Retrospective Criticism, 173 



Concerning cock-nests, upon which your correspondent 

 T. G. (I wish he would give us his name : ano?iymous state- 

 ments against known and responsible names are always at- 

 tended with suspicion) seems to rely as a sort of discovery in 

 natural history, I have nothing to say, further than that my 

 own experience in Somersetshire does not warrant the con- 

 clusion which he has drawn concerning them. It is true that 

 I have occasionally there found incomplete nests ; but I have 

 generally considered them as being abandoned in consequence 

 of being in too public a situation, or their being found by the 

 birds otherwise ill chosen. I beg, however, distinctly to say, 

 that I do not mean to controvert the statements concerning 

 cock-nests by T. G., nor the structure of the wren's nests 

 as found by T. G. ; but I do trust that my statements, from 

 actual observation as well as his, are entitled to the same 

 respect. " We must not be in haste to condemn what we have 

 not ourselves witnessed :" a good natural historian should 

 always remember this. 



One word more on the wren's nest. When it is made wholly 

 of green moss, and I have seen many so made, it is much more 

 neat and compact, and the entrance to it more neatly and 

 exactly defined, than when made of any other material : this, 

 of course, is my experience. — James Jejinings. 14. Goswell 

 Road, Nov. 14. 1832. 



Mistaken Allusions to Objects in Natural History, committed 

 by Writers on General Subjects. — In a very amusing little 

 volume, called Observations on some of the Dialects of the West 

 of England, &c, by James Jennings, there is, at p. 91., a note, 

 which is so incorrect, that it makes me lament that natural 

 history should be so much neglected amongst men of talent. 

 The passage and note are as follows : — 



{Passage.) " When tha dumbledores hummin, craup out o' tha cob-wall, 

 An, shakin ther whings, tha vleed vooath an awa." 



(Note.) " This fact, in natural history, is well known to 

 those acquainted with mud-walled houses. The humble bee, 

 ifombylius major, or dumbledore, as it is called, makes holes 

 very commonly in these walls, in which it deposits a kind of 

 farina ; but it never, in such holes, as far as I have observed, 

 deposits honey : in this bee will be found, nevertheless, on 

 dissection, a considerable portion of that delicious sweet." 



If Mr. Jennings had contented himself with the facts of the 

 dumbledove, all would have been well ; but by entering into 

 detail he has committed himself; for the humble bee (Bom- 

 bus) is a hymenopterous insect, with four wings, while jBom- 

 bylius is a dipterous insect, with two wings only ; the former 



