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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Blue Pimpernel. — Will some correspondent 

 kindly tell me in what localities the blue pimpernel 

 is to be met with. — A. M. P. 



Woodcocks Nesting in Cumberland.— A few 

 years ago the nest of a woodcock was a great rarity 

 in Cumberland, now it is of frequent occurrence. 

 Last year a pair of these birds had a nest in my 

 parish ; this year the number is doubled ; and two 

 nests are also said to have been found in the woods 

 at Edenhall, belonging to Sir P. Musgrave. In mild 

 evenings some of the old birds, males I presume, may 

 frequently be seen disporting themselves in the 

 manner described by Kingsley, and for which he was 

 accused by your correspondent T. A. B. in the March 

 number of Science-Gossip as making a gross 

 blunder, and mistaking the fern-owl for a woodcock. 

 Kingsley, however, is quite right. The term " hawk- 

 ing " may have been misapplied, as the bird is 

 certainly not capturing prey ; but there is no doubt 

 that woodcocks do thus disport themselves, flying to 

 and fro, tumbling about as some describe the action. 

 It seems to be a habit connected with the breeding 

 season. Your readers may have seen the snipe at 

 that season ascend high in the air, making a piping 

 noise of two notes, and descending with a loud boom. 

 The woodcock does not rise much above the tops of 

 the adjoining trees, its note is very different from that 

 of the snipe. Some naturalists call this note a 

 gurgling or chuckling sound. An observant neigh- 

 bour of mine, who has had frequent opportunities 

 both of seeing and hearing the bird, assures me that 

 this note very much resembles that of a swallow. I 

 have not heard it myself. — R. W. Westward. 



Woodcocks versus Goat-suckers. — Your cor- 

 respondent W. C, p. 118, is quite correct : woodcocks 

 do playfully fly about on a calm evening at about 

 the same hour when the goat-sucker becomes visible. 

 For a long time I imagined they were the latter bird 

 only, and stoutly maintained this in argument with a 

 gamekeeper, who declared woodcocks were to be 

 found in our neighbourhood : at length I proved his 

 words correct, exactly as described by Canon Kingsley. 

 I have repeatedly proved there is no time so favour- 

 able for the study of Ornithology as the evenings of 

 spring and early summer ; country-life is then at its 

 best, and, as the Canon often remarked, full of joy and 

 delight. The cuckoo was two days behind its usual 

 time this yeai\ I am also glad to announce more young 

 thrushes than I have ever known before in Cheshire. 

 —R. 



White Leveret. — A purely white leveret has 

 been recently taken in a wood near York, and is now 

 in the hands of Mr. J. Young of this city for preserva- 

 tion. Such a specimen I should imagine is of very 

 rare occurrence. — C. D. WolstenJiolme. 



Male Birds Building Nests (?)— Could any 

 readers of this paper inform me if it is a common 

 occurrence for the crimson-beaked weaver bird to 

 build a nest without a mate in an aviary ? The bird is 

 a cock. — C. C. Walker. 



Metropolitan Societies, &c, their Meet- 

 ings. — Mr. Dannatt (Hon. Sec, Greenwich Micro- 

 scopical Society) in your May number calls attention 

 to " the fact that in the course of the winter months, 

 we were sometimes invited to exhibit at three 

 or four soirees in about as many weeks and then 

 hear of no more throughout the season," and as a 

 remedy he suggests that the arrangements, &c, of the 

 Metropolitan Microscopical and Natural History 

 Societies should be annually printed in your magazine, 



so that each society might see the fixtures of the 

 others. For my own part, I consider that the inter- 

 change of annual reports is quite sufficient to this 

 end without taking up the valuable space of your 

 paper on programmes of arrangements. It may be 

 argued that the dates of soirees do not appear in the 

 majority of annual reports, but for the very reason 

 that they do not appear therein they could not appear 

 in Science-Gossip, viz., because they were not fixed 

 at so early a date as the Annual General Meeting. 

 By far the better plan would be to print a list of the 

 Microscopical and Natural History Societies in the 

 metropolis, say in your January number (as Mr. 

 Dannatt suggests), with the names and addresses of 

 their respective secretaries, so that each might corres- 

 pond with the other and have the earliest information 

 of forthcoming events ; this would also be a means of 

 bringing each society more into contact with the 

 other. Every one must agree that soirees do come 

 all together as a rule, and it seems possible that it 

 results from a want of knowledge between the 

 societies of each other's doings. — Fred. Stewart, 

 Hon. See., New Cross Microscopical and Natural 

 History Society. 



Noise made by Water Snails. — In a recent 

 number of Science-Gossip (page 118) is a note by 

 Mrs. S. Brentford, on the above subject. If the 

 " drip " there described is what is referred to by 

 C. J. P., Weymouth, it is I think probably caused by 

 L. stagnalis, for they are in the habit of floating on 

 the surface with the shell downwards, and when in 

 that position may be observed taking in air; this 

 generally produces a small air bubble, the bursting of 

 which causes the " drip " mentioned by Mrs. S., and 

 is the only sound I have ever heard from any of the 

 Mollusca in my tanks. — Chas. Forau, Eastbourne. 



Vipers swallowing their Young. — In reply 

 to the suggestion in your April number, I write the 

 following particulars, as I can positively assert that 

 the young vipers take refuge within their parents. 

 More than forty years ago, I was walking with my 

 brother, and our way lay through a hedge-row, on 

 approaching which he remarked he had once or twice 

 seen a viper in the path, and suggested we should 

 provide ourselves with sticks. We had not proceeded 

 far when we came upon a pair of vipers, probably 

 male and female, and we distinctly saw a young one 

 go into the mouth of an old one, and one small one 

 still remained on the ground. The old vipers were 

 so incapable of quick retreat from their great size, 

 that we killed them without difficulty. As we had 

 often heard the story of the peculiar manner by which 

 vipers protected their young, we determined to prove 

 the fact, and having taken them to an open space we 

 opened them, and there came out about twenty 

 little black wriggling creatures about the size of large 

 earthworms. Within a few days, I have had an 

 opportunity of asking my brother if he remembered 

 the circumstance ; he said he had a perfect recollection 

 of it, and that he had frequently related it, and he 

 reminded me that when we killed the old vipers one 

 of them had a little one hanging out of its mouth. 

 The old reptiles sacrificed their lives in the effort to 

 preserve their young ; they would have had ample 

 time for escape, but the delay in waiting for so many 

 young ones to get down their throats proved fatal. — 

 R. H. 



Wood Pigeons and Rooks. — Much has been said 

 and written regarding the destructiveness of both 

 wood pigeons and rooks. An association was formed 

 in Fife a few years ago for the purpose of diminishing 

 the number of wood pigeons, if not of entirely extir- 



