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HARD WICKE 'S S CI EN CE- G OS SI P. 



over his well-stocked cabinet recall to his memory 

 as his eye rests on a certain egg, a whole train of 

 long-forgotten events connected with how, when, and 

 where he took it ; what peculiar habits the bird 

 which laid it had, and many other little things which 

 to an uninterested spectator are as nothing, but to him 

 fond memories of bygone days ! In conclusion, I 

 must say that if Mr. Van Dyck had used a little more 

 discernment in distinguishing between a " collector " 

 and a "robber of eggs," he would at least have 

 gained my good opinion in his attempt to put a stop 

 to egg-collecting ; for I think with him the making 

 a collection for the mere sake of the eggs (as he seems 

 to think all collectors do) is not at all to be approved 

 of ; but he must remember when he uses such an ex- 

 pression, as, " 500 birds slaughtered for mere amuse- 

 ment on a British holiday," however much it may be 

 partaking of Byron's style (I believe the sentence is 

 a crib from the "Dying Gladiator " slightly altered), 

 that he is attaching a kind of odium to all collectors 

 of eggs who do not, as he would have them, collect 

 birds and nests as well. I think that he would find 

 very few collectors of eggs who have been collecting 

 for a few years, who, if he asked them what a cer- 

 tain egg was, could not only tell him its name, but 

 also give him an account of the bird, its place of 

 nidification, habits, and an accurate description of it ; 

 together with a number of interesting facts, which 

 they would never have known if they had not been, 

 as I have, and shall remain, — A Collector of Eggs. 



Aquarium-keeping. — If you would allow me 

 space, I should be glad to say a few things on this 

 subject, from my own experience, in answer to 

 "P. E. C." (July No.). "P. E. C." could not, I 

 believe, have chosen more troublesome inmates of his 

 aquarium than sticklebacks, for they are great fighters, 

 and, in all my attempts to keep them, have continued 

 at enmity until only one remained alive. I should 

 advise him to substitute carp for these creatures. The 

 best plant for an aquarium is undoubtedly Vallisneria, 

 which is to be preferred to all others for the quantity 

 of oxygen it gives out. Univalve mollusks are far 

 better than bivalve, as being more migratory : those 

 most commonly kept are Linnuta stagualis and Plan- 

 orbis co7-)teus. "P. E. C." asks whether any one 

 has succeeded in rearing caddis-worms to their final 

 stage. I cannot say that I have ; but I know why, 

 and think I can state the cause of failure. It is 

 necessary to place caddis-worms in veiy shallow 

 water when the time of their perfection approaches. 

 If they are kept instead in deep water, the creature 

 cannot get itself to the surface, though they often 

 struggle to do so, and will stand upright at the bot- 

 tom of the aquarium, holding on to some plant, but 

 of course all this is in vain. The truth is, they are 

 drowned ; for, when they are on the point of leaving 

 their case, they must also leave the water, or they 

 cannot come to perfection. If "P. E. C." guards 

 against this, I think he will achieve success. — .5". 



New Fact about Red Grouse. — I can confirm, 

 from personal observation, Mr. Dealy's statement, 

 that the Red Grouse do sometimes perch upon trees, 

 and, like him, have often thought it strange the fact 

 should be unmentioned in any of the works on orni- 

 thology to which I have had access. I first observed 

 the fact in 1873. -^ friend and I were walking down 

 a lonely " clough " on Saddle Fell, when we suddenly 

 came upon a pack of grouse comfortably perched 

 amongst the branches of a dead mountain ash. They 

 were all "preening" their feathers, and, as they did 

 not see us at first, we lay quietly down behind a piece 

 of rock, and had a good look at them before they 



took flight. Since then I have several times seen 

 grouse perch upon trees. I have also observed a still 

 more unlikely bird than the grouse perch — the 

 common snipe [S. galliiiago). There is near here a 

 boggy piece of ground, covered with rush and long 

 grass, and surrounded with stunted alders, which is a 

 favourite haunt of the snipe. Some years ago I was 

 lying concealed under a bush in this place, hoping to 

 see a snipe alight, and ihus discover a nest, when a 

 female snipe, after flying several times over me, to 

 my extreme surprise, alighted upon a tree close by. 

 It remained in this strange position for some time, all 

 the while uttering its note, click-a, click-a. On two 

 other occasions I have observed snipe perch upon 

 trees in this place. As this seems to be a very unusual 

 habit, I should be glad to hear whether any of the 

 ornithological readers of SciENCE-GossiP have ever 

 observed the like. — R. Standcn, Goosnargh. 



Capture of a Moose-deer at Sea. — A relative 

 who has for many years resided on and in the neigh- 

 bourhood of a beautiful North American island, 

 still so rich in bird life and otherwise attractive to the 

 lover of natural histoiy, forwarded me lately the 

 following account of the capture of a Moose-deer, 

 which may probably interest some of your readers. 

 " Since the departure of winter and the return of our 

 long-looked-for spring my youngest son, John, with a 

 companion, has been fishing off the north-western 

 coast of this island, portions of which are uninhabited, 

 and ai"e rarely visited except by the fowler or seal- 

 hunting Indian. He was preparing his boat for a 

 pull round North Plead to his home, it being Satur- 

 day, when, after rowing along shore quietly for about 

 half a mile from his starting-post, he saw something 

 swimming from this island and heading to the more 

 distant one of Campobello, seven miles off. Unable 

 to make it out, and supposing it to be one of the great 

 Loons, a bird not very uncommon in these waters at 

 this season of the year, he put on a little extra steam, 

 hoping to come up to it, and soon discovered it M'as 

 not a bird, but a large dark-looking animal nearly 

 submerged, and swimming vigorously. After a mo- 

 ment's calculation about the length of daylight, he 

 determined to try and intercept it, alone as he was, 

 and set off" in full pursuit ; but as the animal swam 

 well and John was rather tired with his morning's 

 work, quite an hour elapsed before he succeeded in 

 heading it inshore and towards a small cover, where 

 lay at anchor a schooner, whose crew he was ac- 

 quainted with. These men, who it appears had for 

 some time observed John's movements from the deck 

 of their vessel, dropped into a yawl, with three oars, 

 they had alongside, and having made out it was a 

 Moose-deer showing symptoms of great fright and ex- 

 haustion, shot out from the cove and turned the 

 animal again seawards. John now pulled straight for 

 it, seized the Moose by the ears, and managed to 

 hold him until the sailors came up, when they assisted 

 in raising the deer's fore feet on to the gunwale of his 

 boat, tied its fore legs, and dragged the unwilling 

 passenger on board. Though so far successful in 

 shipping their captive, they soon found out they had 

 a regular Tartar to deal with, and it required the 

 united strength of these four men to prevent the 

 Moose staving in the bottom of the boat with its 

 horny hoofs. At last the dangerous hind legs were 

 secured, and as the schooner was on the point of sail- 

 ing to Eastport, and admiring John's pluck and 

 courage, the sailors cheerfully gave up all claim to 

 their share of the prize, and left him to land it in the 

 best way he could. After they were gone, John found 

 it no easy thing to pull the boat with this ugly com- 

 panion on board, for it could still butt unpleasantly 



