HARD WICKES SCIENCE- G OSS IF. 



279 



favourite pursuits, but also to the delineation of the 

 minute structures which present themselves to the 

 anatomist, the physiologist, the pathologist, the 

 botanist, and many others, is, I conceive, one of its 

 chief merits." 



Liverpool Geological Society. — The Pro- 

 ceedings for 1876-77 of this well-known and vigorous 

 society contain the annual address of the President, 

 Mr. T. M. Reade, F.G.S., and papers on local 

 geology as follows: "Glacial Striatums at Little 

 Crosby," by T. M. Reade ; "The Conditions existing 

 during the Glacial Period, with an Account of the 

 Glacial Deposits in the Valley between Tranmere and 

 Oxton," by Dr. Ricketts, F.G.S. ; "The Glacial 

 Striae of the County around Liverpool," by G. H. 

 Morton, F.G.S. (Hon. Sec); " The Carboniferous 

 Limestone and Millstone Grit of Llangollen," by 

 G. H. Morton (continued) ; and other papers of 

 general geological interest. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Animal Ventriloquism. — Two very interesting 

 notices of Brazilian fauna occur in Mr. Rigg-Wither's 

 account of his work and wanderings in the forests and 

 prairies of Parana, the one of a frog, and the other 

 of a bird. The author does not give a description of 

 either sufficient for determining their species, but he 

 refers to both of them as possessing in high develop- 

 ment the special power of ventriloquism. This is 

 not only of much interest in itself, but as it is the 

 first instance I have met with of any animal lower 

 than man being gifted with this abnormal faculty, I 

 venture to ask room for the following condensed 

 abstracts from the "Pioneering in South Brazil," with 

 a few observations which the narration suggests. At 

 page 145 of vol. 1, Mr. Rigg- Wither, whilst camping 

 out near Porta Grossa, notes that ' ' a cry, like the 

 moaning of a sick child, came wailing on the ear, 

 apparently from only a few yards off ; the tone, how- 

 ever, was too musical for a child's cry. The vocalist 

 was a frog, and soon another from a more distant 

 spot took up the strain, and the two sang together, 

 now in solos, now in chorus. " The author " took a torch 

 and proceded to the spot from whence the sound 

 was (or seemed to be) proceeding." He " stooped to 

 search in the grass, when the music seemed to float away 

 to another place some yards distant, and on following 

 it, the sound still moved, but nowhere could he dis- 

 cover whence it came. The fact is, this frog is recog- 

 nised to be a ventriloquist of no common order " — a 

 property the author reasonably concludes to be "given 

 him as a protection against the numerous cranes and 

 other frog-enemies that would otherwise be guided by 

 the sound, and soon render the species extinct." 

 Again, in vol. 2, page 193, a bird, notable for its 

 shrieking voice, and known as the Bell-bird, is thus 

 referred to : " It is seldom seen in its wild state, 

 being, like the musical frog, a ventriloquist of very 

 high powers, and as a sun-loving bird, a frequenter 

 of the highest tree-tops, where its snow-white plumage 

 and transparent wings render it almost invisible, even 

 when in motion. In size it is but slightly bigger than 

 a starling, with a voice powerful as a peacock's." From 

 a description of this bird's performances in a cage, at 

 Antonia, its notes were heard in every quarter of the 

 town as well as beyond the outskirts, and seemed at 



times " to come from the mountains at the back of 

 the town fully a quarter of a mile distant from where 

 the bird was actually encaged." Calling to mind the 

 peculiar cry of the Corn-crake (Crex pratensis), and 

 one's similar inability to trace the varying points from 

 which the sounds appear to proceed, I beg to add a 

 parallel extract from an account of the habits of this 

 eccentric vocalist of our own meadows. ' ' The crake, 

 crake, crake of the landrail may be heard during 

 May and June, resounding on every side, now close at 

 hand, as if the bird were not a yard distant, now far 

 off; while the voices of others in different parts are 

 unremittingly exerted. The note is the call of the 

 male to his mate. So shy and cunning is the bird 

 that it is seldom to be seen, and unless by means of a 

 dog accustomed to such work, it is almost impracti- 

 cable to force it to take wing. It seems to elude 

 pursuit as if by magic, and is here and there threading 

 its way through the long grass before its pursuer can 

 imagine it has even left the spot from which its call 

 had first resounded. Its swiftness and dexterity are 

 indeed almost incredible." (Knight's Museum of 

 Animated Nature.) It will be observed that no 

 attempt is here made to account for the sudden 

 changes of the cries heard, now near, and now far off. 

 It is taken for granted that the crake, by some sort 

 of superhuman speed of foot, can elude its pursuer as. 

 " if by magic," before it can be imagined to have left 

 the place from which its call first resounded. The 

 performances of a human ventriloquist afford the 

 aptest illustration, if not a credible and rational theory, 

 for all the conditions of the hypothesis accepted by 

 Mr. Rigg- Wither being fulfilled by the incidents he 

 records, and which are remarkably enforced by the man- 

 oeuvres described in the last extract, of " the sly and 

 cunning " Corn-crake. I am desirous to learn if any 

 naturalist has noticed similar phenomena in any other 

 bird or beast, and if so, whether the solution above 

 indicated has been referred to, if not recognised. 

 This marvellous faculty may possibly be a vestige 

 of a once more extended power conferred on the 

 animal creation, as a means of defence, by deluding 

 and so evading their enemies. Can any of your read- 

 ers assist me in these inquiries ? — A. H.B. 



Preserving Animals. — I think Mr. Beaumont 

 will find the most complete information in Waterton's 

 "Wanderings in South America," published by B. 

 Fellowes, Ludgate-slreet, 1852. Further useful par- 

 ticulars are given in his first series of Essays on Natural 

 History, Longman, Brown, & Co., Paternoster-row, 

 price 8/-. An abridged account appears in a small 

 work on Taxidermy, by J. Gardner, 426, Oxford- 

 street, price 1/6. Another account is shown in 

 "Taxidermy," by M. Brown, Bazaar-office. If any 

 further information is required respecting the details 

 of the system I shall be glad to quote them from any 

 of the works named. — J. C. Carritt, King's Lynn. 



Preserving Animals. — In answer to W. L. 

 Beaumont, I beg to furnish an outline of Waterton's 

 method of preserving animals : — "Wash the animal 

 well in soap and water with a hard brush. Then 

 skin the animal, taking out every bone to the last 

 joint of the toe next the claw, and proceed to pare 

 down from within the nose, the lips, and the soles of the 

 feet, and sew up the mouth from the inside, beginning 

 exactly in the front, and continuing the operation 

 each way to the end of the gape. Now immerse the 

 skin in a solution of corrosive sublimate in alcohol ; 

 take it out and fill it quite full of chaff, and proceed 

 to support it on the table by introducing into the 

 abdomen a machine made by joining two pieces of 

 wood in the shape of a carpenter's gimlet, and of 



