HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



165 



moved them all, rat included, to a corner of the shop, 

 and a board was put up to keep them in. The rat 

 several times tried to escape by either climbing over 

 or making holes in the board. One night after it had 

 been about a month under the care of its natural 

 enemy, a piece of curtain having been left hanging 

 over the board, the rat which had now grown pretty 

 large escaped, and was never seen again. I pass 

 through Helensburgh nearly every day, and saw the 

 rat lying in the nest with the kittens. — E. L. F. 



Under what Circumstances is the Yew 

 Poisonous to Horses and Cows? — In my garden 

 there are some yew-trees, planted forty or fifty years 

 ago, which hang over a wall into an adjoining yard, 

 where van-horses have constantly been in the habit of 

 standing while the vans were loaded and unloaded, 

 and I have never known any of the horses to have 

 suffered. There is also in a park in this neighbour- 

 hood a long row of yew-trees exposed to the deer, 

 cows, and horses, which graze there, but I have never 

 heard of any harm having resulted. On the other 

 hand, I understand that in a gentleman's grounds near 

 here, two valuable cows last year got access to, and 

 ate some cut branches of yew, and died in consequence ; 

 and I am told that in the case of a horse which died 

 from eating yew, a post mortem examination shewed 

 that death resulted from irritation of the intestines, 

 caused by the sharp prickly points of the leaves, rather 

 than from any poisonous property in their juices. I 

 shall be much obliged by any information on the 

 subject. — T. If. G., Kettering. 



The Natterjack Toad. — I am glad to hear from 

 Mr. J. Campbell in your issue of January, that the 

 malodorous charge against our little friend, the 

 natterjack, is a calumny. I was deterred from trying 

 to obtain a specimen on account of what I had read. 

 Mr. M. C. Cooke gives him a bad character in his 

 book on " British Reptiles," and the late Mr. Harland 

 Coultas in a work entitled " The Home Naturalist" 

 says, " When pursued, the cross (or natterjack) toad 

 draws itself together, so that the glands of its skin 

 empty themselves, and its body becomes covered 

 with a whitish moisture, giving out an intolerable 

 stench which has been aptly compared to the smell 

 of an old tobacco pipe ; this is undoubtedly a means 

 of defence with which the animal has been provided 

 by the Creator." No wonder then after reading this 

 description of the reptile, I did not attempt to obtain 

 a specimen, but addressed a query to the editor, who 

 transferred the question to the Notes and Queries 

 column, where a reply appeared from Mr. W. R. 

 Tate to the effect that the reptile gave off a strong 

 sulphurous scent when frightened. Mr. Campbell's 

 experience of the animal is still more favourable, 

 which would lead one to suppose that some only are 

 able to give off this smell, whilst others do not possess 

 the power to do so. I beg to thank Mr. Tate and 

 Mr. Campbell for their kindness in answering my 

 question, and as the latter gentleman has actually 

 kept the animal, he would greatly add to his kindness 

 if he could give me some particulars with regard to 

 its food, &c. As very little seems to be known about 

 this species of toad, such information would, I think, 

 be of general interest. — j. Perrycap. 



Dogs affected by Sound of Music. — A black- 

 and-tan terrier that we kept for some time was par- 

 ticularly sensitive to music. Although scales played 

 on the piano made her yell piteously it was by the 

 concertina's sweet influences that she was most affected, 

 flying before it and if unable to leave the room, whin- 

 ing until the tune was stopped. A Spitzbergen dog- 

 friend of ours is much excited by music, but when 



I one tune is played its excitement is more marked — the 



' tune is " Bonny Dundee." Dogs are not peculiar in 



J their feeling for music, witness the fact that retired 



j cavalry horses obey the call of the bugle when acci- 



: dentally heard.— C. J. W. 



Blackcap in December. — On December 17 last 

 I was surprised and interested by seeing a blackcap 

 busily engaged searching for insects among the 

 bare branches of a vine trained against my house. 

 There had been a hard, I should say unusually 

 severe, frost for more than a week, and many even 

 of our winter birds seemed to be pinched and sadly 

 in want of food. The frost was then beginning to 

 give, but I little expected to see so thoroughly a 

 summer visitant able to endure such unusually wintry 

 weather. I watched it for some minutes, and, as it 

 was not three yards from my face, I had no doubt 

 of its being a veritable blackcap. During the months 

 of November and December last a hawfinch was 

 seen nearly every day upon my lawn. — IT. M. M., 

 Badgworth, Weston-super-Mare. 



Cornus sanguinea. — I think it is not unusual for 

 this plant to flower in autumn. I noticed one of our 

 hedges quite gay with its blossoms at that season in 

 last year. — J. M., Neio Brompton, Kent. 



Tea Stains. — Can you tell me why tea produces a 

 blue stain when coming in contact with steel ? A 

 little black tea dropped from the tea-pot on a table- 

 knife has this effect.— R. H. N. B. 



Nuthatch. — I observed on Friday, March 28, a 

 Nuthatch (Sitta enropiea) on Barnes Common. Is 

 this not rather a rare bird so near London ? — E. V. 

 Seebohm, A r assau School, Barnes, S. W. 



Parrots and their Eggs. — The note in May 

 number on this subject has attracted the attention of 

 a gentleman resident in this neighbourhood, whose 

 parrakeet has lately laid three eggs, with an interval 

 of a day or two between each laying — the dates 

 of the events being April 18, 21, 25, of this present 

 year. Thinking that possibly some Manchester 

 naturalists might be glad to see them, he has kindly 

 placed them in my hands to show. — E. Ward, 29 Bur- 

 lington Street, Manchester. 



Intelligence of Animals. — A very worthy and 

 candid old clergyman of my acquaintance used to tell 

 the following story about some sagacious little dogs 

 of his, in proof, as he was wont to admit, that 

 "they knew, better than himself, how to observe 

 Sunday." In the doctrine of his life he was in the 

 habit of taking a constitutional ride daily ; but on 

 Sundays, when he went to perform the service in a 

 neighbouring church, his little dogs, who were his 

 faithful companions on the other days of the week, 

 were not allowed to accompany him. On one 

 special Sunday, having a clerical son staying with 

 him, he gave himself a holiday, and instead of going 

 to serve his church, indulged himself with his ordi- 

 nary ride. No invitations, however, could persuade 

 the little dogs to go with him. In vain he called ; in 

 vain he whistled. They would not break through 

 their good habits, at the cost probably of some little 

 self-denial, and in defiance of the lax example of their 

 master. — C. W. Bingham. 



Instinct or Reason. — I am not a little sur- 

 prised that so many of your correspondents question 

 the reasoning powers of animals, or treat as a moot 

 point that on which nearly all the best authorities are 

 agreed. In Professor Huxley's admirable little volume 

 on Hume, recently published, we find the following : 

 " We must admit that Hume does not express him- 

 self too strongly when he says, ' no truth appears to 



