158 SoLWAY Nature Notes. 



Here and there the specialist has lifted corners of the 

 veil. What he has brought to light is so infinitely more 

 wonderful, more beautiful than anything we may have 

 imagined that our veneration is deepened and our hearts are 

 stirred. Nature study no longer appeals to us as a pastime 

 or sensuous delight. We have some glimpse of a great 

 purpose, and we are called to closer study. It is as though 

 after knowing for many years some charming person, whose 

 society has always been a keen delight, we suddenly realise 

 that beside all this there is a deeper life, a grandeur of char- 

 acter that we have failed to see before. 



Realising this, I feel that my paper to-night requires an 

 apology. I cannot claim to be a specialist. I am one of 

 those who walk in the garden loving it all as greatly as a 

 man may, but keenly conscious of a profound ignorance. 



What I have to offer is merely a few general notes and 

 some comments. These have been gathered in a somewhat 

 haphazard manner, and I am afraid I shall be unable to link 

 them together. My field for observation is wide, its interests 

 varied, and opportunities intermittent, so that in some cases 

 I must be content with the record of isolated facts, hoping 

 someone may find them of use. 



During last June I happened to be on the Solway almost 

 daily for nearly three weeks, and it happened that during that 

 time the bird life between Southerness and the Abbey Head 

 was more abundant and varied than usual. For more than 

 a week large numbers of Manx Shearwaters were seen daily, 

 and it was a special pleasure to me to have an opportunity 

 of watching this most graceful bird, for I had only seen odd 

 specimens at a distance before. They took very little notice 

 of my boat, and I was often within twenty yards of three or 

 four at a time. The two things one notices most readily 

 about this bird are its long narrow wings and its habit of 

 sailing with undulating flight over the waves and into the 

 troughs without moving these. Few birds one sees near our 

 shore travel so swiftly with such slight exertion. I was 

 reminded .of the long gliding flights of the birds one meets 

 far from land on the wide oceans. Birds one may watch for 



