412 Northerji News. 



Mr. W. Eajfle Cliirke, F. R.S. E. , of the Edinburg-li Museum of Science 

 and Art, is spending- a month on a Hjjfhtship in order to study the phenomena 

 of bird migration on the coasts of Britain. Encourag;ed by the importance 

 of the scientific results obtained during- his sojourn in the Eddystone Light- 

 house in the autumn of 1901, Mr. Clarke has stationed himself upon the 

 Kentish Knock Lig-htship, which is situated off the mouth of the Thames. 

 He hopes to have exceptional opportunities for observing; the east to west 

 autumnal movements across the southern waters of the North Sea. 



Probably the first book on birds which treats them in anything- like a 

 modern scientific spirit, and not from the medical point of view adopted by 

 the earliest writers, is ' De Historia Avium,' by William Turner, published 

 at Cologne in 1544. Turner was born at Morpeth, in Northumberland, but 

 frequently had to take refug-e on the Continent. In the opinion of Mr. A. H. 

 Evans, Turner's work bears evidence of a knowledg-e of his subject, 'which 

 would be distinctly creditable even to a modern ornithologist.' The 

 Cambridg-e University Press has recently published a translation of this 

 early ornithological work, which will be of g-reat service to all naturalists 

 interested in bird life. 



A recent issue of ' The Spectator ' * contains an excellent article on the 

 subject of ' The Natural Gardens of the River Eamont,' which divides 

 Cumberland from Westmorland. It is pointed out that this natural g-arden 

 has not sprung up by itself; it has been made, in part, hy the spates and 

 floods of the river. Such a g-arden, also, ' must be on land not cultivated, 

 and which cattle do not browse. This is secured on the banks of the 

 Lower Eamont by the margin between the hig-h flood mark and the normal 

 level of the river, and by the exquisite survival of moor and cragf known as 

 Udford Rocks. There are, in fact, two wild gardens adjacent, each look- 

 ing- on the clear and flowing- river — the upper, or rock garden, and the 

 lower, or herbaceous border, with line behind lii-ie of flowers, following the 

 course of the river. Sometimes the rocks descend to the waters, and there 

 the gardens mingle, harebells and stonecrops, and tiny wild pink geraniums 

 growing on the sunny banks of red-gre}' rocks, round whose feet the waters 

 swirl ; while by their sides, springing from the moist river soil, grow' tall 

 mauve campanulas and masses of meadow-sweet. Nor must it be forgotten 

 that on the north or cool side of the gorge are a series of natural ferneries 

 and moss grottoes, hanging above the flower line.' 



The first principle in the naturalist is the love of Nature, and this was 

 possessed in an eminent degree by the Rev. Richard Wilton, M.A., Rector 

 of Londesborough, who entered into rest on the loth of August, at the age 

 of 76. He was a native of Doncaster. As a poet he is widely known by 

 his sonnets, which rank so highly that they enrich all recent anthologies. 

 I have taken up at random ' Sungleams,' for a quotation to justify his claims 

 to the recognition of the ' Naturalist,' and from abundant passages I select 

 the following : — 



' Nature, be thou my minstrel, ever nig-h 



To minister thy tranquilisingf aid ; 



hx sultry noontide or in evening shade, 

 Lend me thy solace when I droop or sigh. 

 Play to me, minstrel, in the whispering wind, 



The rippling water, ,-ind the rustling tree, 

 And smooth and harmonise the ruffled mind.' 



Canon Wilton will be long remembered as a lover of men and of the Nature 

 in which they moved. 



We think of you, as tenderly we take 

 • Your volumes, rich with Nature's outward grace. 

 And if a sigh the breathing pages shake, 



Tis wrought ot time and memory's embrace : 

 Dear unto you, from Nature's living face. 

 Smiled the deep wisdom that the green years make. 



E. L. 



* 29th August, pp. 307-8. 



Naturalist,. 



