The Little Pang 33 



we are waiting for a fresh hatch of fly to take 

 place, surely all around there is that which 

 should fill the mind with content. True, 

 it is too early for the June wild-roses, with 

 their white petals, which ' go straight to the 

 heart'; nor is the fragrant meadow-sweet in 

 bloom yet a while ; but cowslips and marsh 

 marigold are gorgeous in the meadows, and 

 the wheat never looks more beautiful than in 

 this its vigorous youth. 



In the copse hard by is a dell dyed blue 

 by hyacinth : wood-anemones are there too, 

 and slender cuckoo-flowers. A kingfisher 

 flashes by in the sunlight, and at our ap- 

 proach a moor-hen dives out of sight with 

 a great spluttering. Wagtails of two species 

 are running about, never very far from the 

 cattle, and the breasts of some of these birds 

 are yellow as the marigold itself. At the 

 thin, feathery edge of the copse, and within 

 a few paces of the water, there is a wild- 

 duck's nest. In some rank herbage over- 

 hanging the water a dabchick is sitting on 

 two stained eggs ; seeing us, she slips into 



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