20 



THE NATURALIST. 



of Swallows tliis year ; and having since^ 

 had my attention again directed to it, it 

 has suggested to me to write to you to say 

 that the almost total absence of these 

 familiar birds from this parish this spring, 

 so far, has been most singular and unprece- 

 dented. Up to yesterday, the 27th, I have 

 not noticed in all, within four miles from 

 here, more than a dozen swallows and mar- 

 tins, if so many, when and where, in other 

 years, hundreds and hundreds might have 

 been seen. What it is the sign or the se- 

 quence of, I cannot pretend to say ; I have 

 only observed one solitary martin up to 

 the date named,— one other, if it was ano- 

 ther, for it may have been a sparrow, was 

 seen between four and five o'clock in the 

 morning, about a fortnight ago, flying up 

 to its last year's nest, in its ' ' coign of van- 

 tage" over my window, as if to examine 

 into the state of repair of its former domi- 

 cile. I heard the Corncrake for the first 

 time this year, at twenty minutes to four 

 o'clock this morning, as I was taking a 

 fourteen miles' walk home before breakfast. 

 F. 0. MoEEis, Nunburnholme Rectory, 

 April 28th, 1865. 



SUMMEK EAMBLES ON THE OrME's HeAD, 



Llandudno. 

 No. 11. 



Near Gogarth Abbey, vdiich faces Conway 

 Bay, I noticed fine plants of the Irish 

 Shamrock, ( Medicago maculata ) covering 

 the sheltered sunny bank below the ruin. 

 On a closer inspection, I saw that the leaves 

 had been eaten by the larvae of a weevil 

 beetle, ( Hypera variabilis ) that had revel- 

 led, for aught I know, on the drop of St. 

 Patrick's blood ! I observed the little net- 

 work cocoons affixed to the withered leaves 

 at the lower part of the stem. From these 

 I bred the weevil in the course of a few 

 days. A rare poppy, known as Papaver 

 hybridam, was growing abundantly near 

 the abbey ; the small flowers and rounded 

 bristly capsules are sufliciently character- 

 istic of this species, which chiefly occurs 

 in chalky cornfields. On the grassy 



borders of the same field grew the Bee Or-* 

 chis f Opthrys apifera ). I gathered several 

 flower-spikes ; the bloom so closely resem- 

 bles a humble-bee, as to give the idea of 

 one actually resting upon it. The three 

 Chats ( Saxicolinoe ) all have their nesting- 

 places on the Orme's Head. Few birds are 

 so noisy and restless ; they seem as if they 

 would attract observation by their very 

 movements and chatter. The apple-green 

 larva of the Burnet moth, (Anthrocera 

 FilipendulcB ) I met with not unfrequently 

 in my rambles. It feeds on the Trefoil, 

 ( Lotus corniculatiLs ) and when full-fed, it 

 suspends its yellow cocoon to the culms of 

 grasses. I found these cocoons in plenty 

 on the stems of mat-grass in Conway Bay. 

 The Forester ( Procris Statices ) is equally 

 abundant on the Orme, its sluggish flight 

 rendering it an easy prey to the collector. 

 The Vervein, ( Verbena officinalis ) used by 

 the Romans in their sacrificial rites, is 

 plentiful along the footpath round the Orme. 

 In more modern times, it seems to have 

 been used medicinally, and this may ac- 

 count for its being often found in the neigh- 

 bourhood of old ruined abbeys. The most 

 common butterfly on the headland in the 

 summer is perhaps the Greyling, ( Hippar- 

 cilia Seniele,) which feeds, in the larva 

 state, on various grasses. It has a rapid, 

 wavy flight, and is impatient of approach, 

 darting from stone to stone, and basking in 

 the hottest sunshine. Two of the Pyralidse 

 ( Pyrausta and Ennychia ) are often its com- 

 panions, sipping the sweets of the wild 

 Thyme, on which they may have fed in 

 the earlier stages of their existence. The 

 Ennychia is a local insect. Another of the 

 rarer Orchids ( Epipactis ovalis ) plunges 

 its roots into the bare rock, braving the full 

 scorch of the noonday sun, and growing 

 in places where the Whitebeam (Pyrus 

 Aria) alone seems to thrive. But de- 

 cidedly the rarest plant of the Orme is the 

 Cotoncaster I This shrub is not known to 

 grow elsewhere in the British Isles. Here 

 it grows on the ledges of the limestone 

 rock, tenanting the same rough scroggy 



