198 



HARDWICKE'S SCIEN CE-GOSSIP. 



shoulders, aud carrying home (one in each hand) a 

 pair of cast-off, rotten boots, discarded by some 

 vagrant; the rotting leather having produced a 

 crop of rare microscopic fungi. At times abomi- 

 nable cast-off foetid gipsy rags will be lovingly taken 

 from out a ditch, and choice pieces cut out and con- 

 signed to the vasculum of the cryptogaraic bota- 

 nist ; at other times some rare species will be seen 

 "up a tree," and it has several times happened 

 in my presence that one enthusiastic botanist has 

 got on to the shoulders of another to secure a prize, 

 or even waded into a pond to get at some prostrate 

 fungus-bearing log. The humours of truffle-hunting 

 are manifold. I have seen a gentleman trespass, on 

 hands aud knees, through a holly hedge, on to a 

 gentleman's lawn, aud there dig up the turf in some 

 promising spot, risking an attack from the house- 

 dog, or a few shots from the proprietor; the said 

 gentleman meanwhile armed with a rake, gouge, and 

 .iangerous -looking open knife. Countiy labourers 

 are often sorely puzzled by the acts of cryptogamic 

 botanists : they stand agape in utter amazement to 

 witness poisonous "frog-stools" bagged by the 

 score. Ofttimes one gets warned that the plants 

 are "deadly pisin;" but collectors are usually 

 looked upon as harmless lunatics, a climax gene- 

 rally being reached if a gentleman in search of 

 Ascoboli and the dung-borne Peziza, sits down, and 

 after making a promising collection of horse or 

 cow-dung, carefully wraps these treasures in tissue- 

 paper, aud puts them in his " sandwich-box." 



One word of warning to the beginner — never, on 

 any account, amass and put away a lot of imperfect 

 materials with : insufficient notes, for in the end 

 they will prove worse than useless. To name fungi 

 with certainty the fullest notes and most complete 

 materials are indispensable : without these nothing 

 whatever can be done. It is far better to labori- 

 ously make out twenty species, and know them in 

 all their aspects for certain, than to amass imper- 

 fect materials of two thousand without any sound 

 botanical knowledge. If the former course is pur- 

 sued, the study of fungi will prove a never-failing 

 source of pleasure to the mind and of health to the 

 body. 



In conclusion, I cannot do better than quote a 

 few words written by the illustrious Fries (now 

 seventy-eight years of age) in the preface to a 

 recent work of his on Fungi, he says : " Now, in 

 the evening of my life, I rejoice to call to mind the 

 abundant pleasures which my study of the more 

 perfect fungi, sustained for more than half a century, 



has throughout this long time afforded mc 



Therefore, to botanists, who can wander at will the 

 country side, I commend the study of these plants 

 as a perennial fountain of delight, and of admi- 

 ration for that Supreme Wisdom which reigns over 

 universal nature." 



12, North Grove West, Mildmay Park, N. 



THE IRISH NIGHTINGALE. 



TU"HAT is that shy, sprightly little bird which 

 ' ' swings so curiously from yonder giant bul- 

 rush, its coal-black crest perkily raised, its throat 

 throbbing in passionate song ? On he darts before 

 us, springing from reed to reed, the white streaks 

 on his inky tail flashing in light as he dives through 

 the tufted sedge ; a second lost to sight, up he 

 starts again, again bursts forth in unwearied song ; 

 haunting our path, he wiles us from the nest where 

 all his joys are centred. What a restless little fellow 

 it is ! Many a time have I watched him both by 

 night and day ; always on the move, he floods out 

 his sweet inward melody. Little matters it to him 

 whether the sun is in the zenith, or the pale chill 

 moon alone casts a path of light across his sedgy 

 home, he always sings — at least such is my expe- 

 rience of him, — and if by chance he should be 

 silent, a stone thrown into the water will at once 

 arouse him, and his note, answered by a hundred 

 others, fills the night with music. 



He is our only night-singer, "the Irish Night- 

 ingale," as he is called by fishermen along the Boyne. 

 "Jenny-Blackcap" is another popular name for 

 him ; but what his real name is I am at a loss to 

 find. 



Is he the veritable Blackcap {Jtricapilla of Ray) 

 of whose song naturalists speak so highly ? White, 

 in his "Natural History of Selborne," in speaking 

 of this bird, says, " he is superior to any song-bird 

 we have, the Nightingale excepted." The wild 

 sweetness of his note always brings to my mind 

 those lines in a song iu " As You Like It :" — 



" And tune his merry note 

 Unto the wild bird's throat." 



Another eminent naturalist of the present day 

 describes him as the sweetest and richest of song- 

 birds, while in trilling he excels every songster of 

 the grove. Yet the Blackcap is never spoken of as 

 being " a song-bird of night," which the Passer arun- 

 dinaceus minor, or Lesser Rccd-spairow, is known 

 to be. 



The Blackcap builds his nest in tufts of grass ; 

 so does the bird I write of, though sometimes his 

 nest is to be found slung from four or five reeds 

 woven together. 



The Blackcap frequents orchards and gardens, 

 feeding on insects and fruit ; " the Irish bird " is to 

 be found there too, though more generally seen by 

 the banks of rivers aud low ground. 



Book descriptions of the plumage of birds are so 

 imperfect, that it is hard to judge anything from 

 their source ; but the Blackcap is always given a 

 black crest, while the Reed-sparrow, or Hedge-war- 

 bler, is never given one, as far as I can ascertain, 

 except by Bewick, who calls it the Black-headed 

 Bunting. Now the Irish Nightingale has a decidedly 



