82. 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



are divided from the beach by what is locally known as the " Pebble Ridge," 

 a bank composed of stones, varying greatly in size, some being no bigger 

 than a pigeon's egg, and some large enough to tax the strength of two or 

 three men to move them, but all alike much worn by the action of the sea, 

 and belonging to the same geological formation, a formation totally different 

 to any in the neighbourhood, but similar to that on the North-west coast of 

 Cornwall, from which indeed these stones are said to have been brought by 

 the current. It is a curious fact that, though the shore on one side of West- 

 ward Ho, as far as Hartland Point, is strewn with these pebbles, there is not 

 one to be found on the northern shore of Bideford Bay, or higher up the 

 coast. In high spring tides, or during very stormy weather, the sea dashes 

 over the " Pebble Ridge," and floods the Burrows. On the farther side of 

 the Burrows is a muddy flat, which is always covered by the sea at high 

 water, and this when it is left dry at low water, forms a feeding ground for 

 various kinds of birds. 



April 30. — In the morning we took a good many Diptera, chiefly Bibio 

 marci and Johannis, flying about some primroses, in a warm sunny corner at 

 the top of the cliff. In the afternoon we went down to the Burrows, where we 

 dug a Wheatear's nest out of a rabbit-hole in a sand bank. The nest, which 

 was made of dry grass and a few sticks, and lined with wool, hair, and two or 

 three feathers, was placed a long way down the hole and contained two eggs 

 of a light blue colour. Wheatears are very numerous, but as parts of the 

 burrows are full of rabbit holes, it is almost hopeless to look for their nests, 

 and this was the only one we were lucky enough to find. We took a speci- 

 men of Hylemyia variata and a few other species of Diptera flying about the 

 sand, and saw some Green Cormorants and Herring Gulls feeding on the 

 shore ; also a flock of Ringed Dotterel. 



May 2. — We took flying about the roadsides and hedgebanks at the top of 

 the cliff, one Hydrotaca sylvicola, one Calliphora erytlwocephala, and several 

 other species of Diptera. C. erythrocephala occurred plentifully and had we 

 cared to do so, we might have captured this insect in dozens. Several species 

 of the genus Bibio were also extremely common, the very long and much 

 broadened hind legs of these flies gives them a peculiar appearance when fly- 

 ing and makes them rather conspicuous. We found larvse of L. didymata 

 plentiful among the primroses which grow luxuriantly on every bank, and 

 even in sheltered places on the cliffs themselves. 



May 4. — We walked to Appledore in the morning and from there rowed 

 across Bideford Bay, and spent the day collecting on the Braunton Burrows. 

 These are quite different to the Northam Burrows, and are merely a long 

 stretch of bare sand hills, thinly overgrown in places with bent grass, and 



