1S2 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



.[Aug. 1, 1S70. 



out of 'fashion, except with a few knowing' ones 

 at the sea-side, and those sportsmen who have proved 

 by experience how good a bird it is when roasted. 



The food of the Curlew is very miscellaneous, 

 consisting of all sorts of marine mollusca and 

 Crustacea, worms, small fish, and vegetable matter, 

 invariably accompanied with a quantity of sand 

 or small particles of grit. The bird is especially 

 fond of crabs, and we have sometimes killed a 

 Curlew so gorged with crabs and shrimps as to be 

 offensive to the smell and not agreeable as food. 



Those who are familiar with the works of Pro- 

 fessor Wilson must remember his admirable descrip- 

 tion of the feelings which he experienced when 

 stalking a Curlew.* "At first sight of his long 

 bill aloft above the rushes, we could hear our heart 

 beating quick time in the desert ; at the turning of 

 his neck, the body being yet still, our heart ceased 

 to beat altogether — and we grew sick with hope 

 w r hen near enough to see the wild beauty of his 

 eye. Unfolded, like a thought, was then the brown 

 silence of the shy creature's ample wings, and with 

 a warning cry he wheeled away upon the wind, un- 

 harmed by our ineffectual hail, seen falling far short 

 of the deceptive distance, while his mate, that had 

 lain couched — perhaps in her nest of eggs or young, 

 exposed yet hidden — within killing range, half run- 

 ning, half flying, flapped herself into flight, simula- 

 ting lame leg and wounded wing ; and the two dis- 

 appearing together behind the hills, left ns in our 

 vain reason thwarted by instinct, to resume with 

 live hopes, rising out of the ashes of the dead, our 

 daily disappointed quest over the houseless mosses. 

 Yet now and then to our steady aim the bill of the 

 'Whaup' disgorged blood, and as we felt the 

 feathers in our hand, and from tip to tip felt the 

 outstretched wings, fortune we felt had no better 

 boon to bestow, earth no greater triumph." Who 

 has not at one time or other experienced feelings 

 such as these, and lacked the power of words to 

 describe them ? 



J. E. Haeting. 



NATURAL BLINDNESS. 



rNSTANCES of blindness from birth are so 

 -*- exceedingly rare among human beings, and: 

 when they do occur are looked upon with so much 

 sympathy and commiseration, that it is hard to 

 realize the fact of there being myriads of beings 

 among the lower animals, which, from generation 

 to generation, never see the light of the sun. I 

 am speaking now of creatures whose organization 

 is comparatively perfect, and in whose structure 

 the eye, as a rule, forms a prominent feature ; not 

 of those anomalous beings which seem as though 

 they were created solely to fill up the gap— if gap 



* " Recreations of Christopher North," vol. i. p. 36 (1864). 



there be — between the animal and the plant king- 

 doms—the infusoria, the sponges, " et id genus 

 omne." There is no need, in fact, to descend so 

 low in the scale of existence, for natural blindness 

 occurs in nearly every department of nature, from 

 mammals downwards. 



The members of the Mole tribe stand pre-eminent 

 among blind or purblind animals, and "as blind as 

 a mole " has passed into a proverb. Our native 

 species, Talpa Europcea, is vulgarly believed to be 

 in this condition, but it,s eyes, though very minute, 

 are quite sufficient for the purposes of an animal 

 whose habits are almost entirely subterranean. In 

 the Water-mole of North America the power of 

 vision is reduced to a minimum, for the opening to 

 admit the light is so minute, that a human hair can 

 scarcely be thrust into it. At least two moles, 

 however, are really blind; these are the Talpa caeca, 

 of Southern Europe, and Chrtjsocliloris inaurata, the 

 Gilded Mole of the Cape of Good Hope. In these 

 animals a stout membrane is actually stretched 

 across the eye, so that life must be a constant game 

 of blindmau's buff with them ! In Eastern Europe, 

 again, is a ccrtaia rodent, the Spalax typhlus of 

 the Russian naturalist Pallas, whose eyes are so 

 minute, and so deeply set in the head, that vision 

 appears to be entirely out of the question. 

 Curiously enough, this animal bears a strong 

 external resemblance to a mole. In the wonderful 

 mammoth caves of Kentucky, U.S., there are 

 found various animals which pass their whole lives 

 in entire darkness, and which are, in consequence, 

 totally blind ; among them are two species of rat, 

 and at least two forms of bat. 



I am not aware of any example of a blind bird, 

 nor is it likely that such a defect should exist in 

 animals whose mode of life necessitates quickness 

 of movement and rapidity of action. 



In the class of reptiles we have the Blindworm 

 {Anguix fragilis) credited with a lack of vision, as 

 indicated by its ordinary name ; but this is a popular 

 error ; the so-called Blindworm can see with great 

 ease and distinctness. Not so its curious relative 

 Proteus anguinus from the Great Adelsberg caverns 

 of Carinthia, which is certainly blind, the organs of 

 sight being reduced to scarcely visible specks 

 below the cuticle. The same malformation occurs 

 in the genus Typhlops. Ampliisbcena and Ccecilia 

 are also, in all probability, totally blind ; but the 

 question seems to be hardly decided with any 

 certainty. The fact is, the members of the last 

 three genera live principally on ants, termites, and 

 "such small deer," and are therefore almost 

 entirely subterranean in their habits, — a circum- 

 stance which, while it favours the probability 

 of their blindness, renders accurate observation 

 difficult. 



At least two fishes have never yet seen the light 

 of day. One is Amllyopsis spelccus, living in lakes 



