i68 MR. J. J. hill's report of 



Our Second Meeting was held in the district between 

 AvcLiFFK and Bradbury, in the county of Durham, on 

 Saturday, June the 6th, and again the members were favoured 

 with good weather, the somewhat cloudy conditions of the 

 morning changing to sunshine as the day wore on. 



Out beyond the village of Ayclifife the river Skerne winds on 

 a reedy bed through luxuriant meadows varied by marsh and 

 scrub, providing in all a happy hunting-ground for the field 

 naturalist. Here the river was gay with a deep margin of 

 bright yellow rocket in full bloom, backed by dark-green 

 thorns and other shrubs. The placid surface of the water was 

 broken at intervals with patches of outgrown reed, amongst 

 which, here and there, were seen just out of harm's way 

 occasional waterhens' nests witli their tempting clutches of 

 browny-speckled eggs. Birds generally were somewhat 

 scarce, and nothing of special interest was observed, with the 

 exception of the reed-bunting with his black cap and con- 

 spicuous white collar, and in the later day a few pairs of 

 red-shanks on the fiats of Morden Carrs. 



A delightful walk of a mile or more by the flower-fringed 

 stream led to tlie mill, in the neighbourhood of which the 

 botanists had rather a good time; including among their finds 

 blooms of that somewhat rare plant in the north — the ^vater 

 violet {Hottonia palustris). It was hereabouts also, on a 

 marshy patch, that our botanists discovered something in the 

 nature of a puzzle; which on later investigation proved to be 

 one of the creeping yellow cresses, either Nastiirtiwn sylvestre 

 or Nashirtiion palustre. 



Following a strenuous scramble over a colliery railway, we 

 found ourselves in a quiet retreat by the river which was 

 splendidly isolated by high embankments and other obstacles, 

 affording just the sort of place for natural history research. It 

 was here that a number of orange-tip butterflies were found 

 flitting along the river banks in the bright bursts of sunshine. 

 The orange-tips are most difficult to locate when at rest, the 

 niottlings on the undersides of their wings harmonising 



