THE CELANDINES 168 
reports about Blackbirds and Thrushes mating. 
I hope you two boys will never jump to hasty con- 
clusions. Be sure of your facts before you make 
statements. 
I think if we were to stay within a half-dozen 
yards of where we are at the present moment, we 
should find plenty of interesting objects to occupy 
our attention for the rest of the day. I see three 
plants that we must notice. By the damp ditch 
there is an abundance of the Lesser Celandine 
(Ranunculus ficaria) holding up its lovely golden 
stars to the sun, and thriving gloriously. I thought 
the Celandine would be over by this time ; this must 
be a late patch. As the generic name indicates, 
this plant is one of the Ranunculus family. It 
loves moist situations, and begins to flower about 
March. You can see by its starry corolla of pointed 
petals that it is not a Buttercup. The number of 
petals varies. Here is a specimen with twelve ; 
this one has nine, and another there has eleven. 
The poet Wordsworth went into an ecstasy over the 
little Celandine. Hear his lines : 
‘** Pansies, lilies, kingcups, daisies : 
Let them live upon their praises ; 
Long as there’s a sun that sets, 
Primroses will have their glory ; 
Long as there are violets, 
They will have a place in story: 
There’s a flower that shall be mine, 
’Tis the little Celandine.”’ 
The Greater Celandine (Chelidonwum majus), 
which is frequently found in waste places, is not a 
close relation of the Lesser Celandine, and you must 
not put them down as big and little brothers. The 
