170 
NATURE NOTES 
purple in this case, though the colour varies from blue to the 
aforesaid tint. Darwin and others have shown that this is one 
of the insectivorous plants, the leaves being covered with glands 
which give the crystalline appearance so marked when the light 
strikes on them. The glands have the power of digesting the 
animal matter which is brought in contact with them by the 
incurving of the leaves. Another curious fact connected with its 
life history is that it forms a resting bud during the winter, 
which may be compared to a small onion which, on the return 
of mild weather, develops into the full-grown plant. 
The banks are covered in places with bushes of the “ ling- 
long yellow broom,” but in this case the flowers are, many of 
them, of a deep rich orange, a colour quite unlike the normal tint 
of the species. In some of the sandy fields the common weed is 
the Venus comb, with its small white flower and its long queer 
fruit (“ Shepherd’s Needle”), unlike most in the order. It is 
strange how rare this plant is in many of the western counties, 
though by no means so in these on the east side of the country. 
Another interesting relation is the sweet cicely, with its sweet, 
rather richly aromatic, odour, not unlike that of aniseed. To 
some of the English botanists this is a rare plant, but in mid- 
land Scotland it is certainly not so, being in some districts 
the most abundant plant of the order. 
The light warns us that it is time to return to the station, 
and in doing so there is just time to pick up the handsome and 
interesting musk mallow, with its large pink flowers, its much- 
cut leaves, and its strong odour of musk. In the foregoing we 
have noted a few of the countless objects of interest in a district 
which well deserves a visit from strangers, but which, thanks to 
the railway company, is hard to win at. 
THE GREAT BUSTARD 
AND ITS REINTRODUCTION INTO ENGLAND. 
N attempt has been made to reintroduce the Great 
Bustard {Otis tarda) into some of the districts of East 
Anglia, where it was formerly abundant, and we most 
sincerely hope that this attempt will be successful. 
The great bustard, which was the largest of British land 
birds, was formerly found in the open country districts from 
East Lothian to Dorset. According to W. Howard Saunders 
(“Manual, British Birds ”), “ until the year 1526 the great bustard 
used to breed sparingly as far north as the flat portion of the 
Lowlands on the Scottish side of the Border ; and southward, it 
was common on the moors, extensive downs and plains of 
England to the Channel. Enclosure, the planting of trees and 
the increase of population, contributed to the gradual diminution 
