206 Wald Life in a Southern County. 
every thistle-bloom in his path, and there must there- 
fore be sweetness in it. Then in the autumn issues 
forth the floating thistledown, streaming through the 
air and rolling like an aerial ball over the tips of the 
bennets. Thistledown is sometimes gathered to fill 
pillow-cases, and a pillow so filled is exquisitely 
soft. There is not a nook or corner of the old place 
where something interesting may not be found. Even 
the slates on a modern addition to the homestead are 
each bordered with yellow lichen—perhaps because 
_ they adjoin thatch, for slates do not seem generally to 
encourage the growth of lichen. It appears to prefer 
tiles, which therefore sooner assume an antique tint. 
To the geraniums in the bow-window the hum- 
ming-bird moth comes now and then, hovering over 
the scarlet petals. Out of the high elms drops a huge 
grey moth, so exactly the colour of grey lichen that 
it might be passed for it—pursued, of course, as it 
clumsily falls, by two or more birds eager for the 
spoil. It is feast-time with them when the cockchafers 
come: they leave nothing but wing-cases scattered on 
the garden paths, like the shields of slain men-at-arms. 
In the bright sunshine, when there is not a cloud 
in the sky, slender beetles come forth from the cracks 
of the earth and run swiftly across the paths, glitter- 
ing green and gold, iridescent colours glistening on 
their backs. These are locally called sunbeetles, 
because they appear when the sun is brightest. Be 
careful not to step on or kill one; for if you do it will 
