JUNE 145 



buckbean has now gone, fading with the last days of 

 spring, and in its room this lowly St. John's wort has 

 spread its prostrate tresses of glaucous green studded with 

 modest yellow flowers. Truly it is a wonder that it main- 

 tains the struggle for life among such a crowd of stronger 

 herbs, for its blossoms can attract few insect visitants where 

 such abundance of choice is spread. It is content to grow 

 in slime that finer growths disdain ; therefore, so long as 

 there are a few acres of bog left in the land, Hypericum, 

 elodea may gladden these uncoveted places. 



XXIII 

 One sees some unexpected things at times, sitting 

 quietly by oneself. As I am musing upon the a stray 

 beauty of these wayside weeds, a tiny little nedgung 

 creature runs out of the herbage into the road, a dark 

 brown fluffy ball on the white dust in the strong sunshine. 

 A biped, I perceive, and therefore a bird, but for the life 

 of me I cannot name it. It moves leisurely, and seems 

 quite at ease ; it requires but moderate stealth to secure 

 it, and lo ! it is a young snipe. Why thus alone, and why 

 in the middle of a dusty high-road, deponent sayeth 

 not. Released from a considerate hand, the little baggage 

 bundles off and conceals itself in the tall grass. 



XXIV 



A friend has furnished me with a pretty illustration on 

 the theme of 'All's well that ends well' from An intrepid 

 the Lambourne. That limpid stream is the KingfiBher 

 haunt of many kingfishers, source of much joy to un- 

 feathered bipeds on its banks. Among them dwells a 



K 



