April 1,1 S6S.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



89 



propensity used to make me very zealous in at- 

 tending at tho removal of every stack of corn in my 

 own village where a rat was likely to be found. 

 Whilst looking after the rats, I have seen the fowls 

 which have been attracted to the spot by the stray 

 grains of corn, gobble down live mice as they have 

 tried to escape. I also well remember an old cock 

 of the Dorking breed who was so fond of mice that 

 when a corn-stubble was being broken up by 

 the plough, he would be in attendance to catch any 

 poor mouse that might be turned out of its home. 

 As soon as one was seen he pounced upon it and 

 swallowed it immediately, and he would continue at 

 his post until he had captured sufficient for a meal. 

 He followed this practice for years, and his attach- 

 ment to mice ceased only with his death. — R. B. 



Cumous Chrysalides.— On 2nd March I ex- 

 hibited three', large Chrysalides at a meeting of 

 the Entomological Society ; they are from Sierra 

 Leone, and one of them is the most curious looking 

 chrysalis I ever saw ; it is two inches and a half in 

 length, stout, and very compact, the shell being very 

 hard and black ; there are eight small protuberances 

 on the thorax ; two of them, placed close together 

 just over the base of the antennae, form a sort of 

 small beak, while two just above these, and wider 

 apart, look like eyes, and the effect is to give this 

 part a strange resemblance to the head of a porpoise. 

 The other extremity is equally curious, being 

 furnished with a very strong flattened tail, above 

 which at the base are two oblong pits about a 

 quarter of an inch deep, the use of which it is very 

 difficult to conjecture; the segments of the abdo- 

 men are stoutly edged and slightly toothed. Mr. 

 Roland Trimeu has informed me that it belongs to the 

 genus Anthercea (a near ally of Saturnia), and that it 

 is subterranean. One of the others is a Chcerocampa, 

 remarkable for its form, being greatly attenuated 

 towards the head. The third specimen is a small 

 species of Sphinx, the proboscis of which is of great 

 size, projecting boldly from the head : hitherto these 

 projecting "noses " have been thought to contain the 

 whole of the proboscis, but I have found on exami- 

 nation that they contain a portion only, which is 

 abruptly folded back on reaching the end of the 

 case, and always terminates between the ends of the 

 wing cases.— T. W. Wood. 



An Usurper. — Amongst a number of miscel- 

 laneous notes on Natural History, I find the follow- 

 ing, which will be interesting to ornithologists. 

 May ?>\st, 1857.— A pair of martins began building 

 under the eaves of the house about three weeks 

 ago, and had half finished the walls of their nest 

 when I thought they must have forsaken it, as it 

 did not seem to approach any nearer completion. 

 To-day the reason is apparent, for I saw a spotted 

 flycatcher fly from the half-built nest, and on rear- 



ing a ladder and going up to if, I found she had 

 built on the swallow's foundation, and had then laid 

 one egg. Whether the martins had first forsaken 

 the uest, or the flycatchers had driven them out, 

 I cannot tell. Sparrows often take possession of 

 swallows' nests, and long and fierce are the battles 

 that ensue between them and the rightful owners. 

 June 24:th. — To my surprise, the martins have, for 

 the last day or two, been re-engaged at their nest, 

 and have nearly finished the outside. Upon ex- 

 amination, I find the nest of the flycatcher still 

 within, but empty. I do not know how long the 

 flycatcher sits, nor how long it is before the young 

 birds leave the nest; but there may, perhaps, just 

 have been time for this to take place; and I suppose 

 that the flycatchers had driven the martins away in 

 the first instance, and that the poor birds had 

 actually waited patiently till the usurpers had 

 hatched their brood, and quitted their ill-gotten 

 possessions. The martins may have been fighting 

 all the while with the flycatchers, and have at last 

 been victorious ; still I have not seen any warfare 

 going on, and the egg has disappeared. But in 

 either case, the martins have been thrown back in 

 their work more than three weeks, and the female 

 must have had the power of retarding the formation 

 of her eggs ; for if the flycatchers had not retained 

 possession of the martins' nest, they would surely 

 by this time have finished building, and laid all their 

 eggs, if they had not hatched a young brood.— 

 Robert Holland, Mobberley, Cheshire. 



The Parson Bird.— I have at present residing 

 with me a friend from New Zealand, and among 

 many other items of information, he told me that in 

 New ZeaJand there are a number of birds popularly 

 designated Parson Birds. The name is derived from 

 their peculiar appearauce. The birds are black, 

 with a white baud down each side of the breast, the 

 bands somewhat resembling those worn by ministers 

 when in pulpit costume. One reputed habit of these 

 birds is very extraordinary. The Parson Bird lives 

 on mollusca, and may be seen walking along the 

 seacoast in search of food, carrying a pebble in his 

 beak, peering about from side to side in quest of 

 his molluscan dinner, and as soon as he observes 

 an unfortunate bivalve mollusc with its shells 

 open, it drops the pebble between the shells, and at 

 his leisure, and without danger to his bill, partakes 

 of his food, the mollusc being unable to close its 

 shell because of the intervention of the pebble. 

 My friend obtained the skin of one of these birds, 

 but has not seen any of them in the act of feeding. 

 The practice of dropping the stone for the purpose 

 of keeping its shell open during feeding, is so 

 strikingly inventive, that I shall be glad to have 

 the statement confirmed by any reader of Science- 

 Gossip, it being worthy of record if true. — T. P. 

 Barkas. 



