SUMM
EDITED * ' * BY
EDWARD 1
v.^v.
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
PRESENTED BY
PRO F.CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID
THE BOOK OF THE
OPEN AIR
<o
o
o
cQ
BRITISH COUNTRY LIFE
IN SPRING AND SUMMER
THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR EDITED BY
EDWARD THOMAS
Author of ' Harts Solitaire,' ' Oxford,' ' Beautiful Wales,'
' The Heart of England,' and Editor of ' The
Pocket Book of Poems and Songs
for the Open Air '
HODDER AND STOUGHTON
LONDON MCMVII
CONTENTS
An Open-air Diary for April
An Open-air Diary for May
An Open-air Diary for June
An Open-air Diary for July .
An Open-air Diary for August .....
An Open-air Diary for September ....
Introduction BY EDWARD THOMAS
PAGE
ix
In Praise of Rain
The Otter's Holt
CHAPTER I
. BY W. WARDE FOWLER
CHAPTER II
, BY ALFRED W. REES
CHAPTER III
The Flowers of Early Spring . BY REV. CANON VAUGHAN, M.A.
Some English Butterflies
Birds as Architects
The Venus Eve
Ancient Ponds .
CHAPTER IV
. BY ANTHONY COLLETT
CHAPTER V
. BY D'ESTERRE BAILY
CHAPTER VI
. BY GEORGE A. B. DEWAR
CHAPTER VII
. BY WALTER JOHNSON
iii
XI
xu
Xlll
xiv
28
34
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER VIII
The Making of Scenery BY EDWARD CLODD . 3 8
CHAPTER IX
The Life-Story of a Badger . BY J. C. TREGARTHEN 43
CHAPTER X
Some May Flowers . . BY CANON VAUGHAN 49
CHAPTER XI
The Bee Mind . . BY GEORGE A. B. DEWAR 54
CHAPTER XII
Bird-Watching in a Breydon Punt BY A. H. PATTERSON . 5 6
CHAPTER XIII
The Nightingale and its Haunts . BY ANTHONY COLLETT . . 63
CHAPTER XIV
Some Moorland Birds . . BY JOHN WALPOLE BOND 68
CHAPTER XV
The Story of Some Pebble Hills BY W. JOHNSON
CHAPTER XVI
Advice to Adder Seekers . . BY W. H. HUDSON .
CHAPTER XVII
Ghost Moth Evenings . . BY GEORGE A. B. DEWAR 84
CHAPTER XVIII
Roe and Red-Deer . . . BY J. H. CRAWFORD 86
CHAPTER XIX
Our Wild Orchids . . .BY CANON VAUGHAN 9 1
CHAPTER XX
The Railway Embankment . BY GEORGE A. B. DEWAR ... 96
CHAPTER XXI
The Peregrine . . . . BY J. WALPOLE BOND . 99
CHAPTER XXII
Summer Visitors . . .BY D'STERRE BAILY 106
iv
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXIII
Blue Columbine and Chequered
Daffodil . BY W. H. HUDSON .
PAGE
. 1 10
Trees and Shrubs
CHAPTER XXIV
, BY ANTHONY COLLETT
Midsummer Plants
The Animals of the Cliffs
Butterflies in Bed
Sea Birds
The British Ferns
Plant Aliens
English Snakes
The Kite
CHAPTER XXV
. BY CANON VAUGHAN
CHAPTER XXVI
. BY J. C. TREGARTHEN
CHAPTER XXVII
. BY GEORGE A. B. DEWAR
CHAPTER XXVIII
. BY J. H. CRAWFORD
CHAPTER XXIX
. ARTHUR GARNETT
CHAPTER XXX
. W. JOHNSON .
. 124
129
137
139
148
CHAPTER XXXI
. BY GERALD R. LEIGHTON, M.D., F.R.S.E. 152
CHAPTER XXXII
. BY JOHN WALPOLE BOND
CHAPTER XXXIII
The Pleasures of Coarse-Fishing. BY WALTER M. GALLICHAN
Pearl Skippers .
CHAPTER XXXIV
BY GEORGE A. B. DEWAR
CHAPTER XXXV
Summer in a Heath Country . BY ANTHONY COLLETT
158
163
168
170
August in a Breydon Punt
CHAPTER XXXVI
BY A. H. PATTERSON
'75
Varying Fecundity in Birds
Sport, and Wild Life
Exmoor .
A Northern Valley .
The Little Red Dog .
The Life of the Rabbit
The Water Vole
Salmon
Anax Imperator
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXXVII
. BY D'ESTERRE BAILY
CHAPTER XXXVIII
. BY J. H. CRAWFORD
CHAPTER XXXIX
. BY L. MARCH PHILLIPPS .
CHAPTER XL
. BY GORDON BOTTOMLEY .
CHAPTER XLI
. BY W. H. HUDSON .
CHAPTER XLII
. BY W. M. GALLICHAN
CHAPTER XLIII
. BY J. ST. MARS
CHAPTER XLIV
. BY J. H. CRAWFORD
CHAPTER XLV
. BY GEORGE A. B. DEWAR
CHAPTER XL VI
Field Notes on Some English
Butterflies . . . .BY RICHARD SOUTH .
PAGE
. 184
194
. 201
209
. 212
217
223
. 228
233
234
VI
ILLUSTRATIONS
TO FACE
PACE.
May Blossoms
Rain .
The Otter
Wild Hyacinths
Green Woodpecker .
Moorhen
The Badger .
Bees
Beeches
The Grebe .
Lavender
The Adder .
Red-Deer
Willow-Wren
Stripping Oak Bark
12
18
3
. From a painting by W. TATTON WINTER, R.B.A.
Frontispiece
. From a photograph by REV. F. C. LAMBERT, M.A. ,
. From a photograph by CHARLES REID, Wishaw
. From a photograph by CHARLES REID, Wishaw
. From a painting by FRANK SOUTHGATE, R.B.A.
. From a water-colour by FRANK SOUTHGATE, R.B.A. . 41
. From a photograph by CHARLES REID, Wishaw . 46
. From a photograph by F. MARTIN-DUNCAN, F.R.P.S. 54
. From a photograph by H. N. KING
. From a photograph by OLIVER G. PIKE .
. From a water-colour by TATTON WINTER, R.B.A. . 81
. From a photograph by F. MARTIN-DUNCAN, F.R.P.S. 82
. From a photograph by HENRY IRVING ... 90
. From a photograph by F. MARTIN-DUNCAN, F.R.P.S. 108
. From a photograph by HENRY IRVING . . .118
vii
66
72
ILLUSTRATIONS
Jays .
The Oak Tree
TO FACE
PAGE
From a water-colour by FRANK SOUTHGATE, R.B.A. . 121
. From a photograph by CHARLES REID, Wishaw .
Silver-washed Fritillary . From a photograph by REGINALD B. LODGE .
Haymaking . . . From a photograph by GRAYSTONE BIRD
The Elephant Hawk-Moth From a photograph by F. MARTIN-DUNCAN, F.R.P.S.
The White Admiral
Butterfly . . From a photograph by REGINALD B. LODGE
Harvest
Ragwort
Widgeon
A Northern Valley.
The Rabbit
1 2 4
138
150
161
1 68
From a water-colour by TATTON WINTER, R.B.A.
From a photograph by KEIGHLEY .... 192
From a water-colour by FRANK SOUTHGATE, R.B.A. . 201
From a photograph by KEIGHLEY
From a photograph by REGINALD B. LODGE
208
222
Peacock Butterfly . . From a photograph by F. MARTIN-DUNCAN, F.R.P.S. 238
Vlll
OPEN-AIK DIARY
APRIL
DATE
1 Red-backed shrikes appear.
2 Toothwort under elms. Chaffinches still in
flocks.
3 Queen wasps. Red deer shed their horns.
4 Flowers of hedge-mustard, butterbur, pear
tree. Ring-ousels arrive. Starlings build.
Rolling hayfield after brushing it.
5 Sowing barley. Box-tree flowers. Mullein
moth. Wliinchat arrives. Lapwing's eggs.
6 Willow wrens arrive and wood sorrel flowers.
Hawthorns full of leaf. Blackthorn flowers.
Horse chestnut leaves.
7 Ash tree flowers. Hazel leaves. Flowers of
birch. Redstart arrives.
8 Bluebell flowers. Wild ducks lay.
9 Black-cap sings. Wych-elm flowers. Wood
strawberry and field madder flower.
10 Flowers of herb Robert, cherry, early purple
orchis.
11 Barn-owl's eggs. Flowers of marsh violet,
greater stitchwort, red currant, juniper.
12 Cuckoo sings. House-martin arrives. Young
rooks and thrushes.
13 Swallows and sand-martins arrive. Moorhens
lay. Starlings lay. Flowers of blackthorn,
gooseberry, spring water starwort, woodruff,
thrift, grey field speedwell.
14 Leaves of moneywort, stitchwort, dog violet,
garlic-mustard and wild parsley strong and
tall. Flowers of golden saxifrage, alex-
anders, field scorpion grass. Brindled
beauty moth. Lesser whitethroat arrives.
Stone curlews lay.
15 Long-tailed titmouse's nest finished. White-
throat arrives. Nightingale sings. Young
squirrels. Purple orchis and lesser peri-
winkle flowers.
16 Chafiinch builds. White-throats arrive.
DATE
Young kingfishers abroad. Golden plover's
eggs. Wild cherry flowers. Beech leaves.
17 Birch leaves. Pear flowers. Goldcrest lays.
Yellowhammer builds. Putting up hop
poles. Flowers of arum.
1 8 Dabchick lays. Reed warbler arrives. Plum
flowers. Flowers of dwarf red rattle.
19
21
22
Hurdle making. Snipe's eggs. The trilling
songs of long-tailed and blue tits abound
high in the trees. Red-rattle and bugle
flower.
20 Blackcap sings. Bullfinch builds. Young
weasels. Small copper butterflies appear.
Flowers of wild service tree. Sycamore
leaves.
Water crowfoot flowers. Lime leaves. Sky-
lark's eggs. Emperor moth.
Coots lay. Wryneck's eggs. Young red
deer. Flowers of green field speedwell and
meadow grass.
Ash leaves. Barred woodpecker's eggs.
Sedge-warbler sings. Young field-voles.
Chaffinches lay. Green woodpecker's eggs.
Frosted green moth. Wall speedwell
flowers.
Dandelion masses at their best. Flowers of
white meadow saxifrage. Wrens build.
Dragon-flies abroad.
Grasshopper warbler heard. Tree pipits
arrive. Jackdaw's eggs. Flowers of ger-
mander speedwell and meadow foxtail
grass.
Turtle doves coo. Garden warbler arrives.
Orange-tip butterflies abound. Curlew's eggs.
Flowers of medlar and whortle-berry.
Jay's eggs. Sandpiper arrives. Oak flowers.
Beech and sycamore in leaf. Hawthorn
flowers there is never a year when a small
bunch of may on May-day is impossible.
26
27
28
29
3
Y
OPEN-AIR DIARY
MAY
DATE
1 May garlands of hawthorn, cowslip, bluebell,
purple orchis, primrose, stitchwort, cuckoo
flower, marigold. Hops make their first
circle round poles. Ring-ousel singing.
Yellow-hammer's eggs. Red-backed shrike
appears. Small heath butterflies appear.
2 Noctule bats begin to fly. Willow wren's
eggs. Orange-tip butterflies first seen.
Scorpion grass, charlock, common scurvy
grass flowers. Coltsfoot down abounds
for the linnet's nest.
3 Bullfinch lays. Whinchat builds. Dotterels
arrive. Maple flowers. Flowers of field
pepperwort, heartsease, bog stitchwort,
thyme-leaved speedwell, common speedwell,
reed manna grass.
4 Lesser whitethroat builds. Greenfinch lays.
Cirl bunting's eggs. Walnut leaves. Young
stoats born. Flowers of greater celandine,
common fumitory, sea purslane, fritillary.
5 Swifts arrive. Reed-bunting lays. Sedge
warbler sings. Linnets lay. Pale tussock
moth. Flowers of ramping fumitory, water-
cress, common winter cress, starry tower
mustard, chalk milkwort, mud water star-
wort, small marsh valerian, great wood rush.
6 Linnets come in bands to the dandelion seeds.
Flycatcher arrives. Kestrel's eggs. Young
wild ducks. Marshes Whimbrel and
summer snipe here for a day or two.
Yellow wagtails, snipe, redshanks, black-
headed gulls, pewits, coots, moorhens and
reed buntings, with eggs. Ribwort plantain
flowers.
7 Blue titmice lay. Cuckoo's egg. Horse-
chestnut flowers. Flowers of sweet gale
and beech. Wood tiger moth.
8 Blackcaps' eggs. Treecreepers' eggs. Quail
arrives. Flowers of barren strawberry, tor-
mentil, lady's mantle, white beam, mossy
saxifrage, marsh pennywort, corn gromwell
9 Rock pipits build. Red -backed shrikes build.
Ringed plovers' eggs. Flowers of mountain
ash, crabtree.
10 Sedge-warblers and whinchats laying. Spar-
row hawks' eggs. Dingy skipper butter-
flies appear. Flowers of creeping cinquefoil,
sweet vernal grass.
1 1 Dragon-flies seen. Humming-bird hawk moth.
Corn-bunting builds. Trailing Tormentil
flowers.
12 Young water-shrews. Angle-shades moth.
Flowers of water avens, mouse-ear hawk-
weed, sweet chestnut.
13 Flowers of herb Robert, goutweed, pig-nut,
common beaked parsley, crosswort, lily of
the valley, rye grass. Whitethroat lays.
DATE
14 Bird's foot trefoil, oak, comfrey, silverweed
flowers. Young dormice. Marsh fritillary
butterflies appear. Bullfinch lays.
15 Young otters abroad. Wren's eggs. Flowers
of marsh cinquefoil, sweet cicely, eyebright,
branched bur-reed, Timothy grass.
1 6 Flowers of broad-leaved garlic, milkwort,
raspberry, lamb's lettuce, yellow iris.
Young water-voles abroad.
17 Flowers of barberry, whitebeam, wild service,
bramble, forget-me-not. Common blue
butterflies appear. Young red deer.
18 Wood sanicle, ragged robin, broom, rest
harrow, spotted medick, sweet brier flowers.
19 Swarm of bees. Avens, figwort, cromwell,
mouse-ear scorpion grass flowers. Swallow-
tail butterflies hatched. Common carpet
moth.
20 Young moles born. Knot grass moth.
Flowers of holly, buckthorn, sycamore,
burnet rose, white bryony, greater plantain.
21 Meadow cranesbill, white campion, harebell,
goose-grass, tormentil, brooklime.
22 Young hares. Oak egger moth, purple thorn
moth. Needle whin, wayfaring tree flowers.
23 Green hairstreak butterflies appear. Sand-
piper's eggs. Maple flowers.
24 Forget-me-not, white bryony, water blinks.
flowers.
25 Green-veined white butterflies hatched.
Forester moth, common heath butterfly.
Flowersof wood loosestrife, scarlet pimpernel,
bogbean, marsh redrattle, white dead
nettle, green-winged meadow orchis.
26 Pearl-bordered fritillary butterflies appear.
Red-belted clear-wing moth, clouded wave.
Flowers of agrimony, comfrey, great broom
rape, red dead nettle, common sorrel flowers.
27 Wall butterflies appear. Hairy tare, bush
vetch, narrow-leaved vetch, meadow vetch-
ling, bird-cherry, sheep's sorrel flowers.
28 Young whitethroats. Dotterel's eggs. One
young red stag still carrying its antlers.
Flowers of common Solomon's seal. Duke
of Burgundy fritillary butterflies appear.
29 Flowers of herb bennet, honeysuckle, avens,
corn gromwell, broad-leaved garlic. Small
blue butterflies appear. Corn-bunting's
eggs.
30 Young harvest mice. Small pearl-bordered
fritillary butterflies appear. Wood melic-
grass flowering. First reed-warblers' egg.
31 May fly. Garden warbler lays. Flowers of
white bryony, mullein, viper's bugloss,
penny cress, wood sage, creeping water
scorpion grass, yellow dead nettle, bugle,,
crowberry, spider orchis.
OPEN-AIR DIARY
JUNE
DATE
1 Flowers of ragged robin, sainfoin, watercress,
ladysmock, fly orchis. Buff-tip moth.
Red-shank's eggs.
2 Young badgers abroad. Puss moth, cabbage
moth.
3 Flowers of green-man orchis, cistus, cinque-
foil, mignonette, red and white campions,
fumitory, heartsease, eyebright, poppy.
4 Common emerald moth, small white wave,
single-dotted wave, small fan-footed wave.
Flowers of common cotton grass.
5 Male ghost-moths dance. Common wainscot
moth. First wild rose.
6 Meadow-brown butterflies appear. Flame
moth. Flowers of wild sage, great nettle,
common pellitory of the wall.
7 Yarrow, elder, hemlock, lesser convolvulus,
common mallow, bramble, white water-lily,
common poppy, yellow Welsh poppy
flowers. Painted lady butterflies.
8 Spindle tree flowers. Six-spotted burnet
moth, gray birch.
9 Air full of floating poplar down. Nightjar's
eggs. Dogwood flowers. Beautiful yellow
underwing moth. Yellow horned poppy,
twisted whitlow grass, corn spurrey, penny-
wort, wood sanicle, yellow rattle, yellow
cow wheat, ground ivy, hoary plantain,
sharp dock, twayblade flowers.
10 Vervain, self-heal, common willow, nipplewort,
biting stonecrop, wild celery flowers.
Large skipper butterflies appear.
11 Borage, deadly nightshade, common pink,
bladder campion flowers. Large yellow
underwing moth.
12 Young weasels. Obscure wainscot moth.
Flowers of dropwort, wall hawkweed, water
violet, small bugloss. The least blue
dragon-flies abound, like marsh lights,
among rushes and flags.
13 Lappet moth, broad-bordered yellow under-
wing. Flowers of milkwort, evening cam-
pion, scented agrimony, salad burnet,
stinking chamomile, yellow oxeye, corn
feverfew, oxeye daisy, wild chamomile.
Black knapweed, smooth hawk's beard,
cranberry, privet, man orchis, bee orchis
14 Flowers of orchis militaris, birds' nest orchis,
crimson marsh orchis, red spur valerian,
ling, red bartsia, crow garlic, couch grass,
meadow barley, wall barley. Gothic moth.
15 Sheepshearing. Families of bullfinches abroad.
Flowers of hop trefoil, lady's fingers, birds-
foot, sainfoin, inelegant ragwort, common
ragwort, cross-leaved heath, pine bird's nest,
brookweed.
16 Wild parsnip, meadowsweet, lesser skullcap,
bristling bur-reed, white meadow saxifrage,
rough chervil, shepherd's needle flowers.
Goosegrass berries (called " sweethearts ")
are ripe and rosy. Five young spotted fly-
catchers hatched. Sycamore moth, coronet.
The largest azure dragon-fly, with languid
flight, abounds.
17 Flowers of arrow-head, spotted orchis, poppy,
tormentil, chamomile, coltstail, goose grass.
Young nightingales, and the old can only
say " bit-bit " and " wheet torr." Ruby
tiger moth, buff ermine, white ermine,
water ermine.
1 8 Flowers of stonecrop, bladderwort, gipsy wort,
mountain thyme. Grey dagger moth. In
Kent they still have a legend of a " Kine "
Gilbert White's " Cane " which is a
lesser weasel, like a large dormouse with
bushy tail and the voice of a weasel.
19 Flowers of figwort, hemlock, lady's bedstraw,
sun spurge. Clouded buff moth, fox moth,
latticed heath, twin-spot carpet, green
carpet, rivulet.
20 Flowers of bee orchis, birdsfoot-trefoil, burnet,
heath bedstraw. High-brown fritillary
butterflies appear.
21 Flowers of water plantain, flowering rush.
Small black arches, short cloaked moth.
Oats are tall and blue.
22 Voices heard at midnight corncrake, sedge-
warbler, cuckoo, nightjar. Tree-creeper's
eggs. Nonsuch, wild carrot, upright hedge
parsley, frog orchis, dogwood, elder, guelder
rose, rough hawkbit, henbane flowers.
23 Silver-washed fritillary butterflies appear.
Flowers of lesser spearwort, great spear-
wort, lucerne, sweet orchis, enchanter's
nightshade, narrow-leaved hawkweed, long-
rooted cat's ear, hairy hawkbit, goat's
beard, deadly nightshade, germander speed-
well.
Dark-bordered beauty moth, speckled yellow,
barred red. Flowers of dogrose, autumn
hawkbit, sow thistle. Field bindweed,
woody nightshade, brooklime. Young par-
tridges.
Leopard moth, common swift. Flowers of
houseleek, lesser butterfly orchis. Sloes
begin to be conspicuous. Young frogs
abound in the wet evening.
Poplar kitten moth. Flowers of musk
mallow, mountain everlasting, wood cud-
weed, fleabane, moneywort, wavy hair
grass, downy oat grass, wild oat. Young
nightingales fly.
Mother Shipton moth. Flowers of viper's
bugloss, great bindweed.
Large heath butterflies appear. Poplar hor-
net, clearwing moth, currant moth, clouded
border, lesser satin. Long-tailed titmice
wandering with coal titmice. Flowers of
hound's tongue, spiked star-of-Bethlehem,
silver hair grass, quaking grass.
Eyed hawk, poplar hawk, privet hawk,
engrailed, elephant hawk, moths. Missel-
thrushes in small bands. Flowers of
mignonette, dove's foot cranesbill, small-
flowered cranesbill, hemlock storksbill,
golden rod, foxglove, great water plantain,
cock's foot grass.
30 Red-tipped clearwing moth , common vapourer,
large emerald, willow beauty, grass wave,
brown scallop, cinnabar. Ringed plover's
eggs. Flowers of cow parsnip, hemp
agrimony, smooth meadow grass.
24
25
26
27
28
29
XI
OPEN-AIR DIARY
JULY
DATE
1 Flowers of sneezewort, corn-cockle, corn
chamomile, common chamomile, narrow-
leaved water-parsnip. Whortleberries ripe.
Lime-tree flowers. Dock seeds, blood red
in the hay. Young starlings congregate.
Nightjar's eggs. Cockchafers abound.
Triangle moth, dew moth, rosy footman,
four-dotted footman, orange footman, com-
mon footman, dingy footman, brimstone.
2 Magpies begin to range into those districts
where they are never allowed to breed.
Privet and blue-bottle flower. Muslin
moth, cinnabar, scarlet tiger, grass emerald
chevron, lesser yellow underwing.
3 Haymaking begins. Calamint, wild carrot,
pimpernel, horehound, field madder, cat-
mint, wood-vetch, angelica, yellow water-
lily, candytuft flowers. Redpolls in flocks.
Tiger moth, July thorn, small carpet,
mullein wave, satin wave, smoky wave,
blood vein, buff arches.
4 Cranberries ripe. Flowers of black mullein,
cow-wheat, hemlock, ragwort, moneywort,
common flax-seed, cathartic flax, shining
cranesbill, sea-holly, procumbent marsh
wort, fennel. Flowers and green berries of
bittersweet. Brier hips red. Honeydew
on the oaks. Small skipper butterfly
appears.
5 Sparrows flocking in unmown fields. Pewits
in flocks. Tufted vetch, large-flowered
and common St. John's wort flowers.
Silver " Y " moth. Marbled white butter-
fly.
6 Sheep's bit scabious, catmint, hemlock, fool's
parsley flowers. Wood swift moth, lesser
broad border, old lady.
7 Flowers of purple loosestrife, water hemlock,
common rush, burnet saxifrage, teazle.
Small heath butterflies appear.
8 Flowers of enchanter's nightshade, spurrey,
common feverfew, frogbit, sweet gale,
flowering rush. Dark green fritillary butter-
flies appear. Red underwing moth.
9 Flowers of golden-rod, branching willow-herb,
common water-dropwort, river water-drop-
wort, field scabious, marsh cudweed, com-
mon hawkweed, shrubby hawkweed, ivy-
leaved bellflower. Grayling butterflies ap-
pear. V-moth.
10 Flowers of black horehound, teasel, evening
primrose, fool's parsley, wild angelica,
parsnip, elecampane, Scotch thistle, cen-
taury. Red admiral butterflies appear.
11 Canterbury bell, wild rose, agrimony, wound-
wort, yellow vetch, sow thistle, mullein,
eyebright, wild thyme, bird's-foot trefoil,
DATE
rest-harrow flowers. Brier hips large and
reddening. Purple hair streak butterflies
appear.
12 Hop bines overtop their poles. Flowers of
meadowsweet, great knapweed, cornflower,
succory, nipplewort, hawkweed picris, nettle-
leaved bellflower, harebell, fine-leaved heath,
sea lavender, great yellow loosestrife, field
gentian. Last cry of the cuckoo. Young
swallows and martins abound on the wing.
13 Field of peas picked. Flowers of water
plantain, wild clover, wood sage, loosestrife,
pennyroyal, water purslane, black night-
shade, great mullein, ivy-leaved toadflax,
water figwort, brown bent grass, crested
dog's tail grass.
14 Willow herb flowers along with last year's
seed-plumes. Flowers of yellow lady's
bedstraw, knotted figwort, cornmint, greater
skullcap, selfheal, greater butterfly orchis,
bog asphodel, great reed mace, reed grass,
common reed, hairy brown grass.
15 Young hedgehogs abroad. Flowers of wild
morjoram, burdock, round-leaved sundew,
wood small-reed grass.
16 Larks in small bands. Flowers of yellow
vetchling, milk thistle, sawwort, marsh
mint. Yellow-tailed moth, gipsy moth.
17 White hellebore, mugwort, devil's bit, recurved
stonecrop, rose bay, great willow-herb,
square-stalked willow-herb. Chalk-hill blue
butterflies appear.
1 8 Hops flower. Flowers of lesser burdock,
spear plume thistle, creeping plume thistle.
Holly blue butterflies appear.
19 Young goldfinches wandering. Balsam flowers.
Tortoiseshell butterflies appear.
20 Flowers of soapwort, wood strawberry, cud-
weed, least cudweed. White admiral butter-
flies appear.
21 Toadflax and succory flowers. Adonis blue
butterflies over flowering mint.
22 Wood-white butterflies emerge. Flowers of
horsemint.
23 Pale clouded-yellow butterflies appear. Her-
ald moth, copper underwing.
24 Purple emperor butterflies appear.
25 Young swifts flying.
26 Hay harvest over. Flowers of wild clematis,
corn-cockle, tamarisk. Birch catkins.
Haws are red.
27 Rough hawkbit flowers.
28 Flowers of carline thistle.
29 Bordered beauty moth.
30 Flowers of autumn gentian, wood betony,
sheep's sorrel.
31 Thistle-down lining the hollows of the woods.
OPEN-AIR DIARY
AUGUST
DATE
1 Tortoiseshell butterflies come to the recurved
stonecrop flowers. Mowing oats. Thatch-
ing the haystacks.
2 Flowers of gipsywort. New leaves on the oak.
3 Pea-field ploughed.
4 Flowers erf small teazle, tansy, yellow iris 4
5 Wormwood, narrow-leaved water-parsnip
flowers. Many wheatears on the downs.
6 Reaping wheat. Flowers of corn parsley,
ivy-leaved sowbread, forget-me-not.
7 Comma butterflies appear.
8 Large tortoiseshell butterflies appear. Sep-
tember thorn moth.
10 Ploughing fallow for autumn wheat. Pied
wagtails wandering in flocks of twelve or so.
11 Young linnets in small flocks.
12 Marbled green moth, marbled beauty.
Flowers of deadly nightshade, henbane.
Marshes meadow pipits in flocks ; downs
wheatears in flocks.
13 Linnets at thistledown. Flowers of hairy
mint, white horehound, Turk's cap lily.
14 Flowers and red and green berries of woody
nightshade together ; green berries and
flowers of white bryony, too. Herb Robert
and silverweed flowers.
15 Wall butterflies appear. Flowers of marsh-
mallow, arrow-head reed.
1 6 Flowers of red campion, ragwort, hawkweeds,
herb Robert, honeysuckle, buttercup, hare-
bell, thyme, mouse-ear chickweed, meadow-
sweet, succory, marguerite, wild mint,
agrimony, St. John's wort, convolvulus,
yarrow, wood betony, figwort, scabiouses,
gorse.
17 Hedge woundwort, willow-herb, balm and
yellow horned poppy flowers. Speckled
wood butterflies appear. Lychnis moth.
DATE
18 Young thrushes, missel-thrushes and robins
singing. Butterflies on the chalk peacock,
painted lady, brimstone, grayling, chalk-
hill, Adonis and common blue, argus,
fritillaries, small coppers, with burnet
moths. Flowers of pennywort, marsh
pennywort.
19 Clouded yellow butterflies appear. Yellow-
hammers in flocks. Flowers of marsh
speedwell, broad-leaved helleborine, pyra-
midal orchis. Carting oats.
20 Pale oak eggar moth. Flowers of golden
saxifrage, grass of Parnassus, lesser dodder,
common speedwell, broom rape, vervain,
mountain thyme, wild basil.
2 1 Swifts gone. Flowers of thyme-leaved speed-
well, calamint.
23 Carting wheat. Second brood of swallows
hatched.
24 Hazel-nuts ripe. Second brood of house-
martins hatched. Creeping cinquefoil.
25 Flowers of tormentil, trailing tormentil, great
burdock.
26 Mowing the aftermath. Flowers of agrimony,
salad burnet, marsh ragwort.
27 Flowers of silverweed, field scorpion grass,
viper's bugloss.
28 Flowers of creeping water scorpion grass,
gromwell, dwarf red rattle.
29 Flowers of raspberry, bramble, avens, oxeye
daisy, wild chamomile.
30 Threshing.
31 Linnets in small bands. Wheatears and
wagtails resorting to the coast. Chiff-
chaff sings.
xui
OPEN-AIR DIARY
SEPTEMBER
DATE
A new grass-snake's
1 Hop-picking begins,
slough.
2 Teal arrive.
3 Flowers of red bartsia, marsh red rattle,
catmint.
4 Larks and pipits gathering on ploughlands.
Fumitory flowers.
5 Flowers of ivy-leaved speedwell, common
sorrel.
6 Flowers of yellow cow wheat, grey field
speedwell.
7 Flowers of green field speedwell.
8 Black-bryony leaves become yellow and white
and bronze.
9 Wood sorrel flowers.
10 Antler moth, flounced rustic, dark sword
grass.
11 Wood-pigeons at their nests.
12 Wheat sowing.
13 Flowers of water figwort.
1 6 Sallow moth.
17 Flowers of purple loosestrife, great bindweed,
autumn lady's tresses.
18 Flowers of field bindweed, mountain speedwell.
19 Flowers of smooth hawk's beard, foxglove,
eyebright.
20 Flowers of fleabane, bur-marigold, stinking
chamomile.
DATE
21 Flowers of ragged robin, wall hawkweed,
common hawkweed, hairy hawkbit, rough
hawkbit.
22 Cinquefoil flowers.
23 Flowers of spring water starwort, ivy-leaved
bellflower.
24 Autumn-sown wheat sprouts. One chaffinch
sings.
25 The first gossamer. Flowers of ivy-musk
thistle, spear plume thistle, clustered
bellflower.
26 Painted lady butterflies come to the blue
Michaelmas daisies. Flowers of Canterbury
bell, wild sage, buckwheat, curled dock.
Hazel catkins noticeable.
27 Flowers of Scotch thistle, black knapweed,
harebell, henbit nettle, great snapdragon,
hedge-woundwort, marjoram, common hemp
nettle, wood sage, red goosefoot, saltwort,
common persicaria, broad-leaved dock.
28 Larks sing and roar. Chiff-chaffs and willow-
wrens sing. Poppy, ragwort, white bed-
straw and succory flowers.
29 Flowers of tansy, wild chamomile, mugwort,
seaside plantain, white goosefoot, sea
wormwood, mountain groundsel, brook-
lime.
30 Flowers of field scabious, small scabious,
hemp agrimony, golden rod, black bind-
weed, great water dock.
XIV
INTRODUCTION
I saw sweet Poetry turn untroubled eyes
On shaggy Science nosing in the grass.
For by that way poor Poetry must pass
On her long pilgrimage to Paradise.
He snuffled, grunted, squealed ; perplexed by flies,
Parched, weatherworn, and near of sight, alas !
From peering close where very little was
In dens secluded from the open skies.
But Poetry in bravery went down,
And called his name, soft, clear, and fearlessly ;
Stooped low, and stroked his muzzle overgrown ;
Refreshed his drought with dew ; wiped pure and free
His eyes : and lo ! laughed loud for joy to see
In those grey deeps the azure of her own.
WALTER DE LA MARE.
The blue sky, the brown soil beneath, the grass, the trees, the animals, the wind, and rain,
and sun, and stars are never strange to me ; for I am in and of and one with them ; and my flesh
and the soil are one, and the heat in my blood and in the sunshine are one, and the winds and
tempests and my passions are one. W. H. HUDSON.
TV /TATTHEW ARNOLD was, I think, the first English critic to point out
the importance of the interpretation of Nature in literature. " The
grand power of poetry," he says, " is its interpretative power ; by which I
mean, not a power of drawing out in black and white an explanation of the
mystery of the universe, but the power of so dealing with things as to awaken
in us a wonderfully full, new, and intimate sense of them, and of our relations
with them." In the same essay, and in " Celtic Literature " and elsewhere,
he quotes passages which show more or less precisely what he means by inter-
pretation and especially by interpretation of Nature, and he coins the phrase
" natural magic " for this element in literature at its highest power. But it is
noticeable that he cannot illustrate his point from English prose, for it was
not until some time after his essay was written that any men, except Shelley in
" The Coliseum " and De Quincey and Coleridge in a few passages, had dealt
vi INTRODUCTION
writer who helps us to see Nature clearly and at the same time to feel profoundly.
Sir Thomas Browne sounded more stops than his predecessors, but not this one.
Even Robert Burton's infinite variety includes nothing nearer to what we seek
than passages like that beginning : "To take a boat in a pleasant evening, and
with musick to row upon the waters." Izaak Walton was too blithe and un-
troubled to have discovered the sources of natural magic, though he has chance
effects which are not unlike it. And though Arnold seems in one place inclined
to give credit to Gilbert White for the power, I do not see that his view of Nature
was far different from Sir Roger de Coverley's except in its curiosity.
In our own day Nature has been used by many of the best writers of fiction
as a magical background. It is hardly necessary to mention names, but those
of Messrs. Hardy, Meredith, Hudson, Cunninghame Graham and Conrad will
at once suggest their diversity. And it is becoming every year more and more
characteristic of our literature to study this background of " inanimate nature "
and the animals for its own sake. Cowper's hare is interesting only because
Cowper was fond of it and kind to it, Burns' mouse chiefly because it moved
his passion ; but it would not be hard to point to passages in the work of living
men where the animal emerges free from any human taint, grand, wild, with
all its savage perfume about it, in the desert attitude, and with a spiritual
quality not of the writer's but of its own. The typical modern writer does
actually suggest in written words that violent shock of the beautiful but in-
human which we have when suddenly the tall hare leaps across our path, or the
dog fox's bark on the Downs makes twenty centuries of civilization nothing.
This interpretative literature has an immense field before it. There is no
fact in Nature which some day it will not evoke into shining, melodious
perfumed, tangible life. It is trying hard to do so ; perhaps it is a little
troubled by the size of the field. It denies no fact, just as it rejects no intuition.
The best of its exponents have a sound knowledge of the facts of Nature and
an inexorable curiosity, coupled, as they have hardly been before, with a deep
and sometimes passionate and mournful love of all that takes place in the
open air and in the human mind under its influence. They have, too, a
curious interest in character the character of birds, for example, of snakes,
of places. Their writing adds considerably to pure knowledge, and, by their
sense of the poetry in life, appeals to every one with an intellectual and spirit-
ual life, whether naturalist or not ; and it gives an interesting view of the
INTRODUCTION vii
mind of our age and continues the revelation which Jefferies began in " The
Story of My Heart."
It is with the hope of making clear the riches of the English country and,
no less, of the men who are writing about it, that I have arranged these chapters
of THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR. The names of Messrs. W. H. Hudson, W.
Warde Fowler, G. A. B. Dewar, " Scolopax," Alfred W. Rees, J. C. Tregarthen,
Edward Clodd, A. H. Patterson to mention but a few standing as they do
for truth and energy in a variety of forms, will make it evident that I have not
passed over many of the best men, and I hope that the absence of other re-
spectable names is not due to any fault of mine. It is not a text book ; it is
not in any way exhaustive ; but it does aim at giving a vivid and precise im-
pression of wild life in England, and thereby if possible creating a fresh impulse
towards the affectionate and careful observation of which it is one monument.
EDWARD THOMAS.
BOOK I
SPRING
IN PRAISE OF RAIN
"A land of hills and valleys, drinking water of the rain of heaven." Dent. xi. n.
TT is the privilege of the educated the rain over and gone all these
Englishman, unless he be a far- phases of his enemy's being have
mer or a market gardener, to think an educating power on his eye and
of rain as a nuisance. He does not mind, though he be unconscious of
understand his debt to it ; he hardly it. They are beautiful in themselves,
knows what it is to long for it. and the changes they work in the
It interferes with the out-of-door atmosphere and on the earth keep his
games that he loves, and it spoils outdoor mind alive and stirring. They
his cycling or his motoring. But accustom his eye to see his landscape
the fact is that the peculiar beauty through a glorifying medium ; they
of his country is more the result have given his painters a sense of
of rain than any other cause. It atmospheric effects which perhaps
is rain, the gentle constant rain belongs to no other nation, for in this
of the ocean, that has moulded his moist land of ours the atmosphere is
country into hill and dale, and made almost always visible between us and
his roads twist and turn, mount and the object we look at in the distance,
descend, ever giving him fresh scenes And it is rain, spreading itself thus
as he moves along them. It is this so constantly and so quietly over the
gentle rain, not coming in seasonal moderate elevations of our land, that
deluge, but spreading itself in fair has made water an almost invariable
proportion over the whole year, that accompaniment of our wayside scenes ;
has given such constant variety to our roads and lanes and footpaths are
his landscape, and has given himself for ever crossing it, and bridges great
the unconscious eye of an artist in and small are tempting the artist to
contemplating it, and in suiting to it set up his easel, or the wayfarer to lean
the works of his hands. The ap- on them and refresh his eyes with run-
proach of rain, the passing of rain, ning water and its plants and animals.
4 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
The motorist and cyclist shoot past which it is not enjoyable to be out ;
these pleasant spots, but for the walker yet this does excellent work in washing
there is nothing more delightful than as well as in stimulating growth. After
to look leisurely over a bridge. These a spell of dry weather everything needs
streams never wholly dry up, like the to be cleansed ; and this rain carries
torrents of Greece and the East ; and away from the surface of the earth and
in summer the wealth of their vegeta- the roads all that ought not to linger
tion a wealth that often almost there, fills the streams and washes their
hides them from view is beyond my beds and banks. Even if they flood
power to describe. Loosestrife, forget- there is seldom much harm done, and
me-nots, willow-herb, water-lilies, the refuse that is spread over the
yellowflags, flowering rushes, are the meadows when the flood retires sinks
embroidery that the kindly rain sets into the ground and helps to enrich it.
upon her daughters the streams. Then there is the soft warm rain that
We hardly know in this country makes all nature rejoice, plants and
what a drought is. The last I can animals alike neish rain, as we call
remember was in 1893, lasting from it, or used to call it, in the west ; even
the middle of March to the middle of man can be out and enjoy himself in
May ; I can well remember the intense this rain, for it makes all other things
relief when the moisture came at last, happy and fragrant, and can do him-
As a rule we have to learn the true self no harm. But the most beauti-
value of rain from the Hebrew poetry, ful of all rain is that which comes in
the only Eastern literature we read, showers showers of which nature
The psalms are full of this lesson for a drinks quietly and earnestly for a
Western ; and in the last poem written while, and then seems to lift a smiling
by the poet-king (2 Sam. xxiii. 5) it face in grateful content as the sun
is expressed in a simile of exquisite comes out on her. In the spring
beauty : the just king is "as the tender of 1906 we had but few of those
grass springing out of the earth by exquisite days of warm sun and soft
clear shining after rain." shower from the west, which are so
There are of course different kinds of peculiarly English that to be without
rain, of different degrees of pleasant- them in April and May is like being
ness. There is the heavy downpour, deprived of our birthright. And lastly,
sustained and perhaps depressing, in in contrast with these delicious showers
fj
M -
S o
IN PRAISE OF RAIN 5
there is yet another rain, distilling where rain rarely continues for many
itself from cloud and mist on our days together, and watch the subtle
western hills for many days together, influence it has on the life of plants
hindering rather than helping the works and animals. All plants, as we all
of man, if not of other living things, know, must have water, and many
and reminding us that neither rain of them will droop after a day or two
without sun nor sun without rain can of dry heat ; then, when the rain
do for us and nature exactly what we conies, it is almost possible to see the
wish. In a Cumberland dale I have grass growing. The processes that
seen the whole population making go on at the roots and in the stems
hay, while the sun was shining on a and leaves are hidden from us ; but
Sunday morning, with the full sanction it is interesting to note the different
of their good parson, who postponed ways in which different kinds of plants
his service for their benefit, and finally deal with the rain as it falls on their
preached a sermon of extraordinary leaves. Some adorn themselves with
eloquence and power to a congregation it, retaining it in the form of gems
of two strangers and his sexton. Those sparkling in the sunshine, and thus
strangers soon found that they must make themselves more beautiful than
accept the drizzle and make the best ever to the human eye ; others dis-
of it, and that all attempts to counter- tribute it over their leaves as moisture
act it by umbrellas and mackintoshes hardly discernible unless we look at
are vain and even harmful for they them closely ; and some few seem
do but keep reminding you that it is almost to reject it. As you walk
raining. along a road during or just after a
It is true then that the sweet and shower, looking into the hedgerows
even distribution of rain over the (always a most soothing occupation
greater part of this island has its for eye and mind), and chance to be
exceptions ; there is no part of England thinking of this treatment of rain
that has as a rule too little rain, but by the plants, you can hardly fail
there are districts which get too much, to be struck by the surly and in-
and where man loses the constant hospitable conduct of the whole nettle
sense of wholesome change, and the tribe a tribe that flourishes in dry
frequent cheering influence of the sun. places, and seems to be none the
But let us return to the lower lands, worse for dust and drought. The
6 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
nettle leaves seem really to reject magnifying glass, and found the sur"
the rain ; you may look in vain for a face softly hairy ; but this does not
leaf which clearly shows the moisture carry me very far. Experiments with
upon it, and if you closely watch the a watering-pot as well as the magni-
drops faUing, they seem to vanish fying glass might tell us something
and come to nothing as they reach more.
these dark forbidding structures. Yet No one needs to be told how whole-
underneath them the long swordgrass some for the life of birds is a shower
is sparkling with a thousand diamonds ; of rain ; they let us know it themselves
so is the clover, and the beautiful by breaking out into song the moment
silverleaf (Potentilla anserina), and the rain has passed. I seem to notice
above them the wild rose and the that this is more particularly the
honeysuckle both keep these brilliant case with our resident species, less
gems for a short while. It might so perhaps with those that have come
almost seem as if the plants that we from hot climates to bring up their
love best have this way of decking young in cooler regions. Or at least
themselves out, while those that we I shall not be wrong in saying that
value least have never acquired it ; few of these summer migrants will
for I notice that neither the docks nor sing actually during the rain, while
the tall acrid buttercup can use the the blackbird, song-thrush, missel-
rain to please the human eye. But thrush, robin, may always be heard
this is fancy, and for the real facts if the rain is not too hard and cold,
and the reasons for them, which are Yesterday (May 16) we had the first
doubtless to be found in the varying soft rain fragrant rain, as I like to
structure of the leaves and the nature call it that we have enjoyed for weeks,
of their surfaces, we must go to the and while it was falling the blackbirds
professed botanist. I have lately no- were wonderfully voiceful, and, as I
ticed that of all the plants in my fancied, unusually mellow. The sweet
garden the lupins, even with their monotonous song of the missel-thrush
small pointed leaves, which look as is often to be heard while a wet gale
though they never could retain a is blowing ; but the whitethroats and
drop, had decorated themselves more whinchats and blackcaps, which have
beautifully than ah 1 their neighbours, only lately joined us, seem to like to
I put a lupin leaf under a strong wait till the rain is over. I am not
IN PRAISE OF RAIN 7
so often out in rain for long together short sweet pastures they were
that I can speak with entire confidence climbing up all long stalks even to the
on this point ; but if it be so, the very top, as if from a desire to get
reason probably is that the insect- right into the full favour of the rain,
eaters like the sun best, the grub- Indeed all creeping things, except per-
eaters the rain. haps the viper, enjoy the moisture,
But it is not only the song and the which rids them of dust and all the
food of our native birds that is affected grittiness that comes of drought,
by the rain supply ; some of them Lately in period of east winds and
need it for their masonry as well, frost it was pitiable to see worms
In a very dry spring neither thrush covered with grit and gravel wriggling
nor blackbird can line his nest with on the path, plagued no doubt with
mud, and I have heard of cases in parasites, loathsome even to the birds,
which they had for once in a way which never seem to touch them in
to do without it. Swallows too, and this state ; now if I see a worm on
housemartins, must have mud for the road, and after rain they are
the structure of their nests, and their out all night on the roads, and even
nesting operations may be delayed longer they are clean and whole-
for weeks by dry east wind and hot some, without a particle of gravel
sun ; in such a year we may look out sticking to them. In the garden the
for young martins still in the nests frogs and toads, as well as snails, come
well into October. If the spell of out and revel in the dampness, and
drought is broken by a thunder shower, the tortoise, if you have one, knows
it is pleasant to see the swallow tribe that he will find his food succulent,
instantly busy on the roads or by the The most wonderful exhibition of rep-
pond side but a single shower too tile life that I have ever seen was
often only raises false hopes of pro- not in England, but on a Swiss Alp,
gress. which became alive after rain with fat,
In the rain of yesterday the grass jolly little salamanders, all crowding
in the hedgerows was adorned not only and tumbling upon each other, and
by the watery gems, but also by the with their jet-black skins shining with
many varieties of the common little moisture.
snail which we all know so well (Helix One kind of living creature does
nemoralis) on the downs, and in all not relish rain I mean the fully
8 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
developed insects. But in the early even for an ordinary walk young
stages of their career they have owed ladies used to take some time to " get
so much to rain and moisture, that in ready." The little heroine of that de-
later life they have to take things as lightful novel Northanger Abbey, could
they come. The larvae of all insects not walk by the Avon at Bath with
are themselves moist, and need mois- Henry Tilney and his sister because
ture to give them bodily comfort it came on to rain ; and it is pathetic
and the vegetable matter on which to contemplate her grief as she watched
they feed. Caterpillars must have their the first drops on the window panes,
food-plant, which cannot grow without " Oh dear, I do believe it will be
moisture ; so that when we see the wet," broke from her in a most des-
Mayflies crushed by a thunder shower, pairing tone. In these days healthy
or miss the butterflies on a wet day, English men, women, boys and girls,
we have to reflect that they would do not mind ram. Last spring, landing
be neither Mayflies nor butterflies if it on the coast of Asia Minor, a hundred
had not been for the kindly rain. As and fifty of us, old and young, were
to spiders, I am half inclined to guess wetted through by a thunderstorm
that they are abnormal and dislike in ten minutes ; we pushed on, and
rain from infancy upwards ; but this no one seemed to mind. Here, in
I must leave to the specialist. the sweet gentle rain of the Atlantic,
So it would seem that man, and we ought to be quite content. And
almost all if not quite all the creatures we need be in no hurry to get home
that live around him, are the better quickly, if we would see the earth
for rain and ought to enjoy it. Long and all its creatures rejoicing under
ago we used to be afraid of it, and the genial influence of the moisture.
II
THE OTTER'S HOLT
" To climb the trackless mountains all unseen . . .
This is not solitude ; 'tis but to hold
Converse with Nature's charms, and view her charms unrolled."
BYRON.
" '^TMSN'T a fox as lives in the Marged's passage door and have done
A White Stones, sir," said my with ploughing and shearing; he'd
visitor, " so you were wrong in your be welcome. There's a lovely life
guess when you sent me to watch he'd be having with Anne Marged !
there yesterday. As far as I can She'd be fussing over 'n like a hen
make out, the ' run ' leading down with one chick ; for, as you're know-
from the earn to the pond where old ing, sir, she's an old maid, and for
Aben washes his sheep is ' travelled ' all that she's a good-tempered body.
by a different sort of animal. No- And once an old maid gets the fellow
body but ourselves need know that, she's dulling on, she's like a mother
whatever. A sheep-dog might turn and a missus and a lass all in one to
clap-cat, but then, Aben's shepherd 'n. She don't take count of things
don't go up so high on the moor, for like shortness o' breath, not she ! 'cept
he can see what's nigh the earn from to mix bottles and bottles of camphor
the foot of the hill, without climbing oil to rub on his chest ; and why ! all
among the rocks. As for old Aben 'twixt her and him' s like a second spring,
hisself, his breath's a bit too short as comes in the fall of the year."
for clambering about the White Stones. My companion was an interesting
Nigh every week, for years, on market gossip, and I let him ramble on with
day in the village, Anne Marged his story of Aben's infirmities, his
Jones at the shop's been giving 'n camphor oil and herb tea, and how by
a packet of peppermint drops, extra- smoking the sun-dried leaves of colts-
strong, to lengthen his breath, but foot the sufferer had sometimes found
they don't work, and I s'pose hill- relief when Anne Marged's peppermint
climbing '11 never be much to his drops were ineffectual. Presently the
mind the more. tale was again of wild life on the moor.
" It would be better for Aben to " Twas just about sundown when
come down from the farm, and hang I got to the earn, sir. You'd told
up his hat on the nail behind Anne me not to let anybody see me once
10 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
I'd passed Mountain Gate, so I went down the dry bed of the stream, with
along the rough path by the bog, his family in the rear. He crooded
where the furze was tall, and up the (crouched) down close by a small
bed of the stream in the dingle to the heather bush. I couldn't see what
foot of the earn. Half-way from the was happening to his mate and the
furze I came across a sure fox-sign, poults, but I judged they were putting
as I thought half-a-dozen white fea- up for the night close by. Thinks I,
thers from the breast of a duckling. ' One or two of that family '11 be miss-
' Aben's ducks don't come so far up ing afore dawn ; if there's a vixen
the dingle of their own accord,' says with cubs hereabouts she's certain to
I to myself ; ' it seems to me a vixen's use the path down to the brook, and
busy with a family in the earn.' she'll come plump on 'em in their sleep.'
" Well, I climbed the White Stones "I watched and watched, but
near to the top, and settled down nothing like a fox came out of the
comfortable in the fern, so's I could earn, though about midnight I heard
view a likely opening or two below a pebble rolling down to the edge of
me. By-and-by, old Aben passed up the little stream the water's only a
the opposite hill, holding his sides, and trickle now, the weather's been so
coughing now and then, on his way dry and I fancied, a minute after,
for his drop of beer in the Farmer's that a fern moved, as if some animal
Arms at the cross-roads. 'Twas brushed under it. But I couldn't
wonderful how well I could hear 'n well see the ground between this spot
the air was so still. When he was and the lowest of the big stones in the
far on the edge of the moor, up jumped earn, so I crawled to the other side,
a covey of grouse, not two hundred and lay where I could get a better
yards from the Stones, and came fly- view. I tried my best to keep awake,
ing straight to the place where I was but the mountain air was too strong
hiding, two old birds and a lot of for me, and made me go to sleep. I
little poults as seemed proud they woke just afore dawning, after a
could fly. They lit on the ground couple of hours rest, and felt as fresh
about twenty or thirty yards from as a lark. I thought I'd surely see
the Stones, in a big clump of heather the vixen afore long, or not at all, so I
and fern. I kept my eye on the spot, settled to watch once more. The
and soon the cock grouse walked sky grew brighter and brighter above
THE OTTER'S HOLT 11
the furthest hills, and though the hills the sound wouldn't come right ; per-
looked black against the sky, there haps he'd been short of practice since
was a cold, white light about the earn, his courting days ; anyrate, a minute
" Sudden-like, I heard a stone fall- after he seemed quite frightened by
ing again by the stream, and made the noise he'd made, and ran as fast
out some grey "animal climbing through as he could in and out of the heather
the shadows into the light. Then I bushes to a mound where some sheep
saw, as it came nearer, 'twas a full- had scratched a shelter from the wind,
sized otter carrying something in her Once there, he felt safe, and, drooping
mouth. She came to a sort of gallery his wings, he strutted about as if the
between the rock I was lying on and whole moor belonged to 'n. One little
the next, so close that by leaning poult, then another, and another,
over I could have touched her with till I counted ten of 'em, came from
my beating-pole. She must have the place where they'd been hiding
smelt me, I fancy, for she disappeared, for the night ; and, last of all, the
with a gallop like a weasel's, under hen showed herself. The little 'uns
a block of stone at the end of the ran here and there, pecking and
gallery. I found the opening later on squabbling, but never far from their
in the morning, and, what's more, I mother ; and she walked, stately-
learnt, by some feathers lying about, like, and taking plenty of time, to
that 'twas a grouse-poult she'd carried where her mate was playing pranks
in her mouth. on the ' tump.' By the mound was
' I stayed on the rock, and finished an open place, with a fringe of heather
the bread and cheese I'd brought in hardly a foot high, and, behind this,
my pocket. Nothing was stirring on furze and fern and heather standing
the moor. The morning drew nigh tall. The old birds looked quite con-
to sunrise when the ferns and heather tent, and like to stay there for hours,
moved again by the stream, and out till the sun got strong,
walked the old cock grouse into the " I'll never see a prettier picture
open. He trimmed his feathers, than that family of feeding grouse
stretched his wings, scratched his neck at home on the moor. Nature's kind
with his claws, and then, standing to wild creatures, sir ; a lot kinder
high on his legs, he tried to crow, than to me and you. We've got the
But somehow he'd forgotten the trick; power to think, and think, to be
12 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
sorry for what we've done, and to shelter under the hen don't ' jug ' in
hope that such-and-such a thing won't a ring at night, like partridges ; they
happen to us ; and we've' got to pay sit here and there, or in twos and
dear for it. When I'm lying abed o' threes, it may be, though never far
nights, sometimes I'm fancying what from the old birds. The poult the
'11 happen to me when I'm sick, an' otter caught was a bit too independent
haven't got a penny in my pocket ; and slept further than he ought to've
and the sweat pours down my for' head done from the rest of the brood
with the very thoughts of it. English that was easy to believe from the
people, they say, don't understand marks on the ground and so, I should
us in the West, 'cause after a funeral say, the old birds hadn't been fright-
we're as like as not to get drunk at the ened. Even if they had been, they'd
inn. 'Tis the black misery and doubt recovered by the time I saw 'em.
and lonesomeness of death that we're " In the open by the mound the
fearing. We can see just what's going old birds were browsing on the tender
to be with us some day. It's awful ; heather-shoots, pecking at 'em and
and to shut it out we grab at the jug nipping 'em off dainty-like, for all
of beer or the whisky bottle, so's we the world like poultry catching flies
might forget we're certain to follow on the tops of the long grass in a
the poor thing we lowered into the meadow. But the poults amused
earth. me most. They'd run from side to
" But wild creatures be different side, over the mound, or out into the
they don't rack their brains about narrow path leading to the stream,
what's happened or likely to happen, as restless as bees. One would take
They just take life as it comes ; one a fancy for a sprig of heather the hen
bad sickness or one accident, then was pulling at, and would reach up
it's over. And I'm often wishing to on tip-toe and nip it off right beneath
be like 'em. The grouse on the the old bird's beak. Another, by
mountain didn't worry about the mistake, would break a spray that
little poult carried by the otter to the was too big to be swallowed whole,
earn they'd no power to do it. Per- and there'd be a race and a tug-o'-war.
haps they didn't even know the otter Whenever the cock found something
'd been that way. You see, sir, grouse- extra good, he'd cluck softly and call
poults when they grow too big to the youngsters, and they'd gather
41
f F-
22
J3
2 os
E O
C
THE OTTER'S HOLT 13
round him, all eager and inquisitive, was time for the morning's forty
and ready to squabble the minute he winks.
showed 'em what he had. " I thought I'd seen enough, so I
' He was keen on teaching 'em to climbed quietly down the far side of
scratch at the soil where the sheep the rock, and crawled round to look
had been lying on the shady side of for the otter's ' holt.' Twas a pity
the ' tump ' ; I think he was searching I hadn't waited. I peeped from the
for seeds and beetles, or perhaps for stones, and there, on the pebbles by
the ticks that the sheep had left behind, the watercourse, was the otter, run-
After all the birds had fed they squatted ning fast down the path in the direction
by the mound they'd no need to go of the sheep-pond, while the covey
to drink, for the dew had been so of grouse was on the wing, and just
thick on the heather that I saw it turning round the hill on their way to
fly off in a tiny cloud when the old the bog. The otter must have come
birds plucked the shoots. There the out and disturbed the birds when I
grouse sat in the sun, and presently was climbing down the earn,
all but two were dozing. The two " I thought the best thing left for
that kept awake were the hen and a me was to find out the entrance to the
poult sitting close together. The little ' holt,' and learn all I could as to how
'n would stroke the old 'n's breast, and where the otter 'd caught the
running his beak up through the poult. Her ' spur ' was on a soft
feathers in a gentle coaxing sort of patch of gravel at a bend of the little
way. In her turn, the hen would brook, and I should say she'd taken a
lower her head and pet him, as if she short cut from that place to the earn,
was fonder of him than of any of the when she happened on the grouse,
others. Then these two moved, lay Unless I'd seen her, I'd never have
down in the loose earth close under believed she'd live so far from good
the ' tump,' and wallowed and pecked, fishing and so high up on a moor,
and kicked up the soil over their wings And why did she leave her ' holt ' in
and back, till at last, when they'd broad daylight, 'cept because she had
dusted every feather, they stood cubs, and was ravenous for food to
up, shook themselves, and found it help her in her mothering ? "
Ill
THE FLOWERS OF EARLY SPRING
"Once more the Heavenly Power
Makes all things new."
T 7ERY early in the year " the dant in certain spots of the Undercliff
wandering herbalist " meets with in the Isle of Wight, and in the grounds
" sweet omens of approaching spring." of Swainston, not far from Farringford,
The " harmless " but happy man, as where Tennyson wrote the touching
he passes down the sheltered lane or lines in memory of ' The Prince of
through the leafless wood, will notice Courtesy "
here and there, if the snow be not too Nightingales warbled without,
thick upon the ground, evidences of Within was ^P^ for ^-
returning life and beauty. The sap It also grows at Portchester, beneath
at any rate is stirring in the forest the shadow of the Norman keep, and
trees ; the catkins on the hazel are in most seasons is in full blossom by
beginning to show themselves ; the the third week of January. The win-
glossy leaves of the arum are shooting ter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis), as
up from among the withered leaves, its name indicates, is another early
and it may be a few flowers of the flower, and is frequently in bloom
common groundsel or the humble before the first month of the year has
chickweed are opening their petals run its course. As a garden plant
to the winter's sun. this species with its solitary pale yel-
In the gardens, even in January, low flowers is well known, but it is
the Christmas rose is in full flower, sometimes to be seen in a semi-wild
and in some warm sheltered places state. There is a large patch of it
the sweet-scented coltsfoot (Petasites beside a lane in the parish of Farring-
fragrans) may be found. This plant, don, where, it will be remembered,
sometimes called from its delicate Gilbert White was curate for twenty-
fragrance the winter heliotrope, has five years. He must often have passed
become naturalized in many localities the spot, which is not far from the
in the south of England. It is abun- ancient church in which he officiated,
14
THE FLOWERS OF EARLY SPRING 15
but he does not allude to it in his tioned in this passage, both the
famous book. It is, however, interest- hellebores are still to be found at
ing to notice that he mentions the Selborne. White speaks of the Helle-
plant in a passage which is not in- borus foetidus as growing " all over
appropriate to the subject of these the High Wood and Coney Croft
papers. " Of all the propensities of Hanger," and adds, " the good women
plants," he writes, " none seems more give the leaves powdered to sick
strange than their different periods of children ; but it is a violent remedy,
blossoming. Some produce their flowers and ought to be administered with
in the winter or very first dawnings caution." This handsome evergreen
of spring ; many when the spring is plant, allied to the Christmas roses of
established ; some at midsummer ; cultivation, and in the olden times
and some not till autumn. When we intimately associated with the practice
see the Helleborus foetidus blowing at of herbalism, is one of the most in-
Christmas, the Eranthis hyemalis in teresting in our native flora. Old
January, and the Helleborus viridis Gerarde, as we should expect, has
as soon as ever it emerges out of the much to say with regard to its vir-
ground, we do not wonder because tues. He calls it the " Ox-heele or
they are kindred plants that we expect Setter-wort, which names," he adds,
should keep pace the one with the " are taken from his vertues in curing
other. But other congenerous plants oxen and such like cattell." He then
differ so widely in their time of flower- goes on to explain the method by
ing that we cannot but admire." Of which " the old Farriers or horse-
these he instances the crocus, of which leeches " were wont to work : " They
the vernal species expands its flowers, cut a slit or hole in the dewlap, as
as in the meadows near Nottingham, they terme it (which is an emptie
by the beginning of March, while the skinne under the throat of the beast)
autumnal " defies the influence of wherein they put a piece of the root
spring and summer, and will not blow of Setter-wort, suffering it there to
till most plants begin to fade and remaine for certaine daies together :
run to seed. This circumstance," he which manner of curing they do call
adds, " is one of the wonders of Settering of their cattell." The plant,
creation." from White's entry, was clearly abun-
Of the early-flowering plants men- dant at Selborne in his day ; and as
16 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
late as the middle of the last century under the name of " Germane olive
it occurred in " considerable plenty " spurge " or " dwarf e Bay tree, called
in the rough stony ground about St. of Dutchmen Mezereon," says that it
Lawrence in the Isle of Wight. In " growes naturally in moist and shadow
both localities the plant has now woods of most of the East countries,
become exceedingly scarce, but in the especially about Nelvin in Poland,
spring of 1888 some six or seven plants from whence," he adds, " I have had
were in flower on Selborne Hill. great plenty for my garden, where
-As early as the month of January, they flower in the first of the spring,
unless the season be exceptionally and ripen their fruit in August."
severe, the spurge laurel (Daphne Ray, again, does not include it in his
laureola) will be flowering in many of Synopsis of British plants. Still it
our woods. This handsome evergreen is considered by Babbington and other
shrub, at first sight not unlike a rho- distinguished authorities to be a na-
dodendron, but with inconspicuous tive plant ; and it certainly appears
yellow-green flowers, is highly poison- to be indigenous in the counties of
ous, and like the hellebore was for- Sussex and Hants. In his Gardeners'
merly employed as a horse medicine. Dictionary, published in 1752, Miller
For this purpose it used to be gathered says, "There have been many of
in the Sussex woods, and taken to the these plants taken out of some woods
Chichester and Portsmouth markets near Andover in Hampshire." In 1778
for sale. A near relative of the spurge Gilbert White records it as growing
or wood-laurel, but far rarer, is the on " Selborne Hanger among the shrubs
beautiful Daphne mezereum, whose frag- at the south-east end above the cot-
rant pink flowers appear before the tages." In the middle of the last
leaves early in March, and are fol- century it is reported as occurring in
lowed by bright scarlet berries. This the woods about Bishop's Sutton,
most attractive shrub, though not West Meon, and other places in Hamp-
uncommon in cottage gardens, is now shire. Since then the records of its
scarce in a wild state, and is very existence have been few and doubtful,
seldom met with. It is curious that and repeated search has failed to find
the older botanists are silent as to the it on Selborne Hill. It was feared
occurrence of this plant in Britain, that the plant had become extinct,
Gerarde, who includes it in his Herbal owing, at any rate in part, to the
THE FLOWERS OF EARLY SPRING 17
practice of transplanting it into cot- Wood, when cutting the undergrowth,
tage gardens. For many years I he had seen as many as a score of
searched its ancient haunts in vain, plants together. They were mostly,
In spite of the friendly co-operation he said, in the corner of the copse
of gamekeepers and woodmen in dif- near the great fir trees. Another old
ferent parts of the county, not a shrub woodman, nearly ninety years of age,
could be discovered. At last we were confirmed the statement. They were
successful. A woodman wrote to say common, he said, when he was a boy ;
he had found the " mezell." I at he had often rooted 'em up to put in
once started for the wood, some ten his garden ; but he " hadn't seen n'ere
or twelve miles distant, and there to a one for many years." An old lady
my delight I counted no less than who had done field work all her days,
twenty-two plants, many of them in told much the same story ; but they
flower. The bright pink blossoms still grew, she asserted, in William's
looked most attractive, while their Wood : the plant in her garden came
fragrance was delicious. The woodman from there some fifteen years ago ;
knew of other plants, he said, else- she" know' d where to find the mezell."
where, but except in flower they were I promised her five shillings if she
" wonderful difficult " to find ; still would find a plant and take me to
when the red berries were ripe it was see it. She went several times to
possible to distinguish them again, the wood, which was close to her cot-
The rabbits, he said, were the worst tage, but not a plant could she find,
enemies of the " mezell " ; if it weren't The rabbits had destroyed 'em, she
for the rabbits the plant would be said. It was clear, however, that the
common enough. A few years later, mezereon used to grow in William's
in answer to an inquiry, he wrote Wood, and as recently as twelve or
that the plant had become very scarce, fifteen years ago, and it was doubtless
he could " only find one tree but what there still if only one could chance to
have been bit off by the rabbits." light upon it. At length, after many
In my last parish, near Petersfield, fruitless searches, diligence was re-
the mezereon was to be found in two warded, and on March 13, 1900, on a
woods. The old sexton; who had steep slope of the wood close to an
done much copsing in his younger ancient yew tree, I came across a fine
days, assured me that in William's bush, of several years' growth, covered
2
18 THE BOOK OF
with its sweet scented blossoms. In
the following spring I found a second
plant " near the great fir trees," and
another in a wood hard by where the
wild snowdrop grows. So the Daphne
mezereum may still be reckoned among
our indigenous wild flowers of early
spring at any rate in the county of
Hants.
