Somerset | Page 4

county and Gloucestershire. The Parrett is the one stream of any moment. It is a sluggish and uninteresting bit of water, rising in Dorset, entering Somerset near Crewkerne, and flowing, when it meets the tide near Bridgwater, with a wearisomely circuitous course of some 12 m. before it mixes with the Bristol Channel. The other rivers, the Frome and Chew, which join the Avon; the Axe, which rises in Wookey Hole and enters the sea near Brean Down; the Brue and Cary, which empty themselves into the estuary of the Parrett; and the Parrett's own tributaries, the Yeo, Ivel, and Tone, are unimportant. Exmoor is drained by the Exe and Barle, which, when united, flow southward into Devon.
Such, however, is the character of Somerset scenery that the absence of water in it is hardly noticed. From what has been said it will be seen that the county has much in it to arrest the attention of the traveller who can appreciate quiet beauty, and, as will appear, even more to appeal to one who is interested in his country's-past, whilst upon the affection of its sons its hold is indisputable. As one of them writes:--
"Fair winds, free way, for youth the rover; We all must share the curse of Cain: But bring me back when youth is over To the old crooked shire again.
Ay, bring me back in life's declining To the one home that's home for me, Where in the west the sunset shining Goes down into the Severn sea."

V. FAUNA AND FLORA
The really interesting fauna of Somerset belongs to a past age, when mammoths, elephants, and rhinoceroses, cave lions, bisons, bears, and hyaenas roamed over its surface. Their remains have been found in the caverns of Hutton, Bleadon, Banwell, and Wookey, and are preserved in Taunton Museum. Of the wild creatures which at present occur in the county, the only one which confers real distinction upon it is the red deer, which roams at large on both Exmoor and the Quantocks. Badgers are not uncommon near Dulverton and in the more uncultivated districts. The very diversified character of Somerset makes it the home of a large variety of birds, the Quantocks and Exmoor sheltering many of the predatory kinds, the long coast-line attracting numerous seafowl, and the fenny country of the centre affording a feeding ground for the different kinds of waders. Of the resident species which are comparatively uncommon elsewhere may be mentioned the hawfinch, the greater and lesser spotted woodpecker, the carrion crow, the raven, the buzzard, the hen-harrier, and the peregrine falcon. Among the regular visitors are included the white wagtail, the pied flycatcher, the nightjar, the black redstart, the lesser redpole, the snow bunting, the redwing, the reed, marsh, and grasshopper warblers, the siskin, the dotterel, the sanderling, the wryneck, the hobby, the merlin, the bittern, and the shoveller. As occasional visitors may be reckoned the wax-wing, golden oriole, cross-bill, hoopoe, white-tailed eagle, honey buzzard, ruff, puffin, great bustard, Iceland gull, glaucous gull, and Bewick's swan. Visitors that may be supposed to have reached the county only by accident have scarcely a claim to be noticed here, though perhaps allusion may be made to an Egyptian vulture seen at Kilve in 1825, and specimens of Pallas's sand-grouse observed near Bridgwater, Weston-super-Mare, and Bath.[1]
As regards the flora the elevated position of parts of the county makes it the home of a number of plants which do not commonly occur in the South of England. Thus there are found on Exmoor the crowberry (_Empetrum nigrum_), the parsley fern (_Cryptogramme crispa_), and the oak fern (_Phegopteris dryopteris_). Asplenium septentrionale is found at Culbone; Listera cordata grows on Dunkery and near Chipstable; and the cranberry (_Oxycoccus palustris_) is said to occur at Selworthy and on the Brendons. On the other hand, Somerset likewise furnishes congenial conditions for those plants that love low-lying, marshy ground, and on the peat-moors in the Glastonbury district the flowering fern (_Osmunda regalis_) and the bog myrtle (_Myrica Gale_) are met with. Within the British Isles the following are found only in Somerset: _Dianthus gratianopolitanus, Hieracium stinolepis, Verbascum lychnitis_, and _Euphorbia pilosa. Arabis stricta_ occurs only on the limestone near Clifton; Helianthemum polifolium is confined to Somerset and Devon; Pirus latifolia to Somerset and Denbigh.[2]
[1] For the birds of Somerset, see a paper by the Rev. Murray A. Mathew, M.A., F.L.S., in the "Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society," vol. xxxix., from which we have borrowed.
[2] For fuller information, see "The Flora of Somerset," by the Rev. R.P. Murray, M.A., F.L.S., from which the above facts are taken.

VI. HISTORY
Somerset gets its name from a Saxon tribe, but its earliest inhabitants, like those of the southern half of bur island generally, were Britons or Celts, and the Saxon invasion was preceded by