July 1, 1S6C.J 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



1GL 



Tones of the Cuckoo.— I happened the other 

 day to be in very close proximity to a most in- 

 defatigable cuckoo, though, as is generally the case, 

 I could not see it. The variations in its tones 

 struck me rather forcibly, as up to that time I had 

 always imagined a cuckoo to be possessed of two 

 notes, and two only. After listening carefully for 

 some time I clearly perceived such variations as the 

 following, which I give below on a treble stave- 



Cuckoo, Cuckoo, Cuckoo, Cuckoo. 



The last two cries appeared to have been the result 

 of excitement on the part of the bird, as they were 

 screamed out con amove, after which ebullition it sub- 

 sided into its usual tones once more.— A. J. N. 

 Macdonald, Taunton. 



Nest of the Lesser Redpole ; or Hose 

 Linnet {Linota Httaria).—A. nest of this little and 

 scarce bird was found this season in Benningbro' 

 Park, York. It was built between a branch and 

 the trunk of an ash tree. It was a very beautiful 

 nest, and for neatness of construction only second 

 to the Chaffinch. Externally it was composed of 

 bent and moss, with a few small twigs interwoven 

 among them, and it was lined with hair, a feather 

 or two, and the down of the willow. It contained 

 three eggs of a pale milky blue, and spotted with 

 reddish brown, the spots being thickest at the 

 thick end.— John Hanson, Linton-on-Ouse, York. 



Convocation of Sparrows.— Erequent on the 

 fine days in February, March, and April, large 

 numbers of sparrows congregate together, or as one 

 of your Correspondents terms it, meet in convocation. 

 Some ash trees in the field below my residence, are 

 the favourite meeting places here. In these trees 

 they frequently meet to the amount of 100. Seated 

 on the bare branches not a sound is heard, when 

 suddenly every sparrow leaves his perch, and babel 

 commences ; every bird seems endowed with a 

 miraculous power of tongue ; and as they fly round 

 and round the tree, and through and through, all 

 mingled together, and all chirping together, the 

 sight is by no means unpleasant, nor the clamour 

 disagreeable. These meetings continue frequently 

 for a couple of hours ; but what their object is, if 

 it is not an instinctive rejoicing at the return of 

 warm weather, and the season of love, I cannot com- 

 prehend.—/. Banson, Linton-on-Ouse, York. 



Palmate Newt {Triton palmipes).— Abounds, as 

 I have been told, in a pond close to Woking Station. 

 I lately found the Natterjack among the reeds in 

 Send sandpits, three miles from the station ; but 

 have had no opportunity of looking for the newts 

 in the above-mentioned pond.— W. R. T. 



LESBIA TO HER SPARROW. 



Ericnd, for thee on plant and shrub, 

 Fattens many a dainty grub ; 

 Thick for thee the aphis grows 

 On the branchlets of the rose ; 

 Beetles (crisp delights to crunch) 

 Multiply to serve thy lunch ; 

 Plumpest spiders weave the web, 

 Tated for thy greedy neb. 

 "Worm, snail, slug, and blowfly— all 

 Crowd thy hunger to forestall. 

 Therefore, hopster, feed thy fill, 

 Cram thy all-devouring bill, 

 Boam my garden freely through 

 And devour the crawling crew. 

 This, and welcome, do '.—But please, 

 Spare— oh, spare— my growing peas.— Fen. 



Partridge {Perdix cwerea).— -The number of 

 eggs which the partridge lays, has been variously 

 stated at from eight to twenty ; but this year I have 

 a partridge who sat in my garden hedge on twenty- 

 nine eggs ; and a few years ago I found a nest con- 

 taining thirty-two. This latter was very unfortu- 

 nately situated in the hedge row, close to the high 

 road, and close to a stone heap ; the breaker of 

 which found it and showed it to others, so that by 

 being frequently disturbed she forsook the eggs — 

 J. Bca/son, Linton-on-Ouse. 



Insects at Sea.— At a recent meeting of the 

 Zoological Society, Mr. Elower exhibited some 

 insects captured in the Atlantic on board the ship 

 " Hotspur," about 300 miles from land. 



Orange-Legged Hobby {Falco vespertinus).—k. 

 female was sent to me for preservation on the 29th 

 May of the present year; it was killed in the 

 neighbourhood of this town, and is the first, so far 

 as I am aware, that has yet been obtained in 

 Scotland. Its stomach contained a mouse and 

 some beetles.— G. Sim, Aberdeen. 



New British Eish.— At the meeting of the 

 Zoological Society of London (June 12th) a com- 

 munication was read from Mr. Jonathan Crouch, 

 giving an account of the occurrence of Ausonia 

 Cuvieri, a fish new to the British Eauna, on the 

 coast of Cornwall. 



Larv.e of Melit.ea (see Science Gossip, p. 

 133).— At a meeting of the Entomological Society, 

 held May 5th, 1841, "a note was read from the 

 Rev. R. A. Cox relative to the appearance of 

 immense numbers of minute black caterpillars on 

 the surface of pasture grounds in the parish of West 

 Camel, Somerset, to the extent of twenty acres. 

 The caterpillars were regarded by Mr. Stephens as 

 those of a species of Melita>a, which are known occa- 

 sionally to congregate in great numbers."— Ann. and 

 Mag. Nat. Hist., Series i., vol. vii., p. 29S (1842). 



