228 THE YORKSHIRE NATURALISTS’ UNION AT SEDBERGH. 
Mr. Thompson’s party had a most successful ramble. A list of 
the rarer plants found during the excursions will appear at the end 
of the report. 
On Whit-Tuesday the writer was courteously accompanied to 
Cautley Spout by Mr. William Robinson, of Greenbank, Sedbergh, 
who is an old supporter of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union. The 
day was fine, and the ramble proved a most enjoyable and instruc- 
tive one. _Birdcherry tasselled in luxuriant profusion hedge-row and 
stream-side, and the argent salvers of the Strawberry studded the 
sloping hedge-banks in countless numbers, and overhead myriad 
bees with joyous hum revelled among the golden racemes of the 
Sycamore. Waterblinds, with tiniest white petals, bathed in merry 
mountain rills; andinquiet plashes Ivy-leaved Crowfoot shed its 
fugacious blooms. At Cronkley, Parsley fern flourishes abundantly, 
clothing the inaccessible scars in feathery verdure ; Alpine Lady’s- 
mantle, rock-perched and boulder-begirt, spreads its silvery fans 
lightly to the breezes, and in damp places Harts-tongue drinks the 
mountain dew. A difficult climb to a likely-looking ledge of rock 
rewarded the searchers with a specimen of the slender Orpine 
(Sedum fabaria). Time compelled our departure long before we 
had half explored this romantic spot. The journey home over the 
toes of the fells was a delightful one, white climbing Fumitory, 
Wood-Stitchwort, Enchanter’s Nightshade, and Fir Club-Moss were 
the rarest plants noted. All the while the birds filled the air with 
melody—away on the distant hill-tops sounded the free ringing trill 
of the Curlew, the clear whistle of the sear apes the sonorous call 
of the Cuckoo, and the timid ‘ weet, weet,’ of the Meadow Pipit. 
The noble music of the Thrush and the rich pipe of the Blackbird 
rolled, echoed and re-echoed throughout the entire valley. By the 
Rawthey the Dipper, with metallic note and doublet of silvery white, 
flits rapidly past, followed almost instantly by a silent emerald flash 
that we know is the Kingfisher 
This report should not close without mention of the magnificent 
Araucaria that stands in the grounds of Mr. Warwick P. Boustead, 
Settlebeck House, Sedbergh. Its height i is about 40 feet. The lower 
branches rest upon the ground in graceful curves, spreading on all 
sides to a distance of 16 feet, the upper ones gradually taper to the 
top, forming a cone remarkable for its symmetrical beauty. The girth 
of the trunk close to the ground is 7 feet 6 inches, and at 5 feet 
from the ground, 4 feet 6 inches. 
Two artist members worked incessantly with pencil, brush, and 
camera in securing pictures of geological sections and ‘ bonny bits’ 
of rock, wood, and water in combination. When the Yorkshire 
Naturalist, 
