SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



49 



ably level table-land, sloping slightly towards the 

 north and east, with no trees, no hedges, and no 

 shelter. This absence of shelter is a serious draw- 

 back, and diminishes the value of the land for 

 agricultural purposes. From the comparative 

 mildness of the winter and the absence of severe 

 frost, were there only good shelter, large quantities 

 of excellent early vegetables might be grown for 

 the Bristol markets. Perhaps, were sufficient 

 expense incurred, some shelter might be made on 

 the eastern slopes, and vegetables of fine quality 

 could be grown a month earlier than on shore. 

 After the end of March white frost is rare. In 

 March, 1878, the lowest reading was 32° F., in 

 April, 33°, and in May, 39'5°. In March, April 

 and May, 1879, the readings were respectively 

 29-5°, 30-5° and 36-5° F., and in 1880, in the same 



chiefly, though not wholly, on the west — majestic ; 

 and they impress the few people who have the 

 good fortune to see them as far surpassing in rugged, 

 untamed grandeur, anything else in the south of 

 England, not excepting the precipitous rocks near 

 Land's End and those near Swanage, which cannot 

 be much more than half as lofty. On the slopes, 

 well under the shelter of the mass of the island, 

 but some distance above the water, the soil is in 

 places deep ; it is contained in pockets, where it 

 has accumulated, and there many species of wild 

 flowers luxuriate, and attain a splendid size. 



The crowning charm of Lundy is the opportunity 

 it offers for studying natural history, for its 

 speciality is its wild birds, which once abounded. 

 In former days when they rose they filled the air 

 with discordant cries, but long before I took up 



Lundy: Harbour and Rat Island 



months, the minima were 36°, 39° and 38-5° F. 

 The mean temperature of the island must be about 

 50-5° F., its chief peculiarity being the mildness of 

 the nights, especially in spells of severe weather on 

 shore. But the moderate summer maxima reduce 

 the annual mean far below the figures which the 

 mild winter would lead one to expect. Unfortun- 

 ately, the elevation of the island and the want of 

 shelter from the wind more than counterbalance 

 the exceptional advantages which the absence of 

 low temperatures would offer. 



The south half of Lundy has long been cultivated. 

 There the grass is fine and green, and the crops are 

 of superior quality. The northern half is still in a 

 state of nature, with shallow soil or bare rock, and 

 more lichen and moss than turf. The slopes of the 

 island, locally called " sidelands," are in places 

 exceedingly beautiful and attractive; in others — 



my residence on the island their numbers had 

 greatly diminished, and though protected as much 

 as possible by the present squire and his sister, 

 serious inroads have been made upon their 

 numbers, and they no longer rise in the dense 

 clouds reported by earlier visitors. In April they 

 " come in," and in a few weeks almost cover the 

 rocks and the more inaccessible headlands. A 

 little later they commence to lay their eggs. The 

 species commonly met with are several sorts 

 of gulls, guillemots, shags, razor-billed auks, 

 puf&ns, and a few, alas ! only a few, gannets, 

 that noblest of British sea-birds, which darts 

 like a ray of light from off the rocks far below 

 the watcher's feet, and not much above the 

 water. It is said Lundy is the lowest latitude 

 in which the Solan goose nests, though that dis- 

 tinguished Oriental scholar and traveller, the late 



