224 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Guernsey (which has more land surface in its 

 vicinity than Scilly) comes, in respect of climate, 

 between Scilly and Greenwich ; and judging from 

 Professor Ansted's work on the Channel Islands, 

 the vegetable productions of those islands are 

 intermediate in character between those of Scilly 

 and those of the mainland of England. 



My visit to the small island Annet (inhabited 

 only by vast numbers of sea-birds) taught another 

 lesson. The common thrift (Armeria vulgaris) is 

 found plentifully in the islands, but in St. Mary's it 

 exhibits no marked luxuriance. But in Annet it 

 forms great hemispherical masses, often about 

 3 ft. in diameter, and nearly a foot in depth. I can 

 only attribute this luxuriant growth to the abundant 

 supply of manure furnished by the excreta of the 

 birds which roost and nest on the island. At first 

 sight few things would appear less dependent one 

 on the other than a sea-gull and a thrift plant ; yet 

 here we see the presence of the bird influencing 

 very greatly the development of the plant. If the 

 gulls and puffins were driven away from Annet, one 

 cannot doubt that by-and-by the thrift would 

 dwindle, and then at some future period visitors 

 might be sorely puzzled to account for the thick 

 bed of vegetable mould on the island, which would 

 seem to point to a vegetation almost requiring a 

 tropical climate, instead of a vegetation due only 

 to the existence of large numbers of sea-birds. 



My own special " hobby " is " land-shells," but I 

 must confess that the plants, the rocks, and the 

 glorious sea-views so attracted me, that shell- 

 collecting went on but feebly. The snails in Scilly 

 were the better, and my boxes in Loudon the worse, 

 for the many interesting things that I found in the 

 islands. 



Since my return home I have thought that if 

 three or four co-workers in a field-club or natural 

 history society could make a visit, at the same time, 

 to such places as the Scilly Islands, they could help 

 one another greatly in their respective pursuits, 

 and would do far more in the investigation of the 

 locality than could have been done by them indi- 

 vidually and alone. The evening meetings might 

 be made most pleasant, and the hints furnished by 

 one and another of the party would do much 

 towards securing due attention to all the points of 

 nterest in the neighbourhood. 



I can scarcely picture to myself a more attractive 

 summer holiday than such a visit to one or other 

 of the islands, or groups of islands, ' around old 

 England. To any of your readers who may bend 

 their steps westward I would say, " See the Isles of 

 Scilly, aud don't be persuaded to give them one day 

 only, but try if they will not furnish plenty of 

 employment for a week or two, and still leave 

 something to be found out by those who may follow 

 you." 

 What wonder is it that I, having found in Scilly 



good and inexpensive living, people remarkably 

 courteous and friendly, glorious weather, aud good 

 health, should be disposed to try the curious little 

 archipelago for another summer's trip ? 



W. H. Hatcher. 



THE LONG-TAILED WANDERER. 

 By W. H. Warner. 



THE charms of a walk in the woods have been 

 said aud sung many, many times ; and if any 

 of my kind readers would wish to see the merry 

 little long-tailed wanderer free as air, then I would 

 strongly advise them to take such a walk. Select 

 some calm autumn day, when the trees are hung 

 with orange draperies, when not a sound breaks the 

 silence save an occasional laugh from a woodpecker, 

 the merry twit of a nut-hatch, or the dreamy, half- 

 melancholy song of the red-breasted robin singing 

 in the depths of the wood. 



But what is this long-tailed wanderer? I fancy 

 I hear some reader ask. Is it bird, beast, or rep- 

 tile? The "long-tailed wanderer" is a somewhat 

 fanciful name proposed by a gifted naturalist for a 

 gentle, funny little bird extremely well known to 

 every country schoolboy. But stay ; I am wrong : 

 the gifted naturalist in question did not call my 

 little feathered friend the " long-tailed wanderer " 

 in English, but dubbed it Megistura vagans, which, 

 however, when rendered in plain English, is nothing 

 but "long-tailed wanderer" after all. What a 

 wonderful thing is science ! Putting aside further 

 mystery, I introduce my subject to the reader as 

 the Long-tailed Tit [Farm caudatus). 



The autumn season has always appeared to me 

 the most favourable for the studies of the ornitho- 

 logist. In his woodland walks he may then make 

 the acquaintance of a great number of birds, par- 

 ticularly the five common members of the Tit family. 

 Three of these— the Great, the Blue, and the Cole 

 tit— hunt busily among the oaks at this time, both 

 for the sake of the caterpillars feeding on the leaves, 

 and also for the fine fat grubs contained in the 

 well-known galls {Cynips Kollari). To obtain the 

 latter, the sharp little tit pecks large holes in the 

 side of the gall. Acorns also form part of the tit's 

 autumnal diet, having watched a Great Tit {Parus 

 major) holding one of these on a twig, and pecking 

 it open with its stout little bill. 



But we seem to have forgotten our little wan- 

 derer. Listen awhile, and you will hear a perfect 

 chorus of chirps and twits among the bushes ; and 

 if you look carefully in the direction from which 

 they proceed, you may see a dozen] or more little, 

 long -tailed, black and white birds performing 

 various acrobatic feats among the hazel twigs. 

 Now a rough head, aud then the tip of a long tail, 

 will be seen stuck straight up in the air. Suddenly 



