28 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



14,500,000 of cubic miles — more than room for all 

 the water and atmosphere which the moon could ever 

 have had ; and now water and atmosphere have 

 disappeared from the surface of the moon and 

 become sucked into the pores of the rocks. 



(To be continued.) 



IN THE NEW FOREST. 



WHAT a splendid field for the study of practical 

 natural history is afforded by the New 

 Forest, Hampshire. My acquaintance with it is, I 

 regret to say, very slight indeed ; in fact, merely one 

 day's ramble in the neighbourhood of Rrockenhurst 

 and Lyndhurst, but I saw quite enough to .determine 

 me to pay it a longer visit as soon as I can find 



ran across a heath: great "water-measurers" 

 I Gem's laa/stris) were running about in a jerky 

 manner, on the surface of the water ; and down in 

 the holes under overhanging bushes, by peeping 

 cautiously over, I could see trout lazily swimming to 

 and fro. They seem to have a regular "beat," and 

 to move slowly over the same ground, time after 

 time. In the bushes around were large numbers of 

 ox-eye titmice, coal titmice, and the graceful little 

 long-tailed tits, and very pretty it was to see them 

 hopping among the twigs, as often head downwards 

 as upwards. As I was approaching the water again 

 to look for a small trout I had seen rising, a sharp 

 hiss at my feet drew my attention to an adder lying 

 coiled up. I am sorry to say that I acted on my first 

 impulse, and killed it with my stick. I think that 

 the venomous properties of adders are much ex- 



Fig. 17. — Longtailed Tit (Partis longicavdatus). 



time to do so. It was a windy, rather dull day, at 

 the latter end of September, when I took my walk, so 

 I did not see the forest at its best ; but, even under 

 those disadvantageous circumstances, it was very 

 enjoyable. Flocks of linnets swarmed about the 

 thistles, shaking off clouds of down as they settled. 

 Chaffinches, in parties almost entirely composed of 

 one sex, justifying their specific name (ccelebs), 

 chirped merrily on all sides ; peewits wheeled about 

 overhead, and rooks were busily searching for food 

 among the cattle. One black rascal hopped jauntily 

 on to a cow's back and then on to one of its horns, 

 as its placid bearer lay calmly meditating and chewing 

 the cud. 



I soon found my way to a brook, which 



aggerated, and, although there have been cases, I 

 believe, of death following their " sting," vipers very 

 seldom grow to a size, in England at least, which 

 renders them dangerous to human beings. They are, 

 besides, timid reptiles and, unless molested, invariably 

 get out of one's way as quickly as they can. The one 

 I killed measured only nineteen inches, and was 

 beautifully marked. 



I then jumped across the brook, and got into a 

 fine plantation, principally of fir-trees, where I had 

 the pleasure of seeing a tree creeper running on a 

 branch, and soon afterwards had my attention 

 attracted by a " tap-tap-tap "-ing to a green wood- 

 pecker. He looked very handsome indeed in the 

 sunlight, as he flew away. Several magpies were 



