BY THE KEY. CANON TIUSTRAM. 3 



the character of a pleasant picnic merely, but the backwardness 

 of the season, as well as the locality and the weather, were in the 

 highest degree unpropitious for either botanical or entomological 

 research. 



The Second Field Meeting was held at Eothbuiy on the 2nd 

 and 3rd of June, and was attended by thirty-five members. The 

 morning was showery, and about eleven o'clock the party drove 

 in conveyances to Holystone and Harbottle. The geological fea- 

 tures of the district were interesting and vividly described in 

 passing by Mr. Howse. The broad valley of the Coquet, and 

 mounds of alluvium, bordered on the south by lofty sandstone 

 ridges, the heavy coating of snow still conspicuous on the Great 

 Cheviot, a few Green Plovers with their young, and swarms of 

 Sand Martins and other Hirundines, fresh arrivals fi'om the 

 South, a few Black-headed Gulls fishing along the Coquet, 

 wore the chief objects observed on the road to Holystone. 

 Around this sacred fountain the usual spring flowers were in 

 full bloom. Here we recalled the romantic history of the first 

 planting of Christianity in IN^orthumbria by Paulinus, and the 

 thousands of our Saxon forefathers who at this spot listened to 

 the preaching of the devoted missionary, and received baptism at 

 his hand. A simple stone cross in the centre of the limpid basin 

 is the only sculptured record of the history, which has been pre- 

 served by the records of Bede and others, though that first con- 

 version was soon afterwards almost extinguished by the Danish 

 inroads, but again relighted by St. Cuthbert and the heralds of 

 lona. After a long chat at the well and a taste of the pure 

 water, the party visited the church and the remains of the religi- 

 ous house now attached to the farm buildings. Eegaining the 

 conveyances they proceeded towards Harbottle, not without 

 mishap from the ambition of a local Jehu, but eventually they 

 reached Alwinton Church built against the north bank of the 

 Coquet, and presenting the singular feature of having its chan- 

 cel elevated high above the rest of the floor of the church, and 

 approached by a steep flight of steps, accommodating itself in an 



