in 

 order to deposit their eggs in the unlucky 

 grubs, or near them. 



What a freshness tliere is after a sudden 

 shower, when the land is all but baked by 

 the heat of the sun's rays ! The old- 

 fashifjned sweet-l)riar csiK-cially fills iIil- 



A YOUNG SFAKKONX ilAWK. 



air with its fragrant jx-rfunie. The birds, 

 too, seem as if they cannot refrain from 

 singing, and almost every member of the 

 bird world voices its thanks for the re- 

 freshing shower — voices widely different, 

 yet blending together in one perfect whole. 

 From all sides the avian music ascends, 

 and there is no difficulty in picking out the 



lark's carolling, 

 the thrush's 

 whistling, the 

 blackl)ird's pip- 

 ing, the cuckoo's 

 calling, or the 

 sedge - warbler's 

 inimitable chat- 

 tering, from the 

 sweet chorus. 



June is rightly 

 n a m e d the 

 ni o n t h of 

 flowers, for 

 ne\-er is such a 

 wealth of bloom 

 to be found any 

 other month — 

 turn which way 

 you will flowers 

 i n n u m e r a b 1 e 

 greet the eye. 

 The hazel-lea\ed 

 b 1 a c k b e r r y, 

 which blooms 

 later than the 

 dewberry a n d 

 earlier than the 

 common bram- 

 ble, is now in 

 flower, a n d 

 often, too, from the tangled bramble 

 bushes the woody nightshade thrusts 

 forth its climbing "stalks, hung at inter- 

 vals with clusters of purple flowers, each 

 with a yellow centre. In the lanes the 

 wild rose is in full bloom and makes a 

 star-spangled banner of the hedgerows, 

 whilst the honeysuckle — sweetest and 

 best beloved of all — is beginning to ojien. 

 and will soon temi>t the nectar-loving 

 insects to gluttony. Along the banks 

 and in the meadows the most common 

 flower of all is the dainty l)ird's-foot 

 trefoil — •• ladv's fingers " the chiUlrcn call 

 them — and near by one is almost sure 

 to lind the trembling or quaking grass, 

 whi.h ve;ilv scvni. like the leaves of the 



