224 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Atriplex patitla, L. A curiously fasciated example, 

 at Highgate. 



Setaria viridis, L. One or two plants at Crouch 

 End had the spikes branched into three. 



Alopecurus pvateitsis, L. A number of plants in an 

 old meadow at Highgate had the outer glumes 

 of the upper spikelets lengthened to four or 

 five times their usual size, and twisted in a 

 fantastic manner. 



Loiium perenne, L. Some specimens have the 

 spikelets crowded together, others have an 

 irregular panicle instead of the simple spike ; 

 others have a perfectly regular fiat panicle in 

 which each spikelet of the normal spike is 

 replaced by a short spike. The length of the 

 awns varies very considerably. 



93, Southwood Lane, 



Highgate, London, N. 



ORCADIAN RAMBLES. 



By Robert Godfrey. 



{Continued from page 205.) 



II. — Stromness to the Loch of Skaill. 



/^\N the following morning, May 26th, I set out 

 under unfavourable weather conditions for 

 the Loch of Skaill, six miles to the north of 

 Stromness. On passing through the town, I left 

 the main road for one that led hilhvards, and I 

 severed my connection with roadways at a small, 

 unnamed loch with a surrounding marsh, whose 

 surface was bright with marsh marigold, cuckoo- 

 pint and sedges. For a while thereafter I threaded 

 my way along narrow strips between ploughed 

 lands until I reached a knowe stripped of its 

 surface herbage, from which I had a splendid view 

 of the great lochs and the heather hills on every 

 side. Unable any longer to resist the possible 

 attractions of the hills, I crossed the intervening 

 moorland and stubble to those lying on the west. 

 During my passage I was unceasingly tormented 

 by the peeweeps — birds that literally swarm here 

 —and I noticed scarcely any diminution in their 

 numbers, even in the haunts of the golden plover. 



I was disappointed in finding the plough at work 

 practically on the hill-top, and I had not expected 

 to see so many crofts scattered up and down. The 

 surface here, of moss and heather, was bare in 

 many places, and the small heaps of drying turf 

 displayed the surface-skinning in full process. The 

 first indications of my having reached a somewhat 

 wilder region were given by the appearance of a 

 pair of ravens that slowly beat about a hill-top in 

 front of me. The display of loch scenery from the 

 hill-crest was magnificent, but dark cloudy skies 

 hanging ominously over me, considerably damped 

 my prospects. 



The further side of the hill, though steeper, 

 presented no better attractions. Still, its uneven 

 surface rendered it more enticing ; but the short- 

 ness of its heather covering prevented its forming 

 suitable inducements for skulking birds. Below me, 

 to the left, was a marsh, caused apparently by peat- 

 digging, beyond which lay another ugly bare patch, 

 and cultivated ground stretched thence to the sea. 

 In front and to my right lay a fine series of lochs, 



of which Stenness and Harray were the chief. I 

 descended the hill slowly, ever hoping to meet 

 with a hen harrier, and at the hill-foot I entered 

 cultivated land just before the long-threatened 

 rain began to fall in a steady drizzle. In crossing 

 this ground to the nearest loch, the mill-dam of 

 Stenness, I flushed a corncrake from a dyke-end. 

 The bird had no doubt been running along the 

 dyke-foot in front of me. It flew rapidly with a 

 side-to-side motion, and on alighting cowered its 

 head at once and ran off. 



The marsh adjoining the loch afforded in its 

 extensive stretches of bogbean, rushes, equisetum 

 and reeds, splendid cover for birds, and the various 

 tenants of the swamp soon hailed my approach 

 with clamorous outcry. Peeweeps and redshanks 

 harassed me persistently, and the dunlin would 

 await me by the waterside and fly off trilling. 

 The blackheaded gulls, from their uproar when 

 disturbed, were evidently nesting, and parties of 

 mallard rose as I advanced, whilst a pair of 

 tufted ducks, most confiding birds, waited my 

 close approach before they shifted, at the duck's 

 instigation, to another part of the loch. Coots 

 also were common, and a pair of mute swans were 

 swimming on the edge of the reeds. More inter- 

 esting to me, however, than any of these birds was 

 the presence of the sedge-warbler, a number of 

 which species in full song rendered the marsh 

 vocal with their churring, as they skulked the while 

 in the thick and splendid shelter. 



After an unnecessarily long halt here, I turned 

 again to the head of the loch, and renewed my 

 journey northwards over the hills. The monotony 

 of the peeweep's call was tiresome, and the 

 persistent presence of this bird rendered anything 

 else acceptable as a change. A pair of common 

 gulls passed over me once, and at a ruin, I met 

 with a pied wagtail. Larks were, of course, 

 unfailingly present, and the ring plovers put in an 

 appearance at a portion of the hills where the turf 

 had been stripped off. These latter birds afforded 



