August Heather 157 



walk on the moor. In botany the generic name 

 of the two heaths is Erica, while that of the ling 

 is Calluna ; and it is as well to keep this nomen- 

 clature in mind, since the Latin names frequently 

 appear without further explanation in articles 

 on the grouse and its ailments, which provide 

 one of the prime interests of the moor. 



It is the purple bell-heather which gives their 

 characteristic body of colour to the August moors 

 and heaths, while the cross-leaved heath and ling 

 supply the softer contrasts. Ling is found in 

 rough fields and on country commons in many 

 places where the larks and plovers have never seen 

 bell-heather ; and it is by far the most important 

 plant on grouse-moors, supplying the grouse with 

 the greater part of their food during the year. 

 But to the eye gladdened by the colour on the August 

 moor the purple bell-heather seems the true blossom 

 of the place and time, and overshadows its more 

 modest kindred. Its colour far excels in depth 

 and strength the many other mauve or purple 

 blossoms, which begin with the large field scabious 

 in the July meadows, and are so thoroughly 

 characteristic of later summer. When the dye of 

 the bell-heather begins to soak the hillsides in 

 southern England, the streams are lined with purple 

 willow-herb and loosestrife, and the brighter sheets 

 of rose bay flare suddenly in the pinewood rides. 

 The hemp agrimony soon lifts its mauve plumes 

 among the willow-herb ; and a little later the 

 smaller sheep's-bit scabious spreads its colour in 

 the September fields. All these flowers are of 



