04 THE NATURALIST ABROAD. 



(P. vulgare*) has mounted upon its trunk, the Pipewort (Fistulina hepaticaj 

 oozes its red, liver-like lobes from its orifices, and a colony of Black Ants 

 (Formica fuliginosa) are excavating its anterior into countless hollow gal- 

 leries and chambers. These sable Ants will occasionally honeycomb the 

 floors of houses in a most singular manner; leaving a dark extensive series of 

 labyriflthal work, that from its burnt sooty appearance might be supposed 

 cumbrous and heavy, but which, when taken up, feels exceedingly light, 

 as I have ascertained in several instances. From a fragment of this ma- 

 nufactured pasteboard (for such it almost is), thus worked up Dy the Ants, 

 and taken from the floor of a house, curiously enough, a Death's-head Hawk- 

 moth (Ackerontia atropos), once emerged, as I noticed, in a small glass-case 

 where it] had been placed. But we are now on the edge of the woodland, 

 whose solitary glades and retired recesses invite us to refreshment, shelter, and 

 repose. Within its gloom all is still, the soothing note of the Ring Pigeon 

 alone being heard ; but the thicket is yellow with the Cow-wheat (Melampy- 

 rum pratense) and the Purple Bilberry ( Vaccinium myrtillus) spreads far and 

 wide beneath the bushes, while here and there the golden Broom still presents 

 a radiant object amidst the close forest trees. 



We are in one of those rocky woods, whose romantic covertures so frequently 

 adorn the bold acclivities bounding the deep valley of the green chrystal 

 Teme. On one side we see the river splashing down the hollows of fthe stony 

 wier, adorned with purple tufts of Arundo phragmites, the bright yellow Wil- 

 low-herb (Lysimachia vulgaris), and the tall rank masses of the (Enanthe 

 crocata ; on the other a deep rocky defile extends before us, dark with verdure, 

 along whose gulleys a rill gushes deep amidst the underwood, which takes its 

 rise far up in the dark recesses of rock, to which superstition has assigned a 

 name of demoniac dread.* But while we yet loiter by the stilly pool before 

 us, edged by an array of grenadier-like Typhaa, and diversified by the elegant 

 bending Carex p&eudo-cyperus, a brown bird has shot past us to the wier, and 

 disappeared behind the stones. It mustbe the Dipper (Cinelus aquaticvs, Fle- 

 ming. A cautious step among the Willows brings us in full view of him. He 

 trills a faint quavering note, now runs into the water, overhead reckless he 

 goes, in and out, and now turns suspiciously round, preening his wing, then at 

 it again, dashing under the water, careless of a wet coat, and now he is off" 

 behind that mass of rock. We have roused him again, and there springs his 

 mate from that grassy islet, but both shoot away up the stream, and are lost 

 behind yon spreading Wyteh Elm, that covers half the river with its mossy 



• It was the Polypody of the Oak that was formerly held in such esteem for medical virtue*, 

 probably arising from its comparative rarity on that tree. 



t The * Devil's Den." 



