ITS FLOWERS. 263 



the pleasant path across the Quay Fields, and just 

 where this leads into the dusty road, turn down a 

 lane for ahout a dozen yards, instead of going on to 

 Hele, clamber over a gate, — and we are on the 

 mountain. 



It is near the end of July. The pale blue Scabious 

 and lilac Knautia are now in blossom ; the yellow 

 spikes of the Agrimony, with battlemented cah^, and 

 the rosy flowers of the Eest-harrow, elegant in form 

 and beautiful in colour ; these are about the foot of 

 the slope. As we get up higher, the turf becomes 

 shorter and finer ; the cheerful little Bird's-foot Lotus 

 appears ; large patches of Thyme occur here and 

 there, as soft as a feather-bed, where the wild bee is 

 humming ; the tiny star-like flowers of the yellow 

 Ladies' Bedstraw are grouped by hundreds ; and not 

 rare is the lovely little Centaury, timidly displaying 

 its tufts of pink blossoms, that hardly venture to pro- 

 trude their pretty heads above the short turf. The 

 yellow Hawkweeds and Cats'-ears are flaunting here 

 and there, one species of which, the Mouse- ear, of a 

 delicate lemon-yellow tint, is both beautiful and 

 curious, for its leaves are studded with fine erect 

 hairs of great length and slenderness, and are covered 

 on their under surface with a close downy wool. On 

 the summit, two kinds of Stone-crop, that known as 

 distinctively English ( AngliciunJ, and the much 

 rarer White falhumj are growing profusely about 

 the clefts and weather-beaten sides of the rocks ; the 

 latter distinguished by its large silky blossoms, with 

 purple anthers ; the inflated calyxes of the Bladder 

 Campion, so prettily marked with delicate pui*ple 



