The Zoologist — January, 1868. 1055 



having been thinned to permit the increase of game. The hawks are 

 reduced to the sparrowhawk and the kestrel. The carrion crow breeds 

 both within and without the wall. Long strings of rooks fly away 

 from and over Walton, after September, to Nostel Priory to roost now 

 exactly as they did when Mr. Waterton wrote his ' Essays.' (See 

 'Essays,' vol. i. p. 13-2.) 1 once was standing in Walton Lane about 

 dusk in winter, and I saw a vast number of rooks flying over towards 

 Nostel from some place north-west of Walton : they flew in strings, 

 and were above a quarter of an hour in passing over. At Nostel they, 

 along with many jackdaws, roost in a row of large trees, and the 

 clamour and commotion they make before they get settled is said to 

 be really deafening. 



In one of the darkest and quietest parts of the valley, at the upper 

 or south end of the lake, lie the remains of Mr. Waterton. I should 

 observe here, for the sake of perspicuity, that the lake is oblong, 

 stretching from north to south, and that the Hall is built at the north 

 end. The s.ides of the lake at the north end are dotted with trees, but 

 at the other end both sides are covered with trees down to the water's 

 edge. At the upper or southern extremity the water is not deep, being 

 so constructed to favour the wading birds. In furtherance of this 

 design there is also a flat of ground, planted with reeds and strong 

 grass, for the moorhens and other birds to hide and breed in. The 

 whole is hemmed in and shaded by trees. Here in gloom and sileuce 

 rests the great naturalist. Between two ancient oaks, which grow 

 close to the water and lean over it, stands a stone cross, erected on the 

 spot in Mr. Waterton's lifetime, and behind, set back a little in the 

 wood, is the grave. The mould is raised in the form of a coffin and 

 planted with wild primroses; that is the only protection or covering* 

 On the plinth or foundation of the cross, close to the' ground, on the 

 side facing the water, is an inscription in Latin. The spot where Mr. 

 Waterton hurt himself is marked by a rustic wooden cross, and, 

 singular to say, is only about thirty yards from the grave. In the 

 spring after Mr. Waterton's death, that is to say, the spring of 1866, 

 a magpie built her nest in a tall elm tree which directly overlooks the 

 sepulchre, and in a hole in one of the venerable oaks a "little blue 

 dove " (I give the words as I received them) built her nest and reared 

 her young. " That hole," said my guide, pointing to it, " was planned 

 and made by my good old master for ullato." It is a very large cavity, 



* Orders have lately been given for the erection of palisades. 



