132 Railway Birds and Flowers 



fringes of the line have all the contrast and variety 

 of each type of surrounding country, and are 

 bedecked with a special concentration of the 

 flowers which are native to each soil. 



The colt's-foot is the first blossom of the year to 

 brighten the borders of the railway ; and there 

 is none which clings so closely to the very centre 

 of the track. Very early in the year the scaly 

 stems and single flower-buds of the still leafless 

 plants may be seen thrusting to the light from the 

 dense clay of the embankment, or even from the 

 compacted bed of ballast between the metals 

 themselves. Very little later the catkins of the 

 sallow, or palm-willow, make a bright patch of 

 colour in many places along the line. The sallow 

 is more tolerant of drought than most of the other 

 willows, though the common crack-willow is by 

 no means such an inveterately thirsty plant as 

 might be supposed from its general situation by 

 the side of dykes and streams. The sallow will 

 flourish on clay banks almost as inhospitable in 

 aspect as those which the colt's-foot chooses as a 

 home ; and on the sides of many embankments 

 in the hills of the Sussex weald it is easy to compare 

 from the windows of the train the bright golden 

 globes of the male sallow blossoms with the leaner 

 greenish female catkins which are borne on a 

 separate bush, often growing close by. These dull- 

 looking female flowers are overlooked by the children 

 who gather the boughs of palm for Eastertide, and 

 may be mistaken for overblown specimens of the 

 brighter and more familiar blossom. But in May, 



