74 MARCH 



Every lover of Nature has cause to rejoice at one 

 result of the great wind of March 24, 1895, namely, 

 the righteous ruin which has overtaken many of 

 those odious field advertisements, which disfigure 

 the landscape all along the principal lines of railway. 

 Hundreds of these have been blown down : may 

 Priapus, god of gardens, blister every hand put forth 

 to erect them again ! 



XXVII 

 The voice of spring is manifold. Hardly had the 



grip of the cruellest winter of this genera- 

 The Green fe 

 Wood- tion been relaxed ere the old familiar 



sounds began to be heard in the woods. 

 The chiffchaff and the wheatear, ever among the 

 earliest arrivals, seem to have landed together ; for 

 both are reported on the same day (March 21) from 

 the counties of Surrey, Devon, Worcester, and Dor- 

 set. But one of the most trustworthy of spring 

 heralds is never absent from English woodlands 

 the yaffle or green woodpecker. The throstle and 

 the merle are often beguiled into song by fallacious 

 February sunshine, and let no wayfarer leave his 

 wraps because the ringdove coos smooth assurance 

 from the elm. There is no trust to be placed in 



