Oct. 1, 1S67.] 



HABDWICKE'S SCIENCE- GO SSI P. 



233 



where the duke was, and begged bread for God's 

 sake, which was given to them, and the boys gave a 

 third part of it to their dog; and the dog that 

 evening ran back to the city, carrying the bread to 

 their father's house, and placed it at his feet, and 

 then returned to the lads ; and the next day they 

 had bread enough, and gave more to the dog, 

 though they knew not what he had done' with it 

 before ; and the next evening again the dog carried 

 it to their father, and the third day likewise ; and 

 the father believing that some Christian sent him 

 bread for the love of God, tied a card round the 

 dog's neck, on which he wrote, " I thank God for 

 him who has given me these alms, and I cease not 

 to pray to God for him." With this the dog 

 returned, and when the boys had read the card, they 

 carried the dog, having it still hanging from his 

 neck, to the duchess ; but she would not believe 

 their report. However, she caused a little sack of 

 bread to be fastened to the dog; and the dog 

 seemed to be afraid of the people, as if he expected 

 to be accused before the prince ; but after sunset, 

 as usual, he set off, and carried the bread to the 

 city : and on his return, another card was found, on 

 which was written, " Greater thanks I render thee 

 for these greater alms." At length the prince 

 heard of this circumstance ; by his orders the dog 

 was slain, and his master cast into prison and put 

 to a cruel death.— (Mores CatJiolici, vol. ii., pp. 357, 

 35S.)-£. S. A. 



Sparrows and Martens. — We had a good 

 opportunity this month (May), of observing the 

 strong and amusing contest carried on between the 

 common sparrows and the house martens ; the 

 latter began their nests in the angle of our gable 

 quite independent of, but in close proximity to, a 

 colony of sparrows already established beneath the 

 slates. | However, before the martens had made 

 much progress with their plastering work the 

 sparrows seemed to think it would suit them very 

 well, so usurped the martens' yet unfinished nest, 

 and fought hard to retain possession, actually 

 throwing down portions of the plaster and using it 

 as weapons of defence against the martens, while 

 the latter attempted to recover their legal rights. 

 This was carried on for some time, but eventually, 

 to our no small delight, the martens gained complete 

 victory. — IF. P. 



Anecdote of a Horse. — Last year, during a 

 tour for toadstools, I made a temporary stay at a 

 small house in Bedfordshire, when a horse in the 

 back-yard grasped with his mouth the handle of the 

 door of the room in which I was sitting, and by a 

 twist of his head turned the spindle and entered 

 the room. The mistress of the house knowing his 

 habit, put a piece of loaf-sugar into his mouth, 

 when he immediately backed out and again grasping 

 the handle closed the door after him. The woman 



told me that when the horse was disengaged in the 

 yard he often came inside for a piece of sugar in 

 that way.— W. G. S. 



Anecdote of a Monkey. — Last week I was 

 watching the antics of an organ-grinder's monkey 

 at Stoke Newington. I noticed the monkey care- 

 fully searching under the coping of an old brick 

 wall, and on closely observing him, I saw him, with 

 his fore-finger and thumb, fetch out three or four 

 large full-grown spiders, and eat them, apparently 

 with the highest relish. — W. G. S. 



Barn Bat eating Worms. — I have never seen 

 the barn rats eat the " Marsh worm," though it is 

 very likely they will do so. Last summer the 

 meadows seemed to be invested with the barn rat, 

 and before the grass was mown, their beaten tracks 

 could be seen almost everywhere from one hedge to 

 another. After the grass had been cut, I frequently 

 used to go into the meadows entomologizing in the 

 evenings, and was often much interested to see the 

 manner in which the rats secured and devoured the 

 common earth-worm out of the grass, sitting 

 upon their haunches squirrel like, as " H. Smith " 

 describes iu the March number of Science-Gossip. 

 It was often amusing to see them when they had 

 to pull the worm out of its burrow. The rat would 

 seize the worm and try to pull it out of its sub- 

 terranean retreat, but finding the worm of such a 

 length, the rat would stretch up his neck to a con- 

 siderable extent, or stand on his hind legs and pull, 

 never leaving his hold till the worm was fairly out 

 of its tunnel, as if he well knew that letting it once 

 go would be losing it altogether. Doubtless every 

 reader of Science-Gossip has observed how a 

 thrush stretches up his neck and pulls when 

 extracting an earth-worm from its retreat, and the 

 rat acts in somewhat the same manner. Having 

 completely dislodged the worm, the rat takes it in 

 his paws and proceeds to devour it as a squirrel 

 would a nut or acorn. During the past cold 

 weather I think a large number of those rats 

 perished from hunger. I shot a number of them, 

 and they were apparently in a starving condition. — 

 G. B. C, Ringwood. 



Disguises of Insects.— The little Hunting- 

 Spider (Salticus scenicus), of which I have a large 

 number on a sunny wall in my garden, so exactly 

 resembles a grain of mortar as to be quite indistin- 

 guishable, except when the creature is in motion 

 (indeed its movements are sometimes so slow as to 

 be imperceptible). This disguise is of immense 

 advantage to the spider in securing its prey, as flies 

 frequently walk into close proximity to it without 

 detecting its presence. Although common, it is 

 extremely difficult to find, except on very sunny 

 days, when the little shadow which it casts helps 

 to betray its whereabouts. — IF. G. S. 