By the time the pink flowers of the
mezereon have faded and the berries
have begun to swell, nature has as-
sumed a more springlike aspect. Along
the hedgerows the lesser celandine
(Ranunculus ficaria) so dear to the
poet Wordsworth, stars with its golden
flowers the mossy banks. In damp
spots the charming little moschatel
may perchance be found ; while vio-
lets, both the sweet scented and the
dog violet, are everywhere. The deli-
cate vernal whitlow-grass (Erophila
vulgaris, DC.} will be noticed on many
an old wall, and on the railway em-
bankment the bright yellow coltsfoot
is making a brave show. Out in the
woods many species are now in flower.
In places the dog's mercury (Mer-
curialis perennis) completely covers
the ground with its dark green foliage.
The wood-spurge (Euphorbia amygda-
loides) is very conspicuous with its
THE OPEN AIR
leathery leaves touched with purple
and its pale yellowish-green flowers.
The anemones and primroses are in
all their glory, and never are the woods
so enchanting as when they are in
flower. In some localities the common
daffodil (Narcissus pseudo-narcissus")
or Lent lily as it is sometimes called,
is also to be found ; and there are
few more beautiful sights on a sunny
day in early spring than " a host of
golden daffodils fluttering and dancing
in the breeze." Of Wordsworth's daffo-
dils his sister wrote, ' ' They grew
among the mossy stones ; . . . some
rested their heads on these stones as
on a pillow, the rest tossed and reeled
and danced, and seemed as if they
verily laughed with the wind they
looked so gay and glancing." No
wonder that this lovely flower
That comes before the swallow dares and takes
The winds of March with beauty.
has been dear to the poets. Herrick's
exquisite lines are well-known. " Nar-
cissus," sings Shelley,
the fairest among them all,
Who gaze on their eyes in the stream's recess
Till they die of their own dear loveliness.
" A thing of beauty," cries Keats,
" is a joy for ever. . . .
and such are daffodils,
With the green world they live in."
ra.
s
r
o
_j
!*
ef
> .3
* ~T
IV
SOME ENGLISH BUTTERFLIES
" Unpiloted in the sun . . .
With idle effort plundering one by one
The nectaries of deepest-throated blooms."
ROBERT BRIDGES.
~\ yfOTHS and butterflies alike are with the shadow of specific infinity,
embraced in one great order it is this brilliant vitality, this natural
of insects, and the scientific distinc- citizenship of the sun, which marks
tion between them is often uncertain out butterflies among insects with a
and obscure. But the butterflies supreme attraction and charm,
have, above all, a delight of pure and When the first day comes in March
ardent living in the sunshine which when the air is quick with awakening
is the real distinction of their race, life, and the earth drinks deep of new,
though the needs of science may have hot, golden splendour from a sun now
enforced recourse to an exacter stan- high in heaven, the seal is set on re-
dard of discrimination based upon turning spring by the great yellow
the form and fashion of their feeler- wings of the Brimstone butterfly, pur-
tips. There are a few moths, it is posefully beating down the rides and
true, which love the sunshine better lanes like a visible concentration of
than the night ; but no single butter- the light. With him, or even before
fly has willing traffic with the hours him, in the illusory brightness of
of darkness, unless, exceptionally and some halcyon winter noon, there ap-
rarely, for some syrup-loving and bibu- pear three or four other species of a
lous Red Admiral, which may be found different family, of which the charac-
still clinging drowsily in its cups to a teristic predominant colour is deep and
rotting pear or plum in the warm brilliant red. The commonest of
September garden, under the canopy these early spring butterflies are the
of a moonless sky. Even more than Small Tortoiseshell, the Peacock with
the beauty of their colouring, which is his rich eye-pattern, and the Brim-
by no means always greater than that stones, male and female, in their
of the moths, or than the absence brilliant yellow and delicate primrose-
from among their number of that dim green. Scarcer but still regular
and multitudinous fringe of mote-like pioneers of spring are the Large Tor-
life which confuses the moth-world toiseshell, which has a tawnier dash
10
20 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
in its red, and the strangely-fretted and the touch of pathos in this contrast
Comma, with its outline like a jagged is nowhere expressed more fully than
shell. These, with three or four others when a torn red Tortoiseshell butter-
seen more rarely, make up the large fly, that winter has scarcely spared,
and brilliant vanguard of the return- alights in the new March sunshine on
ing butterfly year ; and yet none of a golden, fresh-blown dandelion flower,
this band are true children of the brilliant in every petal with the tender
reviving spring, but all are age-worn luxuriance of spring,
survivors of last September's sun, Spring waxes and deepens, the
which, by a special dispensation of young leaves spread and glisten where
Nature, have slept out the winter's dark all was bare, and presently there
and cold. If they are closely scanned, comes the day when the first new
basking on the warm gravel walk as is butterflies of the year wing their way
the habit of the red " Vanessae," the abroad in the morning sunshine, with
eye will mark at once how sadly they an unstained freshness of life and
are scarred and worn with accident colour as beautiful as the larch's
and age. The strong, compact wings misty green, or the song of the chaf-
of the Brimstones seem usually in finches in the limes. The day of last
better case, but even the Brimstones year's veterans is done, as soon as
appear tarnished and faded under the their eggs have been laid on the
first suns of spring. The battered young nettle or buckthorn shoots, to
brightness of these hibernating butter- bring forth in due time, through
flies in the new spring sunshine is in threefold mutations of development,
striking harmony with the withered the full brood of late summer and
and sluggish torpor which the earth early autumn. In harmony with the
still shows under the first full flood of whole tone of the spring, the colours
revivifying light. The earth, too, is of the April butterflies are as delicate
defaced and sore with winter, cum- and fresh as those of the Vanessae
bered with bleached and matted and the Brimstones are deep and full,
herbage where the new shoots are The Common White of the cabbage-
only now swiftly springing, and bared gardens has a cool purity of colour,
to the brilliant sun with still arid and as it flutters down a moist upspringing
frost-scarred clods. Such days have hedge-bank of blue speedwells and
all the poignancy of a siege relieved; starry stitchwort, which we forget to
SOME ENGLISH BUTTERFLIES 21
notice when high summer has multi- vanish, the last of the childhood of the
plied its numbers. Much more beau- year.
tiful still is the Orange-tip of the The tints of the butterflies deepen
May lanes and meadows, dusted and as the year advances, and from month
chequered with gold and green on its to month, by meadow, woodland and
under surface, and with half the white moor, the quivering pictures multiply
fore-wings of the male dipped in a that they inlay with their wings
brilliant orange-red. It lives out its among the blossoms and verdure that
life during the flower-time of the each species loves. For each butter-
white cow-parsley, mimicking this fly has its own flowers, its scenery,
blossom, which it loves to haunt, by its weather ; the Wood Argus, if
the fretted whiteness of its wings ; and carried by rough winds into the open
its pure tints brightly flushed with meadows, is as sad and hurried a
mounting summer seem the very in- fugitive as Noah's dove upon the
carnation, in light winged form, of the unrestful waters, and there is no home
essential spirit of May. Another of among the glades and shadows for the
the first spring butterflies which wear Marbled Whites of the downside, or
all the tender freshness of the season the Graylings of the heath and wold,
is the Holly or Azure Blue, earliest of This dependence upon particular
its tribe, and almost more beautiful localities, and on the food-plants of
than them all in its cerulean lustre, the caterpillars which they support,
backed with a frosted silver more de- has naturally had a great effect upon
licate than the seed-pearl pattern of the increase and diminution of parti-
the Common Blues of the June hay- cular species. With the gradual
fields. White butterflies by the warm drainage of the fen countries, the
bank where the adders bask, sun- Large Copper has become wholly ex-
kindled Orange-tips on the white tinct, and the Swallowtail is now very
hemlock and pale mauve cuckoo- rare and local ; on the other hand,
flower, and Holly Blues flickering the Large and Common Whites un-
headlong out of the sky that hides doubtedly owe their commonness at
them across the dark sheen of their the present day to the universal cul-
lustrous home-boughs all the voice- tivation of the cabbages and other
less beauty of the mounting spring is garden plants on which the cater-
in those wings, and we lose, when they pillars feed. Before such green garden-
22 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
stuff was universally grown in Eng- ranges, the tendency to such local
land, these Whites must have been differences is often seen at work,
among the scarcer English butter- Those large and handsome moths, the
flies. Even to-day, on such a remote Fox, the Oak Eggar and the Drinker
fringe of British civilization as some (of which the two former are as sun-
of the outer Hebrides, it is strange to loving as the Brimstone itself) display a
see how the Common White is a remarkable difference between the big,
scarce insect haunting the few island bright-coloured insects of the South,
gardens, while the desolate peat-moors and the small, dark race of the North,
are covered with the rare Large Heath, As April swells into May, and May
a butterfly of the waste and morass into June, the tribes of the butterflies
which is scarcely seen in England, and increase, until about midsummer and
only in certain narrow and desolate hay-time the greatest number of species
areas. The disappearance of the are on the wing at any one moment
British Large Copper is all the more of the year. In these earlier days
to be regretted since it formed a of summer the brightest pictures of
distinct island species which had ac- butterfly life are to be seen in the
quired, in ages of separate life, marked broken woods and copses, and all such
differences from the kindred butter- clean, luxuriant places where the sun
fly of the Continent, which is still shines freely down upon a mixed
anything but rare. The British race carpet of many-coloured flowers, and
of the Camberwell Beauty, the magni- green bosses of irregular verdure
ficent cousin of the Peacocks and Red mounting to the tree-tops in the light.
Admirals, which also seems to have As the woods and copses deepen to
become extinct within the memory of the full luxuriance of May, year by
men of middle age, had also a definite year the quiet, blossom-starred rides
distinction of colour which separated are filled with the chequered red-
it from the rich and stately insect brown wings of the two smaller Pearl-
still to be seen by every August visitor bordered species of Fritillary, first of
to the Alps or the Rhine. Even their splendid tribe. No less faithful
within the bounds of England itself, to the wood-ride and to May are the
where there is no such rigorous separa- Large Skippers, spinning from leaf
tion of races as is imposed by the to flower on wings of a kindred golden
barrier of the sea or great mountain brown, but of a hue not quite so rich
SOME ENGLISH BUTTERFLIES 23
and warm as the true Fritillary glow, vividly and characteristically with the
With the reddish and the golden brown bright spring flowers,
of those sun-loving, companionable The butterfly-pictures of the year
wings, there comes up linked in grow no less distinct and characteris-
memory the whole bright yearly tic as the verdure deepens under
mosaic of the copses of flowery May. midsummer skies, though they mul-
Everywhere, in the herbage of the tiply greatly in number, and spread
rides, still richer with promise than from their earlier sheltering coverts
with fruition, there shines the veined across the whole face of the land. In
turquoise blue of the self-heal or the June copses, when the carpet of
prunella, and the lighter yellow spikes cow-wheat and prunella has been sub-
of dragon - mouthed cow -wheat ; merged by the rising growth, the
spotted orchises shine in the moister frosted silver of the bramble blossom
grassy places, and tall, stripling shakes itself to birth over the uncurl-
thistles begin to push skyward their ing fronds of bracken ; and when the
tight purple knobs. On the blue and cool, white bramble-blossom is born
the purple blossoms quiver the rich in the middle year, then the lordlier
brown wings of the Skippers and Fritillary monarchs come forth to
Fritillaries, and among them are al- bask and feast upon it in the glades,
ways to be seen, in the true May copses There is no more beautiful picture in
of southern England, two slender- the midsummer woods than the deep,
bodied Geometer moths, the cool, golden rides of oak and hazel and
shining Silver-ground Carpet, which springing bracken, where the High
seems so common as to overflow into Brown and Silver-washed Fritillaries
the daylight from its secret hiding- seem the proud and conscious mon-
places, and that welcome and delicate archs, sailing down the fair-way of
harlequin, the Speckled Yellow, in his the sunshine on broad wings of deep-
fancy dress of warm chocolate and ened sunlight glow, or fanning and
orange. The Grizzly and Dingy Skip- poising in ecstasy on some large June
pers are also abroad in May ; but they flower, while the sheen of the silver
are hardly such thorough copse-butter- mail of their under sides flashes for a
flies as their largest brothers, friends moment and is withdrawn again from
of the early Fritillaries, and their the light. Now, too, in woodland and
darker colouring does not combine so leafy places the midsummer sunshine
24 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
brings forth the smaller but beautiful In the week when the days are
Hairstreak butterflies, of which even longest, the hayfields and hedgesides
the commoner species are curiously suddenly become alive with the corn-
fitful and capricious in their periodic mon Large Meadow Brown, a butter-
appearances. The Green Hairstreak fly which is even hardier than the
is perhaps the most generally dis- Ringlet of the woods, and through
tributed of all this tribe ; but it is long weeks of forbidding and flooded
the Purple Hairstreak that appears, summers, is sometimes almost the
in certain summers, in such large and only butterfly to be seen. It belongs
brilliant companies as to become one to the same great general group as
of the most conspicuous of the butter- the Ringlets, a group which includes
flies of the wood. Often the high oak- not only its own warmer-coloured
crowns, or the lower sapling shoots, kinsman, the Small Meadow Brown,
are alive in June with the shot purple but also the rare Large Heath and the
of these busy little butterflies, dancing very common Small one of every
and resting on the sprays and extremi- waste and grass-patch, the Wood
ties of the boughs ; and sometimes Argus, the warm, stone-basking Wall
the fancy takes them to descend in or Gatekeeper, the Grayling of the
mass to the bramble-blossoms of some July wolds and moorlands, and
woodside hedge, where the orange- numerous butterflies more. Often by
dotted grey of their under wings con- the very side of the Swiss glaciers,
trasts in singular beauty with the rich some sober, graceful little insect may
velvety bloom and flashing plaques of be seen contentedly basking on the
their upper surface. The bloom of the hungry boulders, and this will be one
Purple Hairstreak is peculiarly deli- of the " Browns " ; and on our own
cate and fugitive, even for the gloss of Cumberland mountains, never at a
a butterfly's wing ; the lightest touch height much less than 2,000 feet above
destroys it, and its frailty is only the sea, there dwells one dusky,
equalled by the dark velvety green of orange-flushed little creature, the
the larger, glade-loving Ringlet, with Mountain Ringlet, which is our special
its varying series of fine golden circles, English representative of the Alpine
which flaps abroad, in unconquerable, butterfly fauna, and a relic of the
somnolent hardihood, even under the glacial age. There is a rare pleasure
wettest and most lowering skies, in seeing this valorous film of life
SOME ENGLISH BUTTERFLIES 25
emerging to battle with his peers and filmy, clouded azure seems to repro-
to rejoice in the keen, high mountain duce the heat-dimmed lustre of the
sunshine, when the cloud-world rolls skies of their native July, just as the
away from the high Great Gable grass- Holly Blue had the fresh skies of
slopes, or the shores of Sprinkling April in its wings, and the Common
Tarn, under huge Bow Fell, and the Blue the midsummer brightness of
eye ranges afar, over peak and cloven June. Most brilliant and burnished of
dale, to Man in the western sea. all is the colour of the Clifden Blue,
But even before the swarm of a local but not uncommon butterfly
homely, flapping Meadow Browns sud- of southern hills, where, too, the dusky
denly appear with new June suits in Small or Bedford Blue is often to be
the meadows, the hayfields and open found, dancing or drowsing, among
commons have been mustering their the wild down hay-crop of June,
tribes of butterfly life. When the The common Brown Argus is a little
large ox-eye daisies begin to fill the Blue that is no blue, but has the upper
fields with pools and lakes of silver, surface of its wings of a rich, dark
the Common Blues appear in their brown, with a border of orange dots ;
multitudes upon the blossoms of the the male of the Common Blue is also
standing grass, and are henceforward much smaller and duskier than the
a constant feature of the summer, female, but it has always a bluish-
They are swiftly followed by many purple gloss in the middle of the wing
others of their beautiful tribe ; and which distinguishes it from the Brown
all of them are creatures of the grass Argus, often seen dancing beside it on
fields and the blossoms of the grass, the same fields and hillsides. From
unlike the earliest Holly Blues of late May to the time of the autumn
April, which haunted the outer sides frosts the fields and heathy places are
of sunny shrubberies and thickets, also brightened by the Small Copper, a
Another brood of the Holly Blues kind of fox-terrier among butterflies,
appears, indeed, in late July or inquisitive, pugnacious, and full of
August ; but with this exception, vigour and brisk attractiveness,
the Blues are characteristic butter- Sometimes in the heat of the dog-
flies of the fields and downs. Most days, when the hay is all carried and
noticeable among them are the large, the dewless meadows parched and
pale-winged Chalk Hill Blues, whose bare, the Common Blues and Coppers
26 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
wander forth from their usual haunts, loftiest, sky-fronting pinnacles of the
and may be seen exploring the un- oaks. As for the common reproach
wonted closes of lawns and gardens, that the high-soaring Purple Emperor
in quest of the measure of moist cool- can be lured to earth by any carrion
ness which they need. For though bait, provided it be corrupt and filthy
butterflies are such lovers of sunshine, enough, the accusation gains most of
their delicate lives cannot endure the its force from the very unworthiness
absolute drought of the desert ; and of its defamation. So far as it is
in the fieriest July weather the beau- true, it only deserves to be overlooked
tiful sight may often be seen of a and unrecorded ; and in point of fact,
thirsty cloud of Blues or Whites as little heed will commonly be paid
fluttering and settling on a wet patch by a court of Purple Emperors to any
where water has been spilt in the earth-born carrion that may defile
dusty roadway, or at the moist edge the low shore of the wood beneath
of a pool or running stream. them as by the white clouds of heaven,
Deep in the southern oakwoods in afloat a little above.
July the great Purple Emperors hold As July passes into August, the
court round the airy crests of the whole fashion of nature takes a deeper
boughs, amid a silence so songless and and statelier range. The characteris-
solemn that the rustle of their own tic butterflies of latest summer and
high, flashing wings may sometimes early autumn are those species of large
be heard in the sunshine above the size and rich depth of colour, of which
murmur of omnipresent insect life the residue outsleep the dark interval
that is the warp and woof of the of winter, to appear in the sunshine
stillness. There is indeed a majesty of the reviving year. Through August
about the soaring, indifferent flight of and September the deep red wings of
this brilliant butterfly of the forest the Peacocks, Tortoiseshells and their
solitudes which sets it apart on a kin assemble in regal troops on the
regal pinnacle of distinction ; only the large flowers of later summer in the
Swallowtail can equal it in its con- gardens, or on a few well-loved
scious supremacy, its indifferent joy blossoms of the field or streamside,
in spacious flight, and even the Swal- such as the tall hemp agrimony of the
lowtail does not aspire to haunt for reed beds, with its mauve, cottony
hours and days together only the plumes, the marjoram flower of the
SOME ENGLISH BUTTERFLIES 27
wide thyme-scented downs, and, most moment as they probe the honeyed
of all, on the pale purple, nodding flowers ; one keen wing-profile, or
scabious of the autumn pastures and brilliant eye-pattern, after another,
dry slopes. The most splendid but- catches the sight across the purple
terfly picture of all the year is one shimmer of the field, and only rarely
of these wide September hillsides of this absorbing insect concentration is
purple scabious blossom, thronged and broken for a moment as a brilliant
crowded with the floating and fanning Peacock or Red Admiral leaves its last
wings of hundreds of butterflies of a blossom and skims down the length
dozen different species, varying in hue of the slope, to fall again to the nectar
from cool pure white to the Red Ad- of the scabious bloom. The long days
miral's scarlet-bordered jet, and from of mellow September sunshine will
the fresh radiance of the Blues and soon be over, and all the brilliant
Coppers to the glowing, patterned butterfly congregation scattered and
splendour of the Peacocks and Tor- dishevelled in the storm and rain ;
toiseshells and Painted Ladies. Here scarcely, in the rare interludes of
a blossom bows beneath the weight October warmth and brightness, will
of a silky-bodied Brimstone, there a the last Red Admirals be seen bicker-
Clouded Yellow flashes its rich saffron ing with sluggish wasps and outcast
against the dark, earthy under-side of and perishing drones over the opening
the strangely fretted wings of a Comma, clusters of the autumn ivy-blossom.
Dragonflies cruise and hover over the Let us take farewell of the butterflies
length of the hillside meadow, grass- in the brilliant scabious meadow of
hoppers spring and chirr among the September, as they fill it with their
hair-poised blossoms, and a busy beauty and life, and not seek to follow
plebeian crowd of hive and bumble them further into the darkness and
bees shoulder the butterflies rudely cold. For indeed the tombs of such
from their foothold upon the mauve, of them as die are as unknown as the
button-like heads. Far and wide, sepulchre of Moses ; and those that
where the individual blossoms of the sleep out the long sleep into the spring
scabious melt into a purple haze, the we may hope to see again, heralding
wings of this great company of butter- the elfin cycle of the butterflies' year
flies shift and flash from moment to under a new and a lengthening sun.
BIRDS AS ARCHITECTS
" Behold, within the leafy shade,
Those bright blue eggs together laid!
On me the chance-discovered sight
Gleamed like a vision of delight."
WORDSWORTH.
A VERAGE canons of architecture the case of the wren, who loathes
do not appeal to the feathered ostentation of either situation, aspect
designer, be they canons of beauty, or material. But amongst all these
economy or advertisement. One com- dissimilar artificers, the one strong
mon motive underlies the design of instinct of self-preservation stands out
every nest that was ever made the clearly as the builder's first and fore-
motive of self-protection ; pride of most consideration,
workmanship may be present surely In spite of this single similarity and
the longtailed tit is an honest work- these numerous diversities of taste,
man and takes a real pride in his it is fairly clear that all the birds
three weeks' task or economy, as in began their nest-building with tolerably
the case of the nightjar, who furnishes similar ideals. The nest was to be
a home for his mate by bestowing a soft ; it was to be screened from the
simple blessing on some unobtrusive weather ; it was to be near the favour-
corner in the undergrowth of a wood ; ite haunts, whether of pastime or hunt-
or comfort, as with the nuthatch, who ing ; it was to be either inaccessible
screens his mate from excess of draught to enemies, or calculated to escape
by plastering up the orifice in his their careless search. It is almost
chosen tree trunk till it will just allow conceivable, for instance, that the
ingress to his slender body and no woodpecker once made a round, un-
more ; or defiance, as with the rook, tidy saucer nest stuck loosely in low
who knits a bunch of the topmost trees like the blackbird's, until pro-
twigs into strongly braced girders for longed seeking of insects in the bark
his brood's support ; or impertinence, caused it to dawn on him that he
as with the robin, who delights to might as well live nearer his work,
seize on some deserted utensil of The robin, we know, is still very
man's discarding ; or modesty, as in liberal in his tastes, and utilizes almost
BIRDS AS ARCHITECTS 29
every conceivable habitation for his by building first a nest that is obvious
honeymoon, sometimes spreading a to any small boy, then a second that
bed in an old kettle, sometimes nesting no hungry cat can possibly miss, then
in a discarded tit's hole, sometimes a third which may escape with average
actually taking the trouble to lay luck. The tit is always successful in
foundations of his own for a saucer spite of all hindrances unless he has
nest in a bush. But as a general rule, a very vigilant and determined adver-
either the feeding ground or the nature sary. There is no fresh greenery, and
of the perch most dear to the bird the evergreen trees are too coarse in
fixes the situation of the nest. The the branch to be of service for the
situation fixes the character of the delicate nest he has to weave. So he
nest, because situation resolves the is perfectly accustomed to set his nest
question of protective mimicry and in a web of dead, tangled creepers
assimilation to surroundings, or, on against an old summer house, or what
the other hand, inaccessibility to what not. Anywhere will do if there are
is plainly to be seen. only close set twigs of slender girth
Of all British bird architects, the on which to sling his delicate pouch,
longtailed tit is faced with the most An external adornment of moss and
difficult problem, and solves it most lichens, skilfully interwoven with the
successfully. Safety is a terrible anxi- surroundings, preserves it from being
ety with him. He begins to build long seen when the sunlight is full upon
before the hedgerows and shrubberies it. And mark his ingenuity he has
are green, and he is too tender to safe- one trick that he shares with no other
guard himself by building high, for early nesting bird that builds in the
that means exposure to weather. If open, for his nest is very, very seldom
there is furze at hand he will build in visible from below as a dark mass
it, because it is green when he needs against the light. One would almost
cover. If there are no furze bushes imagine that he hopped round it,
he will seek green thorn. If, as is above and below, viewing it from
usual for him in most years, the thorn every coign and in every focus. Thus
is not yet green, he will still make his he secures safety theoretically, and in
nest an exceptionally difficult one to practice, too, for I have never yet
find. He never perpetrates the sole- marked a longtailed tit's nest and after-
cisms of the year old thrush, beginning wards found it despoiled. Next he
30 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
has to allow for the number and size hall to a new and showy mansion.
of his eggs. They are so many that The nest his grandfather built is good
his tiny mate would feel suicidally enough for him ; he will simply patch
inclined if they were presented to her the walls clumsily with a few additional
for incubation, spread out on a plate ; sticks, just to occupy the early days
and they are so small that a flick of of spring, and renew the soft lining
her fairy tail would send them flying if the winter winds have dealt un-
in all directions were they stored in kindly with it. But a new nest he
the pan of an open nest. So he will never build if an old one is to be
weaves a bag, with only a tiny opening had, unless the foundations have grown
at the top of one side for entrance, shaky or the walls gape to the weather.
They lie pouched up together in the He satisfies the main instinct of self-
depth of the pocket, and his mate defence by building aloft in spidery,
spreads herself over them, while the creaking twigs, and has no fads or
warm lining stores the heat of her niceties at all.
eager little body, and yields it to the The wood and willow wrens build
bottommost eggs of all. The same late, and observe extraordinary cau-
plan of construction keeps the wee tion. Why they build so low often
bodies cosy when they issue from their almost on the ground, and sometimes
shells, and none can possibly be knocked actually on it is a puzzle ; but if we
out of the nest, for it is often difficult seek a reason in the paramount in-
to say exactly by what cranny the stinct, it is that since they prefer thick
parents come and go, so closely are country, they have to guard against
the upper walls woven together. A stoats and weasels rather than against
hard nest to find this, and a desirable domestic marauders, whether biped or
one to be hatched in. quadruped. Their nests are never
The rook is the exact opposite. He obvious to the eye, and though one
is select, exclusive, cliquy, an aristo- may chance to stumble on them now
crat who will herd with no rabble in and again, the nest is hard to see
the mean streets of the woodland, even when the bird has flown out at
but will only consort with his equals one's very feet. But examining it, it
in high places. Though lordly he is clearly best protected from the lower
cares nothing for outward appear- side, and so may well be designed to
ances, and rather prefers an ancestral escape the notice of creeping enemies,
GREEN WOODPECKER.
From a water-colour by
Frank Southgate, R.B.A.
BIRDS AS ARCHITECTS 31
such as the two mentioned, and if it made all possible tests of this instinct,
is off the ground, it may be obvious and in vain. A pair used to come
from immediately above, but is never annually to my garden. A little ama-
prominent as a mass against the sky. teur carpentering in the winter re-
It resembles a chance collection of duced their hole to the proper size,
dead vegetable matter either in coarse without adding any appearance of
grass or in the lower tangle of the human craftsmanship, but they de-
undergrowth, with which the thicket serted it for a neighbouring tit's hole,
grasses mingle. Both these birds are that was too large, and plastered that
exceptionally cautious in approaching up instead. Several holes were cut
their nests ; and the woodwren in in their old tree the next winter, some
particular, hardly ever enters until she too large, and some the right size ;
has perched a moment on some twig they employed in time every hole
perpendicularly above the nest ; and as except those the size they required,
watched by the field glasses she seems I am at an entire loss to explain the
to give far more attention to the additional instinct, nor, to my know-
neighbourhood of the nest than to ledge, has it yet been explained,
any obvious danger a little distance The missel-thrush shows an in-
off. If the ground just round the nest teresting evolution. Allied to the
is clear she will drop to it like a stone thrush and the blackbird it builds a
in full view of the watcher ; but put very similar nest for very similar needs,
some tiny article from your pocket and in all habits resembles its kindred,
in the grass near the nest, and it will But it happens to breed a month
be an hour before she can muster earlier than they do, so far as any
courage to descend and investigate. rule can be framed ; at any rate it is
The only bird that nests in holes the earliest to nest of the three. When
and has any peculiarities is the nut- the thrush and blackbird begin to
hatch. The others choose any hole nest there is either greenery or a hope
that is either inaccessible or concealed of greenery coming to aid them in
by position, and make a few rough their concealment before the young
preparations for comfort ; the nuthatch have flown ; the missel-thrush on
insists on choosing a hole too large the other hand, starts earlier and ob-
for it. and reducing it to the exact size viously knows that the foliage will
required by clay plastering. I have come too late to serve it. As a result
32 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
it builds a nest which might often be the accustomed methods of its tribe,
taken for that of a song thrush or a The nests of these few common
blackbird, and puts it in the hollow species show the strength of this main
of a tree's fork instead of suspending instinct of self-preservation very accu-
it among the boughs of a large shrub rately, and a deeper inquiry into local
or bush. If only the other two allied and individual peculiarities of struc-
species did the same, their main pro- ture, material and situation would
blem would be solved ; but they do probably evolve a definite series of
not appear to have thought of it, minor instincts such as we can trace
whilst centuries of earlier breeding in the case of the longtailed tit ; if so,
and presumably constant spoliation the greatest hopes of discoveries lie
seem to have acquainted the missel- in the variations discernible between
thrush with this simple solution ; at two or three allied species, such as the
any rate, there is no other known thrushes or the warblers, or the bunt-
cause to account for its variation from ings.
VI
THE VENUS EVE
" Sweet Hesper Phosphor."
TENNYSON.
A SPELL of radiant weather in near the sun, Venus is not yet clear
spring brings in the Venus of the afterglow ; but as this fades,
eves. These, if often at this season growing fainter almost perceptibly
followed by hard glittering nights of each minute, she burns brighter, till,
frost, have a good deal of the rich at the moment of her setting behind
feeling and colouring and sounds of the dark line of the earth, she is far the
the summer dusk. We have eve after brightest thing in the sky.
eve of this character in April. I call Every moment of one of these per-
them Venus eves because this planet, feet Venus eves spent indoors in the
though hardly seen above the horizon country seems a moment wasted,
more than an hour, is once again chief There is a positive foretaste of summer
feature of the scene. Being now so in the marked way in which wild life
THE VENUS EVE 33
is lengthening out the day, birds sing- a thousand birds, all sorts . . . the
ing, even foraging, though the sun tumult at the rookery . . . dwindling
is down and the stars one by one are thrush notes ... a last ' quarr '
lighting up. The latest song- thrush on or two from the rookery . . . the
such an eve, however chilly the air, has plaint of the partridge, whose form
scarcely ended by a quarter to eight ; can no longer be picked out in the
and then often, the hardest working wheat field . . . the peewits in full
of the rooks at this hour, by ones cry : these, I think somewhat in this
and twos, are slowly straggling home order, are the steps of sound that
with the final supply of food for their lead from sundown into dark at mid-
sitting mates ; even a few minutes April.
later, whilst the hare is stealing softly Then the steps in the lighting up
through pastures that are soaked in and march westwards of planet and
dew, her sensitive ears hardly a star : first Jupiter and Venus, alight at
moment at rest, odd exclamations, about the same minute, Jupiter shin-
growing drowsier, no doubt, but still ing, as he always does, very steadily,
vigorous, come from the rookery. ~. : Venus throbbing a little in the gold
If you cease for a few minutes to and glow of sundown ; next, in the
notice the changes in the sky and blue, Sirius, throbbing far more in-
stars, and the behaviour of the birds, tensely ; then a star or two of Orion,
you will find, looking again, that the his belt parallel now, at the time of
eve is over and the night fully in. lighting up, with the earth's horizon ;
This is a true charm about our English Arcturus in the opposite, darker
twilights they are never stationary quarter of the sky ; and, a few minutes
for any length of time, have none of later at most, Capella and Vega
the monotony of the night-long twi- and with them night. Put down thus
lights of summer inTjnore northern in a row of dead words, there is not
latitudes. In Norway the July night much to recommend the fleeting
is all twilight. scenery of twilight ; indeed, words,
Here the eye and ear are alert to a however you arrange and play with
quick succession even at midsummer, them, are irresponsive to the task ;
more so now of changes, steps in that but nobody watches these wonderful
mysterious zone of shadow that lies spring twilights of England without
between day and night. A choir of very good reward.
3
VII
ANCIENT PONDS
" To a thinking mind few phenomena are more strange than the state of little ponds on the
summits of chalk hills, many of which are never dry in the most trying droughts of summer."
GILBERT WHITE.
TT is high noon on the top of a Only the dew-pond on the height,
chalk down, and we are watch- Unfed - that never fails -
ing a flock of sheep slowly ascend the A single hot day, to say nothing of
hill on which we sit. The members the needs of the flock, would be
of the flock, consisting of about eight enough, one imagines, to dry up the
or nine score, move, as one, towards pond. However, one may apply the
some definite goal. famous logic of the impounded man in
It soon becomes plain that the sheep answer to the argumentative lawyer,
are heading for a circular depression " But I am in the stocks ! " The
a little above us, on the very crest pond is not dry.
of the down. We mount the few re- If we loiter long enough, mayhap
maining feet, and find that the sheep some old shepherd will pass this way,
have come to a dew-pond, or, to give and from him we may learn something
it the alternative and better name, a of this ancient watering-place. Should
mist-pond. They know the spot and he chance to be a young man, he
have travelled hither nearly a mile to will stammer and hesitate, and will
slake their thirst. require prompting before the name
There is a little water in the pond, " dew-pond " or " mist-pond " is
though the margin is sadly narrowed, remembered. That will be unfortu-
At once it is borne in upon the mind nate, for you shall wander for hours
that we have just passed through an over this inviolate waste and find none
exceptionally dry season, yet here other to ask, unless a primitive Briton
is a cavity, only ten or twelve yards emerges from the barrow hard by or
in diameter, still containing a store of from the ancient cultivation terraces
precious liquid. And this is on the on the next hill,
down top. Rudyard Kipling sings We shall be told by the shepherd
well on this subject : that when the vale below is parched
ANCIENT PONDS 35
and arid, horses and carts are sent, ful. The expert looks around for a
like Jack and Jill in the nursery suitable site, and scoops out the earth
rhyme, up the hill to fetch water, to the depth of a few feet, leaving
To give a specific instance there is generally a floor of chalky rubble,
a mist-pond on Inkpen Beacon, in Then with well-chosen clay, he care-
Hampshire, at a height of 900 feet fully puddles the bottom of the hollow
above sea-level, which is said never and leaves it to dry. Perhaps a few
to go dry though it constantly waters stones are placed over the clay coat,
a large flock of sheep. If the ramming has been well done,
Readers of Gilbert White will recol- the pond soon fills, although it is on
lect that he describes at some length, record that, during prolonged winters,
and with manifest interest, ponds of snow has been carted into the hollow
this nature situated above his house, on to give a start when it melts. Animals
the chalk uplands of Selborne Common, must be prevented from treading
The visitor may see the ponds of through the clay cover while it is
Selborne to-day, evidently as useful soft, else the pond will leak, being
and as well supplied as they were perforated at the beginning. Keep
140 years ago. When the ponds in the floor intact, and the pond will
the coombes gave out, the sage tells fill, rain or no rain. Another method,
us that one pond on the Downs was formerly in vogue, was to make a
" never known to fail " though it foundation of beaten chalk, and on
furnished drink to three or four hun- this to lay several coats of batter,
dred sheep and twenty head of cattle, composed of pounded chalk and hot
Practical farmers of our day state, lime. This " glazing " effectually pre-
moreover, that sheep, if left to them- vented the depredations of earthworms,
selves, prefer the pond water to that Nowadays, plain cement appears to
of the colder springs and streams. be taking the place of the puddled
Leaving theories alone for the clay. A properly constructed mist-
moment we will see how the modern pond will remain serviceable for fifty
mist-pond is constructed. A man or sixty years, when it must be pud-
skilled in the art is engaged for the died anew.
purpose. It has even been asserted If we ask the man of science how
that there exists a travelling band of the mist-pond is supplied, he will
pond-makers, but this is a little doubt- say that the water is chiefly provided
36 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
by mists and fogs. Dew, if we inter- wayfarer who rises betimes could tell
pret the word strictly, is of less impor- a somewhat similar tale,
tance, hence ;the objection to the When we come to ask why such a
name dew-pond. The pond of course large amount of moisture should be
receives a little rain at times, accord- concentrated on the small area of the
ing to the area of the cavity, and the mist-pond there is a hot dispute,
angle of the sloping sides, but this Some writers airily dismiss the problem
amount forms a small proportion as very simple, though their own
of the total. Ponds are ofttimes explanations are by no means of that
intentionally constructed on the nature. Others assume the action
shoulder of a hill, or near the junction of electricity, others again invoke the
of two spurs, in which case much rain aid of the dust particles floating in the
is directed to the hollow, which be- atmosphere. The question has been
conies a "rain and mist-pond." discussed at a meeting of the British
That fog and rain are the prime Association, though even there unani-
agents in the supply of a real mist-pond mity was absent. Amid the babel of
is admitted. The Rev. J. G. Cornish voices a general principle or two may
made experiments on the Berkshire be heard which may give the clue.
Downs by means of notched sticks The upper surface of the water in the
which he thrust into the pond and pond is cooled by radiation, and
examined night and morning. The convection currents are thus set up.
water level was found to rise as much In other words the colder layers of
as an inch or two in a single night, the surface descend, and the warmer
though no rain whatever had fallen ; water from below rises to the top.
the increase was due to dense fog. This goes on until the contents of the
When there was a heavy dew, but no pond are colder than the surrounding
fog, the increase was less. Observa- rocks and soil, when condensation
tions like these set the matter beyond of the aqueous vapour, whencesoever
cavil. No one who is acquainted with arising, goes on at a rapid rate,
the chalk downs would care to dispute Mr. Clement Reid and other com-
the intensity of the mists. Shepherds petent observers state that a tree
and those whose business calls them beech or oak, or preferably a stunted
forth in the early hours of the morning bush of holly or hawthorn, will facili-
often return soaked to the skin. The tate the deposition, especially if it
ANCIENT PONDS 37
be planted at the south-west side of is a fair case to be made out for the
the pond. The planting of such trees existence of some sort of mist-pond
is not, however, general, though in the Neolithic and Bronze Age
common. periods. The modern theory teaches
Gilbert White has already been that these old camps were often refuges
cited on the question of these old for men and cattle in times of danger,
ponds. Literary references can be There is no proof that water was then
carried back a little before his time, much more easily obtained on the
and then all direct evidence ceases, hill top than it is to-day. Spring
There is nevertheless little reason there was none at those heights. The
for doubting that sheepmasters from modern farmer uses the mist-pond
mediaeval times onwards have been without understanding how it is filled,
acquainted with these ponds. The hence it is no objection that the early
phenomenon of condensation on the Britons were ignorant in the matter,
hills must have forced itself upon their Water they must have had, and the
attention, and they would not be mist-pond seems the only means by
likely to neglect such a cheap and which they could have been supplied,
constant supply of water. Let us suppose a tribe, with all its
But there is a more fascinating flocks and herds, shut up in Maiden
phase of the subject. In the vicinity Castle, Dorsetshire, or in the Yarnbury
of ancient earthworks, and in some Camp on Salisbury Plain. Even were
cases within the fortifications them- the siege to last only two or three
selves, the trained eye of the archaeo- days, it is evident that a large quantity
logist may detect hollows which of water would be required. A water
probably represent prehistoric mist- famine would prove a terrible calamity,
ponds. Where old-world . cultivation To visit springs or streams at the foot
terraces and groups of hut circles would be impracticable. Even could
abound, there, too, similar relics are stealthy visits be made to those waters,
occasionally visible. Some of these by what means could a sufficient
hollows doubtless represent excava- quantity be conveyed to the summit
tions for chalk, others may mark the of the hill ?
site of underground granaries. There Apart from the question of inter-
remain a few which do not seem to tribal attack, we must remember that
fall in either of these classes. There our earliest cultivators were most
38 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
likely dwellers on the hill top. On the came under the plough, the water-
hill tops we find their remains, bar- supply was a simple matter. It thus
rows, camps, fields, homes, imple- seems probable that the custom of
ments. Not until historic times, when making mist-ponds fell into disuse, and
the later Celtic peoples and the invad- was only revived when the downs were
ing Teutons settled in our country, again occupied as huge sheep-walks.
did farmers begin to till the lowlands. The old Britons of the hill top are
Hitherto the fear of bears and wolves gone ; they cannot give evidence in
had been a hindrance. Stone hatchets, person. But we, who in no small
and even cutting tools of bronze, had degree are the offspring of these
proved very inefficient for felling ancient peoples, must feel a glow of
the forests. Swamps were common, pleasure in calling forth the mist-ponds
Therefore the early folk favoured the as dumb witnesses of prehistoric
heights. When the land in the vales customs.
VIII
THE MAKING OF SCENERY
" From the depths of the waters that lighten and darken
With change everlasting of life and of death . . .
A. C. SWINBURNE.
A SEABOARD with no bastions and heather, and carpeted with brack-
of steep and rugged rocks ; but en, meet park and woodland where
only broken lines of low, friable cliffs, flourish ancient oaks (one veteran, still
once smugglers' haunts, and now the bringing forth fruit in old age, counts
home of martins ; and stretches of sixteen centuries), symbols of the na-
drifted sands whose dunes, knotted tion's heart when ships were built of it,
with sedge and decked with sea-holly, and venerable seats of widespread
poppy and convolvulus, are separated Aryan cult. The rich clays and heavy
by " fulls " of rolled pebbles from loams secure their heavy crops of
marsh, mere, and warren. Here gather cereals to the farmer ; alder and
the seabirds in whose shrill, melancholy poplar-fringed streams widen into estu-
note there is refrain of the wind in the aries rich in rare bird life ; estuaries
trees and the waves breaking on the slowly silting up by the tide-brought
shore. Commons fragrant with gorse ooze, and becoming the dwindling
THE MAKING OF SCENERY 39
"broads " on which picturesque wherry is damned." An ingenious prelate had
and trim yacht pursue their business made certain calculations which estab-
or their pleasure. lished the date of the Creation as
A flat, here and there undulating, 4004 B.C. ; and precision, in one mo-
country, broken by pine-crowned knolls mentous detail, had been added to
or pine-encircling barrows ; its level Archbishop Usher's figures by a Vice-
horizon giving full glory of sunrise and Chancellor of the University of Cam-
sunset ; a country bounded westward bridge, who affirmed that " man was
for centuries by undrained swamp and created by the Holy Trinity at nine
fen, and therefore retaining that in- o'clock on the morning of October 23,
sular character which stereotypes 4004 B.C." Thanks to astronomers,
places and peoples shunted, as it were, geologists, and anthropologists, nous
off the main track of development, and avons change tout cela, and in so doing,
which, in many a nook and corner have widened the scope of wonder,
keeps primitive features dear to the and the area of mystery. The dis-
lover of nature and the student of the placement of the earth as the supposed
past. centre of a universe in which its mil-
Those who observe and question lions upon millions of miles of orbit
are to-day a growing company. Our round the sun are but as a pin's point
forefathers, notably the country born viewed from certain "fixed" stars,
and bred, were keen-eyed for the things has been followed by the displacement
around on which life's needs depended, of man as the creature for whom sun,
but their heads rarely, if ever, struck moon and stars were made. Hence
the stars. With days " linked each to all thought, all speculation, has not
each by natural piety," all that was been merely reformed ; it has been
worth knowing, or that they thought revolutionized. Hence, with eager
it essential for their souls to know, and restless gaze, knowing so much,
had been revealed by " holy men of we would know all, piercing things that
old, who spoke as they were moved by we may reach the secret of the Eternal,
the Holy Ghost." The Book told and, baffled in that, would, at least,
them that the world, and everything learn what history they hold concern-
therein, had been created in six days, ing the processes which have made
and they believed it. To question them what they are.
was to doubt, and " he who doubteth This is a " revival," the revival of
40 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
the Greek spirit of inquiry which was overlaying seabed. Hidden, some
arrested for at least a thousand years, in outcrops here and there, by more
It is to the immortal renown of the recent layers, are the chalk deposits
Ionian sages that they " left off telling that stretch from our eastern coast to
tales " to search into causes. They Salisbury Plain ; deposits laid aeons
shared the belief that the earth was a before Britain " arose from out the
flat circle, encompassed by an ocean azure main," when the water covered
whence flowed the seas and rivers, the Continent, and when parts of what
Observation of its universality and are now France, Spain and Italy were
states have prompted the guess islands in a central sea. Then come
Thales was its author that water changes as mighty as they are obscure,
was the primal element of which all for too often, Nature, like the Cumaean
things are made. There was potential Sibyl, has destroyed her records ; and
truth therein, for without this astound- all that is known is that the chalk
ing compound of invisible, tasteless became overlaid with sands and clays,
gases, life could not have been, and, most noticeable among these, the so-
in the face of the proved fundamental called London clay, because the Metro-
relationship between the organic and polis stands upon it. Teeth of sharks,
the inorganic, where can we say that carapaces of turtles, scutes of croco-
life begins or ends ? Strange, that diles, and other fossils found therein,
what is the solvent of plant and animal witness to warm climates in these
is the stay of their existence ; the northern zones. Upon these clays rest
mobile sustaining the relatively immo- the loose sands and gravels locally
bile. To it the moulding of the globe's known as " Crag," laid in shallow
surface is mainly due, and if, as Ruskin waters yielding enormous numbers of
says, " in considering ideas of beauty, shells, and also bones of the mastodon
colour, even as a source of pleasure, is and tapir, and other remains. Colder
feeble compared with form," great is grew the temperature, with shrinking of
man's debt to rain and river, sea and the waters, till where now the shallow
ocean. North Sea rolls six hundred feet at
Here, in these islands, travel where the deepest there spread a valley
we will, our tread is on the bottom of through which flowed a river whose
ancient waters, indeed, upon seabed descendant is the Rhine. Researches
(To be continued.)
V
I
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OJ
r
C
O
O
<
X
b **
a
THE MAKING OF SCENERY 41
during recent years indicate that this North Sea, which reappears on the
ancient river-channel ran from the geological map ; the gravels yielding
present Hook of Holland to East the roughly worked flints that served
Anglia, and then turned northward, man as tools and weapons until the ages
The remains of what is known as the which brought the discovery of metals.
Forest Bed show that oaks and elms, Such, then, in aridness of summary,
firs and beeches, with lush under- are the changes whose results are the
growth, then flourished, and among features described at the outset of
the obscure questions of palaeontology this paper, and as we strive so to read
is the explanation of the commingling the story of an ageless past that the
of fragments, never complete skeletons, landscape may become as a familiar
of southern forms, as the elephant, face, the thought is brought home that
hippopotamus, tiger and hyaena, with unlike Art, Nature suffers not by an-
northern forms, as the musk ox, elk, alysis. In the discovery of her works
and walrus. Unwelcome are the catches and ways, wonder attends on wonder ;
of such relics, which, escaping the the deeper we penetrate the more
" chafing gear " of the smacksmen, elusive does she become. In this lies
play havoc with their nets. Leaving the charm. Better the pursuit than
problem for fact, it is known that the quarry, for the attainment of full
arctic conditions at last prevailed, knowledge might beget atrophy of the
The ice fingers of the Glacial Epoch soul. As it is, ever on the quest, we
gripped the northern hemisphere, and have, as reward, increase of desire
the mighty glaciers, as they moved through delight, and quickening of
southward, brought as cargo the com- inquiry. At our feet lies many an
minuted stuff named Boulder clay, answer. As the Eternal revealed its
From this come the miscellaneous presence to the prophet, not in the
heaps of alien stones of the roadsides " great, strong wind that rent the
and the fields ; these, commingled mountains and brake in pieces the
with the waterworn flints yielded by rocks," neither in the earthquake nor
the chalk, helping to make up the the fire, but in the " still, small voice,"
shingle terraces that fringe the seashore, so the operations of Nature are to
These glacial clays are topped by the be sought in the quiet rather than
latest deposits, muds and gravels laid the tumultuous agencies which have
down by the rivers flowing into the modelled the earth.
4
42 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
To observe what is going on around Familiar Letters, the Pyrenees were
and beneath us is to touch the illimit- " huge and monstrous excrescences of
able past. Nature," although " not so high or
To see a world in a grain of sand, hideous as the Alps." The poet Gray
A heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand, describes the horrors of Mont Cems,
And Eternity in an hour, an( i Goldsmith talks of " the dismal
sang William Blake. And to know landscape of the hills," while, less
the history of a piece of chalk or sand- unexpected from him, Horace Walpole
stone or granite or pumicestone, is to writes of " the uncouth rocks and un-
have the story of rock-formation, fire- comely inhabitants of the Alps."
fused or water-laid, at our fingers' Here, by this treacherous coast of
ends. In the rolled pebble ; in the shoal and surf, where
glistening sandgrain ; in the cham-
. . . Tamarisks bow their heads, compelled
bered shell or the striated boulder ; By no ungent , e force>
from the rain puddle to the great sea While the air a sunny sweetness held
Mingled of sea and gorse,
itself which " no man can tame, there
is the story of energies which have and in scattered villages inland, the
known no pause, which were potential elements have fed superstition, and
in the nebulous stuff of which all things, many a barbaric belief and custom,
both living and the dead, are spun; carefully hidden from parson and school-
energies which, Proteus-like, are ever master, sways, and long will sway, the
changing their modes, and passing, the life of the unlettered. That sublime
one into the other, but are extinguished saying, " Ye shall know the truth, and
never. the truth shall make you free," has
With the key supplied by that story, intellectual as well as spiritual applica-
what once was dreaded becomes dear tion. And to this they can best bear
and desired, because knowledge, like witness who have escaped vacuity of
" perfect love, casteth out fear." Herein life in search after wisdom.
we of these latter days have a coign of " For happy is the man that findeth
vantage, not only over the ancients, wisdom, and the man that getteth un-
to whom mountains were haunts of derstanding. . . . She is more pre-
demons, and of terrible beasts, but over cious than rubies, and all the things
men of recent time. To the delightful, thou canst desire are not to be com-
if romancing author of Ho-Elianae, or pared unto her."
IX
THE LIFE-STORY OF A BADGER
" To some old loamy barrow, in bramble bank,
Of broc or fox."
CHARLES M. DOUGHTY.
T T E was born near the foot of a proached, the cubs shook off their drow-
precipitous headland which a siness and awaited her summons to go
wall shut off from the neighbouring out to play. At the call they followed,
farm. The isolation of the sett had frisking at her heels as she led to the
induced his mother to litter there, and one bit of level sward where they
when after the birth of her two cubs could enjoy their gambols without fear
day succeeded day without any intru- of falling over the cliff. The mother
sion from an enemy, she all but shook joined in all their games and frequently
off the misgivings that had at first left herself bare time to reach the for-
constantly haunted her as to their aging ground and get the food she
safety. So great indeed became her needed, before dawn stole over the
confidence in the security of her sur- uplands and hurried her home. In
roundings that she even ventured to her absence the cubs remained in the
take the cubs outside the earth that " earth," contentedly enough at first,
the sun might bathe them with its but with an ever-growing discontent
rays. Whilst they slept she kept at being left behind. She turned a
watch and ward over them. Occa- deaf ear to their plaints, however, until
sionally, wearied by her roamings she thought the young creatures fit to
through the dewy mowing-grass and accompany her. Then she took them,
lulled by the cries of nesting wild- mad with delight, up the zigzag to the
fowl, she would fall into a deep slum- summit of the headland,
ber, awaking in a fright at the thought Full of wonderment at the strange
that her cubs might have been stolen world to which they were being intro-
from her side, but becoming composed duced, the cubs were slow to settle to
when she saw them still on their their lessons, but when they did, they
couches amongst the seapinks, where profited so quickly by their mother's
they lay blinking at the sunset. instruction that in a few nights they
In rainy or chilly weather she kept became adept in turning over the
to the "earth" where, as night ap- stones and muzzling amongst the
44 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
heather-stems where the insects har- fortunately, in their extended round,
boured on which they were chiefly to they encroached on a piece of wheat and
subsist. The old badger, jealous of their not only made a wide road across it but,
safety, kept listening whilst they for- what caused even more damage, rolled
aged, but nothing happened to justify in a dozen places on either side of their
her fears. The only sound that even track. This favourite resort of the
caused the cubs to prick their ears was badgers occupied a remote corner of
the bark of a fox on the hills beyond the holding and, partly perhaps because
the homestead. of this, remained long unvisited by the
Before a fortnight had passed every farmer. At last, however, the trespass
yard of the cliff-top had been ran- was noticed. At a glance the farmer
sacked for prey again and again, till, knew who had wrought the havoc and
finding it hard to pick up a living, the as quickly formed his plan of retribution
male cub, ever more forward than his against the delinquents. During the
sister, longed to reach the field he could dinner hour he said to his son in a voice
see between the crevices of the piled that showed he was still angry: " They
stones. He knew it was forbidden badgers have made a tarble mess of the
ground, but that only made it the more Five Acres : set a ' grain ' in the brambly
tempting ; and at last seizing the oppor- corner by the Tinners' Field : I see they
tunity when his mother was grubbing come in there" ; and soon after milking-
in a thick bush, he scrambled over the time the son set a running noose at
wall and succeeded in getting half-way the mouth of the creep. Three nights
across the enclosure before he was later the female cub was caught, and
discovered and brought back. The in the morning the farmer found her
incorrigible fellow broke bounds again in the wire dead,
the next night ; whereupon his mother, Henceforth the old badger centred
recognizing that the headland was all her care and affection on the
exhausted as a feeding ground, brushed surviving cub. Abandoning that dan-
aside her apprehensions and led him gerous beat, she took him in every
and his sister to the cultivated land other direction, and before the sum-
where food was abundant. mer had passed made him acquain-
There they might have roamed and ted with every hill and valley for
regaled themselves without molestation a radius of five miles about the sett,
had they kept to the pastures, but un- Once they reached a croft six miles
THE LIFE-STORY OF A BADGER 45
away and just as they were about to crags, warned them to seek immediate
turn homewards came on what they harbourage. To lie down in the stub-
had for over a week been seeking in ble they were crossing was out of the
vain a wasps' nest. It was very late, question, so they hurried over the brow
but the temptation to stay and dig it and, threading the loose rocks, took
out was too great to resist, and the old to the brake that mantled the slope
badger, conscious that much delay below. There they .'curled up under
meant lying out, made frantic efforts the densest of the furze and tried to
to secure the prize betimes, so that compose themselves to rest,
they might reach the " earth " before Despite the pain from the stings in
sunrise. But the ground proved hard her nose, the old badger soon fell asleep ;
and rocky ; and though to kill the wasps but the cub, though unstung, lay awake
that kept stinging her, she rolled but listening to the strange, disquieting
once, she was fully two hours in get- noises that from time to time rose
ting at the combs. The cakes, full of out of the valley. Now it was the rum-
grubs, were worth all the pain and trou- bling of a cart, now the cries of the
ble in the opinion of the cub, who, if miller's wife scaring the pigs from the
he had little part in the labour of exca- garden, and late in the forenoon, when
vation, came in for a big share of the he was about to doze, the braying of a
feast. He thought as he swallowed jackass on the lower edge of the brake,
the luscious morsels that he had never This was more than his nerves could
eaten anything so delicious, not except- stand, and in terror he nestled closer to
ing the ripe gooseberries in the farmer's his mother and wished himself back in
garden, the night his mother over- the sett. But the worst was over ;
turned the big hive. After gobbling in the hush that succeeded, nothing
up the last bit of comb, the slow-footed could be heard but the drowsy drone
creatures, without stopping to drink in of insects and the plashing of the water
the stream hard by, made for their from the t wheel, sounds that both
distant home as fast as their pads allayed his fears and served him for a
could carry them. But the race be- slumber-song. He was thinking of wasp-
tween them and the sun was hopeless, combs when sleep claimed him. The
Many hills stood in their course ; and sun had gone down before he arose
they had scarcely completed half the and followed his mother to the hill-
journey before the dawn, gilding the crest beyond the stream, whence rugged
46 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
downs stretch to a craggy ridge that escaped lying out on the occasion when
had the harvest moon above it. The they journeyed to a distant valley and
line they took led straight for home, but feasted on the beechmast with which
half-way over the heathery waste they a gale had strewed the ground. That,
turned aside in search of food, and on however, was a mere accident. Indeed,
reaching the top fell again to forag- it was the fear of being belated that in-
ing, their silvery-grey coats harmoniz- duced the badger to essay a short cut
ing with the hoary boulders amongst where she wasted much time before she
which they quested. Presently the could extricate herself from the maze
badger called the cub to her and, de- of hollows in which she became involved,
scending the abrupt slope, made for the She was glad to leave the bewildering
cultivated land and so came to the farm place behind ; but the cub was so pleased
over which they had so often roamed, with it, and especially with a sort of
There was no sound from the homestead refuge in the midst of it, that he unhesi-
as they stole by, and before a cock tatingly bent his steps thither when
crowed they were near enough to the driven from the sett and forced to
cliffs to catch the cries of the seafowl, seek a home for himself. It was not his
astir in the grey dawn. Side by side mother who expelled him, but the sav-
they climbed the boundary-wall and age old boar she had taken up with, who
crossed the summit of the headland, would not allow the cub to sleep in the
but on reaching the dizzy zigzag " earth " a single day after he was
leading to the sett, the cub dropped established there,
behind his mother and remained on the Late on a black December night he left
heap after she had disappeared into the headland never to return. The loud
the " earth." There he stood turning chatterings of the tyrant were yet ring-
his head quickly from one to other ing in his ears as he crossed the boun-
of the two islands whence came the dary wall, but the recollection of the
clamour of the fowl, till presently, and delectable spot ahead cheeredjaim, and
after a glance up the cliff, he too passed by the time he was over the ridge he
out of sight. was more troubled about the direction
Both were glad to be abed in the safe den he should follow than by the thought
once more, and never again, whilst they of the brute he was fleeing from. On,
remained together, did they sleep in any on he travelled, and, as luck would have
other lair. It is true that they narrowly it, straight for his destination, which he
OJ
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Rt
Sfi
'_
r
s
X
THE LIFE-STORY OF A BADGER 47
reached in the early hours of the morn- nor complain of the squealing of the
ing. He could not mistake it. There whelps when they came, but he did
was the jagged Cairn, there at its foot was envy the vixen the young rabbits, the
the ring of sward circling the furze he had goslings, and above all, a fine white
twice rounded on that eventful night, cockerel which the dog-fox brought her.
and further, there was the stream whose It was whilst foraging on the downs
babbling had caught his ears and short- that he used to meet Reynard, fre-
ened his quest. He was in no mood for quently at first, but less so as time
foraging, so, after he had quenched his went on, till at last when the cubs
thirst, he made for a crevice in the Cairn were able to accompany the vixen
and curled up at the end of the rift it on her rounds he lost sight of the fox
led to. He was very happy to be where altogether. Then he began] to be
he was, and yet he could not shake annoyed by the habit vixen and
off the sense of forlorn abandonment whelps had fallen into of returning
that haunted him until fatigue had late to the sett and disturbing his rest,
its way and he fell asleep. He was For several weeks he bit his paw and
awake at dusk ; but not before the stars said nothing, but when, after harvest,
showed did he sally out and begin bad hours became the rule and not the
driving a tunnel under the Cairn. He exception, he resolved to put up with
continued to work at this nightly until such unnatural ways no longer. The
its length and the den he fashioned at plans of the wild creature, however,
its extremity were to his liking. With like the plans of man, are often upset
this " earth " he was content only for a by something quite unforeseen ; and
while, and before March was out he had so it was with the badger,
enlarged it into a" sett with three en- On the very morning he returned
trances and with galleries and dens on to the sett to await the dissolute
every side. crew and have it out with them,
The heaps of fresh soil he had fetched he found to his dismay that the
out caught the eye of a vixen on the " earth " had been stopped. At the
look-out for a home, and finding the sight he forgot all about the foxes,
unoccupied chambers dry and clean and, after vainly trying to scratch a
she decided to litter in one of them, way in, he stole down to the brake,
The badger did not resent the appro- lay up under a rock in its midst and
priation of a corner of his roomy abode fell soundly asleep. Before the sun
48 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
was far above the horizon he was rudely night he resumed his quest, and at last
aroused by a pack of fox-hounds who met with a sow of his own age. But
would have worried him to death had his troubles were not yet at an end, for
it not been that the narrow approach scarcely had he exchanged licks with
to his refuge made it impossible for her before another boar came up on her
more than one hound to reach him at line and rushed at him like a thing in-
a time. So he was able to keep them furiated. The fight that ensued lasted
at bay and even to inflict more harm till the sun rose, when his rival was glad
than he received. But the rock could to drag himself away from the scene
not save him from the pandemonium of conflict in order to escape further
which assailed his sensitive ears ; and punishment. The badger was more
this he had to endure until his mad- blown than hurt and, as soon as he
dened assailants were whipped off by recovered his wind, was all for return-
the huntsman. Despite this experi- ing to the sett under the Cairn, but the
ence the badger kept to the sett, sow would have him come to her own
though afterwards, on finding the holes country, and in the end he yielded and
stopped, he shunned the brake and followed whither she led.
sought the old harbourage in the recess And what a wild country it seemed,
of the Cairn. Thus he escaped further even in his eyes, with its tangled valleys,
persecution from the hounds and would its rugged slopes and never a patch of
have been as happy as the winter nights cultivated ground. Wonder changed to
were long, but for the farm labourers amazement when he came on the waste-
and dogs who ravaged that part of heap of an abandoned mine, a heap to
the countryside until they had killed which his excavations were as worm-
every badger except himself. casts. He was even more struck by the
All October through, the badger, vastness of the sett that was to be the
dreading to be taken by these mid- home of himself and his mate. It
night marauders, never once ventured to covered over an acre of ground and
roam beyond the edge of the downs, was so riddled with holes that the
but in November a longing for the com- earth-stopper had long given up trying
panionship of his kind possessed him so to stop it. So the badgers never saw
strongly that he swept aside his fears and the light of his lantern, nor indeed any
went boldly forth in search of a mate, light but that of the moon and stars
Day after day he slept out, night after until summer brought glow-worms to
SOME MAY FLOWERS 49
dot the brakes and will-o'-th'-wisp following their parents' example, to
to dance over the bogs. The country, stretch themselves against the bole of
it is true, had one serious defect ; food an oak. The woodman saw the marks
was scarce whilst winter lasted and was of their claws, the pits they dug and
never very plentiful at the best of the prints both big and small where the
times. At the season of bud-bursting, stream crosses the ride, but he laid no
however, the female tore herself away trap and set no snare,
from the whelps and showed her mate In that wood and over the wild
the woodland in the low country waste about the sett the badger wan-
where wild hyacinths abounded. There ders to-day. Fear no longer shadows
they feasted on the delicious bulbs that his steps and it is likely that he will
were to be had for a few scratches of live to the full span of years, that his
their powerful claws, and thither later last trail will lead to the cave, unknown
they led the cubs, whose delight it was to man, where for ages his kind have
to wander amongst the trees and, crept to die.
