206 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



cliff, often thickly starred with primroses ; brightened here and 

 there with the gorse so characteristic of Lleyn. But the fields 

 are valuable and kept clear of it ; they were in May strewn with 

 daisies and buttercups, and stood thick with grass in which Corn- 

 crakes were calling; for this is as warm and forward a bit of land 

 as any in North Wales, sheltered by the mountains from the only 

 cold wind which ever blows here (N.E.), and hardly knowing 

 frost. Nevin itself is blessed with a very mild soft climate. 

 Some strong robust plants of Primula japonica in full bloom (a 

 plant which likes a mild moist climate, and one I can never keep 

 long at home) were growing in perfection in the inn garden, and 

 would have excited the envy and admiration of any gardener. 

 Potatoes had already been dug in the third week in May. This 

 soft climate and broken gorsy ground is very favourable for the 

 Stonechat, of which I have seen seven pairs in a day's walk, and 

 small birds generally. The most noticeable are the Corn and 

 Yellow Buntings, Blackbirds, and Whitethroats. 



The song of the numerous Blackbirds is quite a feature of 

 the country about Nevin and other parts of Lleyn, as also in the 

 numbers of the birds one sees. The Song-Thrush, on the other 

 hand, is by no means very abundant. The Sedge- Warbler is very 

 common on the coast about Nevin, among any bit of cover not 

 absolutely dry. In the interior of Lleyn, on the road between 

 Nevin and Chwilog, there are some considerable woods, and the 

 country is generally richer and more luxuriant than it is nearer 

 the coasts. We find big hedgerows, willows, orchard-trees, and 

 some little hedgerow timber. I noticed the Tree-Pipit more 

 than once, and the Wood-Wren, Chiffchaff, Green Woodpecker, 

 Mistle-Thrush, and many of the ordinary woodland birds. 



Beyond the Bird Rock comes a green gorsy bwlch, and then 

 the great dark mass of Yr Eifl, with Vortigern's green valley 

 gouged out of it, comes down to a shallow sheltered bay and a 

 blue sea subject to squalls from the mountains. Out across a 

 bit of blue bay the coast of Anglesey, from the sands of New- 

 borough Warren to the rock of Holyhead, is marked by a line of 

 pale yellow sand dividing the dull grey of the land from the soft 

 blue sea. But the Terns which breed there do not, for some 

 reason, like the shores of Lleyn. Like all Lleyn mountains, the 

 peaks of Yr Eifl are barren, their tops being little more than a 



