154 
RURAL HOURS. 
a steady pace without stopping ; at other times, loitering and nib- 
bling by the way. Among those we followed, this evening, were 
several old acquaintances, and probably they all belonged to dif- 
ferent houses ; only two of them had bells. As they came into 
the village, they all walked off to their owners’ doors, some turn- 
ing in one direction, some in another. 
Of course, those cows that feed in fenced pastures are sent for, 
and it is only those who forage for themselves who come and go 
alone, in this way. 
Monday, July 2d. — Clear, and cooler. New potatoes to-day. 
Pleasant drive, in the afternoon, on the lak<} shore. The mid- 
summer flowers are beginning to open. Yellow evening prim- 
rose, purple rose-raspbeny ; the showy willow-herb, with its 
pyramid of lilac flowers ; the red and the yellow lilies. We ob- 
served, also, a handsome strawbeny blite, with its singular fruit- 
like crimson heads ; this flower is not uncommon in new lands, in 
the western part of the State, and is probably a native, though 
precisely similar to that of Europe. The track over which we 
passed this afternoon, and where we found the blite, has been 
recently opened through the forest. 
Observed many birds. The goldfinches were in little flocks as 
usual, and purple-finches flew across our road more than once ; 
quarrelsome king-birds were sitting on the shrubs and plants 
along the bank, watching the wild bees, perhaps ; for they arc 
said to devour these as greedily as those of the hive. Some of 
them were skimming over the lake in pursuit of other game, being 
very partial also to the tribe of water insects. Saw another bird 
not often met with, a red-start ; unlike the European red-start, 
which often builds about houses, the American bird of the same 