X
80 ME MAY FLOWERS
" This sweet May morning
The children are pulling
On every side,
In a thousand valleys far and wide,
Fresh flowers."
WORDSWORTH.
TN the olden times our forefathers and looking down the meadows, could
were wont to celebrate the first see, here a boy gathering lilies and
of May with much rejoicing. The lady-smocks, and there a girl cropping
quaint customs associated with the culverkeys and cowslips, all to make
festival have mostly died out, but here garlands suitable to this present month
and there in retired country places of May." We must not stop to inquire
the children still perambulate the what particular plant our "honest
village with garlands and may-poles, fisherman " meant by " culverkeys,"
as in the days of the author of The for it would only lead us into a long
Compleat Angler, who, as he "sat and learned discussion. And now is
under a willow-tree by the waterside, the season when, as Shakespeare says,
50 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
" Daisies pied, and violets blue, in Essex a parish, it may be noted,
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue,
And lady-smocks all silver white, m whlch the Pnrose does not occur.
Do paint the meadows with delight." " These oxlips," wrote the finder,
Now, in the glowing language of Tenny- "grow by thousands in the meadows,
son, the golden kingcups shine " like and in moist woody places adjoining :
fire, In swamps and hollows gray " ; in one instance a meadow of about
now " the little speedwell's darling two acres is entirely covered by them,
blue " may be seen on many a mossy being a very mass of yellow bloom."
bank ; and in the copses the bluebells The discovery aroused considerable
are so abundant that the very heavens interest at the time, and many dis-
seem " uprising from the earth." tinguished botanists visited the retired
With the coming of May the earlier Essex village to see the plant in its
spring flowers are quickly disappearing, native locality. In the adjoining parish
The primroses are long past their of Finchingfield, of which the famous
prime, and will soon be entirely gone ; Stephen Marshall was Vicar at the time
but the oxlip and the cowslip, near of the Commonwealth, the ' Bard-
relatives of the primrose, are May- field oxlip," as Darwin calls it, is to
flowers. The name " oxlip " is some- be found in several of the woods
times applied to hybrids between the and copses. In one spinny, close
primrose and the cowslip but the to the old farmhouse where Francis
true oxlip, the Primula elatior of Quarles often stayed with his friend
Jacquin, is a distinct species, and often Edward Benlowes, and where, accord-
occurs in districts, as in parts of ing to tradition, he wrote his Emblems,
France and in some of the Swiss the oxlip is abundant. The poet must
Alps, where the primrose and cowslip have often seen it ; and so must the
are unknown. In England the true strange squire who lived at the Hall
oxlip is confined to certain localities hard by, and who, as we learn from
in the eastern counties, chiefly in his tablet in the village church, was
Essex and Suffolk. The plant was " master of himself so much that
first brought before the notice of what others scarce doe by force and
English botanists in the year 1842, penalties, He did by a voluntary con-
when it was discovered in the wet stancy, Hold his peace for seven years."
meadows near the bridge which crosses Unlike the oxlip, the narrow-leaved
the river Pant at Great Bardfield lungwort or bugloss-cowslip (Pulmon-
SOME MAY FLOWERS 51
aria angustifolia) attracted the atten- monastery. On the other side of the
tion of the early botanists. This in- Solent, in the beautiful woods which
teresting plant, not to be confused formerly belonged to the monks of
with the garden species, has long Quarr Abbey, a Cistercian establish-
lanceolate leaves spotted with pale ment like that of Beaulieu, the lung-
green, and terminal cymes of flowers, wort is the characteristic species. As
resembling in shape those of the cow- its name indicates, the plant was
slip (hence one of its English names), formerly regarded as "a sovereign
but of a changing purple colour. The remedy against infirmities and ulcers
corolla, which is " reddish in the bud, of the lungs " ; and doubtless in
first becomes violet, and lastly ultra- pre-Reformation days many a con-
marine blue of intense brilliancy, but coction of " the blue and crimson
fading ere long into dull blue or flower " was prepared by the good
purple." The bugloss-cowslip is often brethren of the monastery for their
abundant where it occurs, but, like afflicted neighbours in the district
the oxlip, is confined to a few localities, around. In addition to its name of
being found in Great Britain only in lungwort, the plant is called by our
the Isle of Wight, the New Forest, early botanists " the long-leaved Sage
and in one or two woods in Dorset- of Jerusalem " and " the Sage of
shire. It was first discovered by Mr. Bethlem " ; while in modern times
John Goodyer, a botanist of great it is known as " the blue cowslip "
distinction, " on May 25, Anno 1620, in the Isle of Wight, and as " Joseph
flowering in a wood by Holbury House and Mary " among the children of
in the New Forest in Hampshire." the New Forest.
This entry is repeated by most of Sometimes, early in May, in moist
our early authorities, who rightly re- shady places, growing at the roots of
garded the plant as one of unusual hazel among the decaying leaves, the
interest. It is still plentiful in the curious Toothwort (Lafhraa squamaria)
wood where Goodyer found it, and may be found. It is a strange-looking
in other parts of the New Forest.* In parasite, " in forme," as old Gerarde
the neighbourhood of Beaulieu Abbey well describes it, " like unto Orobanche
it is specially abundant ; and may be or the Broom-Rape and also in sub-
found in all the copses near the pictur- stance, having a tender, thicke, tuber-
esque remains of the once splendid ous, or mis-shapen body, consisting
52 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
as it were of scales like teeth (whereof Bethlehem ; the variegated Simethis
it tooke his name) of a dusty shining found some years ago near Bourne-
colour tending to purple." It is a mouth ; and the fragrant Maianthe-
rare plant, and withal difficult to find, mum, or May-lily, abundant and pro-
haunting chiefly the deep recesses of bably indigenous in one locality in
the woods, and easily escaping notice Yorkshire. But other species, not
among the fallen leaves. But parasite less beautiful, may be found during
though it is, the Toothwort possesses the month of May in comparative
a remarkable power of maintaining plenty. Allusion has already been
its position on the same spot for a long made to the Bluebell, one of the corn-
number of years. Towards the end monest and most charming of our
of the sixteenth century Gerarde found May flowers : to the same Order
it " growing in a lane called East-lane belong the Lily-of-the- valley, the ex-
on the right hand as ye go unto Cockes quisite Vernal Squill so abundant
Heath " : the flesh-coloured spikes in places on the sea-cliffs at Cornwall
came up this spring on the exact spot and South Pembrokeshire, the Fritil-
where the old herbalist found it. lary or Snake's-Head, the Wild Tulip,
John Ray recorded it as " growing in the Grape Hyacinth, the Herb Paris,
a shady Lane not far from Barking and Solomon's Seal.
in Surrey, plentifully " : the plant This latter plant (Polygonatum mul-
still flourishes in the same locality. tifiorum), one of the most graceful
The Liliaceae, or Lily-tribe, would species in the British flora, is common
doubtless be considered by many people in many of our Hampshire woods,
as the most attractive Order of British Its English name, Solomon's Seal,
plants. It numbers among its mem- recalls the quaint belief, general among
bers many rare and interesting species, our forefathers, in the " doctrine of
some of which, because of their beauti- signatures." This curious fancy is
f ul flowers, are often cultivated in our thus stated in a scarce herbal of the
gardens. Among its choicest members sixteenth century entitled " The Art
may be mentioned the exquisite Moun- of Simpling " : " Though sin and
tain Lloydia, frequently met with Satan have plunged mankind into an
in the Alps, but in Great Britain con- ocean of infirmities, yet the mercy of
fined to the rocky ledges of the God, which is over all His workes,
Snowdon range ; the yellow Star of maketh grasse to growe upon the
SOME MAY FLOWERS 53
mountains and herbes for the use Wood, not far from Droxford, where
of men, and hath not only stamped Izaak Walton spent a portion of the
upon them a distinct forme, but also last years of his long life, the plant,
given them particular signatures, in company with the whortleberry,
whereby a man may read ever in is abundant, but some years it is
legible characters the use of them." scarcely possible to find a single
Now if the rootstock of Solomon's flower. A curious use of this species
Seal be cut across, some marks will in the sixteenth century is mentioned
be observed not unlike the impressions by old Gerarde : " The floures put into
of a seal ; hence the plant was of a glasse, and set in a hill of ants, close
" singular vertue in sealing or healing stopped for the space of amoneth, and
up wounds, broken bones, and such then taken out, therein you shall finde
like." On the same principle the a liquor that appeaseth the paine and
purple marshwort was " an excellent griefe of the gout, being outwardly
remedy against the purples," and the applied, which is commended to be
quaking-grass and the aspen specifics most excellent."
for the ague, while the pretty little Many of our most beautiful native
herb-Robert of our hedgerows, from plants have suffered, nearly to extinc-
the red hue of its fading leaves, was tion, as already noticed in the case
a " wonderful stauncher of blood." of Daphne Mezereum, from being
The Lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria transplanted from their natural haunts
majalis) is a far rarer plant than into gardens. This has been specially
Solomon's Seal, but it is often abundant the case with the handsome Fritillary
where it occurs, as in some of the woods or Snake's-Head (Fritittaria meleagris),
of Lincolnshire. In the days of Queen called by our early botanists " the
Elizabeth it grew, we learn, on " Hamp- Checquered Daffodil or Ginney-hen
sted heath, foure miles from London Floure." The petals of this most
in great abundance, and upon Bushie choice flower are, as an old writer
heath, thirteene miles from London, says, " checquered most strangely,
and many other places." In Hamp- surpassing the curiousest painting that
shire it is confined to a few localities, Art can set downe. One square is of
and like the Wild Tulip which still a greenish yellow colour, the other
remains with us, is strangely shy of purple, keeping the same order as well
flowering. In a wood known as Lily on the backside of the floure as on
54 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
the inside, although they axe blackish plant, at once distinguished by its
in one square and of a violet colour four large pointed leaves " set one
in an other ; insomuch that every against another in manner of a Burgun-
leafe seemeth to be the feather of a dian crosse or True-love knot," many
Ginny hen, whereof it took his name." virtues were attributed. The great
The plant may still be seen, where it Italian physician of the sixteenth cen-
has flourished for centuries, in the tury, Matthiolus, tells us that " some
Magdalen meadows at Oxford, and that have laid long in a lingering
in a few other localities ; but in many sickness, and others that by witch-
of its old haunts it has now entirely craft were become half foolish, by
disappeared. The same, however, can- taking a dram of the seeds or berries
not be said of the curious, almost un- hereof in powder every day for twenty
canny, Herb Paris (Paris quadrifolia), days together, were restored to their
still growing where Ray found it at former health." If the herb possesses
Black Notley in Essex, and where Gil- these virtues, then, as old Nicho-
bert White found it at Selborne, las Culpeper says, it is " fit to be
and not uncommon in many of our nourished in every good woman's
Hampshire woods. To this singular garden."
XI
THE BEE MIND
" Oh wonderful ! Hath the All- Wise Creator plac'd such Wisdom, such Curious Art, such
Fortitude and Foresight, so Polite a Government ... in Creatures so small as the Bees ! "
JOSEPH WARDER.
nr^HERE is no familiarizing the is of a strictly limited character. Of
honey bee. I never take the this there have been fresh illustra-
quilt off those glistening combs with- tions during swarming time.
out a slight feeling of awe it is as if By the side of the overcrowded
one were opening the door of a cham- hive, out of which the old queen
ber of mystery, stealing across the comes, with her great following, is
threshold into a place unknown, darkly often an empty hive, admirably suited
wonderful. But the mysteries of the to the new monarchyor republic-
bee do not blind us to the plain fact for, despite tradition, it more nearly
that her intelligence runs in grooves ; resembles a republic. Often, before
BEES.
From a photograph by
F. Martin Duncan, F.R.P.S.
THE BEE MIND 55
the swarm comes forth, this vacant hive roof, which are not the least good to
has been long and critically examined them. I have seen it mentioned
by many bees, apparently explorers, as a sign of the bee's wisdom that
Yet how seldom is it chosen and the swarm coming forth will often fly
occupied without the guidance of the several miles away from their old
bee master ! Instead of going into home as proof that the bee does not
this hive, ranged and ready for them, wish to overcrowd a neighbourhood,
the swarm will settle in a cluster But, if so, why, when the swarm is
on a tree or bush by the river Lam- shaken down in the cool of the evening
bourne, I found and all but trod on a on a white sheet outside the empty
swarm in a faggot and will finally hive, do the bees promptly crowd
establish themselves, if they are not up, with all the music of satisfaction,
taken charge of, in the roof of a carrying their queen with them, and
house or the hollow of a tree. take possession ?
But only introduce them to the bee- No the bee intelligence is strictly
hive which in vain their explorers circumscribed. What we term " rea-
have examined, and which they them- soning power " does not seem to exist
selves have passed a hundred times a among bees. The arrangement, the
day, and they will joyously run up order of their State is marvellously
the alighting board, jostle in at the beautiful. The spirit of the hive is
entrance, and then and there take beyond praise in its devotion, discipline,
possession of the very spot that they endurance, fiery patriotism. But here
need for founding their State in. end the virtues of the bee. Compared
If their intelligence had anything with those qualities her intellect is
like affinity to human reasoning beneath contempt. Her machinery of
power, surely the swarm, on emerging mind cannot move outside the deep
with their queen, would go straight worn grooves of habit, which I suppose
into that empty hive with its hanging were slowly made geologically slow
row of bar-frames, each supporting in the unreckoned thousands (or should
a sheet of wax ready to work out it be millions ?) of years of her un-
into cells. Instead, the bees will waste known history for one cannot doubt
a precious day or more at the height that this is one of the most ancient
of the honey flow, examining, re-exam- civilizations in the world to-day it
ining, some crevices about a wall or may even be the most ancient.
XII
BIRD-WATCHING IN A BREYDON PUNT
"The birds around me hopped and played;
Their thoughts I cannot measure :
But the least motion which they made,
It seemed a thrill of pleasure."
WORDSWORTH.
fT^HE dew sparkles on every leaf- It is but the matter of a few minutes
bud and grass-blade, and the getting our punt afloat, one foot as
skylark sings merrily abovehead on a we push her scrunching a handful of
bright May morning. The sun has broken carapaces and legs of hapless
climbed his rosy way just high enough shorecrabs that, last night, a couple of
to tinge with ruddier hues the pan- brown rats discussed at supper time :
tiles of the quaint old houses on the they hunt on the mud at low water,
opposite quay-side, and to fling a glare sometimes even by daylight, their foot-
of burning light on the freckled sur- prints and tail-streaks dotting thickly
face of the tide gliding by our boat- here and there. Our gun-punt is a
house doors. A few big sea slaters typical Norfolk boat, eighteen feet long,
(Ligia oceanica) are sunning them- pointed at both ends, like a collier's pick-
selves on the woodwork, and a number axe, broad amidships, and where the
of banded Nemoralis snails are loitering haft fits in is where the punter sits to row
still to nibble at the succulent grasses in the " well " of the craft. She is
topping the " wall " ; while a parcel flat-bottomed, drawing only three or
of black-headed gulls, rejoicing in four inches of water ; she was built for
their nuptial hood and the glorious a watcher of birds, and not a butcher,
morning, are taking a few hours' respite We can glide over the " flats " in shal-
from the cares of nesting, and seeking lows that a keeled boat dare not nego-
a change diet from inland grub and tiate. Decked fore and aft, with a low
earthworm : they dip at every edible rail round the " well," we care little
morsel that floats on the tide floating for the wintry waves into which she
fish or struggling insect, and daintily dips her nose, for the broken water
drop toe-deep into the water as they runs off at once from the s'^htly
snatch at some high-swimming Idotea rounded deck. To-day there is but
linearis, or " sea-louse." How care- the merest ripple ; we won't ship the
lessly and merrily they scream ! mast, for speed is unnecessary, and the
M
BIRD-WATCHING IN A BREYDON PUNT 57
lockers contain creature comforts. I the steady breeze, keep to the " chan-
will sit amidships and scull ; you be nel," marked plainly enough by a four-
seated on the stern and keep those mile row of red painted " stakes " on
binoculars handy. the left, and a row of black ones on
The wind is fair from the south-east, the right. Far away on the sky-line
a quarter beloved by every local wild- windmills, and here and there a marsh-
fowler and ornithologist when the mi- man's cottage, show above and break
grants are moving in spring or autumn, the monotony of the " walls," while a
You heard the shrill pipings and the half-dozen Breydoner's houseboats give
mellow whistling above-head last night, spots of colouring below them. Above
which told you birds were on their all is the blue, speckled here and there
travels, and had halted awhile to circle with a few swift-moving clouds of
around and puzzle out the meaning of Naples yellow.
so many strange lights beneath them. We pull up at the " Lumps " just
The curlew " whauped," the grey inside the five-stake drain, putting to
plover " kle-a-ed," and the dunlin flight half a dozen town pigeons that
blew his keylike note in shrilly mono- have been gleaning among the drifted
syllables. We hope to see some of Zostera blades that the tide has flung
them breakfasting on the flats. up among the wiry rond-grass and
* * * stunted glass-wort. Their quest was
We are overtaken as we near the Hydrobia ulvce, a split -pea-sized mollusc
great railway bridge which now spans very like a Limncea stagnalis in shape,
the entrance to Breydon by a pictur- The pigeons fill their crops with them :
esque Norfolk wherry, whose deeply- we later on find every floating chip
laden hull, built on the selfsame lines as and every blade of Zostera marina
its early predecessors, the Vikings' ships, dotted thickly with the species. A
and huge sail, always befits a Broad- half-score loquacious whimbrel take to
land picture ; a careless fellow, hands wing in an opposite direction : they
in pockets, leans against the winch have been pushing their scimitar-
on the forepeak, whistling a popular shaped bills into the holes of the mud-
air, ^ls mate smoking a fragment of worms (Nereis) and picking up here
clay pipe at the tiller cleverly manipu- and there a shrimp and gammarus.
lates sail and rudder. Other wherries How conspicuously the white of their
ahead . dot Breydon, and bending to hinder quarters shows up against
5
58 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
the brown mud and between their rob the turnstones with amusing im-
grey, sharp, curved wings ! The noisy pudence. Twice the turnstones in turn
" May-bird " of the old race of gunners pretend to punish them with open bill,
was always greatly disliked, for it did but their menaces are unheeded, and
sentry-go for flocks of friendly waders, they repeat their pilfering at the
and was always the first to warn of earliest moment, and finally tire the
danger. patience of their larger friends, who
We purpose lying in a little creek with a low clear note take to wing and
for half an hour, by which time the leave them.
flats, higher up, will be covered, and the Walking sedately on the far side of
birds driven from their feeding grounds the lumps are several curlews, piping
must come this way for a foothold, or between their probings in that self-
go to the marshes to nap or preen complacent trilling note which be-
their feathers, and chat over plans for speaks contentment and satisfaction,
the morrow's doings. Already a cou- How adroitly the long bill is thrust
pie of knots, unnoticing us crouching down to where the clams are hiding,
in the punt, and decoyed into halting It is amusing to see how the curlew
by an imitation of their note, have timidly jumps aside as an equally
alighted on the drift left at last night's startled mollusc squirts up its surplus
high- water mark ; and a trio of turn- water ; but it is to its own undoing,
stones, clad in the black and white and for the bird immediately digs down,
ruddy brown of spring, with legs of and if it is not too big hauls it out,
orange-red, have joined them. Right and forthwith devours it. The curlew
merrily the turnstones commence to sometimes muds his " face," for the
fling aside the wrack and bits of iflotsam clam as often lies six inches buried,
under which hide Gammarus marinus and the curlew usually has but a
and many a shore-hopper, and which five and a half inch bill with which
skip or wriggle to the right or left on to nab him ! The shorecrab provides
being so unexpectedly exposed to view, the curlew with many a breakfast,
They do not reap the benefit of all but he never profits by his failures
their labour, for the friendly knots do to swallow any but the tiniest of
not mind sharing in the spoils, while a flounders. Yet he can never refuse
quartet of dunlins in their vests of to toy with a fish he knows it is im-
black promptly step in and dodge and possible for him to bag, and the wily
BIRD-WATCHING IN A BREYDON PUNT 59
gulls standing watchfully around know plumage of springtime, their long glossy
that there will be a chance for one of black crests waving in the wind, like
them when he flings it away in disgust, pennants. You will notice, too, that
Not fifty yards from where we are they do not stand still and wait,
skulking, less than two years ago I Micawber-like, for what may turn up,
saw nine dainty avocets sitting afloat as juvenile herons do ; but like gro-
in this very drain, dancing up and tesque sentries they march along by
down on the rippled waters just as you the edge of the flat and snatch
see a fleet of ships riding at anchor ; up victims that would evade them,
and some of them, ducklike dipped, Young birds exhibit more patience,
with tails up, pricking their needle no doubt, but exercise less common-
bills in the soft ooze for mollusca ; sense,
and if perchance they discovered a
mud-worm it suited them just as well. Those two rows of short, scragpy,
One of the delights attending a trip upright timbers are all that is left to
among the mudflats is the unremote view of the old brig Agnes. Let us
possibility of falling in with unex- fasten the punt to a couple of them :
pected rarities. I have thus come this is a favourite post of observation
across an Iceland gull, a stork, a Cas- of mine. The Agnes regularly crawled
pian tern, a pelican asleep with his to the Straits and back in the days of
pouch full of flounders, and many a Nelson, carrying wine and fruit ; they
spoonbill. And only quite recently a knew stem from stern by the jutting
friend of mine saw four glossy ibises ; out bow-sprit. In the seventies the
he went next day to try and get a shot Commissioners brought her and sunk
at them, and fell in with thirteen red- her here at the mouth of a drain : there
crested whistling ducks instead, and was far too much scouring taking place
with punt and shoulder gun secured under the protecting wall, by all the
nine ! body of water that dropped off the
Let's make now for the " Ship " flats as the ebb tide made. They cut
drain. But stay ! turn your glasses the drain with a more circular sweep
on yonder herons near the " walls " ; into the Channel. In 1878 a pair of
they are fishing for eels and flounders swallows nested under her decks, not-
in the North Wall drain. You will withstanding the hold was then always
observe that they are in the excellent full of water ; to-day where the decks
64 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
birds of the home-abiding kinds ; as careless blackbird, but in staccato
the third week of April leads in each bursts, with provoking checks between
crowded day, the rapidity of change them ; some of its notes, too, especi-
seems to outstrip the attentive mind, ally in the case of the least ripe and
and the ear has hardly grown accus- perfect singers, may seem almost
tomed to the happy twitter of the harsh and untuneful when heard near
racing swallows, to the call of the at hand, from the very force and
cuckoo in the elms, or the chatter of urgency of their delivery. But when
the inconsequent whitethroats in the the song of the nightingale is heard
shooting hedge-sides, when the throb year after year, by day and by night,
of the nightingale's music first breaks among all the innumerable bird-voices
upon the expectant senses in the mid- of early summer, or lonely in the
flood of the spring. moonshine or under the stars, there are
Like the first impression of many few who do not feel that it does excel
things of famous and universal repute, the songs of all our other birds in
the first strain of nightingale music passion and richness, in an unequalled
falling on expectant ears bred beyond mingling of liquid sweetness and won-
the limits of its range will often seem derful force and fire. It is this supreme
distinctly disappointing and unfavour- force, this masterful and heart-deep
able. We are apt to form expectations passion, in the nightingale's song that
greater than any reality can immedi- unquestionably places it above the
ately fulfil, and few persons who first three or four other kinds of English
hear the nightingale's song, whether bird-music which may equal or even
in the midst of the high noonday surpass it in sustained purity or sweet-
chorus or alone in the silence and ness of tone. The vehement fulness
darkness of night, will at once regard of its utterance is so unparalleled, and
its rich but broken music as worthy even startling, as it suddenly bursts
of such great and age-old praise of the upon the ear from a brake of green by
poets, and all its acclamation and the footpath among all the voices of
tribute of worship from men of every May, that there seems an actual
time. Often the nightingale will sing, physical necessity for it to pause for
not in a free, unbroken torrent of an instant's breathing-space after each
music like the lark, or even in such tyrannous burst of song. And yet
sweet, rich desultory catches as the there are many times, in the softest
THE NIGHTINGALE AND ITS HAUNTS 65
nights and days of spring, when the Though the nightingale is as regular
nightingale will forget its broken and a singer of the middle part of the day,
halting catches, and pour forth an when the sun is highest in heaven,
almost unbroken tide of deep and pas- as any blackbird or chaffinch or yel-
sionate music. It is an experience never lowhammer, its song is never more
to be forgotten to hear two nightin- impressive than when it breaks for
gales thus challenging one another the first time upon the long expectant
across a still and darkened valley, one ear out of the silence of the April
near and one far away, singing with night. Like all the birds of summer
all the power and sweetness that is in which are less known by sight than
them till the distant miles of country by their song, in cold, ungenial
seem filled with their voices alone, weather it may often be present for
There is one run of the same deep, days in the copses and broken fringes
liquid note, repeated a dozen times of the woods before it reveals itself by
or more in succession, which comes its first pulsing strain. At such times
so suddenly, and is so different from only a watchful and persistent eye
what has gone before, that an inex- will catch a glimpse of the alert, grey,
perienced ear generally takes it shapely figure uneasily shifting in the
for the song of some different bird underwood, or alighting for a moment
in the heart of the same thicket, in quest of food on the grassy margin
And rarer than this, so rare, indeed, of a woodland lane, while the wind
that unless one is regularly estab- clings to the east in a grey, forbidding
lished in the midst of a nightingale sky, and all the spring stands still
country at song-time one may never in the hedgerows. After a week or
hear it for years together, is another more of such a lingering " blackthorn
and deeper note, kept up perfectly winter " all may be changed in an
sweet and true to an almost incredible hour by a turn of the wind at sun-
length, as long as any man could down into the south or west ; and then,
whistle on a single breath. No other though other birds are stilled by
English bird produces anything at all darkness, and not even the restless
like it ; and the effect of this deep, sedge-warbler has yet taken up his
wonderful call in the midst of a ve- nocturnal song of later summer, the
hement cataract of notes far up the heart of the nightingale is responsive
scale above it is simply indescribable, to the unsealing breath of spring.
62 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
We have arrived at the Moorhen, our of the old gunners waving beneath it >
old Noah's ark, perched high and dry this bird delights to feed on the succu-
and shored up on Banham's rond. lent stems of this semi-marine species
She used to bear her owner in her of vegetation, and most adroitly nips
smarter days into Broadland haunts j off the less palatable blades of darker
her present moorings, like the old ship green, which float downstream on the
Agnes's, are final. She is now our " ob- ebb tide to tell some ancient eel-babber
servatory." Tie the punt to the little that the " smee " have been dining in
jetty, and step inside. Fold up those goodly numbers " up above," and he
blankets, and set the table from this cup- sighs (if these passionless men ever do)
board, while I light a fire and put the when he remembers how he, in the old
kettle on. While the water boils we'll days, "afore protection done for him,"
sit in the stern sheets outside. The tide used to " cut lanes ' ' through their ranks
is at its full, and will presently begin with his swivel gun. The coffee is ready;
to ebb. On the rond to the right are and the sandwiches invite discussion.
a score and more curlews awaiting its A flock of large gulls is gathering a
fall. Some redshanks from the marshes hundred yards or more away in front
impatiently hurry by, and, like Noah's of us. There are at least fifteen adult
dove, return, to come again shortly great black-backed gulls, and twenty
when there is standing room assured, of a younger generation, clad in the
A greenshank flits by just after, utter- mottled grey of the second year ; two
ing his loud clear pleu ! pleu ! pleu ! others are blotched, and have already
We heard him piping a mile away. He passed their third year. Myriads of
settles in a " low " in the rond, and shore-crabs prowl about among the
immediately begins to methodically Zostera, chasing each other in anger
work the shallow puddle. when not pursuing shrimps and gobies,
Away to the right a mile or more, on and running after each other again in
the " Fleet " near Dan Banham's Mill, a envious mood when one has secured
hundred black specks dot the waters, its prey. On these greedy crustaceans
Take this old telescope, and see if the gulls are feeding. With sometimes
you recognize them. They are wigeon. four thousand gulls on Breydon, it
Most of them appear to be asleep ; one is a wonder to me that any crabs re-
>now and again may be observed tug- main at all !
ging at the Zostera the ' ' wigeon grass " * *
THE NIGHTINGALE AND ITS HAUNTS 63
The tide is falling fast. Back to lowing a sinuous drain that forms a
the flats come the curlews, and the sort of tributary to the river-like
redshanks, and the smaller waders from Duff ell's drain, which cuts Breydon
the marshes, knowing the times of rise diagonally almost exactly into two.
and fall as if they worked by tide- The upper portion of Breydon we have
table. All the waders seem hungry not had time to explore to-day. At
again. The whimbrel are leaving the the entrance of Duff ell's drain, where
rond and joining the curlews. Small it joins the main Channel, lies moored
gulls, wearied of their fishing in the the watcher's houseboat, to which
Channel, make for the bare mud- we make fast for half an hour's
patches to rest awhile. The herons gossip, "and to compare notes. We
have gone back with their catches need not hurry, for it is an easy half-
to their nesting quarters at Reed- hour's pull downstream to our boat-
ham. We quant across Breydon, fol- shed.
XIII
THE NIGHTINGALE AND ITS HAUNTS
" There is something in it of Divinity more than the ear discovers ; it is an hieroglyphical
and shadowed lesson of the whole world, and creatures of God ; such a melody to the ear, as
the whole world, well understood, would afford the understanding."
SiR THOMAS BROWNE.
TN the April days when the mist of grows fuller and more intricately
green has already deepened in varied under the sun and the soft
the larches, but before the canopy of spring winds. The willow- wren joins
denser foliage has yet unfolded upon the chiffchaff in the half -clothed boughs
hazel and beech and elm, the covers of the copse ; the wryneck's shout is
and woodsides of all but the northern heard once more in the leafless limbs
and western fringes of England begin of the oak, and the bittersweet babble
to thrill by night and day with the of the sedge-warbler brings a stir of
passion of the song of the nightingale, bustling life to the dry reeds and green-
Day by day, as the throngs of the tagged willows of the pool. New
summer birds come home from the voices mingle every morning in the
south, the mounting tide of music daily increasing chorus of all the song-
64 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
birds of the home-abiding kinds ; as careless blackbird, but in staccato
the third week of April leads in each bursts, with provoking checks between
crowded day, the rapidity of change them ; some of its notes, too, especi-
seems to outstrip the attentive mind, ally in the case of the least ripe and
and the ear has hardly grown accus- perfect singers, may seem almost
tomed to the happy twitter of the harsh and untuneful when heard near
racing swallows, to the call of the at hand, from the very force and
cuckoo in the elms, or the chatter of urgency of their delivery. But when
the inconsequent whitethroats in the the song of the nightingale is heard
shooting hedge-sides, when the throb year after year, by day and by night,
of the nightingale's music first breaks among all the innumerable bird-voices
upon the expectant senses in the mid- of early summer, or lonely in the
flood of the spring. moonshine or under the stars, there are
Like the first impression of many few who do not feel that it does excel
things of famous and universal repute, the songs of all our other birds in
the first strain of nightingale music passion and richness, in an unequalled
falling on expectant ears bred beyond mingling of liquid sweetness and won-
the limits of its range will often seem derful force and fire. It is this supreme
distinctly disappointing and unfavour- force, this masterful and heart-deep
able. We are apt to form expectations passion, in the nightingale's song that
greater than any reality can immedi- unquestionably places it above the
ately fulfil, and few persons who first three or four other kinds of English
hear the nightingale's song, whether bird-music which may equal or even
in the midst of the high noonday surpass it in sustained purity or sweet-
chorus or alone in the silence and ness of tone. The vehement fulness
darkness of night, will at once regard of its utterance is so unparalleled, and
its rich but broken music as worthy even startling, as it suddenly bursts
of such great and age-old praise of the upon the ear from a brake of green by
poets, and all its acclamation and the footpath among all the voices of
tribute of worship from men of every May, that there seems an actual
time. Often the nightingale will sing, physical necessity for it to pause for
not in a free, unbroken torrent of an instant's breathing-space after each
music like the lark, or even in such tyrannous burst of song. And yet
sweet, rich desultory catches as the there are many times, in the softest
THE NIGHTINGALE AND ITS HAUNTS 65
nights and days of spring, when the Though the nightingale is as regular
nightingale will forget its broken and a singer of the middle part of the day,
halting catches, and pour forth an when the sun is highest in heaven,
almost unbroken tide of deep and pas- as any blackbird or chaffinch or yel-
sionate music. It is an experience never lowhammer, its song is never more
to be forgotten to hear two nightin- impressive than when it breaks for
gales thus challenging one another the first time upon the long expectant
across a still and darkened valley, one ear out of the silence of the April
near and one far away, singing with night. Like all the birds of summer
all the power and sweetness that is in which are less known by sight than
them till the distant miles of country by their song, in cold, ungenial
seem filled with their voices alone, weather it may often be present for
There is one run of the same deep, days in the copses and broken fringes
liquid note, repeated a dozen times of the woods before it reveals itself by
or more in succession, which comes its first pulsing strain. At such times
so suddenly, and is so different from only a watchful and persistent eye
what has gone before, that an inex- will catch a glimpse of the alert, grey,
perienced ear generally takes it shapely figure uneasily shifting in the
for the song of some different bird underwood, or alighting for a moment
in the heart of the same thicket, in quest of food on the grassy margin
And rarer than this, so rare, indeed, of a woodland lane, while the wind
that unless one is regularly estab- clings to the east in a grey, forbidding
lished in the midst of a nightingale sky, and all the spring stands still
country at song-time one may never in the hedgerows. After a week or
hear it for years together, is another more of such a lingering " blackthorn
and deeper note, kept up perfectly winter " all may be changed in an
sweet and true to an almost incredible hour by a turn of the wind at sun-
length, as long as any man could down into the south or west ; and then,
whistle on a single breath. No other though other birds are stilled by
English bird produces anything at all darkness, and not even the restless
like it ; and the effect of this deep, sedge-warbler has yet taken up his
wonderful call in the midst of a ve- nocturnal song of later summer, the
hement cataract of notes far up the heart of the nightingale is responsive
scale above it is simply indescribable, to the unsealing breath of spring.
66 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
The earth smells sweet with growth, grey-scarred Somersetshire hills, the
the stars gleam soft and large, the sky last pairs have found fair harbourage
is velvety and dark, moths' wings are in the thickets, and they need the
abroad in the air ; and then, out of road no more. They are birds of a
the silence and solitude of the garden, delicate choice in summer climate and
from some well-known corner made surroundings, and shun, perhaps, not
half mysterious as the sudden throne only the later and sharper summers
of song, the night is filled with the of the north, but even in the milder
strong and passionate prelude of the west, some influence, unknown to us,
nightingales of yet another spring. of its profuser annual rainfall. In
Unlike many of the other birds of any case, it seems always strange
summer, which pour into the country that there are no nightingales to haunt
by routes which cross the wider spaces the combes and vales of the western
of the Channel, the nightingale enters land, when May brings in its cloudy
England at the extreme south-east, nights of incense, and the mind
and seems to distribute itself west- recalls how their song is throbbing
ward and northward in gradually under the hills, away between the
decreasing numbers. So far, for in- Virgin and the Plough, where
stance, to the west as the Gloucester- the streams flow eastward to the
shire and Berkshire borderland, among sea.
the streams that make the Thames, More than of most other birds, the
its voice resounds everywhere in the haunts of the nightingale are exactly
mid-May copses; but thirty miles those clean, deep, flowery thickets,
still further to westwards, beyond the where the sylvan life of spring unfolds
high Cotswold scarp, it is far scarcer itself most prodigally and keenly in
and more fitful in its coming, so that the six weeks from late April to early
a single singing nightingale will draw June, that are the season of the night-
half a country town to hear it, in the ingale's song. The nightingale, like
early summer evenings of a year most others of the smaller birds, avoids
when it appears. From their landing- the dark heart of the woods, and clings
place upon the Kentish shore, the to the broken borderland of sunlight
birds spread fan-wise, thinning as they and shadow ; and it shuns also, like
go till by the time that they have most of its kindred in the tribe of
reached Trent and Severn and the summer warblers, the harsh, enamelled
IL1
E
U
BJ
1LJ
S 5S
THE NIGHTINGALE AND ITS HAUNTS 67
cover of such evergreens as the firs and alder, interspersed with taller
and pines, beloved of the tits and gold- oaks, which are a characteristic form
crests, and the stuffed, dense prickle- of woodland in the southern counties,
bushes of an unmixed gorse-cover, and are technically known as " cop-
the favourite fastness of so many pice with standards." The copse-
chats and linnets and spray-poised wood is cut at regular intervals of
yellowhammers. It is the " green from half a dozen to a dozen years ;
shade " of the poet that the nightin- and as soon as the new shoots of two
gale truly loves a shade not thick- or three seasons have begun to over-
spread and dark, but shed in hazy shadow the first great sheets of prim-
gold by the tender verdure of clean roses which spring up on the very
undergrowth and bushes of middle heels of the woodcutter, for the rest
height, which so mingle the sunlight of the copse's term of growth it is a
and the shadow between them that thronged home of the nightingales,
the place is as full of coolness as of Wind-plucked beneath the bright
flowers. Often, where the lower spring sun, the spotted gold of the
brushwood is topped by forest timber thicket seems to mingle in an intensity
standing in airy order, the nightingale of gladness with their throbbing song,
will mount for song, both by day and and the deep drifts of bluebells and
night, into the more open boughs of starry stitchwort, red campion and
oak or beech or elm, a little above yellow dead-nettle and lilac-spotted
the thicket ; but although it is not orchises, are alive and mysterious with
hard to steal a view of him, absorbed the fascination of their nesting life,
in the passion of song, with raised Built always on or very near the
throat pulsing at every burst, and ground among the fresh spring under-
feet firmly stayed upon the bough, growth, the loose, leaf-packed nest
he is ready at slight alarm to check has often a remarkable beauty of
his call, and drop back swift and silent situation and surroundings ; the blue-
into the depths of the concealing bells swinging in the soft May wind
underworld, where his nest is hidden, change the glossy lights on the bur-
Of all such green and flowery laby- nished olive eggs beneath them, and
rinths with emerging watch-towers of the apple-blossom drifts down beside
song, the nightingale most loves those the sitting bird from the foam-crowned
deep copses of hazel and blackthorn branches of some wild and ancient
68 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIE
tree. Then comes the last high pro- nests or young. By Midsummer Day
gress of the year, and the stilling of the song of the nightingale is to be
that fierce prophetic song. As the heard no more ; and although the joy
apple-blossom grows scarce and tar- and triumph of summer seem expressed
nished, and the bluebells lank and more fully than ever before in the
dim in the deepening shade of June, brief and luminous nights, the myriad
one by one the voices of the nightin- roses that star the hedges, and the
gales fall silent in the thickets; and great sheets of scarlet poppies and
now, by a strange completeness of crimson clover blossom that burn to the
change, their only note is the harsh brightness of the sun, the ear already
and guttural croak, or constrained, misses that tumultuous music of the
inarticulate chirp, with which they mounting year, and we feel, afar but
express alarm for their threatened surely, the turn of the receding tide.
XIV
SOME MOORLAND BIRDS
" The fall of Kings,
The rage of nations and the crush of states
Move not the man, who from the world escap'd
In still retreats and flowery solitudes
To Nature's voice attends."
THOMSON.
TT is in the merry month of May mountain village the Ultima Thule
that the ornithologist, in South of civilization, but it is a walk which
Central Wales, will do well to turn will prove one of unsurpassed enjoy-
his thoughts to his loved haunts and ment. Early in your walk, a goldfinch
probe the secrets of many a " cwm," familiar enough object twittering
" coed " and " nant ; " for then most as it flies, crosses from one hedgerow
inland birds are busy with domestic tree to another where it sits half buried
cares. by the foliage. You pause ; for a
Choose a day then, and starting at solitary goldfinch at this season surely
daybreak, stray up towards the hazy speaks of a busy mate. A horse
curtain of the rosy - tinted hills, chestnut, shimmering in its pink flush
There are nine solid miles in front of clustering blossoms, here adorns the
of you before reaching a remote wayside, and the cunningly-concealed
SOME MOORLAND BIRDS 69
nest will be cradled far up on the heavily oak-crowned hills and pine-
tapering fringe of a branch swaying capped knolls the haunt of the buz-
across the road. Presently the strain- zard ; and at this very moment a pair
ing eyes are rewarded with a tiny of the great hawks are sailing far above
" something " that is certainly no the wooded ramparts on the right,
excrescence of the bark or natural Were you to wander up the ravine
formation of the leaves, and a light- leading to the heights, you would find
ning climb lands you within a few the grey, downy brood nestling in
feet of its probable whereabouts, when their rough home securely placed in
two excited goldfinches, flitting rest- the gaping fork of an ivied oak. Not
lessly from bough to bough, now so long ago, that now rarest of British
across the road then back again, birds the kite could have been seen
intimate that the trail is growing from this very byway " swimming
hot. That " something," can you only sublime in oft -repeated circles, scream-
find it, is beyond doubt the nest. . . . ing loud." But now, alas ! it has gone.
Ah ! At last you have it and this In these same woods the great
time a slow, careful climb enables you spotted woodpecker finds congenial
to peep down at the five, porcelain- quarters ; the unmistakable, single
shelled, greenish - white, purplish - cry of " chac " sounds with startling
spotted eggs, reposing snugly in their clearness and then the author of it
woolly, down-lined bassinette. a mottled black and white shadow
Leave this blissful picture and trudge springing up the crinkled, papery bark
on with the birds to cheer your path, of a silver-washed birch, rivets the
Now it is a singing tree pipit rising attention. Not far off, in a similar
and falling in the liquid air ; now a tree, is the circular, chiselled hole,
fragile willow wren whispering its" ir- where his mate, in her stuffy retreat,
regularly blended cadence, now swelling, is hatching the half-dozen creamy-
now diminishing ; " next a wood war- white, polished eggs. Don't tamper
bier shivering in ecstasies over its with it, for with few exceptions to cut
tremulous refrain ; again the rich, out a woodpecker's hole spells its inevit-
mellow notes of blackcap and garden able desertion. The handsome green
warbler lurking in the thickets border- yaffle is here too, and his unearthly,
ing the track. ... Just here the road neighing laugh rings out loudly from
winds for well-nigh a league through the black firs bordering the old mill.
70 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
This hoary oakwood also befriends would be of the trimmest and fashioned
the lovely and rare pied fly catcher, a of the choicest materials ; far from
bird whose next regular summer resort, this, it is a rough untidy structure of
apart from Wales and its border coun- dried grass and dead leaves artlessly
ties, must be looked for amongst the put together in the sheltering hollow,
distant glens of Derbyshire and York- But the pale-blue, fragile eggs are
shire. Many pairs will be encountered lovely beyond compare,
as you scramble along the sun-baked Leave the woods to their lonely vigil
slopes of the " hanger." Stay your and toil up the devious, switchback
steps and watch a pair. The cock, spick path. The scenery, if now practically
and span in piebald livery, is restless- bare of timber, is nevertheless just
ness personified ; his alarm note, as pleasing. Instead of woods, moun-
oddly like the redstart's, betokens tains confront the gaze ; on the right
a nursery somewhere close by: the are the barren slopes of a desolate
rustier - garbed hen's anxious " whit " mountain, which, save the billowy
and ruffled feathers which she shakes crests of the stately Beacons, is the
from time to time, tell you that she loftiest height that Brecknock can
has just left her eggs. Sit down boast ; on the left, the hogback of
quietly, and almost imperceptibly the another wind - swept hill stretches
birds, with many a feint and deviation, for miles, till it sinks into the
will get nearer and nearer to one par- wooded dingles left far behind ;
ticular oak. Holes there are in plenty ; ahead, are the moors and rough
the decaying timber abounds with enclosures encroaching on the pur-
them, but the knot-hole in this special lieus of the last village that, in this
oak interests the birds strangely. The no man's land, you will encounter for
nest must be inside. Ah, you were hours.
right, for quick as thought, when she Through this haven you enter some
fancied herself free from surveillance, of the fairest country that even lovely
the hen has flown up to the entrance, Cambria can show : first past the old
clung to it momentarily, then dived church profiled on a rifle-green tapes-
in ; and immediately her mate's un- try of yews, and the hospitable inn
mistakable song swells the choir of glistening cheerfully in its coat of white-
sylvan voices. It might be imagined wash, on beyond the little ivy-clad,
that the home of so dainty a bird stone vicarage, where blackbirds, robins
SOME MOORLAND BIRDS 71
and such like homely songsters, even tumbled together with a solid insta-
in this desolate region, find shelter, bility, as if hurled by a giant arm in
Then deploy through a reeking, marshy some prehistoric game and abandoned,
tract hirsute with stunted oaks and threatens to topple over on to the
alders, a spot beloved of " cock " in faintly indicated riverpath below,
winter. As you leave it, but not be- Scale the rocks and visit the robber
fore examining a lesser redpoll's home stronghold. By this time the promis-
firmly wedged a dainty, down - lined ing brood, lusty in their newly-ac-
cradle in the prickly recesses of a quired strength, have deserted their
straggling hedge, the entire panorama trampled couch of sticks and wool,
of the valley suddenly bursts into view, and sit composedly on various ledges.
Crumbling walls of broken-up rock They little reck your intrusion
tower on either side for many a lonely perhaps it is their first sight of
mile. The river, springing from its man but with their parents it is an-
birthplace on the confines of the Car- other matter. Well do they know his
digan hills hard by, now glitters in sinu- hated presence, and angered beyond
ous curves through morasses of bog measure they flap about above the
and meadow, anon spouts and tumbles rocks with far quicker flight than usual,
riotously in veritable cataracts over croaking furiously. At one moment
giant boulders. One spot, where the they are so close that the rustle of
rocks almost embrace across the stream, their stiff pinions suggests the " frou-
is locally known as " Camraur Bleid- frou " of a silk skirt ; next minute,
diad," meaning the wolves' footsteps, settling on neighbouring crags, they
a fact which of itself proclaims that puff out their cheek feathers and raise
these grey savages once found good their hackles in an access of fury,
harbouring here. Now the only larger Now half climb, half scramble down
wild animals left are badger, fox, otter to the track and once again follow
and polecat, but, of winged outlaws, the back course of the stream. Sand-
buzzards still mew far overhead ; occa- pipers will be your companions, and
sionally my lord peregrine " winnows " at several recognized spots where the
down dale ; and to this day a pair of rocks rise high and dry above the
ill-omened ravens are regular inhab- water, pairs of dainty grey wagtails are
itants of that grey escarpment on the admired and their respective nests
right, which, a medley of huge slabs examined. One nest contains nearly-
72 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
fledged young which, though elegant bed of dried grass and dead leaves the
little fellows, as yet lack the striking five snowy eggs may be felt, left ex-
tints of their parents' costume ; in posed as the brooding mother, swishing
another you find nestlings just hatched off in your face with startling sudden-
hideous objects ; but a third holds ness, almost causes you to lose your
a full clutch of hot, creamy-brown footing and fall headlong into the boil-
eggs, ing pool on whose brink you insecurely
Now the grey wagtail is a fairy balance.
creature to be longed for and loved, If you would woo the kingfisher,
for with its graceful manners, trim you must hark back many a mile to
figure and exquisitely blended finery where the river is broader and slower,
of grey and brightest chrome, it lends and where the banks, in place of being
an additional charm to many a spot wet and rocky, rise brown-soiled and
which one would fancy needed no such dry. In a few such spots (for the king-
enhancement ; and in the dread grip fisher is far from being a really common
of winter, when the entrancing birds bird in Central Wales), you may catch
have sought warmer quarters down many a passing glimpse of an azure and
country, the turbulent hill-streams, topaz streak darting down stream like
lovely though they are at all times, some resplendent meteor, or of a more
then appear to have lost a very part defined, gorgeously attired shape, fish-
of their being. But if the wagtails ing, from its favourite jetty a pendant
have departed, the dipper's sprightly willow branch whispering to the stream ;
form bobbing from the mossy stones and then there is always the pleasing
of the " nant" is ever present ; ice and probability of lighting on the burrow,
snow, storm and tempest trouble him at the end of which, on nothing but
little. You have passed many an a putrid mass of fish-bones, the sur-
ancestral dwelling of theirs to-day, prisingly glossy eggs are laid,
but only to find that in every case the Cross the stream by a series of con-
first broods have flown, and that none venient stepping stones and dawdle up
contain second layings. Just now, the steep slope leading to the moor-
however, your luck is in the ascendant ; land. Not long since this slope boasted
a nest is discovered a huge, brownish, a fine oak wood, but the greedy axe
mossy sphere supported on a ledge has been busy and now only a few dis-
of rock, but half dry. In it, on the consolate, half-decayed giants, useless
THE GKEBE.
From a photograph by
Oliver G. Pike.
SOME MOORLAND BIRDS 73
for timber, stand soughing in the it probably nests sparingly in the
breeze. ... At last the flats are remainder of Wales,
gained, and almost simultaneously the Up here the crow of the wild, red
"purring" of a dunlin is heard, and grouse delights the ear, and black game,
soon after five of the birds are on view, growing scarcer year by year, are
What a confiding species the dunlin is ; occasionally met with, especially where
how utterly devoid of fear ! First the moors join forces with the wooded
they keep careering rapidly round " cwms " ; here it is, too, that the
you, uttering their strange whistling clamorous curlews have their summer
purr, then they settle literally within home and fashion their rough nest of
a yard or two of your feet, finally to cotton grass on a drier portion of the
trip daintily along over the rough- moor. You will be lucky if, at first
coated hillocks ere taking wing once asking so to speak, you chance on the
again. Just here are a few small pools, four pale, spotted eggs, for though of
how begotten no man can say, but great size they give more trouble to
they appear to rise from the peaty find than you might suppose,
soil ; round them are patches of waving But the most elusive of all these
rushy grass. As you approach, there moorland fowl is the golden plover ;
steals out from one of these just in and more, it is scarce on these Bre-
front of you a chestnut - backed, black- conshire heights. Nevertheless, this
breasted dunlin, leaving exposed her ground always harbours one pair at
four richly-blotched olive-buff eggs, least during summer, and suddenly,
lying in their meagre nest of dry grass, as you top an appreciable rise, first
as pretty a moorland picture as you a male's wild, plaintive whistle is
will find anywhere. ... In a paren- heard, then the bird itself is seen
thesis one may mention that no orni- a crouching, indistinct, running form,
thologist has, as far as it is known, Occasionally he stops and pivots
hitherto recorded the dunlin as breed- round jerkily to reveal his full, ebon
ing in Breconshire ; yet it has done stomacher ; next minute, running
so, though very locally, for years; as again, his variegated yellow back,
is also the case in the adjoining coun- resembling a piece of the tawny waste
ties of Carmarthen and Radnor. From suddenly imbued with life, faces you.
Cardigan and Merioneth it has already Ignore this bird : his bent is to fool
been reported and, Anglesey excepted, you and, if he can, induce you by
6
74 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
following him to quit the spot you now eggs. But neither of the owners are
occupy. But instead of being led happy, and flying about excitedly,
away on a wild goose chase, rather they rouse the slumbering echoes of
explore this likely patch of ground : the moorland siesta with their grating
and lo ! from the side of a hummock chatter. And your luck does not end
barely six paces ahead, there suddenly here, for swinging round a bluff at the
springs a fluttering, trailing form. A bottom end of the track, a diminutive
wounded plover ? Not a bit of it ! hawk a veritable blue-backed, male
Advance, and on the very spot that merlin flashes past on the wings of
she left repose in their lowly nest of the wind. This presiding spirit of the
cotton grass the four lately-hatched, moors is unaccountably rare on these
saffron-mottled, downy chicks, almost hills, and to have seen one just at this
as rich a prize as the Welsh bird-lover spot is a thrice fortunate event. Yet
can hope for.* For although, taking you do know places and not so far
Great Britain as a whole, the bird can- distant either where the ruddy eggs
not be accounted a great rarity, yet can be found, lying objects of tempta-
the finding of its nest, as a rule, must tion even to the most self-restrained
ever rank amongst the hardest tasks ornithologist amongst the heather on
that the nest-hunter has to contend the hillside.
with. The lengthening shadows laying
Ramble on, and presently a line of broad splashes of sombre colour on the
rocks, which mark the excoriated flanks purple crests of the distant hills and
of a dingle springs up ahead. A clear, the crimsoning sun sinking towards
piping roundelay, heard with extra Cardigan Bay, itself as it were almost
delight because in this region song- imaged in the rainbow - tinted
birds are scarce, bespeaks a ring ouzel clouds, tell you that your glorious day
in yonder rowan ; and hurrying down is all but over.
a sheep path thinly painted on the Relinquish the moor then, and wend
cliff, his mate dashes out noisily from your way five long rugged miles to a
a tiny fern-clad embrasure, leaving sequestered wayside station. It is still
for your special delectation her four full light, but the May evening is
bright bluish-green, chestnut spotted upon you and the soft halloa of a brown
owl floats musically down dale, and
* Young golden plovers stay in the nest for
at least sixty hours after being hatched. a heron a dark line on the fading
SOME MOORLAND BIRDS 75
sky hailing from the woods miles gathered for their customary evening
beyond, passes over on stately, tireless fling, and gentler, mouse-brown sand
vans to his favourite fishing grounds martins with lowlier flight, skim like
.... The station is at length reached, shadows just above the translucent
but not without a run to catch the ripples of the darkening river. As
strangely - punctual train, and half you near your own hearth, a night-
an hour hence finds you on the tramp jar " churs " to you incessantly, as he
once again, though now it wants but has done for a fortnight past, and next
four miles to your own threshold, minute you see him half phantom,
Birds, too, are still with you. Much half bird in the gloaming glancing
as you deplore the absence of the with erratic flight over the swaying
nightingale, the mellowed tones of the tops of the hazels. Then, and not till
woodlark a notoriously late singer then, will you fully admit that the
amply repay you. Those gently undu- day is well-nigh spent,
lating hills on your left, growing What, all these things to be seen
blurred and indistinct in the dying in one day ? Yes, and many more
light, are a noted resort of theirs, and besides. But then have you not been
more than once you have found the out since four this morning ? it is now
pro vokingly- well-concealed nest under nine. Have you not broken the back
the dead bracken, littering the boulder- of forty miles clear ? Well have
decked slopes ; many a halcyon hour you earned your prospective rest,
have you spent in the company of the Tiring, did you hear it whispered ?
alluring woodlark. In the one village Well, possibly for some, but on these
through which your way lies, scythe- charming Breconshire hills at any rate
winged swifts, amorous and noisy, are you could keep going for ever.
XV
THE STORY OF SOME PEBBLE HILLS
" The Hills are shadows, and they flow
From form to form, and nothing stands ;
They melt like mist, the solid lands,
Like clouds that shape themselves and go."
TENNYSON.
streets of a large town have for rest. We notice that the southern
been projected till they reach side of the hill is very steep. What
within a gunshot of this pebbly hill, up the geologist calls the angle of repose
whose steep, shivering sides we have just is very high, nearly 30 from the hori-
climbed. We are some 400 feet above zontal walk across the flat table top,
sea-level, and, looking northwards over and the northward slope, along the
the lower ridge of the London Clay, dip or inclination of the strata, is seen
on which stands the glass palace of to be much more gentle.
Paxton, through the faint haze the During the ages a slight thickness
blurred outlines of London landmarks of peaty material has insinuated itself
may be discerned. Away to the south, among the pebbles, affording roothold
the billowy chalk downs rise gradu- for gorse, bracken and bramble. Strik-
ally upwards to their escarpment on ing deeper down, the Scotch pine with
the sky-line. its rugged red bark, and the more
The capping of pebbles rests mani- delicately-featured fir thrive abun-
festly on a layer of fine, sharp, grey dantly. The former tree has half-
sand, and the loose stones have rolled rounded leaves, grouped in twos ; the
downhill nearly to the foot, leading oblong needles of the fir, flat and blunt,
one to think that the whole is one are strung in a double row. Scrubby
homogeneous mass. Below the sand lie oaks grudgingly fill up the interspaces
clays, alternately mottled and blood- between the conifers, and cover the
red, interrupted by beds of gravel loopholes between their stems.
and buff sands. Under all is the The dull purple-black pebbles will
foundation of solid chalk. Since the well repay investigation. Almost every
crown lies on the unstable sand, the one is of flint, and must, at some time,
hill creep of pebbles has gone on have been derived from the chalk,
until the rambler finds the ascent A quartz stone, although practically
toilsome, and the panting lungs crave of the same chemical composition, is
78
THE STORY OF SOME PEBBLE HILLS 77
a rarity here. The pebbles are quite curving dome or hummock of chalk,
round, spheroidal even, save for a Myriads of microscopic siliceous par-
flattening above and below. A large tides, held in solution throughout the
proportion of the stones are filled with chalk ocean, aggregated around sponges
little depressions, lined with white, and other organisms, forming lumps
These hollows are caused by the removal of curiously shaped flint. Contem-
of the soluble variety of silica in the poraneously with this process, and
flint, a process accompanied by loss of again after the chalk was raised, there
colouring matter. Using a pocket lens, was a general movement of the dis-
we see that the surface of each pebble seminated silica towards the joints
is battered and minutely hackled in and cracks in the chalk, resulting in
all directions by a network of cracks, the deposition of the long, dark bands
These are incipient conchoidal frac- of flint which decorate quarries hewn
tures, typical of a flint which has in the Upper and Middle Chalk,
been smartly struck. The pebbles, Once lifted above the surface, the
then, have been subjected to unnum- chalk was attacked by frost, rain, and
bered blows and buffetings. Now and streams. The carbonate of lime was
again we see a heap of the flints eaten away, and carried off invisibly,
cemented into a conglomerate or The insoluble silicate of alumina re-
pudding-stone, by the aid of rufous mained, interspersed with warty
iron oxide and a little carbonate of knobs of flint. Before the flint was
hme. exposed, however, there was laid down,
In the secondary, or Mesozoic epoch in a Tertiary sea towards the north,
of the earth's story, there was de- those buff-coloured Thanet Sands which
posited, in a moderately deep, warm, underlie our pebble bed. These sands
tranquil ocean a " chalk drizzle " of contain scarcely a pebble, hence the
tiny foraminifera ; broken tests of sea great erosion of the chalk had not
urchins, molluscs, and sponges, to- yet begun. Soon, indeed, the clayey
gether with the creatures themselves, residue of the destroyed chalk, with
denizens of the waters. This calcare- sands gnawed from older rocks, were
ous sediment, vast in age and thick- washed down into a series of lagoons
ness, was consolidated, and ultimately or a large irregular estuary, fringed
uplifted above the sea-level, producing, by the Thanet Sands. The apparently
in the south-east of England, a gently perdurable flints, hurried downhill by
78 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
running water, collided and ground shallow channel, where the rounding
against one another. The bosses and process was perfected. That is why
protuberances were worn down. Land no angular or intermediate shapes are
slides, the unceasing attrition of fine found among the gravels to-day. Once
sand, the clash of nodule against on the shingle-beach, the swirl of the
nodule, smoothed and rounded each waters acted on the pebbles until, in its
little mass of stones. Reaching the turn, the shoal was again elevated and
shore of the estuarine waters, the the rounded flints were left bare. Sub-
already bruised and abraded flints sequent denudation carved out the
were carried by powerful currents to a adjacent valleys and left these pebble
shoal at some distance from the land, hills standing as the last remnants of
To reach this bank they must cross a a retreating Tertiary barrier.
XVI
ADVICE TO ADDER SEEKERS
" Step softly, seal up all hate, for there lies sleeping
The gentle adder, as gentle as can be."
TT has occurred to me that a few small, pays the children of his village
hints or wrinkles on the subject sixpence for every dead adder or grass-
of adder-seeking might prove service- snake they bring him. He does not
able to some readers of this work, seeing distinguish between the two ophidians,
that there are very many persons It is to be hoped that no such lover
desirous of making the acquaintance of God's creatures, including His " wild
of this rare and illusive reptile. They worms in woods," will take advantage
wish to know it (at a safe distance) in of these hints. Let him that finds
a state of nature, in its own home, and an adder treat it properly, not without
have sought and have not found it. reverence, and his finding it will be to
Quite frequently about once or twice his gain in knowledge of that rare and
each week in summer I am asked by personal kind which cannot be written
some one for instructions in the matter, or imparted in any way. That which
One of my sweetest-tempered and we seek is not viper a berus, the subject
most benevolent friends, who loves, of Fontana's monumental work, the
he imagines, all things both great and little ropes of clay or dead flesh in the
ADVICE TO ADDER SEEKERS 79
British Museum, each coiled in its spire confidence in them he would go
bottle of spirits and labelled " Viper a with half a dozen large snakes in his
berus, Linn." coat pockets into the village school,
We seek the adder or nadder, that and pulling his pets out would play
being venerated of old and generator with and make the children handle
of the sacred adderstone of the Druids, them and take note of their beautiful
and he dwells not in a jar of alcohol form and motions,
in the still shade and equable tempera- J can understand it, and if space
ture of a museum. He is a lover of allowed I should be glad to relate some
the sun, and must be sought for after of my boyish adventures with serpents
his winter sleep in dry incult places, in a far land, and the strange feelings
especially in open forest-lands, stony excited in me by that mysterious and
hill-sides, and furze-grown heaths and beautiful creature that moved not by
commons. After a little training the feet or wings nor by any other organ
adder-seeker gets to know a viperish of locomotion, as an ancient writer
locality by its appearance. It is, how- has said, but by means of its own fiery
ever, not necessary to go out at random spirit.
in search of a suitable hunting-ground, My snake-lover possessed one of the
seeing that all places haunted by adders largest parks in southern England,
are well known to the people in the abounding in oak trees so ancient and
neighbourhood, who are only too ready of so noble a growth that they are a
to give the information required. There wonder to all who see them. This
are no preservers of adders in the land, vast park was his snake-preserve, and
and so far as I know, there has been in moist green places, by running
but one person in England to preserve waters, he planted thickets for their
that beautiful and innocuous creature, shelter. But when his time came and
the ringed-snake. Can any one under- he died, the son who succeeded him
stand such a hobby or taste ? Cer- thought he would get more glory and
tainly not that friend of animals who sport by preserving pheasants, and
pays sixpence for any dead snake, engaged a little army of men and boys
He, the snake-saviour, our unknown to extirpate the reptiles. There is
little Melampus, paid his village boys nothing now to recall the dead man's
sixpence for every one they brought " fantastic hobby " but a stained glass
to him alive and uninjured, and to in- window I wish it had been done by
80 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
a better artist placed by his pious me when going for a stroll on ground
widow in the beautiful parish church, abounding in adders and have known
where you can see him among angelic at once from their way of walking in
figures surrounded by a company of an unaccustomed place that the quest
birds and beasts and reptiles of many would prove an idle one. Their light-
shapes and colours, and at the margins est, most cautious tread would alarm
the familiar words He prayeth best and send into hiding every adder a
who loveth lest, etc. dozen or twenty yards in advance of us.
