Welsh Journals

which I may add that I have seen it abundantly from Cannes to St. Remo in February. On June 7th, we went to see the magnificent cliffs of Fairhead, a few miles east from Ballycastle, to find any unusual plants, satisfy ourselves of the fact that the Hooded Crow breeds there, and ascertain what the loughs thereabouts were worth to us for Natural History purposes. To economise time and energy, we drove some six miles to a point from which we proposed to leave all roads behind, visit the loughs, and return by walking along the coast line. On alighting from our carriage we were offered and accepted the guidance of an ingenuous Irish lad who knew the district wel1. We enquired very minutely of him whether he knew the Grey Crow, and could point out its breeding place. This he engaged to do with alacrity, and we felt our doubts and difficulties half overcome. But there and then our driver sounded an alarm note. His conception of this Irish boy's innocence and efficiency were not commensurate with our own. He cautioned the boy not to "desave the jintlemen," and questioned him, in his own fashion, as to the precision of his knowledge. We, willing to be misled by such a frank and simple boy, thought our Jehu rather too sceptical. He was not at all too sceptical. The boy was not at all too innocent, and we acted on the Christian principle, Be not faithless but believing," with the result that before the day was done I would gladly have had that innocent young head in chancery." He took us miles out of our way with false pretences-knew nothing of the Grey Crow or its nesting places, and left us under circumstances which very nearly resulted in positive disaster to the whole party. The details of this adventure must be omitted here as irrelevant. Before we reached our hotel we had found the nesting place of the Grey Crow; seen the birds, and got some information of its habits without a guide. I may add in passing that in the North of Ireland, so far as our observation went, the Grey or Hooded Crow replaces the Carrion Crow, which we did not see, and has all the vices of his congener. One man complained of it to us, that it would come and carry off young chickens from his very door. We could not wait, night was upon us, and we had miles to walk, this man promised to bring us young Grey Crows or eggs to our hotel on the morrow, and we severally and conjointly promised him at least five shillings. He promised, we promised, but alas for the rarity of Christian purity under the sun, Crows at hotel the next day there were none. The cliffs at Fairhead are the finest I have yet seen, and at some places are from 300 to 400ft. in almost perpendicular height from the sea. On their impracticable sides the Wild Goat still survives. In one place we saw its dung. It exists also on the Coasts of Donegal, and one was killed June 24th, '99, at Shievetowey, Donegal, by way of wager during our stay at the place. It should be remembered that though these creatures are truly wild, and very wild indeed, that the goat is not a real native of Ireland. From the top of these stupendous cliffs we witnessed what must be to most persons a quite unknown phenomenon. Completely circular rainbows with luminous centres, but almost devoid