Stray Leaves from a Border Garden 
marigold ( Cciltha palustris). His quaint old timbered house 
with its projecting window was still standing when last I 
wandered in the “ Auld Toun,” but was menaced with 
destruction, I • believe, by the improver (hard be his bed !), 
whose hand is as heavy in Auld Reekie as elsewhere. I 
have heard there is a Scottish society which aims at saving 
old buildings of interest, and makes protests against the 
erection of eyesores. Here is, methinks, a grand opportunity 
for a protest against Vandalism. Wildfire, pronounced “ Will- 
fire,” is a local name for the marsh-marigold, also called 
“ King-cobs,” and Willfire is also used for the marsh-flame, 
known as Will o’ the Wisp and Jack o’ Lanthorn. “ To go 
wyll ” was an old Scotch term for losing one’s way. I saw a 
lovely double variety of this pretty flower the other day in a 
garden which I must get. Boy and I were much amused 
to-day to see a large Rat hunting a terrified young Blackbird 
along the path. The blackbird seemed quite to have for- 
gotten he could have escaped by taking wing ! 
There is a pheasant sitting by the path to the kitchen- 
garden within a foot of where people pass daily. She looks 
so quaint with her speckled body in among the doroni- 
cums’ golden stars and the thick primrose leaves under 
the lime-tree bush ! I went and drew her to-day. She sat 
perfectly still. I could see her quite plainly, although some 
of the lime-tree branches mask her nest. Still, if one stands 
exactly in front of her, one can see her as if it were framed 
in a leafy picture. Oddly enough, it was not the game- 
keeper who first spied her, but, as he put it, “a town lassie, 
who was just here for the day like, had the sharp eyes.” 
There is a tame hen pheasant who has haunted the gardener’s 
cottage for several seasons now. 
Yesterday we found a wren’s nest in a tall raspberry 
cane, with one egg in it. 
May 29. — Boy went privately to see if there were more 
eggs in the wren’s nest, and, alas, by accident pulled it down, 
and the one egg, anointed with salt tears, lies broken beside 
the pretty little snug habitation. I believe these birds are fairly 
common hereabouts, but I never saw any nest before. Boy 
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