MISCELLANEA. 283 



Miscellanea. 



Ballast Plants at Bradbury, Co. Durham. — On a railway 

 siding near Bradbury Station may be seen in the months of 

 July and August a paradise of wild flowers ; for many yards 

 the embankment is covered with such handsome flowers as 

 the Tufted Vetch, the Meadow Geranium, Common Melilot 

 (both yellow and white), and the Common Toadflax. The 

 place, however, is chiefly interesting as furnishing a luxuriant 

 growth of four rare plants ; one indeed, the Coronilla varia, is 

 now excluded from the British flora. This beautiful member 

 of the Leguminosae is growing in great profusion, and its 

 elegant foliage and densely crowded racemes of large pale 

 purple and cream coloured flowers are very striking. The 

 most beautiful member of the group, another of the same 

 Natural Order, is Lathyj-us tuberosus (Pea Earth-nut) ; there 

 are several beds of the plant ; the flowers are large, deep 

 crimson, and exhale a delightful perfume. It is said to occur 

 rarely in Essex, and to have been introduced possibly by the 

 Dutch in the i6th century. Still another of the leguminous 

 plants is found in Lathyrus sylvestris (Narrow-leaved Ever- 

 lasting Pea), remarkable for its winged stems. Lastly there is 

 to be found a good growth of Euphorbia Cyparissias (Cypress 

 Spurge) closely allied to E. Esula that grows on the walls of 

 Hulne Abbey, Alnwick Park ; this is also a very interesting 

 and handsome plant. Whence came these (shall I say) 

 strangers ? The railway men say the ballast, of which the 

 embankment consists, was brought from Tyne Dock some 

 years ago, and doubtless these plants had been thus intro- 

 duced, — Edivard Potts. 



Hooded Crow in May. — On the 12th of May, 1903, whilst 

 nearing Beadnell on the Northumberland coast, I saw walking 

 about in a field a bird which attracted my attention, I 

 cautiously approached until I got sufficiently near to identify 

 it beyond any question. I discovered it to be a Hooded 

 Crow. Its presence here at this time of the year probably 

 indicated it to be a nesting bird, and the record of its 

 presence may be worth preserving, — W. Mark Pybus, 



