212 AIRA. HOLCUS. 



ssaid to go away into "winnel straea" when the culms wither in the 

 end of summer, and become dead and useless : 



" They '11 start at toinlciStraE^, yet never crook, 

 When interest bids, to loup out o'er astook." — A. Ramsay. 



" a set o' men, 



Wha, if they get their private pouches lined, 



Gie na a totlilflE-jStrae for a' mankind." — R. Ferguson. 



" I haena biggit a bield o' the totntUStrae, nor lippened my weight 

 to a broken reed." Brownie of Bodspeck, ch. 1 1 . 



121. A. FLExuosA. Heaths, common. July. 



122. A. CARYOPHYLLEA. Gravelly places on heaths, and light 

 pasture ground, common. June, July. 



123. A. PRECOX. Dikes capped with earth, and bare places on 

 moors, not rare. May, June. 



124. Melica c^RULEA=Molinia cserulea. In boggy places, and 

 on moors, common. Aug. 



125. M. UNIFLORA. B. Pease bridge dean, plentiful. N. In 

 the wood that covers the crags at Belford. June. 



126. M. NUTANS. — B. Gateheugh, Dr. W. Baird. Grows, along 

 with M. unifiora, in two or three tufts near each other on a cliff 

 overlooking the small rivulet that intersects the wooded dean of 

 Blackburn-rigg. J. Hardy. 



127. HoLcus MOLLIS. Common. — OTi)iruiBra£lt, — so called 

 because it is found to occupy places whence Whins have been removed 

 either by unrooting or burning. ^Tien a field of light shallow soil, 

 after being cultivated for a few seasons, is again laid down for grass, 

 an abundant and unlooked-for crop of this grass will often appear. 

 It is one of those cases in which we are left to wonder how the seed 

 came there. — " This grass occasions a considerable deal of trouble to 

 the farmer, if grounds infested with it are in any degree neglected. 

 According to some it is even more diificult to eradicate than quickens; 

 as the latter rise in long, tenacious stiings, which occasionally rot in 

 the ground, whereas the root of the Holcus is excessively brittle, and 

 the smallest section, like that of the auno)dng Convolvulus sepium, 

 vrill propagate the pest anew. This grass abounds in the woods about 

 Penmanshiel, and I observe, on examining a number of nests of the 

 smaller birds, furnishes the greater proportion of the coarser grassy 

 material employed in their construction. In the hole of a species of 

 mouse, perhaps Mus sylvaticus, about June 1 7th, I found a consider- 

 able quantity of the fresh stems of this grass, gnawed into nearly 

 equal portions about two inches in length and neatly disposed, which 

 looked as if recently brought in for food. I have observed the Poa 

 fluitans gnawed in a similar manner by the Arvicola amphibia." J. 

 Hardy. 



128. H. LANATus. Edmons. Fl. Shetl. 9. — JlHtagc-'gvafisi.— 

 Meadows and pastures, common. — " This is pointed out as the 'rot- 



