ii6 APRIL 



satiable youngster. The behaviour of this pair indicates, 

 I think, that the cock is the braver or less cautious of the 

 two, perhaps in most species, though one may feed some 

 hen birds, greenfinch for example, and blackbird, on the 

 nest. But we must not generalise ; certainly not from 

 the robin, which has no compeer in his friendliness 

 towards man. Is it so, all over the world; or does 

 &quot; Willy Wagtail &quot; run him close in Australia ? 



6. 



It is a pretty habit of the authorities at Kew Gardens 

 to put up each week at the gateways the things most 

 worth seeing at the date, sometimes particular plants, 

 sometimes a bed or section of the garden. Now that 

 modes of motion have accelerated, and walkers, cyclists 

 and motorists all go far afield on the more gracious 

 Saturdays and Sundays, it would be welcome if someone 

 would write such a notice for the Gateway of England. 

 It would be possible to prepare a calendar that should be 

 both spatial and temporal ; and record exactly what bits 

 of England were best worth visiting at particular dates 

 for their several beauties. Every day and every pause 

 have theif festival for those who know their canonical 

 calendar. 



Some of the celebrations are only for the high priests. 

 They set out on particular days to secret spots to feast 

 their eyes on rare beauties, which must be kept from the 

 knowledge of the profane. I regarded it as the very 

 highest compliment when a friend (whom I had never 

 seen) offered to show me the haunt of an English gentian, 

 which has as bright a blue, &quot; perhaps even a brighter &quot; 

 what delightful fondness in this postscript phrase 1 as 

 any of the gentians of Switzerland, or, it may be, of Tibet, 