Let us return to our quest. The In spring the adders are most alert
trouble is when you have arrived at and shyest : later in the season some
the adder haunt to find the adder, adders, as a rule the females, become
A man may spend years, even a life- sluggish and do not slip quickly away
time, without seeing one. Some time when approached ; but in summer
ago I talked to an aged shepherd the herbage is apt to hide them and
whose flock fed in a wide furze-grown they lie more in the shade than in
hollow in the South Downs where March, April and the early part of May.
adders were not uncommon. He told In spring you must go alone and
me he had been shepherding forty softly, but you need not fear to whistle
years in that place and during the and sing, or even to shout, for the
entire period had found three adders ! adder is deaf and cannot hear you ;
If he had said 300 I should not have on the other hand his body is sensitive
been surprised. The man on the soil in an extraordinary degree to earth
does not often see an adder because vibrations, and the ordinary tread of
for one thing he does not look for it, even a very light man will disturb him
and still more because of the heavy at a distance of fifteen or twenty yards,
boots he wears with which he pounds That sense of the adder which has
the earth like a dray-horse with its no special organ yet may serve better
ponderous iron-shod hoofs. Even men than vision, hearing, smell, and touch
who walk lightly and wear light foot- together, is of the greatest importance
gear make as a rule an amazing noise to it, since to a creature that lies and
in walking over dry heathy places progresses prone on the ground and
with brittle sticks and dry vegetable has a long brittle backbone, the heavy
matter covering the ground. I have mammalian foot is one of the greatest
had persons thrust their company on dangers to its life.
a
-
s
E H
ADVICE TO ADDER SEEKERS 81
Not only must the seeker go softly square foot of ground which is not
but he must have a quick-seeing, ever- already occupied by an adder coiled in
searching eye, and behind the eye a readiness to strike,
mind intent on the object. The sharp- In adder-seeking the main thing is
est sight is useless if he falls to thinking to find your adder without disturbing
of something else, since it is not possi- it, so as to be able to stand near and
ble for him to be in two places at once, watch it lying quiescent in the sun.
To empty the mind as in crystal- The best plan is to come almost to a
gazing is a good plan, but if it cannot stop as soon as the creature has been
be emptied, if thought will not rest caught sight of, then to advance so
still, it must be occupied with adders slowly and stealthily as to appear
and nothing else. The exercise and stationary, for the adder although
discipline is interesting even if we find unalarmed is, I believe, always con-
no adders : it reveals in swift flickering scious of your presence. In this way
glimpses a vanished experience or state you may approach to within two or
of the primitive mind which, like that three yards, or nearer, and remain a
of the inferior animals, is a polished long time regarding it.
mirror, undimmed by speculation, in But what is the seeker to do if, after
which the extraneous world is vividly long searching, he discovers his adder
reflected. If the adder-quest goes on already in retreat and knows that in
for days it is still best to preserve the two or three seconds it will vanish
mood, to think of adders all day, and from his sight ? As a rule, the person
when asleep to dream of them. The who sees an adder gliding from him
dreams, I have found, are of two sorts aims a blow at it with his stick so as
pleasant and unpleasant. In the not to lose it. Now to kill your adder
former we are the happy first finders is to lose it. It is true you will have
of the loveliest and most singular something to show for it, or something
serpents ever looked upon ; in the of it which is left in your hands and
second we unwittingly go up barefooted which if you feel disposed you may
into a place from which we cannot put in a glass jar and label " Vipera
escape, a vast flat region extending berus." But this would not be the
to the horizon, littered with adders, adder. Must we then never kill an
We have lifted a foot and don't know adder ? That is a question I do not
where to set it, for there is not one undertake to answer, but I can say
7
82 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
that if we are seeking after knowledge sense in the adder a creature so dull
or something we call knowledge be- of sense, or so devoid of senses which
cause that is a convenient word and enables it to find its mate and which
can be made to cover many things it will bring together an assembly of a
would be difficult to name, then to kill dozen or twenty or more male adders ?
is no profit, but on the contrary, a dis- Here, then, are but two or three of
tinct loss. Fontana dissected 40,000 a score of questions which can only be
adders in his busy day, but if there is answered by field naturalists who ab-
anything we want to know about the stain from killing. But a better reason
adder beyond the number of scales on for not killing may be given than this
the integument and the number, shape desire to discover a new fact the
and size of the bones in the dead coil, mere satisfying of a mental curiosity,
he and the innumerable ophiologists I know good naturalists who have
and herpetologists who came after him come to hate the very sight of a gun
are unable to tell us. We can read simply because that useful instrument
about the scales and bones in a thou- has become associated in their case
sand books. We want to know more with the thought and the memory of
about the living thing, even about its the degrading or disturbing effect on
common life habits. It has not yet the mind of killing the creatures we
been settled whether or not the female love, whose secrets we wish to find out.
adder swallows its young, not, like the Let us now return to the adder-
fer-de-lance, to digest them in its seeker who has unwittingly disturbed
stomach, but to save their threatened the adder he has found and who sees
lives. Nor do we know how the adder it about to vanish into the brake. He
finds and succeeds in capturing its has been waiting all this time to know
minute prey. Many of us have wit- what to do in such a case. He must
nessed the pursuit and capture of a let it vanish and comfort himself with
frog by a snake, but nobody, it appears, the thought that he has discovered its
has seen an adder take a vole or field- haunt and may re-find it another day,
mouse. I can only suppose that it especially if he is so fortunate as to
fascinates the field- vole, and the smooth scare it from its favourite bed on which
snake fascinates the spry lizard, just it is accustomed to lie sunning itself
as the ring-snake fascinates or hypno- at certain hours each day until the
tises the frog. Again, what is the progress of the season will make it too
u
f\
o
<
UJ
r
ADVICE TO ADDER SEEKERS 83
warm or otherwise unsuitable, when has of all creatures the fewest friends
the old basking-place will be changed among men. My sole object in picking
for a new one. But, should he not be up an adder by the tail is to be able
satisfied to lose sight of the adder imme- to look at its under-surface, which is
diately after discovering it, he must be often the most beautiful part. As a
provided with some simple contrivance rule the colour is deep blue, but the
for its capture. colour varies, the darkest specimens
My plan, which cannot be recom- being quite black, while the lightest
mended to timid persons liable in blues have the turquoise and forget-
moments of excitement to get flustered me-not shade. Occasionally we find
and awkward, is to catch the retreating an adder with the belly plates of the
adder quickly by the tail, which is a same ground colour, a pale straw
perfectly safe proceeding if there is no yellow, as the upper part of the body,
blundering, since the creature when with the dark blue colour in broken
going from you is not in a position to spots and dots and lines inscribed on.
strike. it. These markings in some cases
I confess I am always a little re- resemble written characters, and it was
luctant to offer such an indignity to the said of old that they formed the words
adder, as grasping and holding it up, If I could hear as well as see
enraged and impotent, by the tail, No man of life would master me '
although such treatment may be to Probably these letter-like markings on
its advantage in the end. We have a the creature's belly, like the minute
naturalist in England who picks up black lines, resembling writing, on the
every adder he finds and pinches its pale bark of the holly-tree, suggested
tail before releasing it just to teach it some other more important meaning
caution. The poor creeping thing to the priests of an ancient cult, and
with a zigzag black band on his back gave the adder a peculiarly sacred
to advertise his dangerous character, character.
XVII
GHOST MOTH EVENINGS
"The desire of the moth for the star,
Of the night for the morrow;
The devotion to something afar
From the sphere of our sorrow." SHELLEY.
T FIND the difficulty at midsum- in the meadows. It has taken place
mer is not to avoid repeating of late on evenings that closely recall
one's observations of living things, those of last June : the same calm,
and of sky, sea, and landscapes ; the same scented breath of the even-
rather, it is so hard to fix the thought ing just before hay harvest the part-
and eye on the same things in succes- ridge plaint the crooning of night-
si ve Junes. No risk, indeed, of going jars the peepy notes of the latest
over old ground in detail at this season ! song thrush at a few minutes after
The subject-matter of Nature is so nine o'clock ; only a change in planets,
inexhaustible, the time so tantaliz- Venus burning in the tinted west in-
ingly little in which to examine and stead of the taper of Mars in the blue,
enjoy it, that the tendency is to turn The clock of the moths, like that
here and there, to press on always of the birds, must surely have minute,
to a fresh thing each June, instead of if not second, hands. After watching
concentrating on what we attended and waiting for the ghost moths' ap-
to this time last year. Out of the pearance on two successive evenings,
great treasuries of these wild-rose days, we may on the third evening reckon
treasuries of song, scent, colour, and almost to a minute if the weather
life manifested in most exquisite forms, is of the same character when they
we are always tempted to choose will come whirring out of the long,
some new thing. But there are cer- thick meadow grasses. At ten minutes
tain June episodes that, once noticed, past nine, I found most of the ghost
will be looked for season after season moths oscillating in the meadow. Next
with lively interest. One is the dance night at nine o'clock not a ghost moth
at dusk of the ghost moth. Last was to be seen, though here and there
year this was kept up in the tranquil its relative and frequent companion
evenings of the second fortnight in in the meadows, the common swift
June, and it continued well into July, moth, was whizzing through the grasses.
The dance is now again at its height But ten minutes later a male ghost
84
GHOST MOTH EVENINGS 85
moth came up ; there was an in- lime tree, and round this a dozen males
terval of a minute or so, and then, were playing one evening. Instead
all at once, the corner of the field was of swinging from side to side, as one
full of ghost moths, satin-white male might expect, they here rose up and
and brown female. I could count down, and whisked in and out among
nearly a score on a small patch of the leaves ; now a moth would be
ground a dozen square yards in extent, near the top of the tree, and now he
and could hear others impatiently would be down within two yards or
whirring deep down in the tangled so of the ground ; this was more like
grasses as they tried to rise on the wing, the rise and drop of the winter gnats
One evening the dance had ended in column than the meadow swing-
at half-past nine. Every moth had ing of the ghost moth,
dropped into the grass depths and But the oddest feature in this tree
run a little way up a stem, and there variation was the attention two male
it would be hanging till after nine moths would pay each other. Whether
o'clock next evening unless by any it were rivalry, or whether insect sport
chance the ghost moths dance again and game, I could not say. Two moths
in the dusk of the morning a twenty- would pursue each other apparently
four hour rest. My impression is now one, now the other, being pursuer
though I am not sure that the ghost up and down, and even in and out
moths' dance only takes place once among the outer leaves of the tree,
in each twenty-four hours, and lasts They would lose each other in these
each time less than an hour. chases, but find each other actually
As they dance over the meadow distinguish each other among several
grasses, there seems little or no rivalry ghost moths and give chase again in a
among the male moths ; at most, few moments. Constantly they would
they will now and again brush each collide, brush against or tap one an-
other lightly ; it is here as if each other, and at each tap the lovely gloss of
were far too engrossed in his own the wings, perhaps the fine brown fur of
movements to trouble about neigh- the tippet, too, must have lost a little,
bours or rivals. But of late I have As to the female ghost moths, I did
noticed a curious variant of the usual not see them engaging in this dainty
ghost moth dance over the grass heads, play, though several were hovering
At the corner of the field is a small over the grasses. The female's move-
86 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
ments slightly differ from the male's, lady by eyesight at all. Another time
From what I have seen, I cannot think I hope to touch on this theme, obscure,
she is attracted by the liveliest male but deeply interesting. My attention
dancer or the largest in size the males was first drawn to it by a correspondent
differ much or the most satiny, at Loughborough last summer. If eye-
exacting or nice in her choice of a lover ; sight play no great part in this extra-
and more, I now have some doubts ordinary performance, why all the
whether the male seeks and finds his beauty show ?
XVIII
ROE AND RED-DEER
"The antler'd monarch of the waste
Sprang from his heathery couch in haste.
Like crested leader, proud and high,
Toss'd his beam'd frontlet to the sky ;
A moment gazed adown the dale,
A moment snuff'd the tainted gale.
Far from the tumult fled the roe
Close in her covert cover'd the doe." SCOTT.
T^ROM the deep shade under the sensuous beauty of the wood pigeons
spruce firs something was re- cooing hung on the still air, like the
garding me half curiously, half shyly, heavy scent of hyacinths.
More curious perhaps than fearful, Two forms slowly lined themselves
since the roe knows a friend from an out against the red herbage ; whether
enemy, and is not given to fear either the same pair or not were hard to tell,
very much. A buck made some pretty, For the roe doubles, and appears again,
half leisurely play, as he sought the as in some woodland game, and so
cover, bounding lightly over tufts of multiplies. An involuntary exclama-
faded bracken, and fallen branches, tion freed them from the spell, which
He vanished like a gleam, she like a for a moment held them. The white
shadow. patch at the base of the tail amid
So, I kept on my way through the the sympathetic toning of all the rest,
wood, disturbing the hen pheasants betrayed their passage,
from their dream of housekeeping, This dash as of a careless brush, the
among the fallen leaves. The soft, light as from a low burning lamp, may
ROE AND RED-DEER 87
serve as a guide through the dim wood lared with tree boles, groined with
paths, in times of danger. Already, branches, and shaded in a dimmer than
perhaps, was the doe in search of a religious light. At a distance of uncer-
site for her nest, in the secret places tain yards, which might represent a
of the wood, soft below, and under mile of lit, open country, vague forms
the hiding of overarching branches, appeared, and eyes shone like four
There in the coming May would she faint stars.
drop her dappled, velvet-eared young. What a dainty piece of quiet stalk-
Thence she would lead abroad her ing, merely for the charm of it, and
double charge of large-eyed fawns, with no rifle save the eye. There
their sides sleek and shining, their was a quick shot at the buck spring-
delicate legs slender as hazel wands, ing back to shelter, bearing the faint
The roe not only pairs, but breeds in white light behind ; a right and left
pairs ; in both respects, differing from at the pair, whose red coats were so
the red deer. faintly outlined against the red herb-
One who has not met it at home, age, a wavering aim, midway between
can, vaguely, understand all that the where the stars were so faintly gleam-
roe is to the wood. When he has gone ing in the dim wood aisles. The shy-
there, he will not need to be told why ness, the curiosity, the half sportive
legend, and even tragedy have taken grave play of the quarry. What deli-
its shape. It drifts across the tran- cate sport it would make, if sportsmen
sient sun gleams, and through the ever think of the charm,
shades which lie thick under the pines. In the presence of real danger the
Its presence and passage are less seen buck reveals quite new phases. Not
than felt. Only, after it has vanished, that he fears more, but that he becomes
does the reality dawn on the mind. more resourceful. While the charm
The lower whorls of the spruces is not less, the interest grows. He
swept down, till the tips brushed the is ready witted. Of all sporting ani-
faded needles, carpeting the wood mals this shy creature is least flustered
floor. The air was stifling in its wind- by the chase. He is tantalizingly
less heat. Progress was slow and leisurely in his movements. I think
painful ; mostly stooping, often dou- that always the stalk should be a
bling up. From my quadrupedal solitary one ; the charm vanishes else,
pose, I peered along the aisles ; pil- A man should be alone in the wood
88 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
with the roe. Say he puts a dog on possible condition. Then it is often
the track to vex the echoes. shot, along with the red deer. It is
The roe is not afraid. He leads a pronounced bad venison, as though it
merry dance through the shades. A were the creature's, and not the
glance at the open country and he shooter's fault. The horns begin to
forms his plans, in which is a trace of sprout ; they rise over a mere bag of
humour, or, at least, of elfish mis- bones. The head is kept as a trophy
chief. From tuft to tuft of the marsh, of a shot which ought not to have
he springs, while the hound flounders been fired. A shot out of season is
through the black water, and over the unsportsmanlike, and is not fired at
sinking bottom. Round a group of any other wild creature. The roe-
mounds, he will move, at a minuet buck's head is no adornment for the
pace. All this interest, and variety, hall.
half amusing, and wholly charming September witnesses the transition
are in the legitimate pursuit of the roe. from summer red to winter mouse
This infinite tact is not appreciated, colour ; by November the change is
No play is given to the ready wit ; nor complete. In December the horns are
space for the elfish touches. The shed. The weeks which follow are
superior knowledge of woodcraft, more the season. The roe should be shot
perfect than that of otter in stream- only when thus mouse coloured,
craft ; the well-nigh flawless sym- After Christmas, the venison is as
pathy with the background are made good as venison could be, better than
an excuse for methods which deprive that of the red deer in September.
him of his advantage. The shades are The want of horns is the weakness of
so near, the passage across the glade so winter shooting. A trophy carries the
swift, and the vision itself so puzzling, eye beyond the slaughter.
But are not these the conditions under The roe is perhaps our only truly
which the creature lives, and therefore wild deer. If not exactly a migrant,
the true environment of sport. The it is at liberty to shift about, as much,
chase is wanting in good taste, in and as far as it will. It is found wher-
chivalry, and therefore in gladness. ever is cover.
In spring, the roe puts off its winter If not so graceful, the red deer is
mouse colour. While it wears the sum- the statelier. It has the advantage
mer and autumn red, it is in the worst in height and weight. It stands about
ROE AND RED-DEER 89
four feet at the shoulder. Its pose, resources. When old hands tell of
when the head is raised, is nobler than their best day, it is not that on which
any creature of the wilds. No adorn- they grassed the biggest number. But,
ment so picturesque as the horns which in an open scene, with a puzzling wind,
it wears. In forest-deer the branching when by crawling a few yards at a
is not so free, though the body is time, in the shadowless intervals, they
heavier. They are antlered monarchs succeeded, after several hours, in get-
of the waste. Nor even there does ting within shot.
any fixed proportion exist between Such stalking demands a wide hori-
weight and the numbers of points. zon. The Scottish forest is not under
While a stag of 22 stone 6 Ib. yielded the shade of trees. It is a wild and
a head of ten, another of 14 stone diversified scene ; heathery moor, bare
6 Ib. bore seventeen points. The hillside, and bouldered torrent. No
famous Glenquoich stag of twenty, two are quite alike, save in that none
weighed but 16 stone 6 Ib. It would of them is a forest in the usual signi-
almost seem as though the horns ficance of the word. At most, is a
branched at the expense of the body, strip of wood, here and there, for
A head of twelve is a royal. The head winter and rough weather. In the
is sought rather than the weight, barer scenes, the corries into which
Unlike the roe, head and body are the ruder hill sides are riven serve for
perfect at the same time. The antlers shelter. Wooded patches are set aside
lend to the sport of their own pictur- for sanctuaries, where is immunity
esqueness a touch of charm, a glow of from attack. Old stags graze within
chivalry. Incalculable would be the easy reach, or make for these on the
loss, were the season a hornless one. first alarm.
In certain of the greater forests, Cloud and sunshine serve for stalk-
driving is justly regarded as fitted only ing as for fishing ; the time of day,
for the weak and worn out. Says a in both cases, morning and evening,
great Highland chief " I'd as soon Some one has defined shooting as an
go into a farm yard and shoot at art, fishing as a science. Like all
cows." A collie may be used for smart sayings, this is only a half truth,
tracking, but is often dispensed with, of which the converse is equally true.
Even the gillie is left behind, that There is art in fishing, and, certainly,
the stalker may be thrown on his own there is science in deer stalking. A
90 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
favourable wind depends very much when the fish are found at the redds.
on the lie of the scene. In two con- The end of September is as far as they
tiguous beats of the same forest, the care to go ; if they trespass, it is only
wind of one is north, and the other into the first week of October. Some
south. There are sites where two time between late November and
opposite winds visit either nostril of Christmas is a second battue for the
the stag ; and back eddies which draw thinning out of the hinds. In May,
whichever way comes the blow. Many the white flecked calves are hidden
things beside remain to be interpreted, for a day or two in some cunning place
by the sportsman, who has dropped of the forest ; after which they wander
his gillie, and is alone with his wits. with their mothers.
There is a talk of deterioration of The annual record of the red deer
Scottish deer. The isolation of herds ; is different from that of the roe.
the greed for a big return from a small Similar things come about in quite
forest ; the vanity which searches an opposite half of the year. In spring
out the best heads although not neces- the stag changes his winter grey for
sarily the heavier stags, tend that the russet coat. We have red grouse
way. While it is possible, by wiser and red deer, our two main sporting
management, to maintain the physique forms. There is a tendency for animals
of the deer, noble horns must always to turn red here which are some other
be, more or less, an accident. shade elsewhere. The fox also. The
The rutting season begins in Sep- colour of British sport may well be
tember. Stags are more concerned red. About the end of April, the
to meet one another in conflict than stag drops his horns ; against the
to avoid the gun. All things else roebuck's November cast. This time
being equal, the victor is the better, of helplessness he spends apart. The
Thereafter, each group has one picked new pair are full grown in August ;
stag in its midst. Stalking becomes their perfection marks the begin-
easy. One knows where to look ; and ning of the season. The red deer is
has only to fear the vigilance, and shot when in the pink of condition,
restlessness of the hinds. Good sports- Therefore, is his venison thought to be
men carry the season as short a dis- so much better than that of the roe.
tance as possible into the rutting time, The horns lend zest and distinction
just as good anglers lay aside the rod to the sport.
RED-DEER.
From a photograph by
Henry Irving.
XIX
OUR WILD ORCHIDS
" There is no great use of these in physicke, but they are chiefly regarded for the pleasant
and beautiful floures wherewith Nature hath seemed to play and disport her selfe." GERARDE.
TT7ITH the coming of "the leafy wild columbine, with both white and
month of June," as Coleridge purple flowers, is in bloom. The king-
well called it, Nature has assumed her cups are gone ; but the pastures are
summer garb. The trees, with a few still gay with the meadow - crowfoot,
exceptions, are in full foliage, and the and on the banks of the stream the
maple and sycamore are in bloom, yellow iris is coming into flower.
The horse-chestnut makes a splendid June, too, is the month when many
show, laden with ten thousand clusters of our wild orchids may be found, and
of waxen flowers, and on the downs the perhaps no plants are so full of interest
hawthorn, or May-tree, is still clad in to the student of nature as those of this
its vesture of snowy whiteness. Along curious tribe. The order is an exten-
the tangled hedgerows the honey- sive one, spread over all parts of the
suckle is just coming into flower, and globe, and numbering, according to
before long the first wild rose will be Hooker, some five thousand species,
seen ; and never is the country more Many of the tropical kinds are what
beautiful than when the dog-rose and are called epiphytes, growing upon the
honeysuckle are in bloom. stems and branches of trees, but with-
in the woods most of the spring out penetrating their tissues, and large
flowers have now disappeared. It is numbers of them have of late years
wonderful how quickly and completely been cultivated in our hot-houses. All
the different species succeed one an- our British species are terrestrial, and
other. Only a short time ago the blue- although they cannot compare with
bells were in their glory ; they have many exotic kinds in the form or
now followed the primroses, as the colouring of their flowers, yet they are
primroses followed the snowdrops. But many of them very beautiful plants,
other flowers succeed those of spring, and they are all intensely interesting
There are masses of bugle and veronica, from the wonderful contrivances and
and red-robin and yellow crosswort in adaptations exhibited in their organs of
the open spaces in the wood, and in fertilization. These various contri-
some of our Hampshire copses the vances, the object of which is to secure
92 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
the fertilization of the flowers with in the identification and nomenclature
pollen brought by insects from a dis- of many species of this difficult Order,
tinct plant, have been described, with and it is only in comparatively modern
much fascination, in Darwin's classical times that some of them have been
work on orchids. It is there shown clearly distinguished. Old Gerarde,
that almost all our British species are " seeing there be many and sundry
fertilized by insects, those with long sorts differing one from another,"
nectaries by Lepidoptera, and those thought good to divide them, in the
with shorter ones by bees and flies ; most arbitrary manner, into five or
while one species is dependent entirely six genera. Dr. Robert Turner, in
upon wasps, so that " if wasps were to his herbal of 1664, makes no attempt
become extinct, so probably would to distinguish the various kinds. Under
the Epipactis latifolia." the description of what appears to be
Of the large number of Orchidacese the Early Purple Orchis what he
scattered throughout the world only calls " Satyrion or Orchis " he adds,
forty-three species belong to \ Great " As there are many kinds of this
Britain. And of these, two species plant, so it hath many names. They
are found only in Ireland, one only in grow in pastures, meadows, and moist
Scotland, and one in the Channel places, as in Danmore Copse and Dan-
Islands ; others are confined to one or more Mead at Holshot in Hampshire."
two localities in England ; and others It is curious that in the lists of " rare
again, like the Lizard Orchis, the Red plants growing wild," arranged under
Helleborine, and the Lady's Slipper the different counties, which the great
have now become extremely rare. Dar- naturalist John Ray supplied for the
win considered Kent to be the most edition of Camden's Britannia pub-
favourable county for the Order, and lished in 1695, so few of the Orchi-
he mentions that within a mile of his dacese are mentioned. In the county
house at Down he had found thirteen of Kent four species only are noticed,
species. Hampshire can claim twenty- including "the Lizard-flower," which,
five, possibly twenty-seven ; and of adds Ray, " it hath not yet been my
these, seventeen may be found in my hap to meet with." In the catalogues
own parish of Droxford. for Surrey and Sussex, both counties
There was, not unnaturally, much rich in orchids, no species are men-
confusion among our early botanists tioned. The catalogue for Essex, Ray's
OUR WILD ORCHIDS 93
own county, contains but three species, have now passed entirely out of use. It
one of which, the rare Musk Orchis, is almost certain that these were the
grew at Black Notley, where he lived, flowers meant by Shakespeare, under
" on the greens of a field belonging to the names " Long Purples " and
the hall called Wair-field." Later on, " Dead Men's Fingers," as forming
in the middle of the eighteenth century, part of Ophelia's nosegay-
in his list of "the more rare plants" " There with fantastic garlands did she come,
to be found at Selborne, Gilbert White Of Crow-flowers, Nettles, Daisies, and Long
Purples,
mentions only three species out of the Jhat ^^ shepherds g . ye a grosser name>
sixteen or seventeen now growing in But our cold maids do Dead Men's Fingers
that historic parish. cal1 them '"
The earliest of the orchids to flower Other species of Orchis besides the
are the well-known Early Purple Orchis Early Purple will be found in many
(Orchis mascula), so common in our of our woods in June. The Twayblade
woods when the bluebells are in (Listera ovata) appears to grow in all
blossom, and the Green- winged Meadow parts of England, and is, as Darwin
Orchis (0. Morio), at once distin- has pointed out, one of the most re-
guished by the sepals which form as markable species in the whole Order,
it were a hood or helmet and are It is easily recognized by its two large
marked with distinct green veins. These oval leaves and long slender spike of
plants are generally distributed, and green flowers, " each little floure,"
are sometimes, the latter especially, says old Gerarde, " resembling a gnat
very abundant, so much so as to make or little gosling newly hatched." More
a conspicuous feature in the vegeta- generally its flowers are " likened unto
tion ; and yet, strange to say, they little men," and mistakes have often
now appear to have no common English been made by unscientific persons in
name among our country people. They recording this plant as the Man-Orchis,
are usually spoken of as '"orchises," In company with the Twayblade and
and no distinction is made between blooming at the same time, the Spotted
them. In olden times the names, on Orchis (0. maculata) is often seen in
the contrary, were so numerous that, abundance, and in many parts the
says old Nicholas Culpeper, " they beautiful Butterfly Orchis is not un-
would almost fill a sheet of paper, and common. In some of our beech-woods,
are too tedious to rehearse ; " but they especially on the chalk, the stately
94 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
White Helleborines (both Cephe- The first time I ever found " this
lanthera grandi flora and C. ensifolia) bastard and unkindly Satyrion " was
are now in flower, and they are a great in Quarles's pinney, where the true
ornament to the places where they oxlip grows.
grow. The more slender and delicate- But while many of our English
looking species (C. ensifolia), with orchids love the shade and shelter of
narrow leaves and pure white flowers, the woods, and others, including
is a rare plant in Hampshire, but may several rare and highly interesting
be found in one or two interesting species, are only to be found but
localities associated with the names later on in the season in wet meadows
of Izaak Walton and of Gilbert White, and spongy bogs, the open chalk
The strange - looking Bird's - Nest downs are the favourite haunt of other
Orchis (Neottia nidus-avis), has also a species. Many of the choicest kinds,
partiality for beech- woods, and though with flowers of the most singular form,
seldom met with except sparingly, are down-loving plants. Such, among
cannot be called a rare plant. Its others, are the Fly Orchis, " in shape
name, which is older than Gerarde's like unto Flies, of a dark greenish
Herbal, refers to its curiously matted colour, even almost blacke," the Bee
roots, " which resembleth a crow's Orchis " resembling in shape the dead
nest made of sticks : from which carkasse of a Bee," the Spider Orchis,
riseth up a thicke, soft, grosse stalk the Frog Orchis, and the Lizard
of a browne colour, set with small plants, as old Gerarde says, "of no
short leaves of the colour of a dry oken great use in physicke, but chiefly re-
leafe that hath lien under the tree all garded for the strange and beautiful
the winter long." This singular spe- floures wherewith Nature hath seemed
cies, resembling some of the broom- to play and disport her selfe." Some
rapes, is regarded by the old writers of them, it is true, are so rare that the
as a " degenerat kind of orchis," and ordinary " searcher after simples " has
is spoken of as "a very rare plant." little chance of ever finding a specimen.
Ray calls it the "Misshapen orchis," He would indeed be a fortunate botanist
and adds " I never observed many of who came across in Suffolk or Kent the
them together in one place." It is one Lizard Orchis, or even the Green-
of the three species noted by White, man Orchis (Acer as anthropophora)
and is still to be seen at Selborne. " resembling a little man having an
OUR WILD ORCHIDS 95
helmet upon his head with his hands They produce seed in such vast pro-
cut off." fusion that " the great - grandchildren
But in many places the Bee and the of a single plant of the Spotted Orchis
Fly 'may, be met with, and also the could," according to Darwin's calcu-
Frog Orchis. They all three grow in lation, " clothe with one uniform green
my parish, some years in considerable carpet the entire surface of the land
plenty. On June 17, 1904, I counted, throughout the globe." And the num-
beside an old chalk-pit, without moving ber of seeds produced by some other
from the spot where I was standing, species is even greater. Yet it is
between forty and fifty plants of the notorious, as he points out, that they
Fly Orchis. In some seasons the Bee are sparingly distributed. The Bee
Orchis is abundant on the downs hard Orchis, again, is unique among British
by, and on one particular slope the species in always fertilizing itself, and
Frog Orchis may be found. It is every flower therefore produces a cap-
very strange how uncertain some spe- sule, yet in some parts of England it
cies of this Order are in their appear- is not so numerous as the Fly, which
ance. The year 1904 was an extra- cannot fertilize itself, and is often
ordinary one for orchids ; the Bee imperfectly fertilized by insects. Once
could be gathered in armfuls, and even again, judging from the structure of
the exceedingly scarce Musk Orchis the flowers, it can hardly be doubted
(Herminium monarchist was plentiful that the Bee Orchis, like its relatives,
in the one restricted locality where it was at one period adapted for cross-
was first recorded as a Hampshire plant fertilization. Why, then, has it come
at the end of the eighteenth century. to fertilize itself ? Will it ever revert
But there is much that is strange to its former state ; and if it does not
and inexplicable in the habits of this so revert, will it become extinct ?
singular tribe. In spite of Darwin's These questions, says Darwin, cannot
investigations, which have clearly es- be answered ; but he once remarked
tablished his main theory with regard to a friend that " one of the things
to cross-fertilization through the agency that made him wish to live a few thou-
of insects, many questions remain sand years was his desire to see the
unanswered. What, for instance, extinction of the Bee Orchis an end
checks the unlimited multiplication of to which he believed its self-fertilizing
the Orchidaceae throughout the world ? habit was leading."
XX
THE RAILWAY EMBANKMENT
"With her a sweet companion came,
One alway smiling 'Peace!' she said."
WILLIAM DAVIES.
T ANDSCAPES and gardens we do paths close to, perhaps alongside,
not want to have all to our- these hedges, but the railway ground
selves ; companions may often help us remains absolutely private. The trains
to their full enjoyment. But to watch above take nothing from the privacy
wild life in the finer line and shade, of the place : lying on the slope or
freedom from intrusion is a great thing, walking among the June grass and
The unsympathetic stranger is embar- ox-eye daisies by the hedgeside, one
rassing. Figures and voices of way- sees hardly anything of them. Their
farers, even of toilers in the field or noise does not distress us ; the grand
wood much more of holiday-makers thunder and the shake of trains at
should belong to the distance, be these close quarters is good rather
embraced in a kind of bird's eye view, than otherwise. I doubt whether
If, however, the occasional passer- it jars even on sensitive nerves,
by does not actually encroach on our Besides, we can grow accustomed to
preserve, is unconscious even of our this sound so soon that, after a short
existence, he may be almost welcome, experience, train after train may roar
To a hermit behind a hedge, the foot- by without our noticing them. It may
fall of a passer-by can be quite agree- be the same with wild animals. The
able : it may add something to the pipit or yellow-hammer perched on
triumph of solitude to feel that we the telegraph wire does not stir for the
are in such complete seclusion that fastest, loudest express. I have seen
even a wayfarer a few yards off the beautiful little merlin equally
goes by without suspecting our pres- unconcerned. Is he conscious, indeed,
ence. of its passing ?
It is this seclusion that often makes I have heard that nightingales haunt-
the lower part of the railway embank- ing wooded places by railway lines will
ment, screened by a splendid haw- sing persistently all night, and I seem to
thorn hedge, such an excellent spot have noticed how long and choicely the
in summer. There are stiles and foot- railway nightingales sing in Kent. A
96
THE RAILWAY EMBANKMENT
97
friend says he thinks it is because they
cannot sleep through the noise of the
goods trains crashing and thundering
all night. Noise is a stimulant to song
with birds, and I have suggested that
it may be the river which makes the
sedge warbler so songful by night and
day. But it is just worth considering
as a theory, not more.
The railway embankment is as fa-
voured by butterflies and day-flying
moths this June as I found it last
year. The lovely little heath moth has
been out in numbers since the begin-
ning of the month. It has none of the
brave apparel of the wood tiger and
the cinnabar moths which also fly by
day along the slope, being a greyish
little thing, flaccid almost as the snow-
white plume moth, but far warier
than he. The pattern on the upper
wings of the heath, yellowish with
wavy brown stripes, is neat as neat
can be : to describe it truly you want
language fine and pointed as an etch-
ing pen, a tongue of diminutives.
The flight of the heath moth is not
so weak as one might expect from
such limp-looking wings and body,
but it is highly erratic, like that of
many moths and butterflies with thin
bodies and wings that seem as if they
had no muscles to work them. Like
the " carpet " moths and notably
the orange tip and the white butter-
flies, the heath moth zig-zags along.
The movements, on the wing, of an
orange-tip butterfly and a small bird-
say a chaffinch or a larger one say
a green woodpecker are so entirely
unlike that one may wonder whether
the same principles are here at work.
The bird seems to bound through the
air in a clean curve, the butterfly
apparently can only go forward by
quick little flutterings to right and left :
to make progress the orange-tip or cab-
bage white must ceaselessly bob from
side to side. With the butterfly we
see nothing of the springs, the rise
and fall of the body in the air, the
clean, distinct closing of the wings
between the leaps.
The heath moth and the orange-
tip butterfly get along somehow, can
fly against a little breeze, as with
it, but there really seems and here,
of course, is deception to be no more
machinery about their flight than
about that of a flimsy scrap of paper
upheld and buffeted about by gusts
of wind. This is not so with all
moths and butterflies, nor with beetles
on the wing, many flying clean and
straight.
Another curious style of flight is to
be seen on the railway slope. Mother
Shipton's likeness is out, and when
8
98 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
she flies her wings appear half open, ish ground, and his wings on the under-
half closed. It is the same exactly side are ash grey with a thought of
with several of the skipper butterflies, blue about them. But they are cut
and with the much larger grayling to a dainty shape, and fringed with
butterfly. white or grey I cannot make up my
But to my eyes the butterfly gem of mind which, watching him sunning
the railway slope in early June is the himself on a grass blade,
tiniest of them all. This is the Bedford Nimble on the wing, alert, so spruce
blue, which is to butterflies what the in his whole turnout, this blue is a
golden crowned wren is to birds, fascinating little thing to see. I have
Last year I saw him out in May ; this not yet found him on his bed, but I
year, early in June. Though so min- suspect he sleeps, like the common
ute, he is a butterfly every line of him blue, head downward and upper wings
you must measure him by lines not laid back so that only the tips show
inches far more so than the skippers, above the under wings. Probably he
which only pass muster as butter- assimilates with environment then
flies because they have, for hall-mark, more closely than the common blue,
the club at the tip of the antennae or Alexis, or is less noticeable not only
horn, which no moth can show. The through his smaller figure, but through
Bedford blue is not brightly coloured the spots held in tiny rings on
like several of his larger relatives the under-side being less striking than
has just a little dust of blue on a brown- those of his big cousin.
XXI
THE PEREGRINE
"Wide around
With distant awe, in airy rings they rove."
THOMSON.
^ I ^HE peregrine falcon is one of as perched disdainfully often on one
those birds which, owing to leg on a commanding pinnacle or
the sequestration of its haunts, and ledge far up some mighty ocean cliff,
because it does not advertise itself in it surveys its surroundings with the
the same way as many of its congen- keenest of keen brown eyes ? Nothing
ers, has wrongly acquired the reputa- escapes its penetrating gaze ; it looks
tion of surpassing rarity in Great as it rightly is a very king of the
Britain. Such, however, is hardly feathered creation. Or again, watch
the case, for whilst admittedly the its impetuous, death-dealing stoop, as
bird is not common in the general with closed pinions it literally hurls
acceptance of the term, an examina- itself a living steel-tinted wedge
tion will show that it breeds in practi- at its panic-stricken victim, when both
cally every county which can boast destroyer and destroyed reel crash-
littoral cliffs of any altitude, including ing towards the ground, the former
the dazzling precipices of Kent and rising obliquely to avoid probable
Sussex ; and also in the various death, certain disablement, the lat-
groups of islands, as well as in some ter an inert, bloody, crumpled mass
of their outlying islets. It is also a of feathers to rise no more. Some-
habitue of a good many inland rocky times, however, the slayer binds to its
resorts, notably in several of the Welsh quarry in mid air. But the peregrine
Counties, Yorkshire, the Lake Dis- is not so infallible in its " shikar " as
trict, and, more plentifully, in the people imagine, and I have repeatedly
deer-forests of Scotland ; whilst in the seen hunted birds deliberately thwart
Green Isle it is, for a bird of its class, it, either by flying over the sea or a
quite abundant. lough, or by hugging the ground, in
The peregrine is out and away the which case the falcon dare not let itself
grandest bird we possess. For who go for fear of being unable to swoop
can but admire its strikingly symme- up quickly enough to avoid impact
trical form and superbly cut outline, with the land or water.
100 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
Princely murderer though the pere- different eyries I have found the relics
grine is, it sometimes turns wanton of coots, moorhens, starlings, finches,
as well. I have seen first one, then and buntings, not to mention beetles ;
another, of a troop of cackling daws whilst even the kestrel, crow, and
drop lifeless to its relentless, needle- chough do not escape its unwelcome
sharp talons, whilst the tyrant van- attentions. And occasionally a leveret
ished over the crest of a distant hill plucked from the fallow, or a rabbit
without so much as glancing at its gambolling on the cliff, swell the throng
brutal handiwork. of slain ; whilst rarely a peregrine,
Aptly, indeed, have the Welsh chris- imbued one might suppose with a
tened the peregrine " hebog " (hunting spirit adverse to the customary habit
hawk), since scarce a winged creature of making a quarry on the wing, turns
comes amiss to it in the way of food ; poultry snatcher.
few are the birds that can foil its terrific Curiously enough until the actual,
onslaught. On the moors and deer- death-dealing stoop takes place, its
forests its diet mainly consists of grouse, neighbours appear totally unconcerned
black game, ducks, plovers and wa- at its presence ; indeed, gulls and
ders ; on ocean cliffs, immense quan- other species sit placidly on the crags
tities of rock and stock doves and most within a few feet of the dread de-
of the sea fowl (the larger gulls usu- stroyer ; at times even, as the falcon
ally enjoying immunity), puffins in sails round far above its eyrie, they
particular afford it many a dainty make as if to mob it. And though
repast. And many a tame pigeon great is the uproar when the attack
from the neighbouring dove-cots has commences, yet, once the victim is
lost the number of its mess at the sacrificed, peace is almost immedi-
talons of the peregrine falcon. In ately restored as if no such horror as
fact, on the Kent and Sussex cliffs a peregrine existed. But the quarry
amongst others, these, together with is not invariably killed outright. I
daws, partridges (for many a red- have one sad scene vividly painted
handed foray is made far inland), on my memory, where an unfortunate
and any other bird luckless enough jackdaw just caught and half-feathered,
to cross the bandit's way, constitute encumbered the falcon as she flew
its chief fare. But smaller deer are seawards. She dropped it, and flutter-
by no means despised : in and around ing strenuously the poor fellow, half-
THE PEREGRINE 101
nude and rudely lacerated, made the circles : the tiercel shoots out from
shore only to be swept away by the the cliff below, mounts above her and
incoming tide. joins in the giddy race. Amorously
The flight of the peregrine is very inclined he keeps stooping at her play-
characteristic and one quite its own. fully, and, to avoid him, she, just as
It is an impetuous winnow, varied by he is on her, turns a complete somer-
straight, clean glides on motionless sault from side to side. All this is
vans. And when dashing along a accomplished at top speed, and is an
cliff face, the bird will dive curiously exhibition worth going miles to see.
from time to time, but the recovery is Anon they will toy with and caress one
effected quick as thought and by no another with their bills in mid-air or
means impedes the journey. This tumble sportively in a fashion which
rapid winnow then is the normal recalls the raven's frolics. ... It is
flight, but at the eyrie and when hunt- worth remarking that the peregrine
ing, wonderful aerial evolutions are on flight carries its legs straight out
indulged in. Now a pair soar grandly under the tail. Occasionally one is
head to wind on extended and rigid dropped loosely, almost as if broken,
wing ; now they describe wide, sweep- Except during the breeding season,
ing circles, some of the turns being ren- the peregrine is generally solitary, and
dered in amazingly majestic fashion, even during that period the non-sit-
Or again witness a pair on their aerial ting bird is often long absent. But
honeymoon. A stiff gale is raging a sure find for them both in the vicinity
this sunny April morn and a pair of of the eyrie is towards sunset, when,
peregrines one behind the other before retiring to roost, they usually
bent on pleasuring, wing their way indulge in a meal. They seem generally
it seems laboriously even to these to hunt alone, and the quarry is fre-
mighty creatures full in its teeth for quently devoured where it is made,
some distance. Suddenly a turn is Now examine the haunts of the
made and down wind they sail like peregrine and you will find that they
meteors. Half a mile, a mile, is cov- embrace the wildest and bleakest if
ered in seconds, and then up wind once most romantic of scenery ; from the
again only to repeat the performance, frowning grandeur of the Highland
At other times the falcon, with a fine glen, Welsh cwm or Irish cove to the
ringing flight, is careering round in vast majestic contours of the cliffs and
102 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
headlands which lend so much addi- or plant grown), (2) a big hole or
tional charm to many of our sea boards, wide slit, and (3) a basin formed by
The peregrine, except in winter when the main cliff and a sheltering pinnacle,
many migrate briefly to wooded realms, Nest there is none. A shallow
loves bare, treeless country the misty, scratching from 9-12 inches across
heathery moorland and barren, undu- scraped out in the soil and (if the soil
lating downs, where Nature's workings is not too dusty) plainly showing the
and occasional voices have matters imprint of the bird's talons, is the sole
all their own way, and where, save for receptacle for the thick-shelled eggs,
vagrant shepherd, gillie or ornitho- Some of the victims' bones and feathers
logist, the soil is well-nigh unsullied, and a few of the falcon's own feathers
But on the south coast the hunt- are often found in the eyrie, which
ing hawk often chooses its eyrie on sometimes smells atrociously, but little
a headland close to a coastguard or no down (rubbed off the falcons
station, a peculiarity which I ascribe accidentally) is present, which is with
to the fact that these stations are most of the raptors of usual occurrence,
situate in " gaps " which attract the Occasionally, a disused raven's or buz-
hordes of arriving and departing mi- zard's nest is requisitioned ; I have
grants, loving, as they do, to follow the seen one eyrie on the nearly level sum-
course of a valley. From these mi- mit of an ocean rock, and several only
grants, the murderous peregrines, hav- a few feet down a cliff, one, of special
ing chosen their look-out with no little curiosity, within a yard or two of the
cunning, reap many an ill-gotten meal, gap down which the village refuse is shot .
With one or two solitary exceptions When on a ledge, the eggs are laid
as for instance, the eyrie on Salis- in the middle of its broadest part ;
bury Cathedral the home of the pere- when in a hole, generally rather less
grine, in our islands at all events, than half-way in. And as most of
must be sought on a cliff, and gener- the holes in use seldom penetrate the
ally in the least accessible part of it, cliff more than four or five feet, they
frequently where it overhangs con- can be examined with facility,
siderably. One of three positions The eggs vary from one to four in
usually in the upper half, because of number. Three is perhaps most fre-
the commanding position is chosen : quent, but on the southern cliffs four
(i) a broad ledge or buttress (bare soil constitutes the usual clutch. Save
THE PEREGRINE 103
by the merest chance, they never touch weeks. Single-brooded, if the first
in the eyrie, each egg being from half clutch of eggs is taken, a second will
an inch to two inches from its fellow, generally be produced after an interval
the clutch being laid in the form of a of three or four weeks, but usually in
rough square or triangle. They are another site ; and one pair of falcons
very beautiful and include every variety with which I am conversant have, for
of the kestrel's eggs. two years in succession, brought off a
One type is creamy-red in ground brood after the two previous attempts
suffused with rich orange-brown and had been destroyed,
purplish-red. Another is yellowish- On the south coast a full clutch
brown or leather colour with darker may safely be looked for on April 7 ;
mottlings, whilst a third is uniform brick exceptionally I have seen them at the
or orange-red. A fourth is creamy- end of March, but in Wales, the North
white, sparingly flecked with rust and in Ireland ten or twelve days later
colour or splashed and blotched with is the rule. Individual hens drop their
red ; and a fifth brownish-red mottled first egg on the same date year by year,
with a darker shade and finely sprink- no matter how inclement the weather,
led with numerous little spots almost Hole breeders are generally closer
black in their intensity. And on some sitters than those on ledges, and, in-
specimens patches of a white chalky deed, sometimes the former may hard-
appearance are noticeable. Eggs iden- ly be induced to quit at all by shouting
tical in size and coloration in the same or clapping : I have even known
clutch are rare, but the same female showers of stones dropped past a hole
produces a similar type year after for some time before the falcon inside
year. They are deposited at inter- could be induced to leave her trea-
vals of two and sometimes three or sures. Such cases are exceptional and
even four days and both sexes (though generally occur when the other bird
the female performs the lion's share) is away foraging,
participate in incubation, which for When flushed from the eyrie, indi-
one egg lasts a month ; for sometimes vidual pairs behave very differently,
the first egg is sat upon as soon as laid. Frequently the tiercel is on a ledge hard
The young falcons are white, fluffy by the brooding falcon and on danger
fellows in the down, and remain in and threatening he shoots out of the cliff,
around their birthplace for eight long often screaming noisily. This disturbs
104 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
the falcon, who soon joins him, taking cases the non-sitting bird is absent,
up the cry in a somewhat different key, and then the incubating one must be
and though both are sufficiently bold aroused from her duties either by
they seldom venture within gunshot, shouting, firing a revolver, or clapping
The peregrine's scream is unmistak- vigorously. A variety of courses may
able a wild, piercing, angry cry, re- then be adopted. I have known a
sembling, to my ear, a cross between sitting peregrine dash straight out to
the quack of a duck (hence, perhaps, sea not to return at all whilst I stormed
the local name " duck hawk ") and the her citadel. Or again, the bird will
clucking of a harsh-throated hen and hang head to wind and never utter a
sounding like the syllable " kwark '' sound, whilst frequently the absentee
ofttimes and quickly reiterated. The will not put in an appearance at all.
tiercel's is rather different and suggests But most peregrines are habitually noisy
the word " krark." The peregrine has and dash up and down along the cliff
besides three other cries : one which with strikingly rapid flight, ever and
often preludes the above scream a anon making wide detours out over
long-drawn whining " kee-ark," the the sea or, in the case of an inland
second a short, sharp "kek," and the resort, round the valley,
third, chiefly confined to the autumn And besides human beings, the pere-
and winter, a low, iterated, chittering grine resents the propinquity of several
or squeaking sound, something like birds worthy of its steel. The raven in
that of young falcons whilst still in particular it detests and the eagle is
the eyrie and resembling to a certain another honoured foe. But one and
extent one cry of the kestrels : thus all bow to its superior prowess. On
"hek herrek kerrech." All these one occasion I witnessed a fight in grim
cries are usually uttered on the wing, earnest where both birds grappled
But out of the breeding season this between the falcon of an eyrie hard by
species is practically mute, though I and a marauding tiercel. The attack
have repeatedly heard the "kwark" was delivered high in air and both
call long ere an egg was laid. The combatants fell a hundred feet or
earliest personal record I possess is more, the falcon's talons locked in
February 26 ; the latest October 26. the tiercel's breast. From below it is
But to return to the peregrine's be- a glorious sight to watch a peregrine
haviour at the eyrie. ... In other leave her eyrie. She launches or flings
THE PEREGRINE 105
herself out with an upward trend of further along the cliff ; the eyrie it-
the body and then gives a few light- self, if on a big enough ledge, often
ning-like wing beats before getting constitutes one. Constant for life, the
into her swing. When disturbed from birds sometimes use the same eyrie for
above, however, she often flutters off two or more consecutive years, but
with a downward inclination, looking usually speaking they possess from
momentarily, for a bird of such impos- two to five alternative sites which are
ing appearance and noted grace of move- patronized in turn. These may be
ment, quite awkward and deranged. close together or, to go to the other
The return to the eyrie (and if the extreme, a mile or more apart. Two
intruder is not too close the bird will tenanted eyries are seldom found at all,
not be long before re visiting it) is accom- near each other, the usual interval,
plished in a truly splendid manner, even in districts where the bird is
Instead of flying straight up to it, the abundant, being two or three miles,
noble bird mounts high in the heavens An unknown eyrie even failing a
and after a few preliminary circles, sight of the birds themselves may be
but passing down to and close past discovered by observing the feathers
the eyrie on each occasion, she climbs and other remains of the victims all
aloft once more. And now, as if on along the edge of the cliff. These
an inclined plane, she literally dives sorry mementoes extend on and off for
into her retreat with fast-closed wings, fully half a mile, but are thickest in
like a blue thunderbolt cleaving the the vicinity of the eyrie. . . . Con-
void. But just before the haven is trary to what most books would have
reached, flap go the wings, and out are one credit, the peregrine frequents its
stretched the powerful yellow legs, breeding haunt more or less the sea-
whilst she appears to alight with her sons through, and those falcons which
compact body thrown right back, one meets with during winter in lo-
though it never gives one the impres- calities where they never breed are
sion of any balance being lost. And generally visitors from the Continent,
often before resettling on her eggs, or immature birds, and not our resi-
she stands watching over them for an dent, adult peregrines,
appreciable time. As a rule no warier bird exists than
Several recognized feeding ledges the hunting hawk, but on one occasion
are situated round the eyrie as well as -a red-letter day knowing a recog-
106 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
nized perching place only four feet only the ledge was a little further off-
down a cliff, I leant cautiously over I dropped several small pieces of
and for ten engrossing minutes watched chalk on to a tiercel's J broad back
a magnificent female peregrine before before he perceived the gravity (to
she looked up ; and at another time him) of the situation.
XXII
SUMMER VISITORS
"Come, come is the swallow,
Bringing hours of fair weather,
Fair seasons to follow.
He is white on his belly,
But his back, it is black."
Translated from the Greek by R. C. TREVELYAN.
OOME authorities dignify a bird being the favoured resorts. Although
with the name of " British " this annual migration is one of the
on the single summary ground that puzzles of natural history, especially as
a specimen has been authenticated regards the evident system with which
a synonym for " shot " in the island, it is yearly carried out, a few of its
On this classification we can boast main principles are now well under-
about 400 species. On the more ex- stood, and it remains only for some
acting qualification that a bird must causative genius to discover the mean-
have attempted to rear a family here ing of the instinct which underlies it.
in a state of nature, we can claim about The following deductions from obser-
200 species ; and on the only convinc- vation show that in its working it is
ing classification, that which requires far more inexorable than the law of
an annual visit, our avi-fauna is still fashion which governs the annual
further reduced to about 180, of exodus from London,
which 36 are summer visitors, arriving It is totally independent of both wind
here in the spring to breed, and de- and weather in the country to which
parting before summer is well over to it is migrating. We have no sufficient
winter in some sunnier clime, Africa, observations to lay down laws as to
India, China, and parts of Asia Minor the weather factor in the countries
1 Tiercel is a term used for the male peregrine ; the female, to distinguish her, is called
the falcon. J. W. B.
SUMMER VISITORS 107
from which the summer visitors come ; climatic conditions ; within a day or
but if we take the analogy of the com- two days, a gradually rising tempera-
mon winter visitants, it is probable ture appeared to have some influence on
that the weather in the place of winter the dates of arrival, but only such as
residence is one of the main factors, could be accounted for by the enhanced
Algiers and other winter haunts of ease of the long journey ; and that as
our summer nesting birds do not be- regards the wind, at any rate, no
come suddenly inclement in spring, connexion could be found, since whether
but probably the approach of increased it was dead against the travellers or
heat is just as unwelcome to these birds fair and square astern, not a tittle of
as the approach of extreme cold is to difference in time could be proved. For
those species which nest in Scandin- instance, in five consecutive years,
avia, and flee before their severe winter the first ring ousel was notified on
to Great Britain and the coasts of the March 20, under widely varying wea-
Mediterranean. An organization of ther conditions ; or to take a much
naturalists has endeavoured during smaller and weaker bird, the chiff-
the past ten years to prove that a late chaff annually arrives as nearly as
spring delayed the great army of mi- possible on March 17, again irrespec-
grants in any one species, but found, tive of wind or weather ; and so on.
both by its own observations and by Further, the swift, which is probably
bribing or persuading lighthouse keep- the strongest-winged bird of all that
ers to send the wings of any birds nest in Great Britain, sturdily arrives
that flew against the lantern glasses last of all and leaves earliest, with an
and were killed, that the earliest arri- entire disregard of weather conditions
vals in each species were found on the such as only a Scotch shepherd could
coast on practically identical dates in hope to emulate,
each year ; that the main body of the Again, different species have their
migrants in any given species arrived well defined and preserved points of
about the same time in each year in- entry to the country. Five species ,
dependent of wind or weather condi- the ousel, garden warbler, sandpiper,
tions ; that in the case of species which swift and corncrake' have a marked
immigrated in great flocks or droves at objection to landing east of Southamp-
intervals of several days, these flocks ton. The obvious retort would be
preserved those intervals unaffected by that they all winter in a western con-
108 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
tinent, near to each other, from which stant daily total, and fall away again to
the Cornish coast affords the shortest sea a dozen or so of exhausted stragglers ;
passage. But alas, this is not so, for if but a coast observer notices three, four,
Africa is where many of them winter, five, or six distinct armies arriving, con-
they also cover India, and Turkey in nected with each other by a stream of
Asia, while many other species which lonely stragglers before or behind. The
winter solely, so far as we know, in these natural inference is that the birds win-
same localities, are accustomed to land tering in each Eastern continent as-
further east along our south coast, and semble together and take flight from
even prefer to land further east. its shores together. But this idea
Again, several other species usually so far lacks proof. Observation has
land, or land in greater numbers, west failed to mark down any single army
of Southampton, but are not alto- of this character preparing to take
gether averse to entering England at wing from any of the known winter-
Brighton, or even on the Essex coast, quarters, admitting that our know-
Amongst these indecisive travellers, ledge of the ways of birds in these win-
the swallow and chiff-chaff are the more tering countries from China to Turkey
common, and their winter homes are is small and incomplete. Dissection has
India or Ethiopia, and the shores of proved equally futile, though enthu-
the Mediterranean, respectively. A siasts have been found to open the
further feature of interest is that many stomachs of birds appearing in each
species arrive in droves, or so at least flight, in the hopes of identifying insect
it would appear. In most species the or other food from the coast of one or
time during which specimens are ob- other of the known winter resorts,
served arriving from over seas by coast As a rule no food at all is found, the
observers, usually covers a period of six bird being in a very weak and starved
weeks or two months, say from March condition ; or else the food is so far
20, until the first week, or occasionally digested as to be unrecognizable ; or
the first fortnight, in May. (There else it is from some neighbouring coun-
are well marked exceptions, e.g. all try, where the bird may have rested
the redstarts seem to arrive during the before crossing the last neck of sea (it
three latter weeks of April.) These must be remembered we are very ig-
arrivals do not commence with a few norant of the rate at which small birds
isolated heralds, swell out to a con- travel when migrating, and also of
_
1
%
o
o.
o;
SUMMER VISITORS
109
the course they pursue, whether direct, Ranged as a table, our knowledge
or embracing any more or less conveni- is little, since a page may contain the
ent resting places). whole of it.
Bird.
Arrives.
Lands.
From
Mode of
Travelling.
Ring Ousel
March 19 to May
All S. coast .
N. & C.Africa
In flights.
Wheatear .
March 14 to May 20.
Eastern coast
Africa, India .
In flights.
Chiff Chaff . . .
March 16 to May 10
Whole coast.
Mediterranean
In flights.
Yellow Wagtail . : March 20 to May i .
Sussex
Africa
Singly.
Sand Martin
March 20 to May I .
W. of coast .
India, Africa
Flocks.
Swallow . . . March 20 to May 7 .
Whole coast.
India, Africa i Flocks.
House Martin .
April i to May 16 .
W. of coast .
Abyssinia
Flocks.
Redstart . . .
April 10 to 30
W. of coast .
N. Africa
Flocks.
Grasshopper Warb.
April 7 to May 7 . .
W. of coast .
S. Europe
Not traced.
Whinchat .
April i to May 16 .
W. of coast .
N. Africa
In flocks.
Blackcap .
April i to May 16 .
Hampshire .
S. Europe
Singly.
Nightingale
April 10 to May 5 .
W. of coast .
Africa
Males first in
flocks.
Wryneck
March 20 to April 10
E. of coast .
China & Africa
Singly.
Cuckoo
April i to May 7 (most
last two weeks of April)
E. of coast .
Africa & India
In flocks.
Tree Pipit .
April i to May 10 .
Hampshire .
Africa & India
Singly.
Sandpiper .
April i to May 15 .
Whole coast
Africa
Singly.
Lesser Whitethroat
April 15 to May 15 .
Surrey .
Africa
Singly.
Whitethroat . .
April 8 to May 20 .
E. of coast .
S. Africa
In flocks.
Willow Wren .
March 28 to April 12
Whole coast .
Africa
One big flight.
Corn Crake
April 15 to May 15 .
Hants, Dorset
S. Mediter-
ranean
Flocks.
Shrike ....
May 3 to May 31
E. of coast .
Africa
Singly.
Sedge Warbler
April 4 to 30 .
Whole coast.
N. Africa
Flocks.
Garden Warbler .
April 16 to May 16 .
Not known .
Africa
Unknown.
Reed Warbler .
April 15 to May 30 . .
Not known .
Africa
Unknown.
Wood Warbler. .
April 12 to May 7 .
Not known .
Africa
Probably in
flocks.
Turtle Dove
April 16 to May 30 .
E. of coast .
N. Africa
Singly.
Swift ....
April 12 to May 16 .
W. of coast .
Africa
In flocks.
Spotted Flycatcher
April 16 to May 31 .
Whole coast.
Africa
Singly.
Nightjar
April 20 to May 20 .
E. of coast .
India & Africa
In flocks.
NOTES TO ABOVE TABLE.
A. Dates of Arrival. The date set first is the earliest in an experience of many years, and
can only be equalled by a keen observer residing near the southern coast. When an arrival is
satisfactorily authenticated as early as any of the dates put first, it is worthy of note in an
ornithological journal. The second date is that by which an observer in an inland or northern
county must give up all hope of the species nesting in his district, if previously unobserved.
B. The notes as to place of landing are from the nature of things unproven, but many
recorded observations go to prove their substantial accuracy.
C. The winter habitat can only be approximately given, pending wider research.
D. The word " singly " is used in contrast to the " flights," and means that there is no proof
of a large flock crossing in company.
XXIII
BLUE COLUMBINE AND CHEQUERED DAFFODIL
"Thou perceivest the flowers put forth their precious odours,
And none can tell how from so small a centre comes such sweet,
Forgetting that within that centre Eternity expands
Its ever-during doors, that Og and Anak fiercely guard."
BLAKE.
T TOWEVER much one may go terbourne Gunner I found a small,
* about in search of all the natural- pretty red flower, new to me, growing
1st most delights in seeing, one is by the road in the greatest abundance,
bound to miss a number of notable For a space of three or four hundred
things. My experience is that a season yards the hedge-side was sprinkled with
never ends during which I have not its lovely little stars. It was a geran-
come by chance, as it were, on some- ium, prettier than any red geranium
thing desirable, perhaps long desired, known to me, the delicate tender
yet never previously seen ; and the colour resembling that of the red horse-
fact that it was stumbled upon when chestnut flower. On inquiring at the
not being sought, that there was the cottages in the neighbourhood the
element of surprise, added greatly to people told me they knew the plant,
the pleasure. It may be a bird, or but had no name for it ; also that they
mammal, or some rare or lustrous in- had never seen it at any other spot,
sect ; but it is in plant life where the It turned out to be Geranium pyren-
surprises that make us happy are most aicum, a native of central and eastern
frequent, even to one, like myself, Europe, and believed by some botanists
who is not a " painfull and industrious to be indigenous in this country. It
searcher of plantes," and knows little probably varies in colour, since it is
of their science. For not only are the described in some of the books as
species so numerous as to be practi- purple or pale purple, whereas in the
cally innumerable to any person who flowers I found there was no trace of
would see all things for himself, but such a colour.
many of the most attractive kinds are I had but a short time before met
either rare or exceedingly local in with a similar experience with regard
their distribution. to another more important flower-
To give an instance : One day dur- our wild columbine,
ing the late summer, between Salisbury In spring I was staying at a small
and the neighbouring village of Win- village among the Wiltshire downs, a
110
BLUE COLUMBINE AND CHEQUERED DAFFODIL 111
few miles from the Dorsetshire bor- thinness of the single stem and the
der. It was a lonely-looking country, fewness of its leaves gave it a starved
where, out of sight of the fertile vales appearance ; but the flower was large,
and hollows in which people live and like that of the garden plant, its colour
cultivate the ground, one can look a deep, beautiful blue. A few more
over long leagues of the billowy down- flowers were found in that part of the
land and see no human habitation and brake, but going further another day
no trees except a few widely separated I came to a place where it grew abun-
hill-top groves or clumps of pine. In dantly over an area of about twenty
May I visited one of these groves in acres of furze, on the higher ground,
cold, windy weather, and was delighted An old man, a keeper who had charge
to find on the further side a vast of this part of the ground, told me he
brake of old furze interspersed with had known the flower from his boyhood,
holly, thorn, and bramble, filling the and that he could fill a barrow with
deep depression between the two oppos- " collar binds," as he called them, any
ing downs and spreading partly over day. All these flowers were of the
the lower slopes. Here I was glad to same true blue, and we are told by
escape from the wind's violence, and some botanists that this colour in the
wished for no better place. How far flower, found in chalky districts in
the growth extended I did not see, southern England, shows the plant
and had no wish to ; sufficient for the to be indigenous ; but that purple and
day was the pleasure thereof ; for now reddish is a proof that the plant is a
the furze was arrayed in its shining garden escape.
yellow masses of bloom and the warmer It was a rare pleasure to see the
air in that sheltered hollow was laden columbine in its own home the big,
with the delicious spicy fragrance. blue, quaint flower blooming in the
My next visit was in June, when the shade of rough furze bushes and for
yellow furze-flame had burnt itself the first time in my life I admired it,
out, and then, close to the spot where since in the garden, where as a rule its
I had rested, I discovered my first lustre is dimmed by gaudy exotics,
columbine, and wondered if it could be it has an inharmonious setting. It is
an outcast in that lonely place. The not strange that it should be called by
plant was nearly three feet high, grow- bird names, but it strikes one as curi-
ing in a furze bush, and the excessive O us that the names should be of birds
112 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
so wide apart in our minds as eagle Two centuries and a half ago a writer
and dove. Aquilegia, because the in- on plants spoke of it as " a certaine
verted tubes at the base of the flower strange flower which is called by some
are like the curved claws of an eagle ; Fritillaria." Another very old name,
and columbine, from its dove-like ap- which I like best, is chequered daffo-
pearance, each blossom forming a clus- dil. As a garden flower we know it,
ter of five dark-blue fairy fantails, and we also know the wild flower
with beaks that meet at the stem, bought in shops or sent as a gift from
wings open, and tails outspread. friends at a distance. In most in-
No more columbines were found, stances the flowers I have seen in houses
although I looked and inquired for we re from the Christchurch meadows
them in all that part of the country ; at Oxford.
but at one spot, a small village about
I know what white, what purple fritillaries
four miles from the furze where they The grassy harvest of the river-fields
n i j T i.iji.j.1- Above by Ensham, down by Sandford. yields,
flourished, I was told by the cottagers
that up to within three seasons ago says Matthew Arnold in his beautiful
they, too, had had columbines. They monody ; the wonder is that it should
grew abundantly in a furze patch and yield so many. But to see the flower
by a hedge half a mile from the vil- in its native river-fields is the main
lage : it had always been so, and every thing ; in a vase, on a table, in a dim
summer the children went out to room it is no better than a blushing
gather them, so that they were seen in briar-rose or any other lovely wild
every cottage, and as a result of this bloom removed from its proper atmo-
misuse the flower has been extirpated, sphere and surroundings.
