Connection of Rocks with Plants. 335 



broken close to the main stem of the tree. There they con- 

 structed their scanty nest, laid their eggs, and hatched them 

 without molestation from the starlings, who (be it remembered), 

 dwelling in the same tree, and engaged in a like occupation, 

 must, no doubt, have found it extremely convenient to have 

 had a supply of pigeons' eggs so near at hand, if they, poor 

 birds ! had really so strong a partiality for such food, as is 

 sometimes (unjustly, I think) attributed to them. 



The Nuthatch, too, (I don't know where he built his nest, 

 but he) found it, if I may use the expression, a most con- 

 venient set of vices in the chinks and crannies of the ash bark, 

 wherein to fix the stones of haws, nuts, &c, while he worked 

 away with his beak, and jobbed * out the kernels. The crevices 

 of the bark, on the only portion of the tree's trunk which was 

 not sheathed with ivy, were frequently to be seen copiously 

 charged with the refuse of emptied shells, in evidence of this 

 bird's power of bill. But I must refrain ; having already tres- 

 passed too long on your patience, and being apprehensive 

 withal lest you may think these gossiping remarks about a 

 rotten old ash tree unworthy of your notice. I beg, therefore, 

 that you will use your own discretion on the propriety of 

 presenting them to your readers ; and will only add that, should 

 you think them fit to occupy a corner in your Magazine, you 

 are at full liberty to place at the head of the article the same 

 quaint title that Izaak Walton has affixed to the 1 6th chapter 

 of his Angler, which, says he, " is of nothing, jar that which 

 is nothing worth." I am, Sir, yours, &c. >oo vllfiifi 



W. T. Bhee. 

 Allesley Rectory, Jan. 16. 1833. ^ ^ ^ ^ * ^ . 



^//-r ^jrroa arflitsan batairtia amis 



miq oJ boifnq ban ( rmgid 



ojnuoYB* b naad a ieo^ ynsat left 

 Art. VII. Observations on the supposed Connection of Rocks 'with 

 Plants. By Alexander Murray, M.D. and A.M., Aberdeen. 



"to vxrxtmfi QiU io^ tfouov jQnLffio.iudjborrnoKm nsoti SVBfl 

 [The scope of the following article is the same as one, also 

 by Dr. Murray, published in Professor Jameson's Journal 

 for July, 1831 ; but the article is essentially different, a few 

 sentences only being common to the two. In the present 

 communication there is a list of Aberdeenshire plants, con-* 

 tained in various important families : a feature of some inter- 

 est, as no allusion has ever before been made in print to any 

 portion of the flora of that county. The plants quoted in 

 Jameson's Journal relate to a limited tract. In the present 

 list will be found *Seilla verna and Rhodiola rosea, which, till 

 lately, were not supposed to be natives of the east coast of 



* " Nutjobber" is one of the provincial names of the bird. 



