Reptiles, 619 



mestic pigeon. — J. />. Salmon. Stoke Ferry ^ Norfolk^ May 

 28. 1834. 



Reptiles. — The Fascination of Birds hy Reptiles has often 

 been heard of. A curious instance of it was witnessed by a friend 

 of mine, an officer in the Madras army (Lieut.-CoL Ross, then 

 captain in the 10th Native Infantry), where the operator 

 was not a snake, as is usual in such cases, but a crocodile, 

 or, as we improperly call it in India, an alligator. My friend, 

 while taking a stroll round the works at Vellore, had his atten- 

 tion attracted by the strange restlessness and apparent distress 

 of a kingfisher bird (^Icedo smyrnensis), perched upon one 

 of the pinnacled battlements of the fausse-braye : on his 

 cautiously approaching near enough to ascertain the cause, 

 he observed in the ditch immediately underneath, a crocodile 

 lying perfectly quiet in the water, and intently watching the 

 bird with open jaws : in the mean time the victim's agitation 

 continued to increase : it fluttered down to a projecting point 

 of the works, then rapidly again and again farther and farther 

 down, till at last it actually dropped into the gaping mouth 

 waiting ready to receive it. Although I had this account at 

 second hand only, I have not the slightest doubt of its truth. 

 — A Subscriber, Vale of Alford^ Aberdeenshire^ Nov. 20. 1833. 



Toads have the Po'wer of compressing themselves so as to pass 

 through a small Aperture. — Staying some time since with an 

 acquaintance, his servant one day brought in, from an outhouse 

 in the garden, an old tin canister which had been used for 

 containing gunpowder, in which was composedly seated a very 

 large toad of dimensions thrice the size of the aperture through 

 which he must have entered. From his appearance, we con- 

 cluded that he had located himself there in his younger days, 

 and was now too large to extricate himself. The canister 

 was placed carefully by, as an interesting exhibition to future 

 visiters ; but, on an inspection of the canister in the following 

 morning, the prisoner had made his escape ; and, as the mouth 

 of the canister was in the same state as before, we could only 

 account for the toad's absence on the supposition of the ani- 

 mal's being able to squeeze itself through. Has this fact 

 been noticed before ? It may, perhaps, help to explain some 

 of the well-known instances of the occurrence of toads in 

 apparently close prisons either of trees or rocks. [Some in- 

 stances are given in VI. 458, 459.]--^. Bloxam, Rugby^ 

 Warwickshire, Jan. 1834. 



" A toad in a hole," is a proverbial expression, of which 

 literal instances are not, I believe, rare in upland pastures. 

 One was once, in 1832, and, I believe, in July, shown to me, 

 the circumstances of which were these : — There was a circular 



L L 4 



