314. Wild Life in a Southern County. 
even then its bright red berries leave a speck of 
colour; and its bloom, in beauty of form, hue, and 
fragrance, is not easily surpassed. 
While the hedges are so bare the rabbits are un- 
mercifully ferreted, for they will before long begin to 
breed. On the milder mornings the thrushes are 
singing sweetly. Clouds of tiny gnats circle in the 
sheltered places near houses or thatch. In February 
‘fill-ditch, as the old folk call it, on account of the 
rains, although nominally in the midst of the winter 
quarter, there is a distinct step forward. If the 
clouds break and the wind is still, the beams of the 
sun on the southern side of the wall become pleasantly 
genial. In the third week they bring forth the yellow 
butterfly, fluttering gaily over the furze ; while the larks 
ona sunny day, chasing each other over the ploughed 
fields, make even the brown clods of earth seem 
instinct with awakening life. The pairing off of the 
birds is now apparent in every hedge, and at the 
same time on the mounds, and under sheltering 
bushes and trees a deeper green begins to show as 
the plants push up. 
The blackthorn is perhaps the first conspicuous 
flower ; but in date it seems to vary much. On the 
2end of February, 1877, there were boughs of black- 
thorn in full bloom in Surrey, and elder trees in leaf; 
nearly three weeks before that, at the beginning of 
the month, there were hawthorn branches in full leaf 
in a sheltered nook in Kent. A degree further 
