90 Alexander Goodman More. [1357 



the one who held the lantern spied out a little dusky 

 bird, piping* away most cheerily ; and, by keeping the bull's- 

 eye steadily upon him, he suffered us to get almost to lay 

 our hand upon him before he moved away and was once 

 more lost in the thicket. Such is my only experience of 

 seeing the Grasshopper Warbler, but his note had often 

 been remarked in the same wood." 



Another July day an expedition was made to Wootton, 

 chiefly to seek the diminutive quaking grass, Briza minor. 

 Growing among oats, the pretty little grass was " only to 

 be discovered by kneeling down and parting the corn 

 with our hands." While here, say his Journal, " I saw a 

 Red-backed Shrike carrying a burden it could hardly 

 support, and, shouting to the bird, it dropped a young 

 hedge-sparrow nearly fit to fly that had been killed by 

 pressure across the nape of the neck, by which the Shrike 

 was conveying him. So small a bird carrying so large a 

 prey was a most interesting sight." 



The longest botanical excursions made in 1857 were 

 all taken during July his best discovery being that of 

 Calamagrostis lanceolata (the lesser reed), gathered in 

 the alder thicket, at Knighton, on July i ith. The locality 

 was one known to him before, but long unvisited, and 

 now yielded more than one surprise. In the mill-dam, 

 Zannichellia palustris, " all full of the shell Valvata 

 piscinalis," formed " nearly as close a mass as I have seen 

 Anacharis." Before entering the alder thicket was "an 

 awkward ditch, but, after crossing it, such a sight ! Such 

 beds and masses of Lastrsea thelypteris ! and beautifully 

 dry underfoot quite a botanical treat !" 



It was one of those happy moments on which his 

 memory loved to dwell. 



" I snatched a reed, thinking it a little too early for 

 Epigejos, bagged three or four specimens in hope more 

 than with any certainty of its being a good thing. Its 

 paler foliage, narrower leaves, looser, lighter panicle, 

 gradually brought the conviction it was Arundo cala- 

 magrostis, and so it was. New to the Isle of Wight : 

 the prize of the day. Not expected or looked for, just 

 stumbled upon as was Bartsia viscosa : the Ranunculus 



