THE NATURAL HISTORY OF GOOLE MOOR. 5 
myrtle is very common near the borders. The buckthorn has in 
some parts been destroyed by fire. Broom and gorse, when in 
flower, enliven the dull, heavy appearance of the waste. The ling 
and the cross leaved heath are, of course, the most common 
plants. The beautiful andromeda is one of the prettiest wild 
flowers we have. The plant belongs to the heath family, is 
shrubby in growth, generally found on peat bogs, and bears 
small waxlike flowers, which are extremely delicate. If it were 
a cultivated plant it would no doubt be more esteemed. So with 
the sundews, so common that wheelbarrow loads might be 
collected. The round-leaved species is found on the peat, looking 
like a red star about the size of a penny ; the long-leaved and 
intermediate kinds are upright in their mode of growth. The 
botanist takes additional interest in them, from the fact that they 
are insectivorous. 
Cranberries grow freely in the wet parts, but very few people 
gather them now ; Russian cranberries can be obtained at so low 
a price. The crow berry, usually found in mountainous dis- 
tricts, grows sparingly. Fire has been the chief enemy to the 
botanist—a smoker throws down a match, and a fire, perhaps 
running for half-a-mile or a mile, clears everything before ity 
heather, andromedas, sundews, willow herbs, fir plantations, peat 
stacks, etc., may all be destroyed. About Whitsuntide many 
parts of the bog are covered with the white cotton grass, later, 
about a quarter of an acre of willow herb, in flower, can be 
met with, forming a splendid mass of rose colour. In another 
part you may meet with a bed of bog asphodels, showing a 
cluster of yellow flowers. 
The royal fern and blechnum are scarce. I know of one 
clump of milk parsley, and I am glad to say it is extending. 
The adder’s tongue fern, about three times its usual size, may be 
found in several spots. One plant I must mention, Clayzonia 
perfoliata, grows freely near the Thorne side. It was introduced 
with rhododendrons, and when found is always in the neigh- 
bourhood of that plant. The viper’s bugloss and Stellaria 
glauca, also the foxglove, are found on the Thorne side. Many 
plants are losing ground. Some have within the last few years 
become extinct, as the pilularia at Rawcliffe, and nearly so the 
royal fern and blechnum on the moors. The warping of the 
fields and waste destroys many plants, some are exterminated by 
collectors and dealers—others by the destruction of old thick 
hedges. But as I occasionally find a few species new to the 
district, I see work will still meet its reward. 
Ornithology. The bittern no longer visits the Moor—a solitary 
specimen of the little bittern came into my possession some years 
