CJ. 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[March 1, 1866. 



A Monkey's Artifice. — Every one knows that 

 the monkey tribe in general are noted for their 

 habitual practice of artful and dexterous artifices. 

 A friend of mine possesses a member of the tribe, 

 whose cunning and mischievous propensities are 

 developed in an extraordinary degree. To make 

 casual notes of even half of his mischievous tricks, 

 which he practises daity, would fill a good-sized 

 book; I shall therefore merely give a brief account 

 of the skilful method by which he obtains food from 

 a porcine neighbour, whose obese form inhabits the 

 same yard, as being without an exact parallel in the 

 annals of monkeydom. This monkey is usually 

 secured by a chain fastened to a wall, and by going 

 the full length of the chain across the yard, he can 

 get within about four feet (but no farther) of his 

 neighbour's trough, which is placed in a small shed 

 against the opposite wall. At certain times in the 

 day, a savoury mixture, of which barley-meal forms 

 the chief constituent, is poured into the trough for 

 Mr. Pig, who, of course, without reluctance, waddles 

 up to commence what is to pigs, and, it is to be 

 feared, some human beings, their principal enjoy- 

 ment, viz., feeding. Mr. Pig has scarcely swallowed 

 a mouthful, before the monkey, who has been watch- 

 ing the operation of filling the trough with elevated 

 eyebrows and evident satisfaction, comes to the 

 extreme length of his chain, and seizing the pig's 

 curly tail, pulls it with a sharp jerk or two ; the pig 

 turns round, snaps his jaws at the monkey, and tries 

 to bite him, and in so doing, drops some of the 

 precious barley-meal from his mouth, which the 

 monkey eats up, and repeats the operation until his 

 appetite is appeased, or the pig, having emptied his 

 trough, retires. — E. P., Luton, 



Gyr-Falcon.— At the meeting of the Zoological 

 Society, held on the 9th January last, a letter was 

 read from Sir C. W. Dilke, Bart., P.Z.S., announcing 

 the occurrence of a Gyr-Ealcon {Falco gyrfalco) in 

 the Holt Forest, near Farnham. 



Novel Mode of Capturing a Heron. — 

 Whilst visiting, in the autumn of 1865, at a small 

 Northamptonshire market - town, situated inter- 

 mediately in the flat district cnlled the Nene 

 Valley, which stretches from Northampton to 

 Peterborough on each side of the river Nene, 

 an incident of rather a ludicrous character, and 

 which may interest some of your readers, came 

 under my notice. A boy, having one night set 

 some eel lines in a shallow part of the river, a 

 short distance from the town, and fastened them to 

 pegs, which he stuck over the bank among the lofty 

 bulrushes which skirt and add such beauty to the 

 river, was surprised and somewhat alarmed on ap- 

 proaching the place next morning, for the purpose 

 of examining his lines, by hearing the water in a 

 state of violent commotion; advancing carefully, 

 and parting the bulrushes with his hands, he peered 



cautiously through into the river, and discovered to 

 his terror, that the cause of the splashing and dash- 

 ing was an unlucky heron, who had gobbled up one 

 of the baits, and the hook sticking in his throat, he 

 now found himself held a prisoner by the line; the 

 boy, still frightened, warily drew up the peg, and 

 dragging the unfortunate and reluctant bird the full 

 length of the line in his rear, marched towards 

 home. He experienced considerable difficulty 

 when crossing the meadows which lay between 

 the river and the town, in persuading the heron 

 to get over the stiles ; but at last they reached the 

 town, and I need scarcely say that in marching 

 up the street the pair created quite a sensation ; 

 the boy walking sideways, staring in an excited 

 manner alternately at the people at the doors, 

 from which the sight elicited so much merriment 

 and laughter, and at the heron, who, averse to 

 being drawn in such a manner from his favourite 

 haunts, with beak wide open, screaming, as only 

 herons know how to scream, with body drawn 

 back, and legs planted forward in a determined 

 manner, slid, rather than walked, after his captor. 

 — E. Parkins, Luton. 



The Swift (Cypselus a pus).— -By watching the 

 swift enter the tunnel leading to its nest, the object 

 of the oddly-formed feet is clearly ascertained. The 

 legs are very short, but strongly made ; and the toes 

 are ali furnished with strong curved claws, and di- 

 rected forward, so that the bird is unable to clasp a 

 branch with its feet. This structure enables it to 

 scramble through its tunnel with great rapidity; and 

 it is most interesting to see the swift wheel round 

 in the air with a piercing cry, answered by a little 

 complacent chirrup from its mate within the nest, 

 then dart into the hole as if shot from a bow, closing 

 its wings as it enters the tunnel, and then scramble 

 away with a quick and certain gait that never fails 

 to excite admiration. — " Homes without Hands." 



9 



Bartram's Sandpiper ( Totanus Bartramii). — 

 On the 9th of November I obtained a beautiful 

 specimen, which was killed within a short distance 

 of Falmouth. It appears to have suffered but little 

 from its lengthened migration across the Atlantic, for 

 it was at the time of its capture, to all appearances, 

 in perfect health and in capital condition. The bird 

 in my possession is a faithful representative of that 

 figured in the supplement to the late lamented 

 William Yarrell's work on " British Birds," which I 

 believe, was killed in Cambridgeshire many years 

 ago, and communicated to the Illustrated London 

 News by the Bev. F. Tearle, of Trinity Hall. I 

 shall be happy to furnish any one desirous of further 

 information on the subject with a minute descrip 

 tion of the bird in question, or to afford any one 

 visiting this locality an ample opportunity of ex- 

 amining my specimen for himself. — W. K. Bull- 

 more, M.D., in the "Times" 



