Nov. 1, 1S69.J 



IIARDWICKE'S SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



257 



ZOOLOGY. 



Recipe for Human Parasites. — If you have 

 found ordinary methods unavailing for ridding your- 

 self of these unbidden guests, I can furnish you 

 with a probaf urn est recipe, which Dr. Clarke tells 

 us the Hungarian shepherds find completely effec- 

 tual to put to flight these insects. This is not, as 

 you may be tempted to think, by a remarkable at- 

 tention to cleanliness— quite the reverse. They 

 grease their linen with hog's lard, and thus render 

 themselves disgusting even to fleas ! If this does 

 not satisfy, I have another recipe in store for you ; 

 you may shoot at them with a cannon, as report 

 says did Christina, Queen of Sweden, whose piece 

 of artillery, of Liliputian calibre, which was em- 

 ployed in this warfare, is still exhibited in the 

 arsenal of Stockholm. But, seriously, if you wish 

 for an effectual remedy, that prescribed by old 

 Tusser, in the following lines, will answer your 

 purpose :— 



" While wormwood hath seed, get a handfull or twain, 

 To save against March, to make flea to refraine ; 

 Where chamber is sweeped, and wormwood isstrown, 

 No flea for his life dare abide to be known." 



— Kirby's Introd. 



Death's-head Hawk-moth.— The caterpillars 

 of this beautiful moth have been more than usually 

 abundant during the present season. I have had 

 five specimens brought to me for identification, from 

 four different localities : two were brought from the 

 county of Durham, and three from Northumberland. 

 Three of the caterpillars are now in the possession 

 of as many young naturalists, who reside with me. 

 A few hours after each of the caterpillars had been 

 obtained, they sank into the earth which had been 

 prepared for their reception, and are now undergo- 

 ing the transformation which their juvenile owners 

 hope may result in specimen moths for their col- 

 lections.— T. P. Barkas. 



Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) Breeding in Cap- 

 tivity. — In 1S55, a pinioned Kestrel, which was 

 kept in a walled-in garden at Burnley Hall, East 

 Somerton, in this county, made a nest of sticks, 

 matting, moss, &c, in the corner of a tool-house, 

 and hatched five young ones. She had no doubt 

 been visited by a male from the adjacent rained 

 parish church, in which kestrels frequently breed. 

 The late Mr. Yarrell suggested setting a watch the 

 next year, to ascertain full particulars, but she was 

 unfortunately killed by accident the following win- 

 ter, or no doubt the singular occurrence of 1S55 

 would have been repeated.—/. G. N, Aldborough, 

 Norwich. 



Short-eared Owl (Strix brachyotus) Breeding 

 in Norfolk. — I saw a nest with three or four 

 young ones, nearly ready to fly, in the Winterton 

 Decoy, in 1S59 ; there could be no error as to the 



species, as the feathers from which it gets its name 

 were well developed. This year (1S69) a fine speci- 

 men of the same bird was shot by a gamekeeper in 

 this parish, in July ; it had one of its wings damaged, 

 which appeared to be the only injury it had received. 

 It was kept in captivity five or six weeks, when it 

 was turned out, having quite recovered the injury ; 

 its companion was not seen ; but there can, I think, 

 be no reasonable doubt about the cause of this 

 bird's presence here in the month of July.—/. G. N ., 

 Aldborougk, Norwich. 



Emperor Moth. — The larva of the Emperor 

 Moth (Saturnia pavonia minor) has been found here 

 in great abundance this summer. I have procured 

 12 or 15 ; a friend has also found as many, and I am 

 told that one day the children of the British School 

 here destroyed between 300 and 400, all full-grown. 

 I do not remember having noticed it in so great 

 abundance before. The larva of the Privet Hawk- 

 moth (Sphinx pinastri) is also very plentiful. — A. A., 

 Felstead. 



Incident of a Thrush. — In the month of April 

 last, the following circumstance took place upon 

 the estate of Mr. Samuel Porter, Eskdale, near 

 Whitehaven; — A number of ladies' collars and 

 tuckers, 'a cap, &c, had been placed upon a bush 

 to bleach. In the course of a few days they disap- 

 peared, and as some young cattle were grazing in 

 the neighbouring fields, they were suspected of 

 having eaten them. Shortly after, however, the 

 missing articles were discovered in an adjoining 

 meadow, among the branches of a hawthorn, inter- 

 woven with moss, grass, and wool, and forming the 

 nest of a thrush ; having been carried a considerable 

 distance, and appropriated as building materials by 

 these little songsters. Much to the disgrace of 

 some ruffianly hand, the nest was destroyed, that the 

 missing articles might be taken away as relics of a 

 remarkable circumstance. — John Johnson, New Jeru- 

 salem Bay Schools, Salford. 



Bed Admiral. — Whilst going through a wood 

 at, Bournemouth, the end of last month, I came 

 across a larva of the Goat-moth (Cossus Ligniperda) 

 walking across the path. I looked about to find the 

 tree from which it came, and about a couple of 

 yards from me I saw a birch-tree, round which 

 were flying about a dozen or more of the Red 

 Admiral butterfly (Vanessa Atalanta). There Ifound 

 the burrows of the Goat-moth. Some one had 

 evidently been cutting the bark away to find the 

 larva, and the juice, I suppose, from the tree had 

 attracted the butterflies. I picked off several of 

 them from the tree with my fingers, and for several 

 days after the tree was still visited by them in 

 numbers. I should like to know if any of your 

 readers have ever noticed this attraction for the 

 Lepidoptera before.— & / B. Moseley, Birmingham. 