If comparatively few persons have It was but a twelvemonth before
seen the blue native columbine, just first finding wild columbine that I had
as few, perhaps, have found, growing the happiness of seeing this better
wild, that more enchanting flower, the flower in its green home, a spot where
snake's-head or fritillary. Guinea- it is, perhaps, more abundant than
flower and bastard narcissus and tur- anywhere in England ; but the spot I
key-caps are some of its old English will not name, nor even' the county ;
names, the last still in common use ; the locality is not given in the books
but the name by which all educated I have consulted, yet it is, alas ! too
persons now call it is also very old. well known to many whose only plea-
BLUE COLUMBINE AND CHEQUERED DAFFODIL 113
sure in wild flowers is to gather them ever seen, and were like huge rudely-
greedily to see them die indoors. For shaped pillars with brushwood and
we live indoors and reck not that ivy for capitals, some still upright,
nature is deflowered, so that we return others leaning over the water, and
with hands or arms full of some new many of them quite hollow with great
brightness to add to the decorations gaps where the rind had perished. I
of our interiors. saw no chequered daffodils, but it was
Coming one May-day to a small a beautiful scene, a green, peaceful
rustic village, I passed the schoolhouse place, with but one blot on it a dull,
just when the children were trooping dark brown patch where the ground
back in the afternoon, and noticed that had been recently ploughed in the
many of them were carrying bunches middle of the largest and fairest mea-
of fritillaries. They told me where they dow in sight. A sudden storm of rain
had got them, in a meadow by the drove me to seek shelter at one of the
neighbouring river ; then one little old crumbling pollards, where, by cram-
girl stepped forward and asked me ming myself into the hollow trunk, I
very prettily to accept her bunch. I managed to keep dry. In half an
took it, and gave her two or three hour it was over and the sky blue
pence, whereupon the other children, again ; then coming out, that brown
disregarding the imperious calls of piece of ground in the distance looked
their schoolmistress, who was standing darker than ever amidst the wet sun-
outside, all flocked round and eagerly lit verdure, and I marvelled at the
pressed their nosegays on me. But I folly of ploughing up a green meadow
had as many as I wanted ; my desire in spring ; for what better or more
was to see the flower growing, so I profitable crop than grass could be
went my way and returned another grown in such a spot ? Presently, as
day to look for the favoured spot. I I walked on and got nearer, the un-
found it a mile from the village, at a sightly brown changed to dark purple ;
place where the lovely little river then I discovered that it was no
divides into three or four, with long ploughed ground before me, but a vast
strips of greenest meadow-land be- patch of flowers of fritillaries growing
tween the currents, with ancient pol- so close that they darkened the earth
lard willows growing on the banks, over an area of about three acres !
These were the biggest pollards I have It was a marvellous sight, and a plea-
9
114 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
sure indescribable to walk about among a pink that is like a delicate, luminous
them ; to stand still in that garden flesh-tint, minutely chequered with
with its flowers, thick as spikes in a dark maroon purple,
ripe wheat-field, on a level with my Our older writers on plants waxed
knees ; to see them in such surround- eloquent in describing their " fritil-
ings under the wide sky in that lucid laria " or " Ginny-flower," and even
atmosphere after the rain, the pendu- the dryest of modern botanists writes
lous cups still sparkling with the wet that it is a flower which, once seen,
and trembling in the lightest wind, cannot be forgotten. That is because
It would have been a joy to find a of its unlikeness to all others its
single blossom ; here, to my surprise, strangeness. In the arrangement of
they were in thousands, and in tens its colours it is unique, and, further-
and in hundreds of thousands, an more, it is the darkest flower we have,
island of purple on the green earth, or This effect is due to the smallness of
rather purple flecked with white, since the tessellated squares, since at a
to every hundred or more dark spotted distance of a few feet the dark violet
flowers there was one of an ivory white- maroon kills or absorbs the bright
ness and unspotted. delicate pink colour, and makes the
But it is not this profusion of bios- entire blossom appear uniformly dark,
soms, which may be a rare occurrence, The flower which, combining strange-
it is the individual flower which has ness with beauty, comes nearest to
so singular an attractiveness. It is, the chequered daffodil is the henbane,
I have said, a better flower than the with an exceedingly dark purple cen-
blue columbine ; in a way this tulip tre and petals a pale clouded amber
is better than any British flower. A yellow, delicately veined with purple
tulip without the stiffness and appear- brown. But in the henbane the dark
ance of solidity which make the gar- and pale hues are seen contrasted. In
den kinds look as if they had been flowers like these, but chiefly in the
carved out of wood and painted ; but chequered daffodil, we see that the
pendulous, like the hairbell, on a tall, quality of strangeness, which is not in
slender stem, among the tall, fine- itself an element of beauty, has yet
leafed grasses, and trembling like the the effect of intensifying the beauty
grasses at every breath ; in colour it is associated with. Thus, if we con-
unlike any other tulip or any flower, sider other admired species briar rose,
TREES AND SHRUBS 115
pink convolvulus, rock rose, sea poppy, excited is that faculty of the mind
yellow flag, bugloss, blue geranium, supposed to be obsolete, but which
water forget-me-not, flowering rush, still faintly lives in all of us, though
and grass of Parnassus, for example we may be unconscious of it a faculty
(and many more might be named), which sees a hidden meaning or spirit,
we see that in beauty, pure and simple, in all strange appearances in the
these equal and exceed the fritillary ; natural world. It is the " sense of
yet this impresses us more than the mystery," and is with us in sight of a
others, and surprises us into thinking magnificent and strange sunset, and of
it more beautiful because its beauty any unusual atmospheric phenomenon
strikes us more sharply. It is not or aspect of nature, and, in a less
sufficient to say that the sharper im- degree, in all strangeness, down to the
pression is due merely to the unusual smallest objects that engage our atten-
appearance. I rather incline to believe tion an insect, a flower, even our
that the source of the vivid interest chequered daffodil of the river-fields.
XXIV
TREES AND SHRUBS
" But Lord ! so I was glad and wel begoon !
For overal wher that I myn eyen caste
Were trees clad with leves that ay shal laste,
Eche in his kynde, of colour fresch and grene
As emeraude, that joye it was to sene."
CHAUCER.
IV TOT even the turf of English hill- wide variety of species, to the moist
sides and meadows, that won- and equable climate which nurses them
derful and peculiar gift of Nature to in luxuriant though steady growth,
our islands, has so deep and character- and above all, to the natural network
istic an influence on the scenery of of hedges which gives a harbourage
England as the wealth and variety to verdure and great timber in nearly
of our wild-growing trees and shrubs, every nook and corner of the soil,
There is scarcely another country in there is no land in which the softness
Europe with so small a proportionate and sweet outline of free foliage makes
area of genuine forest land ; and yet, so continually an appeal to the eye.
owing to the happy dispersal of a Except where Nature has been ex-
116 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
cessively drilled and schooled to the shrub which is not bound up deeply
nurture of a single predominant species and indissolubly for the mind with
generally an exotic to the soil this the whole life and aspect of some land-
rich variety within narrow limits is scape or region where it is most at
no less remarkable and attractive home in the soil, and seems, in a
than the characteristic stamp which curious way, to bring most other
is given to most regions of England things into a kind of subordinate
by the prevalent luxuriance of a parti- agreement to its own determining
cular kind of tree. From the steep, expression of growth,
hanging beechwoods of the chalk or In ages past, probably for more than
limestone ranges, the eye traverses a thousand years, the native trees of
wide vales and plains massed with the Britain have been reinforced from time
crowns of high and heavy elms, or to time by the introduction of foreign
thickly beset with round and virile species, many of which, like the larch,
oaks ; in other quarters of England, the Spanish chestnut, and the black
the poplar whispers alone, high over and Lombardy poplars, have long
the wide, green cattle-marshes ; there been so completely assimilated with
are vales of the west where the deep our landscapes that they form as
old lichened orchards guard dew even natural and characteristic elements as
at noonday in their caverns of August the very oaks and hawthorns them-
shade ; and though the north has no selves. Yet to all whose eyes and
elms, except the rounder, more fern- thoughts dwell year after year on the
inine wych-elm, " the oak, and the varied tracts of copse, brake, and
ash, and the bonny ivy-tree " have woodland, with their sky-lit tracery
been taken, in the old ballad, as the in winter, and all the leafy gradations
very symbols of home for the North- of unfolding spring, there comes a
erner, who knows, too, how clean and keen sense of discrimination for their
deep is the sycamore shade, by the relative degrees of antiquity as features
grey doorways of his dale-end farms, of native English scenery ; the instinct
There are but few English districts comes naturally to read the history
in which some particular kind of tree of each landscape, to perceive what
or copsewood does not form one of tracts are still untouched oases of the
the strongest elements in the scenery ; ancient greenwood, and which bear
and there is no single tree or little the newest traces of admixture, and
TREES AND SHRUBS 117
human culture, and a nature of second unusual interest and grandeur. There
growth. As with the human popula- is an appearance of common purpose
tion of England, so with its trees ; about all such trees grouped to a
there are some stocks which once single form, which gives them a strange
flourished far and wide across the face illusory aspect, as almost of sentient
of the land, and others, later comers, intelligence. From the close growth
which have generally thrust them of its lesser, branching twigs, and the
aside into waste, unregarded corners, abundance of the little cone-like seed-
and hold pre-eminence in their stead, vessels which cling tenaciously to their
Foremost among the trees and bushes hold, the alder in winter makes the
which have suffered the slow disin- densest pattern against the sky of all
heritment of expulsion are those our deciduous trees. And in April-
marsh-loving species, such as the sal- time, before the tardy, reluctant leaf-
lows, willows and alder, which once buds have more than quilled the
filled league after league of the prime- branches with the glint of green, the
val thickets of the lowland valleys tiny female blossoms, of brilliant red,
and plains. There are probably few may be discovered starring the twigs,
trees to-day less generally known than while into them, as into the similar
this water-loving alder. Upright and gem-like flowers of the hazel-tree,
stiff in growth, with a single straight the spring wind sifts the pollen from
stem thickly branched with horizontal the bobbing catkins as they open
boughs, it does not often exceed thirty to maturity in showers and sun. Other
feet in height, and its rounded foliage characteristic bushes of the marsh
is late in unfolding (like most stream- are the grey-leaved sallow, or palm-
side vegetation) and early in acquiring willow, with its silky knobs that swell
the dull, tarnished green of the later f rO m close silver to spiky gold before
summer woodlands. But sometimes, a green leaf is seen on any bough, and
in a rich soil and air, it wiU fling wne n all the sedges lie beaten in frost-
upwards a grand, columnar shaft to bleached swathes ; and the light, wiry
the height of a full-grown oak; and water-guelder, the wild original of
where a quadruple line of these giant the globe-flowering guelder-rose of old-
alders frames some dark, moorhen- fashioned gardens, which makes all
haunted pool, their stately evenness the hedges in the water-meadows gay
of growth gives them an effect of with its bold, cream-white cymes of
118 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
blossom in the verdant days of June, chases where centuries have disturbed
and poises its loose red berries above them little, are the oak and the beech,
the vivid crimson of its thinning leaves, The scenery of the woodlands in which
when the lapwings are flocking on these two great trees are mainly pre-
the chalk down over the river-valley, dominant is of very different types.
and the drawn sluices gush with Octo- There is a stubborn individuality about
ber rain. There are certain other the growth of the oak which demands,
willows, mainly of smaller and rarer if not actual isolation, at any rate free
kinds, which love the peaty islets access of air and sun ; and thus it
and the black alluvium of the fens ; comes about, that while an ancient
but most of the better-known species beechwood is a deep home of unbroken,
of this numerous and intricate tribe cavernous shadow, in a forest of oaks
dislike to dip their feet in a slough, the sunlight is perpetually about us
and prefer a soil sound and firm, and around, pouring in golden gulfs
though close beside the water. In such between each massive monarch and
a situation, the common glossy-leaved his neighbour, warming soft glades
crack-willow will often increase to a and innumerable wandering alley-ways
fine and free-growing tree, if it es- of knee-deep bracken, and intermin-
capes the general fate of being pol- gling the age-old solemnity of the
larded into Dutch conformity with Druid growths with the busy, fleeting
an endless line of knob-headed neigh- life of plant, and animal, and bird,
bours. One of the most riotous stains The bare, white heart-wood in the old
of colour in the whole of the country oaks' upper timbers juts from their
year is the banded glow of a culti- airy, sun-warmed domes like the horns
vated osier-bed in late November, of the resting deer from the depths
when each slim rod, nearly leafless, of the bracken below; large, tawny
evenly changes upwards from green, butterflies flit and float in the sunshine
through yellow, into tumultuous orange over wide sweeps of fern, or chase one
and brillant crimson, like the rainbow's another, in upward flight, high athwart
edge, above. the untrodden summits of the fronting
The two chief forest trees of England, boughs. Everywhere is the sound,
those strictly native species which green forest turf that lies like velvet
may still be found growing in large beneath the fallen bearded limbs, and
unmixed tracts in forests, parks, and the clean decay of innumerable crum-
ra.
O
z:
S
a
5
"
TREES AND SHRUBS 119
bling acorn-cups ; and when the birds the leaves are first budding in April
are still, and the squirrel, which drums on the boughs above ; and earth and
in anger at the wanderer's intrusion, sky grow merged in magical strangeness
stands at gaze for a moment on his on the hillside slopes where the blue-
shadowy bough, there swells upon the ear bells shed floods of colour in late May,
the droning murmur of the multitudin- before the shadow deepens as the
ous insect life that makes every great leaves increase, and the vaulted depths
oakwood its chosen and peculiar home, of the beechwood return to their
Beautiful, too, is a great wood of midsummer darkness and stillness,
beech, but with a beauty chiefly born Where the hanging front of the beech-
of the coolness and shadow of its wood faces the outer world, there are
remote, columnar aisles, and of the two short periods of the year, in mid-
very depth of its withdrawal from the May and mid-October, when its beauty
preoccupations of the outer day. In can hardly be surpassed. The newly
the midmost shade of the beech woods opened foliage has a tenderness of
little grows upon the dark and leaf- colour and a delicacy of outshaken
embittered soil but a few wiry bramble- form which no other British tree can
stems, or here and there the pale, fully equal, when massed on a great
uncanny bird's-nest orchids, which wood's edge ; and when, in a flaming
are parasitic upon the roots of the and rain-washed October, the orange
trees ; and except for a jay or black- and scarlet of the dying leaves is
bird that now and then startles the stabbed through by the sunlight, and
stillness as it slants upward, noisily tinged to a deeper purple and crimson
chattering, from ground to bole, the by the lustre of the underlying boughs,
life of the birds is concentrated in the it is the supreme moment of all autumn's
roof of foliage raised high above our splendour.
heads. For charm of variety and The beech loves a dry hillside, with
colour, a beechwood is most beautiful an underlying calcareous mass of chalk
either from the outside, or at a point or limestone ; the oak endures most
near its edge, where the large pattern vicissitudes of soil, but is nowhere
of the chequered sunlight swings rhyth- more native and luxuriant than on
mically across its floor. Here there are the wastes of wealden clay which
often wide gardens of primroses and hold the rains in endless pools and
white anemones, which bloom while runnels, but are naturally distinct
120 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
from marshlands, although, under pres- remain, on steep, unploughed hill-
sure of wheels or trampling horses, slopes or in waste no-man's-lands and
they founder into bottomless sloughs, parish-ends, as one of the most striking
The oak-forests of the clay are of a and unspoilt relics of the elder England .
denser and more gloomy growth than The largest tree of all such " Thornaby
the open woodlands of the deer, of waastes " is generally the ash, which
bracken, and of butterflies ; beneath loves the sound loam and delicate air
their shrouding thickets, there is a of the open slopes, and often (as Tenny-
lesser growth of straggling hawthorns son again has said) nurses in such
and hollies, but no great variety of places the scented violets, white and
verdure and blossom. The clay nat- sometimes blue, in the angles of its
urally supports but a restricted and spreading roots. But the ash and the
rather monotonous arboreal growth ; in holly are only two trees of many,
parts of Essex and Hertfordshire the Here, commonest of all, are the great
prevalent tree is the scanty hornbeam, old lichen-bearded hawthorns, and all
with its spare, twisted trunk, and its the denser thickets of their seed-fallen
general aspect of meagre endeavour, growth. When the great banks of
A wood of pollarded hornbeams is the hawthorn foam to whiteness in the
most featureless and uninteresting time of nightingales, it is the triumphal
form of all our forest scenery. Wild hour of English flower and song. As
holly-bushes are generally found scat- the hawthorn-foam fades red and
tered even in the stunted hornbeam tainted, then the wild roses open their
woodlands ; indeed, the holly is one exquisite shell-pink petals on every
of the most persistent and characteristic slope of the thicket. A little later
of all British trees and shrubs, and again, the large, brittle elder-brakes
wherever there is an unmistakable hang out their heavy-scented creamy
bit of wild woodland England, there discs, that shine like swung censers
will the holly be found, brave and in the warm, tempestuous nights,
lustrous amid the barest winter decay, Earliest of all, the loose white stars of
and a home and fastness of all hardy the blackthorn opened and let fall
winter birds. It is one of the most their petals from the still leafless,
conspicuous species in those mixed, angular boughs ; no fastness of the
broken thickets, freely interspersed thicket is so iron-like and impene-
with spaces of open turf, which still trable with its spines as the dense, black
ca
x a
I. U
la
3
TREES AND SHRUBS 121
earthy lair that lies in the midst of bushes are wind-clipped, round, and
those close-set stems. And in the stunted in their growth ; but within
heart of May, when the bluebell beds the sheltering curves of the smooth,
were purest and deepest at the fringe unbroken hills, or where they yield
of the larger thickets, the pink-flushed one another mutual support in a
clusters of wild apple bloom seemed denser thicket beside some wind-break-
to answer in vernal gladness from the ing thorn, they shoot forth in loose,
boughs above. All through spring and feathery sprays of an inimitably grace-
early summer these open, broken thick- ful wildness. In early summer the
ets are riotous with the life of blossom young shoots of the year are frosted
and bird ; and nowhere else do we with a silvery bloom that brightens
seem to come so close to the greenwood their dark evergreen boughs with an
of early England, or feel so sure, with austere and tender freshness, a beauty
reason, that the scene with all its sun- wholly in accord with the restrained
shine, colour and song is the same simplicity of the unbroken curves of
which woke their English music from the great chalk downs ; and this same
the hearts of Chaucer and Shakespeare puritan contrast of .dark and silvery
long ago. hues is presented by most other of the
Never is there such a varied and dominant tree-growths of the chalk,
characteristic growth of the lesser trees Black yews stand dotted on the hill,
and shrubs as among the brushwood or massed in overshadowing thickets
and thickets that dot the sides of the where the rabbits tunnel in the white
great chalk downs, or form the open, soil at their roots ; and silvery white
rambling, half-wild hedges of their against their slopes of gloom, long
lower slopes and fringes. Most typical wreaths of the wild chalk-loving cle-
of all the downland bushes is the dark, matis shake out their downy seed-
evergreen juniper, that still flecks many beards in the clear October sunshine,
of the steeper slopes of thyme-scented Pale, too, in every ruffling breeze
sward with its dappled, primaeval upon the down stand out the way-
growth as thickly as the clouds in a faring tree, or mealy guelder-rose, and
mackerel sky, or the white forms of the its brother, the taller white-beam, with
pasturing sheep that roam among its its white-backed leaves more deeply
own darker archipelagoes. On the toothed and lobed ; in days with
more exposed hillsides the juniper- a long, even wind they dwell for hours
10
122 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
at a time as though carven of white- mixed thickets on the chalk. The
ness ; and when in autumn the dying dogwood, too, is a specially chalk-
leaves curl each together like a shell, in loving shrub, though, in a more or less
breeze and calm alike they form wide introduced and fostered state, it does
splashes of cold and surf-like grey, much to brighten the hedgerows in
Under the dark yew-caverns and spires many districts with its small discs
of juniper, the chalk-pits shine milk- of milky flowers, and flat compact
white and clear; against the denser clusters of dusky berries. The spindle-
blackness there gleams the cold silver wood, generally a spare bush of hedge-
of those withering leaves, and the row growth, but occasionally found as
shining seed-beards of the traveller's a tree, is among the dullest-looking
joy ; and where a stray limb of beech of all our shrubs in its summer dress ;
or hawthorn hangs out an autumn but it makes fullest amends when its
banner of amber or crimson in the sun, bare, wiry boughs are gemmed in
this core of vivid splendour among all winter with the rich pink berries that
such puritan tones seems to string split symmetrically to show the orange
them to their utmost expression of seeds within. Another common hedge-
clean and uplifting contrast. row bush which sometimes grows to a
Scarcer shrubs that also love the middle-sized tree is the true British
chalk are the common kind of buck- maple, the only native species of this
thorn, with its trusses of yellowish tribe ; it has loose clusters of yellow-
flowers, and brown-black berries in green flowers at midsummer, which
autumn, that yield a strong greenish develop winged seeds smaller than
dye ; the privet, which often grows those of the sycamore, though like in
wild in the mixed growth of the hedge- shape ; and the leaves also are much
belts of the lower slopes, and fills the smaller, and more deeply lobed. The
thicket with the dubious fragrance of mountain representative of the lowland
its white blossoms in July; and the whitebeam, service, and wayfaring trees
frilled, early-blooming spurge-laurel, is the mountain ash or rowan, so well
which ranks with the spiny butcher's known both in Scotland and south of
broom as among the smallest of British the border as the companion of the wild
plants with a claim to the name of moorland birch, and of the alder and
shrubs. In its chief wild haunt in aspen by the tumbling, rock-bound
Britain, the box also grows in large streams where the heather nods on the
TREES AND SHRUBS 123
crag. Scotch firs and heather are com- there is good reason to believe that the
panions in many and many a landscape common elm is not of the genuine
picture of the lands beyond Trent, British lineage, though it has long been
where the elm is found no more ; but so deeply characteristic of some of
none the less the Scotch fir is far more the most typical English landscapes,
rarely a natural and native growth in If the elm was actually introduced by
the wilds of the deer-grass and the the Romans, as is with likelihood sup-
ling, than aspen, alder, birch, hawthorn posed, it was only the forerunner of
and holly. many other of our best-known trees
For of all our native British trees, which without doubt came to us by
the Scotch pine, or fir, is probably similar means. No account survives
the rarest in its ancient and natural of the introduction of the lime ; but
haunts, and the commonest, owing to even to-day it has not established its
its hardiness, picturesqueness and place as a free denizen of the natural
speed of growth, in transplanted and wood and field, and bears every sign
introduced conditions. The ancient of being an exotic species in origin, in
Caledonian pine-forest is believed to spite of its long habituation to English
survive only in one limited tract ; skies. The sycamore is another
on the other hand, the past hundred such species ; according to tradition,
years have seen thousands upon it was first introduced, in the neigh-
thousands of acres planted with this bourhood of Edinburgh, by Mary
tree in nearly every part of our Queen of Scots. So too with the
islands. The great pine-woods of sweet or Spanish chestnut, which
Windsor Forest and western Surrey for a long time past has held a con-
are, for example, a mere nursery gar- spicuous place in many of the less
den of late Georgian growth. Thus ancient and natural woodlands and
the Scotch fir, an original British copses, especially in the south-eastern
species but a foreigner in most of its counties. It is doubtful whether
present haunts, forms a link between the downy-leaved white poplar is
our genuine native trees and all those a true native species, as is certainly,
other kinds which have been naturalized on the other hand, the smaller and
for many centuries, but are none the greener-leaved aspen ; the large,
less exotic in origin. Though the branching, brittle black poplar is an
point is scarcely capable of proof, undoubted introduction, while the
124 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
Lombardy poplar, with its tall, taper- but the larch in England has never the
ing column, is nothing but a cultivated rugged and virile growth of the same
variety of this last. Of the many tree where it shoots from the rock-
coniferous trees which have been strewn mountain-sides of its Alpine
acclimatized with greater or less sue- home, above the wild laburnums that
cess in parks and gardens, the larch line the torrent-beds with gold. Many
and the spruce alone have become centuries are needed before even the
sufficiently general in coverts and most vigorous and self-adaptive of
woodlands to appeal to the eye as such alien growths can attain, like the
English species by naturalization, if sycamore and elm, to that aspect of
not by native right. The tender, misty perfect harmony with their surround-
green of a budding April larch-cover is, ings which is inseparable from the
indeed, one of the best-known and beauty of English trees, where they
most beautiful features of spring; watch over the age-old and natural soil.
XXV
MIDSUMMER PLANTS
" Art cannot rival this pomp of purple and gold."
EMERSON.
IV TOW that midsummer has come a brave show during the hot months in
great change has passed over our lanes and open fields. By the
the face of nature. The nesting season wayside the yellow St. John's- worts
is over ; the voice of the cuckoo are in bloom, and the purple mallow,
is no longer heard ; the woods are together with eyebright, and bell-
almost silent. The delicate flowers flowers, and crimson vetches ; while
of early summer have disappeared creepers are trailing over the hedgerows
before the heat of July and August, bryony, and clematis, and the wild
and for " the searcher after simples " hop, and the large white convolvulus,
it might seem that much of the in- In chalky districts the dark mul-
terest of the season was over. lein (Verbascum nigrum) is very con-
But if, in many cases, the flowers spicuous beside the dusty roads, with
of midsummer are coarser than those its tall spikes of bright yellow flowers,
of spring, they make, many of them, a the stamens of which are clothed with
UJ
OJ
0!
u
E
p
So
MIDSUMMER PLANTS 125
purple hairs. The cornfields and waste White thought, parasitical on the roots
spaces are now aglow with scarlet of the beech-trees,
poppies ; and sometimes the viper's But in July and August our choicest
bugloss is so abundant as to make with plants are to be sought, not in woods
its handsome azure flowers a distinct or hedgerows or on open downs, but
feature in the landscape. Last year it in the wide stretches of forest and
covered the slope of a chalk hill above moorland and unreclaimed bog which
the Meon valley to the extent of many in spite of modern encroachment still
acres, and presented a glorious expanse exist in many parts of England. In
of blue visible at some considerable the county of Hants there is the
distance. In many of our woods the royal forest of Woolmer, three-fifths of
gorgeous foxglove is now in bloom, which, before the formation of the
and when the stately plant is seen in parish of Blackmoor, lay within the
any profusion it makes a fine show bounds of Selborne, and consisted, as
with its handsome purple flowers. White tells us, of a " tract of land of
Other and more interesting plants may about seven miles in length by two
also be seen on some of our Hampshire and a half in breadth, covered with
Hangers. Gilbert White noticed what heath and fern, somewhat diversified
he calls Serapias latifolia or helleborine with hills and dales, without having
growing in the High Wood at Selborne, one standing tree in the whole extent."
under the shady beeches. This tall Since then, the forest has been par-
orchid (Epipactis latifolia), with long tially enclosed, and planted with larch-
leafy racemes of dull green or purplish trees and Scotch firs ; and Woolmer
flowers, still flourishes in its old Pond, which he speaks of as " a vast
locality ; and with it a rare variety, lake for that part of the world," is
or sub-species, with tufted stems and considerably diminished in size, yet
flowers of a violet-purple hue, which, now as then it is the resort in winter-
although not recognized by our great time of " vast flocks of ducks, teals, and
naturalist, is the most interesting plant widgeons of various denominations " ;
in the flora of Selborne. In company and in summer the wild flowers noticed
with this scarce plant (Epipactis pur- by White still flourish in their ancient
purata), the strange, sickly-looking haunts. He speaks specially of " the
monotropa or bird's nest (Monotropa bogs of Bin's Pond," a swampy stretch
hypopitys, L.) will be seen, perhaps, as of moorland where the snipe may be
126 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
heard " drumming " in early summer, But later on, during the months of July
and there he noted the round-leaved and August, is the best time to visit
and the long-leaved sundews, the marsh the Forest. The rare and handsome
cinquefoil (Comarum palustre, L.), and gladiolus (G. communis) is then in
the creeping bilberries or cranberries, flower, and may be seen growing among
This last plant (V actinium Oxycoccos^ the bracken in several of the open
common enough in peat bogs in the glades. It is one of our stateliest
north of England, is rare in Hampshire, British plants, and is only to be found
where it seems to have been first dis- in Hampshire. On the moist boggy
covered by Mr. Yalden, White's near heaths the blue calathian violet (Gen-
clerical neighbour, about the year 1760 ; tiana Pneumonanthe), the largest of our
and the two friends doubtless went to- English gentians, may be found ; while
gether to Bin's Pond, where the Vicar its near relation, the little cicendia
of Newton Valence pointed out to the (Microcala filiformis), opens its bright
naturalist of Selborne the beautiful yellow blossoms in damp sandy places,
little evergreen plant, with its bright Very rich, too, is the Forest in bog-
red flowers, trailing over the sphagnum plants, and among these some choice
moss. species are now in bloom. The beauti-
But interesting as Woolmer Forest ful little bog pimpernel (Anagallis
undoubtedly is as a hunting-ground tenella), with its leaves arranged in
for the naturalist and from its associa- opposite pairs and its erect rose-
tions with Gilbert White, it cannot coloured flowers, is to be seen every-
compare with the New Forest in the where, and the lesser skull-cap, and the
richness of its flora. Indeed, the yellow asphodel easily distinguished
Forest is the home of some of our by its narrow sword-shaped leaves and
rarest British plants. We have al- spike of starlike flowers ; while in
ready mentioned the long-leaved lung- some districts the buckbean (Menyan-
wort (Pulmonaria angusti folia), so con- thes trifoliata) brightens every pool
spicuous in the woods near the ruins and is so common that many of the
of Beaulieu in early spring. In June fields, we are told, are called " the buck-
the marsh Isnardia (Ludwigia palustris) bean mead." One or two rare British
may be found by those who know the orchids are now in flower in the Forest
exact spots in one or two of the Forest bogs. Well do I remember the feeling
bogs, and nowhere else in England, of delight with which, after many
MIDSUMMER PLANTS 127
hours searching in the hot August sun- botanists fortunate enough to know the
shine, I at last found the little marsh spot. Several times had I visited the
twayblade (Malaxis paludosa) in a Forest for the purpose of finding this
spongy bog near Brockenhurst. This rare orchid, but never could I discover
is the smallest of our British species, the position of the bog in question,
varying from one to four inches in At length, only last summer, a botani-
height ; and withal very difficult to cal friend sent me the welcome infor-
find, its inconspicuous spikes of light mation that he had been told the
greenish-yellow flowers resembling so whereabouts of this sacred locality,
closely the colour of the sphagnum We accordingly met at Brockenhurst
on which it grows. But more memor- Station, and after a ride of some five
able in my botanical annals was the or six miles, we left our bicycles against
day on which I first saw Spiranthes an oak-tree, and following the course
aestivalis, the summer lady's-tresses. of a forest stream soon came upon
This exceedingly choice plant, bearing a stretch of sphagnous bog which
a slender spiral spike of white flowers, answered the description given by my
is one of the rarest of British orchids, friend's informant. Starting at oppo-
being found only in the New Forest, site ends we at once began a careful
and perhaps in one locality in Worces- and difficult search, sinking at every
tershire. It was not known to exist step up to our knees in the soft treach-
in England till the year 1840, when erous swamp. The sundew was there
it was discovered by Mr. Branch, or, in abundance, and sweet-gale, and
according to Watson, by Mr. Jansen, on cotton-grass, and yellow narthecium,
" a small tract of sphagnous bog " and Rhyncospora alba, a characteristic
between Lyndhurst and Christchurch. bog-rush ; but for some little time no
In the following year the locality was sign of Spiranthes could be seen. At
visited by the distinguished botanists last, almost at the same moment a
Dr. Bromfield, the author of the Flora shout from each of us proclaimed that
Vectensis, and Mr. Borrer, who found the long-sought treasure had been
the plant " in considerable plenty ; found. Some dozen spikes only we
some of the plants being a foot in saw, but doubtless others existed,
height." Since then this " small tract In most of the Forest bogs both
of sphagnous bog " has been regarded the long-leaved and the round-leaved
with much veneration by the few sundews are abundant, and in several
128 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
localities the larger Drosera anglica to a height of eight or even ten feet
has of late years been found. These and forming thickets which can be seen
pretty little plants are, it is well known, at some distance. Gerarde when he
insectivorous, a ruthless habit little first saw a clump of them afar off mis-
suspected by our early botanists. Old took the large leaves " spread abroad
Gerarde has much to say about " the like wings " for those of the ash-tree,
little herbe which groweth very low, and " much wondered thereat, think-
and hath a few leaves like an eare ing that he had never seen young ashes
picker, hairy and reddish, and having growing upon a bog." Formerly it
moisture upon them at the driest time seems to have been a common and
of the yeare and when the Sun shineth abundant plant in many parts of the
hottest at high noone," but he knows country. In the days of Queen Eliza-
nothing of its carnivorous ways. Nei- beth it grew " in the midst of a bog at
ther indeed did George Crabbe, when the further end of Hampstead Heath
in The Borough he speaks of some of near London, at the bottom of a hill
the bog-plants near Aldeburgh : adjoining to a small cottage " ; but
by the year 1633 "it was all destroyed."
For there are blossoms rare, and curious rush,
The gale's rich balm, and sundew's crimson In Hampshire, as we learn from an-
blush, other early writer, it seems to have
Whose velvet leaf, with radiant beauty dress'd been common in m oist, boggy
Forms a gay pillow for the plover's breast.
ditches ; and as late as the middle
In company with the sundew, the of the last century it might be seen in
pale butterwort (Pinguicula lusitanica) parts of the New Forest " rearing its
will be found in most of the Forest golden-brown panicles six feet high,
bogs, and like its " cruel red-haired and covering in patches nearly a
neighbour," this delicate little plant quarter of an acre." In the neigh-
has acquired the curious and uncanny bourhood of Dorking, John Stuart
habit of catching and devouring live Mill found it in great luxuriance, form-
flies, ing " large and tall thickets visible at
At this season the flowering fern a great distance." The name of " Os-
(Osmunda regalis), sometimes called mund Royal " dates back to mediaeval
the royal fern and Osmund royal, is times, for it is so called by all the early
in full beauty. It is indeed a noble herbalists. Gerarde also speaks of it
and stately plant, sometimes growing as " Osmund the water-man," a hero
THE ANIMALS OF THE CLIFFS 129
of Celtic tradition ; while de L'Obel virtues. We should otherwise have
tells us that the epithet " royal " supposed that it was meant to describe
refers to its singular and excellent its stately and majestic appearance.
XXVI
THE ANIMALS OF THE CLIFFS
" Strange things are here of sea and land :
Stern surges and a haughty strand,
Sea-monsters haunt yon caverned lair,
The mermaid weaves her briny hair." R. S. HAWKER.
'I T 71TH the exception of the marten colossal walls of rock fall sheer to the
and the wild cat, all the few foam with only a shelf here and there
surviving carnivora of Britain are still whereon the now rare chough builds
to be met with in the Cornish cliffs, its nest ; for the most part, however,
Seal, otter, badger, fox and polecat the face of the cliffs is slightly tilted,
harbour the year through along the giving Nature the opportunity she
littoral, sharing its rocky strongholds ever seeks to soften with vegetation her
with predatory birds and innumerable severest features,
seafowl. These creatures have en joyed And how tenderly and becomingly
no protection save that afforded by the she has performed the difficult task !
strength of their fastnesses to which She has dappled with lichen or bearded
alone and to the struggle they have with byssus every crag and outcropping
made for existence they owe their rock ; she has lined with seaferns every
escape from extermination. niche and cranny, and cushioned with
The south coast of the county, with thrift or spangled with minute, many-
its sandy cones, sunny estuaries and tinted blossoms the springy sward
rich colouring, is oftentimes all smiles, that struggles with furze, heather and
like Reynolds' personification of com- bracken for mastery of the windswept
edy, but the north, with its lofty black steeps.
cliffs and absence of all but the tiniest But crowded as is the stunted
havens, is always stern, inhospitable plant life on the upper slopes, it is
and tragic, warning mariner and lands- arrested at the brow of the grim under-
man to keep their distance. At Bos- cliff which, summer and winter, knows
castle, Tintagel and other wild spots no respite from the waves. Ages of
130 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
resistance to the unceasing warfare they dive with the quickness of light-
of the Atlantic have left this firmly- ning, making the water boil with the
based bulwark hollowed with zawn energy of their movements. Should
and cave, gloomy retreats where the they take shelter in the cliffs not
seal and the otter find lodging for them- another glimpse of them will be got,
selves and a nursery for their young, but if they escape towards the offing,
while on the upper cliff, which only they may after a long interval be seen
foam and spray can reach, badger and to rise at a considerable distance out
fox have earths and setts or equally to sea.
secure holts beneath the boulders. Generally they show little fear of the
These creatures are not all strictly crabbers abroad at dawn ; indeed
nocturnal, for though badger, otter and they will often follow them as they
fox are as unwilling to expose them- row from one string of pots to another
selves as only outlaws can be, the seals and watch the operation of hauling,
may now and then be seen fishing I say generally, for there are times
alone or in company with their young when the men, provoked by the damage
at the foot of the cliffs. There are few done to net and trammel, attack the
pictures of English wild life more likely seals in their dens and make the
to appeal to the lover of nature than survivors for weeks after as shy as
that formed by these glistening black otters. These raids are possible only
creatures and their cream-coloured during a spell of very fine weather,
young swimming in the sapphire waters for it is necessary that the sea should
on which, from the dizzy height above, be smooth, and that the unceasing
puffin and guillemot look like specks, swell from the Altantic should be at
Reckless as the seals appear to be of its gentlest. The conditions being
showing by day, they yet keep a sharp favourable, the hour of low springtide
look-out on the cliffs and are quick at is chosen to allow the attack to be
discerning danger. To get a better delivered and a retreat made before
view of any doubtful object they raise the rising water shuts off the way of
themselves so much that their flippers escape. Consequently from the mo-
are visible and regard it steadily with ment the boat enters the cave, the
their large, soft eyes. If their sus- utmost expedition is employed in
picions are confirmed they quietly sink threading the often low, pitch dark
out of sight. At the crack of a rifle passage leading to the seals' lair. The
THE ANIMALS OF THE CLIFFS 131
length of some of these tunnels is truly length the thought struck the fisher-
astonishing. The well-known seal hole man that the bold visitor could be
between Boscastle and Cambeak Head, none other than the mother of the baby
for instance, penetrates not less than seal that shared his home. Touched
three hundred yards into the land, yet by the daring of her maternal affection
is so narrow here and there that care he restored the captive, fond though
and skill are needed to prevent the he had grown of it, and the visits of
boat from being dashed against the the parent seal at once ceased,
walls and in places against the de- Seals meet their death not only at
scending roof by the ground-swell which the hand of man, but, hard as it is to
always rages in these confined and believe, also by the action of the
resounding recesses. The difficulties elements in which they live. This
of the raiders are increased by the happens when sudden storms surprise
foulness of the air, which often makes them in the caves and beat their life
it almost impossible to keep the torches out before they can escape ; con-
alight : at times the attack is aban- sequently they abandon the cliff-haunts
doned on this account. If all goes at the approach of bad weather and
well and the seals are reached, a savage keep to the offing,
fray ensues in which one or more of Their attachment to the wind-and-
the creatures may fall victims, though wave-beaten north coast is not a little
not infrequently all escape. strange, but the reason for the limita-
The relations between man and tion of their habitat is probably to be
amphibian exhibit however at times an found in the seclusion of that coast,
aspect as humane as the raid is bar- the inaccessibility of the caves, and
barous. On one of these expeditions perhaps partly to the presence in the
a young seal was captured and taken adjacent waters of the herring on
home by a Boscastle fisherman. It which the seal largely feeds during the
was his intention to rear and make a winter months. We have a few records
pet of it. The following day, to every- which go to prove that the creature
body's surprise, a seal was observed has long frequented this particular
to come into the little harbour and shore. Borlase, vicar of Pendeen in
remain there until the ebb of the tide the eighteenth century, tells of its
compelled it to withdraw. It came being there in his time ; so does Ray,
the next day and the, day after, and at who calls it, as it is commonly called to
132 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
this day by the coast-dwellers, the the singing of Johnny Trehair, whose
"soile." Ray is sometimes spoken of as fine tenor voice acted like a spell on
the father of English Natural History, the miners, never failed to draw round
yet his testimony, though two and a him the seals that frequented the
half centuries old, seems but of yester- Three Stone Oar. The seals them-
day in comparison with those remote selves are silent by day, but at night
days from which we have inherited their hoarse cries no less than their
the legends of the mermaids about splashings prove unnerving to the
the coast. These weird romances fisher-boys on watch and serve to keep
afford strong evidence that seals have alive the superstitions which yet linger
frequented the strands of Padstow and along the wild north coast of the
of Zennor from time immemorial. Duchy.
Zennor boasts a unique record in the From the seal we pass to its fellow-
representation of the animal on the fisher and neighbour of the undercliff,
end of one of the benches in its church, the otter, a creature which though
but whether the carver was inspired present in considerable numbers round
by legend or love of natural history the coast, is nevertheless but seldom
must remain as much a matter of seen. Of all our wildlings, save per-
conjecture as is the date when the work haps the badger, it is the most chary
was executed. of exposing itself to observation. Yet
The mention of Zennor Church re- much as the otter shrinks from the
calls the opinion entertained by the light of the sun, he loves to bask in its
coast folk that the seals are attracted rays where he thinks no eye can descry
out of their caves by the ringing of the him, on a rock at the foot of the cliffs, or
bells. However that may be, it is an a boulder of the moorland stream. He
undoubted fact that the creatures are will on occasion exhibit a greater
more in evidence on Sundays than on daring and fish at noonday ; but this
work days ; and after all there is nothing happens only in very retired situations,
very improbable in the widespread Yet so greatly does he enjoy the stolen
belief, for it is generally conceded that hours, so natural a part of the wild
seals are influenced by musical sounds, setting does he form, as to compel the
The fishermen invariably whistle to belief that persecution alone and not
them when they wish them to follow his own instincts has driven him among
the boats, and it is now a tradition that the ranks of nocturnal creatures.
THE ANIMALS OF THE CLIFFS 133
Be that as it may, it is between However the night be spent the
sundown and sunrise that the shy otter is rarely oblivious of the approach
beast wherever found forgets his terror of day. No sooner do the cormorants
and lives the free and unrestrained life begin to wing their way past in the
denied him by day. Sallying from dusky light than he makes for the
some holt he starts in the direction of hover of his choice and seeks its driest
the morrow's hover, fishing as he goes, recess. So he will pass from one
Hunger and lust of pursuit appeased sleeping-place to another, now to an
he will, if time allows, seek a way of " otter's zawn " or " otter's ogo "
indulging the more sportive side of his as the crabbers of the Land's End and
nature. Failing more alluring means Lizard respectively call the small caves
of diversion he makes a playfellow of frequented by the tribe, now to a mere
the waves, romping with them until he crevice above high-water mark, now to
tires. The love of sliding is in his a clitter of rocks that low springtide
blood, and if a smooth slab invites he does not leave entirely dry.
will spend hours in gliding down the But all the days and nights of a
slippery face to the foam at its base, cliff-reared otter are by no means
or if he finds a suitable rock such as the spent along the coast. There is nothing
Otter Rock at Looe, he will spreadeagle he likes better than to make his way up
himself on the surface and allow the river or stream in quest of eels or in
heave of the swell to lift him over its pursuit of salmon and peal which floods
crest into the troubled waters on its have attracted to the spawning beds,
far side. He generally passes in play In his upwater journey he will keep to
of this sort the watch before dawn. the line followed by generations of his
If in search of a mate, however, he kind ; he will take the chords of the
quests little and frolics not at all, bends, cross at the usual places, land
but urged by his passion journeys on on the favourite sand-spits and mid-
and on along the cliffs, arresting his stream rocks, and in passing from one
steps on reef or headland to sound his tributary to another traverse the
long, shrill call and listen for the reply, intervening hills along the laid trails.
Above the murmur of the surf the Every hover about the watershed is
high-pitched note will be audible to known to the wandering marauder, and
his keen ears, though it come from far like an embodied spirit of unrest he
along the coast. passes, under cover of night, from one to
134 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
another. To-day he will doze away In like manner the areas frequented
the hours in a forgotten culvert of the by otters littered in the numerous
mill a couple of miles from the cove ; strongholds around the coast might be
to-morrow, after traversing as many roughly mapped out and the county
leagues, he will be ensconced at cock- divided into beats which are as old
crow in the reedy bog where the stream as the hills and as little subject to
rises, his presence known only to the change, unless poisoned water from the
curlew that shares the solitude of the mines depletes the streams or a fish
upland. The water-bailiffs of the preserve is created where none existed
Looe and Fowey hold that the otters before.
reared in the well-known cliff strong- In time of storm, otters driven from
holds near Polperro " work up " the the cliffs take refuge inland, and it is
Looe River, a distance of about fifteen then that their tracks are oftenest
miles, cross the four miles of farmland to found. I have frequently happened on
the Fowey, and after journeying some them at these times, but in all my
twelve miles upstream to the moorland searches along the Cornish coast I have
reach near Brown Willy, return along nowhere seen so many traces as in a
the twenty miles of river to the tidal muddy adit near the foot of the
waters at Lostwithiel, and regain by Trevalga cliffs between Boscastle and
way of the estuary and the coast the Tintagel. The footprints on the floor
caves and rockpiles of Porthnadler Bay of this antechamber to the old mine-
whence they set out on their long round, workings are of all ages and in all
It is impossible to say how many stages of obliteration, forming as strange
weeks are occupied in making the wide and irregular a pattern as can anywhere
circuit or even to estimate the full be found.
distance covered, because it is more The polecat, which is closely allied
than likely that every tributary stream, to the otter and betrays its relation-
ven every pool, marsh, pond and ship by its love of eels and frogs, is a
reservoir within reach is visited by the denizen of the upper cliff, where it
nomad who doubtless lingers or hurries hides in crevices of cairns or holts
on according to the state of the water, beneath the radgels as the piles of
the security or insecurity of the holts, boulders are sometimes called. This
and not least the abundance or scarcity ferocious and blood-thirsty creature
-of prey. has many enemies, for not only is every
THE ANIMALS OF THE CLIFFS 135
coast-dweller from the- farmer to the clear. Again, when in search of a mate
rabbit-trapper bent on its destruction, the polecat does not, in secluded places
but, if report be true, the fox also is its like the cliffs, shrink from prosecuting
sworn foe. Occasionally it even falls its quest even by day.
a victim to the bigger predatory birds, As long as it is able to keep to hidden
as the following incident shows. ledges it is safe enough, but where
Some two years ago on the Tintagel deep indentations of the coast meet the
cliffs, a shepherd saw " high by day " cultivated land and there is no selvage
a buzzard rise with something in its of waste ground, the animal can hardly
claws. It was evident to him that a avoid showing itself. On viewing the
struggle was going on between the dark brown " varmint " as it steals
captor and the quarry, but what quarry along the foot of a wall or bounds across
it was he could not imagine. Whilst a gap a farm hand at once raises hue
he watched, the big wings collapsed and cry and with the help of dogs tries
and the bird fell like a stone to the to destroy the hated devastator of the
ground. The man hurried to the rock warren and the hen-roost. If, as is
where it lay, and there by the side of generally the case, it is found impossible
the dying buzzard was the body of to dislodge the creature from its refuge,
a polecat. a freshly killed rabbit is dragged about
It need not excite surprise that the the spot and suspended above a steel
fitcher, as the Cornish folk call the trap set on the trail. In trying to
polecat, should have been abroad at reach the bait the polecat is nearly sure
noon, for though usually one of the to be caught.
shyest of mammals, it apparently be- It is already so scarce that one can-
comes, when excited by pursuit, in- not but fear it will become extinct,
different to the peril of exposing itself, like the marten cat which survived
For instance, when hot on the trail of a until September, 1878.
rabbit it has been hunting in the Mercilessly persecuted though it is,
tunnels of a warren, the creature will no such fate threatens the stoat, which
not hesitate though the sun is overhead may frequently be seen on the cliffs,
to follow the prey to the middle of a A wondrous sight is the progress of the
field that offers no means of conceal- mother stoat followed by her long train
ment. If driven from the kill, it will of kittens. This family party as it
return the moment the coast seems threads its swift way along the narrow
136 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
ledges has no equal for graceful move- a third, and then there will be a long
ment. The elfish creatures seem to be interval before the remaining frequenter
as intelligent as they are lithe and of the sett, who is given to sleeping
active. Conscious of their inability to out at times, puts in an appearance,
pull down a hare singly, they will band It is grey dawn by this and objects
and hunt in a pack, and the silence of that have been distinguishable only
the lonely uplands must often be by differences of shade are beginning
broken by their shrill yelpings as they to assume their familiar hues. And
follow with an accuracy no hounds can now the sea-birds on the islands below
rival the line of their terror-stricken add their clamour to the ceaseless
quarry. Their night's work over, they roar of the sea. It is during a lull of
will, like brigands after a " blood " their greeting to the day that the
raid, steal back to their fastness in the laggard of the cliff folk comes over the
cliffs, where whilst man is abroad brow and checks his steps by the old
they sleep off the weariness of long cromlech to reconnoitre. His long
pursuit and plan another expedition, pointed muzzle and pricked ears show
Whether the stoat returns home between the lichened pillar and the
before or after the polecat it is im- blossoming furze ; his yellow eyes gleam
possible to say, but it may with like the dewdrops jewelling the bents,
confidence be asserted that the badger His senses tell him that all is well, and
will be ensconced for the day before leaving his shelter he descends towards
either of them. So fearful of being the sett. What a beauty he looks as
seen and taken is this slow-footed crea- he trots down the slope ! Attracted
ture, that before the stars have quite by the croaking of a raven he advances
faded he will give up foraging and make to the verge of the cliff, shifting how-
off over the grass lands at his best ever at once his gaze from the noisy
pace. On reaching the cliffs he threads bird to a seal amidst the foam that
the paths between the bushes dotting wreaths the purple-shadowed waters,
the crest, shuffles down the zigzag Then he whips round, whisks his brush,
track worn by his own pads to the and with characteristic impudence goes
" earth," and disappears from view, to ground in the mansion that others
Another badger may follow, and perhaps have excavated.
XXVII
BUTTERFLIES IN BED
" On the Infinitely Little."
grassy, heathery clearing in " eye " from public view is protection
the Surrey birch wood has been of the butterfly from enemies of prey
the playground of butterflies for weeks by inconspicuity, or by assimilation to
past. A few battered meadow-brown surroundings (gross words to use of a
butterflies of July, their poor wings sylph like the Large Heath ! but I know
worn as jagged as those of the comma, not how to avoid them here). My
linger on, but their junketings are notion is that there is no night enemy
nearly over. The Ringlet and the Large that need be cheated if it could be
Heath butterflies succeeded them before cheated thus. Protection of butterfly
the end of the month, and occupy the beauty against weather this, I think,
bramble-bushes by day and night, is the meaning of the withdrawn "eye."
Last year, though I pryed closely in I admit that, if you set out to look for
their woodland haunts in another dis- butterflies at rest and matching their
trict among hazel, oak, and brake environment, you will find them. The
fern I could find very few Large Heath Small Skipper butterfly sleeping on the
butterflies settled for the night. Lately spear-thistle looked greeny-grey, I
I have discovered many on the bramble- noticed, matching his perch. We
bushes in the birch wood. Like watched a Meadow Brown, disturbed
Meadow Brown, Grayling, and other by large raindrops, perch on a birch
butterflies, the Large Heath, settling for twig, and put away his " eye," and we
the evening and night, always draws agreed he would pass for a dead leaf,
down its folded upper wings, so that But other Small Skippers, small and
the conspicuous spot or eye on the back large kinds, slept on seeding grass heads
of them is hid. One effect of this is to and the matching was not close ; and,
make the Large Heath a trifle obscurer after all, is a Meadow Brown so very
at rest on the bramble leaf than it like a dead birch leaf when you come to
would be with the wing up. think of it ?
But I do not believe the real explana- More striking was the case of the
tion or object of this withdrawal of the Golden Y moth, the pretty insect which
137
138 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
is out in moist places in the birch wood, Common Blue their near relative head
and flies often by day. I watched one downward ; but perhaps this was
settle on the trunk of a birch tree. It exceptional, due to some chance dis-
has some dark fluff or fur, that stands turbance I can hardly imagine
out like a hump or excrescence on the the sleeping habits of the Common
back, which really does remind one of Blue differ from those of his first
the dark, rough cork of the birch trunk cousin.
near the ground. If this were the Nobody could doubt that to watch
usual resting-place of Golden Y, it butterflies and moths is to train the
would seem very like a matching pre- eye to beauty on a scale of exquisite,
caution ; but there is no evidence to if tiny, perfection ; this is absolutely
speak of that Golden Y moths prefer plain to every seeing, thinking man.
for sleeping quarters the rough, corky But a study of the habits, minutiae of
trunk of the birches ; I think my moth minutiae, of such little things how
settled thereon by chance. I found can this avail human beings ? it may
him first amid the copse grasses and be asked. Is not the man who does
cross-leaved heather, and I found it rather like Browning's grammarian,
another Golden Y moth next day who fiddled away his life on Greek
resting off the birch trunk in the under- enclitics and particles, holding forth
cover of the wood. on them till he was dead from his feet
In the lane end are still a few Silver- to his waist ? Would it not be wiser
spotted Blue butterflies, sucking the to aim at the million and chance missing
bird's-foot trefoil and the bramble- the unit ? Yes, but in these units
blossoms : a month ago there were secrets of life secrets of whence,
dozens. The Silver-spotted, with lilac- whither, why are concentrated. In
blue wings and their clear fringe of the end we may know ourselves through
white, is quite as lovely a little flyer a blue butterfly. Only we must watch
as the Common Blue butterfly ; indeed, and record, utterly careless of any
in minutiae and perhaps because he is theory ; if this butterfly's nightdress
not so common ! I think him the does not mimic its surroundings, we
choicer of the two. Of the sleeping must accept the fact, careless of theory,
quarters and habits of this gay beauty Theory is a feather-weight set in the
I know little yet ; one or two I found scale against truth, a matter of supreme
at rest slept head upward, not like the unconcern.
SILVER-WASHED PRITILLAR7.
a photograph by
Reginald B. Lodge.
XXVIII
SEA BIRDS
" Between the waves and black o'erhanging cliffs,
Where, in and out, the screaming sea-fowl cry."
MATTHEW ARNOLD.
fT^ROM the window at which I then the origin of the gull may be in-
write, I can see the gulls scout- land.
ing over the pastureland. I can hear From the forms so familiar to the
the harsh " crow " mingling with the peasant, to those only known to the
subdued cry of lapwings. Any day, fisherman, are gradations. A change
all winter through, they are somewhere of habit is often accompanied by
about. Yet it is nearly ten miles from physical adaptations to the mode of
the coast. One wonders whether they living. The hind toe of use in walk-
are marine forms which drift to the ing, but only a hindrance in swim-
country, or inland forms which spend ming may be more or less aborted,
some of their time at sea. The webbed But the biding nearer the coast does
feet and toning of the plumage mark not make sea birds, in the sense in
them off from the birds with which which other forms we shall come to
they pass the day, and seem to favour by-and-by, are sea birds,
a marine origin. But these do not The webbing of the feet, which does
necessarily mean more, or date further not help them on the land, only makes
back, than the habits. them a little more graceful on the
To lake and marsh, still further water. All the swimming they really
inland, and by the base of the hills, need might be done without. They
they go in the spring to breed. There float perfectly, and might fitly be
the young are born, and pass their called the floating birds. The modifi-
childhood : are natives of the scene, cation of the hind toe does not help
Only after weeks are they guided to them under water. They do not
the sea, as to a strange place. In dive ; and diving, in one form or
other forms which lead a double life, another, is needful to the making of
we look to the breeding scene to tell a sea bird. These adaptations, sig-
which of the two spheres owns them, nificant as they are, fail in the main
Where were you born or brought up ? end : they do not send them down
If there is any force in the enquiry, to the fishes which swim below.
139
140 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
There are chances of which the gull It dons it, not all at once, but lingers
knows how to avail itself. Some com- over the process. It runs a dark line
motion is going on in the depths, an over the crown, to define the area
enemy is at work among the shoals, to be coloured, and proceeds to fill
The scared fish seek the surface, in a in, down to the base of the coral bill,
wild rush for life : even leap from the It is a mistake to say that it does
water. But a chance meal does not not readily take to the water.
make a living, nor does the scene of At flood it rides in the shallows,
chance meals make a living place, sitting high as a cork, and bobbing
Between the chances, are intervals lightly over the ripples. It is a
long enough to clear every gull from floating bird. Of all gulls it is per-
the face of the waters. haps the furthest from diving. So
In lavish moods, the sea is sovereign loose and slight is its grip of keel,
in her gifts. Her storms are mag- that no one could imagine how it
nificent, alike in their destruction and could get under water. It is most
their bounty. What they tear from at home on the banks of the ebb, pad-
the depths they toss to the haunters dling about on its red stilts with quick,
of the shallows and the shore. She short, mincing steps. It is a walk-
scatters over the sand banks, she piles ing gull. Nor does the webbing of
up along high-water "mark. But the feet make it awkward. And, being
storms are episodes, impulses; far preternaturally sharp, it can pick
separated by placid intervals, when up what is brought in on the wash
the wavelets simply lap, bearing no- of breaking waves,
thing in. Gulls wait upon the moods Five hundred feet above the surf,
of the sea. And in repeated trumpet in Shetland, I have watched the
notes, tell their fierce joy. In the kittiwakes swimming below. Every
main, they scan a barren shore, and ledge between seemed crowded with
turn empty away. their young, in immature plumage,
The most familiar is the black- with the charming crescent of black
headed gull, partly because it is round the neck. Lower set, and short-
the pertest. It passes through the toed, they are at the opposite extreme
most striking seasonal change. In from the upright black-head. They
spring it puts on a black or brown are swimming not walking birds. So
head, and puts it off again in autumn, it was in the summer. In winter I
SEA BIRDS 141
have seen them from Ventnor in the approach the shore by the mouths of
Isle of Wight. Swimmers though they estuaries. In grace and power of
were, they could get nothing from motion they excel. Their empire is
the Channel of all it contained, save the wing : theirs is the very poetry
what it chose to cast ashore. I have of flight. They are tireless. In the
a vivid mental picture of a group of distances they range over, in the vast
about a score, flying greedily around areas they scan by the way, some-
something that had floated out into thing is sure to float or be stranded,
the water. On that they wait. They see the
More attractive, by reason of the glitter of the shoals beneath the sur-
purity of plumage, the uprightness face myriads on myriads, and pass
of gait, and the bold, trumpet-like by. They are sea birds in so far as
music of its repeated call, is the herring they are found by the sea, wear the
gull. Moving, with slow and stately livery of the sea, and have sea cries,
steps of the flesh-coloured legs, by the Yet in all the aeons they have been
water edge, it forms a background to there, long enough to borrow marine
the lesser gulls on the banks. The hues and conquer the buffeting winds,
serried ranks mock the lines of break- they have never acquired the simple
ing waves. The making tide floats arts of getting a living from the sea.
them. Deeper and further out they Terns are sufficiently near in toning
sit on the flood ; only to pass the to be confused by the unobservant
time till the ebb, and the return to with gulls. They wear a black cap
the shore. on the very crown of the head. They
The line which marks off certain come about the end of April, and leave
great gulls, the most wonderful of toward the end of September. They
our native sea-fowl, is drawn sharply are scattered along our summer coasts,
between the lesser and greater black- thinly, and yet without a break. Each
backs. The giants include the glau- pair seems to have its beat marked
cous, and Iceland gulls. To the north off by invisible boundaries. At either
they increase in number. In Shetland, edge one beat touches on another,
they are regular winter visitors. To- in a long, bright, quivering line,
ward the arctic circle they thin out, Short and weak in the legs, they
and give place to the great white come nearest to the kittiwakes. They
gull of the ice floes. These forms are not walkers. Yet they are not
142 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
swimmers. They do not often light much is there of them, and so little
on the water. Sometimes, at high is left. The tail is a charming object,
tide, they may drop for a little ; but The outer feathers on either side ex-
not to float lightly, nor paddle about, tend far beyond the rest. The depth
They rest on a bank at the ebb. Nor and delicacy of the fork tell of the
do they often rest ; but when they lesser tern.
do, they rest absolutely. They are A very intense speck is the bird
utterly quiescent. They squat low in the air, a concentrated ray of
and look dumpy, as though leaning on light. In flight it strains: in poise
their breasts. Tail and wings trail it quivers. Its scream is charged
on the wet sand. They rise, and with fretful impatience. So keen is
are no longer mean. Their legs are it, that, in comparison among seaside
weak because they live in the air. sounds, that of the redshank seems
They are fashioned for flight. Even to lose its edge. No bird I can think
then, they do not rival the great of is so highly strung. It has none
flyers. They do not float and tack of the placid mood, the happy-go-
and steer as the gulls do. There is lucky temper of the gull. It does not
none of the absence of effort, the easy take life easily. This may account
command of every movement, the for much.
reserve, the slow play, the calm sense No waiter on providence, or on the
of power. There is a want of sym- sea, is the tern. It is too restless for
metry in their form, of proportion in that. Impatience lends it resource,
their parts ; neither smoothness nor It makes a bid for its own living,
balance. But they get along : there When the sheen appears below, it does
is swiftness. A tern on the wing, and not pass over. It pauses. It searches
on the sand are two extremes motion, the barren places that it may find,
and rest incarnate. Under a like disability with the gulls,
On the bents the other day, I picked it will not be denied quietly. To
up a dead bird. As I look at it now, its quicker wit, a middle way appears,
I see how everything has been sacri- between scanning the surface for a
need to speed. The fragile body is floating object and reaching the tenants
little more than a connecting link, of the depths. Its kingdom is the
I pull out the wings, joint by joint ; shallows. It quivers, it focuses, it
they stretch to a great length. So screams, it dashes down. Head first
THE BRITISH FERNS 143
it goes. The impetus is sufficient So fishes another and much larger
to carry it a foot or two beneath the bird. The empire of the solan goose
surface, deep as the glittering ranks is out in the deeper water. It passes
of sand-eels. over like the gulls ; but unlike the
By this simple device which the gulls, it looks below the surface. It is
gull must have watched a thousand heavy in the air lacks the buoyancy,
times as he passed by on his vain which may be one reason why the
search the tern gets its living at the gull does not try to dive. It wheels
sea. Not a chance diet, but food on its course, dashes down, and van-
when it is hungry. There are limita- ishes. It goes deeper than the tern,
tions. The water must be clear, and but no deeper than the dive will carry,
the surface undisturbed, save by the In this somewhat sensational way,
play of ripples, else the keen glance which arrests and fascinates each time
may not see what is beneath. So one looks on, it commands the upper
far is there an element of chance, depths. Its weight carries it some
and seasons of dearth ; days when the ten to twenty feet. A lighter bird,
fisher is absent from its beat. The the tern splashes barely over head :
tern searches the shallows along the in its buoyancy it is allied to the gulls,
margin, only a few yards from where The solan goose belongs to a fishing
the wavelets lap upon the sand, and family. Its nearest relatives are truly
the black-headed gull picks up the marine birds. Its mode of diving is
stranded shrimp. In like manner, somewhat puzzling. It is an inter-
it is just on the edge of seabird life. esting connecting link.
