138 Railway Birds and Flowers 



itself forward. The lady's fingers, for example, 

 which is abundant on the cuttings in the Chilterns, 

 is a very local plant, and is seldom seen except on 

 dry calcareous soils, or on cliffs by the sea. Yet on 

 one of the lines which traverse the Chiltern range 

 it has gained much ground in both directions, and 

 is now seen, both to eastward and to westward of 

 the hills, in two separate districts where it is quite 

 foreign to the general flora. The soil of the rail- 

 way line also offers a natural centre for the pro- 

 pagation of the seeds of foreign plants which are 

 imported from many different parts of the world 

 in cargoes of corn. Grains of corn are spilt from 

 time to time upon the line, and the seeds of corn- 

 field weeds among them. Then, for such plants as 

 are able to perpetuate themselves in these surround- 

 ings, the line forms a convenient channel for their 

 distribution across the length and breadth of the 

 land. 



In later summer, when the glory of the hayfields 

 has fallen, and the copses are rank with flowerless 

 growth, the railway banks suffer less than the 

 woods and pastures in the general decline of summer 

 blossom. That decline is least felt in cornfield 

 borders and on waste scrubby uplands ; and the 

 varied fringe of the railway offers conditions which 

 are not unlike those of the margin of cultivated 

 ground, as well as of rough hill pasture. Amid 

 the grass, grown harsh and dark, tough knapweeds 

 and tattered thistles open their kindred blooms. 

 Their purple is much deeper than the hues of the 

 midsummer campion and willow-herb ; it is in 



