210 MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



disappearing under the water— a last chance for the fish— but it would not do, he soon again 

 rose with him. He gradually approached the shore, and I expected that he would have been 

 obliged to land, to despatch him on dry ground. But he managed, I suppose, to get his head 

 the right way, so down he went, (not, I think, a very pleasant internal companion.) For a 

 short time, the Cormorant appeared uneasy, stretching out his neck, rising to his utmost height, 

 as if balanced on his tail, gulping him down, but he succeeded at last; and my black friend 

 composed himself, preened his feathers, ducked two or three times, shook himself, and returned 

 to his fishing, at which employment I left him, having informed the keeper of the presence of 

 the poacher.— Richard Alington, Rectory, Swinhope, May 22nd., 1854. 



Tlie Shj Larlc, (Alauda arvensis.) I heard at two separate times the full note of the Sky 

 Lark on' Sabbath, 12th. February. The locality is very much exposed, lying in one of the most open 

 parts of the Moray Frith. In some districts of the country there is an old saying with respect 

 to the song of the Sky Lark, namely, "As lang as the liverock sings afore candlemas, (12th. 

 February,) it greets (weeps) after it." I have given it in the vernacular dialect.— "W. Macduff, 

 March 22nd., 1854. 



The Ferns, etc., of Bawburgh Hill. — On April 5th., we took a stroll round one of our 

 outlandish lanes, about two miles from our Hill; it is a very unfrequented one by most people, 

 save workmen; as it only leads to fields and lands belonging to the surrounding farms. It is 

 called Brammertye, or Brambletye Lane. With broad patches of waste ground in many parts, 

 it is one, I doubt not, would well repay local botanists by a careful ramble round it; our 

 object in selecting it now, was to search for Ferns, just breaking out most temptingly. Our 

 first plant was a small evergreen, having been well screened by the shelving brambles and 

 moss, the Aspleniiim adiantum nigrum. We had gathered several specimens of this on the 

 south side of our Hanger, on March 29th. The Hound's Tongue, as here called, ( Scolopendrium 

 vulgare,) was very abundant; in many places it was growing in clusters. Several plants of 

 the Lastrea Jilix-mas were found ; and also a very beautiful one, an evergreen, of the Asple- 

 nium Trichomanes, with many young healthy fronds appearing; the spores were quite safe on 

 the old ones, which had braved the winter. Mr. Moore, in his work on Ferns, says "It is 

 a commonly distributed species throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland, growing on rocks 

 and old walls; more rarely on hedge-row banks, where, however, it is more luxuriant." 

 Certainly this was a fine plant — very elegant; I was glad to remove it; audit is now growing 

 well. I knew of its location on Weston Church, about seven miles from our Hill, but I 

 never found it so near home before. On the walls of our church we have the Asplenium 

 ruta-muraria, but it appears to lessen considerably: as this spring it is showing itself only 

 at one small patch of brickwork. In our ramble we found the Common Bracken showing a 

 few fronds, and with this I close the present list of Ferns peculiar to the district of our 

 Hill. We discovered in this lane a large bed, nearly fifteen feet long, of that delicate green 

 flower the Glory less or Moschatel, (Adoxa Moschatellina. ) We were struck with its beautiful 

 cool appearance, which renders it quite fit for rock-work ornament. Its flowers are a very 

 singular feature, being all at the summit of a long tapering stalk, and forming a square, 

 with four of them surmounted by a fifth, which is the crowning decoration. It has an 

 earthy but pleasant smell, when wet with dew. This is the only known locality around 

 our Hill for this lovely pale green floweret of the woods.— G. R. Twinn, Bawburgh Hill, 

 near Norwich, April Uth., 1854. 



Early Entomological Captures. — In answer to your correspondent in "The Naturalist," of the 

 1st. inst. I beg to state that I captured the Small Garden White Butterfly on the 27th. March, 

 Orano-e-Tipped Butterfly, 14th. April. Humming Bird Moth, 20th. Small Heath Brown and 

 Wall Argus, 26th. I had some fine Emperors from the chrysalis, 11th. April; I have a singular 

 cocoon of the Emperor Moth, it has an opening at each end, with the domes complete in each 

 end. Small Heath Blue, one side male and the other side female. — T. F., Witney, May 6th., 

 1854. 



Be it known to entomologists that specimens can be sent fresh by post in a light chip box, 

 corked on one side, with a piece of wet sponge fastened on the other. — F. 0. Morris, Nunburu- 

 holme Rectory, Hay ton, York, August 7th., 1854. 



