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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Audacity of a Hawk. — One day, about the 

 middle of last September, a gentleman was out 

 partridge shooting. A bird got up, at which he 

 fired ; and as it fell, a sparrowhawk swooped down, 

 and carried it off. About half-an-hour afterwards, 

 the irate sportsman saw the hawk just above his head 

 with its prey in its claws. He gave it both barrels, 

 and brought it down. I saw the partridge which was 

 minus the head, and a large portion of the breast. 

 The hawk was a fine bird, in beautiful condition, and 

 quite young. — A. J. M. L. 



Tame Rat Catching Mice. — The door of a 

 rat's cage of mine having been left unfastened, I was 

 surprised in the morning to find a dead mouse in the 

 cage, and another outside. The next night I let the 

 rat out, and in a short time he caught a mouse, which 

 had been running about the room, and deposited it 

 in his cage. I often leave the rat out all night, and 

 during his nocturnal rambles he has caught eight 

 mice. The dead mice are taken out of the cage in the 

 morning, and sometimes a piece of the head is gone, 

 at others they are untouched. The rat is a buck, and 

 piebald ; it is fed on bread, oats, maize, &c., but no 

 meat. — Waiter A. Pcarcc. 



Notes on the Arbutus. — Since writing my 

 previous notes, I have been told of a giant arbutus 

 to be seen at Dinish, one of the islands which 

 separates the Middle from the Lower Lake. I went 

 to see it, and found it even larger than I had been 

 led to expect. It is nine feet in circumference, about 

 a yard from the ground, and cannot be much less than 

 sixty feet in height. We are so apt to think of the 

 arbutus as only a shrub, and this is I believe such 

 an uncommon size, that I should be glad if any one 

 would tell me if they have ever met with a larger. The 

 caretaker at Dinish much amused me with a very 

 graphic description, in truly Irish style which I regret 

 I cannot reproduce, of the wonderful cures for intestinal 

 worms effected by eating the arbutus berries. This 

 is quite new to me, and I should be glad if any con- 

 firmation of this statement can be supplied. I notice 

 the bark on the trunks of many of the trees has a 

 curiously twisted appearance, seeming to ascend in 

 spirals like the strands of a rope ; and instead of 

 peeling off the tree, it rubs off in the form of scales. — 

 yohn Rasor. 



Dreissena polymorpha.— It is pleasant to know, 

 through your kind correspondent Mr. Gardner, 

 that this shell is extending its distribution in the 

 British Islands. Collectors should take note of this, 

 for I have little doubt it might be discovered, with 

 patient searching, in many docks and tidal estuaries, 

 or in the canal basins, joined with tidal rivers. Only 

 recently, it has also been discovered in the River 

 Weaver Canal, at or near Weston Point, in the 

 Mersey Estuary. It is one of our prettiest shells, 

 still it can scarcely be confounded with any other 

 mussel, and especially so with the Anodonta : the 

 banded markings, well expressed by its local name, 

 zebra mussel, will guide the young collector in his 

 search. — R. 



Acherontia Atropos. — I should feel greatly 

 obliged if any reader of the Scienxe-Gossip will 

 kindly furnish me with the modns opo-andi under the 

 following circumstances. During September, I had 

 the good fortune to secure four beautiful caterpillars 

 of the death's-head moth, and being exceedingly 

 anxious to rear them, I exercised every precaution, 

 and had the satisfaction of seeing them all safely 

 assume the pupal state, and in about six weeks, two 

 of them came out perfect and fully developed — indeed, 



finer specimens I never saw ; but, strange to me, two 

 still remain in the pupal state, though they have 

 received the same treatment, and have been subjected 

 to like conditions in every respect. To-day they are 

 as lively as any one might wish them to be. Now I 

 should like to know if they will ever come out of 

 their pupal envelope, or if I ["could by any means 

 force them out, as the moth is rare in this district. — 

 /. Wilbuni. 



Mason-Wasps. — In .answer to query of F. W. S. 

 about mason-wasps, I find two species are mentioned 

 in " Museum of Animated Nature," also in "Insect 

 Architecture." One is a common species of solitary 

 mason-wasp [Odyncrtis, late). Mr. Rennie says he 

 saw one of these wasps excavating a hole in a hard 

 brick of a wall, which excavation took her two days 

 to accomplish ; it took her two more days to line it 

 with a coating of clay, to deposit her eggs, and as he 

 supposes, imprison a few paralysed spiders or cater- 

 pillars for the larvae to feed upon. The entrance was 

 then closed up with a thick layer of clay. The other 

 species {Odyneriis imia-arius, late) constructs singular 

 burrows in hard sand-banks, to the extent of two or 

 three inches, and that with great rapidity. This wasp 

 stores her cell with living caterpillars, fixed together 

 in a spiral column, as food for the larvze. — Clara 

 Kingsford, Canterbury. 



The Holly. — In Northumberland the holly is 

 divided into two kinds, the he and she hollies. The 

 former is distinguished by having prickly leaves, 

 while in the latter they are unarmed or nearly so. 

 When gathered in a proper manner, and at a fit hour, 

 the she holly engenders dreams concerning that all- 

 absorbing object, a future husband or wife. To 

 assure this the leaves must be gathered on a Friday 

 and at midnight by parties, who, from their setting 

 out until next day at dawn, must pieserve unbroken 

 silence. The leaves are to be collected in a three- 

 cornered handkerchief ; and after having been brought 

 home, nice leaves must be selected and tied with nine 

 knots inside the handkerchief, and then put under the 

 pillow. A dream worthy of credit is the result. " He 

 lies never, but when the Hollen is green," is a 

 Scotch saying of a habitual storyteller. — IF. G. 

 Glasspoole. 



Hawk feiCxXING Death. — During the first week 

 of this year, whilst a little boy, about four years old, 

 was playing close to the window in the hall of a large 

 shooting lodge near here, a kestrel-hawk dashed right 

 through the glass into the room. It is difficult to 

 decide whether it intended to strike him or flew at 

 the reflection, on the glass, of a bird passing the 

 window ; the latter is the gamekeeper's supposition. 

 The hawk was caught in the room and put into a 

 wire meat-safe, where it refused to eat. The next 

 day, whilst two or three people were watching, it 

 suddenly flew up to the top of the safe and seized 

 the front wires with its claws ; after perching there 

 for a short time it gradually allowed itself to slide 

 round until it hung head downwards, to all appearance 

 dead. Unfortunately for itself it did not close its 

 eyes, the brightness of which caused the lookers-on 

 to suspect deceit. They cautiously opened the door 

 and immediately Mr. Hawk " resurrected " and made 

 a dash at the door, but failed to make his escape. 

 Although only a last year's bird it had to be killed, 

 as it continued to refuse food, — Thomas Winder, 

 Siieffieid. 



Ova of Dragon-flies. — Can any of your readers 

 give me information as to the best method of pro- 

 curing ova of dragon-flies ? — A, M. P. 



