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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



The Sagacity of a Thrush (a Cage-bird).— 

 My interest in this bird has been roused within the 

 last day or two, and it may interest some of your 

 readers if I describe the facts which have come under 

 my notice. My attention was called by the owner of 

 the thrush, who had received from a boy a nest of 

 five young thrushes, which were put into the cage 

 with the old pet, nest and all. Worms were thrown 

 into the cage for the old bird, upon which an attack 

 was made as usual, and after breaking them in pieces 

 it began to feed the young ones, as if they were its 

 own family. Now, considering that this bird has 

 never been at liberty, it appears to me that a most 

 wonderful amount of sagacity has been shown by this 

 act, and it is clearly instinct and sagacity, and not 

 practical experience, which has taught the bird how to 

 look after and tend upon the thrushlings. And surely 

 in this act is reflected the care of the Provider, the 

 Maker, and the Guider of all. I should be glad to 

 know if any of your readers have ever noticed this act 

 before on the part of a cage-bird. — A. H. Hulley. 



Sagacity of a Cat.— We have a very interesting 

 cat at home. She is a fine Angora and a capital 

 mouser, though now getting rather old for such work. 

 In her earlier days she would go anywhere after a 

 mouse. I remember that once she ran up the curtain 

 and caught a mouse at the top, and another time she 

 rushed up the chimney while a red-hot fire was in the 

 grate and returned with a mouse, covered with soot ; 

 where the mouse was caught I cannot say, but it is 

 perfectly true that the cat went up the chimney. It 

 is not, however, of her mousing exploits that 1 wish 

 now to speak. She grew very fond of a housemaid 

 who was with us when first she came, and used to 

 follow her all over the house. Whenever the cat 

 caught a mouse or a bird she would, before she ate it, 

 lay it down at the housemaid's feet. If the maid took 

 it away, she never attempted to get it again and eat it, 

 but let it lie there. As the housemaid always threw 

 the birds away it stopped her from catching them, 

 but afterwards when the housemaid left she again 

 took to her old habits, and we missed many birds out 

 of their aviary, finding their feathers alone stuck in 

 the bars ; the cat must have pulled the birds through 

 the wires, which are only a quarter of an inch apart. 

 When the housemaid left us the cat also disappeared 

 for some weeks, and when she did come back, moped 

 about in the garden all day, for a long time. When 

 the house was painted the cat went away till the men 

 had left, when she immediately returned and now sits 

 almost all day before the kitchen fire. — F. A. Bather, 

 Roehampton. 



Flies and Pedestrians. — Can any of your con- 

 tributors suggest a remedy against being followed, for 

 miles I may say, by a troop of flies, who, taking 

 advantage of the warm summer atmosphere, attach 

 themselves more particularly to the head of the 

 pedestrian, and cause much annoyance by settling 

 upon the face, neck, ears, &c. ? I am under the 

 impression that the leaves of a particular tree or 

 shrub, rubbed upon the face of the clothes and hat, 

 act as a preventive, and I think that this fact was 

 conveyed in a former number of SciENCE-GossiP. 

 Probably the circumstance alluded to will bear 

 repetition. — W. W. Ingall. 



Slow Worm.— In answer to W. G. T.'s question 

 in last month's Science-Gossip as to the reddish- 

 purple variety mentioned by Mr. E. D. Marquand, 

 I have had four of this colour among a dozen sent 

 from Yorkshire. They were about ten inches long, and 

 of a bright copper colour, with black lines running 

 down the sides from head to tail. I have seen some 

 scores of slow worms, but have only noticed these four. 



I have now a slow worm measuring eighteen inches 

 long, which is rather an unusual length for this 

 reptile. They will live a long time in an ordinary 

 fern case, and may be fed on white slugs, which they 

 seem to prefer before anything else ; a small pot of 

 water should be placed in the case with them, as they 

 are rather thirsty souls, immersing nearly the whole 

 of the head while drinking. They are altogether very 

 interesting to keep. — G. Currie. 



Robert Mudie. — Is there any biographical account 

 of this pleasing writer? His work, the "British 

 Naturalist," delighted the world sixty years ago. His 

 " Feathered Tribes of Great Britain," "Guide to the 

 Observations of Nature," "Seasons," "The Earth," 

 &c, did much to promote the study of natural 

 history. He was a man for an age not for all time ; 

 but we have attained to our present advanced state of 

 general interest in the grand operations of Nature, 

 because Mudie and others like him well lived and 

 wrote. Perhaps some of your readers can supply an 

 article on this matter. — Robert B. Botwell, King's 

 Langley, Herts. 



Palm in Full Bloom. — We have on our lawn a 

 dwarf palm, which will shortly be in full bloom, and 

 thinking it unusual to see such in England, I write to 

 ask if you or any of your readers know of another. 

 The plant is about seven years' growth, and has never 

 been protected by any covering during the winter. 

 Last year it bore four spathes of bloom, and this year 

 six. Our gardener has given me the following dimen- 

 sions of the plant : " Height of plant, 5 feet 4 inches ; 

 width, 6 feet 8 inches ; circumference, 20 feet ; 

 height of trunk, 2 feet 10 inches ; circumference of 

 trunk at base, 2 feet 10 inches." It may interest 

 your readers to know we have also a Paulownia 

 which has blossomed several times, and some seed 

 ripened from which we have raised a fine young tree. 

 We have too a plant of Phormium tenax, which the 

 year before last had two flower spikes, one being nine, 

 the other ten feet high, which bore respectively 22 

 and 28 seed pods, which ripened ; and we have now 

 some young plants raised from them and growing 

 nicely. — E. D., East Coshani, Hants. 



Can Worms crawl Backwards ? — Having read 

 the Rev. J. G. Wood's statement that "it is im- 

 possible for the common earthworm to crawl back- 

 wards," and also Mr. W. Budden's note thereon in the 

 May number of Science-Gossip, I was induced the 

 other evening to experiment with a large worm in 

 the garden. It was proceeding along the path at a 

 quick rate, when I interrupted it by giving it several 

 gentle taps on the head with a small stick. At first 

 it seemed inclined to push on, but after repeated taps 

 from the stick it suddenly began to move backwards, 

 and continued to pursue its way in this manner until 

 it got out of sight. This incident confirms Mr. 

 Budden's statement, that "worms can and do crawl 

 backwards." — G. O. Howell, Shooter's Hill. 



Worms crawling Backwards. — I can readily 

 confirm the statement of your correspondent, W. 

 Budden, that worms can and do crawl backwards ; 

 especially when, as he describes, they are touched on 

 the head by a small stick or any other substance. 

 Only a day or two since I saw two worms crawling 

 on the wet road, and by gently touching the head of 

 one it began to alter its course, with its head, to one 

 side, I again touched it and it immediately began 

 crawling backwards. The other one I wanted to get 

 to crawl on a piece of writing paper, but whichever 

 way I presented the paper to it, it would endeavour 

 to avoid it and crawl the reverse way. — J. G. B., 

 Wrotham, Kent. 



