HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



19 



and general features, the' common wild turkey of 

 North America. It may readily be distinguished, 

 however, by its more slender proportions, and 

 especially by the more elongated posterior limbs. 

 A much smaller species of the same genus is the 

 Meleagris celer, represented by two tibise and the 

 proximal half of a tarso-metatarsal bone, which 

 •were found together and probably belonged to the 

 same individual. The remains indicate a bird of 

 about one-half the size of the M, altus. The Grus 

 proavus is an extinct species of crane, somewhat 

 smaller than the Grus Canadensis, Temm., and is 

 indicated in the Yale Museum by a nearly perfect 

 sternum, a femur, and a few other less important 

 remains, which probably are parts of the same 

 skeleton. The sternum apparently resembles most 

 nearly that of the Sand-hill Crane, but differs from 

 it in many particulars. — Scientific American. 



EossiL Iksects.— A large number of fossil in- 

 sects have been discovered in the Tertiary shales of 

 Colorado, associated with fossil fish, leaves, and 

 fruit. In "Wyoming territory similar objects have 

 recently been obtained, many of them, however, 

 being quite uudistinguishable. About forty species 

 have been made out, belonging to the Diptera, 

 Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Hemiptera, Orthoptera, 

 Keuroptera, Arachnida, and Myriapoda; the greatest 

 number of specimens belonging to the first-named 

 group, and the next most abundant being the 

 beetles. The shales in which these fossil insects 

 are found have a thickness of a thousand feet. 



New Cakbonifekous Land Shells. — Two new 

 species of land shells have recently been met with 

 in the coal-measures of Illinois. One of these is a 

 pupa, and has been named Pupa vermilionensis ; 

 the other is a helix, and has been described under 

 the name of Anomphalus Ileekii. These ancient 

 terrestrial animals are highly interesting as indica- 

 ting that the atmosphere of the Carboniferous 

 period was capable of being breathed. 



Coal Section. — In answer to an inquiry by 

 E. T. Scott, as to what coal is likely to produce a 

 good section, I may say that after having made and 

 examined a very considerable number of coal sec- 

 tions, it is my opinion that nearly all true coal, if 

 properly prepared, gives evidence of "vegetable 

 structure"; but if Mr. Scott wishes to see cellular 

 tissue in coal, I can only say that it is very rarely 

 to be seen, except in preparations of "mother-of- 

 coal." Cellular tissue is, however, found beautifully 

 preserved in certain nodules, which abound in the 

 coal in some localities, and sections of which are 

 often exhibited and sold as coal sections. The 

 structure of coal varies in detail, but lycopodiaceous 

 spores and sporecases ("vegetable structures") 

 exist in greater or less abundance in a very large 

 proportion of the true coal. — Edtoin T. Newton. 



NOTES AND UUERIES. 



Hernesitaw (p. 283, 1872).— Thisword is probably 

 used for "heronpcaux," in modern Ereuch heronneau, 

 a young heron. A similar word occurs in Chaucer : — 



" I wol not tellen of hir strange sewes, 

 Ne of hir swannes, ne hir heronsewes." 



" Squire's Tale," 11. 10, 381-2. 



The swan and heron were coveted dishes at high 

 feasts, and " sewes " here means dishes (cf. the 

 Erench assiette, a plate, the sewer being one who 

 served, or set on dishes at table). In Halliwell's 

 Archaic Dictionary, i. 446, we read : " Hernshaw, a 

 heron ; ' Ardeola, an hearnesew,' Elyot, 1559 ; 

 Hernsue, MS. Line. Gloss. ; Herunsew, Reliq. 

 Antiq., i. 88." It thus appears that " herneshaw " 

 and " heronsew " are convertible terms; but the true 

 \\e\o\\-shaio means a wild, wooded place where 

 herons breed in a state of nature, — a heronry in 

 modern parlance. It has been also contended that 

 Shakspeare meant " heronshaw " in Hamlet, act 

 ii. sc. 2, where he writes " I know a hawk from a 

 handsale;" the terminal " shaw " would here have 

 a third meaning, viz., a dummy, or sham heron, a 

 decoy, or stuffed bird set up to train young hawks 

 by ; but it is not likely that he would obscure his 

 real meaning by writing " handsaw," if he meant 

 a " heron."—.-:;. Hall. 



The Herneshaav.— This is the old name for the 

 common heron. Ilalliwell, in his " Dictionary of 

 Archaic and Provincial Words," spells it " hern- 

 shaw." I quote his notes upon it, as they may be in- 

 teresting to Mr. Hudson: " 'Hernshaw, a heron;' 

 ' Ardeola, ^Vl hernesheiv,' Elyot, 1559 _; Hernsue, MS. 

 Line. Gloss. ; Herunseto, Ueliq. Antiq., i. 88." Col. 

 Montagu, in his "Dictionary of British Birds," 

 gives the following provincial names for the Ardea 

 cinerea, Latham : — heron, hern, heronshaw, crane, 

 long-necked heron, heronswegh.hegrie, or skiphegrie. 

 W^e quote the following passage from the same 

 author: "At present, in consequence of the dis- 

 continuance of hawking, little attention is paid to 

 the protection of heronries, though, I believe, none 

 of the old statutes concerning them have been 

 repealed. Not to know a hawk from a heronshaw 

 (the former name for a heron), was an old adage, 

 which arose when the diversion of heron-hawking 

 was in high fashion ; it has since been corrupted 

 into the absurd vulgar proverb ' not to know a 

 hawk from a handsaw.' " Shaio, a shadow, is from 

 the Saxon, according to Bailey, " a tuft of trees 

 which encompasses a close shade." Hence then 

 BucJcshaio (a place in Dorset) may have been a 

 shady place resorted to by the deer, and so heron- 

 shato was, perhaps, the tuft of trees inhabited by the 

 heron, and so the bird and its abode got confounded 

 into a single name. In Halliwell's Dictionary, 

 before quot^ed, we find the word " Shato, a thicket. 

 This word is often explained as a small wood, and 

 in the glossary of Syr Gawayne, a grove or wood." 



" That sani?e in the sesone in the schene sehawes. 

 So lawe in the lawiidez so lykand notes.'' 



Morte d'Arthure. 



" In summer when skawes be sheyne. 



And levcs be large and long, 



Hit is fulle niery in feyre foreste 



To here the foulys song."— 1/5. Cantab. 



The word "heron" is from the Erench, and on turning 

 to Deblainville's Erench and English Dictionary 

 I find: 'Heron, s.m. (a large kind of water-fowl 

 that feeds upon fyi\\), heron or hern;" and in the 

 English and Erench partof the same work, "Heronry 



