which appear during this month the chief are the grass-hopper; beetle; and various kinds of flies; and the formidable gadfly, a single one of which strikes terror into the largest herd of cattle, for it is in the skin of the back of these animals that this insect lays its eggs.

The principal season for taking that delicate fish, the mackarel, is in this month. About this time, also, birds cease their notes; for after the end of June an attentive observer hears no birds except the stone curlew whistling late at night: the yellow-hammer, goldfinch, and golden crested wren, now and then chirping. The cuckoo's note also ceases about this time.

The groves, the fields, the meadows, now no more
With me o`y resound. 'Tis silence all,
As if the lovely songsters, overwhelmed
By bounteous Nature's plenty lay intranc›d
In drowsy lethargy.

Some of the most observable plants in flower are the vine; the wood-spurge, and wood-pimpernel, the one in dry, the other in moist thickets; buckbean, water iris, and willow-herbs, in marshes; meadow eranesbill, and corn-poppy, in fields;

mullein, foxglove, thistles, and mallow, by road-sides and in ditch banks; and that singular plant the bee orchis, in chalky or limestone soils.

Gooseberries, currants, and strawberries, begin to ripen in this month, and prove extremely refreshing as the parching heats advance. About an hour before sunset, in the mild evenings of this month, it is highly amusing to watch the common white or barn owl in search of its prey, which consists almost wholly of field-mice. The large quantity of soft feathers with which this bird is covered, enables it to glance easily, and without noise, through the air. Its manner of hunting is very regular, first beating up the side of a hedge, then taking a few turns over the meadow, and finishing by the opposite hedge, every now and then dropping among the grass in order to seize its food. It has been found by careful observation, that when a pair of owls have young, a mouse is brought to the nest about once in every five minutes.

Another interesting nocturnal bird is the goat-sucker, or fern-owl, nearly allied to the swallow in its form, its mode of flight, and food; it is by no means common, but

may be occasionally observed hawking among the branches of large oaks in pursuit of the fern-chaffer, which is its favourite food.

The balmy evenings about the middle of this month, offer yet another interesting object to the naturalist; this is the angler's may-fly, the most short-lived in its perfect state of any of the insect race; it rises out of the water, where it passes its infant state, about six in the evening, and dies about eleven at night. They usually begin to appear about the fourth of June, and continue in succession nearly a fortnight.

On the twenty-first of June happens the longest day at this time, in the most northern parts of these islands there is scarcely any night, the twilight continuing from the setting to the rising of the sun; so that it is light enough at midnight to see to read. This season is also properly called Midsummer, though indeed, the greatest heats are not yet arrived, and there is more warm weather after it than before.

95.

JULY.

Deep to the root

Of vegetation parch'd, the cleaving fields
And slippery lawn, an arid hue disclose :
Echo no more returns the cheerful sound
Of sharp'ning sithe; the mower sinking, heaps
O'er him the humid hay, with flow'rs perfum'd.

As January is the coldest, so July is the hottest month of the year. For though the direct influence of the sun is continually diminishing after the longest day, yet the earth and air have been so thoroughly heated, that the warmth which they retain more than balances, for a time, the diminution of the solar rays. The effects of this increased heat soon become very striking. The flowers of the former month quickly mature their seeds, shrivel and fall; at the same time, their leaves and stalks lose their verdure, and the whole plant hastens to decay. A new generation