142 



HARD WICKE 'S S CI EN CE- G O SSIF. 



water-bearing lower greensand beneath London, there 

 can be little doubt that an enormous supply will be 

 obtained from the latter source. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Peregrine Falcon. — In my remarks on Mr. 

 Dealy's paper on the Peregrine Falcon (Science- 

 Gossip, p. 91), I find I have been guiUy of a very 

 strange sHp of the pen. I must ask your readers to 

 be good enough to substitute for " identical with," 

 at lines 3 and 4, the words "distinct from." They will 

 doubtless have perceived the error. — 7. Southivell. 



The Peregrine. — Perhaps Mr. T. Southwell 

 will not mind my pointing out a few errors in his re- 

 marks on my article on the Peregi'ine. He says that 

 in this said article (p. 53) I speak of the so-called 

 Falco anatiiin as identical with F. peregrinus ; 

 saying at the same time that I give reasons to 

 support this opinion. I believe, however, if 

 Mr. Southwell would again look over the para- 

 graph wherein this is contained, he would see 

 that, far from saying they are identical, I tried to 

 prove that they are distinct. Again, although I 

 said that F. peregrinus often carries off birds as heavy 

 as a duck, I did not imply that it always carried off 

 the birds — as one would be led to think, where Mr. 

 Southwell remarks : "Curious, that in Gould's 'Birds 

 of Great Britain, 'the Peregrine is represented in the act 

 of striking down the duclv." Of course the Peregrine 

 does sometimes strike down its prey, and let it fall 

 previously to securing it. I never said it did not ; 

 indeed, this is implied in what I said. But Wilson 

 says that F. anatuni ahvays strikes down its prey. 

 Mr. Gui-ney's opinion as to the fact that F. aiiatnm 

 and F. peregrinus are merely local varieties, is un- 

 doubtedly high ; still the proofs that Mr. Southwell 

 has put before me are not sufficient to convince me of 

 this. Does Mr. Southwell mean (when he says that 

 in a series from American and European localities 

 there could, he believes, be found birds wliich would 

 not differ perceptibly from each other), that if we 

 were to take an adult American specimen and an 

 adult European, they would look alike ; that 

 there would be no difference — no perceptible differ- 

 ence ; or does he mean to compare immature speci- 

 mens, when it might be possible to find them to all 

 appearance alike? Again, as to Mr. Soutlrwell's 

 quotations of the Peregrine breeding in a morass, in 

 trees, and on the moors, I believe I am right in saying 

 that they are merely the deviations from the general 

 rule of breeding, which now and then occur in most 

 birds. This, however, cannot be said of F. anafntft, 

 as North America is not without its mountainous 

 rocky situations, — situations such as the ' European 

 representative delights in ; yet this F. atiatum passes 

 by all these seemingly suitable localities, and places 

 its nest on a tree in a gloomy cedar-swamp to bring 

 up its young. This I could fancy, even in a Pere- 

 grine, were there no precipitous places in America ; 

 but this is not so. Many different opinions have 

 been given pro and con. the separation of these two 

 birds ; and among them, as Mr. Southwell says, 

 are those of Dresser, Newton, and Gurney, who say 

 that they are merely local varieties, and not two dis- 

 tinct species. Presumptuous as it may appear for me 

 to differ from ornithologists of such liigh repute, I 

 cannot help it. The proofs which Mr. Southwell has 

 given are not such as to make me waver from this 

 opinion.— 7'. W. Dealy, Sheffield. 



Peregrine Falcon. — In my article on the Pere- 

 grine, p. 51, the second line from the bottom of 

 first column, for " Jiercel " read "Tiercel." In the 

 thirty-nintli line on the second column of same page, 

 for "whilst descending" read "now fast descending." 

 In the first paragraph on page 55, instead of " Isle 

 of Man," substitute "Isle of May" (off Crail, in the 

 Firth of Forth). A few additional notes on the eyrie 

 at Barra Head will, perhaps, not be out of place 

 here. The account I gave on p. 55 '^^'^s procured 

 mainly from a former keeper of the lighthouse there. 

 In a letter from the present keeper, dated January 

 1 6th, 1877, he says that these birds have of late 

 years nestled in places inaccessible. He says he has 

 been now, at the request of English gentlemen, for 

 the last seven or eight years on the look-out for the 

 eggs of the Peregrine and Raven [Corviis corax), 

 but has been unable to procure either, on account of 

 the fact aforementioned. They still continue un- 

 molested and nestle in one place year after year. — 

 T. W. Dealy, Sheffield. 



Migration of Birds.— On Monday, April 2nd, 

 I heard and saw the ring ousel ( T. torqiiatus) at 

 Castleton, Derbyshire, where, amid the rocky valleys 

 of that place, it delights to rear its young. On 

 April 4th (Wednesday) I heard several willow-wrens 

 {S. trochiliis) uttering tlieir call-notes, but no signs of 

 any song at present. On April 6th I again saw the 

 ring ousel upon the moors : the white ring across the 

 throat made it very conspicuous. It was singing, but 

 the song was very monotonous. I did not observe 

 any females. I also saw another willow-wren fly 

 from a tuft of heather : it was very lively. It would 

 be very instructing and interesting for naturalists to 

 insert in this paper a few notes upon this subject, 

 and it would also tend to clear up many doubts 

 which encircle the annual movements of some of the 

 feathered tribes. — Charles Dixon. 



Sudden Re-appearance of Plants. — I have 

 often heard my aunt say that all the earth from the 

 gravel-pits at Oundle, Northamptonshire, became of 

 a blood-red colour owing to the poppies which 

 covered them wherever the waste was cast, and that 

 British remains were found in the beds, which would 

 imply great age. I thought I had by me some seed 

 of a tall white poppy {P. soinnifernm, I believe), 

 which I gathered amongst some turnips in the parish 

 of Chelboro, Dorset. A small wood in a hollow at the 

 foot of Castle Hill — so called from a building once 

 upon it — had been cleared of timber, and as nearly as 

 possible brought to the level of the field by shifting 

 the soil. This part of the _ field was covered with 

 these poppies, but I saw none in the other part, nor 

 do I remember ever to have seen it wild or cultivated 

 in that neighbourhood before. What I have heard 

 of the forests here fully bears out your paper ; but I 

 have not had time to prove it by experience. Captain 

 Main says that the boundary line between the States 

 and Canada through the primeval forest which he 

 cut was in a year or two so blocked with gooseberries 

 and raspberries as to be hardly recognizable. I 

 presume he means the pink-flowered one, called 

 salmon berry, which is common here, and larger and 

 stronger than the ordinary one. — C. R. Bashett, 

 Victoria, British Coliunbia. 



Primroses. — Two specimens of double-headed 

 primrose have been found here this spring ; both 

 heads are enclosed in one calyx, with separate stamens 

 and pistil, and are united by the tubes of the corallas. 

 Does this often occur in primroses ? — The Needles, 

 Strangford, Downpatrick. 



