Stray Leaves from a Border Garden 
parts of England. He did not seem educated enough to 
be a fraud. I think the belief in the divining-rod dates 
back a long time ; the Chaldeans are said to have dealt with 
it, but it has never been satisfactorily explained. Even the 
wood-wise Evelyn was puzzled by it. 
The owls hoot now in the daytime as well as at night, a 
sign, I believe, they are meditating house-building. I think 
they are mostly about here Hornie Hoolets, or Long-eared 
Owls (Asio otus), or Brown Tawny Owls (. Strix aluco ). 
White Barn Owls used, I hear, to be common in Berwick- 
shire, but seem to have died out. I heard a delightful 
ghost story about a white owl the other day. 
There was an old house, and a man-servant slept all 
alone at the top of it. Three nights in succession he 
saw a white ghostly face at the window, and at last he 
began to ask himself what sins he had committed. And 
since he did not remember any sin in particular, “ he 
being a good man,” my informant said, he summoned up 
courage to look closer at his visitor. And lo and behold, a 
Barn Owl ! 
I like the Hindoo term for a booby — -a Wooden Owl ! 
February 19. — Picked a little bunch of primroses to-day 
and some Jasmine. How curious its name in Persian 
should be Jasemin and in Arab Ismyn I The French 
term Jasmin must come from the same. 
February 27. — To-day we heard the Wood-pigeon im- 
ploring “Do! do! do!” (build) for the first time this Spring. 
And no wonder, it was such a lovely Spring day ! The 
little Vesper-bells (Scilla) are beginning to show in the garden. 
How fond bees are of them ! — the bed seems alive with them; 
and the Primroses are multiplying fast in the plantation. 
The Spurge laurel ( Daphne laureola) is beginning to show its 
graceful tufts of green flowers. It is a pity it is so poisonous, 
yet it is curious that in very hard winters rabbits seem to eat 
it with impunity. 
March 4. — A lovely sunny morning. What is the old 
saying about March ? “ He comes in with a viper’s head 
and goes out with a peafowl’s tail,” while another version 
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