144 
NATURE NOTES. 
a sum of ^35 15s. Nothing, however, is done; letters of remon- 
strance are unanswered. Can Lord Meath’s Association do an}'- 
thing to improve this state of things ? 
There are those who find a ready solution, at any rate in 
theory, for such difficulties by a vague reference to the London 
County Council. The Council, however, has plenty to do in 
looking after the grounds at present under its care. Nothing 
can be much worse than the condition of the long borders sur- 
rounding the gardens on the Embankment between Charing 
Cross and Westminster. Weeds flourish here almost unchecked 
(as indeed they do in the very centre of some of the beds) ; the 
annuals planted are of the commonest and poorest kinds ; the 
perennials are badly selected and insufficient in quantity ; and 
the general effect is poor. It may be that reasons of economy 
will be alleged for this shabbiness, but a better choice of annuals 
would not cost more than the present sorry selection, and hardy 
perennials are cheap enough. The Council can do better 
things— witness the herbaceous borders in Kennington Park — 
and the matter should receive attention. Selbornians in London 
can do no better work than by urging on their representatives on 
vestries and local authorites to pay attention to matters of this 
kind. 
A DEVONIAN HEADLAND. 
[EEP within the great West Bay of Dorset and Devon 
I lies a headland to which sea-birds have always flocked 
I as to a chosen retreat. The upland down ends in 
lofty cliffs that run sheer to the water’s edge ; and 
close by, both east and west, clear brooks, which spring from 
the underlying greensand, have worn out charming little valleys 
that bear the local name of combes, such as we find, for instance, 
in Salcombe and Babbicombe. 
The headland itself bears a Norse name, derived from the 
hamlet that lies in the eastern valley — it was a little way off, on 
the shores of the same great bay, that the Norsemen had their 
first historic conflict with the English — but the hamlet might well 
bear a similar place-name with its western neighbour, and be 
called, more appropriately, Chalcombe. 
The headland used to be, in the breeding season, alive witli 
sea-birds. Prominent among them was the graceful form of the 
herring-gull, and the snake-like neck of the cormorant and its 
cousin, the shag. More numerous than these was the scarcely 
less graceful-winged common gull, and the kind called, from its 
utterance, like the cuckoo and the turtle-dove, the kittiwake ; 
while the sea below was often dotted over with guillemots and 
razor-bills, known by the fishermen under the local name of 
