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HARDWICKE'S SC1EN CE- GOSSIP. 



Birds' Eggs— It is useless for "E. B. T.*[ to 



speculate much as to what his egg may be. Birds 

 are constantly interfered with, and compelled to lay 

 an egg under circumstances which alter its shape, 

 size, colour, and texture. He had better show the 

 egg to an experienced collector, and abide by his 

 decision.— J. 8. Wesley. 



Birds' Eggs— la answer to " E. B. T.," I 



should think that the egg spoken of was that of 

 the Nightjar, from the shape and situation, but for 

 the colour, which has been white clouded with pale 

 purple in all that I have seen. — R. J. S. 



Flycatcher's Nest. — A. song thrush built a 

 nest on a hanging bough of a spruce fir, where she 

 hatched and brought up four young ones. On 

 examining the apparently deserted nest a month 

 later, we found that a flycatcher had built a beau- 

 tiful nest inside, where she was sitting on four eggs, 

 since hatched. — //. 31. C. A., Bar combe Rectory. 



Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly {Vanessa, 

 in-ticm). — In reply to your correspondent E. A. 

 Edwards (p. 165), there is no difference that I am 

 aware of between the markings of the male and 

 female of the Vrticee. I have taken a few pairs 

 this year, and the only distinction I find is that the 

 females are larger than the males. — II. C. Dent. 



Parasites on Cyclops. — Genus Cofhinia. — 

 C. imberbis {Vorticella folliculata, M.) Pound on 

 Cyclops quadricornis. Prit chard writes : — " The 

 stilt little bell animalcules possess divisibility of 

 the body but not of the lorica. which is urceolate in 

 shape and supported on a rigid pedicle. A wreath 

 of cilia is placed upon the flat frontal region, &c." 

 A few minutes since I saw the cilia at play, and 

 was reminded that a query respecting these para- 

 sites had been put to the readers of Science- Gosstp. 

 It is not often my restless Cyclops will allow me 

 time to watch the bells. I would refer to Pritchard's 

 "Infusorial Auimalcules " (1S52), plate 5, fig. 257. 

 — F. S. 



Caterpillars. — The following facts may interest 

 the readers of Science- Gossip, as they can be 

 vouched for by the lady who related the story to me. 

 She was walking in a field at Lyme Regis, and picked 

 up a caterpillar answering the description of the 

 " Death's-head Moth," — body long, colour bright 

 green, with yellow stripes, and a curious-looking 

 face. She carried it home, placed it in a tumbler, 

 over which she tied her pocket-handkerchief; very 

 soon it had eaten a large hole in the cambric. She 

 then tied another piece, which soon shared the 

 same fate 1 ; eventually the creature was missing. 

 On the following morninqr, the servant, cleaning the 

 drawing-room, noticed that the Indian matting was 

 eaten in holes ; and on search being: made it was 

 found on a footstool, in the centre of which it had 

 made a hole, and carried the bits of matting, care- 

 fully placing them in the form of a nest, itself lying 

 in the midst. It was removed from there, and 

 placed in a pot of earth, with brown paper tied 

 over, with holes pricked in lo admit air. It con- 

 trived to work its way to the paper, and bored the 

 holes much larger. The lady, leaving the neigh- 

 bourhood, left it in the care of a friend, who, not 

 being interested in its development, allowed it 

 to die. Are caterpillars in the habit of carrying 

 materials for a nest ? I always imagined they spun 

 a cocoon round their bodies, and then gradually 

 turned into a chrysalis, previous to their emerging 

 from their shells as moths.— 31. A. B. 



The Wryneck. — The interesting article on this 

 bird in the May number, should elicit further notes 

 from observation. It, is stated that the Wryneck 

 sometimes lays ten eggs. A young friend took 

 fifteen from one nest in this neighbourhood, one of 

 which I still possess. _ Is the Wryneck shy ? It 

 seems rather a bold bird. I once saw one caught 

 in a room in Sussex, and a question arose, would 

 it eat house-flies? This was at once settled by 

 taking it to a window. When held in the hand it 

 rapidly devoured them, and after thus having had 

 a good meal, it was at once transferred to liberty. 

 Probably, as Mr. Hall remarks, it would soon have 

 died if kept in confinement. — F. H. Arnold, Fish- 

 bourne. 



Anecdote of House- sparrow.— In my short 

 experience of interesting anecdotes which relate to 

 animal life, not one has struck me so forcibly, of 

 the affection some birds have for their young, as an 

 incident which occurred in the life of a little house- 

 sparrow, which we have succeeded in rearing up to 

 be a fine healthy bird, and is, at the time I am 

 writing this (August, 1S76), living in our aviary. 

 We found this sparrow in a yard, at the back of our 

 house ; having fallen from its nest, under the gutter 

 on the roof, hefore it could fly. We hardly knew 

 what to do with the little thing, as we had tried to 

 rear several of them before, but without success ; 

 all invariably died before reaching an age to enable 

 them to shift for themselves. Not wishing to leave 

 it in the yard where we had found it, for fear of 

 cats, we at last decided to put the bird into our 

 aviary, to let it have a chance of living, which stood 

 close against the window of a room in the front 

 part of the house. Early the next morning, one of 

 the servants told me that while fulfilling her duties 

 in the room where the cage was, she was surprised 

 to see, on looking towards the window, which was 

 open, an old sparrow, evidently the parent of the 

 little one, feeding the latter through the bars of the 

 cage with worms and various other insects; the 

 little sparrow manifesting great signs of delight, 

 chirping loudly between the intervals of the old 

 bird's absence to fetch more food. Although 

 several other sparrows came to make a feast on the 

 bread crumbs, which we placed upon the window- 

 ledge for the young bird to be fed with, the little 

 sparrow took no notice of them whatever; but as 

 soon as the real parent came in sight, its' manner 

 changed directly ; fluttering its wings and chirping 

 in anticipation of something good to eat, until its 

 attentive parent had somewhat appeased its raven- 

 ous appetite. The visits of the parent bird were 

 continued at short intervals throughout the whole 

 of that day, and for several following, until the 

 young bird was able to feed itself, and then the 

 affectionate and attentive parent suddenly dis- 

 appeared, and we saw no more of her. The old 

 bird, doubtless, must have heard the young one's 

 cries for food, and recognized the voice. — F. J. R., 

 Shepherd's Bush. 



Phosphorescence. — In answer to " J. E. S.," \ 

 beg to say that when digging in the garden at night 

 I have often noticed a phosphorescent light to 

 proceed from the common wireworm, and have also 

 observed it in a large centipede that had been 

 drowned in a bucket of water. — R. J. S. 



Goose-grass. — Young geese are particularly 

 fond of this plant, when it is in a growing state, — 

 they will graze it eagerly ; but I have not observed 

 the same partiality for it on the part of the old 

 birds.—//. E. W. 



