134 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



path, strikiug the old man down from behind with 

 a bludgeon; while rifling Lis pockets, the moon 

 suddenly appeared from behind a black cloud, and 

 lighted up the robber's features ; the pedlar recog- 

 nized him, and calling him by name, told him that 

 the slow but sure hand of justice would overtake 

 him one day. " You shan't be a witness against 

 me, at any rate, I'll make sure of you ; dead men 

 tell no tales : " and the robber became a murderer. 

 " You shouldn't have talked about the gallows, old 

 man," said the rufiSan, jeering the dying man ; 

 " where will the witnesses be when you're buried 

 deep down, and the waving corn grows over the 

 place— aha ! who'll be your witnesses then, I won- 

 der?" "These! these!" moaned the victim, 

 tearing up a handful of blood-bedabbled weeds 

 from the trampled earth, and dashing them all wet 

 and reeking in the murderer's face, — " the wild 

 Charlocks that see me die, shall nod their yellow 

 heads at you, and my blood's cry to Heaven for ven- 

 geance shall be heard, and the yellow blossoms shall 

 be my witnesses against you as long as the Char- 

 lock blooms wild in the cornfields." The wretch 

 trembled as the dank plants struck him, and stained 

 his face; then he dragged the body away and buried 

 it deep down in a newly-ploughed field ; and corn 

 was sown and grew up over it, and all trace of the 

 horrid deed seemed to be put for ever out of sight. 

 But the pedlar was missed from his accustomed 

 beat, and people began to talk and wonder if he had 

 met with foul play, and they joked the assassin, and 

 asked him whether the money he spent so freely had 

 been taken from the missing traveller. The spring 

 came round, and the weeds sprang up amongst the 

 green corn ; but in one lone field there came such 

 a mass of 'yellow charlock-weed in one particular 

 spot that the farmer noticed it, and sent men to 

 root it up ; but it sprang up again and again, and 

 the guilty miscreant quaked when the neighbours 

 talked about it, and at last he was seen stealing out 

 at night and tearing the rank weeds up. Suspicion 

 was aroused, the soil was turned up, and the body 

 of the missing pedlar was found and identified. The 

 terror-stricken murderer confessed, and told the 

 whole tale ; he was hanged, as he vreli deserved to 

 be; his .poor widowed mother went mad with 

 grief; but, unable to realize the actual death of her 

 only child, and with the pedlar's dying cry for ever 

 ringing in her ears, she wandered in the fields tear- 

 ing up the Charlock, that its golden blossoms might 

 not wag their heads and bear witness against her 

 lost and ruined son. 

 Bury Cross, Gosport. 



" When Alexander the Great went on his Indian 

 expedition he opened the way fur many discoveries. 

 The Ringed Parakeet was soon afterwards brought 

 to Greece."— " JBeauii/2el Birds in Far-off Lands " 



SPARROW BRAWLS. 



rpHE social habits of our attached friends 

 -*- the Sparrows, must at this time of year 

 attract the notice of the most unobserving. Like 

 other parasites, they are not long out of sight 

 at any season, but on the approach of spring, 

 every nook around the homestead rings in turn 

 with their squabbles, and there is not a city 

 garden with a shrub in it, which does not re-echo 

 with their eager reproaches. The noise, considering 

 the size of the performers, is wonderful. The 

 greater frequency of these affrays in the spring 

 months leads to the presumption that they arise 

 from jealousy amongst the male birds. But this I 

 believe to be an error. My lot is cast in a large 

 seaside town, and the chief enjoyment I can get of 

 the beauties of nature is derived from a few poplar 

 trees, planted, by necessity, much nearer to my 

 study-window than a country gentleman would 

 think desirable. The necessity, however, like most 

 of the decrees of Providence, is not without ad- 

 vantage. It brings my feathered friends, in whom 

 I delight, under much closer observation. Here, 

 in their season of verdure, the trees are visited by 

 Chiff-chaffs, Willow-wrens, and two species of Tit- 

 mouse ; whilst in severe weather strange visitors are 

 driven down from the hills, such as the Missel- 

 thrush, the Blackbird, the Song-thrush, arid the 

 Redwing. Redbreasts, Brown Wrens, Hedge- 

 sparrows, and House-sparrows are here at all 

 seasons, and the last fully as]; saucy and cunning as 

 any of their tribe. For some considerable time I 

 have been in the habit of watching their conduct, 

 and whenever the first note of discord has arisen, I 

 have noted their proceedings with particular 

 attention. As would be supposed, the actors are 

 one female and several males. The latter, however, 

 are not, as would be expected, contending with one 

 another, but all— excepting one, teasing rather than 

 seriously attacking the hen, who always occupies 

 the centre. One of the male birds does nothing 

 but flounder about in a ridiculous manner, throwing 

 back his head, drooping his wings, and uttering a 

 peculiar chirp, which seems to goad the rest of his 

 sex to frenzy. The female frequently rushes at this 

 lackadaisical performer, and pecks at him with fury. 

 He never returns the blow, but retreats a short 

 distance, whilst one of the males attacks the hen 

 from behind and diverts her wrath upon himself. 

 I have never seen the male birds assail one another 

 at such times. Sometimes their emotion, whatever 

 its nature, is so vehement, that they are all down 

 together in inextricable confusion ; but the moment 

 the paroxysm is over, they always act as I have 

 described above. It is the cry of the male bird 

 beginning his singular performance before the 

 female, which instantly summons all the cock-birds 

 in the vicinity to the scene. The first comers dash 



I 