XXIX
THE BRITISH FERNS
"Ferns, . . . noxious weeds, to be classed with thorns and briers, and other ditch
trumpery." UNENLIGHTENED OLD AUTHOR.
'T^HE very word ferns bears with popular leaning towards the " wild "
it something of an early Vic- type of garden, was responsible for
torian impression, and a " rage " or much of their abundant literature.
fashion in ferns, long since dead, but But who ever looks into the large,
of late years in part revivified by the handsomely illustrated volumes issued
144 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
at that time, nowadays ? Although chance of discovering striking new
the delight of the enthusiast, these forms exist, and it is this ever-present
formidable tomes are far too technical possibility which forms their great
for most of us. We must own to a fascination for the collector. In the
considerable sympathy with the plant- case of, let us say, butterflies' or birds'
lover as totally distinct from the eggs it may not take very long entirely
systematic botanist. Some years ago to exhaust the collecting possibilities
there appeared a book about ferns (The of a district. With ferns, however, it
Fern Paradise, by F. G. Heath), written is very different, they are provokingly
in quite another manner. The experts shy of discovery, and however thor-
shook their heads, and they are still oughly the hunting-grounds may be
shaking them, but the fact remains ransacked one year, the hope still re-
that its popularity has been consider- mains of there being interesting vari-
able, etal novelties among the next year's
It is in our opinion a nice point crop. Some ferns are vastly more
whether it is strictly right to add to prone to variation than are others.
the ravages effected by the plant For example, while in text-books to the
hawker in even the smallest degree, description of the Alpine and mountain
but, undoubtedly, our native ferns offer bladder ferns, the woodsias and others
a rich field for the collector. This is the simple statement "no varieties are
not only because the number of distinct recorded " is appended, the description
species (forty-five) is fairly large, but is of the four hundred or so varieties of
in a greater degree occasioned by the the hart's tongue fern (Scolopendrium
truly remarkable tendency to sport, vulgare), which having in the type form
and afford well-defined distinct varieties a single undivided frond would not be
which ferns exhibit both under natural thought to offer much scope for varia-
and cultivated conditions. At a tion, occupies many pages. The main
moderate estimate there are nearly types of variation in the British species
2,000 generally accepted varieties of are : (i) Crestation, a multiplication of
the British ferns, and while many of some or all of the extremities of the
these have been raised from spores, a fronds and their subdivisions ; (2)
considerable number have been dis- Plumation, a remarkably delicate divi-
covered growing wild. So long as sion and growth of the ultimate sections
ferns grow in a wild state will the of the frond, or a greater foliaceous
THE BRITISH FERNS
145
development ; and (3) Congestation, are the despair not only of the average
which is usually present in conjunction man, but of the botanist. Is it not
with dwarfing, all the parts of the frond a peculiarly barbarous proceeding to
being closely pressed together and over- inflict upon an inoffensive plant such
lapping. Two or more of these main a title as Aspidium angular e var.
types of variation may be present in polydactylum multifidum grandiceps,
the same plant, while the number of and that with the truly bathetic
minor forms may well be termed in- termination, Jones ? But, certainly,
finite. In fact, the possibilities of where there is such infinite variety the
variation in ferns are so considerable problem of nomenclature is a difficult
as to be comparable to the diversities one.
of combination which may occur in Coupled with the information that
ladies' hats, or even in the game of a good many energetic people have
chess. Some faint idea of the number devoted a great part of their lives to
of forms it is possible for a fern to the British ferns, and that the botany
assume will be afforded by our stating of ferns is most vexatiously complex,
that for reasons of classification it has what we have said should suffice to
been found expedient to sub-divide convey to the uninitiated the know-
the varieties of Scolopendrium vulgare ledge that the British ferns are by no
as follows :
Branched.
Unequally branched.
Conglomerated.
Crested.
Flexuose.
Marginate.
Margin-altered.
Muricate.
Narrowed.
Plumose.
Pouch-bearing.
Sagittate.
Supralineate.
Truncate.
Undulate.
Variegated.
means a superlatively simple subject.
But, fortunately, it is possible to derive
a great deal of pleasure from them with-
out delving deep into technicalities, or,
indeed, the exercise of any exertion
beyond that of looking about one when
in the country. By reason of their
After this it would seem almost climatic conditions the Lake District
superfluous to state that the nomencla- and Devonshire are the great English
ture of the British ferns is a thing which fern strongholds. Is not the very
it is pleasantest to marvel at from a thought of Devonshire suggestive of
distance. The amateurs and cultiva- deep-set lanes charmingly decked out
tors who have discovered or raised with ferns, of ferns on banks, on roofs,
many of the varieties have also fur- and on walls, indeed, of a fern paradise
nished them with Latin names, which and what more beautiful than this ?
146 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
In the space at command it is not of the ashes, which were used by soap
possible to enter into detail even to the makers and glass makers. Medicinal
extent of briefly indicating the indi- virtues, generally as vermifuges, are also
vidual characters of the various British attributed to several ferns. Various
ferns. From the giant royal fern to the fern preparations hold a place in rural
little native maidenhair or inconspicu- medicine, and the root of Athyrium
ous adder's tongue they are all dear Filix-foemina is reputed to have formed
to the enthusiast, and in the majority the chief part of " Madame Nouffer's
of instances his enthusiasm is not celebrated remedy for the tape-worm."
misplaced. Their distribution in Great Yet another curious use for a fern is
Britain is very varied, some species that the spleenwort is used as a bait
being exceedingly rare and confined for rock-cod fishing on the coast of
to a few localities, while others are Wales.
common almost everywhere. Many The hardy ferns generally, both
of them are widely distributed in other deciduous and evergreen, are deservous
countries, for example, the Tunbridge of a more prominent place in the garden
filmy fern is a native of France, Ger- than is commonly given to them,
many, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Nor- Certainly they are grown to a consider-
way, Sweden, the Azores, Madeira, able extent. It is a common practice
India, Mauritius, Chili, Brazil, Austra- to sally forth on the last day of a
lia, New Zealand and the Cape of Good country holiday and dig up a basketful
Hope, while there are few plants of any of unfortunate ferns which are after-
description more ubiquitous than is wards stuck in on the shady side of
the common brake fern. a suburban garden, where they bear
In addition to their mournfully their hard lot very bravely ; but this
apparent use in materially contributing is not growing ferns as they should be
to the support of the country-side grown. Although there are sun-loving
" moucher," the British ferns are pos- ferns, the common belief that they are
sessedof certain other economic values, shade-loving plants is in the main a
For example, the fronds of the brake correct one. We consider the ideal
fern have so many uses that their position for a collection of the larger
harvesting is quite an industry, and ferns to be on a sloping bank, in a dell,
the fronds of the brake and male ferns which is to some extent overhung by
used to be burnt together for the sake trees. Besides providing shelter, the
THE BRITISH FERNS 147
annual fall of leaves from the trees this a more satisfactory method of
will be found of considerable benefit growing them in towns than is their
to the ferns. The most valuable of relegation to a heap of brickbats in an
the larger native ferns for garden pur- obscure corner of the back garden,
poses is the noble royal or flowering The practice, interesting at any rate
fern (Osmunda regalis) and its forms, to children, of growing ferns indoors,
These should be planted in moist, peaty very often in company with green tree
soil, preferably near to water. Under frogs, in the almost air-tight glass boxes
favourable conditions the fronds may known as Wardian cases, bids fair to
attain eight feet in height, and it is most become extinct. There was this much
interesting to watch their rapid pro- about it, that the case usually being
gress in spring. It is usually thor- crammed with ferns, the sight of it
oughly advisable to go to the trouble afforded an interesting object lesson
of specially providing suitable soil for in the struggle for existence to the
the fernery. A mixture of loam and thoughtful ; but even this merit was
peat, with a quantity of crushed stone apt to be marred by the circumstance
or brick, will be found the most gener- that the glass of the case was generally
ally suitable. Many of the smaller clouded over by condensed moisture,
ferns, notably the little spleenworts Anybody who desires to inspect a
and the small-growing aspleniums, representative collection of British ferns
appear to the best advantage when should journey to the national gardens
growing on a wall. It may not be very at Kew. Thanks to an ex-curator of
easy to establish them there, but wall the gardens having been a zealous
gardening is a most interesting form of pteridologist the collection of ferns of
the gardening art, and, once obtained, all kinds has long been a good one,
the results are remarkably gratifying, and consequent upon the bequest of
Owing, no doubt, to a great extent to an extensive private collection some
their tolerance of neglect, the hardy years ago, the collection of forms of
ferns are largely grown as pot plants the British species is an extremely
in dwelling-houses, and we account good one.
XXX
PLANT ALIENS
" The noisome weeds, which, without profit, suck
The soil's fertility from wholesome flowers."
SHAKESPEARE.
T)RECISELY what constitutes an This species is the Canadian fleabane,
alien plant is an unsettled ques- or horse-weed, which came over, so
tion. Some botanists do not consider runs the story, in the seventeenth
a plant necessarily indigenous even if century, a solitary seed having acci-
found in deposits of the Glacial Age, dentally been packed along with a
much less in those of the Palaeolithic stuffed bird. Of no great mischief,
or Neolithic period. For our present the horse-weed has nevertheless dis-
purpose, let a statute of limitations tributed itself all over the kingdom,
be passed, so that we may call a plant The hamlets near the station have
native if its pedigree can be traced suffered invasion from another Corn-
back to pre-Roman days. posite, the galinsoga, a wanderer from
Starting from London for a long Peru ; this species has within fifty years
day's ramble, we will first take a rail- contrived largely to oust from fields
way journey of about a dozen miles, and gardens the ubiquitous ground-
Our object is to scrutinize closely the sel. Without leaving the district, one
antecedents of any suspicious plants, may notice the small-flowered balsam,
not excluding too rigidly, but paying or spotted touch-me-not, a harmless
no heed to the havoc which must be little intruder, which perhaps arrived
wrought with the " London catalogue." as a stowaway with garden seeds.
Many casual plants, such as foreign tre- As we saunter along by the hedge-
foils and pepperworts, may be looked for rows of a village built on the London
on the railway banks ; obviously these Clay, we are reminded that the rugged
cannot be examined. In the station elm has been called into court. The
yard, however, there is a miniature accusers state that the common elm
forest of little feather-fruited strangers never the indictment is as sweeping
which might carelessly be passed over as it is hazardous sets its fruit, hence
as groundsels. Truly, the flower be- it is not native. Against the edible
longs to the Composite order, but the chestnut the charge is more serious,
pappi of the head are white, not yellow, though the tree seems to be as old as
141
PLANT ALIENS 149
the Roman invasion. Tall Lombardy a mere sprig, a bud, would soon estab-
poplars surrounding yonder mansion lish a colony. A scrap of floating
can produce certificates for one and a wood carried it here ; there it slid down
half centuries only ; the two planes, a drain-pipe or crept through a sluice
oriental and occidental, for ever into a canal ; yonder a ditch-cleaner,
shedding their flaky bark, are alike con- dragging his heavy boots across a field,
victed; the black mulberry, the gloomy transported a spray to new waters,
cedar, and the delicately-leaved acacia Farmers and boating men were com-
cannot stand a moment's trial. The pelled to spend thousands of pounds
last named, also called the robinia or in raking out the intruder from the
locust-tree, was imported to England clogged watercourses. Vain the hope
by William Cobbett, though known of extermination by such means ; the
here before his time. Cobbett opened only solace is that the invader may
a nursery for its propagation ; it was by chance exhaust the muddy soil
to be the tree of the future, a prophecy which lends it support, and thus vanish
sadly belied by later history. as secretly as it came.
Passing the village our way lies for The canal must presently be left
some distance alongside a canal, whose behind, that we may follow the wind-
sluggish waters are choked with a ings of a streamlet whose marshy fore-
matted growth of that troublesome lands are clothed with the bright yellow
pest, the anacharis, or American water- mimulus, known to townsfolk as the
thyme. Anacharis has limp, strag- monkey musk of the window box.
gling stems, belted, at short intervals, One could readily enumerate half a
with whorls of linear translucent leaves, score of localities where this not un-
About the year 1840, in an evil hour, welcome guest has settled, and the
some one appears to have brought list might be doubled. The mimulus
specimens of the plant to Britain, extends itself with remarkable per-
Soon a cry arose, the alien was spread- tinacity ; four roots brought by the
ing from pond to pond, from artificial writer from the margin of the Bucking-
lakelet to stream, river, and canal. Its hamshire Chess now completely border
rank abundance actually deluded one a good-sized garden. A bridge is next
authority into the belief that it was reached, crossing which, a footpath
indigenous. Apart from propagation leads through a clover field. An alien
by fruit, the plant spread vegetatively ; vetch or trefoil may be catalogued.
150 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
Part of the crop indeed consists of the corn crowfoot, whose prickly fruit
the naturalized crimson trifolium, its forms the " hedgehogs " of the school-
handsome ruddy spikes overtopping boy, the umbelliferous corn-parsley,
and almost concealing its own three- one or two species of campions and
fold leaflets, as well as the verdure of knobby knapweeds, and the charming
the other legumes. Like the terrible little pheasant's eye. Common report
substance which dyed the hands of allows England only two scarlet wild
Macbeth, these flower-heads seem to flowers, the poppy and the pimpernel,
render but this autumnal " adonis " is a third.
The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Three years ago a field below the en-
Making the green-one red. trenchments of Old Sarum was largely
Other exotics of the same order, intro- tenanted by this little pilgrim. Like
duced by human agency, and now, in their human counterparts, such fugi-
some districts, practically wildings, are tives conceal themselves where most
the pink sainfoin and the deep purple protected. Reared often in warmer
medick, or lucerne. climes, they suffer from competition
The clovers passed, the path strikes with our hardy natives. Remove the
through a field of wheat. The rapidly defence afforded by the tall corn,
yellowing grain is studded with the and the precarious roothold is of
fugacious blossoms of the scarlet poppy, naught .
This plant affords a type of denizens We next examine the refuse heap of
of the cornfield usually deemed emi- a farmyard. Among the dust, burnt
grants. They have great fondness for clay and brickbats, we may look for
cultivated crops ; cunningly, as it were, an alien lepidium known to be partial
they ripen with the corn and so get to such spots. Should there be an
sown with the corn. The poppy may admixture of manure in the heap, the
be of Roman lineage, perhaps also the thorn apple, or datura, a native of the
corn-cockle, whose large purple flowers United States, will perhaps be noted,
are flanked by five long, outstanding Its large green fruit capsules are densely
sepals. Being an annual, this beauti- clad with stout spines ; the bell-shaped
ful flower may be banished from a flower is of a pale mauve tint. Re-
field in a year, but it will reappear in puted to be poisonous, it may be spared,
remarkable profusion elsewhere. Other because it has medicinal uses ; besides,
plants which hide among the grain are it is never abundant in our country.
o
r
s
J5 2
I s
&
PLANT ALIENS 151
In France the writer has seen a whole a quaint, fleshy-looking little plant,
field given over to the mercies of this with its stalk stopped by a circular
weed. Several other casuals owe their leaf, slightly beaked, above which is
introduction, or at least preservation, the peduncle carrying minute white
to the needs of the pharmacopoeia ; flowers. A century ago the claytonia
the marsh mallow is an example, was unknown in England, now it is
Reverting for a moment to the rubbish recorded from a host of places. It
heap, we notice that these ruderal soon establishes itself, and drapes many
plants are very delicate and very a hedgebank with a glossy mantle,
exacting in their requirements. They On our ramble we shall certainly see,
constantly need a fresh habitat. Un- bordering many cottage gardens, the
less the dust mound be occasionally American snowberry and the ^ alien
turned over, or a new one started, the " tea-plant," in a semi-wild state,
ripened seeds are vanquished by the Our list includes not a moiety, yea,
rivalry of our native denizens of waste not a tithe of the alien groups, if we
places. add those herbs and vegetables which
By the garden bank is a wide carpet are deserters from the garden. As a
of the large heart-shaped leaves of the set-off, we might enumerate certain
winter heliotrope, or sweet-scented plants which the botanist affirms were
butterbur, a continental species, original y wild and free, but which have
Strangely enough, few people know now crept down for protection to the
this common plant ; if noticed at all, cultivated areas. The lily of the valley
it is passed over as coltsfoot on account and the edible strawberry may serve
of its leaves. The fact is, the fragrant as examples. Balancing gain and loss,
panicles of lilac blossoms appear in too, it is but just to remember that
mid-winter, and the careless observer we have carried our chickweed, our
misses these at the time. In situations shepherd's purse, thistle, dock and
similar to that of the butterbur one watercress to distant colonies, where,
frequently finds the lowly claytonia, in turn, they are undesirable aliens.
XXXI
ENGLISH SNAKES
" It is the bright day that brings forth the adder,
And that craves wary walking."
SHAKESPEARE.
TT has often been remarked that some forms of hunting, and this
the student of the fauna and element is perhaps at a minimum
flora of the British Isles will find some- in snake-hunting in England ; but
thing to interest him in almost every even in these isles there are places and
branch of these divisions of living snakes which, as Brutus said, crave
things, something at least representa- wary walking, though the charm of a
tive of the greater luxuriance of animal stroll through English lanes and woods
and vegetable forms to be found else- is not materially diminished thereby,
where, if not on the same grand scale A great number of the inhabitants of
of production or occurrence. The re- England have never seen a snake,
mark is a perfectly true one, and it perhaps even the majority have not,
applies to the observation and study except in a cage. And yet it is a
of snakes no less than to the thousand simple fact that there is not a single
and one other biological groups which county in England, Scotland, or Wales,
the student of wild nature loves to in which snakes do not occur, and these
contemplate. To those of us who venomous. There are counties in which
have lived in lands where species of the adder or viper, the only venomous
serpents outnumber the British list snake we have, occurs in its thousands,
by hundreds, and where the size of and yet is seen by very few persons and
these reptiles is estimated in feet rather then but rarely. Why is this ? Simply
than inches, it might appear that because where men are many there
English snakes present but tame and snakes are few ; and secondly because
uninteresting objects of study, but of all creatures few are so absolutely
such is by no means the case. The unobtrusive as are snakes of the
fascination of studying the life-his- varieties found in England. Let me
tories of animals does not depend upon mention an incident to illustrate this.
the number of individuals encoun- Some years ago I was investigating
tered, still less upon their size. True, the snakes in a certain district, and
the element of danger adds a zest to I was advised to apply to the local
152
ENGLISH SNAKES 153
clergyman for information, as he was If the reader will follow me in imagin-
a keen student of wild life. I found ation on one or two snake-hunting
in him an excellent ornithologist, but expeditions, he will perhaps gain a
on inquiring about the local reptiles better impression of the snake life of
he told me he had seen very few in our country, than by a formal descrip-
the immediate neighbourhood during tion.
the forty years he had lived there, It is the last week in April, and
and none at all just round his own already in mid-Dorset the warmth is
house. He was considerably aston- quite sufficient to have attracted the
ished when, within a few days, I caught snakes from their winter quarters,
two large adders in his own garden, from the old quarries, heaps of stone,
which was quite close to a large wood, rabbit holes, and other sheltered spots
and very interested when on uplift- in which the severe winter weather
ing a flat tombstone in his village has been passed. The animal func-
churchyard, we discovered a flourish- tions of respiration and circulation
ing colony of slow-worms or blind- have gradually regained activity as the
worms. The truth was simply that days have become warmer, until now
he had never looked for the snakes, such a temperature has been reached
and they always kept carefully out of as induces the reptile to seek the outer
his way. It is astonishing how diffi- world once more and commence a
cult it is to see an adder which is lying search for food. The further south
motionless amongst a mass of dead one goes the earlier will this season of
leaves or bracken, or a slow- worm curled renewed activity set in, and by the
up in grass. In both cases the pro- end of April in an ordinary year we
tective colouration effectually screens shall find the snakes in full enjoyment
the reptile from observation, until it of the warm sun.
moves, and in the case of the slow- Driving some miles from Sherborne,
worm one may pass within a yard of we cross the site of the once extensive
the creature and it will lie absolutely forest of Blackmore, and find ourselves
still. Frequently the first indication on a chalky soil which is frequently
of the immediate presence of an adder found to be favoured by adders, and
is the long-drawn-out hissing which making our headquarters in a hamlet
warns one to stop and look carefully nestling in a sequestered vale, we pro-
where one is about to tread. ceed to make inquiries from the local
12
154 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
field natualists and gamekeepers as to ning the adder realizes the situa-
the best places for finding and observ- tion and fixes his two fangs in the
ing snakes. There is no difficulty, rubber-covered blades of the catcher.
The keeper shows us six adders and From each fang there exudes a drop
two harmless ring snakes which had of pale yellowish-green fluid, which
been killed by the beaters in a rabbit is the secretion of the venom gland,
shoot a day or two previously. Every Several times he repeats this until
villager has a story to tell of the local satisfied that all attempts to escape
reptiles, and it is quite evident that are useless, and then our captive
they abound in this locality. settles down into a sullen vindictive
Four hours hunting next morning sulk. He is now comparatively harm-
brings its own reward. A ring snake less for a time at least, for having
is seen scuttling along the bottom of emptied the contents of the venom
the ditch by the roadside, within a gland it will take some time before a
hundred yards of the village inn. The dangerous dose is again secreted,
hedge is thick and the snake moves We carefully carry the adder securely
so rapidly that it is impossible to catch held in the instrument into the middle
it under such circumstances. Stroll- of the lane, and there set him free so
ing very quietly along the lonely lane as to watch his movements in the
we soon encounter an adder curled up open. The first thing he does on dis-
on a little grass-covered hillock. The covering that he is no longer held by
reptile is asleep, basking in the morn- the neck is to disgorge his morning
ing sun as is their custom. With meal, which in this case has evidently
great care we are able to approach consisted of two young field-mice, a
within a yard of it, to note the graceful favourite article of adder diet. He
attitude, to recognize the brilliant then glides sullenly and slowly along the
markings which characterize the young lane for a few yards ; but on observing
male adder in the shape of a dark that he is kept closely in view, he
black zigzag line alone the middle of gathers himself up into a curled heap,
the back. The soft grass enables us his head on the top of the curl, and
to pick up the reptile in our adder hisses defiance. An incautious step
catcher (an instrument something like too close shows that he will fight
a pair of tongs) actually before our when cornered, for he strikes like light-
presence is discovered. Quick as light- ning at our ankle, fortunately pro-
ENGLISH SNAKES 155
tected by thick boot and leggings, disappear. As usual, the adders are
Two tiny punctures mark the place more lethargic, and rarely move until
where he struck, the whole movement disturbed ; but they too are difficult to
being far too rapid for the eye to fol- capture uninjured in this situation,
low. Then finding that his attack Still in an hour or so we have a fair
has not disarmed us, he once more collection of both species, including
resumes the sulky sullen mood and one of the rare small red viper, a little
refuses to budge an inch, merely hiss- red and fiendishly bold imp of a ser-
ing continuously. Finally we transfer pent, not more than a foot long, who
him to a strong vasculum and resume faces us and fights for all he is worth
our walk. directly disturbed. It is marvellous
A mile or two across hilly fields, in to watch the movements of the harm-
which are numerous chalk pits over- less ring snakes in this thick cover,
grown with gorse and brambles, and we Though but a yard or so from one's
arrive at the bottom of a wooded hill- eye when started, it is next to impos-
side, in which we have been informed sible to follow them, and far more are
snakes abound. A number of wood- seen than are captured. One wonders
men are at work here, and they inform what they feed upon here in this dry
us that they have killed three or wood frogs, their favourite food, are
four per day this last week. This absent and no water is near ; probably
morning's bag is shown hanging from newts supply their needs. The adders
a bough and consists of three adders have abundance of food in the mice
ranging from eighteen to twenty-two and slow-worms, which are plentiful,
inches in length, and one harmless A few days more snake-hunting in this
ring snake, nearly three feet long, district yields a representative collec-
One part of the wood, where a lot of tion of Dorset reptiles, and fairly
trees have been felled and left to dry, establishes the claims of that county
is pointed out as especially infested as one of the richest in England for
and consequently avoided by the men. reptiles.
Thither we wend our way and in a few Two months later, at the end of
minutes disturb several ring snakes; June, we find ourselves in a lonely
but all efforts to capture them are valley in South Herefordshire, once
unavailing, owing to the amount of more looking for snakes. On our
brushwood under which they quickly right hand rises Garway Hill, bare in
156 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
places, bracken-covered in others, with measured over twenty-six inches in
a wood here and there. On the left length. Not a ring snake is seen ; there
the Graig Hill, wooded almost com- are none in the immediate district,
pletely. The river Monnow runs be- though plenty a few miles further
tween, separating Hereford from Mon- in Monmouthshire. Slow-worms, how-
mouth. A more secluded spot could ever, are seen in great numbers, and
hardly be found in civilized England, on turning over one heap of stones we
The weather is very hot, and it is the find no less than nine at the bottom,
time for the female adders to be bask- all sizes and ages, from the bright
ing in the hot afternoon sun, gaining silvery and copper young one of this
all the additional heat they can for spring to the grey old grandfather of,
the development of the young within perhaps, twenty years ago. On Gar-
them. We know adders to abound in way Hill we are shown the carcase of
this valley, but they are hard to find a young bullock which had been bitten
now, because the vegetation is well by an adder and had died therefrom,
grown. Long acquaintance with their the adder being found beside his victim,
habits, however, enables us to find Dangerous reptiles these large Monnow
some every day and to watch the same Valley adders, as we know from some
females day after day emerging from exciting previous experiences. Some of
the same patch of thick fern, gliding the spots where the females are known
very deliberately to the edge of the to be are marked for later observa-
" rides " cut for shooting purposes, tion and to save time in searching.
and finally coiling themselves up on During July and August we pursue
the top of an ant heap, there remaining the wily snake in Wiltshire and Glouces-
motionless for an hour or two at one tershire, where we find the ring snake
time, all unconscious of our patient in- much in evidence, especially in the
spection through field glasses. Hardly neighbourhood of ponds, in which they
a male adder is to be seen; they seem may be seen every morning enjoying
to mysteriously disappear soon after a cool swim. There must be thousands
the spring, the truth being that they of these snakes in these counties.
remain in the thick cover and rarely We find their bundles of eggs for they
come out into the open ground. We are oviparous deposited in manure
find the females here much larger than heaps and in odd corners given over
those seen in Dorset, several being to rubbish, often quite close to dwell-
ENGLISH SNAKES 157
ings, each cluster of eggs containing watched by the hour. They must be
from twenty to thirty eggs. Then in the bracken. We have no option
we pay a flying visit to the Norfolk but to follow, and as the growth is
Broads, and there find only adders again, four "or five feet high it is no easy task
sunning themselves on the banks or to force one's way through and at the
walls of the marshes. Not a ring snake same time see the reptiles. Moreover
to be seen here, though frogs abound ! the noise made by our movements
Such is our experience of Hickling at scares the adders. By sheer good luck,
I
least and the immediate neighbour- however, we are successful at last,
hood. A number of fine sloughs are when almost giving up all hope. A
picked up on the marshes, these being large female is observed at a most
cast at intervals of six weeks or so from interesting moment, and later on she
spring to autumn. Our collection and her whole family, consisting of
for the four months now approaches thirteen young adders, measuring from
a hundred specimens of adders, killed six to seven inches in length at birth,
and preserved to study their varying are' caught, photographed, and'carried
sizes and colour variations, and our home in triumph. One of these young-
records show some three hundred ring sters, not more than a few minutes old,
snakes measured for their sizes and struck and used his fangs with all the
released as being perfectly harmless concentrated viciousness of his race,
and useful. but his supply of venom being yet
We finish our season's snake-hunt- small no harm resulted,
ing by a return visit to Hereford in So we leave our snakes for another
early September, in the hope of encoun- winter's hibernation, well satisfied
tering some of the females previously that there is still plenty to see, study,
marked down, this time with their and observe in our English reptile
families. For days we meet with fauna, before all is known concerning
nothing but disappointment. Not one the life-history of these most interest-
is to be seen, though the old spots are ing and unduly despised creatures.
XXXII
THE KITE
"And other losses do the dames recite,
Of chick, and duck, and gosling gone astray,
All falling preys to the fell, swooping kite,
And on the story runs, morning, noon and night."
CLARE (Village Minstrel).
TT is rarely that the average, present to so much of the Principality. Here
day ornithologist can boast a then a few very few pairs of kites
real acquaintanceship with the kite, still endeavour to " live and have their
For, from being in mediaeval ages a being," but until the last two years,
bird of general occurrence in town and when proper precautions have been
country alike, he may now be safely taken to outwit the egg-robbers, they
included in the first six rarest, regular have striven with little success to per-
British breeding birds. This unhappy petuate their species,
state of affairs has been largely due Stray then to a favourite haunt of
to the craze for pheasant-worship and the kite and study this rare bird in its
to the kite's own detrimental habit of native fastness. It is late in the after-
pilfering, which to the henwife has noon of a cheerless October day. A
been a constant and terrible source leaden sky and torrents of stinging
of trial. sleet and numbing rain, emphasized
The Barcud's [pronounced Barkit], by shrieking gusts of icy-cold wind,
to give the kite one of its Welsh appel- blur the entire panorama. Only occa-
lations, last stronghold in our Islands sionally does a prognathous bluff of the
is amongst the wild hills of Wales ; in mountain peep through the enshroud-
a country which may aptly be described ing halo, as it lifts momentarily. Well
as a vast mountain wilderness relieved may such an outlook breed disquiet
from too marked a severity and same- in the breast of man and beast alike,
ness by numberless romantic " cwms " Buzzards mew disconsolately from the
and dingles many of them well- crags ; a patriarchal pair of ravens
wooded, and embracing some of the exchange greetings solemnly, and nearly
loveliest scenery that Great Britain every animate object seems depressed.
can show. Indeed it is this judicious But not so the Barcud. For him,
blending of mountains, woods and rivers storm and tempest possess no terrors,
which imparts that ravishing beauty as sweeping out from the oak wood
158
THE KITE 159
clinging to the bleak hillside, he floats elements, to snatch a hasty meal, . . *
across the " cwm " and works gallantly Barcud now drifts triumphantly across
along the mountain flank opposite, the valley back to the wood that he
It is true that he looks miserably started from, and if followed in the
bedraggled, but his spirit is unconquer- mind's eye, he may be seen to alight
able as far as the weather is concerned, on a broad, sturdy oak limb his
Yet on the beat that he now patrols favourite dining-table and after a
he will meet with scant success to- preliminary look round to settle down
day. To better his luck he must try to his hardly-earned repast. Pre-
the valley itself, and a few strokes of sently his mate for the two seldom
his scimitar wings and many a twist hunt in company looms dark and
of his cleft tail carry him to the vicinity eerie through the mist, and the two
of a little whitewashed farmstead birds, for some time before retiring to
the typical Welsh abode. Well he roost, sit motionless but alert in ad-
knows this farm ; its inmates perhaps jacent trees.
know him better, and more, they detest Turn to another picture. It is now
him. For many a downy chick and a winter's morn. A week's hard frost
fluffy gosling have found their way to has succeeded a heavy fall of snow, and
the seclusion of yonder wood grasped forage is scarce enough for many a bird
in the talons of the marauding kite. and beast. A steely-blue sky looks
For a few minutes the great bird down on the ermined crests of the
hangs steadily against the storm within silent hills, but the weather, although
easiest range of the watcher standing hard bound in the iron grip of the ice-
on the devious track beneath. Then king, is nevertheless bright and crisp ;
he curves down and settles momen- occasionally even the pale face of the
tarily on a gaunt, black, sentinel pine ; winter sun sheds a few feeble rays on
leaves it and hangs again, only to make the countryside's spotless winding-
a rapid swoop in the direction of a sheet. A small party of kites five in
tumbledown barn. A quarry has been all are wheeling slowly above the
made, that much is certain, though no outskirts of the straggling village,
chick or duckling at this season. What At one time they are mere dark lines
is it then ? A shrill squeak proclaims painted across an interminable grey
that a rat is the victim, which like background ; at another, rendered
himself has ventured out, despite the inordinately tame by the severity of
160 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
the weather, they are hovering close a fitful April sun smiles lovingly on
enough to the fortunate observer for the kite's haunt. Now that mists
him to note their streaked, reddish and tempests have vanished, let us
underparts and the scintillations of examine it more closely. From this
their wicked, yellow eyes. Their aerial grey pinnacle towering hundreds of
evolutions almost defy adequate descrip- feet above its fellows, unlimited hill
tion. One pair mounting above their scenery tawny yellow with its un-
fellows wheel and slide in a succession kempt name of cotton-grass confronts
of spirals with an enviable ease. Their the vision. On these purple-rimmed
movements appear to be wholly gov- hills heather is scarce, and where it
erned by their forked tails and they does exist, is for the most part short
glide smoothly with the minimum of and scrubby. Every little detail on
exertion. In fact it is the kite's tail the corresponding hillside adds a fresh
which renders his flight such a paragon charm to the scene ; the coppery
of perfection. Whilst the frost holds, glow of the lifeless bracken relieved by
these winged outlaws will take what intensely green patches of mossy turf ;
providence throws in their path ; they a "prill" rising from some hidden
are rendered bold beyond their wont source in the womb of the mountain,
and will pounce down fearlessly on gradually accumulating into a roaring
any scrap of offal or filth thrown, cascade, to fling itself at length into
with a delightful disregard for sanita- the swirling current in the valley ;
tion, just outside the cottages of the and the delicate tracery of the ivy-
hamlet. Now were kites always so and lichen-mantled crags, one and
harmless and such useful scavingers, all accentuate an already beauteous
all had gone well with them ; but picture. Up here in the deep gorges
unfortunately their insatiable lust for between the frowning hills the river,
poultry has often lead them into some especially when viewed from above,
ambush from which many a one was suggests a serpentine thread of silver,
never to issue alive. The pity of it It is shallow enough on the whole, but
is that they could not have confined wend your way further down-stream
their raids to the beetles, carrion, to more cultivated parts and it swells
moles, rats and rabbits which partly into a mighty salmon river. As high
comprise their varied menu. as this salmon do not venture, but
, Spring has left winter far behind, and sewin, the coveted spoil of the hill-
THE ELEPHANT HAWK NOTH.
From a photograph by
F. Martin-Duncan, F.R.P.S.
THE KITE 161
stream angler, sometimes grace its special features of interest. It once
limpid reaches, and trout there are in gave shelter to a noted Elizabethan
plenty. Down a twin valley roars outlaw ; it has harboured a Barcud's
another stream, now between alder- nest time out of mind. The outlaw
clad, fern-spangled banks the otter's is now but a name to be conjured with,
stronghold ; now between lofty preci- but a kite still sails round above it
pices of grey silurian, which in some with a pair of buzzards for com-
parts suggest man's handiwork, so pany. A crow darts out of the
cleanly cut are they. At the juncture oaks below and gives battle in mid
of the two streams a detached, coni- air ; a skirmish of winged outlaws
cally-shaped bluff, a mediator as it this, a guerilla warfare between two
were between two warring valleys, exiled clans. But the sable carrion
rears its rugged face. At its far ex- bird has matters all his own way,
tremity, where its lowest slopes lose for both kite and buzzard are
themselves in the hillocky pastures sadly devoid of courage, and the buz-
aligning the river, it is well timbered, zard's plaintive mewings mingled with
but the oaks are fewer and thinner the shriller scream of the kite and the
as the heights are reached. On its aggressively raucous voice of the crow
other side a precipitous wall of rock, weirdly break the hitherto almost
the haunt of fox and badger, dips oppressive silence. The former are the
almost sheer to the ever-bubbling first to leave ; the kite soon follows,
stream. Here the slightest sound is routed after a feeble pugilistic display,
noticeable ; the air is rarified to an and the three vanquished warriors
intensity. For example, how plainly are lost in the crest of a distant hill,
one can hear the barking of that collie, The crow, however, returns to his mate
itself a mere, ill-defined speck on the in the wood ; and surely the kite has
distant hillside ; how close the ring of family ties there as well ! At all events
an axe echoing from the wood on the the delighted watcher, if he would not
horizon. Here Nature is at her serenest chance losing the sight of a lifetime,
and best ; and here it is that the Red will do well to clamber down from
Kite still lingers. That is a glimpse his rocky perch, cross the river and
of the kite's haunt. Now about the enter the wood.
bird itself. This thinly-planted, northerly oak
That wooded bluff presents two wood has as yet hardly given so much
13
162 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
as a thought to its summery finery of and scale the tree. The nest, built
green, and the trees stand nude and in the fork of the main stem, gives
grim, a prey to the rude caress of no trouble to reach. It is a rude mass
the spring breezes. Consequently the of sticks and rubbish, lined copiously
Imlky nest of the kite if here at all but artlessly with mats of dirty wool,
should not be hard to find. The wood is many of which hang over the sides
on a steep slope, and if entered from which are little higher than the interior,
the top side, a greater portion of its in- As decoration if for such purpose it be
terior is readily overlooked. A brief there is a long piece of thin tarred
scrutiny reveals three nests, two of rope, a strip of blue-striped calico,
them larger than the third. That small a few small bones and a sheet of out-
one is unmistakably the crow's, but rageously filthy paper. This last item
what about the other two ? Kites' lies close to the eggs, and the whole
nests surely, and as if in corroboration concern a veritable dust-bin smells
of the thought, a slight movement on atrociously and is choked with vermin,
the fresher-looking of them arrests the If the ornithologist is a true bird-
gaze. By the Powers, a kite sitting lover, his eye will kindle at the sight
on her nest ! The glasses are soon of the three great whitish eggs with
on her, and the pale head, horn- their scratchy markings of reddish
coloured beak, yellow eye, bronzed- and yellowish-brown ; not with the
rufous upper plumage with lighter gloating exultancy of the sordid egg-
edging, and dusky primaries crossed collector, but with feelings akin to
over the long ruddy tail, are all noted wonder that, owing to these monsters
with loving care. Stay a moment and the universal use of firearms, any
and watch her ; then advance, and kites should survive at all.
a noiseless brownish-red shape glides The kites are still sailing above their
off the nest and out of the wood. By fastness as the naturalist steps out of
this time the truant has returned and the wood, but overjoyed though he is
the two great birds wheel and flap at the finding of so rich a prize, the
about excitedly above their violated whole a picture to be framed in red
hearth. The eggs, totally white at in mind and notebook alike, he yet
this distance, show up plainly, but feels not a little sadly : for he deems
scramble down the loose shale littering it only too probable that some rascally
the brittle carpet of dead oak leaves fellow, knowing little of and caring
THE PLEASURES OF COARSE-FISHING 163
less for the birds themselves, may pass Fortunate indeed then, if, when on
that way and despoil his friends of their his next visit six weeks hence, he still
cherished treasures. Gloomily he re- sees the Gleads far above their haunt,
fleets that should this be so, yet another climbing the air sublime ; thrice lucky,
year will pass away without adding if on ascending to the nest a second
young kites to its calendar, for well he time, he there finds the fierce-eyed,
knows that seldom will this bird lay savage-looking brood of the Red
again the same year that she is robbed. Kite.
Note. Glead is another name for the kite. J. W. B.
XXXIII
THE PLEASURES OF COARSE-FISHING
"Though the whole earth is given to the children of men none but we jolly fishers get
the plums and raisins of it by the rivers." CHARLES KINGSLEY.
'nr^HERE are salmon and trout tised coarse-fishing ; and there are
anglers who affect to scorn certain fly-fishing adepts who openly
angling for perch, carp and roach as confess that, upon occasion, they forgo
a pastime beneath the consideration the chance of trout for the certainty
of the true fisherman. And yet when of roach.
Izaak Walton spoke of fishing as " the But why should I attempt to write
contemplative man's recreation," I an apology for the bait fisherman ?
am sure that he was thinking of the He is in the truest sense an angler,
angler with the baited hook and the for his methods of angling are varied,
float, and not of the more active fly- and his prey is often more wary, coy,
fisher, who whips the runs and glides and elusive than salmon or trout.
as he moves along the river bank, or Roach, for example, in clear, shallow
wades in the stream. The distinctions waters are the shyest of fish, and
between " game " and " coarse " fish quite as difficult to stalk and lure as
are a little arbitrary, and the fly- brown trout; while the great buff-
fisherman's disdain of the "bottom" backed chub, which appear such stupid-
or " bait " angler is a kind of piscatorial looking fish when lying dead on the
snobbery. Most good fishermen from bank, are singularly alert when basking
Walton to Frank Buckland have prac- beneath the trailing boughs of the
164 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
willow or in the shadow of the alder ignobly were they set in contest with
bushes. The capacity for profiting the diffident tench or the cunning carp
by the teaching of experience is by of an old pool.
no means limited among fish to mem- As for tench, shall we ever be able
bers of the salmon family. Every to explain their long and sullen apathy
coarse-fisherman knows how educated towards every bait that is offered to
are the pike and roach of much-fished them, and the equally bewildering
rivers and ponds. avidity with which at rare hours they
If worthy Piers of Fulham revisited seize upon the worm-baited hook ?
the Thames, he would find that since And carp those bellows-shaped
he wrote upon the art of angling, in monsters of the muddy, weed-grown
1420, the fish of that goodly river pond who shall say these do not call
have advanced in wisdom concerning forth to the utmost extent the angler's
the wiles of fishers. Leonard Mascall, ingenuity of brain and deftness of
too, who wrote of " Fishing with hand ?
Hooke and Line," in 1590, would I recall how as lads we used to catch
assuredly discover that his tackle was roach and dace from the Thames
too coarse for angling in our day ; without much forethought and skill,
and fifty years ago a Dove fisherman and with the poorest of tackle. Thames-
asserted that Izaak Walton would open side fishermen assure us that there are
his eyes could he but behold the quite as many fish in the river as in
devices which are now necessary for those days of our boyhood, and I do
the capture of fish from that clear, not doubt them. Probably the fish
crystalline water wherein he used to are more abundant, for they are better
cast his baited hook. preserved to-day, and there is constant
Nowadays the fisherman who would re-stocking of the water. Yes, it is not
excel in the outwitting of carp, bream the scarcity of roach and dace that
and barbel must needs handle slender accounts for my meagre catch of half
tackle and provide dainty baits. In- a dozen fish from that well-known
deed, coarse-fishing becomes a finer swim of my youth, but the scientific
art each year ; and there are fly- dry fact that the quality of the fishes'
fishers, with delicate methods and intelligence has improved during these
plenty of experience in taking trout twenty odd years. And so it comes
and grayling, who would be baffled to pass that I must fish much finer and
THE PLEASURES OF COARSE-FISHING 165
further off than in the old days, if I He must know, too, that bread crust
wish to carry home three or four as bait is superseding the paste made
brace of decent sized roach from this from crumb, and that failing the cube
academy of fish. of bread crust, the fish must be tempted
All this access of knowledge among with paste of a red or yellow hue.
those creatures which our earlier In quick-flowing streams, where the
writers on angling named " the finny biggest roach and dace of ten breed, you
denizens of the mere " has not lessened will only scare the fish to panic if
the pleasure of fishing, but, perhaps you throw in a cork float. A tiny quill
on the contrary, heightened it by the is all that you dare to place on your
stronger element of uncertainty. For almost invisible gut, and the cleverest
that which is perfectly easy ceases to anglers will dispense altogether with
be interesting from the point of view a float. Others again will carefully
of the sportsman. Upon those infre- entice these cautious fish with a small
quent occasions when I have filled a artificial fly, floated naturally on the
creel with fish, I have experienced water.
the satiety which almost depresses. I think that perhaps the angler
The glory of success is absent when for coarse fish comes into nearer inti-
fish come recklessly to the hook and niacy with Nature than the fisher for
remain " on the feed " throughout trout. For that shy and watchful
the day. Yet against this facile dame is apt to hide her most secret
triumph one sets philosophically those charms from the fisherman who strides
long blank hours of east wind in winter, the rocks of a tumbling river, with
and dazzling days in summer, when his eyes upon the water for a " rise,"
fish are torpid with the cold, or par- and his right arm in constant motion,
boiled with the high temperature of The beasts and the birds retreat to
the water, and refuse to even nibble hiding as he scrambles, waving his
at the daintiest brandling or freshest eleven feet of greenheart in the air ;
gentle. Truly, your patient fanatic and in his heed to his footsteps and his
of the angle deserves now and again flies, he is absorbed and deeply pre-
a taste of surfeit. occupied. But bait fishing is placid.
Nowadays single hair casts and the It allows a freer use of the eyes, and
finest of gut, known as " gossamer," conduces greatly to tranquil reflection,
must be employed by the roach fisher. You can at the same time watch a
166 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
bobbing float, and note the changing swam towards me across the stream,
influence of the light upon the colour and looked with surprised gaze for
of the water, the tone of the foliage, an instant in my face. And how
the pageant of an autumn sunset. often have the herons swooped down
Coarse-fishing (save the designa- close to me, the wild ducks peeped
tion !) is a fitting amusement for the from the sedge, the coots croaked their
thoughtful, the author, the philosopher, friendliness, the voles surveyed me
and especially for the poet. There is curiously, and the blackbirds and
something healing and boon in the thrushes warbled in the nearest bush,
recreation for the man of affairs and It is a great thing, too, to know
those whose lives are spent in bustle, the secrets of a river ; to point here
Fishing of this inactive order was the in this eddy and say : " There, I
enjoyment of men so diverse in char- know, lives a very big perch that I
acter as George Borrow, Herbert Spen- have seen from time to time during
cer, Charles Bradlaugh, and Millais, these five years " ; or to have learned
ah 1 of them strenuous workers, and that on the worst of days one may
yet very boys at this pleasant play with assurance resort to yonder bend
with rod and line. for a few silvery dace. Such water-
I often have serenely sweet dreams craft, or knowledge of a river, increases
of fishing, but never nightmares of threefold the interest in a stroll on
this gentle sport. We love to recall its quiet banks. You have a lore
and think upon angling days, because that the casual person lacks ; you
these are the hours of untrammelled possess an insight which inspires pride,
living, spent in the soothing company Every season teaches you much that
of Nature's wild children, and whisper- is strange and fresh, for no two fishing
ing willows and aspens, out of the days are alike, and this sport is
reach of the human babble and roar, notable for odd adventures and curious
All things, except fish, confide in the mishaps. An observant and reflective
fisherman. I was sitting by the Nor- fisherman was old John Dennys. He
folk Bure, when a swaUow perched knew many of the esoterics, and could
upon my rod, and chirped to me. By read most of the signs of Nature.
a pool of the Dee, in Wales, the stoat This angler and poet lived before 1613,
led her family of five close to my and wrote verses upon coarse-fishing,
feet, and in a river in Spain an otter He tells us that :
THE PLEASURES OF COARSE-FISHING
167
" Carp, eel and tench do love a muddy ground : for their hobby, which is one that I
have noticed as eminent in the satis-
Eels under stones and hollow roots do lie,
The tench among thick weeds is soonest
found."
faction with life on the whole which
Every fisherman of experience will it provides. No man can be very sad,
confirm most of what Dennys states or very bad, who quietly follows
the sport sae entrancing."
It would be a grave indignity to
as the best hours of the day forfishing :
the fraternity of sea anglers if we
" From first appearing of the rising sun
Till nine o'clock, low under water best
The fish will bite ; and then from nine to noon.
From noon to four they do refrain and rest ; forgot to refer to this branch of the
From four again till Phoebus swift hath run , ,, , . ,. , ,
art of fishing. Sea angling has to-day
His daily course, and setteth in the West ;
But at the fly aloft they use to bite its thousands of enthusiasts, and year
All summer long from nine till it be night."
by year its methods are becoming
I think that the rhymer is a little " finer " and its appliances more intri-
astray in the statement that " the cate and ingenious. The hand-liner,
fly aloft " will always entice fish " all with his thick cord and big hooks,
summer long from nine till it be night," is quickly being superseded by the
for July is notoriously a poor month rodman, with his more delicate tackle,
for the fly-fisherman, whose better roach gut, and artistic ways of enticing
chance is at dusk, and best chance of suspicious grey mullet and watchful
all after dark.
whiting. This new field of sport is
To be an " all-round angler," as it a wide one. The sea is universal,
is termed, you must master many boundless and free ; no man can
arts, and possess intelligence and much warn you off its waters with threats
patience. You require keen vision, of actions at law ; and the variety
quickness of observation, skilful fingers, and quantity of the fish that swim
calmness and perseverance. And I in it are wonderful,
am sure that if you acquire these From the tarpon of Florida a fish
parts and attainments as a fisherman, for giants to capture to the dabs of
they will profit you in other pursuits Southend there is plenteous sport for
of life. The time spent in fishing is the well-to-do or the impecunious,
time well spent for many reasons of The sea fisherman, who trails his bait
health and the fostering of faculties, for mackerel far out in the glittering
In the main, anglers are good fellows, blue bay, the adventurer, who fishes
kindly, contented, and enthusiastic for bass with the fly from the reefs
168 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
at the outlet of the estuary, and the classified by the naturalist and how
lad, who dangles his paternoster from beautiful the hue and sheen of their
the jetty head, learn of the wonders scales !
of the ocean and the ways of the fish It is good, then, to be a lover of
that play therein. The sea is a huge, the angle, to pry intimately into the
restless, ever-varying companion of mysteries of the waters, to breathe
the angler, more stimulating than the the thin air of the moorlands, to
staid river or the brooding mere. It taste the intoxication of the salt sea,
inspires also a kind of fear that fasci- to watch the moods of the seasons by
nates as we gaze over the vast grey the riverside, to set one's cunning
space from an anchored skiff in a against the intelligence of fish, and to
lonely bay. How weird, too, are many know the contentment that attends
of its natives numbers of them hardly upon a simple pleasure.
XXXIV
PEARL SKIPPERS
"The fly buzz'd up in the heat."
T)UNCTUAL almost to a day I skipper in size and in one or two finer
found my lovely little pearl details. I have only seen him alive-
skippers at their prime on the hill-side so alive too ! on his native down ;
where I watched them last August, never in the cork-lined box, nor wish
Roughly, pearl skipper is large skipper, to ; and he is not very easy to get
plus a set of natty, four-sided figures, quite close to ; but, judging by what
tessellated work, that are imprinted on I have seen of him on a blossom about
the upper and under sides of his wings, a yard off, his horns are not ringed
These light-coloured marks had the with white, and he wants the faint
naming of the butterfly been mine, I flush of purple on the lower wings
should not have suggested pearls which his cousin has.
are his chief distinction, but I fancy He is a gem, though he does not
he also differs slightly from the large flash with gemmy colours ; is of the
THE WHITE ADMIRAL BUTTERrLY.
From photograph by
Reginald B, Lodge.
PEARL SKIPPERS 169
live bijoutry of nature. He flies in one skipper ; or the blue butterflies or
the fizzling heat of an out and out arguses one blue butterfly or one ar-
August day ; whips from flower to gus ; that is to say, one kind of skipper,
flower, mixing the nectar of birdsfoot argus or blue. That these forms of life
trefoil with the nectar of hawk-bit ; began separately and independently
and, after a few sips, will settle on the of each other is unthinkable,
ground or on a leaf, draw-to those No ; the pearl skipper and the large
muscular little wings, clean horns with skipper were evolved and distinguished
legs, and unroll and clean his trunk by gradual creation. But what exactly
too. gave the one his pearls and denied him
He is scrupulous in this as are most white rings on the antennae or horns ;
butterflies. Comfort, not cleanliness what gave the other his white rings
for its own virtuous sake, and not but denied him the pearls ? Here is
fastidiousness or nicety, is the secret a riddle as unguessed as that of the
of all this wiping of trunk and horns, making of Antares and Arcturus, the
and perhaps of face, too, after a course great ruby and amber stars of these
of sweetmeats. All the same, it is a August evenings. Half the secrets of
very pretty thing to see the pearl life and evolution lie in epitome in this
skipper purify himself between the dot of a butterfly. Common sense tells
feasts. Then, whisk ! he is up and us the skippers evolved through a corn-
off, chasing or chased by another pearl mon ancestor. But darkness follows
skipper at such a hot pace that the eye on this glimmer of light. Why and
cannot always follow the combatants how pearls for the pearl skipper ?
or lovers, whichever they be. Nothing in food, habit of life, or haunt
Pearl skipper and large skipper, which gives the clue. Take the pearl skipper
we might call blood relations, first to pieces, put him under the most
cousins even though, unlike first cou- powerful microscope, and I doubt
sins in human relationship, they are whether his physiology will help you
not suffered by Nature to intermarry forward in the least. Here theory
have come from some common an- comes in with the general principle by
cestor have evolved, if this term says which pearl skipper took one branch
more. I cannot understand how any road, larger skipper another, on the
one can doubt that these two skippers, map of life. But, unfortunately, it
that all the skippers, were at the start cannot offer a tittle of evidence as to
170 THE BOOK OF THE OPEX AIR
this particular case of pearls and and the purpose served by his
rings ; and it leaves one unsatisfied, travelling this path are darkly hid
The pearl skipper's path of evolution away.
XXXV
SUMMER IN A HEATH COUNTRY
"There's night and day, brother, both sweet things; sun, moon and stars, brother, all sweet
things; there's likewise a wind on the heath." GEORGE BORROW.
'""INHERE is one type of British blossom to meet the eye in this inert,
landscape which waits every slow-blooded landscape, where the dark
year until the verdure of most fields pine boughs and withered, rusty hea-
and woodlands is dimmed and staled ther-bells seem to despise the generous
by months of summer sunshine, and impulse of the season, and to clasp
then breaks forth into all the gaiety themselves still sullenly in their winter
and freshness of unexhausted spring, weeds. Three months pass, and then
In April and May, when all the copses all the glow and vigour of the spring
and green meadows are day by day and summer in one break forth among
blossoming and budding with an end- the heath and pines, with an intense
less succession of new verdure and and concentrated brilliance which is
brilliant flowers, the heath moors and all the more keenly conspicuous by
pine woods stand gloomily aloof and contrast with the now tarnished fresh-
bare. Except where the birches ness of the shorn hayfields and bronzed
shake out their sprays of delicate green, deciduous woods. Lying in the fringe
or the tardy alder unfolds its duller of the July pines, where the heather-
foliage in some marshy bottom, the tussocks stop short, like curling waves,
eye almost completely misses the fresh- on a smooth shore of dry, shining
ness and awakening of spring among needles, we see how the whole scheme
these swarthy wastes ; in the days of vegetation within our view is at the
when the green lanes and budding very zenith of its brilliancy. The
hazel woods are overflowing with sheets pines themselves, so sad in April, and
of primroses and bluebells, and all the regardless of the rising flood of spring,
colour and perfume of the advancing are now all tagged and tufted with the
year, there is often not a single spring light, fresh green of their summer
SUMMER IX A HEATH COUNTRY 171
growth. The bushes of broom and the clearing is filled with the strong
gorse beneath them are in like manner purple stain of the common heather,
gay and lustrous with the long shoots fringed by the scantier growth and
which they have put forth since the pinker bells of the cross-leaved heath,
fading, a few weeks ago, of their yellow and the duller stars of the ling, now
blossom, which brought the first hint tardily kindling into bloom. A few
of brightness into the withered moors, feet lower the heather breaks away
Everywhere is strong, new verdure, into wet, green, mossy ground, laced
belying the age and lethargy of waning and belted with tussocks of pale grasses,
summer, and against the background and tagged with the cotton-grass's
of brilliant green the purple of the heads of white. The grey-green bog-
riotous heather glows forth with a myrtle half fills these lower lands with
double brilliancy and power. a growth like a dwarf sallow ; the heat-
Heather country is found from end dance flurries above it under the July
to end of our islands, and no one who sun, and when the wind passes this
has been bred to the wide and open way, its aromatic fragrance, like laven-
moors can ever change his loyalty, der mixed with thyme, flows over us
even if he would, for the chopped sky- in a warm noonday tide,
lines and broken screens of woodlands Through the clean heather-tussocks
in most of the heath-tracts of the south, go flapping the big, handsome grayling
Yet it is in the alternations of the butterflies ; grasshoppers chirp and
stately evergreen pine woods with occa- leap upon our outstretched arm, tiny
sional sunny spaces where the heather azure dragon-flies vibrate like long-
lies in lakes of purple, as well as with winged gems against the purple heather
the barer sweeps of moor and bog, and green firs. There is a burnished
that the strange intensity of this July brilliance about all the colours of this
and August spring-time of the landscape summer heath-landscape, and a half-
reveals itself with the greatest variety tropical sense of confident response
and fire. From the spot where we to the sun, which produce a widely
have been lying, in the shade of the different impression from the tender,
higher pines on their shore-like knoll, delaying spring-time that brightens
the land slopes down into a little clear- the rest of the English country in its
ing between the bright-tagged, half- earlier day. And yet it is full of a
grown saplings. The upper part of first exhilaration and freshness now
172 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
in July, which has wholly vanished, seas ; and when we see it thus expend-
except at dawn, from the heat-stained ing its " labour for that which satisfieth
fields and woods of more pastoral not " over an endless field of the
regions. moor, the deep, underlying sense of the
Nowhere has age-old Nature been utter indifference of wild Nature to
less disturbed than among all linger- human needs seems expressed in its
ing tracts of marsh and fen ; and even highest power. Another characteristic
in the smallest patches of wet ground plant of the undrained patches in the
that stud the heaths there is a fugitive heath is the bog asphodel, with its grace-
northern flora which has long been ful six-inch spire of golden stars ; and
banished from subdued and cultivated in the same wet places cluster the
lands. Though some of the most char- strange and cruel little sun-dews, with
acteristic flowers of the wet northern their small, flat leaves bristling with
moors, such as the dew-spangled but- red, glutinous hairs which entangle
terworts, and the single, white, veined and seize the small gauzy flies which
blossom of the grass of parnassus, are alight on their watchful trap. Both
lacking to the heaths of Hampshire sun-dews and asphodel come into bloom
or Surrey, their absence is not enough during the great July outburst of
to diminish the true impression of colour and life in the heath-country,
remote and ancient wildness in these and both are typical plants of desolate
moorland scenes, where the long wind moorland bogs and marshy mountain-
comes sighing in the sun over rolling sides. The flower of the sun-dews of
heather, and flutters a thousand pen- which there are two common species,
nons of the cotton-grass on the tus- one with thong-shaped leaves, and the
socked mires. There is no other plant other with round is a small spray of
that seems so full of the lonely freedom dull white blossoms on a hair-like stem
of the wastes as this white-tufted a few inches high. Though not a very
sedge, that gleams and flutters so conspicuous or beautiful blossom, it is
keenly both in the sunshine and in the graceful in form, and well proportioned
obscurity of the moonless nights. Its to the small cluster of prostrate leaves ;
lavish and prodigal harvest, the crown while the whole carnivorous little
of the whole year's suns and rain, is plant, as it lurks on the wet peat
as void and sterile for man as the white among the grass and heather, is one
wave-tops that fleck the unharvestable of the most interesting species in a
SUMMER IN A HEATH COUNTRY 173
most distinct and interesting group delicately unveiled ; and it is the
of neighbours. general lack of all such gentler shades
The heather ceases in these wet, which enhances the graceful delicacy
open flats of the bog-myrtle, the cotton- of the scarcest and most isolated of the
grass, and the dull green clumps of the heaths. But its delicate pink is wholly
deer-grass ; only on some of the larger submerged and lost in the general
emerging tussocks there cling a few view of these great sweeps of purple,
pink-belled sprays of the delicate cross- that the strong green of the firs, and
leaved heath, which is a greater lover here and there the violent ochre of a
of moisture than either the purple scarped sandpit or winding roadway,
heather or the ling, and often fringes combine to intensify with the strongest
the border of the bog, beneath the edge possible contrast. In certain of the
of the broad purple stain, with a broken southern pine-woods a sheet of purple
border of its purer and tenderer dye. no less brilliant and unbroken, but
It is never found in such wide, unbroken clearer and more roseate in tone, is
sweeps of colour as are often formed drawn across the sunny clearings in
by the two commoner species, the so- July by the flowering of the tall rose-
called " fine-leaved heath " and the bay willow-herb. This is as high and
ling ; but where it grows in single stately a flower as the heathers and
clumps, with its delicate, wax-like other blossoms of the open moor are
bells and sparer whorls of greyish and close and clinging ; and from the
downy leaves, it has a refinement and greater scarceness of its prodigal dis-
delicacy of beauty beside which the play, its massed, level thicket strikes
two other species seem coarse and in- upon the eye with an even greater
sistent in growth. It is this note of sense of amazement, as the flood of
insistency, indeed, which is the very brightness breaks slowly, like the dawn
life of the strong purple heather spread upon the sea, through the darkness of
in its sheets of Tyrian bloom ; under the columned wood,
the faint blue of the sky and the gold Within the pine woods of this region
of the July sun its full blaze strikes there is an absence of the usual English
upon the senses like the clash of martial wealth of small-bird life which adds
music. The fierce July spring-tide of a double solemnity of silence to the
the heath-country knows but little of universal songlessness of those July
half-tones of colour, or gradations and August days when the heath-
174 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
country finds its spring. Occasionally mer day, that the least sounds nearer
a jay will screech through the upper at hand stand out against it with
"boughs, or a green woodpecker escape intense precision and clearness ; the
with dropping flight from bole to bole ; beetle can be heard scraping in the
and sometimes, in the tufted, cloud-like loam on his subterranean way for long
canopy, the ear and eye become dis- minutes before the needle-carpet parts
tantly aware of a tribe of titmice above him, and he comes forth from
twitching and chirping in subdued the grey sand to the light. Sometimes
animation upon their way. But the a sharper rustling is heard by the
lack of all undergrowth denser and attentive ear to disengage itself from
more lasting than the stately, waist- the undercurrent of the murmuring
high bracken makes most birds un- boughs ; and this is found to be the
friendly to these woods, at the same city-noise of one of the great hills of
time that it makes a hollow and solemn the large black ants, which stand, piled
whispering-gallery of the great ranged of fir-needles, among the bracken on
aisles between the red shafts under the floor of the wood, built often round
their roof. In these halls of a thousand the core of an ancient honeycombed
columns the voice rings strangely even stump, and sometimes as big as a small
at noon ; yet, deep and constant as is haycock. At first, when we begin to
the silence, there is rarely or never watch the surface of this great erection
that utter privation of sound which of such tiny workers, all boiling and
aches at times in a great wood of simmering with life, it seems a chaos
beeches or a thicket of hollow yews, of activities entirely devoid of sound,
Almost continually, on these expanses a stir as inaudible and interwoven as
of wide, open heath-land, there is a the heat-dance that flurries over the
draught of summer air, passing to spend sand outside the wood. Then, out of
its murmurs on the lofty shore of the the silence that falls as our foot ceases
pine-tops under the sun ; and far be- to disturb the pine-carpet, we hear
low, on the dry, grey carpet among the tumult of the black ants' city rise
the furrowed boles, the wood is full, plainly upon the ear, not in a single
like a shell, of a song that underlies the note of sound, but with an infinite and
stillness, and makes it a restful calm. microscopic complexity that is the
Yet so low and even is this whisper- total sum and burden of a myriad
ing of the upper pine boughs on a sum- individual lives. At such times, within
<n
u
E H
8
fc.
