96 A RAMBLE UP BURNHOPE. 



Passing through the stile on the left, just before the bridge, 

 the path led along the right bank of the stream to a rustic 

 foot-bridge, below which the water tumbles prettily over 

 ledges of the same sandstone, which here, I observed, was a 

 compact whitish-grey rock with largish particles of mica 

 scattered about in it. 



Perhaps I should here say that on such rambles I go pre- 

 pared. A jacket with the inside hning turned into capacious 

 side-pockets ; a strong insect-net with a small detachable bag, 

 so that flies may be carried home alive for examination; a 

 small ease to contain these bags round one shoulder, and a 

 hand-camera round the other ; a number of sheets of butter- 

 paper for mosses ; a hammer, a small chisel, and a compass 

 with clinometer-pendulum ; the whole weighing about six or 

 seven pounds. 



I stood on the bridge for a minute or two to have a look at 

 the lie of the land. Some fine old plane trees, and the ruins 

 of an old farmhouse, suggested the existence of a garden 

 run wild, with its luxurious growth of nettles and docks and 

 brambles, generally a grand hunting-ground for flies. Up the 

 stream was a pretty vista of little foaming falls, and rocky 

 banks with scattered larches and willows, a likely place for 

 mosses and ferns. Away beyond was a high scar, evidently 

 giving a good section of the rock formations, and in the back- 

 ground rose Burnhope Seat, and the other hills of the water- 

 shed between the Wear and the Tees. 



A visit to the deserted garden proved disappointing, but 

 further on the bank was covered with geraniums and hawk- 

 weeds, and there were numerous flies, principally Syrphidae 

 and Anthomyidae, hovering in front of the opened blooms or 

 nestling in their bosom. There was a fairly large fly, with 

 a broad abdomen brightly banded with yellow (SyrpJms 

 ribesii, L.), and another with a narrower abdomen, each 

 segment of which bears a double yellow band (S. balteatus, 

 Deg.)^ a very pretty fly and a splendid hoverer. There were 

 also one or two members of the genus Platycheirus, whose 

 males have the joints of the fore-feet so curiously enlarged. 



