Railway Birds and Flowers 133 



when the sober foliage of the sallow has clothed its 

 boughs, and the clustered flower-stems of the colt's- 

 foot have been replaced by its large, cob-webbed 

 leaves, the female catkins are bearded with white, 

 silky down, which forms clouds about the branches 

 and drifts like gossamer upon the wind. This 

 willow-down is a favourite material with the birds 

 which build some of the softest and most delicate 

 of nests, such as the goldfinch and lesser redpoll. 



By the time that the silver sallow-buds expand 

 into full-blown gold, the sides of the cuttings and 

 embankments in many parts of the country begin 

 to be spangled with a varied carpet of primroses, 

 anemones, dog-violets, cuckoo-flowers, and lesser 

 celandines. This mingled display of blossoms, 

 which is so deeply characteristic of the April 

 hedgerows and copses, is generally to be found in 

 places where the railway runs through tracts of 

 flower-decked woodland, from which the blossoms 

 overflow to the line. There are many spots in 

 Surrey and Hertfordshire, as well as in counties 

 further afield from London, in which spring seems 

 to welcome the traveller before he has yet alighted 

 from the train. Where the ground through which 

 the railway passes is a stronghold of April flowers, 

 the banks of the railway are colonized from the 

 neighbouring wood ; but they often offer foothold 

 to primroses and anemones at points where they 

 do not grow in the fields on either side. 



The transition from spring to summer is marked 

 in the flowers of the line by the blossoming of the 

 broom, which on many of the lighter soils flaunts 



