138 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[June 1,1 8CG. 



before I saw it, but it continued for fully five 

 minutes afterwards, when suddenly there appeared 

 a policeman, in the shape of a large rook, which 

 came flying from among the trees close by. He 

 lighted on the grass a few yards distant from the 

 combatants, who just then were resting, and walked 

 slowly towards them. As soon as they saw him 

 approach, one of them got up, shook himself, and 

 flew heavily away; the other fellow apparently 

 could not fly, but just shuffled off some little way; 

 and the policeman, having thus put a stop to the 

 fight, seemed to consider he had done his duty, and 

 flew off also, and so ended the duel. I may mention 

 a fact regarding this rookery, which is situated close 

 to the shore of a bay on the West Coast of Ireland, 

 and is much exposed to the south-west winds. 

 Shortly after the stormy weather began last 

 December, I observed that the rooks did not come 

 in the evening to roost as usual. Duriug the rest 

 of the winter and early spring they stayed away, a 

 few invariably coming every morning and remaining 

 about the place all day, as if to keep possession of 

 it, and every evening retiring to some near sheltered 

 roosting-place inland ; but as soon as the time 

 came for them to repair their nests, the whole 

 colony again took up their permanent abode here. 

 —H. G. E. 



Curious Nest oe the Chaffinch {Frmgilia 

 Ccelebs). — Two young gentlemen found a nest in a 

 hedge on their farm, and my attention was directed 

 to the same nest by them, as something curious. I 

 went to the place indicated, and found a nest in the 

 fork of a thorn bush. It looked, at first sight, not 

 unlike the nest of a long-tailed tit ; but upon closer 

 examination, I found that it consisted of two nests, 

 placed one upon the other. The lower nest, for 

 some reason, had been found unsuitable, and the 

 little builders had filled the nest up with moss, and 

 using^the lower nest as a base, had raised a column 

 of moss, lichens, wool, and hair, to a height of seven 

 or eight inches; and upon this column they had 

 built the real nest of the usual materials, i. e., moss, 

 lichens, feathers, hair, and wool ; and in this nest 

 was laid one egg of the usual and unmistaken 

 chaffinch colour, so well known to bird-nesters. 

 The chaffinch is called in North Yorkshire, the 

 " bully," and " wet bird." — John Hanson, Linton-ou- 

 Ouse, York. 



Ingenuity oe the Garden Spider (Epeira 

 Diadema). — These spiders have- a most singular 

 plan of strengthening their web, when the wind is 

 more than ordinarily violent. If they find that the 

 wind stretches their net to a dangerous extent, they 

 hang pieces of wood, or stone, or other substances 

 to the web, so as to obtain the needful steadiness. I 

 have seen a piece of wood which had been used by 



a garden spider, and which was some two inches in 

 length, and thicker than an ordinary drawing-pencil. 

 The spider hauled it to a height of nearly five feet ; 

 and when by some accident the suspending thread 

 was broken, the little creature immediately lowered 

 itself to the ground, attached a fresh thread, ascended 

 again to the web, and hauled the piece of wood after 

 it— Rev. J. G. Wood. 



The Ringdove (Columba palumbus). — Mr. 

 Waterton mentions a curious circumstance con- 

 nected with this bird. In a spruce fir-tree there 

 was the nest of a magpie containing seven eggs, 

 which were removed, and those of the jackdaw 

 substituted. Below this nest a ringdove had chosen 

 to fix her abode, and so the curious fact was seen, 

 that on the same tree, in close proximity to each 

 other, were magpies, jackdaws, and ringdoves, and 

 all living in perfect amity. It might have been 

 supposed that the magpies and jackdaws would 

 have robbed the nest of the ringdove, but such was 

 not the case. Moreover, the bird knew instinctively 

 that she would not be endangered by her neigh- 

 bours, for she came to the tree after the magpie had 

 settled in it. 



A Mycophagous Squirrel.— One evening, in 

 the autumn of 1S61, while in search of fungi in a 

 small plantation of Scotch firs, near the Wrekin, 

 the writer noticed a squirrel seated on its haunches 

 on a limb of a wych elm, and holding between its 

 paws, by the stem, a fungus. There was no mis- 

 taking it. Agaric it was — stipes, pileus, and lamellse 

 all being plainly visible. To see the pretty creature 

 sitting as described, with its bushy tail erect, and 

 gracefully curved at the end, nibbling away a la 

 gourmand, and seeming quite unaware of the 

 presence of a "spectator, was indeed most interest- 

 ing. A piece of rotten wood, thrown so as to strike 

 the limb, disturbed the meal, and the epicurean 

 leaping to an adjoining tree, the dainty morsel fell 

 to the ground, and was at once appropriated by the 

 writer for examination. Enough of the pileus 

 remained to show that it had been a full grown 

 specimen of the red Russula (22. rubra) ; and a few 

 yards from the wych elm, the writer stumbled upon 

 some half dozen of the same species : their crimson 

 caps resembling at a distance, so many round 

 patches of blood, of the size of a crown piece, half 

 hid in the stubbly grass (see also vol. i. p. 40). — 

 R. A. 



Vipers in Company. — While on a visit to the 

 Isle of Wight, early in last April, I observed three 

 full-grown vipers in a wood together. I killed two 

 of them, but ''the other managed to get off. I have 

 frequently captured vipers before of all sorts and 

 sizes, but never have I seen them in company. — 

 C. Lister. 



