robert, cranes-bill, silver weed, hedge maple, dogwood, black bryony,
ivy; while in the kitchen gardens nothing can exceed the beauty of the
asparagus and the common carrot.

* * * * *

Many birds come to England from the north to spend the winter. Wild
ducks, woodcocks, fieldfares, and curlews are coming now, besides
thrushes, larks, and other small birds. Some of these live with us all
through the year, and are only joined by relatives from colder climates.
In very cold winters many birds who do not usually migrate, are driven
south in search of food; but the reception they meet with is hardly
calculated to attract great numbers of strangers to our shores; for the
notice one usually reads in the newspapers is that such and such a rare
bird "has been seen and _shot_."

* * * * *

"It is as hot as we have it in India, or, at any rate, I feel the heat
as much." One often hears this statement on a hot summer's day from an
Indian visitor; while, on the other hand, our Canadian cousins assure us
that their bright, clear winter, though so intensely cold, is not so
trying as ours. This is to a great extent caused by the unusual moisture
of the air in England. John Burroughs tells us that "the average
rainfall in London is less than in New York, and yet it doubtless rains
ten days in the former to one in the latter," which he explains by the
fact that in England "it rains easily, but slowly."

That we can bear greater dry than damp heat is easily proved by holding
one's hand before a fire, and then plunging it into hot water, using a