Reffvspective Criticism. 591, 



its pretty mansion with such a profusion of feathers, that sometimes, to 

 obtain the eggs perfect, it is necessary to take it to pieces ; as does also 

 sometimes the golden crested wren (i^egulus cristatus Tiaj/)^ the eggs of 

 which are bedded in a similar manner. 



But, before I conclude, I must again beg Mr. Waterton to alter his style 

 of diction with regard to the professor ; and, instead of picking out all his 

 little errors, and thus holding the work up to public odium, to say some- 

 thing about his great talents, and unwearied investigation in the pursuit of 

 natural history. — A. B. C. London, April 21. 1832. 



The Nuthatch, ^itta europcB'a L. (p. 488. 502.) — Mr. Dovaston incident- 

 ally remarked, in a letter written to us on March 28. 1832, " I saw the 

 nuthatch, this morning, cleaning out his hole for matrimony." The same 

 gentleman favours us with additional remarks on the same bird, at p. 502. 

 of the present Number : all the facts are additional to those supplied in 

 p. 488, 489. Mr. W. H. White asks, and describes cases that suggest his 

 query (Vol. IV. p. 465.), if it be accurate to reckon the nuthatch truly a 

 mason bird ; as it appears to use masonry rather in the fortification of its 

 nest, than in the construction of the nest itself? Mr. White has seen an 

 instance, or instances, in which no masonry at all, even for fortification, 

 had been used. This question, which seems only one of degree, we beg 

 to commit to the responsibility of some kind correspondent, and pass on to 

 exhibit Professor Rennie's new view of the uses of the masonry which the 

 nuthatch does usually apply to her place of incubation. Montagu thus 

 says {Dictionary, 2d edit., p. 340.) : — " The nuthatch chiefly affects wooded 

 and enclosed situations, choosing the deserted habitation of a woodpecker, 

 in some tree, for the place of nidification. This hole is first contracted by 

 a plaster of clay, leaving only sufficient room for itself to pass in and out. 

 The nest is then made," &c. " If the barrier of plaster at the entrance is 

 destroyed when they have eggs, it is speedily replaced [the instance 

 described by Mr. W. H. White (Vol. IV. p. 465.) is a beautiful example of 

 this] ; a peculiar instinct to prevent their nest being destroyed by the 

 woodpecker and other birds of superior size, that build in the same 

 situation." Professor Rennie appends to this view, by Montagu, the 

 following, by himself: — " It appears to me no less probable that the wall 

 may be constructed to prevent the unfledged young from tumbling out of 

 the nest when they begin to stir about ; for all young birds of a certain 

 age become very restless ; and, in the instance in question, they might, if 

 there was no barricade, find their way out, and be precipitated to the 

 bottom of the tree." — J. D. 



Supplementary Remarks on the Communication, " On some remarkable 

 Forms in Entomology."" (p. 318 — 327.) — I beg leave to correct a few trifling 

 errors which have crept into my paper upon some remarkable insects, and 

 to introduce an additional observation or two. And, first, with regard to 

 the derivations of the names employed, and which have been introduced 

 in editorial parentheses. Although I constantly adopt the very necessary 

 plan of giving the derivations of names proposed by myself, I did not intro- 

 duce them into my paper, because they were names imposed by others, 

 who, in some instances, have not given the derivation of their names. 



Entomologists are at variance respecting the name Paussus; some con- 

 sidering that Linnaeus intended it to have reference to the circumstance of 

 the insect's being the last which he described ; and, consequently, that the 

 word was derived from pausa, a full stop : in which case the name ought 

 to have been written with only one s; alleging that such a fanciful method. 

 of" coining names" was not unusual with the great Swede : but whatever 

 may have been its intended derivation, it has appeared to me to be more 

 correct to adopt the name as proposed by himself, as he has given no clue 

 to his intention. The word Diopsis ought rather (as it has been suggested 

 to me) to be considered as derived from dia, through, and opsis, vision ; 



