May 1, 1S68.J 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



113 



ZOOLOGY. 



Singular .Battle. — On Monday evening two 

 ducks, in a field near Thomas Town, Merthyr, de- 

 posited two eggs on the grass, and were waggling 

 off with the customary shake of the tail which closes 

 such proceedings, when a rook flew down and began 

 to inspect the deposit. This the ducks objected to, 

 and one more pugnacious than the other, ran at the 

 black gentleman and tried viciously to pinch him. 

 The rook hopped off, but took good care not to 

 leave the neighbourhood of the eggs, which a peck 

 of his bill had assured him were very savoury. So 

 every now and then there was a rush of the duck, 

 a hop of the rook, then a peck of the rook at the 

 forbidden luxury, another rush, and so on, duck 

 occasionally coming in for a peck herself, until both 

 eggs were demolished.— Standard, April 8th. 



The Death-Watch.— 1 have been much inte- 

 rested with Mr. Prince's very circumstantial account 

 of the habits of the minute species of the family Pro- 

 cidte figured by him in the last number, and which 

 is one of those to which the "Death-Watch" is 

 commonly attributed. He appears to me to have 

 brought the ticking noise nearer home to the 

 creature than has hitherto been done ; and this in 

 the face of my positively expressed opinion {vide 

 Science-Gossip, 1867, p. 51) that this family of in- 

 sects is incapable of producing the sound, makes 

 me the more anxious that he should follow up his 

 observations and find out the modus operandi ; and 

 I shall be greatly obliged if he will forward to me, 

 alive, an example taken in the act of ticking. I 

 may be permitted to observe that the creature 

 figured is not the generally so-called Atropos pulsa- 

 toria, which is smaller, darker, and without any 

 rudiments of wing-scales, the one, in fact, which 

 causes such ravages in neglected boxes of insects 

 and plants. Mr. Prince's insect is, however, the 

 true Termes pulsatorium of Linnaeus; for which 

 Westwood proposed the generic term Clothilla, 

 with the speciflc name of studiosa, from its habits of 

 frequenting books and papers, where Atropos is not 

 so often seen.— B. M'Lachlan, 20, Limes Grove 

 North, Lewisham, S.E. 



Ferocity of a Sow.— The autumn before last, 

 whilst taking shelter from a heavy storm of thunder 

 and lightning in a cottager's house in Hertfordshire, 

 I observed a fine full-grown cock (frightened by the 

 noise of the thunder) fly into a pig-sty, this was on 

 the instant followed by ferocious grunts and a death 

 struggle, for on going over to the sty a few mo- 

 ments afterwards, I found that the sow had not only 

 killed, but had actually devoured the cock (feathers 

 and all), leaving only one foot and the beak end of 

 the head as proofs of the sow's savage frame of 

 mind— W. G. S. 



Cuckoo and Hedge Sparrow.— During the 

 month of May, last year, a Hedge Sparrow built her 

 nest in a gooseberry bush trained to wooden pal- 

 ings, and after three blue eggs had been laid, I was 

 informed that another egg of a different colour was 

 in the nest. Upon examination I found that it was 

 a Cuckoo's egg. Two more blue eggs were laid 

 after this, aud the hen began to sit. In due course 

 of time the three blue eggs were hatched, and soon 

 afterwards the Cockoo's egg. No sooner had this 

 event occurred than the remaining two eggs and one 

 of the young Hedge Sparrows were ejected from the 

 nest. This I discovered upon visiting it in the 

 forenoon of the day upon which the Cuckoo's egg 

 was hatched. The little Hedge Sparrow was living, 

 and I replaced it in the nest ; the two eggs were 

 lying broken upon the ground. When I visited it 

 again about noon, I found two of the young birds 

 ejected and dead, and before evening the other was 

 thrown out. I took the young Cuckoo out and 

 found that its legs were unable to sustain its weight, 

 and in fact that it was powerless for either ag- 

 gression or self-defence ; indeed it appeared both 

 in the nest and in my hand weaker than most birds 

 are at the same age, and remained so for some days. 

 My firm conviction is that the mother disposed of her 

 own offspring, knowing (I suppose by intuition) that 

 the young Cuckoo would task her feeding powers 

 aud nursing capabilities to the utmost, she was 

 most attentive to her foster child until he was 

 nearly full grown, feeding him every few minutes, 

 until he flew away and we finally lost sight of him. 

 My family and I watched the case with great 

 interest, as it was the first time one capable of 

 observation had presented itself to us, and as the 

 season is now approaching when the Cuckoo will 

 visit us 



In April 

 Come he will. 



I have sent you these facts hoping that they will 

 induce other ornithologists to watch closely any 

 case of this kind, and see whether the hen Hedge 

 Sparrow ejects; her own young (as I am satisfied 

 that the one in epiestion did, although no one saw 

 her positively in the act, and also because the young 

 Cuckoo was perfectly unable to do it), or whether 

 as a rule the Cuckoo itself ejects the rightful brood 

 from their mother's nest. — /. P. 



Bare Crab. — While hunting in the rock-pools 

 at high-water mark, in March last, I had the good 

 fortune to capture a fine female specimen (carrying 

 spawn) of Cranch's Spider Crab (Anchceus Cranchii, 

 Leach). Bell says, "Of the occurrence of this 

 species on our coasts, we have, I believe, only two 

 recorded instances." It has the habit (differing 

 from the other Spider Crabs which I have seen) of 

 folding its legs close under the body, and feigning 

 death on the slightest alarm. — G. Sim, Aberdeen. 



