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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



I should not have deemed it worth recording. 

 Having requested my friend to write down the facts, 

 I send them in his own words. "Remembering 

 your request, I will now fulfil my promise to send you 

 all the particulars I could obtain respecting the 

 cuckoo that spent a winter in England. The bird 

 was reared when young by hand from the nest, and 

 became quite domesticated, flying in and out of the 

 house occupied by a farm labourer, whose father was 

 an invalid, who never left his room, and who pre- 

 vented the bird being disturbed after taking up its 

 place on a clothes peg over his bed, in which 

 position the bird remained the whole of the winter, 

 without moving or taking any food, apparently in 

 quite a dormant state. In the month of April it flew 

 away uttering the usual 'cuckoo, cuckoo,' and was 

 seen no more. The bird on the perch was a familiar 

 object to all who entered the cottage during that 

 winter and continued to excite astonishment. This 

 occurred some years since in the village of 

 Humphrey's End, near Stroud, Gloucestershire." 

 Surely some witnesses can still be found of such an 

 extraordinary event amongst the residents of 

 Humphrey's End, and your readers, like myself, 

 would like to know what they have to say about this 

 hybernating cuckoo. — W. P., Shrewsbury. 



A White Sparrow. — On the 2nd of October 

 last, I got from one of the porters at the railway 

 station here a beautiful specimen of what may be 

 termed a "white sparrow." It had been frequenting 

 the station for some time back, and had been traced 

 to its roosting-place in the goods shed, where it was 

 caught at night by means of a lantern. Its head and 

 neck is pure white, its breast and belly of a dull 

 white, the forepaws of the wings pure white, the 

 flight feathers of the usual colour, centre feathers of 

 the tail white, its beak and legs of a very light 

 colour with a faint tinge of yellow. I have kept it in 

 a cage since I got it, and it is now getting very tame. 

 — A. F., Anstruther, N.B. , ; 



Golden Eagles' Eggs. — The relation of a friend 

 of mine has in captivity a female golden eagle that 

 has this past season laid two eggs of which I am now 

 the fortunate possessor. They are of the usual dull 

 white colour, and one of them only has the reddish- 

 brown markings on it which are rather faint ; the 

 other is almost a uniform dull white, with scarcely a 

 mark on it. Would the fact of the eagle being kept 

 in captivity have anything to do with the marks on 

 the eggs ? And is it not remarkable that an eagle 

 kept in captivity should lay at all? Perhaps some 

 of the numerous readers of Science-Gossip would 

 kindly give me this information. — A. F., Anstruther, 

 N.B. 



Twin Flowers on same Stalk. — I have ob- 

 served the same peculiarity as R. H. Wellington 

 mentions in your issue of January, not only on dahlia 

 stems, but on hellebore with purple flowers. — S. A. B., 

 Cushendun. 



Large Unios and Anodons. — My December 

 note seems to have been a little misunderstood. I 

 did not cite my 64 in. A. cygnaus as in any way 

 extreme, specimens quite equalling the largest men- 

 tioned on p. 22 (9 in.) having been found profusely, 

 I am told, in Victoria Park, London, a few years back. 

 The record of U. pictorum up to 5 T 3 6 in. is most interest- 

 ing as being by no means general. A critical synopsis 

 of authenticated maximal lengths would form a valu- 

 able addition to future works on this subject, especially 

 if accompanied by short notes of habitat, as bearing 

 on the elaboration of shell-matter. Do the most 



prolific areas produce the largest forms as well? — 

 Ernest G. Harmer. 



Yucca. — Is it usual for the yucca to blossom out- 

 of-doors in midwinter? At the present time three 

 plants of one of the yucca species have each a fine 

 spike. The heights are respectively, thirteen inches, 

 fifteen inches, and eighteen inches, clear of the stalk 

 supporting them. They have not developed into a 

 panicle, nor, I should think, are they likely to do so. 

 We have now (December 31st) had frost for a week, 

 and yet the spikes are only slightly touched by it. 

 These plants are to be seen on the south-east terrace 

 of a house ; the house coming between them and the 

 sea. Birkdale is a suburb of Southport, about seven- 

 teen miles from Liverpool, and on the shore of the 

 Irish Sea. — H. M., Birkdale. 



The Anatomy of the Cockroach. — The 

 authors of the most interesting and instructive papers 

 upon the anatomy of the cockroach recently published 

 in Science-Gossip would confer an additional favour 

 upon your readers if they would describe the methods 

 adopted by them in preparing the specimens from 

 which their drawings were made. — J. II. Moorhead. 



Lion and Tiger. — I should be glad if some 

 zoologist would explain what appears to me a 

 difficulty in natural history, and that is, placing the 

 lion and tiger in the same genus (Felis), as they are 

 so very dissimilar in many respects. The lion has a 

 tuft on his tail. Mr. Dallas, in his Natural History, 

 writes, " In the typical genus (Felis) the tail is much 

 elongated, but destitute of a tuft, and the skin is 

 almost always marked with stripes or spots." The tiger 

 has retractile claws ; lions have not. The cat family 

 climbs trees — lions do not. The cats live in the woods, 

 lions roam on the plains ; besides, there are other 

 differences between the two animals which will 

 occur to your readers. I have talked this matter 

 over with a sportsman, who was well acquainted 

 with them in their native haunts, and shot many ; he 

 agrees with me that they should have a separate class. 

 — S. A. Brenan, Cushendun. 



Recent Suggestions. — -Two capital observations 

 or suggestions have recently appeared in Science- 

 Gossip. One of these refers to the tide of bricks, 

 mortar and plaster which is surging all around 

 London, and which in its course threatens to so 

 materialise the suburbs that scarcely any vestige of 

 natural beauty or power will survive. Green fields, 

 trees, wild flowers, &c, will rapidly disappear, and 

 the wearied artisan, the rambler, the naturalist, will 

 alike be deprived of their rural_haunts of pleasure and 

 instruction. Epping Forest has been preserved, 

 thanks to the energy of some naturalist, or sports- 

 man, I forget which ; and now Highgate Wood 

 with its flowers and birds, Hornsey with its pleasant 

 landscapes and walks, Muswell Hill rich in the 

 romance of geology, &c, are threatened with the 

 inevitable. Even the very presence of houses in any 

 considerable number seems deleterious to vegetation. 

 During last summer I spent many weeks in Patter- 

 dale, perhaps the most retired and beautiful valley 

 in all England, and I can amply testify to the lavish 

 and beautiful efflorescence there to be seen. The wild 

 roses, the campions, the fox-glove, the stitch-worts, the 

 cranesbills, the wound-worts, the garlics, the burnets, 

 &c, were exquisite in colour and of a larger size than 

 those commonly known to townsfolk. The other 

 suggestion, which I alluded to, refers to the establish- 

 ment in a suitable part of London of a popular obser- 

 vatory. I understand that about ten years ago there 

 did exist some sort of peep-show observatory some- 



