PEREGRINE FALCON. I7I 



fiiicture, approaching- to coiiclioidal, sometimes splin- 

 tery; glimmering lustre ; dull brownish-red colour, with 

 specks of dull pale green interspersed ; and small gra- 

 nular structure. It is scratched loy the knife without 

 difficulty, tough and hard under the hammer. 1 he 

 seams have a dark-red rusty appearance, sometimes 

 tinged with dull brownish-black. Felspar and augite 

 are the constituent minerals, the latter in small quanti- 

 ty. The lustre and texture are similar to those of the 

 rock of North Berwick Law, but the colour of the lat- 

 ter is greenish-grey) with interspersed patches of red- 

 dish-brown. 



/ ithough a great portion of the upper surface of the 

 island is composed of rock, there is an abundant vege- 

 tation, consisting chiefly of Festuca ovina, F. duriuscu- 

 la, and a few other grasses, mixed with the plants 

 usually found in maritime situations. In a place for- 

 merly occupied as a garden, there is abundance of Nar- 

 cissus biflorus and N. poeticus, which, of course, cannot 

 be supposed to be indigenous. Among other plants, 

 the following were observed by me : — Silene mariti- 

 ma, Cochlearia officinalis, Plantago coronopus. Lychnis 

 dioica, Geranium moUe, Statice armeria, Draba verna, 

 Urtica dioica, Runiex crispus, Sonchus oleraceus, Leon- 

 todon Taraxacum, Vicia lathyroides, Viola canina, Bel- 

 lis perennis, Lycopsis arvensis, Mycsotis collina, Ce- 

 rastium semidecandrum, Luzula campestris, Bromus 

 mollis, Aira praecox, and, lastly, Lavatera arborea and 

 Beta maritima, the two latter growing in great abund- 

 ance among the ruins, which harbour great numbers of 

 Helix aspersa. 



But the circumstance connected with the Bass most 



