A MEADOW TABLE 167 



commonest flower is ling, that true heath, with a blossom 

 that has no complications. Flowers follow one another 

 in sweet succession ; where violets astonished us with 

 the closeness of their &quot; purple patches &quot; the harebell will 

 presently ring in July. Longest lived of all is the yellow 

 avens that can blossom equally well whether gone over 

 by the mower or left free in the rough. 



The common is almost free of the buttercup, which 

 is the farmer s despair in the adjacent meadow. The 

 stock, of course, avoided it, and nosed awkwardly where 

 older plants prevailed. Hence the cutting. &quot;The 

 golden market of the bees &quot; was destroyed. The field, 

 just now yellow, is white and grey and green, and even 

 the buttercups are bleached. Happily, in their collapse 

 they have drawn to the field the most conspicuous of its 

 new inhabitants. Pairs of wood-pigeons descend on the 

 new lawn or threshing-floor at all times of day, and even 

 on the driest days gorge in the dusty seeds of this 

 poisonous plant. They potter about undisturbed, some 

 times almost at the feet of the hunters, the grey Polish 

 heavy horses, the Redpolls, and Angus, that succeed one 

 another in the meadow. They eat other things, includ 

 ing green leaves, and come to the edge now and again, 

 where the cutter could not reach, and, like the partridges, 

 strip the seed-head of even upright grass ; but they prefer 

 the seeds of the felled buttercups, ripened and dried in 

 the sun after the cutting. 



Pigeons and, in lesser degree, turtle-doves rejoice 

 more than other birds in a definite succession of harvests ; 

 and their intelligence department is good. Where the 

 food of the moment is, there they are gathered together. 

 At one date of the spring they were in the beech trees, 

 gorging themselves on the young green leaf. Some weeks 

 later they wait for seeds of special grasses to ripen. There 



