6q «■ the naturalists’ journal. 
The story of the submergence of an ancient continent, however 
fabulous in history, must have been true again and again as a 
geological event.” Respecting the same theory, Sir Andrew 
Ramsay, says : “I do not say that this immense river was 
formed or supplied by the drainage of what we now call Great 
Britain, I do not indeed know where this continent lay, but I 
do know that England formed a part of it, and that in size it 
must have been larger than Europe, and was probably as large 
as Asia, or the great continent of America (“ Physical Geology 
and Geography of Great Britain ”). The whole subject forms 
an inexhaustible field for study and speculation. 
With regard to the mention in the post script of my error 
respecting the White Admiral (.Limenitis sibylla ), I may say 
that I did not obtain specimens myself but merely saw some in 
an extensive provincial collection, labled L. sibylla , and I did not 
notice the mistake, because it did not occur to me that there 
might be one. 
The Editor. 
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS FROM 
ROYSTON, 
“In days of yore, ere England’s woes began ” there were many 
more birds in this locality than at the present time. In those 
days the Hen-harrier coursed over the fens below this town, and 
the Great Bustard was a denizen of the heath lands above. Alas ! 
they are no more, the Harriers have long since disappeared, and 
it is about ninety years since the last Great Bustard was seen 
upon our heath. These are not the only birds we have lost, 
for when I was a boy the beautiful Goldfinches used to build 
their nests within ten yards of my bedroom window, but as the 
gardener and farmer have rooted up all the thistles—I do not 
think I must say all—they find their food supply cut off, so 
have moved off to more weedy ground. The Wheatear, too, 
that was so common on our heath forty years ago, when there 
were plenty of holes left in the turf by the stonediggers, for 
them to nest in, has now gone. The Great Plover which used 
to breed here in considerable numbers, are birds of the past ; 
also the Dotterel which paid us a visit in great numbers in the 
Spring and autumn, now only just look at their old quarters, 
and that but at very wide intervals. 
In my calendar the 15th of April is Swallow Day, for it is 
the day of all days upon which they arrive, and the 18th of 
October is Royston-Crow Day. This year the former were 
