208 Queries and Answers* 



The Sound of a Bh'd resembling the Bleating of a Goat (Vol. I. p. 25)7.) — 

 The bird that your correspondent, J. N., is desirous of obtaining the name 

 of is the common snipe (^colopax Gallinula). Had he applied to any of 

 his sporting friends, they would have informed him that heather-bleat 

 (Scotice, biite) is a common provincial name for that bird, and that 

 they very commonly make the noise which he describes J. M., in 

 answering J. N.'s query, could scarcely have fixed on two birds more 

 unlike to each other in their call than Charadrius Calidris and 5c61opax 

 phae'opus, and in whose call, when I have heard them, I could never per- 

 ceive the least resemblance to the bleating of a goat. I presume he has 

 never had the following familiar ornithological puzzle propounded or 

 expounded to him : — 



" The cuckoo and the gowk. 

 The lavrock and the lark, 

 The heather-bleat, the muire snipe, 

 How many birds is that ? " — J. V. S. 



Pious mmor andmdximus. — Perceiving that some of your correspondents 

 have mentioned Picus minor as a bird of extremely rare appearance, I beg 

 leave to inform them that it may frequently be met with in all the woods 

 near Leith Hill, a place fully deserving the attention of, and every way 

 adapted as a residence for, the naturalist. The salubrity of the air, the 

 soothing music of the neighbouring groves, and the many scarce and 

 beautiful plants flourishing in the copses, have justly rendered Leith Hill 

 an object of admiration and delight to all those who have hitherto visited 

 this romantic and picturesque spot. The nuthatch, so beautifully described 

 by your correspondent, S. H. (Vol. I. p. 328.), is there often heard hammer- 

 ing in the woods, and Plcus maximus (the last a name of my own), another 

 bird that I may probably send you some notice of. I am, Sir, &c. — Per- 

 ceval Hunter. Dec. 25. 1828. 



Derivation of the Name John Dory. — Is it not plain jaune doree as the 

 French fishermen call it ? — M. 



Whiter Quarters of Frogs, (p. 105.) — On the approach of winter, frogs re- 

 tire from their drier and shady haunts, to ponds, wet ditches, or rivers ; under 

 the grassy margins of which they sink and lodge themselves among the mud, 

 out of the reach of frost, and of their natural enemies. In such situations 

 they may be found congregated in great numbers, remaining inactive till the 

 return of spring calls them to the important business of procreation. Their 

 colour becomes much darker during their submersion, and they are then 

 often mistaken for toads. — M. 



The Tick which moved on a deceased Part of itself (p. 105.) — This appear- 

 ance, in all probability, was only a consequence of the pedicle, which 

 attaches the thorax and abdomen, being elongated by the force applied in 

 extracting it from its hold on the dog, and which enabled the body and 

 legs to turn and surmount the floating abdomen. — M. 



Frogs doj^nant du7ing Winter. — Sir, In answer to your querist J. B. 

 (p. 105.), whether frogs lie dormant during the winter or die, I can 

 satisfactorily assure him that they do lie dormant ; for I observed, on the 

 18th of March ult. in a ditch of stagnant water, about a furlong from 

 the river Ouse, a number of frogs in the act of spawning, they were full 

 grown and of a dark mould colour. On the 21st, the ditch was frozen over 

 and not a frog was to be seen, but on the sun thawing the ice, I could 

 observe them emerging from holes at the bottom of the ditch, which 

 appeared to penetrate into the bank a considerable distance, so that 

 there is no doubt but that they lie dormant at the bottom of deep stagnant 

 ditches ; or they penetrate into ban^s, under water, sufficiently deep to be 

 out of the reach of frost. As a proof that they do not die during the winter 



