158 Robin and Dipper. 



it was affixed than the mast. — James G. Tatem. Wycombe, 

 June 4. 1835. 



Dr. Turton's Origines Zoological, or Zoological Recollections. 

 (VII. 315 — 328., 390—408.) — With the utmost respect 

 for your entertaining and instructive correspondent Dr. 

 Turton, I would beg to suggest that the saying, " Draw in 

 his horns" (VII. 391.), applies to the snail rather than to the 

 ox ; the former always drawing in his horns when appre- 

 hending danger, and retiring within his shell for safety. 



The fair mentioned in p. 394., note *, is held annually at 

 Charlton, near Woolwich, Kent, on the 18th of October, and 

 is said to have owed its origin to, and derived its name from, 

 a compulsive grant made by some of our kings, when detected 

 in an affair of gallantry, while residing at Eltham Palace. 

 The procession from Deptford, through Greenwich, to Charl- 

 ton, each person wearing some ornament of horn upon his 

 head, has been long discontinued ; and the fair has degene- 

 rated into one for pleasure, rather than for business. — 

 James G. Tatem. March 16. 1835. 



On the Robin and Dipper, and rumped, and rumpless, Birds. 

 (VIII. 637. 638.) — " I do not deny," says the Rev. F. O. 

 Morris, " (I never did) that the thrush and the robin have an 

 oil gland. They may be seen, before a shower of rain, anoint- 

 ing their feathers with its contents." May they? This 

 expression, " may be seen," is by no means satisfactory. 

 Will he tell us that he, himself, has actually seen any bird in 

 the creation express the contents from its gland and apply 

 them to its feathers ? "I doubt not," continues he, " but 

 that if they " (the robins) " were, under these circumstances " 

 (that is, after lubricating their feathers) " to fall into the water, 

 they would receive as little damage, or nearly so, to their 

 feathers, as the dipper." Had the reverend ornithologist 

 examined, with common attention, the nature of a land bird's 

 plumage, and then compared it with that of a water bird, he 

 surely would not have made this declaration. 



He continues : " Soak a thrush or a robin, but for a few 

 minutes, in the water ; soak a dipper for an hour or more ; 

 lay them both in the sun to dry : the one will be unscathed, 

 unharmed ; the other will present a miserable clogged appear- 

 ance." But why in the sun, your reverence ? That very act 

 alone would insure the unsightly appearance in the land bird, 

 which seems to have given you so much pain. This unlucky 

 suggestion of yours proves to me that you are, as yet, quite 

 a novice in the nature of plumage ; whilst your allusion to a 

 " chemical or other tedious process" (supposed to be adopted 

 by me, in order to restore the feathers " of clogged and mi- 



