Lastly, it is to be noted that Cornwall is the nearest part of England to America. However difficult it may be of explanation, the fact remains that the Duchy is very rich in rare birds; so rich, indeed, that their recorded occurrence cannot by any possibility be merely accidental. Thus, no less than 24 species have occurred in Cornwall which have never been found in Devonshire. But more than this, a very large number of these--18 or more--are purely American species. The question is, whence do they come? Professor James Clark, who has discussed the point at some length in the _Victoria County History_, is, apparently, loth to believe that they can come directly across the Atlantic, and it is by many thought that they are driven back by heavy south-westerly weather when dropping down the English Channel, having come by a circuitous route from Northern Europe. But against this is the undeniable fact that it is in the immediate neighbourhood of the Land's End that the chief rarities and stragglers are obtained, while many species have been shot in the Scilly Islands which have never been recorded from Cornwall itself. So far as its botany is concerned, Cornwall does not differ very markedly from Devonshire, but it has a large number of rare or peculiar plants. The highlands and north coast are rather poor in species; it is on the banks and estuaries of the streams that the richest flora is seen. A number of foreign plants are found, mostly in the neighbourhood of Falmouth and other ports. The balsam, _Impatiens Roylei_, from India, grows extremely abundantly between Liskeard and Looe, and near Tintagel, and a species of May-weed (_Matricaria discoidea_) has become a troublesome pest near Falmouth. Loe Pool in the Lizard district is noticeable for the number of rare and local plants it possesses. The Scilly Islands own certain plants peculiar to them; thus, _Trifolium repens_, var. _Townsendi_ and _Ornithopus ebracteatus_ are said not to be found elsewhere in England, and _Carex ligerica_ only in Norfolk. The chief feature of the mammals of the county is that the grey seal, _Halichaerus gryphus_, is quite numerous in the Scilly Islands; that the polecat, though nearly extinct, is still found; and that both badgers and otters are very abundant. It is a curious fact that certain freshwater fish common in other parts of England, such as pike, roach, chub, and bream, are unknown. The bird which bears the distinctive appellation, the Cornish chough (it is not confined to the county, but is also found in Wales), is now not nearly as common as formerly, but like the raven it still breeds on some parts of the coast. =8. Around the Coast. From Morwenstow to Land's End.= [Illustration: Bude Breakwater]