276 



THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



A MORNING'S WALK ON A 

 SURREY COMMON. 



There having been a soft warm rain on 

 the previous night, everything was looking 

 fresh and bright in the sun, the only draw- 

 back being that the heather was rather too 

 wet to be pleasant. On my way I 

 observed plants of pasture lousewort 

 [Pedicularis sylvatica), among them a white 

 variety; also milkwort {Poh/gala vulgaris), 

 of various shades and colours, and close to 

 it the pretty little flowers oi Potentilla verna. 

 The chief object of my walk was to get 

 some plants of sun-dew iDrosera rotundi- 

 folia) — having lately been reading Mr. 

 Darwin's very interesting experiments with 

 this plant in " Insectivorous Plants," and 

 wishing to follow out some of them — which 

 I soon came upon in any quantity, by the 

 side of a lake ; on an average, eight out of 

 twelve leaves having insects on them in 

 different stages of digestion. I had the good 

 fortune to find Marsh St. John's Wort 

 [Byperimm elodes), a pretty water plant 

 with yellow flowers and quite new to me, 

 and not far from it water crowfoot (Ranmi- 

 cuius aquatilis), with its delicate white 

 flowers. The only moth I saw was the 

 Silver Y [Plusia gamma) , before whose head 

 I thoughtlessly waved a stick, and on see- 

 ing it did not fly repeated this three times, 

 going within a few inches of its head each 

 time, it, however, took no notice, not flying 

 until actually touched ; I do not know the 

 reason of this unless it was fright. A male 

 furze chat [Saxicola Ritbicola) kept hopping 

 from top to top of either bracken or furze 

 just in front, in my opinion there is no 

 prettier English bird for its size than this. 

 The cotton sedge [EHophorum angustifolium) 

 was growing in abundance in the bog, with 

 the marsh club moss {Lycopodium inundatvm) 

 spreading over the sphagnum below it. On 

 my way home I saw a beautiful bush of the 



dog rose {Rosa canina) covered with its deli- 

 cate pink flowers ; also several adders bask- 

 ing in the sun. Besides the plants already 

 mentioned were germander speedwell 

 ( Veronica cTiamcedrys) , white galium {Ranun- 

 culus arvensis), lesser dodder {Ouscuta 

 epithymum) not in flower, red-berried 

 bryony {Bryonia dioica), climbing about a 

 hedge, the common purple vetch and corn 

 cockle {Agrostemma gitJiago.) While I am 

 writing this a fern owl {Caprimnlgus euro- 

 pcBus), is purring away loudly on the heath 

 outside my window. What a pleasant 

 sound it is on a still summer evening. 



A RAMBLE ROUND THE 

 LICKEY HILLS, BROMS- 

 GROVE. 



By A. G. Davis and E. F. Spicer, 

 B.N.F.C. 



June i8th. — Took the 8.20 train toBarnet 

 Green, arriving there at quarter-past nine. 

 This morning was very fine, the fields looked 

 beautiful, the grass was very deep, and 

 ready for the mower. We observed from 

 the train a magpie feeding ; also starlings 

 busily engaged carrying food to the young. 

 On reaching our destination, we proceeded 

 towards the hills ; on our way we came to 

 a field of beans, where we made a short stay. 

 Looking down the hedge we found a nest of 

 the brown linnet, containing four eggs ; a 

 little further on we found a nest of the gold- 

 finch, containing four eggs ; and a nest of 

 the brown linnet, containing a dead young 

 one, all the others had fled. It seems strange 

 this one should be in the nest by itself dead. 

 There we came to a wood, where about six 

 feet from the ground, in a small bush, we 

 found a beautiful little nest, very much re- 

 sembling that of the long-tailed titmouse in 

 shape; it was composed of dried oak 



