HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



141 



a number of tanks used for cooling oil, and there are 

 generally two men at work there every day, and all day 

 long, and very often more men in the shed and yard 

 adjacent. I have repeatedly seen the birds fly in 

 and out while the men were at work and while I 

 stood in the shed myself. One year (I think, 18S0), 

 there were two broods of young ones hatched, and 

 three of them were found dead in the oil tanks, we 

 .supposed through suffocation from the hot fumes. We 

 could never decide whether it was the same pair of 

 birds, that came every year, or whether a fresh pair 

 came. — Edgar Hall. 



Birds' Nests at Northallerton, — The follow- 

 ing account of the nesting of several of our rarer 

 birds may probably be of interest to some of your 

 readers ; they are extracted from my note-book for 

 the year 1880. Lesser redpole (Linaria minor) : 

 five nests were found in the hedgerows near the 

 town ; indeed, they appear to be not uncommon, but 

 are not easily detected. The nest is situated high up 

 in the hedge, and is small, compact, and neat, beauti- 

 fully lined inside with the silky pappus of composite 

 plants. The old bird sits very close. One of the 

 nests was deserted, and I secured it for my collection. 

 Linnet {Liiiaria caiiiialuna. Swains.) : I found this 

 species nesting very early in the spring. The nests are 

 often placed several feet high in a hedgerow, although 

 the favourite locality is a low furze bush. Twite 

 (Ltnaria montana, Selby) : by an accidental occurrence 

 1 was enabled to find the nest of this species. It was 

 situated close to the ground, under a whin bush, 

 against the side of a bank. I stooped to pluck a 

 flower, and the bird flew out just under my hand, and 

 alighted a little distance off. The nest contained 

 three eggs, two of which I blew. They were slightly 

 incubated. One of them is in my own collection, the 

 other in that of Mr. G. Weldon. The nest was lined 

 with a mixture of feathers and the pappus of thistles. 

 Pied flycatcher {Muscicapa licctuosa) : a nest of 

 this species was found in a hollow pollard willow, 

 growing in a plantation by the side of the Wiske. 

 The hole had apparently been recently enlarged, but 

 I hardly suppose it would be done by the bird. 

 . Several snipes' nests were found, and I noticed as a 

 curious occurrence, that one of the eggs was always 

 much darker, and more blotched than the other three. 

 Query — Was this the first laid ? Or has the sex of 

 the enclosed bird anything to do with the variation in 

 the colour of the egg ? — y. A. IVkeldon, South 

 Parade, N'orthallertoii, 



Nut-trees. — With reference to your correspon- 

 dent's remarks on the " odd vagaries " shown by the 

 nut-tree this year, I may say that I have for some 

 years noticed the flowering of the hazel, and so far 

 as this district is concerned I see nothing unusual. 

 Granted the male flowers are exceptionally numerous, 

 I think there is no doubt this is owing to the very 

 mild winter we have had. In other seasons the 

 first flowers are often cut off by the frost, and to 

 provide against the dearth of pollen, which would 

 necessarily arise when the female flowers were matured, 

 other catkins appear later on. This year however 

 as the earlier flowers have not been nipped, there may 

 seem, and possibly is, an apparent excess of catkins. 

 I think all the "odd vagaries " your correspondent 

 mention are simply owing to the mildness of the 

 season. — John Rasor. 



An Army of Caterpillars. — We shall begin 

 harvest next week. Our crops are pretty good and 

 so are most in this district ; but the caterpillars are 

 beginning on the oats in some parts. The caterpillars 



come in armies. They do not eat the oats, but climb 

 up the straw and bite the oats off, and very soon do a 

 great deal of damage. As an instance of the numbers 

 they come in, about this time last year they stopped 

 a train at Turakina, about fifteen miles the other side 

 of Wanganui. An army of caterpillars was crossing 

 the line and the wheels of the train got so slippeiy 

 that they would not bite on the rails, and so the 

 train came to a stand-still. In about five minutes 

 every carriage in the train was swarming with cater- 

 pillars. — Ila^vera, Ncio Zealand. 



" Setting" Lepidoptera,— In reply to G. H. B. 

 (Science-Gossip, p. 93), entomologists usually touch 

 the base of the wings of specimens which have 

 been " relaxed " with a strong solution of gum- 

 tragacanth in water ; by this means the wings are 

 kept permanently in the desired position, and very 

 rarely afterwards " spring." The gum should be ap- 

 plied to the under side of the wings after the specimen 

 has been removed from the setting-board. The cause of 

 G. H. B.'s specimens " springing " is not difficult to 

 discover. The specimens should always remain on the 

 setting-board at least ten days in the summer and 

 fourteen days in the winter. Four days is altogether 

 an insufficient time to allow the specimens to become 

 thoroughly dry and set. — IV. J. V. Vandcnbcrgh. 



Wasps, go. WiCKLOW.^The note on wasps in 

 Science-Gossip for April, 1882, ought to be dated 

 " August, 1881," as otherwise it is calculated to mis- 

 lead.— C. //. K. 



Hardiness ok the Pike. — A friend of mine went 

 out trawling in a small river at Thame in Oxfordshire 

 for pike last autumn ; he hooked a large fish and 

 almost landed it, but it broke the line and escaped. 

 About two months afterwards a man was netting in 

 the same river and about the same place, when he 

 caught a pike weighing about eight pounds with two 

 or :hree yards of line wound round its body, and the 

 trawling-hook right down its stomach ; still more sur- 

 prising it was ahve and in very good condition. — 

 F. n. Parrott. 



Sparrows. — I have repeatedly seen and obtained 

 in this district, and in several parts of Yorkshire and 

 Lancashire, sparrows having white feathers both in 

 their wings and tail. At the present time and for 

 some weeks past, amongst the many sparrows that 

 frequent the gardens here, I have noticed one with 

 two white flights, and I do not think it is a very 

 uncommon occurrence, especially in young birds, 

 many of which moult into their normal plumage. I 

 don't know whether your correspondent has also 

 noticed how much their beaks vary in colour, some 

 being of a dark and others light or flesh colour, — 

 H. H. Collinge^ Leeds. 



Weasel or Stoat. — In the January number of 

 .Science-Gossip, page 22, a member of the Belfast 

 Field Naturalists' Club seems to doubt my veracity 

 regarding my statement that the weasel is found in 

 the neighbourhood of For-head, co. Antrim ; the 

 onus proband! lies with him to show it does not exist. 

 His quotation from W. Thompson in his "Nat. 

 Hist, of Ireland," strengthens my assertion, as 

 although the writer "does not himself consider that 

 the species has yet been satisfactorily proved to be 

 native " yet he says " it may be so " and even states 

 that two skins of the true weasel were given to him 

 in 1842, which were said to have been obtained at 

 For-head. I never misquoted Mr. Thompson's state- 

 ment, as the writer asserts, nor do I desire to mislead 

 naturalists. I am well acquainted with both species, 



