$)? Queries and Answers, 



called French white. They are entirely spotless, and very elegantly shaped, 

 being about the size of a missel thrush's. The boy who procured them 

 says that the female was sitting on the nest ; and that he was obliged 

 to drive her away by throwing stones. He describes her as being very 

 beautiful, and says that she endeavoured, as much as possible, to scare him 

 away, by uttering a sharp hoarse cry, and by repeatedly clapping her wings. 

 I have taken one of these eggs as a specimen both to the Oxford and Bri- 

 tish Museums, where there are collections of eggs, and have compared them 

 with the different sorts there, but could never find any which had the least 

 resemblance to them. If any of your correspondents could mform me what 

 they are, or where I could get them named, they would greatly oblige me. 

 I have a pretty good collection of British birds' eggs, but among them there 

 are a great many the names of which I have not been able to learn in any 

 of the works on that branch of natural history. It is greatly to be regret- 

 ted that there is no good publication to which a person can refer on that 

 subject ; and I am convinced that, if a work were undertaken of that de- 

 scription, it would well repay the conductor's exertions, particularly if the 

 figures were luell drawn and coloured. — An Observer of Nature. Aug. 14. 

 1830. 



Lord's Island, Derwent Water. — In the summer and autumn of 1820 I 

 resided, with a party, during the Cambridge long vacation, at Keswick, in 

 Cumberland. One of our chief recreations was to navigate the beautiful 

 expanse of Derwent Water, visiting the islands which so gracefully adorn it. 

 We had heard of a tradition amongst the natives, that the ghost of the unfor- 

 tunate Lady Derwentwater, who is said to have climbed the steep face of 

 Walla Crag, and so doing to have given a name to the projecting mass of 

 rock called " The Lady's Chair," visited Lord's Island, once the seat of 

 the attainted nobleman, every night ; and that her spirit, in the shape of a 

 bird, whose melancholy tones were known to all the boatmen, flitted about 

 in the branches of the ancestral trees, as seeking rest and finding none. 

 Popular traditions, doubtless, have an origin ; few of them, however, are 

 inexplicable. It was our amusement to visit Lord's Island by moonlight : 

 I have perfect recollection of the notes of the bird alluded to ; yet, though 

 we hunted about the island, and hurled stones amongst the trees, no one 

 ever saw any bird fly from the island, notwithstanding we stationed watchers 

 around to notice its departure, having a desire to discover, if possible, 

 what mortal body Her Ladyship's spirit deigned to inhabit. This, however, 

 we could not effect. It is many years since I made a moonlight voyage to 

 the islands of Derwent Water : but the remembrance of my happy sojourn 

 there is too agreeable to me, not to make any illustration of its interesting 

 inhabitants desirable ; and if you can dissolve the charm which fancy is fond 

 of framing at the expense of reason, I shall be obliged to you. — W. B. 

 Clarke. East Bergholty Suffolk, October 1. 1830. 



Rooks detecting Grubs. — The author of the Journal of a Naturalist, 

 speaking of rooks, says, " I have often observed them alight on a pasture 

 of uniform verdure, and exhibiting no sensible appearance of withering or 

 decay, and immediately commence stocking up the ground. Upon investi- 

 gating the object of their operations, I have found many heads of plantains, 

 the little autumnal dandelions, and other plants, drawn out of the ground 

 and scattered about, their roots having been eaten off" by a grub, leaving 

 only a crown of leaves upon the surface. This grub beneath in the earth 

 the rooks had detected in their flight, and descended to feed on it, first 

 pulling up the plant which concealed it, and then drawing the larvae from 

 their holes." (Ed. i. p. 184, 185.)' If it be true that the rooks in their 

 flight detect the gnib tinder ground, I should be much obliged to any of 

 your correspondents who would give some account of the means whereby 

 this discovery is effected. — X. 2>. September 2S. \Q^0. ' ' 



. Bewick's Birds, r- 1 hear that there is a ne^v edition oi- Bewick^ s. Birds 



