loo By Leafy Ways. 



constant resident, though many of his clan come to us 

 only in the winter to escape the rigour of a northern 

 climate. Here, however, he finds a solitude to suit 

 him, and stays the summer through. Somewhere by 

 the shore he and his handsome mate, whose colours 

 are as striking as his own, make their nest in a rabbit- 

 burrow. At the far end, sometimes as much as ten 

 feet from the entrance, some dry grass is collected ; 

 over this the duck arranges a bed of down, which, like 

 the eider, she tears from her own body. Frequently 

 the hole is among the sand-hills, in the shelter of 

 sedge and sea holly. 



But often a safer retreat is found in the side of a 

 hill looking down on the sea. Walled about with low 

 limestone cliffs, whose grey buttresses stand out here 

 and there among green waves of ivy, lies a little hollow 

 open to the south. The bushes that clothe its sides 

 are dwarfed and twisted by the wind. The plants that 

 cover the parched and scanty soil are such as flourish 

 in the sand. Here, is a patch of pale green wood- 

 sage ; there, a belt of rustling flags, not the bright iris 

 of the meadow-brook, but a flower of dusky hue with 

 sombre colouring and unpleasing odour. Here, the 

 yellow mullein lifts its tall head above the bracken. 

 Here, hang the dark bells of the deadly nightshade. 

 There, open the pallid petals of the henbane. Plea- 

 santer to the eye is the white rock-rose, which in this 

 favoured spot scatters its rare and graceful blossoms 

 broadcast over the rugged ground. Bright butterflies 



