22 SQUIRREL. 



furze covers large spaces with its profuse clumps, 

 interspersed with beds of the stinking Iris, a plant 

 which has little to recommend it, but w^hich is very- 

 common on these seaward slopes. Down the perpen- 

 dicular steeps hangs and creeps the ivy, concealing 

 the rugged rock with its evergreen beauty ; and on 

 the slopes that are less precipitous, matted thickets 

 of the brake-fern and bramble inclose and protect 

 little sheltered spots, where, all through the spring, 

 primroses grow by handfuls, and stud the hill-side 

 with thick spots of their delicate yellow, as thick as 

 stars and constellations in the sky of a winter's night. 

 In these thickets I was rather surprised and pleased 

 to find the Squirrel residing ; one morning in March 

 as I was quietly sitting on a stone, looking down from 

 the brow of the promontory on the sea that was 

 beating in over the rocks below, out pops Squggy, 

 and with a grunt and a flourish of his feathery tail 

 over his back in he dashes again, then out to peep, 

 and away to go again ; I all the while holding my 

 breath, in hopes to confirm his confidence. But no ; 

 he would not adventure again. 



The limestone at the base of the promontory, on 

 that side I mean which faces the south, and bounds 

 Oddicombe beach, is very precipitous ; but it has 

 been fretted by the incessant breaking of the waves 

 into caverns and groins, buttresses, basins, shelves 

 and ridges of all sorts of fantastic shapes. In some 

 places there are spout-holes, the sea running up into 

 a funnel-shaped cave, with a peculiarly hollow sound 

 when you hear it beneath your feet, and breaking out 

 at an opening some way within, wdth a gust of wind 



