HARD WICKE ' S S CIE NCR - G SSI P. 



the outer materials of which the nest is formed, would 

 be forced into a direction quite opposite to that which 

 they have received at the hand of Nature. Hence 

 we may safely conclude that neither the herons, nor 

 any other birds of the creation, ever perform their 

 incubation with their legs on the outside of the nest." 

 —E. A. F. 



Viper and Nightingale. — In one of the early 

 volumes of Science-Gossip, which I do not possess, 

 there is a short note referring to a certain wood in 

 Hampshire, where the nightingale is never known to 

 sing nor the viper to sting. Would some obliging 

 correspondent kindly copy the above paragraph and 

 forward it to the undersigned, or send it as a note 

 to Science-Gossip? — W. II. Warner, Staiidlake, 

 Witney, Oxon. 



White Sparrows. — I beg to say that they have 

 been observed here, more than once, with white 

 feathers in their wings. — Faddoc/nvood, Kent. 



White Sparrows. — On the 29th of Januai-y, this 

 year, I saw a sparrow with one wing quite white, in 

 the neighbourhood of Reading. In the early part of 

 January, I also saw a sparrow quite black in the 

 ■neighbourhood of Lewes (Sussex). In the "Field" of 

 February 4th, two varieties of the house sparrow are 

 reported, one cinnamon and one black. — A"". Y. Z. 



White Sparrows. — Seeing in the February num- 

 "ber of Science-Gossip a query respecting sparrows, 

 I send the following for inquirers' information, and 

 for others whom it may interest. Last summer at 

 Leamington, I saw a white sparrow fly over the 

 river Leam several times, and have also seen one 

 or two in the neighbourhood of Birmingham and 

 Wolverhampton. I see in White's " Natural History 

 of Selborne," it mentions that white birds of British 

 species are not uncommon. He says, " there was a 

 white lark shot in the neighbourhood of Kingston 

 Rectory, near Canterbury, in October 182S." In the 

 "Natural History Magazine," there is a notice of a 

 blackbird's nest, found at St. Austell, Cornwall, con- 

 taining two birds, one of them perfectly white. In 

 the summer of 1831, a blackbird's nest was found at 

 Newbottle, near Edinburgh, containing four young, 

 two of which were of the ordinary colour, and two 

 perfectly white. On the ground of Doumsheugh, 

 the property of Sir Patrick Walker, there was, some 

 years ago, a beautifully mottled blackbird, which 

 became so tame that it fed along with the domestic 

 fowls. It continued there for some years, and was shot 

 by a gentleman, who supposed it a bird of some very 

 uncommon species. We have seen white crows very 

 often ; a white robin with red eyes, a white sparrow, 

 and a white jackdaw. — H. S. J. 



Sparrows. — In answer to C. Kingsford's inquiiies, 

 we have seen sparrows here, occasionally, with white 

 feathers in their wings, and saw one a few days ago. 

 We had also, for two or three years, a blackbird with 

 white feathers in one wing. — Eleanor Snell, Black- 

 heath. 



White Sp.\RROWS. — In reply to Miss Kingsford's 

 query in your Isst issue, I beg to state that I have 

 frequently seen about here (Lincoln), house sparrows, 

 having white feathers in their wings. — G. II. 



Notes on the Arbutus. — Will Mr. Cundall 

 excuse me if I ask him whether he means Arbutus 

 7(>iedo, which grows near Bristol, and is it found 

 there wild ? My reason for asking is because I find 



the common briarberry {Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) is 

 called by some botanists an Arbutus. I am much 

 surprised to hear that Unedo is found near Bristol, 

 that is, presuming it grows wild. I have been fre- 

 quently assured that it is not found anywhere else, 

 of spontaneous growth, except in Kerry ; moreover, 

 I am confirmed in this statement by Hooker, who 

 mentions only "woods at Killarney, Muckross, and 

 Bantry." He says Arctostaphylos has the characters 

 of Arbutus, so I suppose they might be easily 

 mistaken for each other. — John Rasor. 



" Eye-stones." — Can you give me any informa- 

 tion as to the source of the " Eye-stone," used in 

 Guernsey as an agent for extracting foreign bodies 

 from the eye ? It is the operculum of a shell. The 

 specimens I have are about a quarter of an inch in 

 diameter. — -W. II. Sitnley. 



White Heather. — I have in my possession a 

 sprig of white heather, which I found last summer, 

 growing among cranberries on the summit of Meigle 

 Hill, Selkirkshire. There were only two or three 

 bunches on the spot. I have not seen the white 

 variety anywhere in this district, excepting in this 

 particular place ; although I have frequently come 

 across it in Inverness-shire, and other parts of the 

 north of Scotland. The white heather is thicker in 

 the foliage, and has fewer blossoms than the com- 

 mon kind. — John G. Sharp, 6 Roxburgh Place, 

 Galashiels, Selkirkshire, N.B. 



Irish Superstition respecting Eels. — The 

 belief is not yet extinct among the lower classes of the 

 population ; though, thanks to the march of intellect, 

 not so current as formerly, that the eels which abound 

 in our lakes and rivers are the lineal descendants of 

 the serpents upon which St. Patrick, according to an 

 old legend, served a writ of ejectment, depriving them 

 of any local habitation on dry ground. I have several 

 times met with old people who believed this as 

 firmly as any article of their religious creed. — 

 J.H.H. 



Digitalis purpurea. — A friend of mine saw in 

 Buckinghamshire last year (1880), what appeared to 

 be a form of the foxglove ; the formation was just the 

 same, only instead of having purple flowers, it had 

 white ones, curiously spotted with yellow. He tells 

 me he frequently saw them perfectly wild in fields 

 and in hedge-bottoms. — Alfred Waller. 



Scarcity OF Wasps. — My experience in this locaUty 

 (Fermanagh) corroborates that of a number of corre- 

 spondents in various parts of the kingdom, as to the 

 unusual scarcity of wasps. I think I did not see half 

 a dozen during the whole season, while in ' some 

 years they are to be encountered in such numbers 

 as to amount to an almost intolerable plague. — 

 J. II II. 



Larks and Toads. — Dr. War burton, in his note 

 on the passage in question, says that the toad having 

 very fine eyes and the /«;'/& very ugly ones, was the 

 occasion of a common saying amongst the people that 

 the toad and lark had changed eyes. Johnson refers to 

 the rustic rhyme : 



" . . . . to heaven I'd fly. 

 But that the toad beguil'd me of mine eye ; " 



and he says that the sense is, "the lark, they say, has 

 lost her eyes to the toad." Mason reads changed, 

 which appears to make better sense. — //. Astley 

 Roberts, B.A. 



