i66 
NATURE NOTES 
its quaint old-world garden, and crossing the plank bridge near 
at hand, soon strike the footpath, through the Whins, leading to 
the bridge. However, as naturalists, we object to the beaten 
tracks of life, and wander at our own sweet will up the stream, 
looking for the great prize of the place, the fern {Polystichum 
angulare). We can remember the time when this was the only 
locality in Scotland for a plant which is far from rare south of 
the Tweed. Now the work of some of our botanists has 
extended our knowledge of it, but even yet it must be looked 
on as a local plant. 
Once, in the days of auld lang syne, we, along with a friend, 
got a superb crested form of the plant, still in cultivation, but 
that was a red-letter day ! Fortunately the plant grows along 
with the more common species, which, let us hope, will help to 
protect it. 
On the banks we also see the lovely shining green fronds of 
the hart’s - tongue fern, which now and then produces some 
curious varieties. The holly, with its never sere leaf, is growing 
in places out of the rifted rock, and the old but small oaks are in 
some cases so engrafted with the rock that at a little distance 
it is hard to distinguish between them. Close by is a plant of 
the spindle tree, once much more common in Scotland than 
now. The flowers have little to attract the eye, but in autumn 
the lovely waxen fruit, with the curious appendages to the seeds, 
is often taken for the flower by superficial observers. The pale 
flowers of the woodruff glitter through the bushes, and the 
whorl of dark green leaves remind us of how the plant got its 
old-world name. The hanging stems of the ivy are yards in 
length, and are quite strong enough to serve as a rope if such is 
needed, while its fruit is abundant in many parts of the glen. 
And then a sudden turn in the stream and the famous Pease 
Bridge is before us. It is hard to say if it is more impressive 
from above or below. From the latter point of view, we observe 
that the structure is doomed to perish from the rapid weathering 
of the stone. It will certainly never stand as long as the very 
old one in the Lower Dean, which some say is Roman. 
Meantime the Pease Bridge has a very large and lively 
population of jackdaws, and as we watch them a flash of yellow 
light, and a pair of the graceful yellow wagtails fly past and are 
now jerking their tails by the side of the stream. Not far off, in 
a sunny spot, we see the ringlet butterfly in quantity ; it is by 
no means so common with us as in the south. 
As time and tide wait for no man, we must get up the bank 
to the footpath through sheets of the wood anemone, noting as 
we climb the graceful melic grass, and then, keeping by the foot- 
path for once in our lives, walk down to the seashore and on to 
the shingle bank, where many of the stones are agates or jaspers. 
If we are in luck we may find on some parts of this coast the 
curious and interesting oyster plant with its pink then blue 
flowers, its glaucous leaves, its “ancient and fish-like” taste. 
