NOTE BOTANY. 



20I 



and the shells of the eggs from which the young had hatched out. 

 Large holly-bushes abound, and form a sure find for a ' cock,' 

 which find beneath the low spreading branches of glossy leaves a 

 secure and sufficiently darksome retreat during the hours of daylight. 

 Crossing the road we come to Thieves" Wood, over 400 acres of 

 younger growth than Harlow, some 300 acres of which consists of a 

 fine plantation of Spanish Chestnut. At a spot where the rides 

 intersect at the edge of the wood is a stone bearing the following 

 inscripdon: — 'This stone was placed here by J. Whitaker, of Ram- 

 worth Lodge, to mark the spot where the first British specimen 

 of the Eg}-ptian Nightjar was shot by A. Spinks, gamekeeper, on 

 June 23rd, 1883. This is only the second occurrence of the bird in 

 Europe.' Soon after we came upon the abode of the aforesaid 

 Spinks. If you are careful to keep out of range of his watch-dog's 

 chain, the unsuspected and abnormal length of which is apt to prove 

 a pitfall to the unwary, you may in the season inspect various rising 

 broods of young Pheasants and Partridges, and here in 1883 some 

 Capercaillies were hatched out from eggs from Taymouth Castle ; the 

 young birds, however, did not thrive. Pursuing our course towards 

 Fountain Dale, and seeing by the way signs of Spinks' handiwork in 

 the shape of sundry gibbetted Hoodies, which are very common in 

 winter, we added a few more pairs of ducks to our register, and 

 found we had accounted for fourteen pairs of Tufted Ducks and 

 eleven pairs of Shovellers — a good breeding stock. 



We left the next day, and going into Mansfield experienced in 

 the fullest manner the way the rain can come driving over the forest 

 before an easterly wind. As we passed Mansfield Reservoir — a fine 

 sheet of water 70 acres in extent — in the train, a Black Tern 

 skimmed over the wavelets lashed up by the wind, and a Cormorant 

 flapped heavily over the mimic sea ; while of a pair of Pewits 

 swooping about at the upper end, one bird was strongly marked with 

 white on the back and wings ; thus the last bird of interest we saw 

 before leaving the district was a 'variety.' 



NOTE— BOTANY. 

 Calamagrostis stricta Xutt. in Yorkshire. — When looking through 



some plants in my friend Mr. F. J. Hanbury's herbarium, 1 was pleased and 

 surprised to find a sheet of a Calauiagrostis from Yorkshire named A run do 

 Calamagrostis^' the old name for C. lanccolata, which it certainly was not. He 

 kindly allowed me to bring it away with me for determination. I have no doubt 

 it is C. stricta Nutt. {Deyeuxia iieglccta Kunth.). The label is a partly printed 

 one, and runs thus: 'ex herb. H. Ibbotson. Ariindo Calamagrostis. Hab., 

 Castle Howard Woods, York. Coll. July 1844.' I hope someone will search 

 this locality next July and August, It is a most interesting addition if it can be 

 re-found. — A. Bexneti', Croydon, Surrey, June ist, 1887. 



July 1S87. 



