270 A VISIT TO AIKENGALL DEAN 



some cultivated fields till we reached the heather, and 

 held over the moor in a north-west direction. Among 

 the heather a meadow pipit flew off her nest, which contained 

 four brown eggs, but no egg of the cuckoo. The structure 

 of the nest was a marvel of skill, built among the roots of 

 the purple heather, and so carefully concealed. The petty 

 whin was the only noticeable plant on the moor. The 

 purple heather was in fine flower, and where it grew in mass 

 it was of a glowing red. On attaining the summit, we looked 

 into East Lothian, the monument at the Garleton Hills, 

 North Berwick Law, Thurston Woods ; the farms of the 

 Brush and Pathhead, etc., being all in view. 



The weather was perfect, and the sun lighted up the 

 landscape, which was very rich and finely wooded. In the 

 Hall's Dean, splendid specimens of Carex levigata (smooth- 

 stalked sedge) were obtained on a moist rock face. The 

 Cistopteris fragUis (brittle bladder fern) and Lastrea oreopteris 

 (mountain fern) being in profusion. Coming down on the 

 road from Innerwick to Aikengall we took to the right, 

 behind the shepherds' houses, and on attaining the summit 

 we came to the lower end of Sheeppath Dean, sometimes 

 named Aikengall. Scrambling down, we followed the burn 

 running through it, as far as we could go, gathering Vicia 

 sylvatica (the wood vetch) of a beautiful pale flesh colour. 

 One requires to come to these ravines to see this plant in 

 its full beauty. On the sea braes it has never the same 

 tint. All up this ravine it hangs in masses over the scaurs 

 covered with its delicate flesh pink blossoms. These masses 

 constantly recur, and, with the luxuriance of the ferns, the 

 contrast is remarkable to behold. 



The stream is bordered by very steep, rocky banks 

 clothed with greenery, quantities of the Cistopteris, with 

 fronds of unusual size, gracefully drooping towards the 

 water. Among the mosses the Geranium Bobertianum, with 

 its pink blossoms, and the Lychnis vespertina and dioica 

 and other common plants give colour to the greenery covering 

 the rocks ; the oak-fern, with unusually large fronds, being 

 in profusion near the lower waterfalls. 



Progress is not easily made here, the banks being very 

 steep, and the bed of the stream our only path. Retracing 