AUGUST IN A BREYDON PUNT 175
the silence of the summer pines, the sunlight of the outer world falls level
scale of our human perceptions seems upon the tree-trunks from the western
changed, and the range of our senses edge, we pass out into the evening
illumined ; and when, at the end of a glow on the heather with the strange-
long afternoon in the wood, the red ness of a return from fairyland.
XXXVI
AUGUST IN A BREYDON PUNT
" Birds Birds ! ye are beautiful things,
With your earth-treading feet and your cloud-cleaving wings;
Where shall man wander, and where shall he dwell.
Beautiful birds, that ye come not as well,?"
WILLIAM H. THOMPSON.
TN two hours' time it will be high- sions find the old estuary teeming
water. An August sun is within with wild birds, and noisy with their
an hour of its setting, and a kindly " clattick." It is he who goes often,
south-easterly breeze promises to hold and at all hours, who naturally falls
up long enough to fill our little tanned in with the greatest number and variety
sail, and land us easily at the small of species : a haphazard trip may be
staithe that forefronts the rond on exceedingly disappointing. And the
which the house-boat Moorhen rests. " glory " of Breydon has, in a great
In the hotter months we can often degree, departed. The drainage of
run up Breydon on a favourable wind vast tracts of marshlands, the grow-
blowing coolly from the sea, and as ing up of the mud-flats, and other
often depend on a steady return in the necessary and unavoidable circum-
morning, with a bowling breeze from stances, must be blamed for this to a
the nor'-west behind us. Why tiringly very large extent,
row when the winds favour you ? But we are seldom wholly disap-
There are few days and nights on pointed in the month of August, the
Breydon that do not present some last month of Watcher Jary's rule ;
signs of bird-life ; now and again one when young birds are on the move,
may sail from end to end of this great and immunity from molestation is
saltwater lagoon without seeing more assured. Let me give you one or two
than a few commonplace gulls and typical August entries from "my note-
piping dunlins ; and on other occa- book.
176 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
" August 15, 1898. Observed a flat, two gunners, four double-barrelled guns,
which the rising tide was gradually a rifle, and a dog!
diminishing in area, covered with a What a clamour the black-headed
crowd of birds. Peering at them from gulls are making on the flats as we pass
the ' wall ' through my binoculars, I them a confused, chattering squeal-
enumerated 24 herons, 200 curlews, ing chorus joyously forced from a
2,000 gulls (nearly all asleep), 8 common thousand throats. Ridibundus gab-
sandpipers, I green sandpiper, and I bles for the very fun of it, and Lams
greenshank." marinus, the greater black-backed gull,
* * * joins in with a scolding kind of croak
" August 29, 1906. Breydon fuller at intervals, wondering, no doubt,
of birds this evening than ever I saw what they find to so gossip over,
it before : they were spread right Turn your glasses on those dunlins at
away from Stone Corner, west of my the margin of the flat. You will
house-boat, to the ' Lumps ' near the notice them busily " pricking " about
north-west drain. They mustered with their inch of bill into every tiny
thousands ! including knots, godwits, worm-hole, and with each capture
curlew-sandpipers, dunlins, little stints, tripping nimbly down to the shallows
herons, curlews, ringed plovers, red- to wash it. I used to marvel how all
shanks, greenshanks, common sand- the birds got a living here : I do not
pipers, little terns, and gulls. Of now, for the fecundity of the red
gulls there were at least 3,000 " mud- worms " must be great. See,
common, black-headed, and black- I can turn out half a dozen in a single
backs." handful of the ooze. The wonder now
* * * to me is why the dunlins and the
I went early on the morning of ringed plovers need to work so many
September i, and saw, I verily believe, long hours at snapping up worm, and
more guns than living birds ! A few Corophium, shore-hopper, and little
knots, ringed plovers, turnstones, little shrimp. And they appear to be at
stints, etc., had been slain, and the sur- it night and day ; and only seem to
vivors had taken the hint and gone, enjoy an interval of respite when at
Most of those shot were immature their ablutions. While we are debating
birds : and in one small punt, besides this question a little flock, evidently
two or three small birds, I observed just in from a long journey down the
AUGUST IN A BREYDON PUNT 177
coast, answering the piping call of topmost edges ; and which in a few
their relatives who are hunting, sweep minutes will deepen into furnace-red,
round in lessening circles, drop upon as the sun slips slowly below the pur-
the higher part of the flat, tuck their pling horizon. Give me a Breydon
bills into their wing-coverts, and forth- sunset before all others !
with fall into a sound slumber. There Two well-known Breydoners Fred
is no preparatory dozing : they drop Clarke, the punt gunner, and Jary, the
into sleep at once ; and the loud clap- Breydon Society's bird watcher are
ping of our hands merely causes them making a haul with their smelt-net
to wonderingly raise their heads, and hard by the latter's house-boat. The
change a leg ; and then they settle bight of the net is just being drawn in
once again to sleep. They have not as we lower the sail and run the punt's
yet learnt to " 'ware gunner." nose on the mud-flat beside it. What
There pass us two or three eel- a kicking and confloption of fins and
fishers, who are going Waveney- wards, tails ! what gasping and contortioning
to " bab ' ' the long night through, patient of suffocating fishes ! Here and there
as the herons that will bear them com- a smelt squirms feebly in the meshes,
pany. The piping notes of the com- and savage shore-crabs tear and strug-
mon sandpiper, weak but shrill, are gle in vain endeavour to free them-
constantly heard as this wall-loving selves ; shrimps (Crangon vulgaris},
species flits from one spot to another, ditch prawns (Palcemon varians) and
disturbed by a pedestrian, or impelled little gobies tumble back out of the
by its restless nature. It is greatly net into the water again ; and scores
nocturnal in its habits, and pipes when of juvenile herrings push through again
most of the waders have ceased to call, and escape. Catches vary greatly.
A heron passing overhead shrieks a This haul accounts for thirty smelts, a
note of recognition to his fellows, and few atherines, a vagrant grey mullet, a
directly lowers himself into the fiery score small flounders, a few viviparous
ripple painted in glowing red by the blennies, an eel of some size, and a
setting sun. A small parcel of lap- couple of lesser weevers. Cautiously
wings winnow their way across the Jary tips out the weevers on to the
western sky, looking black against the flat and grinds them in with his heavy
wave-like fringes of yellowish clouds, heel. He will tell you they " sting,"
now so fantastically gilded on their and that their venom does not lessen
14
178 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
until the tide has finished ebbing. Whilst I am lighting the fire and
And certainly the spiteful looking little getting the kettle on the way, sit you
fish does grievously hurt with the ugly in the stern-sheets, and listen to the
spines of his first dorsal fin ; and, various bird-cries that make musical
moreover, is exceedingly adroit in the eventide. The young crescent
stabbing with them, as I have on moon, strengthening as the gloaming
more than one occasion determined deepens, touches the rippling tide and
by experiments. In a box in the boat the moist flats with silver, and a star
we observe several score smelts care- or two look at themselves as in an
fully " laid forth," so that neither fin abyss, reflected miles below us ! Throw
nor scale shall be broken or disarranged, this blanket round your shoulders,
Clarke will hurry these away in boxes for the air is moistening, and the cattle
by the mail train, and they will grace on the marsh behind us are lost sight
the tables of the London parvenu to- of in the quick-rising steam-like
morrow. We settle for a chat on marsh mists. Didn't you note just
birds that Jary has lately seen, and now the quack of passing fowl ? I
booked ; and pick out a big white heard the " whiz-whiz " of their wings
prawn (Palcemon squilla), a pretty distinctly : and now ! hearken to the
little squid (Sepolia rondeletti\ and bleat of that snipe. A lot of red-
some isopod crustaceans which we find shanks are piping on the flat there ;
among a lot of shrimps, trawled up you can see them like black dots in
in the afternoon, lying in a " ped " the silver streak of the moonlight on
in the stern-sheets of the house-boat, the opalescent mud. " Pleu ! pleu!
What a dreary time six months' vigil pleu ! " That's the shrill call of a
on this great lagoon would be without greenshank feeding in the " low " at
an occasional spell of recreation in the other end of the rond. He is
the midst of it. always prating, no matter how em-
The tide has reached its highest ployed ; and he varies his clanguor
level, and twilight will soon be on us : scarcely half a note. Not so those
we out with our quant and push up curlews feeding somewhere to the
the winding drain that ends its sinuous southward : you may pretty clearly
way a short boat's length from the guess their doings by the variety of
house-boat Moorhen. their notes. The curlew will scream a
* * * high-pitched note when you suddenly
AUGUST IN A
surprise him ; he will ripple his pipe
when comparing notes with his fel-
lows ; ring out a sharp clear call when
he tells them he knows of a better feed-
ing ground, and run through quite an
octave in as many moods and as many
humours. It is difficult for me to
attempt to give the inflection of his
notes by a process of spelling, for no
two persons would give them the self-
same renderings. Spend your days
and nights with him, and you will learn
his language. There are other sounds
to be heard at intervals : the noctule
bat is still hunting above head, occa-
sionally expressing his delight to his
fellows at catching such a jolly great
beetle ! A whimbrel and a heron now
and again cry out impatiently, and
a gull, disturbed by some sharp biting
parasite, or by an unexpected and
accidental push from a wakening fel-
low, shrieks out, as some people do in
their slumbers. We notice, too, the
" suck " of the eel, the splash of a floun-
der in the drain as he dashes into the
shallow after a parcel of shrimps ; and
small crackling noises emanate from a
hundred clams as they squirt in sink-
ing themselves in their burrows in the
mud-flat.
Let us now discuss our supper : then
we'll lower the lamp, roll up in our
blankets, and turn in for the night.
BREYDON PUNT 179
We take a last look round ere we close
the doors ; the thousand lights of a
still busy town twinkle in the distance,
and are reflected again in the nearer
waters ; the wind has died away
altogether, and but for an occasional
bird-cry, and the low of a bullock,
silence profound reigns all around us.
* * *
Last night we slept soundly. Our
horsehair cushions were a bit hard,
and the novelty kept you awake
awhile ; and, perhaps, my continual
commenting for a time interested you.
But to my last remark or two you
were oblivious : you had " gone "
and it remained for me to follow
your lead. Those who have " done "
Broadland know that sleep needs little
seeking. Two hours after sunrise we
hear the pattering of tiny feet on the
cabin roof : the " cheep, cheep it " of
a young pied wagtail informs us
who our early visitor is. A small
insect or two had no doubt come to
grief in the night in the moisture
settled on the white top : and these
had attracted the passing bird. The
meadow pipit sometimes visits us too.
A kingfisher announces his presence
on a stump hard by; he is on the
alert for a goby; or a stickleback,
which is quite as happy in the salts
as it is in the fresher ditches. But
180
THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
for the kingfisher's shrill alarm-note, ing mechanically at a great speed :
always loudest when seeking safety in this is done to disturb the worms and
flight from real or fancied harm, he other small invertebrates that are in
would far oftener escape, and remain hiding : let them but make a dash to
longer a delightful ornament to our escape, and the gull " pins " them
watersides. in a moment. A foot long whiting
The tides on an easterly wind are or an unfortunate smelt, left behind
usually low. A nor'-wester sees a by the falling tide, is a welcome addi-
greater bulk of water sent into the tion to the sea-bird's larder. The
German ocean, and Breydon gets a queer antics, the harmless squabbles,
foot or two more of it. Southerly the sips and dips in the shallows, make
winds make poor tides too. Some- up a great deal of the joyous birds'
times the highest flats are two feet life : the little fellow " Yahs ! " for
under ; at others half of them remain very exuberance of spirits. It is a
uncovered. Five decades ago the flats pity that every costumier who makes
were bare less than the third of a tide : up " murderous millinery " cannot
they have " silted up " wofully since watch for at least once in their lives a
then. We will not discuss the causes, happy scene like this,
but will rest content to see the most There ! your footfall has disturbed
of things as they are to-day. 1 them all ; and away they wing them-
Now then, open the boat doors selves to a safer location. Those great
gently. Have your glasses handy. " grey " gulls yonder, and their elder
By the gabble we can hear we must brethren the adult " saddlebacks," are
have a goodly menagerie of birds patrolling the stranded Zoster a and the
around us on the yet uncovered flat, tangled "raw" weed (Chatomorpha
Black-headed gulls in some numbers linum), at intervals digging into it, and
are scattered all around, most of them flinging it aside in big-tufted bundles,
paddling about in the inch or two deep searching for Carcinus mcenas (the shore
puddles here and there dotting the crab) hiding beneath in fancied security,
flat : very few stranded shrimps and The upturned crab may protest as
little fishes will escape their keen eyes, he likes, but to no purpose, the strong
Several are doing something very like mandibles close at once upon him, and
a step dance, their flat red feet patter- now a crushed, lifeless, limp crustacean,
1 The author has fully discussed this problem in Nature in Eastern Norfolk.
AUGUST IN A BREYDON PUNT 181
he is the next moment swallowed. A But we must prepare for breakfast,
score or so of these hungry gulls will You feel like having a dip ? I cannot
make off with a peck of these abundant recommend one, for the mud is soft
creatures in a couple of hours' hunting, and the water is hardly so pure as you
The tide is perceptibly rising on find it in the sea. Get out on the
the flats. Turn your eye to the south- rond and I will dash a bucket or two
east, and you will observe the water of it over you : and then while you
spreading, finger-like, over the mud, are lighting the fire for the coffee and
lifting the grasses as it expands ; now bacon I'll trot round the marshes
one finger joins another, and drain and hunt up, if possible, a few mush-
overflows to drain. In a couple of rooms ; and bring some eggs from
hours' time there will be sufficient Banham's farm. Banham and his men
covering everywhere to float off all are already busy turning over the
wading birds shorter legged than the swathes of marsh hay hard by the
redshanks. They will probe and potter railway yonder.
about until belly-deep, and will then Breakfast over, we take a stroll
hie away to the Bure-side, until the along the walls, and drop in upon Fred
ebb has sufficiently fallen to bare Clarke, the gunner, at the far end of the
again the area immediately in front " big " rond, for a yarn on birds and
of us. Yonder fly three young mallard Breydon. Fred spends most of his
of the year ; hard behind them follows time on Breydon, and seldom goes
a sheld-duck. Considering that sheld- home but to dispose of his eels or
ducks breed in the northern part of wild-fowl, and to replenish his stock
the county, and that they love the of water, bread, and powder. A man
univalves the Hydrobia ulva, and one of his kidney is worth gossiping with,
or two allied forms that swarm the for there are stored away in his mind
semi-marine vegetation it is strange much Nature-lore, and many interesting
we do not see this species more fre- reminiscences of sport and adventure,
quently. Seventeen is the greatest We put to flight a number of linnets
number I have seen at one time here, that are feeding among the luxuriant
but small parties occasionally drop Chenopodium album that always flour-
in ; and young shovellers now and ishes on a newly-topped " wall," and
then visit us in early autumn. here assumes a trailing habit. And
the sudden flight from a grassy tuft
182 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
of a meadow pipit arouses our hunting brilliant sides to the sun in lightning
instincts, and with very little trouble capers. Dip ! dip ! dip ! the terns are
we discover a late brood of stumpy- busily flinging themselves upon them,
winged progeny. sometimes missing, at other times
By the time we have returned to seizing the surface-swimming fry. It
the Moorhen the tide is ebbing. We is pretty to see the old birds wheeling
lock up, and tumble into the punt, round to the flat whereon their shrill-
with just sufficient depth of water to squealing little ones flutter in eager
float us out of our amateur-cut drain anticipation. Each bird seems quite
into the " George's deck," a naturally to know its own progeny, for you will
formed drain that a half-mile further notice half a dozen youngsters are
on empties itself into the larger " Ship passed ere the object of its solicitude
drain," which joins the main channel, is reached ; or it may be only two, or
A stranger had not better try to navi- eight may beg in vain. They must
gate Breydon alone ! An old stager trust to their own careful parents,
feels his way about at night with his Sometimes the little herring is dropped
oars ! We are in no great hurry ; and on the mud, and the youngster has
will drift leisurely downstream. The to pick it up, at others it is dropped
gulls yonder, at the flat margin, glisten with marked adroitness into the gaping
white in the sun like a row of newly- mouth as the mother bird dashes by.
dug flints : how oddly tall they appear I cannot distinguish either a feather or
by reflection in the stream : a novice a semi-tone of difference in them, but
might easily mistake them for spoon- parental instincts can. There are a
bills or storks : I have occasionally few common terns, and maybe a couple
been deceived myself until my glasses of the Arctic species flying around,
have dispelled the illusion. They are Our suspicions are correct, for we
resting after a hard-earnt breakfast. note the longer forked tail of the latter
What a number of little terns there species. Far more matter of fact,
are about. Last year we saw few, not nearly so dainty, and far less
for " herring-syle " was scarce ; the attractive, several rooks are teaching
present season finds the waters teem- their young, reared in an adjacent
ing with myriads of the so-called rookery, to prog for themselves. Oc-
" whitebait " ; they flash like strips of casionally a youngster still caws and
burnished silver as they turn their flutters its wings in solicitation of a
AUGUST IN A BREYDON PUNT 183
titbit. It is a queer animal dietary are days of sea-fog and mist, when the
the rook indulges in on the mud- sky is grey, or piled up with a canopy
flats ! of laden clouds, and the rain beats
We drift past a scattered flock of pitilessly down. In winter there are
juvenile dunlins without the black days of chilling storms, and ice in
breast-patch that their elders still sharp winters drifts downstream in
retain ; and a few wary ringed plovers packs, bending and tearing out the
flit to a safer location rather than trust huges stakes that mark the water-
us as their unsophisticated friends, the way. But under all its conditions and
dunlins, did. A bunch of knots dash aspects there is always something
by, and now a trio of grey plovers, weird, or charming, or fascinating to
uttering their melancholy notes, hurry attract the lover of Nature ; and it
on to join them. is just possible that when you are least
Half an hour after finds us at the expecting them you may see still rarer
boat shed turning the winch that species than we have seen to-day a
hauls the punt into its haven. We black-tailed godwit, a Caspian tern, a
have thoroughly enjoyed our trip into phalarope or a goosander. Very early
mud-land. in September, 1906, a gunner fell in
* * * with four glossy ibises, just beyond
Breydon is not always so pleasant gunshot. He vowed to return on the
as we found it to-day, and yesterday, following day and get one, but he was
Even in August a gale sometimes breaks disappointed again. However, thir-
on us, when the hitherto calm channel teen ducks dropped in and afforded
surges like the sea, and the sea-birds him an easy shot with his punt gun.
beat up to wind'ard as in wintry days, He secured nine, which turned out to
screaming their annoyance ; then there be the rare red-crested pochards.
XXXVII
VARYING FECUNDITY IN BIRDS
Why some eggs are all red, as the Kestrils ; some only red at one end,[as those of Kites and
Buzzards ? why some eggs are not Oval but Round, as those of fishes ? etc., are problems, whose
decisions would too much enlarge this discourse. SIR THOMAS BROWNE.
I record and if possible explain variant
'T^HE ordinary bird's-nester , whether clutches .
scientific or merely predatory, There are a few general principles
plunges greedy fingers into abnormal it is well to keep in mind in pursuing
clutches of eggs, large or small, this branch of bird-study. Such is
regarding only their suitability for his the rule that birds do not merely breed
incomplete collection. He robs a so many times in the year to satisfy
nightingale of six eggs, a partridge of a periodical sexual desire, nor even
fifteen, without desiring or attempting to tickle parental instincts. Their
to explain why the offspring of the nature would appear to be unsatisfied
one is numerically so superior. Some with any partial fulfilment of the
years ago, reviewing my season's propagating and rearing functions. It
" take " of eggs, I felt myself some- is young, not eggs, that they require
what of a monster when I imagined in the first place ; and in the second,
the table on which my cases lay, as they must bring a certain number of
peopled with the developed embryos nestlings to maturity, if the fates and
each shell had once contained six the season allow. Compare them with
nightingales, a dozen bullfinches, and a domestic cat. The female may be
so on ; although I had never in my perpetually running with a male. She
life taken more than one egg from the accepts the consequent kittens in either
same nest. Consequently in aban- a philosophic or maternal attitude,
doning egg-collection, I sought for a according to her temperament; but
new interest in eggs to take its place, whatever her temperament, if the
Without an interest in eggs as distinct kittens are relentlessly drowned in
from birds woodcraft must depre- their infancy, she will not kitten again
ciate, since the finding of the actual for six months or so. The nightingale
nest would cease to be necessary, takes parentage far more seriously.
And the necessary interest gradually Harry a nightingale's nest when the
developed in the form of a desire to fledglings are almost ready to fly. The
VARYING FECUNDITY IN BIRDS 185
bird does not sit down and ejaculate about them and strong on the wing ;
" Kismet," feebly awaiting the period and to fulfil this desire they succeeded
of migration. She feels desolate with- in resisting for a time their extraor-
out her young around her ; either she dinarily powerful instinct to migrate,
has a superhuman sense of race duty. There are a few further rules which
or else she desires the company of her are useful, and these may be stated
offspring in the sunnier climes to which more briefly.
she will soon be hurrying. At any (i) The effect of the breeding season
rate she immediately begins bustling is to maintain the numbers of each
about, and in a week she will have species at an equable level. Neither
another nest in an apparently safer increase or decrease are met with,
spot, even if the duties run her peril- unless there is a notable change of
ously near the date when her migra- conditions.
tory instincts annually become clamor- (2) By August the numbers of each
ous. In a dell near Bristol one year species are at least treble what they
I made the acquaintance of two separ- were in April.
ate pairs of nightingales nesting close (3) These numbers are subsequently
together. A bird-stuffer from the reduced to the normal, as follows :
neighbouring city had more than the (a) In the case of migratory species,
usual cunning of his kind, if not more curtailment is effected by the hard-
than usual greed, and he found and ships and dangers of the two journeys,
emptied both nests when the eggs (ft) In the case of resident species,
were nearing the hatch. Both birds many succumb to extreme cold and
built second nests, and laid new exposure and starvation during the
clutches, and again he utterly despoiled winter months.
them ; but the third time they were (c) All bird flesh is heir to certain
too cunning for him, and safely reared ills, accident, the preying of the car-
the last nests. The young birds nivora, winged or footed, and at the
were so late in taking wing that all the hands of the gamekeeper, collector,
nightingales I knew of in the surround- and small boy bully. These losses,
ing country-side had apparently gone, however, probably do not compare
Clearly whatever the principle at the with (a) and (&).
bottom of it the birds were unsatis- The various species may now be con-
fied till they had young ones flying sidered in more particular detail.
186 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
i. FINCHES, PIPITS, BUNTINGS, and caterpillar, and the ova of these insects.
LARGER WARBLERS (such as the night- This diet denotes search and pursuit
ingale and blackcap warbler). Through- on the part of its caterers, and in view
out the counties of England five is of the quantity required, two parent
the usual average number of eggs for birds would certainly be quite unequal
all of these birds to lay in a clutch, to the task of catering for a larger
The migratory species certainly con- brood than five ; nor could a hen of
fine themselves to a single brood, pro- this size well produce more than five
vided they are not interfered with ; but eggs : if she did, she would take so
if they lose the first clutch, they quite long to do it, that the nestlings would
as regularly proceed with a second and show a large range of growth, and by
even a third, till they have added dissensions in the nest, those latest
their quota of recruits to their species, hatched would never survive. Four
Nearly all the finches annually rear a is the usual clutch in districts where
second clutch, even if the first has insect food is not abundant, and six
been brought to maturity, and should is exceptionally rare even where food
either first or second clutch be taken, is most abundant, simply because the
they will go on to a third. This birds could not collect more of it. On
is rather difficult to verify, but very the other hand, five is the minimum
careful observations quite justify number a blackcap must produce if
confident statement about it. Thus her species is to be maintained ; her
it would appear the migratory species breeding season is curtailed by migra-
of this arbitrarily designated class tion at both ends. She arrives ex-
start the breeding season with the hausted by the arduous journey, and
fixed intention of rearing five nestlings, often finds herself too soon for the
and the resident species are equally English spring, and has to face the
ardent in pursuing a family of ten. expiring frosts of winter with a frame
Nor is it difficult to understand the that has not been hardened by pre-
laws at the back of these varying vious exposure ; then when June is
desires, at least in a rough outline, over, her young must be well-grown
These small birds, migratory and resi- and hardened to face their first ocean
dent alike, feed their young chiefly passage. Thus a smaller clutch would
on various forms of insect life flies, not suffice the needs of the case, and
grubs, aphides, the smaller sorts of a larger one is impossible. On the
VARYING FECUNDITY IN BIRDS 187
other hand, the resident small birds and rarely undertaken except when
finches, buntings, and so forth are in the first was despoiled. Still, taking
the best of health and spirits at the into consideration the number of finches'
earliest limits of the. breeding season, nests that fall victims to the bird-
Winter has passed and hardened them, nester, it is probable the tits rear more
food is becoming abundant, the sun- young in each summer than the finches
shine is lengthening, and they are full do. The tits are never the prey of
of health and spirits. Neither at the the bird-catcher who annually robs
further end of the season are they our woods and hedgerows of hundreds
hampered by the needs or anticipa- of thousands of finches (of which 75
ting of migration, and so a second per cent, die miserably in the first
brood is for them the simplest of month of their captivity). Why then
possibilities. More than this, there should the tits be so prolific ? Their
seems to be need of a great number of dangerous hour comes later than it
them to serve as autumn scavengers, does to the finches, but is more severe,
and to kill off the vast swarms of insects The tit feeds mainly on insect food
on the cultivated lands after the nest- all the year round, and in the winter
ing time is ended, and with which insect food is extremely scarce and
the catering of encumbered parent difficult to obtain. I have occasionally
birds is powerless to cope. Although watched the tits in my garden through
the finches thus annually produce four a whole winter's day, and with the
or five times their own number, yet strongest glasses have failed to satisfy
by the next spring each family of myself that they found a single morsel
finches will usually have dwindled of food other than what I artificially
down again to a pair : for what the provided, although I postponed my
bird-catcher has spared the winter meal to them on those days to see how
takes. they progressed without it. More than
2. THE TITS AND THE WREN. this, since I gave special care to the
These birds during the nesting season feeding of the tits in the winter, the
feed on a diet very similar to that pre- tits are certainly becoming far more
ferred by the finches and warbler common in the grounds, and we have
tribe, and they lay from six to twelve eight or nine nests where we used only
eggs in a clutch ; I am convinced a to have one or two. In a winter walk
second brood is abnormal with them, my terrier has found as many as a
188 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
score of dead tits, all terribly emaciated, because of its penchant for ants. An
and in some of the corpses the breast- ant-hill once found, its catering is
bone seemed almost to have penetrated relieved both of search and pursuit,
its scanty covering of skin. Again, the two tiresome factors in the nursery
eight young tits would require no demands of birds. I find that if an
more nutriment than five greedy young ant-hill is cut open for a pair of wry-
robins, and a tit can catch as many necks, they cease to search the tree-
insects as a robin. trunks, for which their structure is
3. SMALLER WARBLERS (chiff-chaffs, adapted, and are quite eager to take
willow wrens, etc.). Here again it is all their supplies from the ground.
no more difficult to feed eight small This is a case in which a bird evidently
warblers than five large ones, the reproduces itself as much as possible,
appetites being less and the caterer as the wryneck will lay two or three
equally agile. A wood-wren usually times in a season if encouraged by
lays six or seven eggs ; she can rear robbery. I can conceive of no special
her family as easily as a redstart can dangers attending it, but in spite of
rear five ; and these tiny, delicate its enormous reproduction, it becomes
species succumb in far greater num- no commoner, so the dangers clearly
bers during migration than their more exist there is no over production
stalwart relatives. among them. Some future savant
4. THE NIGHTJAR. An unvarying may inform me that an ant diet in-
clutch of two eggs is a challenge to any duces cancer.
theorist ; they are not always cock and 6. DOVES AND PIGEONS. From ob-
hen, as the dove tribe are supposed to servations with both tamed and wild
be in a natural condition ; they are breeds I am convinced that the old
very voracious, and a larger number idea contains more than sentiment,
would be easily seen on the bare ground. The young of a dove are almost invari-
But neither of these explanations is ably male and female, are both reared,
conclusive against an occasional sing- and when reared, company together
let or three, which are so far unre- afterwards and mate the next season,
corded. The use of pigeon rings on nestlings in
5. THE WRYNECK. The clutch of a wild state confirms this theory,
these birds is nine. It has a huge ad- 7. PLOVERS AND MOST OTHER
vantage over other insectivorous birds WADERS. A peculiarly interesting
VARYING FECUNDITY IN BIRDS 189
species. Building in so dangerous a 9. GAME BIRDS. These species [jn
position as the open ground, they face England exist under very artificial con-
three difficulties, unless they are to ditions, fecundity being encouraged,
become extinct : and succeeded by slaughter. Several in-
The number of young must be large, teresting points of knowledge stand out.
The young must be able to run when Where a game bird is allowed to
hatched. revert to natural conditions of less
The egg must therefore be a very danger, it promptly becomes less fecund
large one. in the course of a few generations.
All these difficulties are so sur- Before artificial fecundity was encour-
mounted that the plover is not becom- aged, the average clutch of " game "
ing extinct. To ask why it builds in species was not nearly so numerous
such a silly place would be going back as it is now. The least persecuted
to first principles. member of the species the ptarmigan
8. CRAKES AND RAILS. The nest of still has a small clutch,
the crake is peculiarly difficult to find. 10. NATATORES. The ordinary rules
If a farmer's objection can be openly as applied above hold good with the
or surreptitiously surmounted, every birds of this section in general detail,
inch of the hay or cornfield has to be while one or two classes present curious
searched, for the bird's secret passage confirmations. The egg of the razor-bill
through the stems affords no clue, and guillemot is always solitary, and
They are tolerably safe from biped or so shaped that any motion imparted
quadruped. Why, then, should the to it merely causes it to revolve with
clutch be so large seven to nine ? its taper end as a centre, so that no
Owing to the excellent cover of the gust or blow can sweep it off the narrow
crops, the young need not be large ledge of rock where it is incubated,
enough to really fend for themselves If there were more than one egg in a
at birth, as must a nestling plover ; clutch, these gyrations would result
consequently the eggs are small, and in disaster, and a guillemot's breeding-
the hen can incubate a greater number, place in a high wind would be a curious
A large number are essential because spectacle. Again, the largest clutches
the mowing destroys all late nests and in this order of birds are those pro-
many young birds, and there are the duced by the teal and wild duck,
usual dangers of migration to be faced, whose nests are peculiarly accessible
190 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
to many enemies, and who are speci- even a small one. Accidents of local-
ally liable to human molestations. ity appear to react on avine fecundity
One great principle stands out clearly with extreme rapidity, as might be
from these inquiries that birds in- expected when generations are counted
variably reproduce their kind by an by years. Where a locality changes
instinct of reproduction, and not as a its character from rural to suburban
mere necessary appendage to sexual or urban in a few years, for instance,
intercourse. Any minor principles are we do not find the birds that formerly
more or less latent, and would repay laid large clutches in it continuing to
deeper inquiry. lay large clutches ; but on the con-
trary we find them within three years
accommodating the number of their eggs
IF it is established that all birds have to the food supply. This accommo-
a strong parental instinct, as distin- dation cannot of course be deliberate
guished from the purely sexual attrac- in the parents, but must be due to
tion, and that this parental instinct impoverished physical condition. They
is so strong that neither eggs nor a are less well nourished as a district
callow youngster or so can satisfy it, once adapted to their habits and
but every pair labours on determinedly needs ceases to be so adapted ; and a
to raise the maximum number of greater expenditure of labour becomes
matured youngsters, it remains to necessary to procure what food is
ascertain how and why the members obtainable ; and so they have a smaller
of a single species differ in the extent store of physical strength, and much
of their fecundity. Not only do we find of it is exhausted in the work that
different normal clutches as between comes before nesting,
species and species, but we find vary- The possibility, and later the cer-
ing clutches between different members tainty, of these differences, and their
of the same species, and that often in origin, was early brought under my
close neighbourhood. The accidents notice, seeing that for several years
and conditions of locality would appear I resided for alternate periods in the
to be the determining factor, some bleak and smoky outskirts of a north-
districts being suited to the successful ern manufacturing town, and on
rearing of a large brood, and others ad- the edge of some of the richest land
verse to a particular species maturing in the fertile western counties. Orni-
VARYING FECUNDITY IN BIRDS 191
thological authorities informed me, for them to nest, they disappear else-
for instance, that a hedge - sparrow where. Some agency in the bird world
laid from four to six eggs in a clutch, brings them news of lovely nesting
Yet near my northern home I never weather in Cheshire and Derbyshire,
found a larger clutch than two ; and or else they migrate in sheer despair,
so scant was the insect life of the At any rate March's promise of an
neighbourhood that a year would occa- increased avi-fauna too often brings
sionally pass without my discovering but regrets in May. And even when a
a single nest of the species. My note- few insectivorous birds had the hardi-
books record many clutches of two hood to remain, their clutches were
eggs, and a friend's voluminous diary invariably very small, clearly evidenc-
can only furnish three nests in excess ing the poor condition of the parents
of that number during a continuous and the sparseness of the food supply,
residence of twelve years in the same Contrast the Bristol district, for in-
district. In Gloucestershire, on the stance, in which I have often found
contrary, I have no recorded clutch of six hedge-sparrows' nests each contain-
less than five, and six was so common ing five or more eggs, within the con-
that it excited no wonder. In Lanca- fines of a single meadow, the hedges
shire the lingering winter of a northern of which also sheltered robins and
latitude, combined with a foul and chiff-chaffs and whitethroats, all cater-
smoke-polluted atmosphere and the ing for hungry families on very similar
absence of plant-life, rendered insects lines, and each with a full complement,
nowhere abundant. In most English Again, the standard authorities assert
localities, if a pair of resident birds are that a sand-martin is accustomed to
seen frequenting the hedgerows late lay from four to six eggs in its solitary
in March, they will stay to breed, but clutch year by year. In the south and
often in Lancashire a pair of birds west this rule seems justified, five being
that have wandered thither in the the commonest number, and four being
winter grow weary of awaiting a tardy distinctly exceptional. I found a colony
spring, and realize that the supply of of martins in Lancashire. It was a
food on which they have contrived to miniature amphitheatre of oozing clay,
support themselves will be quite inade- its lofty sides dotted by Irishmen
quate for the demands of the nesting wielding spades and daily encroaching
season ; and so just when you look further on the plateau of meadow-land
192 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
above ; at the bottom a loathsome of seven eggs and no handsomer
clay-pool, slimy-brown and forbidding, spectacle than a large clutch of well-
destitute of reed or flag. One side marked sparrow-hawk's eggs can ever
of the clay bank ended abruptly in a greet the eyes of a naturalist. The
sand wall, and here the martins found keeper was the sort of man to be
a home. The birds flitted over the trusted with the news of such a dis-
clay-pool, actually struggling together covery, but he evinced no surprise,
for each rising fly, and at sunset they The landowner desired to protect his
renewed their competition on the coverts, but at the same time he de-
meadow above. The land was too poor lighted now and then to see a stately
to breed flies, and furnished only the bird in mid-air. Consequently the
tiny moths which slept by day among keeper's orders were to shoot all the
the blades and grass roots. There kestrels ; never to shoot a sparrow-
were seventeen martins' nests in the hawk, but to destroy all the hawks'
sand wall, and not one of them con- nests and to lime the old birds at all
tained more than three eggs or the nests except those in two outly-
young, several of them only holding ing woods, where a few pairs were to
two. Contrasting with this haunt, be suffered to nest in peace. These
below any shelving sand bank on a orders had now been in force for some
southern stream the martins may be ten years, and the kestrel had ceased
seen to flit careless of each other's prey, to nest on the estate, though now and
The warmer temperature and the plen- then one fell to the gun ; there were
teous vegetation in the stream bed three or four pairs of sparrow-hawks
render insect food abundant, so that nesting on the edge of the coverts, and
every tunnel in the wall's face will the clutches had noticeably increased
give five or six young martins to the ever since this policy had been fol-
light before September comes round. lowed. The keepers often found
It is a long step from the sand-mar- clutches of six, and several of seven
tin to the sparrow-hawk, but the same eggs had recently been recorded. This
thing holds true. One summer two certainly points to the conclusion that
hawks' nests were visited, the only increased scope for foraging has an
known ones in a well-wooded region, immediate and marked effect on fe-
and situated about three miles apart, cundity.
Each contained the magnificent clutch The yellowhammer is another excel-
IMG WORT.
From a photograph by
Keighley.
VARYING FECUNDITY IN BIRDS 193
lent example. Some years ago a few will provide examples of the biggest
well-known naturalists, whose experi- clutches ever recorded in the case of
ence was largely confined to single dis- every species of which a clutch is en-
tricts fell foul of each other in the col- countered. Some parts of Somerset-
umns of a natural history journal. One shire thoroughly illustrate this asser-
who lived in Ayrshire asserted that the tion. An afternoon on a large plain
yellowhammer never laid more than in that county, moist, loamy, dark-
three eggs in a nest, and that all the soiled earth, intersected by numer-
books were in error in crediting it with ous rhines and luxuriant hedgerows,
five or more. His country consisted yielded a nest of nearly every species
chiefly of sheep-farming land, alter- indigenous to the county, and all were
nating between rather thin, close- cram-full of eggs. Nearly every nest
cropped grazing ground and furze- we examined contained the maximum
clad moors, foliage and herbage being clutch which the authorities allow to
nowhere abundant. In the West of each bird, and in one or two cases the
England statistics showed that a clutch legitimate number was exceeded, as
of five was normal, while in the Mid- by a whinchat, which I found incuba-
lands again four was far commoner ting no less than seven eggs. Indeed
than either five or three. It is thus a friend remarked that all the birds
evident that the " three to six " of had passed their prescribed maximum,
the natural histories does not record with the solitary exception of a miser-
a varying energy or power of produc- able cushie, who had been content to
tion in each individual pair, so much deposit her regulation couple,
as the influence local conditions exer- All these tendencies are seen strongly
cise on the range of natural powers. marked when domestication gives any
On broader lines, the larger clutches species the certainty of ample nourish-
with which each species is generally ment for as many young as it cares to
credited by naturalists may be expected rear. The fecundity of pheasants and
in southern counties, and the smaller partridges and turkeys in semi-cap-
number is normal in the bleaker north, tivity is many times in excess of their
I know of no bird common in both capabilities in a state of nature, and
north and south which is more pro- is gradually being accompanied by a
ductive in the north. Occasionally a growing reluctance to incubate. The
day spent in abnormally rich country little finch now known as the domestic
15
194 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
canary is an excellent instance, as she ably powerful reproductive instinct,
will lay fifty eggs in a season if encour- which is separate from the sexual
aged, and as often as not refuse to sit intercourse, and appears most clearly
on one of them. And finally a number so in the case of the barndoor fowl,
of poultry fanciers are labouring to which calmly continues to lay barren
produce a domestic hen which shall eggs when she has not interviewed
lay an egg every morning. Thus it a male of her species for many
is clear that birds have an immeasur- weeks.
XXXVIII
SPORT, AND WILD LIFE
" I have determined to keep my hands free from extermination." JOHN COLQUHOUN.
forefathers were hunters, round by laws "Thou shalts, and thou
They hunted for food, for safety, shalt nots." And, by sentiments,
for the love of adventure. They went these unwritten laws, which are ever
out to kill, or to be killed ; when the more binding. Laws are for the
the one was almost as likely as the common man : sentiments are at the
other. They staked a life against a making of a gentleman. The sports-
life, which seems to be the only valid man raised the wild creature nearer
reason why life should be taken. Half to his own level, gave it certain almost
the zest of pursuit is in the stake. The human rights ; and made a compact,
strain is in their descendants. We are to hunt together on, as nearly as pos-
of hunting ancestry. The habit has sible, equal terms. So was formed a
become an instinct : slumbering only manner of round table, and those
for lack of opportunity. In part, who sat thereat were under certain
covered under other pursuits : or in knightly vows.
disguise. Trade is a form of hunting, Laws were to be simply interpreted,
honourably, or dishonourably pursued and strictly observed. Nor were any
as the case may be, with some of the of the safeguards to be tampered with,
excitement of the chase. Such was the There was to be no disturbance of the
phase of barbarism. balance ; no despoiling of the land.
In an era of chivalry, sport was Nothing was to be done to make the
born out of hunting. Lest it might approach more easy, the quarry less
seem to be butchery, it was guarded suspicious. That were an evasion, the
SPORT, AND WILD LIFE 195
meanest form of law breaking. Men treatment of wild animals seems to
were to go forth into the natural have been an offshoot of chivalry,
lists, against opponents, with all their They at least have suffered by the
wits sharpened by the need of daily change. The death of sentiment has
watchfulness against natural enemies, shaded their lot. The unwritten laws
The truly wild animal was at once are no longer in force. Since woman
the charm and the boast of ancient broke with the traditions, and went
sport. forth with man into the field, all this
In the age neither of barbarism nor has come about. The coincidence is
chivalry does woman seem to have singular.
shared in the pursuit of wild creatures. Sport is healthful ; nor will any-
Even the ancient hunter had a rude thing said against it alter this. It
sense of fitness. However roughly, freshened and rippled the stagnant
on occasion, he may have treated his surface of country life. It led to the
mate, he kept her on such gentler side covert and the moor, steps which would
of things as was then possible. The have found less breezy and pleasant
birth of chivalry was the conception ways. All the love of outdoor life
of woman as something apart, whose is the gift of sport. The flavours were
virtues had nothing akin with the rude wild. The spread table was instinct
shock of tournament, or of the chase, with charm and gaiety, suggestion
This may account for the absence of and incident, tale and drama. The
true sporting instincts, now that woman spirit has on the whole been benefi-
has taken to the field. Whether she cent. But for sport the life of the wilds
has benefited by the change is not yet would have passed unnoted : its
very clear. What is clear, is that she claims unacknowledged. Nor would
has put an end to the beneficent era the comradeship with man, so good
she inaugurated. Chivalry has passed, for both, have been in existence. Of
Its spirit is dead. We may laugh, but all critics, I have least patience with
possibly we shall lose. Once, man could those who have no natural care for
do no mean thing because woman was the creatures they throw their clumsy
by. Now he may not feel the restraint, aegis over. Save at the dinner table,
The spell is broken, by which the where they consume them with great
rudest ongoings " were touched, were gusto,
turned to finest air." The knightlier The ethics of the field leavened the
196 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
relations of landlord and tenant. A brief for either. Both were guests
sporting instinct was brought into on his property; and he, their host,
play. Better is this, than a hard-and- exercised an olden hospitality. If a
fast understanding, set down in legal thinker, he saw an advantage to the
phrase, and meant to be observed to partridge as well as to the fox. In
the letter, and the day. Inasmuch, any case, he found the interest to
as a contempt for meanness is better overpay the possible loss,
than much precept. Space and law This out-of-door life, the familiarity
were not denied. A little more than with wild creatures, these daily inci-
was in the bond : a share of the game dents gave much to tell over an even-
at a big shooting : a little off the ing's pipe ; for those who cared to use
rent in a bad season. Hard dealing, the pen much to write. From this
taking advantage, turning adrift, source, in Scotland at least, the natur-
worrying without giving a chance, alist appeared. Sometimes in the
were not common. Instead of which figure following the dogs up the hill-
were a certain kindly understanding, side ; sometimes in the angler stooping,
and neighbourly deeds : doing as one and dreaming over the current. Often,
would be done by. Not because of any in one who was a haunter alike of
maukish sentiment, but from kindly stream and moor. Therefore the
fellowship. I should be sorry indeed robuster naturalism of the north,
to think that sport was dying : it is brought into being, and freshened into
in the interests of all to see that it vigour during days spent out with the
does not die. We might spare a few rod and the gun.
codes and be all the freer and little There is a spawn of egg and skin
the worse j but a ready and breezy collectors, who have appropriated the
field morality we cannot well spare, name of naturalist. In the interest of
The olden sportsman was much some private hoard, or public museum,
abroad, saw the wild creatures in all men go about doing all the mischief
the phases of their lives, surprised they can, and bribing gamekeepers
them in many moods, met them at to help them. Such naturalism is not
tangled corners. At one time or robust. In it is no chivalry, no fair
other, he was present at the dramas play, no understanding with the wild
of the wilds. The fox prowled around creatures. Only a certain sneaking
the jugging partridges. He held no around, only a getting over the walls,
SPORT, AND WILD LIFE 197
only a watching from some dark place, broken in the spirit. The space and
and robbing when no one is looking, law which were agreed upon, as though
To such we owe the uncertain tenure the animals had sat in council, were
of the osprey on our lakes, the thinning cancelled by the marksmanship of
out of the kingfishers on our streams, the pigeon trap, with guns of greater
and the tenuity of other forms. It precision and rapidity of action. A
were well that the possession of rare eggs state of things, which could only be
should be more strictly accounted for ; fair if it were balanced by some further
and museums should no longer be the privilege or concessions. How far
chartered receivers of stolen goods, that is from being the case, we shall
By his acts, one great sportsman-natur- see by-and-by. No longer was the
alist gave countenance to this brood, pursuit a thing apart. It touched not
whom, at the same time, he despised, its devotees to higher issues. It pro-
It was as the naturalist and not as fessed no chivalry as it reckoned
the sportsman that he offended " Pec- up the day's kill. It is not too much
cavi," he confessed. to say that it ceased to be sport and
Virile, chivalrous, and charming became shooting. The puff of smoke
was the sport of seventy years ago : on the hillside lost its glamour, and
its sanctions, the unwritten laws so thinly veiled but for a moment an un-
binding on a gentleman. Each sports- hallowed deed. It demoralized even
man was jealous of its honour and the quarry : for there is such a thing,
privileges ; impatient of its degradation. The pact while it lasted gave a morale
He loved the birds, alive or dead : and to game : partly reflected it may be,
thought one who did not, a butcher or appealing to the imagination : but
a gunner : he did not see the differ- no less a feature in the situation,
ence : neither do I. He looked askance Instead of the breezy and chivalrous
at the parvenu without traditions or traditions of the field being carried
natural affections. Sport, he sought into the relations of common life,
for its own sake, and was satisfied with the moods and calculations of the
its returns in spiritual currency. city were practised in the field. To
Greed, boastfulness, and all un- get as large a bag as possible, however
knightly things crept in. Traditions filled, was the new commercial ideal,
passed. The forms remained indeed ; " Give the beggars a chance of course,
but, what was kept in the letter was but hang it all, we must have numbers."
198 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
How far the death of the sporting appeal to the undetached and inartistic
element has altered the relations of eye. It was an interesting object les-
landlord and tenant, of master and son in the ways of nature ; but the olden
workman, were hard to say. But a man naturalist was gone, who suspended
who lays the fences between sport and his step between rise and fall, amid
slaughter deserves only such tenants bracken and undergrowth. It was
and servants as are well able to look so much pure sport, no longer under-
after themselves : and this is what stood in an unsporting age. No use
he is getting. A society based on the pointing out the short-sightedness of
morals of sport as at present under- the policy : telling that it was blunder-
stood, would be hastening to dissolu- ing, and that such a blunder was worse
tion. than a crime. The new gunner is no
Nor, was it enough to have power philosopher : has no patience with
of destruction never dreamt of when refinements. The order went forth
the first rules were framed. All rivals to clear the land of vermin, and the
must be killed out. Once was little land was cleared,
talk of rivals. Nor was the word Form after form vanished. " Am I
vermin applied to charming creatures, to harbour the destroyer of my pro-
The balance was, as yet, practically perty." This was no longer the olden
undisturbed. The wilds were alive host, who did the honours for all his
and interesting in varied forms of life, guests alike. The names tell the story
The animals lived -together in concord, of the ignorant slaughter : the utter
or preyed on one another, seeing they want of taste or conscience, or sense
were not made alike. They had to of responsibility. The wild cat went,
live somehow : therein lay much of In its trail followed the polecat, and
the interest, and all of the drama, the marten. If others were only
And no harm was done, but only depleted, it was from no want of dili-
good. gence on the part of the hirelings.
The eating of a game bird disturbed The falcons, down to the tiny merlin,
the commercial calculations. It meant were on the Index purgatorus. Slay
one less for the bag, and must in no them.
wise be permitted. To such vile Such is the modern inquisition
issue had the pursuit come. It was a whose torture chamber is the trap,
stirring episode, but that made no whose ready argument is the game-
SPORT, AND WILD LIFE 199
keeper's gun. Such are the mole-eyed sheer necessity that even a child might
priests in the service of Moloch, who have foreseen it. The baleful influ-
prevail, because they are stronger, and ence is even more apparent in the forms
deserve like measure if they were which are spared. Possibly, this is not
weaker. Men who deny freedom, and a surprise to those who brought it
take life ; and who would clear field and about ; but they are alone in their
woodland, and breezy hill slopes of all satisfaction. Sport found its quarry
save themselves and their prey. Why wild and wary, alert and hard to
should beauty pass because men are approach. In this shyness and aloof-
blinded by self-interest ; or lights be ness is the charm of wild life. At any
put out by lovers of darkness ; and moment a shadow with a hooked bill
the heritage of all be bought up by might fall from overhead ; or the rustle
a few full purses. We are a long- of an approaching enemy might sound
suffering and, to tell the whole truth, on the dry heather or in the under -
a somewhat stupid people, who need growth. The fear passes with the
a rough shaking up. cause of it. In the absence of enemies,
And this is sport. This destruction watchfulness is remitted. In ceasing
of kindly relations, this breaking of to be wary, the creature ceases to be
early contracts, which ought to be wild.
revised, this gloating over advantages. Protection is only another name
To stalk into the wild garden of the for taming. It is on the way to domes-
land, where charming forms, from all tication. And the pursuit approaches
time, have been free to live and follow a raid on the farmyard. On both
their instincts, and turn it into a sides, is our wild life being blotted
shambles, that shooting may be easier out : the butchery of the greater
and results more certain. And they mammals and birds of prey, and the
are sportsmen who forget so much, and taming of the rest. A spirited bird
do such things. Who make sport would rather be killed, with all its
naturally so bright and charming wild instincts at play. I have no
hateful. quarrel with grouse, poor things :
Nor does the evil stop with the it is not their fault. Only they are
killing out of creatures of prey, so much of little further account to any ; ex-
more interesting than their human cept the traders who go out on the
rivals. Something follows ; of such twelfth of August. Those who care
200 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
for wild creatures find a greater if arity, which would give away the show,
sadder interest in the remnants of In my hearing, the other day, a
vanishing species, or even the memory sportsman was telling how very much
of those which have gone, than simpler woodcock shooting had become
stocked moors. since the olden days, when it was a
Alexander is said to have sighed for matter of groping, and chance, and
another world to conquer. So it is with possible empty bags. He might have
many who are not Alexanders. For a been talking of one of those modern
while sport confined itself to certain advances by which the forces of nature
orthodox forms. Since the matter are brought under the control of man.
had gone too far for remedy, and there It was the first time it had struck me
was no help for it, we were almost to regard the wild instincts in that
content to hand these over, and score light : or to class those persons who
them out from our list of wild life, are making the experiments in the noble
Of late there has been a fresh out- army to whom we owe so large a debt,
break, an extension of the blighted Even if it were a desirable thing to
domain. To a certain type of mind, say to the bird come, and it cometh,
of which the sportsman seems to have I should still feel that quite another
the monopoly, domestication has quite order of persons should take to wood-
a fascination. Every art is being cock taming.
used to tame those creatures, which The wild duck, whose flight we
by reason of their nomadic habits, and associate with the thickening of the
greater range of freedom of movement, twilight, the salt spray along the
are classed as "Wild fowl." The sea-coast, the gleam of the estuary,
many wonderful things these hitherto is among the examples of modern
irresponsible creatures may be taught conquest. " It is ridiculously easy,
to do ; the docility with which they sir. You can make them do practi-
will answer a call, and come to the cally what you like." If you try to
gun might make the canary trainer at convict of ingenuity misapplied ;
the country fair quite jealous. The if you hint that these are among
difficulty may soon be to get them to the creatures whose main interest is
behave with any reasonable amount of in that they are wild, and therefore
wildness. should be let alone ; the answer is
There is a possible excess of famili- conveyed in a stolid stare.
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EXMOOR
201
Where the matter will end is rather make-believe, unless outsiders recog-
difficult to say. Fifty years will nize a certain interest in what is going
probably see the last of all that on and make some protest. Only
deserves the name of wild life. Further they will have to be very quick now,
taming will do away with the need otherwise they may as well sleep on.
of any distinction between barnyard From what is said of the modern
and the surrounding country. Half interest in nature, one would assume
the time may be trusted to make an some signs of awakening. It may be
end of what remains of sport. Even all talk, all superficial reading, out
the new sportsman may tire of his of which nothing will come.
XXXIX
EXMOOR
" Bees that soar for bloom
High as the highest peak of Furness Fells,
Will murmur by the hour in foxglove bells.'
npHERE are mixed in the West
* Country certain qualities of
scenery not often found united. Ex-
moor and Dartmoor with their great
barren and exposed uplands, and the
rugged Cornish coastline, projected far
out into the Atlantic and lashed by
enormous breakers, are features of
sternness and grandeur. They dom-
inate the country. You are never far
from cliff or moor and the feeling of
wildness that clings to them. But,
on the other hand, you are never far
either from associations of an exactly
different kind. The valleys and
WORDSWORTH.
combes that wind down from the moors,
and lead the streams collected among
their misty plateaux into the low
country, are full of a rich vegetation
which never all through the summer
loses its emerald green, while the milk
and cream in the farm dairies are a
proof to all visitors of its quality.
The farms themselves, with their strag-
gling outbuildings, are half drowned
in a foam of apple blossom, and
almost every cottage is covered and
half obliterated by a load of honey-
suckle and roses.
And it is the same along the coast.
16
202 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
The fishing villages that listen all day bordered with tufts of branching fern, or
to the Atlantic swell are steeped in a gush in foaming cascades between rocks
tangle of blossom and verdure. The fleeced with damp moss. Through
fuchsias climb to the roofs and myrtles these secret ravines, full of the stir of
luxuriate in the moist west wind, summer foliage and the inarticulate
You open up, if you are coasting, murmur of water, you slowly ascend,
these little Edens tucked into cracks while the wildness of the scenery
and crevices of gaunt cliffs that have increases and more closely envelops
sent many a stout ship to the bottom, you and the orchards and strips of
The difference between them and their pasture bordering the river, where you
surroundings seems the difference be- walked knee-deep in grass, diminish
tween southern warmth and northern and at last cease, and clumps of furze
bleakness, and the fishermen who get and bracken and heath overspread
their living out of this stormy sea put the hill-sides, and the covert grows
in at night to homes and havens that shaggier and the way rougher, until at
remind one of olive-shaded Sorrento last you emerge on to the great bare
or the vine-trellised slopes of Amain, sweeps of heather and the stream at
This combination of a framework your feet becomes a moorland burn,
and setting of great strength and and the way you have come by stretches
ruggedness, filled in with detail of a behind you, a narrowing and winding
warm and rich fertility, constitutes estuary of green woodland pushed
what one may call the note, I think, far in among the dark curves of the
of West Country scenery, and I dare- moor.
say has not been without its effect Thus to climb up from valley to
on West Country character. moor is to change a scenery, a
It is the consciousness of this mingling climate, and a whole environment of
of influences that lends such a charm to influence and suggestion for its
a ramble up one of the slowly ascend- exact opposite. In a half-hour you
ing valleys which penetrate Exmoor have passed from a nature all soft-
from the south. I know no walks in ness and gentleness to a nature all
England more lovely than those which toughness and sternness. There is
unravel the windings of the Exe or about these bold slopes of heather,
Barle, where they shine in clear pools, where the plough has never been and
shaded by gnarled oak branches and man has made no mark, a sense of
EXMOOR
203
primitive, savage vigour which the Devonshire dialect. But people find
fat fields down yonder are strangers to. out more slowly the toughness and
Instead of the plump song-birds of the tenacity that underlie these softer
valley, with manners tamed and notes qualities. Yet they, too, are there,
sweetened by garden currant bushes You must stand on a height where a
and strawberry beds, the curlew, wan- far-stretching view of its blue ridges
dering through space, utters the melan- can be obtained to gain an idea of the
choly cry which seems the very voice size and character of Exmoor. Properly
of this wild landscape, or the blackcock speaking it is not so much a moor as a
darts off on its bullet-like flight which collection of many moors ; or rather
no gale can turn or distance tire, it possesses one large central tract, and
The lurching, easy gallop of the red- all round from this lesser spurs and
deer bears in its very motion the sug- ridges protrude, sometimes altogether
gestion of these large expanses; the cut off by cultivated land and fertile
hardihood of the half-wild ponies valleys and rising like blue islands
testifies to the grit and stubborn- out of the varied landscape, sometimes
ness necessary to preserve life under joined still to the main area by a lofty
the conditions here present ; the few ridge though almost surrounded by
stunted thorns and beeches, growing fields and hedgerows. It is these
lopsidedly, their branches strung out outlying spurs and annexes of the
to leeward, as locks of weed are strung moor that carry its influence far.
out in a current of water, record, like Living in the low country itself, amid
so many steady weathercocks, the force the fertile and rich foregrounds, you
of old gales. scarcely realize the presence of the
I do not know why man should be few purple, lonely summits. But when
less susceptible than bird and beast you climb to a top a change comes over
and tree to these influences, and I the scenery and these summits possess
have often thought that the moor has the landscape. The cultivated hollows
gradually impressed itself until it and intermediate valleys then sink out
counts for something in the native of sight. Ridge calls to ridge. Their
character. You easily note the geni- great backs, like the backs of whales,
ality, the hospitable ways, the innate repose curve beyond curve, carrying
kindliness, which finds voice in the the eye on into the blue and misty
soft and rounded, quaintly Venetian, distance ; and in a new way, perhaps,
204 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
you realize the magnitude and domin- smooth lines of the moor into the
ating influence of this great natural uttermost distance. There is no other
feature. line like it in Nature. Clear, firm and
So, for the first time as it happened, sweeping, like the line of a great
I looked out over the moor only a few draughtsman, it declares itself even
days ago from the top of Dunkery in the dim distance amid the corn-
Beacon. Although familiar with it as posite, petty forms of Nature's usual
one who lives in the neighbourhood I features. I looked at the blue ridges
had never, that I remember, climbed with a sense of their magnitude, of
this, its loftiest eminence, before. Its their compass and far-reaching influ-
rise, save indeed from the northern ence, which, though I had lived in
side, is slow and gradual, slanting in their presence, I never remember to
long and easy ascent to the little dot have felt before. I saw, and was
of a cairn at the top. Though on a surprised to see, how completely the
comparatively small scale it is in shape severity and gauntness of the moor
and presence curiously like Etna. It ruled the landscape ; how little the
tells, like Etna, by smooth and passive valleys counted for.
bulk, and, like Etna, creates its own I had that day bicycled up the long
solitude as you ascend. Like Etna, too, Exe Valley from Dulverton, and,
it astonishes you by the height to which familiar as the way was to me, had
without apparent effort it has raised been brought to a stop again and
you. The heather that day was in again by the views it disclosed. Con-
full, perfect bloom. Every step let tracting and again expanding the
loose a cloud of dusty pollen and valley opens itself into a succession
filled the air with sweet scent. The of little green arenas, carpeted with
white sunbonnets of whortleberry grass and shut in by the lofty curve of
pickers dotted the slope, and my own great woods so steeply that the cast
fingers were purple-stained before I shadows stay there half through the
had gone a quarter of the way up. day. The dewy, fresh, crisp grass
On all sides but the north, where reminded me of the Swiss pastures
the ground breaks steeply down to reaching down to Lucerne, wetted
the rich meadows of Timberscombe with trailing mountain mist and shot
and the cliffs of the coast, the eye, with the delicate purple of crocuses,
from this height, follows the long Here, too, the hedgerows were a
EXMOOR
205
tangle of flowers and the carry-gutters,
loaded with loosestrife and willow-
herb and tufts of fragrant meadow-
sweet, made lines and chequers of
coloured blossom on the bright green
of the grass. These brilliant little
foregrounds, held in the curved arm
of the river, were made more secluded
and more lonely by the steep hills
and shaggy woods that gird them in.
You left or entered them, as the
opposite hills approached or receded
from each other, almost as by the
opening and shutting of a door, and
each reluctant backward glance was
followed by a forward one of fresh
pleasure.
But of what effect is this beautiful
valley, with its meadows and woods,
that it took me hours to pass through,
where a man might pass weeks of his
life of what effect is it all in the
panorama I now have at my feet ?
Just a corner I can indeed make out,
a recess of woodland under the angle
of a steep hill, no more than a square
inch, so to speak, of the great map
before me, which I know belongs to
my route and is a glimpse into that
valley which an hour ago seemed all
the world to me. The rest is hidden
and does not count. And how many
scores of other valleys, similar in rich-
ness and beauty, are hidden likewise
by those great, calmly dominant,
smooth-curved hills that keep watch
and ward over the landscape ?
It so happens that a good many
years ago I came upon a verse or two
written in a note book, evidently by a
lover of the West Country, and I am
tempted to insert them here, not that
they have any particular merit, for
they are scarcely intended as poetry,
but because they, too, try and express
that contrast of softness and ruggedness
which I have suggested as the note
of our West Country scenery. The
river Lyn runs not far from Dunkery,
northward through a dense oak covert
till it enters the Bristol Channel at
Lynmouth. The verses are as follows :
" When I had walked for many hours up the
twisting valley,
Following your secret course, river Lyn,
through the woods ;
When I had often stood in the bracken, with
the angular boughs meeting above me.
And listened to the bubble and gurgle of the
water and the softer whisper of the
summer wind,
And leaned my shoulder against the mossy
rocks, and looked into your golden depths,
Lyn,
And watched the sparks of bubble breaking
in the black shadows :
Then I thought that I could always be happy
here,
That the joy of the valley left nothing to be
desired.
