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the lower zone. The few that grow above looo feet may be 

 summarised thus : Sesleria ccerulea, Agrostis caiiina, A. vulgaris, 

 with its vax'itty pumila, Aira flexuosa, A. caspitosa, A. caryophyllea 

 and A. pracox, Triodia decumbens, Melica nutans, Poa alpina, 

 P. a?mua, P. praiensis, Festuca ovina, F. vivipara, F. sylvatica, 

 and Nardus strida. The last frequently marks the line of 

 demarcation between the gramineous and the heathy coverings of 

 our hills. 



Of the Ferns I have spoken before the Penrith Society ; only I 

 may be permitted to enter my earnest protest against the ruthless 

 and indiscriminate way in which these elegant adjuncts to the 

 plant Hfe of Lakeland are being rooted up and exterminated. In 

 the Keswick neighbourhood, once famous for its Osmunda regalis, 

 that plant in a wild state is now already a thing of the past. Others 

 of the Filices are undergoing the same fate, and I would implore 

 the members of this and kindred associations to use every influence 

 at their disposal to arrest the mischief A fern new to the district 

 has quite recently been discovered, the precise location of which I 

 could not venture to make public. Lycopods and Equiseta we 

 possess in great variety as well as abundance. Of the Mosses and 

 Lichens, whose name is legion, I cannot now speak. 



I will now proceed to make a few remarks on the feathered 

 occupants of the hills. We are told that Birds of Prey were once 

 much more common than they are now. The Eagle Crags, Falcon 

 Glints, &c., met with in our excursions, still testify to this. Within 

 living memory, the Kite or Glead or Fork-tailed Hawk, as he was 

 commonly styled by the dalesmen, has disappeared. One well 

 remembered nesting place of this bird — full in sight from the 

 place where my notes are written — will know its old occupants 

 never again. The Raven yet croaks occasionally from Priest 

 Crag, still nearer to my house; but he no longer ventures to 

 establish his nursery there, though aged men recollect when in 

 their school-boy days, to rob his nest was a favourite exploit with 

 them, not unattended with a spice of danger. While gamekeepers 

 class all such birds as vermin, and wage merciless warfare against 



