THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



93 



She brings us good tidings, 



She tells us no lies. 

 She sucks little birds' eggs 



To make her voice clear, 

 And when she sings ' cuckoo ' 



The summer is near." 



Our ramble now has brought us to the river, and we notice that young 

 moor-hens are hatched and swimming about with their mother. They are 

 very amusing to watch, but we must pass on. There is a reed- warbler's nest 

 in course of construction, we may easily recognize it by its pocket-like appear- 

 ance. It is composed principally, we see, of dried grass. 



Here is a rather large whitish moth with grey V-hke markings across the 

 wings resting on this willow tree. We recognize it as the puss moth [Cerura 

 vinula), and it has evidently not long emerged from the chysalis. Several 

 other moths may be expected to appear now, as for instance Cerura bicuspis 

 the rarest of the " Kitten " moths, the pebble prominent {Notodonta ziczac), 

 the uncommon N. chaonia, and the dodonma variety of Notodonta trimacula, 

 the lesser swallow prominent moth (N. dictceoides) , the rare and local 

 N. cucullina, and the much sought after N.- trepida ; besides these, there are 

 the chocolate tip moths Clostera reclusa and curtula. 



These are only a very few of the moths appearing in May ; many additional 

 names will be found in the " Young Naturalist/ 7 Yol. VI., p. 99, and also 

 in the number for May, 1886. See, here is a very pretty moth on another 

 willow tree, its fore-wings are beautifully marked with variegated shades of 

 brown, red; and grey, and there is a large black spot on each wing inside a 

 buff coloured circle, outside of which, on . the side nearest the base of the 

 wing, is a crimson border, and next to this a crescent of a delicate violet 

 colour. The hind-wings are orange, also with a similar ocellated spot on 

 each. Well may such a beautiful insect be termed the Emperor moth. 



You have noticed I have been collecting a large number of flowers as we 

 walked along. Among the species I have found are Polygonum avicula, 

 Anthriscus vulgaris, Tamus communis, Symphytum officinale, Hieracium 

 pilosella, Ranunculus heterophyllus, Stellaria uliginosa, Euonymus europceus, 

 Medicago lupulina, Rippuris vulgaris, Veronica serpyllifolia, Sialca rotundi- 

 folia, Geraninm dissectum, Ononis arvensis, and Anthyllis vulneraria. I have 

 found many others in May besides these. 



The ash will be pretty sure to be leafing by the end of the first week in the 

 month. At the end of the month the horse-chestnut and lilac will be flower- 

 ing, and about the same time we may expect to see the wild roses in bloom. 

 The maple will flower somewhat earlier than this. 



If we take a country ramble about the middle of the month, or a few days 



