Queries and Answers. 487 



there was no lack of honey during the periods of the occu- 

 pation of the wall by the redstarts ; neither was there any 

 deficiency of numbers observed during the time of swarming. 



{Other Points in the Redstart's Economy.] — The redstart 

 is not a very shy bird ; its song is very agreeable, although it 

 possesses but little variation, and not great force. Its song 

 may frequently be heard in the night ; and it is generally among 

 the most early risers in the morning. I have frequently heard 

 the redstart imitate, very closely, the robin, the hedge sparrow, 

 and the blackcap ; still I do not think it deserves to rank 

 among the mockingbirds. I should be glad of the opinion of 

 any gentleman on the song of the redstart. It is amusing to 

 witness the horizontal motion of its tail, like that of a dog, and 

 not like that of the wagtail. Its nest is very loosely built ; 

 chiefly of moss, and well lined with feathers ; and sometimes 

 a little hair, or down, is intermixed. — W. H. White. Old 

 Kent Road, April 1. 1836. 



[Von Osdat has noted (IV. 411.) the close similarity of the 

 young of the robin, when it first leaves the nest, to the young 

 of the redstart, and that they may be readily distinguished by 

 the peculiar horizontal movement in the tail of the redstart.] 



A Canary Finch, kept by a friend of mine, one year sang 

 most delightfully, and the next ceased altogether to sing. Is 

 this fact unusual? — F. O. Morris. 



A Notice of Exotic Localities of the Glowworm. A Question 

 on the Kind of a certain Exotic Species qf Luminous Insect. — Mr. 

 Wilson (VII. 251.), whom I think I recognise as an old college 

 friend, speaks of glowworms at Keswick, so late as Sept. 2. 

 1833 (so misprinted for 1832). I remember that, when I 

 was there in the autumn of 1821, our party found them in 

 the woods below Walta Cray ; and also on the other side of the 

 lake, near Gordon's Bay, as late as the very end of that month. 



I am surprised that Lord Byron, when expatiating about 

 the grasshopper and the other ornaments of the evening 

 landscape, near Vivas and along the Jura, did not allude to 

 the glowworm. They are abundant there, so much so, that 

 I recollect a party of young ladies coming into the hotel, one 

 beautiful evening in July, 1825, with their head dresses orna- 

 mented by dozens of those living jewels which they had col- 

 lected for amusement in the course of their walk. 



Can any of your readers tell me the exact name and species 

 of the winged glowworm, which is so numerous in the ruins of 

 Rheinfels, on the Rhine, near St. Goar ? In a dark warm 

 evening in summer, they quite illuminate the air under the 

 shady trees that border the steep ascent to the castle. Is it 

 the fire-fly?— W. B. Clarke. Stanley Green, May 10. 1834. 



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