212 The Irish Naturalist. [August, 



glorious prospect. All County Down lies spread to the east- 

 ward, billow upon billow of green and brown fields, wliich 

 towards the south give way to higher ridges, dark with 

 heather ; and behind these rise the Mourne Mountains. Far 

 to the eastward, beyond the rugged crags which crown Slieve 

 Bearnagh, towers the sunny dome of Slieve Donard. The 

 western end of the range presents a series of high ridges which, 

 above Rostrevor, drop suddenly into the waters of Carling- 

 ford lyough. Facing this steep slope rises the bold rugged form 

 of Carlingford Mountain. Here is a district not half as well 

 known to the naturalist as it ought to be. The deep untrodden 

 valleys and high granite cliff-ranges of the Mournes can 

 vie in interest and beauty wath any mountain-range in the 

 kingdom. And, though not rich in Alpine plants, the botanist 

 finds delight in climbing the cliffs for Hieraciitm argcnteiim, or 

 searching for the rare H. hiber?iic2im and the Parsley Fern, or 

 gathering the lovely Welsh Poppy above Rostrevor, or the 

 Narrow-leaved Willow-herb on Kagle Mountain, where the 

 cliffs re-echo the scream of the Peregrine Falcon and the hoarse 

 croak of the Raven. 



Meanwhile we are steadily climbing, past Bessbrook, and 

 along tbe slope of Camlough Mountain. We have left behind 

 the Ordovician lowlands, and are in a region of volcanic rocks. 

 As we cross the Dundalk road, we get a beautiful view of 

 Newry lying in the valley below, and then plunge in between 

 the high rocky walls of Wellington Cutting, to emerge on the 

 boggy elevated plain that stretches between Slieve Gullion and 

 the mountains of Louth. 



Here we have a different flora. Splashes of purple Heather 

 pass in rapid succession, and the heads of the Sheep's Scabious 

 flicker everywhere like blue stars. The dreary bogs gleam 

 white with patches of Cotton-grass, lit up here and 

 there with red daubs of Lesser Sorrel. And now on our 

 right hand towers the long ridge of Slieve Gullion, 

 clothed with woods below, deep with heather above. The 

 little lake of Calliagh Berras, which lies close to the summit 

 of the mountain, is famous as the scene of the enchantment 

 of the hero Fionn by Milucra, the daughter of Culand the 

 smith ; and hard by, on the hill-summit, Fionn was restored 

 to his youth and beauty by means of a magic drinking-horn. 



