IN A MIDDLESEX LANE 
83 
bank is green with grasses and ivy, enlivened with our dear 
English wild flowers, buttercup {Ranunculus repens), forget-me- 
nots {Myosotis), wild parsley {Anthriscns), clover {Trtfolium), daisy 
{Beilis perennis), dandelion {Taraxacum officinale), scarlet pimpernel 
{Anagallis arvensis), and many others which we term (carelessly) 
common weeds, yet they fulfil their mission, they beautify and 
help to make up the glorious whole. 
A pause to glance over hedgerow and admire the luxuriant 
grass, relieved with streaks of gold, red and white ; for the 
whole expanse is gay with buttercups, sorrel, daisies, parsley, 
&c., while the air is redolent with hawthorn and lilac: buzz of 
insect life is all around, and the numerous birds are filling the 
locality with melody. What a chorus! Thrush, blackbird, lark, 
&c., making a glorious whole and a veritable sea of delight. 
“ The welcome flowers are blossoming. 
In joyous troops revealed ; 
They lift their dewy buds and bells 
In garden, mead and held. 
“ From the green marge of lake and stream 
Fresh vale and mountain sod, 
They look in gentle glory forth, 
Tlie pure sweet flowers of God.” 
A few yards farther on I pause again and look through the 
railings of a small bridge. Here I see a small brooklet, winding 
down the meadow ; on one side, as far as the eye can reach, 
stretches a row of noble elms, which throw their shadows o’er 
its course : its banks are beautified with grasses, reeds, forget- 
me-nots, wild hyacinth, primroses, water-dock, ferns, &c, ; while 
across it in several places lie trunks of uprooted trees, evidences 
of winter’s storms and rough revels. 
Here, too, but a few strides away and close to the road 
stands a giant elm, its lower branches having been cut away ; 
there are masses of twiggy growths, in which have built sparrows 
{Passer domesticus) , blackbirds {Turdus merulus), thrushes {Turdus 
miisicns) and starlings {Sturnus vulgaris). I counted six nests 
in as many feet of its gnarled and weather-beaten trunk. I 
gazed with delighted interest at their business, gladness, and 
also strife ; for tljey were so close upon one another that it was 
difficult for them not to intrude on one another’s preserves. A 
neighbour from next door did intrude on the sparrows ; but he 
was at once chased away. How busy they were, now in the rank 
grass of stream-bank and meadow, then back to their hungry 
brood, with those juicy grubs and insects so necessary for their 
development and welfare I But I could not linger, my brief time 
in this little paradise was all but gone. As I wandered back I 
could only note and recognise the notes of the multitudinous 
birds around me (not all to be seen but yet heard), could not 
pause even to distinguish between the calls of affection, defiance, 
alarm, or sheer joyousness, yet they were all there. 
There were tits in variety (cole, great and blue), seen, red- 
