92 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Gnats and the Frost. — ^Yhile skating in this 

 neighbourhood on the 22nd January I captured a 

 solitary specimen of Tipiila pliimosa fluttering quite 

 merrily through the mist which prevailed at the time. 

 The temperature was two or three degrees above 

 freezing-point for the first time for about a fortnight. 

 As I believe the larva of this insect is aquatic, I am 

 curious to know where it can have come from. It 

 is very unlikely that there was any open water about, 

 as the temperature had been below zero only a few 

 days before, and had remained very low. Do any of 

 these insects live through the winter months? — //''. 

 Goodivin. 



The Severe Weather of January.— An ac- 

 count of the severity of the weather in this district (N. 

 Hants) may interest some of your readers. Vast flocks 

 of larks frequent the swede and turnip fields, where 

 they feed on the tender leaves of the grass ; thousands 

 of sparrows, greenfinches, yellow-hammers, and chaf- 

 finches (male and female) frequent the farmyards — 

 even jays are quite tame, and gladly avail themselves 

 of crumbs of bread flung out into the yard ; wagtails 

 have disappeared. I shot a sedge- warbler yesterday 

 in a farmyard and saw several others ; the county 

 peoplecall them " black-caps." Varrell says that the 

 bird has only been once noticed in winter (v. " British 

 birds"). When the stable doors are left open, robins 

 fearlessly enter. I heard one singing, perched on a 

 horse's manger. In the winter of 1878 great flocks of 

 pigeons frequented the woods : there are very few this 

 year, probably on account of the scarcity of acorns 

 here this winter. Rabbits mostly keep to their burrows 

 during the day, feeding at night on the bark of the 

 hazel, hawthorn, &c., which they nibble off as high as 

 they can reach ; a few, however, get under dead fern 

 or brambles. The last three terrible frosts have quite 

 covered up the laurels. — G. Dcivar. 



Grosbeaks. — On December 29th last the male and 

 female grosbeak or hawfinch [Loxica coccothraiistcrs, 

 Linn.) were observed at Gotham, Newark-on-Trent. 

 The hen bird was shot, and answered minutely to the 

 description of Bewick. As I believe this is of rare 

 occurrence in England, migrating from the north 

 only in severe weather, I give the following descrip- 

 tion, as other readers of Science-Gossip may not 

 be familiar with the bird. Length, under seven 

 inches. Bill, horn colour and remarkably thick and 

 blunt ; eye, ash colour ; throat, black ; head, reddish- 

 chestnut, ringed with soft grey ; wings blue-black, 

 curiously curled at the edge ; breast rich brown, 

 shading off to ash ; tail black, with a few grey feathers. 

 The male bird was the more brilliant in plumage, 

 and had a slight crest. The pair were extremely 

 handsome, and have never been seen previously in 

 the neighbourhood. Bewick states that they visit 

 Great Britain occasionally. The crop was full of 

 laburnum seed.— C Parkinson, F.G.S. 



Anagallis c.erulea.— On January 2nd I found 

 two plants of a blue pimpernel in flower in a garden 

 in this neighbourhood. The leaves were in whorls 

 of three and four, the petals crenate and fringed with 

 minute hairs ; in other respects the plants and flowers 

 agreed with the description given oi Anagallis dcriilM 

 in Babington's Manual. It is included in the pub- 

 lished Flora of this district, and therein stated to 

 have been found four times, — Ernest Bnllniore, 

 Fal month. 



Birds of the Isle of Man. — In the February 

 number of Science-Gossip (p. 43) my list of birds 

 has been kindly noticed, but, to prevent the chance 

 of a false impression, I would like to add a few 

 words of explanation. The rule followed is, that 

 each bird whose name appears on the list should 

 certainly have been seen in a wild state, at least once, 

 in the Isle of Man. Of those mentioned in the 

 notice, I would say — that, of the golden oriole, I 

 know only one instance (25tli April, 1879) and, 

 would set it down as accidental ; the grey phalarope 

 is a great rarity ; the snowy owl is a very occasional 

 visitor, and so is the hoopoe ; the mountain finch 

 P-ppears to be a regular visitor, though only seen 

 in small numbers. The black guillemot seems to be 

 more plentiful round the west and south coasts of 

 the island ; I hope to learn more of his habits before 

 summer. Several other birds in the list are rarely 

 seen here, and many are becoming yearly more 

 scarce, and in all probability will soon cease to be 

 numbered in the Manx Avifauna. Already the 

 bittern, the quail (known as " Wet-my-lip "), and 

 the woodpecker, have almost disappeared ; the raven, 

 the chough, and the bonny kingfisher, become visibly 

 less frequent ; the goldfinch is doomed to follow ; 

 and if there be any other bird, remarkable for bright 

 plumage or for cheerful song, he must reconcile his 

 heart to the prospect of solitary confinement in a 

 dark and narrow cage, or to the expectation of 

 adorning some fair one's attire. — Philip M. C. 

 Kcrmode. 



Birds in London. — Doubtless it is well known 

 that a number of our forest birds were during the 

 intense frost of January driven into London in search 

 of food, and it would be interesting to hear from 

 your readers the names of birds that have visited 

 their gardens. My garden, which is situated about 

 half a mile west of Bow church, was visited by 

 blackbirds, redwings, thrushes, starlings, robins, 

 blue- tits, the oxeyed-tit ; and I believe there were 

 others, as I frequently saw the sparrows chasing 

 small birds. I have also a very fine specimen of the 

 hawfinch, which was caught during the frost (with 

 the lime twig) on the skirts of Victoria Park.^ 

 Chas. y. IF. Rndd. 



St,\rlings and Skylarks. — I can confirm from 

 my own observations the remarks of Mr. Meyler 

 Daniel in the January number of Science-Gossii'. In 

 this locality fifteen years ago, skylarks were to be 

 seen in large numbers, but there were few starlings. 

 Then the latter increased and the former almost dis- 

 appeared, and now there are again large numbers of 

 skylarks and but i^w starlings. I have never been 

 able to obtain direct proof that the starling injures 

 the eggs of the skylark.— 7. 71 T. R., Kyhopc, 

 Dnrhani. 



Skylarks in Scotland. — In reply to your 

 correspondent Meyler Daniel, in the January number 

 of Science-Gossip, I should like the following 

 extract from "Bell's Weekly Messenger " to be more 

 widely known : "Ornithological observers in .Scotland 

 and the northern counties of England have for some 

 time past been complaining of the enormous decrease 

 of skylarks during the past few years. In many 

 districts this year they have disappeared altogether. 

 Mr. Edwards, the Banffshire naturalist, has just 

 published a short paper on the subject, in which he 

 condemns the popular theory that starlings, which 

 have increased in corresponding ratio to the decrease 

 of skylarks, cause the miscliief by breaking the eggs 

 in the nest and by killing the young. That the Ijill of 

 the starling is capable of destroying the egg he 