But when later I had left it and climbed the
steep path leading to the moor ;
When I stood at last on the forehead of the
mountain,
Poised on the slope alone, the wind singing
between my teeth,
206 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
Vigilant and alert, cruel-eyed, looking out Thence I turned north along the
like a cormorant seaward :
Then, indeed, I rebuked the tame fancy that ? ei sterner Cornish west coast, past
had possessed me : Moorwinstow, where Hawker's memory
Then I knew that the joy of the mountain
greater than the joy of the valley, guards a hundred legends, grim or
was
Allegiance to my roving life." those fatal rocks ; and so I rounded
It would be difficult to say which is the corner at Hartland and came back
the greater of the two influences, but by towering Gallantry Bower and
certainly they are different, and together the colour and blossom of little
they make up the West. I could not, Clovelley and Ilfracombe where the
that day, from the top of Dunkery make tourists go, and the line of curt-edged
out Dartmoor's answering outlines in precipices that bound the moor, until
the sky to the south. But long before at last my bodily eyes looked down
one leaves Exmoor those outlines can be upon the sheen of the sea outside
distinguished, and, gaunter even and Porlock Weir and Dunster, glittering
more far reaching, they carry the down yonder at my feet.
moor's influence far away to Plymouth Seen from such a vantage point all this
and the southern coast. south-west promontory of England pre-
With that encouragement to far sents itself to the spectator as a whole.
gazing which a great view gives, I took He sees the robust and virile traits of
up their course. I watched the melan- it dominating its softer aspects, emerg-
choly wastes and salient tors of Dart- ing into prominence and authority, and
moor spread south and west. I saw giving character to the whole tract.
the genial red of the Devon cliffs turn And in much the same way if he looks
to grey granite as the need arises of broadly at the record of the West
withstanding Atlantic breakers, and Country and its people he will note
the great pale cliffs, with Meva- a spirit of adventurousness and robust
gissey, Polperro, and many another daring running through it, at variance
quaint fishing hamlet tucked in their with its supposed easy-going and
rough embrace, and followed the coast somewhat sleepy character. It is this
along to its furthest jutting headland, that has marked history. The men
where even on a summer day like this who for a century carried on a personal
the slow swell bursts in thunder on and private war with Spain, who set
the cliff-face. forth in their little ships in ones and
EXMOOR 207
twos from western fishing hamlets in close touch with their neighbours,
to watch the Carribbean Sea for ingot- part and parcel of the local life, long
laden galleons, or raid the main and after their kind had, in most parts of
loot Spanish settlements ; the men England, broken such ties. Of old
who started English colonizing off families, they were destitute of that
their own bat ; who hung, fierce and in- kind of breeding which results from
domitable, on the skirts of the Armada the association of a number of people
until the great fleet went to pieces devoted to the art of self-amusement,
under the strain, these men were not Their manners were the manners of
slow to move, soft and sluggish as it the countryside, rather than of a class
is rather the custom to paint West apart. They spoke the Devonshire
Country folk. I do not know that they tongue, and were representatives of the
have changed much. When, on that sports and interests indigenous to the
fateful sixth of January, the word was country. All of them kept open house,
given and the Devons rushed through and most of them kept hounds. They
hail and lightning to the attack that were all as like as peas, and their
saved Ladysmith it was something unfailing characteristics were an un-
more, I imagine, than a bucolic good- failing geniality and good humour corn-
nature that backed their bayonets. bined with an extraordinary toughness
Take the general view of the men and endurance. Their hospitality was
and their doings and the stauncher, only equalled by their boundless capa-
sterner elements come out in them, city for galloping,
just as they come out in the scenery The record of many a hard sportsman
as from Dunkery you cast a bird's-eye of those rollicking days still feebly
glance over it. survives in local anecdote ; but one
Fifty years ago or less these influ- among them is lifted into more general
ences that I have been attempting to recognition. The fame of Jack Russell
describe were visible enough in the is the fame that belongs to a type,
manners and character of a kind of He had in him, and both at their best,
local West Country aristocracy in the sweetness and toughness of the
which they had culminated. Modern West. One could fill a book with the
progress with its disintegrating ten- stories told of him illustrating both ;
dencies, came very slowly up this stories of how the very gypsies counted
way, and the western gentry lived on on his kindness and protection, and
208 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
how these wanderers and petty pil- among the gentry, but among the
ferers used to keep guard over his peasants and farmers and fishermen,
poultry yard ; and on one occasion at those traits are to be recognized,
least, when the presence of a gang Any day out with the Devon and
of burglars was suspected, patrolled Somerset the observant stranger shall
around his house all night, unknown note a score or two of yeomen and
to him, to secure it from attack, farmers, robust and thick-set, of an
Stories, again, of the times he has infinite solidity, and with just the
ridden the fifty miles from Iddesleigh same confirmed toughness and power
to Four Hole Cross on the Bodmin of endurance that all the products of
Moors on his way to the west in the the moor have. They are of one stuff,
dark of a winter morning, and after these yeomen, with the deep-chested
hunting all day ridden home again by kindly fisherfolk of the coast hamlets,
starlight ; or of his ride from Delamore who, as I have said, spend their time
seventy miles home across the moor between Atlantic surges and fuchsia-
on the last of six consecutive days' covered cottages, and experience
hunting, he being then in his seventy- Nature's buffets and rewards turn
ninth year. There is no end to such and turn about.
tales. The next time the reader goes
Add, I say, these different kinds of down to that country to those cliffs
anecdotes together and you have the and hamlets, and roses and rocks,
reason of Jack Russell's fame. Nothing and wild moors and green valleys
in any sense great or really noteworthy let him take with him the thought of
is recorded of the man. He was the blending of these opposite char-
simply a very kind-hearted, very acteristics of sweetness and toughness,
tough-bodied fox-hunting parson. All Let him look at the country and talk
the same, he was the figure-head of to the people with that thought in
a big bit of England. Any one who his mind, and he will find, I think,
had knowledge of the West could that he holds a clue to much of the
recognize, broadcast, the Jack Russell meaning latent in West Country
traits. To this day, not so much scenery and character.
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XL
A NORTHERN VALLEY
" Do our woods
And winds and ponds cover more quiet woods,
More shining winds, more star-glimmering ponds ? . . .
Is Eden out of time and out of space?"
W. B. YEATS.
'"T'VHE seven miles of valley between the Spring tides but these may be
the mountains and the sea de- known quickly, for they never rustle,
velop and abandon many characters. The mountains are unaware of the
On one hand the limiting hills are sea : even a Winter sun stirs a scent to
ridged with long terraces of creviced betray their hidden thyme-beds, and
limestone above an iron-stained soil ; the wind's savour of salt is overcome,
the hills opposed are craggy with slate- Where these steep dark mountains begin
rock on their higher slopes, while the a lake lies among meadows : in the
fields of the valley have many ample silence before an August dawn a strong
knolls where boulders of slate j ut amid swimmer has dropped into the dark
a crown of oaks or sweeping beeches, wa-ter, that lapped against his pale
In March the crumbling soil of the loins, to reach water-lilies in a small
lower slopes darkens to the plough, calm bay ; the flowers rocked as he
but becomes grey again in the first approached, and unready buds emerged
East wind. from a receding wave ; he dived to
The shore is that of a wide sandy break the wandering bare stems far
bay where shallow tides fill and empty down, and the flowers dipped to rise
with brief broad flingings : low hills with him. Soon he passed through
surround it, and pool-pierced marshes lanes of corn with lily sceptres leaning
are its border. These long marshes of against his polished side,
the bay always bear sea-pinks that Between the mountains and the sea
rustle, dry blossoms whose season it is are many woods ; those which rise
difficult to know because salt makes with the valley slopes are of oak, beech
grey their first hint of rose and a last and ash, with some elm and sycamore
touch of dubious rose lingers in the and still fewer wild cherry and crab
dead blossoms the salt preserves ; its trees that bring a breathing pallor in
only other flowers are grey also, the May. Above these a hill is sometimes
small pearly bones of rats drowned by covered with the serried monotony of
209
210 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
a larch plantation, or with tall hazel memory and expectancy of lily-scents
bushes which bring the woodman, the hid in Summer nights. In a village a
charcoal-burner and the basket-maker mile away is a learned and proud
every time their growth is of age. gardener who fosters a mezerion tree
These woods bear, before the meadows, which he brought from Switzerland
those early flowers which may open for its rarity.
ere leafage shuts out the light. Another wood has greater trees and
One wood sinks to the shore, and there fewer ; its dimness is briefly starred
in May lilies of the valley spring so with blackberry blossom, and bluebells
thickly that the wary tourist thinks hover there like a creeping haze always
their young leaves those of garlic, about to rise. When the bluebells are
Inland, another wood has stony hoi- gone with May fainter harebells come
lows filled with the first snowdrops, as a shadow of that haze. But in this
which leave a bright green softness wood the foxgloves of July are most
amid the harsh soil of March 5 before memorable ; they spire in companies
this can die portions of it separate, until lost in their own perspective ;
first palely, then more tall, until little there are steep crags which seem
fingers lean down and yellow into higher for the slender stems springing
single daffodils. Barren places bear from every crevice : they stand in a
green hellebore in May, known only strange silence, as if no bees would
by the greater spareness of the divided come to their twilit dells but
leaves (each springing from the ground the one white foxglove which once
on its own stalk) until the green petals grew tallest in the most remote cluster
of the bloom appear like the calyx of was stranger and more wonderful than
some greater bloom whose petals were the silence.
shed unseen. Hill-tops make a little land beyond
In these woods, and perhaps nowhere these woods, a hollow before the last
else in England, Daphne Mezereum hills begin. Herb- willow and palm-
(the Mezerion Tree of Bacon's garden) sallow seem a filagree touched with dim
grows wild ; before any leaves come yellow and dark silver as they come
its thin sticks are muffled closely in against an April sky ; there are fenny
purple florets, and to pass it when the places where sweet gale disguises May
woods obscure the March moonlight with a simulation of Autumn bronze ;
is to possess a tenuous sense of the and everywhere grass of Parnassus
A NORTHERN VALLEY 211
brings thoughts of workers in rare green young corn is hid by discordant
metals and setters of small jewels, yellow sprays of charlock : in hay
with its thin clear blades and clearer meadows the thickly set moon daisies
stars placed so precisely. seem brown through the haze of seed-
In another direction this moorland ing grass plumes.
turns to sheltered common as the farm- The hedges have many wild rose
lands are approached. Here, when shoots and honeysuckle that is sure
May is well begun, a profusion of red- to bloom a second time, sparely and
dish purple spotted orchis, sheltering lingeringly, in September : the field-
green crisp grasshoppers, diverts the hedges are often heightened by ancient
more superficial searcher for scarcities damson trees, clouded with fluttering
from the presence of the spare and whiteness in May, bending heavily at
livid fly orchis. the Summer's end. There are elder
At one point a hill-side of limestone trees, too, between field and lane ;
scree dips into the valley, bearing only their late June blossom has a rank
dandelions more delicate than chry- scent, as of cows newly come from
santhemums in the fineness and pure river-pools and munching new hay spilt
colour of their petals, and tall thistles from carts in twilight,
white with fulsome tufts of down in There is a place where one ancient
August. elder tree rises from a cluster of tiny-
Down the valley the roads from flowered borage and burr-docks with
farm to farm and village are bordered purple stems : hens stand among its
in June with lavender scabious and boughs when in October the bunched
dusky cream meadow-sweet ; at some berries drop ripely at a touch. Across
cottage corner a high bursting pod of the road a wooded steep cleft opens
rhubarb blossom will seem exotic and in a hill-side : at its entrance is a
exuberant among the umbels of jointed yard surrounded by deserted buildings,
kexes, an onion flower will uplift in The hard soil is dappled with tufts of
August its shapely white globe of blue-flowering viper's bugloss ; moister
florets on a green rod, or a coarse earth under trees is half hidden by
scent in April will discover virile shoots curling glossy leaves of green arum ;
of spreading crown imperial once flung Our Lady's bedstraw spreads its tan-
from the cottage garden. g l es of little flowerlets among dull,
In the fields of dilatory farmers rough leaves of wild sage ; and over
212 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
all rise monstrous growths of henbane have already died, then at the tips the
about July, with long fronds bearing last creamy bells veined with earthy
clammy, pungently scented leaves, then purple and of a thick soft texture
serried polished nipples where blooms like a crushed moth's.
XLI
THE LITTLE RED DOG
"... My being was an accident,
Which fate, in working its sublime intent,
Not wish'd to be, to hinder would not deign."
HARTLEY COLERIDGE.
OAUNTERING along a lane-like common type, widely distributed on
road between Charterhouse the earth ; I doubt if there are many
Hinton and Woolverton, in the West countries where you will not meet him :
Country, I spied a small red dog trot- a degenerate or dwarf variety of the
ting along some distance behind me. universal cur, smaller than a fox-
He was in the middle of the road, but terrier and shorter legged ; the low
seeing that he was observed he sheered stature, long body, small ears, and
off to the other side, and when nearly blunt nose giving him a somewhat
abreast of me paused suspiciously, stoaty or even reptilian appearance
sniffed the air to get the exact smell, among the canines. His red colour
then made a dash past, and after going is, indeed, the commonest hue of the
about twenty or thirty yards full common dog, or cur, wherever found,
speed dropped once more into his It is rarely a bright red, like that of
travelling trot, to vanish from sight the Irish setter, or any pleasing shade
at the next bend in the road. of red, as in the dingo, the fox, and
Though alone I laughed, for he was the South American maned wolf ; it
a very old acquaintance of mine. I is dull, often inclining to yellow, some-
knew him well, although he did not times mixed with grey as in the jackal,
know me, and regarding me as a sometimes with a dash of ginger in it.
stranger he very naturally associated The unbeautiful yellowish-red is the
my appearance with that well-aimed prevailing hue of the pariah dog. At
stone or half-brick which had doubtless all events, that is the impression one
registered an impression on his small gets from the few of the numberless
brain. I knew him because he is a travellers in the East who have con-
THE LITTLE RED DOG 213
descended to tell us anything about lively girl, and I remember that a poor
this low-down animal. native woman who lived in a smoky
Where the cur or pariah flourishes, hovel a few miles away was fond of
there you are sure to find the small red her, and that she came one day with
dog, and perhaps wonder at his ability a present for her something precious,
to maintain his existence. He is cer- wrapped up in a shawl a little red
tainly placed at a great disadvantage, pup, one of a litter which her own
If he finds or steals a bone, the first beloved dog had brought forth. My
big dog he meets will say to him, sister accepted the present joyfully,
" Drop it ! " And he will drop it at for though we possessed fourteen or
once, knowing very well that if he fifteen dogs at the time these all be-
refuses to do so it will be taken from longed to the house ; they were every-
him, and his own poor little bones body's and nobody's in particular, and
perhaps get crunched in the process, she was delighted to have one that
As compensation he has, I fancy, a would be her very own. It grew into
somewhat quicker intelligence, a subtler a common small red dog, rather better
cunning. His brains weigh less by a looking than most of its kind, having
great deal than those of a bulldog, or a a bushier tail, longer and brighter
big cur, but (like ladies' brains compared coloured hair, and a somewhat foxy
with men's) they are of a finer quality, head and face. In spite of these good
When I encountered this animal in points, we boys never tired of laughing
the quiet Somerset road, and laughed at her little Reddie, as he was called,
to see him and exclaimed mentally, and his intense devotion to his young
' There he goes, the same old little mistress and faith in her power to pro-
red dog, suspicious and sneaky as ever, tect him only made him seem more
and very brisk and busy although his ludicrous. When we all walked to-
years must be well-nigh as many as gether on the grass plain, my brother
my own," I was thinking of the far and I used to think it great fun to
past, and the sight of him brought separate Reddie from his mistress by
back a memory of one of the first of making a sudden dash, and then hunt
the small red dogs I have known in- him over the turf. Away he would
timately. I was a boy then, and my go, performing a wide circuit, then,
home was in the pampas of Buenos doubling back, would fly to her for
Ayres. I had a young sister, a bright, safety. She, stooping and holding out
214 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
her hands to him, would wait his ried out and opened the door, and out
coming, and at the end, with one flying and off he went, without so much as a
leap, he would land himself in her arms, thank-you. He had found a fool and
almost capsizing her with the force had succeeded in getting something
of the impact, and from that refuge out of him, and his business with me
look back reproachfully at us. was ended. There was no hesitation ;
The cunning little ways of the small he was going straight home, and knew
red dog were learned later when I came his way quite well,
to know him in the city of Buenos Years afterwards it was a surprise
Ayres. Loitering at the waterside one to me to find that the little red dog was
day, I became aware of an animal of an inhabitant of London. There was
this kind following me, and no sooner no muzzling order then, in the seventies,
did he catch my eye than he came up, and a quite common sight was the in-
wagging, wriggling, and grinning, smil- dependent dog, usually a cur, roaming
ing, so to speak, all over his body ; the streets in search of stray scraps of
and I, thinking he had lost home and food. He shared the sparrows' broken
friends and touched by his appeal, bread ; he turned over the rubbish
allowed him to follow me through the heaps left by the road sweepers ; he
streets to the house of relations where sniffed about areas, on the look-out for
I was staying. I told them I intended an open dustbin ; and he hung persis-
keeping the outcast awhile to see what tently about the butcher's shop, where a
could be done with him. My friends jealous eye was kept on his movements,
did not welcome him warmly, and These dogs doubtless had owners, who
they even made some disparaging re- paid the yearly tax ; but it is probable
marks about little red dogs in general ; that in most cases they found for them-
but they gave him his dinner a big selves. Probably, too, the adventur-
plateful of meat, which he devoured ous life of the streets, where carrion
greedily, and then, very much at home, was not too plentiful, had the effect
he stretched himself out on the hearth- of sharpening their wits. Here, at all
rug and went fast asleep. When he events, I was witness of an action on
woke an hour later he jumped up and the part of a small red dog which fairly
ran to the hall, and, finding the street astonished me ; that confidence trick
door closed, made a great row, howling the little Argentine beast had prac-
and scratching at the panels. I hur- tised on me was nothing to it.
THE LITTLE RED DOG 215
In Regent Street, of all places, one to see what all the noise was about,
bright winter morning, I caught sight It was something tremendously impor-
of a dog lying on the pavement close tant to dogs in general, no doubt,
to the wall, hungrily gnawing at a big But the little red dog, the little liar,
beef bone which he had stolen or picked had no sooner been overtaken and
out of a neighbouring dust-hole. He passed by the other, than back he ran
was a miserable-looking object, a sort and, picking up the bone, made off
of lurcher, of a dirty red colour, with with it in the opposite direction. Very
ribs showing like the bars of a gridiron soon the lurcher returned and appeared
through his mangy side. Even in astonished and puzzled at the dis-
those pre-muzzling days, when we still appearance of his bone. There I left
had the pariah, it was a little strange him, still looking for it and sniffing at
to see him gnawing his bone at that the open shop doors. He perhaps
spot, just by Peter Robinson's, where thought in his simplicity that some
the broad pavement was full of shop- kind lady had picked it up and left
ping ladies ; and I stood still to watch it with one of the shopmen to be
him. Presently a small red dog came claimed by its rightful owner,
trotting along the pavement from the I had heard of such actions on the
direction of the Circus, and catching part of dogs before, but always with a
sight of the mangy lurcher with the smile ; for we know the people who
bone he was instantly struck motion- tell this kind of story the dog-wor-
less, and crouching low as if to make shippers, or canophilists as they are
a dash at the other, his tail stiff, his called, a people weak in their intel-
hair bristling, he continued gazing for lectuals, and as a rule unveracious,
some moments ; and then, just when although probably not consciously so.
I thought the rush and struggle was But now I had myself witnessed this
about to take place, up jumped this thing, which, when read, will perhaps
little red cur and rushed back towards cause others to smile in their turn,
the Circus, uttering a succession of But what is one to say of such an
excited shrieky barks. The contagion action ? Just now we are all of us,
was irresistible. Off went the lurcher, philosophers included, in a muddle
furiously barking too, and quickly over the questions of mind and instinct
overtaking the small dog dashed on in the lower animals, and just how
and away to the middle of the Circus much of each element goes to the com-
216 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
position of any one act ; but probably to the village and renewed my acquain-
most persons would say at once that tance with the little fellow, and heard
the action of the little red dog in his history. Everybody praised him for
Regent Street was purely intelligent, his affectionate disposition and his value
I am not sure : the swiftness, smooth- as a watch-dog by night, and I was told
ness, and certainty with which the that his mother, now dead, had been
whole thing was carried out gave it the greatly prized, and was the smallest red
appearance of a series of automatic dog ever seen in that part of Hampshire,
movements rather than a reasoned Some day one of the thousand
act which had never been rehearsed, writers on " man's friend " will con-
Perhaps Professor Lloyd Morgan will ceive the happy idea of a chapter or
make it all clear in his next book. two on the dog the universal cur-
Recently, during my country ram- and he will then perhaps find it neces-
bles, I have been on the look-out for sary to go abroad to study this well-
the small red dog, and have met with marked dwarf variety, for with us he
several interesting examples in the has fallen on evil days. There is no-
southern counties. One, in Hamp- doubt that the muzzling order pro-
shire, moved me to laughter like that foundly affected the character of our
small animal at Charterhouse Hinton. dog population, since it went far to-
This was at Sway, a village near wards the destruction of the cur and
Lymington. A boy, mounted on a of mongrels the races already im-
creaking old bike, was driving some perilled by the extraordinary pre-
cows to the common, and had the dominance of the fox-terrier. The
greatest difficulty in keeping on while change was most marked in the metro-
following behind the lazy beasts on a polis, and after Mr. Long's campaign
rough track among the furze bushes ; I came to the conclusion that here at
and behind the boy at a distance of all events the little red dog had been
ten yards trotted the little red dog, extirpated. He, with other varieties,
tongue out, looking as proud and of the cur, was the dog of the poor,
happy as possible. As I passed him and when the muzzle deprived him of
he looked back at me as if to make his power to find for himself, he became
sure that I had seen him, and noted a burden to his master. But I was
that he formed part of that important mistaken ; he is still with us, even
procession. On another day I went here in London, though now very rare.
XLII
THE LIFE OF THE RABBIT
" Rabbits be a dale cunninger now than what they used to be."
A DEVONSHIRE RABBIT TRAPPER.
TN the sloping coppice the wild trapped, snared, and shot from August
hyacinths crowd among the furry until April ; still, it is half a mile to the
fronds of the young bracken. Pink nearest homestead, and there are spells
campion, wood-sorrel, and a sprinkling of days, and even weeks, when these
of late-flowering primroses grow in the " feeble folk " are unmolested by man.
clearing amid the hazel-stubs. The Moreover, the rabbits are conservative
nightingale is challenging the blackbird in their habits, and show a sense of
to melody, the chaffinches cry " pink, attachment to certain haunts. Such
pink," as they flit through the oak an event as a general exodus from the
boughs, and then from the shadiest warren has never happened, though
recess of the plantation comes the soft, after a " big day " with the ferrets and
melancholy coo of the wood-pigeon, guns, the slain are piled in heaps upon
From the sun-warmed dead leaves, the turf, and every rabbit in the colony
the mosses, and the flowers there arises is left trembling and terrified in those
a blend of aromatic odours. And, honeycombed burrows,
now and again, the pheasant calls, and Rabbits love to be dry and warm.
a magpie chatters as it flies across the That is why they have chosen this
green drive. sandy slope, sheltered by belts of
The copse is above the rabbit warren, woodland, and fronting the sun. All
and is one of a chain of small woods around are good feeding-places pas-
upon the top of a sandy ridge, stretching tures where the juicy grass affords a
from east to west. On the southern meal in early spring, fields of oats and
slope, the rabbits have bred and swede-turnips, and beyond the vil-
thrived ever since the recollection of lagers' allotment plots, where there are
the oldest man in the parish, and their always cabbages and root crops. The
number does not appear to increase sand yields easily to the busy scratching
nor to diminish manifestly from year of the rabbits' paws. It is tunnelled
to year. The place can scarcely be and made into chambers, and no water
called a sanctuary, for the rabbits are drains into the " buries " or burrows.
218 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
When the hungry, pink-eyed ferret the manner of male hares in the
comes sniffing along the passages, there breeding season. Then one of the
are innumerable labyrinths leading to rabbits flies away towards the burrows,
secret hiding-places, and hundreds of pursued by its playmate, and the victor
apertures, whence the alarmed rabbits in the contest jumps in the air and
can bolt into the open. And when performs sundry quaint antics in the
scared by the sight of men and the nature of a war-dance,
explosions of guns, the rabbits have The other pastime may be called
just as many open doors by which they " the game of fox." A number of
may return to the tunnels, and per- rabbits are feeding on the outskirt of
chance escape the deadly lead from the the colony. Suddenly one of them
breechloaders. feigns fright, pricks his ears, listens
Late in the spring there is a great in- for a second, and then scampers up
crease in the population of the warren, the slope. In an instant all the long
Hundreds of young rabbits lie huddled ears and the white scuts stand up, and
up to the does in the huge fastness, there is a wild stampede to the sand-
Before they are quite weaned they banks. Most quadrupeds play at being
follow their mothers through the dark alarmed. Young horses and heifers
passages out into the daylight. Tim- enjoy this game, which seems to prove
orous, and yet adventurous, they steal that, besides an imaginative brain,
out on the short dry grass, when the mammals possess a sense of humour,
sun is sinking, and soon begin to and are fond of playing practical jokes
nibble. Until they have been startled on their comrades,
by enemies, the youthful rabbits are The slope and the field below it are
not over-cautious. They wander out scored with the " runs," " creeps,"
of bounds, they are inquisitive, and or tracks of the rabbits. These path-
wont to forget danger in their mad ways are as distinct as the runs of
racings and frolics. sheep, and they are used by the rabbits
Young rabbits have two games, in passing to and fro the feeding-
One is mimic fighting, a diversion grounds. It is in these runs that the
which is very amusing to watch. The poacher sets his wire noose, attached
combatants challenge one another, and to a stout peg driven into the ground,
make feints with their paws, sometimes These wires, or "springes," are made
standing up on their hind legs after on a slip-knot principle, and when the
THE LIFE OF THE RABBIT 219
luckless rabbit runs its head into the foot of one of these squatting rabbits
noose, it closes tightly on the neck and without perceiving it. Sometimes you
holds the victim fast. may see several rabbits crouching at
More deadly is the gin, or spring- the base of the fir boles ; but unless
trap, with its terrible teeth that meet your eye is educated, you will not notice
with a snap when the unwary rabbit them, for the colour of the fur almost
treads upon it. These traps have matches the colour of the fir bark. In
been rightly condemned as cruel, but open fields, and on moors and downs,
they are still set in most parts of the rabbits "lie close " on the ground, and
country : for trapped rabbits fetch a may easily be mistaken for a stone
higher price in the markets than those or a lump of earth. The poacher
that have been killed with shot. frequently captures these sitting rabbits
The rabbit of our country leads a by walking quickly up to them, and
life of constant alarms. It grows more falling upon his prey. You can some-
sagacious under the persecution of man, times touch a squatting rabbit, and
and with the increase of shooting and even a hare, with your stick or your
trapping it will develop still more foot before it will take to its feet and
intelligence. Rabbits frequently refuse run.
to quit their buries when hunted by the The enormous increase of rabbits in
ferret. They may be learning that parts of the western counties is largely
it is better to endure the assault of a due to trapping. The traps catch
muzzled ferret than to rush out and other animals, and in fair numbers,
face half a dozen guns. The ferret and these are the natural foes of the
can inflict wounds with its claws, but rabbit. Foxes, for example, are con-
when muzzled it cannot give the stantly taken in the gins, as these
death-bite. implements are laid down in the chief
The colour of the rabbit is adapted hunting-grounds of the fox. The rabbit
to its environment, and there is no is the prey of the fox, and his principal
doubt that the creature realizes this diet. Reduce the number of foxes
means of protection. In the Crown and you will tend to over-populate
lands of Berkshire and Hampshire, the warrens. But not only are foxes
where there are thousands of acres of kept down by trapping ; the weasel,
fir trees, rabbits sit close up to the the stoat, and the rarer polecat are
trunks, and you may step within a caught in the traps. Many farm cats
220 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
are clever rabbit-stalkers. A small sorely of the depredations of the
cat will kill a full-grown rabbit, and ground-game. On the other hand,
carry it for some distance. And as there are tracts of land, especially in
cats on poaching bent trespass into the West of England, where the holders
the very places that bristle with rabbit derive the rent, and sometimes make a
gins, many of them are caught, and profit by the sale of trapped rabbits,
killed by the gamekeepers and trappers. In more fertile regions,where agriculture
On most keepers' trees you will see can be made profitable, rabbits are re-
trophies of cats' tails. garded as a pest, and there are constant
Game preserving also encourages complaints of their damage to crops,
the increase of rabbits. In some locali- The rabbit's aversion to damp causes
ties the gamekeepers shoot foxes in it to select the driest and warmest
the interest of pheasants, grouse, and quarters. Sandhills by the seashore,
partridges, and all the weasel family chalk downs, and rocky soils are favour-
are marked down as vermin and, if able to the survival of communities
possible, exterminated by means of of these animals. The dry limestone
the snare and the gun. Hawks often of Derbyshire and the granite of the
seize rabbits. Even the little merlin, Western Counties afford healthy
that haunts the mountains and grouse habitats for rabbits. Boggy moorland
moors, can catch, slay, and carry off and very high hills are seldom closely
young rabbits. These winged enemies populated with rabbits, for these crea-
of the rabbit are also ruthlessly trapped tures have almost a horror of wet
and shot by game-preservers. Jack- ground and rain-exposed situations,
daws do not kill rabbits ; but they Heavy rain will deter rabbits from
often build in rabbit burrows and venturing out of their snug burrows,
among the rocks : and there are game- In wet weather rabbits often content
keepers who shoot jackdaws " because themselves with scanty food rather
they worry the rabbits." So the than endure the discomfort of soaked
naturally prolific rabbit derives in- fur. Nature has not protected these
direct protection through the system animals with a suitable coat for a
of trapping and the warfare against humid climate. The fur absorbs the
animals that are destructive to game, rain, and dries slowly after a drenching.
As a result, many farms are overrun Rabbits dislike a wetting even more
with rabbits, and farmers complain than cats shun water.
THE LIFE OF THE RABBIT 221
After man, the fox must be regarded numbers of rabbits. They enter the
as the most dangerous enemy of the burrows, and pounce upon sleeping
rabbit. Foxes are extremely sly in rabbits, or pursue their victims by
lying in ambush for their prey. They scent in the open. A weasel will follow
possess splendid scenting power, and a rabbit for half a mile : for these little
they are fleet in pursuit. When a fox animals can run at a considerable speed,
steals out of its lair in quest of pro- and they possess a keen olfactory sense,
vender, it chooses a hunting-ground Stoats and weasel range long distances
where rabbits abound. Its tactics are in search of rabbits, and explore
those of the scout ; it is skilled in obser- hedgerows, burrows, and tussocky fields
vation, and knows the whole art of where rabbits often " lie out " in fine
stalking. weather. The weasel seizes its prey
Approaching cautiously through by the neck, and grips tightly with
gorse, fern, or undergrowth, the fox teeth and claws, while it gnaws a hole
crawls towards the feeding rabbits on and sucks the blood. It only eats a
the sward. It will crouch for an hour, small portion of the neck, and some-
patiently awaiting its opportunity for times leaves the rabbit half dead when
a spring or a rapid sally. If it can it has made its meal,
separate a victim from the crowd, and The white underside of the rabbit's
cut off its retreat to the burrows, a tail, or " scut," serves as a danger
chase may ensue. A rabbit hunted signal. Watch a number of these
by a fox runs swiftly for the nearest timid animals feeding at twilight, and
cover, and endeavours to dodge its you will note that at the first suspicion
pursuer, or to discover a friendly of danger one of them will raise its
bury or " clitter " of rocks where it scut and prick its ears. The white
may escape pursuit. Trusting to its of the scut is the cue for alertness in
scenting power, the fox steadily works the whole company, and if one rabbit
on the track of the rabbit, and runs runs to a place of hiding the rest
it down by persistency rather than by quickly follow its example. Rabbits
fleetness. Sometimes the fox gives show no fear of sheep and cows, but
tongue, like a hound on the scent, but they seldom feed near to horses. Colts
its cry is not musical. It is a sharp sometimes chase rabbits in a spirit of
yapping sound. play.
Stoats and weasels destroy large The food of the cony is varied. It
222 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
will eat bark, green oats and wheat, quarters in the wheat-fields. Until
grass, turnips, rape, and garden vege- reaping begins they are safe, but the
tables. In the winter it is frequently first rattle of the reaping machine is
hard-pressed to find a sufficient diet, the death-knell of many hares and
and during a time of deep snow and rabbits. As the machine cuts its way,
severe frost, rabbits lose flesh and the jungle becomes smaller and smaller,
become emaciated. Snow covers the Alarmed by the noise, some of the
herbage and the crops ; the rabbits rabbits dash out. But the gunners
resort to the woods, and keep them- are waiting for them all around the
selves alive by nibbling the bark of last patch of standing corn, and many
the ash and the hazel. They will are shot while trying to gain the
travel at such times to orchards, and hedgerows and the coppices. Dogs are
eat the bark of young fruit-trees, often also lying in the stubble, and there
biting deeply into the wood and are sharp chases, and one by one the
causing serious injury. Where rabbits panic-stricken rabbits are pursued, and
abound, fruit-growers are compelled seized by the sheep dogs and terriers.
to protect their trees with a coating But before this September tragedy,
of tar or thick lime at the base of the the summer life of the rabbit is merry,
stems. In the more sheltered coverts There is little shooting or none, and
snow lies less thickly than in the open the warren is quiet. The warm twi-
fields and on the downs, and here lights tempt the denizens to wander ;
and there rabbits are able to dig the dews dry quickly, and the banks
down to moss or grass, and to stave off are warmed by the July sun. This
starvation in hard weather. You may respite from persecution lasts for a
see green patches on banks sloping to the few months, and during that time
south where the rabbits have scratched rabbits are less shy and wary. During
away the snow. The foot tracks from the winter shooting season the warning
the warren will show that the hungry cry of the blackbird, the rattle of a
rabbits become more venturesome as magpie, or the scream of a jay apprises
the severity of the weather increases, the rabbits that an enemy is afoot, and
They find their way to gardens and to ears and scuts proclaim their alarm,
hayricks close to the farm-houses. It has been said that rabbits cannot
When the corn is tall it affords a safe climb trees, but this is not quite
jungle for rabbits, and they take up accurate. A rabbit will often ascend
cO
22
ILJ
r
f-
THE WATER-VOLE 223
the sloping hollow trunk of a pollard Such positions are not infrequently
willow, or an old stunted oak, and make chosen by does when about to give
a lodging in the crown of the tree, birth to their young.
XLIII
THE WATER-VOLE
"The edge of the moist river-lawns
And the brink of the dewy caves."
P. B. SHELLEY.
'THHE common water-vole, or, as On closer inspection, however, it will
it is more popularly termed, the be seen to be more thick-set than the
water-rat, is classed as one of the rat, and to have a distinctly blunt
fifteen hundred odd species known to muzzle. The tail is long and somewhat
science under the heading of Rodentia. tapering, the limbs short and strong,
The incisors, or gnawing teeth, which and the ears are small and almost
are very highly developed in all completely hidden by fur. The fur
rodents, and form their distinguishing is short and rather close, and in colour
mark, are, in the water-vole, only four usually of a very dark reddish-brown ;
in number, two in each jaw. In many but in Scotland, and certain parts of
rodents these teeth grow at an enor- Cambridgeshire, there exists a black
mous rate, in order to make up for the variety.
constant wear and tear to which their The habitat of M. amphibius in this
owners subject them. I should say, country is practically anywhere in
however, that, by reason of the soft the vicinity of fresh water : ponds,
food upon which it mostly feeds, canals, rivers, streams and brooks,
the teeth the incisor teeth of the etc. It is seldom found far from
water-vole grow more slowly than water, and indeed, I doubt if it could
those of any other rodent, with the live for long away from it. In localities
possible exception of the musquash suitable to its habits this little mammal
(Fiber ziebthicus) of North America. may be found in fair numbers ; but
In size the water-vole approximates it does not appear ever to increase
to that of the brown rat ; and in suddenly and overwhelmingly, as in
general outline, it is certainly some- the case of some other members of
what rat-like if glanced at casually, the same genus.
224 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
On the banks of the river, stream, lives upon its surroundings. That is
or other piece of water where they to say, not only must the banks and
may be living, these mammals con- the water suit its habits, but the
struct their intricate and numerous vegetation in the immediate vicinity
burrows. Like the brown rat and the must afford suitable food. Take fifty
rabbit, the water-voles seem to spend yards of an ordinary stream, for in-
an almost prodigal amount of labour stance, where water- voles occur. What
upon their habitations. Their tunnels do we find ? The banks must be fairly
twist and turn in every direction', often high and steep, for to make holes on
undermining the bank and causing it a flat surface which would probably
to give way. They seem to be possessed be trodden on and stamped in by
by a consuming fever which drives cattle would hardly do. Vegetation,
them to dig, dig, as if for dear life, besides trees and grass, rushes, the
That each family of water-voles begin yellow iris, water-lilies, watercress, and
their abode with an idea of exclusive many other water-loving plants which
use, and with a separate scheme, I not only bear succulent green food
quite believe. But, living in colonies in the summer, but leave in some
as they do, and burrowing close to- cases more or less bulbous roots which
gether, they naturally soon break into can be dug out of the mud in the
one another's tunnels, and do not winter.
repair the mistake. The only burrows Such vegetation as mentioned above
which appear to be kept separate are forms the chief, but by no means the
the breeding ones, which are like only, food of the water-vole. Most
rather intricate editions of the familiar cultivated root crops, such as potatoes,
rabbit's " stop." The entrances to mangel-wurzels, etc., are devoured by
these burrows are both above and them, to some extent, if they can be
below water, since it is not always obtained within easy reach,
safe for the inmates to show them- Being good climbers these little
selves above the surface. A few holes animals will even sometimes mount
are almost always to be seen driven into trees after fruit ; and I have also
very high up in the banks ; these are known them climb up bean stalks after
emergency exits, constructed chiefly beans. On the other hand they seem
by way of precaution against floods, but seldom to make their way into
To a certain extent M . amphibius farm or other dwelling-houses, or mills,
THE WATER-VOLE 225
after grain like the brown rat ; a fact of grey-crows, working over some miles,
which seems to show their objection, can account for this scarcity of frogs,
or inability, to gnaw through wood- Moreover, I have noticed that what
work and other hard substances. This frogs there are in the locality are to be
agrees with what I have said before mostly found in those dykes which,
as to the water-vole's gnawing or for some reason, are not much fre-
incisor teeth not being constructed to quented by water-voles,
withstand the same wear and tear as Although water-voles do not hiber-
those of the rat and many other nate in the strict sense of the word,
rodents. very little is seen of them in winter.
As to whether the water-vole is Occasionally, however, upon a mild
carnivorous, there seems to be some winter's day, one will venture abroad
difference of opinion. In many localities here or there in search of food, or, it
the country people believe that it is ; may be, to bask in the sun.
but naturalists, for the most part, With the warmer months water-
attribute the belief to confusing the voles begin to appear out of their
animal with the brown rat. burrows in the early evening, and as
Now, however, Mr. Patterson, who night draws on their numbers increase,
is one of the most observant naturalists Throughout the night they pass to
we have, says : " This vole is harmful and fro, and may be heard, rather than
to fish," and thus settles a very vexed seen, in the dark hours. What they
question. Speaking personally, I have do then it is not so easy to say. The
for some time been of opinion that moon which reveals them to you also
they are harmful to frogs, but have reveals you to them, and observation
never been able to catch them in the is consequently difficult,
act. By way of inferential evidence, That water-voles make excursions
however, I may say that in a certain on land we know by the occasional
marsh, no matter how abundant tad- adventurous specimen we may some-
poles may be, adult frogs are compara- times come upon in the evening. If
tively scarce. Water-voles alone of the field has anything to attract them,
birds and mammals are numerous in one can understand this frequent risk
this marsh, and they swarm. I can- of life and limb. That it is frequent,
not bring myself to believe that a single even under cover of darkness, I know
pair of herons, or two or three pairs must be the case by the number and
226 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
length of.the well-beaten "runs." Now, see it vanish down one of these holes,
when these " runs " lead into a grass- is highly amusing. Reynard is very
field pure and simple (as they often fond of this form of sport, and will
do), I am quite at a loss to understand often spend hours at it.
what a grass-field so far away has to Another deadly foe which harries
offer that it does not afford at the the water-vole at night is the owl.
water's edge. If it were roots we should The extraordinary keenness which the
find signs of diggings ; and if it were owl shows in detecting the slightest
grass, why go so far to get that which movement of a lurking vole, the silence
grows close at hand ? Mammals sel- of its approach, and the wonderful
dom act without a reason, as the habits certainty of its swoop in the darkness,
of their ancestors are indelibly im- render it terribly destructive to all
printed upon their brains. Moreover rodents.
they rarely risk their lives without Perhaps, however, the worst enemies
cause. which the water-vole has to reckon
The water-vole, like most rodents, with are the stoat and the weasel,
is unfortunate enough to possess many There is no escape from the attacks of
enemies, and when therefore they ven- these small assassins save in the water,
ture forth thus into the fields they run They will hunt at any hour of the day
very serious risks and must suffer heavy or night, and they are as much at home
losses. in the narrow winding tunnels as the
The fox waits for them along the water-vole itself. Moreover, both the
banks, ready to dart in and cut off stoat and the weasel are bloodthirsty
any unwary wanderer from the water, creatures which will kill for the mere
and generally off from life as well, pleasure of killing ; and they will,
Sometimes, however, the fox reckons if they get the chance, slay any num-
without his host, so to speak. It is the ber of voles.
custom of experienced old voles to Even in the water itself the water-
run a branch tunnel well out into the vole is by no means safe, for the lithe
field, entered by a very small hole, and otter will hunt and kill it remorselessly,
used only upon emergency. The air The pike that shark of the fresh-
of chagrin assumed by a fox when he water may hurl itself at any moment
thinks he has got between a water- upon the luckless little creature from
vole and its native element, only to some dark and secret fastness by the
THE WATER-VOLE 227
bank. Finally the eel if it be large number of young is five or six to a
enough will attack and kill young litter. The young are carried by the
or weakling voles. mother, after the fashion of a cat carry-
By day as well as by night, when ing kittens, should it be needful to
out of the water, the water-vole must move them before they can swim. In
keep a sharp look-out if it would live, this way the female has been known
Most birds of prey seem partial to the to shift her young, before the advent
flesh of this rodent. Kestrels com- of a flood, from one nursery to another
monly prey upon it, and may frequently situated at a greater elevation and
be seen hovering in their peculiar perhaps in the opposite bank of the
<( waiting " poise over their burrows, stream. When able to swim, which
ready to drop like a stone should one they learn to do at a very early age,
venture forth. Even the great eagle the young follow both parents in the
itself feeds upon it. So also do buz- water ; and a family swimming thus
zards and harriers. The only hen- in company forms a very pleasing
harrier I ever saw in this country had picture.
just caught a water-vole. In conclusion, I feel I should not
I think, also, that our old enemy the be a conscientious naturalist were I
grey crow will snap up a water-vole to close this article without asking
if he gets a chance especially if he those who hunt the rat to discriminate
should happen upon a young one. Be between the brown rat and the water-
this as it may, I always notice that vole, or so-called water-rat. The harm
water-voles at once make themselves which water-voles do upon waters
scarce when a grey or carrion crow even those preserved for fishing is,
appears upon the scene. at the most, extremely small, if not
The young of this species are born nil. Therefore rat-hunters may well
in April or early in May. The nursery be urged to spare this harmless and
is a neat, small chamber, resembling, interesting little mammal, without which
as before said, a rabbit's " stop," and the scenery of our picturesque English
lined with dry grass, etc. The usual streams would be incomplete.
XLIV
SALMON
"Now, safe the stately sawmont sail,
And trouts be-dropped wi' crimson hail,
Since dark in death's fish creel we wail
Tarn Samson dead."
BURNS.
A T the tail of a great pool, some salmon : the whole life story thus
two hundred yards above the passing under his eye. The fish are
bridge, the Tweed takes a sudden large. Autumn fish are in the main
bend, and comes on with a gentle, large. They are thought to be the
shallow flow. The winter spate slackens older and maturer salmon. They look
in the pool, spends its forces on the larger, because so excellently well
opposite bank, and enters on the filled up. If they have come straight
straight with a reduced eroding power, from the sea, they are straight from
On some late September or October the feast. The latest meal of whiting
day the rumour goes round that the or herring may be in process of digestion,
fish are up. The event may have The females are distended with roe.
been expected for weeks. The Tweed Ripe fish, and ready to spawn, are they
has a habit of running at its summer which dot the bottom of the straight
level far into the autumn. Salmon run between the pool and the bridge,
linger in the brackish water about The males fight for possession. Then
Berwick, pause in the deep and the pairing comes. Whether the female
broad sweep by Dryburgh and Kelso, is always the willing spoil of the victor
or by Melrose Abbey, before passing may be open to question. Mating
Abbotsford to enter the narrow reach seems sometimes to take place in the
between the hills. Deceived by a sea. Salmon enter the river in pairs,
freshlet, they may have been huddling This arrangement may well be dis-
under the dyke, only some two miles turbed : the stronger may still fight
down, a prey to the vilest form of and win. Over the last groove in
poaching. which the eggs have been placed the
Over the parapet the lieges from tail swishes the gravel. The work
the near village command the lively of nesting being accomplished, the
scene below. No Tweed-side man exhausted workers drop down to the
need be told about the habits of pool below ; male and female to separ-
SALMON 229
ate pools. Whether it take place in sea better is often deadly ; and nothing
or river, mating is only for the time. lures so certainly as parr. Where
Other and smaller fish gather from the great branches spread over the
the pools where they have been lying, water the salmon are seen to rise
it may be for months, waiting on the through the shaded pool and suck in
coming of the autumn. They are the insect larvae dropping from the
darker, from their longer stay in fresh leaves. A trout could do no more,
water. There is one spawning time, Experts have tried to show that the
though not one running time. When digestive apparatus is altogether out
the darker fish left the sea will appear of gear ; but it manages to dispose
anon. They, too, drop down to the of these morsels somehow. What-
pools. ever may be the case with the newly
Thin and unsightly, they lie during run, there is no doubt about the kelt.
the coming weeks. Like other weakly It eats what it can get.
creatures, they are exposed to disease. While yet the last spent fish is drop-
Weakest and most susceptible are ping down to the sea, the early run
those which have spent the summer in has begun. Bright and fresh are the
the river. Noxious spores reveal them- new-comers after a winter in the sea.
selves in patches on the skin. Rubbing They are not large, and probably
against stone or tree root turns the young. To many it must be a first
patch into a sore. Those who watched visit on such an errand. Though well
the lively spawning scene over the fed, they are lithe and shapely ; for
parapet may witness the sequel by the roe is young yet. The consum-
walking down a mile of river bank, mation is far distant ; months ahead.
How to counteract the saprolegnia is Spawning is in the autumn. Life has
hard to say, except in the purity of two phases : growth and reproduction,
the stream and the virility of the fish. In the migratory fishes, these are more
Whether newly run salmon feed in sharply marked off than in most
fresh water has long been a moot creatures. The salmon grows in the
point. Nor is the rising to a brightly sea and breeds in the river. When
coloured fly thought to be convincing, it has fed full, the sea has served its
even with the explanation that they purpose.
mistake it for a shrimp. Where the Some play awhile, between Cold-
fly fails a worm and the bigger the stream and Kelso, and go to sea again.
230 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
These are the wiser. During their open the season vivaciously. For
stay they are excellent sport. Sal- many they end it also. It is a bright,
mon fishing is at its best when the roe isolated episode. Through the second
is young say when April cloud and half of January and into March they
sunshine are on the water. Many give sparkling weeks ; the only spark-
elect to wait in the river against the ling weeks to those who rent no water,
distant spawning day. They soon lose They bring the earliest visitors to
colour and virility, and pass a sluggish Scotland, filling the hotels on the
existence in the deeper pool, seldom banks of the river and the shores of
rising to a lure. the loch. Therefore this somewhat
Scarcely have the spring fish lost obscure run of winter fish is followed
the sheen of the sea and taken to the with interest by those who are not very
pools than the grilse appear. The familiar with the movements of other
run may last from midsummer till salmon. It is the only one which con-
early autumn. Milt and roe are bud- cerns them.
ding. These immigrants are the breed- They average some seventeen pounds,
ing stock. In their turn they retire For the most part they are barren,
into the deeper places and wait on, in roeless, and miltless. They come later
semi-quiescence. So far all is clear, than the autumn run, because, not
The running has to do with one of the hurried by a like imperious necessity,
dominant phases of life. These fish they come earlier than the spring run,
of different ages are there to breed. without the excuse of impatient fore-
In the closing weeks of the year a cast. Yet they come as regularly
somewhat exceptional run of salmon as either, and in fairly constant num-
enter a limited number of our northern bers. Were the visits more occasional,
streams. I have not heard of them on they would be less puzzling. They
the Tweed. They enter the Forth and are not there for the ordinary purpose
make their way, past Stirling and of spawning. They have simply fed
Callander, to those magic lochs strung full and turned their tails to the sea.
on its head waters. In numbers, next to those of the
On the Tay their presence is known Tay, the winter salmon are found in
to all the world. There they turn the the Ness. They pass up the six miles
winter of an angler's discontent into of clear, swift, shallow current. Thence
an early and glorious summer. They along the line of lochs strung on to the
SALMON 231
Caledonian Canal to the distant Garry, in which the barb is fixed. The order
Entering from the sea on the east to return them to the water is disre-
they reach, by these inland water- garded, and visiting anglers fill their
ways, almost to the west coast. dry baskets.
Among the spawning fishes there Such are the outcome of the eggs
would seem to be a spring run, still placed in the trenches on that October
young-roed, and months from the or November day. Not one parr sur-
redds. A second run of summer grilse, vives for each thousand eggs. Enemies
also young-roed, and with weeks of have waited all along the line, corn-
waiting ; and yet a third autumnal pared with which the industrious angler
run of ripe fish. Some streams num- is an innocent. The heaviest rain-
ber all these runs in their annual fall seems to rush down to the sea all
calendar. at once. Floods in these days of
The Ness is doubly interesting. Not rapid drainage scour deep, and send
only is it one of the few streams chosen the gravel rolling and the eggs dancing
by the winter salmon, but it roughly on the brown water. Trout love the
divides the streams which have a full roe, and watch for the hatching, when
from those which have an imperfect the fry move helplessly about with
calendar. South of the Ness all the the attached sac.
great rivers on the east coast of Scot- So many are the risks, and so few
land the Dee, the Tay, the Forth, the the survivals, that hatcheries have
Tweed are full-seasoned. North of come to the rescue. Nature was wise
the Ness and round by the west coast enough to foresee the danger, and is
of Scotland many of the streams are old enough to watch the working and
short-seasoned. hold the balance. The multitudinous
Fishing the Tweed on a summer eggs of a single salmon are meant to
day is a somewhat painful pleasure, provide against the waste, otherwise
and needs great evenness of temper, they are themselves a waste. Were
Almost every cast yields so far so all to survive there would be a struggle
good. Should three hooks be on the for life, indeed. If the demands of the
cast, all are filled but not exactly table are in excess of the supply, the
with the fish one wants. The ten or evil which causes this and the remedy
eleven dark, transverse bars are tell- are alike obvious. Our methods are
tale, not to talk of the small mouth at fault. Modern means of capture
232 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
must be looked to. Public interest a leader who has been there before,
must over-ride personal profit, and the smolt find their way seaward. In
makeshifts yield to natural law. We the brackish water of the estuary they
must serve the year rather than the linger until they are acclimatized,
hour. Were we to deal with other Countless enemies who know their
food supplies as we do with this we habit wait for them there, and on
would soon starve, and richly deserve the margin of the sea.
it. The marine life of the smolt, like
A few more salmon left in the water that of the salmon, is not so clear as
will do all that is needful. To justify that in the river. In its future are
our greed and repair the waste by bars of shadow and light, of mystery
hatching out a few eggs is the act of and clearness. That it eats voraci-
simpletons. The nemesis will appear ously, following the shoals, is all that
somewhere ; in some way is bound to is absolutely certain. It goes to sea
come. To say that the artificially to eat, and does it. It grows rapidly
reared fry are unlikely to make much and enormously,
difference in the number is only half Because we do not see the process
the truth : they will enervate the life of growth we find different names for
of the stream. They will do no good : the stages. We do not so mark the
they are certain to do mischief. stages of the haddock's growth. The
If the parr which thus find their salmon tells its tale in chapters each
way into the basket were left in the with its heading. The smolt comes
water for a season they would lay out of the shadow of the sea, to the
aside their dusky bars. Next May or light of its native stream, as the grilse,
thereabout they would drop down the having grown from ounces to pounds,
stream as silvery coated smolt. Whether Another belt of shadow, another season
the migratory instinct is translated of mystery, and the grilse appears as the
into action without any guidance spring salmon. And then it joins the
were hard to say. -With or without veterans which come up in the autumn.
XLV
AN AX IMPERATOR
"He dried his wings; like gauze they grew.
A living flash of light he flew." LORD TENNYSON.
^T^HE peopling with wild life of Each tree round the lake, with great
woods and waters formed arti- ceiling of blue and grey above, is
ficially is to me often a mysterious work, doubled to a detail in a world below
Flowers, insects, sometimes even fishes, water ; so that if, lying by the lake,
will appear on the scene though hitherto I wish to study the beauty of form and
they have been unknown in the dis- colour about the trees or clouds, it
trict. Make a pond or lake, using can be done without raising the eyes,
for your water supply only the hidden The floating leaves of the water plants
springs that make the ground round seem not in the least to interfere with
about soppy ; even confine your efforts the reflection. All that is needed for
to catching the moisture in the air by faithful representation of the sky and
means of straw and clay and a shallow wood here is a glossy smooth surface
basin scooped out on some common and a bright sun at the back of the
or among the hills ; and before long watcher.
Nature will give it forms of life strange When the sun is out, the dragon of
to the place insect life especially, the wooded lake is on the wing. As
above water and below. he flies to and fro across the centre of
There is a shallow artificial pond, a the lake, sometimes settling on the
few acres in extent, among the pine rhododendron islet in the middle, he
and birch woods which is good to visit may give one the idea of some diaphan-
in July. It does not offer the refresh- ous bird, a bird of fairyland. His
ment of the clear, running stream. It crystalline wings, wafer-thin, flash in
is half choked now with American the sun, and at fifty, even a hundred
pond- weed and with native water flora, yards distance, we can get glimpses
so that the waterfowl can only paddle of the bright blue of his body. This
about slowly. But, through the shel- splendour is the Emperor of English
tered nature of the place, the face of dragon- flies, Anax imperator.
the lake is glassy still ; it mirrors the He looks all sheen and pride ; and,
woods and the sky to perfection on a for flight, it is as if he enjoyed not so
bright day. much mastery over the air as com-
234 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
merce with it as we can fancy the character. This is Puella, the little
red hawk does. girl, a slip of a thing, with compared
Anax is imperious, " bears with to the emperor's a weak flight, but
no rival near the throne." The lake not a dancing or bobbing flight like
just now holds two emperors at least, the demoiselle's. The little girl's wings
besides, perhaps, their consorts, whom are of the usual crystalline texture,
I have not noticed. When one emperor and the body is pure bright blue, with
invades the other's realm, a fiery, regular rings of black. You see this
running duel begins. Up and down choice fly flitting over ah 1 parts of the
the outraged tyrant pursues the in- lake when the sun is out, constantly
vader, both darting, skimming just settling on the leaves of the water-
above the lake with their arrowy lilies and any scrap of green or brown-
straightness of aim. Anax has not, green that thrusts up to the air.
I should say, the swiftness of some On a very hot afternoon the place
of the moths, of the humming-bird has a tropical look and atmosphere ; an
hawk moth, but his is superlative effect produced by these glittering
flight not the less, proud and beautiful flies, dragons of the air, and the burn-
as that of any winged thing. ing sky blue mirrored in the dead still
Not only the lake in the woods, but lake. But if a thrush sang by the
the rough, boggy patches about it, lake, on such a day, the whole
even the dry, rising ground, are now might be homely English at once,
full of a dragon-fly of quite another The thrush is our national bird.
XL VI
FIELD NOTES ON SOME ENGLISH BUTTERFLIES
"There is a difference between a grub and a butterfly; yet your butterfly was a grub."
SHAKESPEARE.
A MONG the white butterflies that are the males of the orange-tip, but
** flit about the meadows, and the females are without the orange
even the grassy margins of the high patch. The undersides of the hind-
roads, in May and June, will be noticed wings in both sexes are marked with
some that have the outer portions of greenish, and when the insects alight
the forewings orange-coloured. These on the white flower-heads of the beaked
FIELD NOTES ON SOME ENGLISH BUTTERFLIES 235
parsley, and various other early bloom- done by putting the stems of the cress
ing Umbelliferce, the wings are so in damp sand. Both sand and food-
arranged that only this surface and plant will have to be renewed from
just the extreme blackish tips of the time to time, and if the cress can be
forewings can be seen. Unless we supplied in flower it will be more to the
carefully note the exact spot upon liking of the caterpillars, as well as
which the butterfly pitched, we shall to the butterfly when she is egg-laying,
have some trouble in detecting it on Whether undertaken with a view to
its resting-place. The markings of deeper study, or merely as a practical
the underside so beautifully correspond life-history lesson, the experiment of
with the insect's surroundings that, rearing a butterfly from its first stage
although we may really be looking at as an egg, through the subsequent
it, we shall fail to recognize it as a forms of caterpillar and chrysalis to
butterfly. After a little practice, how- perfect insect, is certain to be highly
ever, the eye becomes accustomed to interesting.
the work required of it, and will locate Eggs of the large or the small white
the butterflies easily enough. The butterflies, for example, are very insig-
orange-tip delights in sunshine, and nificant objects that may often be seen
few will be seen on the wing on dull in dozens when looked for. They will
days, but they may then be sought be found standing upright on either
for among the blossoms. If eggs or surface of a leaf of the familiar cabbage
caterpillars are desired, the former growing in the garden. Place one of
may be obtained by searching the these eggs, which are more or less
flower-heads of the lady's smock or skittle-shaped, under the microscope,
of the garlic-mustard ; the latter on and it will be seen to have several ribs
the seed-pods of the same plants. Or extending from the blunt apex to the
a female butterfly may be captured, base, and a number of finer lines
and afterwards enclosed with a spray around its circumference. Probably
or two of water-cress in a receptacle when first noticed the eggs may be
that admits both air and sunshine, greenish or yellowish-green, but if kept
She will deposit eggs, and the cater- under observation for a few days they
pillars that hatch from these will feed will be found to turn greyish. The
upon the water-cress if this is kept in last change in colour indicates that
a suitable condition, which may be the caterpillars will soon emerge from
236 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
the eggshell. To enable it to make course, the whole period occupied in
its debut the young caterpillar bites passing from egg to butterfly not much
through the shoulder of the egg, and exceeding six weeks in the summer-
before it emerges therefrom it has time.
eaten a large portion of the shell. It Some butterflies require the whole
is of course exceedingly small at first, of twelve months to effect the changes
and very unlike what it will become from egg to perfect insect, whilst of
when full-grown. Its existence as a others there will be three generations
caterpillar is of comparative short during the year. Hibernating species
duration; but this stage is nevertheless such as the brimstone and tortoise-
a most important one in a butterfly's shells are in the butterfly state for at
career, and full of stirring episodes, least six months, but they are in a
Not only has it to pass through the dormant condition during the greater
ordeal of changing its skin on several part of that time. Even so their
occasions, but enemies, especially those active life is longer than that of the
in the shape of parasitical flies, are small copper, of which there are three
ever on the watch to destroy it. The flights of butterflies in the year. The
flies deposit their eggs on the back of duration of the caterpillar life is also
the caterpillar, and the tiny grubs a variable quantity. In some kinds
that hatch from these enter its body this stage is protracted over several
and therein establish themselves as months, whilst in others it lasts only
non-paying guests. Caterpillars so com- a few weeks. Then as regards the
mandeered often succeed in attaining chrysalis, some kinds remain much
the chrysalis stage, but this probably longer in this stage than others,
only happens when the parasites are Down yonder lane, on the sunny
later than their host in arriving at side of the old barn, there is a fine patch
maturity. Although a large, some- of nettles, and on these we shall most
times very large, percentage of cater- likely find a colony of spiny cater-
pillars are " ichneumoned," some cer- pillars busily engaged in devouring
tainly do escape the attention of these the leafage, or perhaps they may be
undesirables and other foes, and sunning themselves on the web of silk
therefore reach the chrysalis stage in which is the result of their co-operative
a healthy condition. From such industry. This web may be regarded
chrysalides butterflies emerge in due as the common hall of the colony, in
FIELD NOTES ON SOME ENGLISH BUTTERFLIES 237
or upon which they congregate for Be careful in opening the retreat, for
moulting, basking, or other purposes, the spines of the thistle are sharp,
If the caterpillars we find are black, although those of the caterpillar are
speckled with minute white dots, they not. In general appearance this eater-
will produce the peacock butterfly ; pillar is not very different to that of
or if they are greenish-grey or ochreous the tortoiseshell seen on the nettle,
grey, with paler lines along the back but it is stouter,
and sides, then the small tortoiseshell The painted lady is closely related
may be expected to result from them, to the peacock and the tortoiseshells,
When full-grown such caterpillars are but, unlike those species, it is always
rather formidable looking creatures, solitary in the caterpillar state. The
clad as they are in spiky armour, eggs are laid singly on leaves of
They may, however, be handled with thistle, and occasionally on burdock
impunity as the apparently sharp point or mallow. The caterpillar just inter-
of the spines yield to the touch and viewed was almost certainly from an
are incapable of penetrating the skin, egg laid by a female butterfly that
The repellant character of this style of had passed through its own early stages
caterpillar clothing is effective enough in some far distant country, possibly
no doubt in the case of birds. It is, in Africa. Almost incredible it may
however, not efficient in securing seem that butterflies can travel great
immunity from the attack of parasitic distances, but it has been pretty clearly
flies. established that they do so.
Now we will look at those thistles A good many species of butterflies,
growing on the common where a and a larger number of moths, are
painted lady butterfly was seen on the well known to be migratory, and quite
wing a week or two ago. Yes ! here a respectable contingent of these find
are signs of a caterpillar having fed their way to this country. Among
upon this plant. The fleshy parts of immigrant butterflies that arrive here
these leaves are completely demolished, most regularly is the painted lady
but they still remain fastened together just adverted to, next in order come
by silken threads. A little lower down the clouded yellow and its cousin the
the plant there is a freshly constructed pale clouded yellow. The Camberwell
habitation, and in it the maker will be beauty pays us very irregular visits,
found. Ah ! there he is, sure enough, but does not reproduce its kind in Great
238 THE BOOK OF THE OPEN AIR
Britain as the other species mentioned turn to feast again on the nectar of the
are known to do. In North America blossom which is so attractive to them,
this butterfly, there known as the Although when on the wing these
mourning cloak, is very common. In butterflies appear to be all alike, dingy
Europe it seems to be most at home in brown and uninteresting, this method
Scandinavia and Germany, but it of observation will enable us to note
occurs in many other countries, al- that there is much diversity among
though its appearance in some parts them. One or two are now seen to be
of the continent is almost as uncertain almost black in colour and velvety in
as in our own islands. If eggs are texture. These are males, and have
obtained from abroad the butterflies just recently emerged from the chry-
can be reared quite easily. The cater- salis. The female of this butterfly are
pillars, which live together in com- always more highly adorned with
panics, will eat the foliage of various orange, and in some of them this colour
willows, poplars, and the birch. The is spread over a large portion of the
specimens that come to us generally wings. In some respects the very
arrive in the autumn, and as it is the fresh male meadow browns are similar
habit of this species to pass the winter to the ringlet, which is sometimes
as a butterfly and to pair and lay eggs almost as numerous on the bramble-
in the following spring, the chance of blossoms. The former butterfly may
these things taking place in this coun- however be readily distinguished by
try are very small. There is very the orange ring around the white-eyed
little doubt that specimens do occa- black spot at the tip of the forewing.
sionally hibernate here, but these are Presently the butterflies close their
pretty sure to fall to the net of some wings over their backs, and then the
collector when they come forth in the undersides are exposed to view. We
spring. Even if they escaped capture now see that the ringlet has the wings
the odds would be against the sexes ornamented with eight yellowish ringed
meeting with each other. black spots, and it is from these
The brambles alongside the quiet markings that the insect receives its
lanes are in full flower, and as we pass name.
quite a cloud of meadow brown butter- Leaving the lane, a pathway is taken
flies fly up and flutter away. Stand which leads through cornfields to the
perfectly still awhile and they will re- downs. Having passed the fields we
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FIELD NOTES ON SOME ENGLISH BUTTERFLIES 239
come upon a broad strip of rough which to place an egg or two. Later
sloping ground with a tall thick hedge on both sexes will have retired to their
separating it from the downs proper, sleeping quarters, the males on the
Here are butterflies in abundance, but flower stems of grass or other plants,
the majority of them are white or and the females frequently in a more
creamy white, with blackish markings, lowly position. This habit, which is
These are the marbled whites, and it common to all kinds of blue butter-
will be noted that our presence in their flies, as well as the small coppers and
midst does not greatly alarm them. As some others, is very convenient to the
we approach they take wing, but only entomologist, as it enables him to
to flap lazily away a short distance, examine large numbers without much
If there happens to be a strong trouble to himself or injury to the
breeze they may be wafted in the insect.
direction of the cornfields, but they The exceedingly nimble little yel-
will return to their headquarters ere lowish butterfly that we have seen so
long. Here, too, we shall probably see frequently, but which has eluded close
a few specimens of the chalk hill inspection, so far, is the silver-spotted
blue; but as we ascend the down on skipper. There is one on that flower-
the other side of the hedge these butter- head of the low-growing thistle. As
flies will be more in evidence. The is usual when these butterflies settle
males are blue, but the females are the wings are closed, and only the
brown and less active on the wing undersides of them can be seen, but
than the males, and have important these show the silvery markings which
maternal duties to attend to, so that are the characters by which this butter-
they are more often observed crawling fly can very easily be distinguished
about among the herbage seeking a from any other of the eight kinds of
suitable stem here, or a leaf there, upon skippers found in this country.
M313102
