HABDWICKE'S SCIENCE- GOS SIP. 



215 



uneasy situation during the business of incubation. 

 Yet the test will be to examine whether birds that 

 are actually known. to sit for certain are not formed 

 in a similar manner." — W. 0. B. Page, Hull. 



The Cuckoo. — I read with interest Mr. J. L. 

 Copemau's notes on the habits of the Cuckoo, and 

 think that, on the whole, his arguments are correct. 

 I was always an enthusiastic collector of eggs, and 

 it was my good fortune to find several cuckoo's 

 eggs, uniform in colour and size, conveying to my 

 mind a certain resemblance to the egg of the house- 

 sparrow. I believe it is an open question how the 

 egg is deposited in the nest. Mr. Copeman uses 

 the word "lay" in the common acceptation of the 

 term ; but I think this does not invariably hold good, 

 as a friend of mine, an experienced naturalist, in- 

 forms me that he has found a cuckoo's egg in a nest 

 so placed that the egg could not have got there 

 otherwise than through the medium of the bird's 

 bill. I myself believe that this is the general 

 method which the Cuckoo adopts for placing her 

 egg in the nests of other birds. It would be in- 

 consistent to suppose that she " dropped" them in, 

 as Mr. Taylor asserts, as in this way they would 

 stand a chance of being fractured through collision 

 with the other eggs in the nest ; and besides, the 

 small size of some of the nests does not admit of 

 her placing: herself in the ordinary attitude of incu- 

 bation. To conclude, 1 may state that all are 

 agreed about the parasitic habits of the Cuculidse ; 

 that the volition of the Cuckoo with regard to the 

 variation of its eggs is questionable ; that in a great 

 majority of cases it lays its eggs in some suitable 

 spot, and then conveys them to a nest previously 

 fixed upon. I think that these observations will 

 meet with the approval of most of your readers ; but 

 if any of them have any suggestions to offer, I 

 should be most happy to receive them. — Frank 

 Richardson, Rhayader. 



Re Cuckoo's Eggs. — The Cuckoo invariably lays 

 one egg, and that of a shape and coloration suffi- 

 ciently characteristic to render its recognition easy 

 to those previously acquainted with it. More 

 young cuckoos are, probably, hatched by the hedge- 

 sparrow than by all the other birds together. I have 

 watched the Cuckoo's pioceedings dozens of times 

 in an orchard in Staffordshire, and had as many as 

 three young cuckoos to visit at one time. I 

 always succeeded in making them very tame, and 

 they never wandered far away until their final migra- 

 tion. The foster-mother manifested considerable 

 mistrust in her attempts to satisfy the demands of 

 her usurper's capacious throat; and appeared to 

 observe precautions, lest she should be swallowed 

 herself. I have no doubt the Cuckoo's e^g varies a 

 little in coloration, but do not believe in the exist- 

 ence of any special provision for voluntary pigmen- 

 tation in the act of extrusion, as suggested by 

 Mr. Taylor. The usual custom of the Cuckoo is to 

 suck the eggs existing in the nest, and then to 

 deposit therein one of her own, to which may sub- 

 sequently be added one or more of the proper pro- 

 prietors. After the hatching is completed, the 

 young monster soon effects the destruction of his 

 puny associates by appropriating the lion's share of 

 the food — by trampling them to death— or by 

 ousting them bodily ; and so remains sole possessor 

 of a home, which he quickly outgrows, and tyran- 

 nically maintains.— E. Holland, M.D. 



Nettle Beek. — It may not be generally known 

 to your readers that the ironworkers, puddlers, 

 and colliers of Monmouthshire drink a quantity of 



the above-named beverage ; in fact, it is so common 

 to them, that, every woman is supposed to know how 

 to make nettle beer as readily as she makes tea. 

 The men say they can work better on it than malt 

 liquors, and the women put faith in it as being 

 " good for the blood." I cannot express any 

 therapeutical opinion on it ; I can only say that it 

 is very pleasant to drink, and I should think, if 

 carefully made, it would be better to "work on" 

 than public-house beer. This is the formula given 

 to me by a housewife who makes two gallons 

 weekly : — Boil in two gallons of water a few hand- 

 fnls of nettles, ditto of dandelion, about a handful 

 of wood sage, two ounces of bruised ginger, and a 

 few handfuls of hairough, or what is called in some 

 parts cleavers ; these should be boiled together for 

 about half an hour, strained, and worked by placing 

 some toasted bread into it with a little yeast on. 

 This operation being over, one ounce of cream of 

 tartar is added to the whole, which should be 

 bottled, tightly corked, and laid upon its side, and 

 after a few days will be ready for use. — S. B. 

 Mason. 



Clothes Moths. — If William Bean will put a 

 bit or two of common dip candle, rolled in paper, 

 with his woollen tie, he will see no more moths. 

 This has been thoroughly tested. — 31. A. L. 



Sagacity of Birds. — During this dry summer, 

 thrushes and other birds seem to have a difficulty 

 in securing the kind of food required, partly because 

 worms seldom are seen at the surface of the ground 

 in very dry weather. This morning, on my lawn, 

 I found thrushes had been busy at work, at the two 

 back feet of an iron seat; where during the night 

 they had carried a number of snails, chiefly large, 

 and broken their shells against the iron-work, to 

 the 'extent of at least thirty-two, which 1 counted 

 from the larger fragments strewing the grass. They 

 had evidently been holding high feast there, from 

 the manner in which the grass was padded, and 

 smeared with the slimy secretion of the snails. — 

 Horace Pearce, F.G.S. 



Fatal Bite op an Adder. — Can the following 

 paragraph, which has been going the round of the 

 papers, be verified ?— " On Thursday afternoon, a 

 young man named George Thompson, who was on 

 a walking tour with a friend through Surrey and 

 Sussex, was ascending the celebrated elevation of 

 Leith Hill, when he accidentally trod upou a black 

 adder. Thompson, who was wearing knickerbockers, 

 was bitten by the reptile in the calf of the leg. 

 Apprehending no danger, he continued his ascent, 

 and had reached a small village on the other side, 

 when he was taken ill. He was assisted to the inn, 

 aud a medical man was sent for. The virus from 

 the bite, however, had so impregnated his system 

 that, despite every attention, he died on Saturday." 

 -T. P. B. 



Do Spiders make a Noise?— Yes; the one I 

 saw and heard was black and hairy, the body about 

 the size of a sweet pea, legs short ; it was hanging 

 head downwards half an inch, and vibrated, butjl 

 could not see how the tick or chick was produced. — 

 F.S. 



Yellow Bunting.— In addition to Cumberland 

 and Northumberland (referred to in last month's 

 Science-Gossip under " Local Names of Plants "), 

 the Yellowhammer is known amongst boys, both in 

 Berwick aud Roxburghshire, as the Yellow-yorhu. 

 It is also sometimes called the Yite and Yellow-yite 

 in these counties. — A. B., Kelso. 



