fledge Proverbs. so 
a moderate size. Does the May bloom, which is. 
almost proverbial for its sweetness, occasionally turn 
sour, as it were, before a thunderstorm? Bushes co- 
vered with this flower certainly emit an unpleasant 
smell sometimes quite distinct from the usual odour 
of the May. 
The hedge is so intensely English and so mixed 
up in all popular ideas that it is no wonder it forms 
the basis of many proverbs and sayings—such as, 
‘The sun does not shine on both sides of the hedge 
at once, ‘rough as a hedge,’ the verb ‘to hedge,’ and 
soon. Has any attempt ever been made to cultivate 
the earth-nut, pig-nut, or ground-nut, as it is variously 
called, which the ploughboys search for and dig up. 
with their clasp-knives? It is found by the small 
slender stalk it sends up, and insignificant white 
flower, and lies a few inches below the surface: the 
ploughboys think much of it, and it seems just pos- 
sible that cultivation might improve it. 
Rare birds do not afford much information as a 
tule—seen for a short time only, it is difficult to dis- 
cover much about them. I followed one of the rarer 
woodpeckers one morning for a long time, but not- 
withstanding all my care and trouble could not learn 
much of its ways. 
Even among cows there are some rudiments of go- 
vernment. Those who tend them say that each cow 
in a herd has her master (or rather mistress), whom 
she is obliged to yield precedence to, as in passing 
