62 
■ ' THE NATURALIST ABROAD; . 
OR, DAYS IN THE WOODS AND FIELDS; 
INCLUDING INCIDENTAL BOTANICAL AND ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTICES. 
Edwin Lees, F. L S., and F. E. S. L. 
No. IL 
The morning 'Lark has not yet heralded the dayall is obscure in the misty 
mantle that envelops sleeping Nature, and the river rolls its dark noiseless cur-' 
rent, irradiated only by the scanty gleam of a solitary planet. As I penetrate 
among the groves and glens, an overpowering stillness seems to prevail, broken' 
only at long interval! by The distant bark of the watch-Dog, or the crowing of the 
vigilant Chanticleer. But a distant harmony now sweeps its cadence through the 
air, rising and blending with the breeze that wafts sighing through the bushes. 
It comes like the memory of departed years, for it is a pleasing sound that will 
ere long cease its intonation in these vales. It is the bells on the teams of Here¬ 
fordshire, that sound far in the silence of the morning, and which once warned ap¬ 
proaching vehicles that there was no passing each other through the deep hollow- 
ways and water-courses then forming the roads. Ctistom continues the old bells that 
have descended from horse to horse and harness to harness, ever since the old 
timber-mansion rose beside its Yew-tree; but the roads have become wider, the 
narrow defiles are now abandoned to the Marchantim and the Ferns,—the old 
tenant is succeeded by a modern “ agriculturist,’" who knows not bellsjand the 
harmonious jingle will soon tell the tale of other times no more! 
We have imperceptibly got across the fields to the brink of the river, and here, 
beneath a Willow, a Bat is taking his early breakfast. It is not our little friend 
of the bam and out-house, fluttering to and fro like a parachute, nor yet is it the 
swift darter of evening snapping his wing as he hurries over the water, for this 
seems confined to one spot, where he works away with persevering industry 
round and round the tree, in the dubious twilight, though the glimpse we obtain 
of him is scarcely sufficient to distinguish him satisfactorily. A brilliant saffron 
tint now spreads along the brightening east, the stars are rapidly fading away, 
various Moths dash along for their last career in the cool air, the solemn Heron 
steals silently, flagging his wings to a deeper recess among th# bulrushes, and a 
cloud of Rooks make the air resound with their repeated cawings, as they slowly 
fly over us beyond the upland woodSi- 
