in reference. to tJiose in Rennie^s "'Montagu,^* 143 



to moist plants or to water would certainly prove fatal to the 

 embryo chicks ; I come to the following conclusion, viz. that 

 the Professor knows nothing at all about the true reason why 

 the dabchick covers her eggs when she leaves the nest. Where- 

 fore I here enter my protest against this part of the Pro- 

 fessor's "Plan of Study," as it cannot be of the least use to 

 natural history. On the contrary, it will do harm. It is a 

 mere exhalation of his own brain ; a kind of " Will o' the 

 wisp," which will lead his pupils into the swamp of error. 

 No doubt his intentions are good ; but it would be well to bear 

 in mind " tantum ne noceas, dum vis prodesse videto." * 



I must here remark that the Professor tells us that it is in 

 very warm weather when the terns leave their nests ; still, It 

 somehow or other so happens that during their breeding 

 season the weather is often very raw and cold, and that there 

 are sometimes hail- storms, and even snow. 



In p. 101. the Professor asks if I mean to say that eggs, 

 *with chicks in them^ can be left till they are " cold as any 

 stone ?" I mean to say no such thing, nor have I said any 

 such thing. See my remarks. Vol. IV. p. 518. When I in- 

 troduced " cold as any stone," I particularly alluded to the 

 time of laying, hefoi^'e the bird begins to sit j and I asked the 

 question, viz. if the new-laid eggs be covered with hay for the 

 purpose of keeping them warm, during the absence of the 

 bird from the nest for at least four and twenty hours. I have 

 no need to attend to the Professor's suggestion of a thermo- 

 meter and a stop-watch. He who thinks it worth while to 

 read my remarks in Vol. IV. p. 517., on Professor Rennie's 

 new edition of Montagu, will there see that I took up the 

 pen for no other purpose but to expose the Professor's plau- 

 sible, though at the same time very erroneous, theory, that 

 the careful dabchick covers her eggs every time she leaves 

 the nest with a quantity of dry hay, to keep them warm till her 

 return. 



From the dabchick's nest in the bog, the Professor conducts 

 his pupils to a carrion crow's nest, of course on the top of a 

 tree. He says, " The carrion crow, for example, who lines 

 her nest with wool and rabbit's fur, always covers her eggs 

 with a quantity of this before leaving her nest, no doubt for 

 the same reason that the dabchick employs hay." 



Where, in the name of carrion, I ask, has the Professor 

 learned that this crow covers its eggs with wool and rabbit's 

 fur ? Before I enter into the demerits of this whimsical state- 

 ment of the Professor, I must here inform the reader that 

 even waterfowl, whose nests are, comparatively speaking, but 

 * '^Beware of doing an injury whilst you wish to do good." 



