HARD WICKE' S S CIENCE- G O SSI P. 



143 



fully between the finger and thumb, and allow the 

 sting just to enter the skin of the other hand, im- 

 mediately this takes place draw away the bee, when 

 the sting will remain. In a short time a sharp prick 

 will be felt as the point penetrates the flesh by the 

 muscular action referred to, followed by more or less 

 pain, as the poison is poured into the wound. In some 

 people this is so painful that it will deter them from 

 repeating the experiment, while, with others, the pain 

 is but slight (in my own case lasting but a few minutes). 

 It would be interesting to enquire why this is the 

 case?— W. E. Harper. 



The Frill Lizard^ {Chlamydosanrus). — I cull 

 the following description of the above reptile from 

 Baird's " Student's Natural History " for the benefit 

 of Mr. Fred Challis and others :— " A genus of 

 saurian reptiles or lizards, belonging to the family 

 Agamidse. Only one species is known, C. Kingii, a 

 native of Australia. It is an extraordinary-looking 

 animal, about ten inches long, exclusive of the tail, 

 which is twelve. The head is five and a half inches 

 long and one inch broad, and has a curious crenated 

 membrane, like a frill round its neck, covering its 

 shoulders ; and when expanded, which it is enabled 

 to do by means of transverse, slender cartilages, it 

 spreads five inches in the form of an open umbrella. 

 It is very irascible, and when frightened, it elevates 

 this frill, and runs to a tree, where it makes a stand 

 and boldly defends itself against its opponent, biting 

 fiercely." — L. Francis. 



Legs of Thrush. — A farmer named Oir, of 

 Clough, co. Antrim, kept a thrush, which he said every 

 seven years cast his legs, when a new pair grew. This 

 was told me by a policeman, who knew the farmer 

 well, and saw the bird in the transition state. The 

 bird was in excellent health. In Science-Gossip, 

 p. 141, June, 1867 — "Leg Legends" — Mr. William 

 Dodgson inserts a query concerning this strange act 

 and gives instances. — The editor attaches a note. 

 (We suspect that the unbelievers are legion.) I think 

 there must be some truth in it, and it would be well 

 to endeavour to throw some light on this seemingly 

 curious fact. — Rev. S. A. Brenan. 



Birds near Dublin. — W. E. C. Wourse is 

 certainly mistaken in his remarks on the heron (page 

 94) ; he says : " From the windows could be seen herons 

 sitting on their nests in high beech-trees ; the nests 

 consisting of a few bits of stick, on which the birds 

 appeared to sit astride, with their legs hanging down." 

 In the first place, the nest always consists of more 

 than " a few bits of stick," being generally larger 

 than that of the rook ; and, secondly, such a ridiculous 

 position is never assumed by the heron, or, indeed, 

 any other known bird ; as, despite the length of its 

 legs, its anatomy is so contrived as to allow of its sitting 

 on its nest with as much ease as does the hedge- 

 sparrow on hers. And we might, with just as good 

 reason, expect to see the bird lying on its nest, with 

 its legs in the air, a position not one bit more un- 

 natural than that described by Mr. Nourse. — Arthur 

 Hollis. 



Birds tapping. — Several of your correspondents 

 have alluded to the grey-wagtail's habit of tapping 

 at windows, but can any one tell me if it also a 

 peculiarity of blackbirds, or assign any reason for 

 their doing so? For the last two months a blackbird 

 has been continually tapping at our windows. He 

 begins about four o'clock in the morning, making 

 noise enough to awake us, and goes on, at intervals, 

 all day. He does not confine his attentions to one 

 window, though he favours some more than others. 

 Last year at the same season, the same thing 



occurred, but he was then more easily frightened 

 than this year, as now, although repeatedly driven 

 away, he always returns to the charge, sometimes 

 tapping as long as half an hour continuously. Can 

 he have any motive for this apparently uninteresting, 

 and, at the early hour he commences, somewhat 

 annoying habit ? — 7". J. R. M., Leamington. 



Fowls eating Feathers. — Can any of your 

 readers tell me the reason why fowls pick and eat 

 each other's feathers ? I have about sixteen fowls, 

 including Dorkings, Brahmas, and Hamburgs. 

 During the last month they have picked one 

 another's small feathers from the backs and on the 

 chest that they are quite raw in those places. I have 

 mixed lime in their run and put brimstone in their 

 water, but it does not seem to cure them. I do not 

 know whether it is natural or whether it is a disease 

 peculiar to one breed. They seem healthy in them- 

 selves, two wanting to sit, but they have no feathers 

 under their wings, so that it would be no use to set 

 them on eggs. — Walter Helps. 



Slaughter of Wild Animals in Central 

 Africa. — The following account is from a sporting 

 paper of a month ago : "Sir John Willoughby, 

 with Sir Robert Harvey's two sons, Captain Gren- 

 ville Harvey and Mr. Charles Bateson Harvey, who 

 are on a hunting expedition in the neighbourhood of 

 Kilimanjaro, have been enjoying some fine sport. 

 They have killed 52 rhinoceroses, besides buffaloes, 

 elands, ostriches, giraffes, zebras, and various other 

 kinds of antelope. Out of the 32 species of game which 

 are found in that country they have killed specimens 

 of 22. Their bag in February last amounted in all to 

 148 head." This is how the process of extermina- 

 tion is going on. The time is not far distant when 

 the most interesting animals of Africa will have 

 followed the bison of North America to the land of 

 shades. It is ridiculous to argue that all this 

 destruction was for the sake of food, as is so fre- 

 quently done. It would require a good many 

 pot-hunters and a few tribes of natives to eat up 

 such a bag of game whilst in a sweet condition. 

 There is nothing to boast of in slaying even 

 rhinoceroses with the weapons now employed ; 'twas 

 very different in the days of old flint-lock, when the 

 hunted often became the hunter. It is a great pity 

 such a state of things should exist, and every true 

 naturalist must deplore it. — G. Cnrrie. 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



To Correspondents and Exchangers. — As we now 

 publish Science-Gossip earlier than formerly, we cannot un- 

 dertake to insert in the following number any communications 

 which reach us later than the 8th of the previous month. 



To Anonymous Querists. — We must adhere to our rule of 

 not noticing queries which do not bear the writers' names. 



To Dealers and others.— We are always glad to treat 

 dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general 

 ground as amateurs, in so far as the "exchanges" offered are fair 

 exchanges. But it is evident that, when their offers are simply 

 disguised advertisements, for the purpose of evading the cost of 

 advertising, an advantage is taken of our gratuitous insertion of 

 " exchanges " which cannot be tolerated. 



We request that all exchanges may be signed with name (or 

 initials) and full address at the end. 



E. E. T. — The facts to which you allude are well known. 

 There is a variety of the almond in which the sarcocarp remains 

 succulent. 



C. H. Collings. — The following is a good elementary book, 

 " Ponds and Ditches," by Dr. M. C Cooke (price is. 6d. 

 S. P. C. K.) Other and complete works are: "Manual of 

 Infusoiia," by Saville Kent (London : W. H. Allen) ; " Manual 

 of the Rotifera?," by Dr. Hudson and P. H. Gosse (London : 



