466 WILD FLOWEBS OF 



again except on bended knee ; the rock was friable, 

 and the scene of ruin below told but too plainly what 

 must be the inevitable result of a single slip. "While 

 gazing on the scene, a solitary Sand Martin (Hirundo 

 riparia) sprung from a cavity in the rock, and flut- 

 tered in the sunbeams, resting every now and then 

 upon a little shelf of the sandstone. Poor fellow ! he 

 was left behind when his parents and brethren took 

 their departure over the mighty deep to warmer 

 climes, and, like the domesticated pet of a deserted 

 cottage, whose inmates have removed far away, ho 

 moved querulously about, as if astonished and con- 

 founded at the unwonted state of destitution in which 

 he was thus left. In wandering on to a succeeding 

 range of cliff", and looking down suddenly through a 

 break upon the shore below, I perceived a large flock 

 of Sea-Grulls seated, in all their white purity, upon a 

 large fragment of sandstone ; but they quickly started 

 off, barking and howling like a pack of hounds, till 

 the eye lost sight of them, as far off they flounced 

 down upon the water, but their singular bark or 

 melancholy low, long resounded, at intervals, from the 

 wide ocean, alone disturbing the awful, soothing, 

 renovating silence of the scene. 



The morning scenery of October among upland 

 heaths is often of an exciting delicious character, 

 combined with the last blowing plants of the year, 

 every twig sparkling with translucent dew-drops 

 lighted up with iridescent hues as the rising sun's 

 rays fall upon them, while the wild woodbine has a 

 brood of later pink-hued blossoms that adds fragrance 

 to the air still saturated with moisture. The moun- 

 tain ash glows with the load of its coral ripened 



