FEBRUARY, 1883. 273 



carefully around : there are several smaller stones with 

 miniature tree-roots sticking upon them, but in such a 

 manner as no terrestrial plants ever do, and no difficulty 

 need be found in allocating these also to the seashore. 

 Has the ground actually been raised a couple of hundred 

 feet above the present sea-level within a quite recent 

 period, in which the tangle attachments and serpulae have 

 not been worn off the stones ? No ! it is Mohammed 

 who has gone to the hill, not the hill to Mohammed; and 

 the cartloads of tangle and other seaware which have 

 been taken from the shore and laid down as manure have 

 borne along with them many goodly stones to which the 

 seaware has been attached ; and thus a fresh condition 

 will be imported into the geological problem of the future, 

 as no doubt many a similar uncalculated condition has 

 found its way into the geological formations which are 

 the problems of to-day. 



FEBRUARY, 1883. 



This last severe weather has set all the small birds 

 flocking again, and brought down to us from the higher 

 grounds, and in from the further moors, flights of 

 buntings of various species. One would naturally expect 

 that for convenience of finding feeding, birds would 

 rather keep separate in severe weather than throng 

 together, as it can be no easy matter to find provender 

 for these large bands of finches and buntings. No 

 doubt safety from birds of prey and other enemies is one 

 cause of their banding together, and they will also cover 

 a larger area in hunting for supplies, which in the case of 

 these seed-eaters will be found in quantity as a rule when 

 found at all. The several species do not necessarily 



