IQO 



HARDWICKE 'S S CIENCE ■ G OSSIP. 



must, of course, be much colder than any part of 

 England, and it is in the most northerly countries of 

 Europe that they are found in any numbers now. If 

 the little animals whose traces we thus noticed on 

 High Street were not lemmings, as we are almost 

 inclined to believe, what could they have been ? — E. 

 Anna Clifton Ward. 



Birds' Eggs. — Can any reader tell me, from ex- 

 perience, whether rinsing birds' eggs with a solution 

 of corrosive sublimate affects the colour of the egg 

 in any way, or makes the shell more brittle ? And 

 can the solution, after having rinsed one egg, be used 

 with effect for others ? Any information will oblige. 

 I should also be vei7 glad to know the correct quan- 

 tities of corrosive sublimate and spirit of wine to 

 make the solution of. — //. H. C. 



Migration of Birds. — On April i6 I was sur- 

 prised to see upwards of two hundred ring-ousels 

 (Tw-dits torqitatiis) on the moors near Sheffield : 

 they were very shy, and feeding upon the marshy 

 meadow land ; they kept together when disturbed, 

 and, after wheeling about in the air, again alighted in 

 search of food. Were these birds bound for more 

 northern regions, and aligiited here merely as a 

 stopping-place, or were they just arrived from their 

 spring migration, to scatter over the moorlands of 

 this district ? On April 1 7 I observed the Redstart 

 {Pliaiiicnra rii(icilla) once more amongst us, fresh 

 from the sunny regions of Africa. Saw no females. 

 On Ajiiril 18 I saw the Blackcap Warbler {Citrruca 

 airicapilla) for the first time this season : it was 

 perched upon a hedge, busily employed searching the 

 twigs for insects. It was a male, very wary, and did 

 not utter any notes. On April 22 the Cuckoo {Ciiciilus 

 canonts) was first heard near Heeley, and on April .23 

 I saw this welcome harbinger of spring. It was very 

 tame and admitted of close approach ; it was accom- 

 panied by a female chaffinch (/■. ccelchs). ^Vhen the 

 cuckoo alighted, it was amusing to see how trustfully 

 the little willow wrens {S. trochihis) approached him. 

 What a lesson these little birds teach to those indi- 

 A'iduals (I have known several) who most aljsurdly 

 believe the Cuckoo changes into a hawk for the winter 

 months. Instinct would teach them never to trust 

 him at any time, never knowing when his rapacious 

 propensities might again break forth with fatal result 

 to themselves. The Martin {Hinindo nrliica) — upon 

 the authority of a friend — was seen on April 27, 

 skimming with graceful motions over a pool of water. 

 They (the swallows) are very late'this season. None 

 arrived as yet — May i. — Charles Dixon. 



The Ring-Ousel. — The Ring-Ousel, like many 

 ■others of the rarer British birds, appears every year 

 to become scarcer. In Morris's "British Birds" 

 Lamborne, Berks, is given as one of the localities 

 where it has been met. To this I can add Binfield 

 and Warfield, in the same county, from my own 

 observation. In the former of these places I shot a 

 female, mistaking it for a blackbird, several years 

 ago, when the snow was deep upon the ground ; and 

 a male was seen for three seasons in succession, 

 feeding on the berries of the Portugal laurel and 

 holly, in the rectory garden, close to the house. 

 Since the year i860 I have not met with the bird 

 again. As there has been some discussion in your 

 pages as to the breeding of tlie Hawfinch in England, 

 I may mention that it certainly breeds in both the 

 above-named parishes, which lie within the old 

 Windsor Forest district. It used to be one of our 

 commonest birds, and is still very frequently seen, 

 but not so often as formerly. In Warfield it is still 

 common. I have seen it in Binfield every month in 



the year. The Mountain Finch and Crossbill are 

 occasional visitors ; and some years ago I saw, and 

 nearly caught, in the garden of the Rectory, a Siskin, 

 in beautiful plumage, feeding on the seeds of an 

 annual, in the month of September. There are 

 many other interesting and rare birds to be seen, at 

 times, in this part of Bei-kshire. — E.S., Binfield. 



Harvest Bugs. — An effective means of allaying 

 the irritation caused by these little pests, and which 

 has been found to answer admirably, is as follows : — 

 Cut a lemon in half, and, taking one piece up Avith 

 the hand, rub the juice well over the part or parts 

 affected, and continue the process whenever there is 

 any feeling of irritation. It will be found that this is 

 conducive to considerable ease, and very soon the 

 appearances caused by the insect vanish, and tran- 

 quillity is restored to the sufferer.— W. H. Ingall. 



Carboniferous Plants. — In the sandstones 

 associated with the carboniferous measures of the 

 South Wales coal-field, I have recently discovered 

 specimens of plants, the margin or back of same being 

 defined by a ring of pure coal, which, however, fre- 

 quently remains attached to the stone when removal 

 is attempted. On grinding down sections sufficiently 

 thin to transmit light, the structure of the plant is 

 most beautifully shown, whilst the genuineness of 

 the same being carboniferous plants is undoubted. 

 I shall be pleased to effect exchanges of either mate- 

 rial or prepared slides for other objects of interest, if 

 any of your readers should require same. — IV. H. 

 Harris, Partridge-road, Cardiff. 



Fungus on Flies. — On passing the edge of a 

 field this morning, I noticed a large number of flies 

 dead and attached to grass, nettles, and other plants : 

 they were so numerous as to call for special attention. 

 On examination they seem to be affected by a species 

 of fungus, not unlike that which in autumn attacks 

 the common house fly. A few individuals would 

 not, jjerhaps, be noticed, but these might have been 

 counted by hundreds clinging to the plants for a 

 distance of some yards in this particular spot. What 

 could have caused this excessive mortality would be 

 interesting to know. — E. IVhcder. 



New Fact about Red Grouse {Tdrao britan- 

 nicus vel scoticus). — What will ornithologists think 

 when I tell them that the Red Grouse perches on 

 trees ! My attention was first drawn to this fact in 

 the winter of the year '75. I was, as may easily be 

 surmised, very much astonished, as I had read in 

 many standard works on Ornithology that the Red 

 Grouse does not perch on trees ; and I was more sur- 

 prised when I saw that " Old Bushman," in his 

 " Spring and Summer in Lapland," asks, when 

 pointing out the difference between the Red and 

 Willow Grouse, Does the Red Grouse perch on 

 trees ? It seems to me a most extraordinary circum- 

 stance that an ornithologist who has been so much 

 and so often among grouse, should never have 

 noticed this habit. Since I first observed this new 

 fact in the habits of this bird, I have seen it several 

 times in the same position. — T. ]V. Dcaly. 



The Sparrow-hawk. — Have any of the numerous 

 ornithological or oological readers of SciENCE- 

 GossiP ever heard of five different lots of eggs being 

 taken (within a month) from one sparrow-hawk's 

 nest ? I have this year. They were composed of 

 one four, one three, one two, and two ones, making 

 in all eleven eggs taken from one nest at various 

 times.— 7". W. Dealy, Sheffield. 



