MAY.
PLANT LIFE.
Plants usually in flower.—Wallflower, shepherd’s purse, buttercup, anemone, marsh marigold, laburnum, common vetch, red clover, white clover, broom, cherry, apple, pear, strawberry, hawthorn, primrose, cowslip, daisy, dandelion, speedwell, red deadnettle, white deadnettle, lily of the valley, wild hyacinth, star of Bethlehem, wild tulip, rushes, sedges, arum, sweet-scented vernal grass, slender foxtail, meadow foxtail, annual meadow grass, perennial rye grass, oak, beech, birch, willow, elm, horse-chestnut, ash, sycamore, and others.
Most forest trees are now in leaf.
Liverworts.—Spore-cases of Pellia ([p. 200]) open.
ANIMAL LIFE.
Birds.—Swallows build nests. Most birds are incubating eggs ([Chap. XVI.]).
Frogs and Toads.—Tadpoles may be found in ponds.
Insects.—Moths and butterflies are common. Cabbage-whites lay eggs. Caterpillars of tiger-moth ([p. 364]) and other Lepidoptera may be found. Aquatic insect-larvae in ponds.