1892-93.] 4 6 9 



several hundred feet, were tenanted by large colonies of herring 

 gulls, all now busy administering to the wants of their young, 

 which could be seen perched on the ledges of the cliffs, like little 

 balls of brown and grey down. 



Presently a fine peregrine falcon, darting with a shriek from 

 the cliffs, betrayed the whereabouts of its eyrie, which was 

 detected securely placed beneath an overhanging ledge of rock, 

 and further search discovered two of the young falcons, now 

 nearly fledged, perched on a grassy ledge further down the cliff. 



The wreck of the luckless s.s. Black Diamond was next 

 passed, her bows wedged among the rocks at the base of the 

 cliff, with the foremast still standing, and her sunken hull 

 plainly visible through the clear blue water. 



Still wending their way northward, the party passed along a 

 less precipitous coast, where the great willow-herb (Epilobium 

 angustiloliurti) was observed growing on a steep slope, an addi- 

 tion to the flora of the Gobbins. The photographers mean- 

 while tried their skill in securing photographs of the nest of a 

 lark and a meadow pipit — the first built among the short grass 

 on the summit of a cliff, the second in a recess in a grassy bank. 



Presently Port Muck, with its shelving beach, ancient castle, 

 and whitewashed coastguard station, was reached, and the party 

 was charmed with the extreme picturesqueness of the spot, and 

 the rocky islet that rose out of the water to the eastward. No 

 time could be spared to secure sketches or photographs here, 

 though several hours might have been so spent with advantage, 

 and the shortest way was taken for Larne. Surmounting a 

 high hill, new beauties opened out to the northward, where 

 stretched the Antrim Coast — Bally galley Head, Garron Point, 

 and Runabay Head standing out in bold succession, with 

 heathery hills rising behind them. The road now dropped 

 down into Brown's Bay, where the well-known rocking-stone 

 was seen at the eastern end, but time did not permit of a visit. 

 The flower collectors picked up the fool's parsley {j&Lthusa 

 cynapium), greater celandine (Chelidonium majus), and black 

 horehound [Ballota fcetida) on roadsides as they passed along. 



