Representative Features of the Seasons 259 



importance to these dates, but give them for illustration ; 

 these, too, were taken in a warm district. Rooks usually 

 soar a good deal about the time of the equinox. On Sep- 

 tember 29 the heaths and furze were white with the spiders' 

 webs alluded to above. September 27, larks singing 

 joyously. October 2, a few grasshoppers still calling in 

 the grass — heard one or two three or four days later. 

 October 4, the ivy in full flower. October 7, the thrushes 

 singing again in the morning. October 6 and 7, pheasants 

 roaming in the hedges for acorns. October 13, a dragon- 

 fly — large and green — hawking to and fro on the sunny side 

 of hedge. October 15, the first redwing. During latter 

 part of September and beginning of October, frogs croaking 

 in the ivy. 



Now, these dates would vary greatly in different 

 localities, but they show, clearer than a mere assertion, 

 that about that time there is a movement in nature. The 

 croaking of frogs, the singing of larks and thrushes, are 

 distinctly suggestive of spring (the weather, too, was warm 

 and showery, with intervals of bright sunshine) ; the grass- 

 hopper and dragon-fly were characteristic of summer, and 

 there were a few swallows still flying about ; the pheasants 

 and the acorns, and the puff balls, full of minute powder 

 rising in clouds if struck, spoke of autumn ; and, finally, 

 the first redwing indicated winter ; so that all the seasons 

 were represented together in about the space of a fortnight. 

 I do not know any other period of the year which exhibits 

 so remarkable an assemblage of the representative features 

 of the four quarters ; an artist might design an emblematic 

 study upon it, say for a tesselated pavement. 



In the early summer the lime-trees flower, and are then 

 visited by busy swarms of bees, causing a hum in the air 

 overhead. So, in like manner, on October 16, I passed 



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