i7o FROM SPRING TO FALL. 



CHAPTER X. 



A WET AUTUMN. 



The hooded crows have come to us, also the 

 woodcock and snipe, followed by hosts of those 

 shore-racers, the waders. They have come early, 

 a sure sign that they have left rough weather be- 

 hind them, only to meet rough weather here. It 

 has been a dreary summer-time; in fact we can 

 hardly be said to have had a summer, and all wild 

 creatures have suffered. The face of nature looks 

 very sad, whilst the leaves are falling and the woods 

 are damp and cold ; with the hills and moorlands 

 sending water down to the low grounds in all di- 

 rections, the brooks being bank high, and the rivers 

 in flood. No wonder the robin mourns and cries 

 from morning to night : he is one of the earliest to 



